tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13731524335655915142024-03-12T20:01:14.262-07:00Mahound's ParadiseOakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.comBlogger974125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-30081661628206128412020-06-18T15:03:00.000-07:002020-06-20T11:38:28.105-07:00Johnny Cash was a White Supremacist (and other thoughts on the Confederate statue controversy)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAqYEA6f5sDj2N8NYj8mTnU5ymajayTaRM5jJ5Wod1J7dOD49oK57OdjnBwLnDmtDqoD0bmngqKSjSFoTSNWJGmZsV7XMd1GMFHZZtimurPbqG19Xt6On4cysFZlhgqFrrQlYA3yloxM/s1600/Lee+Statue+Defaced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="962" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAqYEA6f5sDj2N8NYj8mTnU5ymajayTaRM5jJ5Wod1J7dOD49oK57OdjnBwLnDmtDqoD0bmngqKSjSFoTSNWJGmZsV7XMd1GMFHZZtimurPbqG19Xt6On4cysFZlhgqFrrQlYA3yloxM/s400/Lee+Statue+Defaced.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, defaced by a mob. Projected onto it are the initials of a terrorist organization and the glowering face of a violent robber, porn actor and drug-addict. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, here's Johnny Cash, singing "God Bless Robert E. Lee" from his 1983 album, Johnny 99.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Johnny Cash was a white supremacist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wikipedia states that the song is "anti-war." Perhaps. But it's also pretty pro-South, at least in one sense, as well as being pretty pro-Robert E. Lee. Listen to it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An abberation?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here he is singing against the backdrop of a Confederate flag.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the Muppets Show.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the Disney Channel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Miss Piggy was a white supremacist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, we knew that already, but still.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And here's Joan Baez singing "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down." This video is from 1978 and features a live performance in Norway for 10,000 blond white people. I think they're called Aryans.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't know that much about Joan Baez, but when you watch the modestly dressed Miss Baez playfully tease an un-shirted Norwegian young man, it's impossible not to like her. And it's impossible not to like the song. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She also was a white supremacist. Or so it would seem.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And here's Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2003, performing Sweet Home Alabama with a Confederate flag as a backdrop, and with Johnny Van Zant singing with the flag wrapped around his microphone. At one point, he affectionately cradles it. Other Confederate flags are waved in the audience. It's the "Official" video of the song.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lynyrd Skynyrd were and are white supremacists.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Okay, you probably knew that, too. But it's okay, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lynyrd Skynyrd</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> denounced slavery.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was very brave of them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What does all this prove? A lot, actually.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do you want to know what I think? I think that if the Civil War was "about" any one thing, it was about slavery.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But it's a gross simplification and injustice to leave it at that. Many on each side fought for noble motives. Just as some fought for ignoble ones.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abraham Lincoln, the leader of the winning side, famously claimed that he initiated and waged a war in which hundreds of thousands died, many more were horribly injured and entire towns and cities were razed, not because of the issue of slavery but, rather, over the issue of mere political "union." If that isn't an ignoble motive, the word "ignoble" has no meaning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And, frankly, Lincoln's words are a slander against my ancestors from Massachusetts, many of whom died believing they were fighting to end slavery, not prop up centralized tyranny.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are some righteous statues about that in Boston, I can tell you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And the fact that Lincoln claimed that the war was not about slavery doesn't negate that I earlier said it was (<i>if</i> it was about any one thing). That the political leader responsible for initiating a war can be wrong about what the war is about is a bit of a fine point that I won't belabor. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But back to the Southern case, since that's currently at issue. I reject the view that we should leave the statues up merely in the interests of "history." If that were true, then we <i>should</i> move them to museums. But the</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> statues and symbols are <i>not</i> merely about history. Maybe in a thousand years we could say that, but not now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rather, they're meant to honor what was good, honorable and heroic in the Southern cause - loyalty to one's neighbors; loyalty to one's community; loyalty to a way of life that was in <i>some</i> ways virtuous and even superior; the rights of peoples to determine their own destiny against those who would impose it on them with guns and invading armies, and so on. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lynyrd Skynyrd adopted the flag for this reason. And, of course (to be serious) the members of that band aren't really white supremacists.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As well, part of what we mean "good, honorable and heroic" is normal human beings responding as best they can to tragedy. The Civil War certainly was that. I'm sure Joan Baez would agree.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And Johnny Cash had a knack for finding what was good in many things.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>What was good.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's why people erect statues and wave flags. If you don't think there was </span><i>anything</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> good, honorable and heroic about the Southern cause, then you are a moral imbecile, or utterly blinded by whatever fad happens to be popular.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We take what was good and honor it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or not. Perhaps we should just follow whatever fad happens to grip us at the time. With no core principles to guide us, that's the way it goes. The statues and the flag were perfectly fine, yesterday - or, at worst, only an odd affectation that may have been annoying to some; but today they're something that only a Nazi could love</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If we don't worship God, we will worship the zeitgeist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And we won't honor anything.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Note: I actually wrote this two years ago (in March of 2018) during that smaller and earlier wave of statue attacks. I don't remember why I didn't publish it. Perhaps some other piece of news superseded it and it didn't anymore seem relevant. I think it's relevant again now. But I also think I couldn't have written it now, at least not with the same somewhat "light" tone. I'm frankly too angry and fearful at what has become more than just an assault on Confederate monuments, but rather a vicious and violent attack on our entire culture on many fronts. I had no idea then that things would get this bad so quickly. Call this a short post from a more innocent time, before the eve of the second Civil War.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's to innocent times with another earlier clip of Sweet Home Alabama by a much younger </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lynyrd Skynyrd</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, recorded in Oakland in the summer of 1977. A few weeks later band members </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines and three others would be killed in an airplane crash. RIP. </span></span><br />
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Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-85892736525113712722020-06-15T08:06:00.001-07:002020-06-18T13:01:31.224-07:00Rayshard Brooks Was a Convicted Violent Felon on Probation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfEXbLB-KmayviCLkyYeF60kTdMFQ4iJkrIW_X_bNzlzk-O4BTHm9_iv5wXnFNL3wrLrQicFijzIeOk1tXy3uDSY7wYhbahQoUkO7paB4ww8Auni2__j84fgWocH4Iy3q74csl0wa9Lc/s1600/Rayshard+Brooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAfEXbLB-KmayviCLkyYeF60kTdMFQ4iJkrIW_X_bNzlzk-O4BTHm9_iv5wXnFNL3wrLrQicFijzIeOk1tXy3uDSY7wYhbahQoUkO7paB4ww8Auni2__j84fgWocH4Iy3q74csl0wa9Lc/s400/Rayshard+Brooks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This photo of Rayshard Brooks posing in full "gangsta" attire - "Timbs" and a fur coat worn indoors over an undershirt and saggy pants - was posted on his Facebook page in 2015 and helpfully provided to the media by his cousin after his death. Since it makes him look like a thug it hasn't been widely circulated.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by an Atlanta policeman in a Wendy's parking lot on Friday evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because he was a black man shot by a white police officer in apparently dubious circumstances - initial reports claimed that he was "shot in the back" or even shot while asleep, for no reason - his death set off another round of violent riots in Atlanta resulting in, among other things, rioters burning that particular Wendy's to the ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Of course, the Wendy's franchise was reportedly owned by a black man. That'll show whitey.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What actually happened does not seem to be really in dispute, especially now that we have multiple sources of video evidence from someone recording the event on a cell phone, security footage from Wendy's and, perhaps most importantly, body cam footage from the police.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm not going to link to these videos. You can find them anywhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brooks had fallen asleep in his car while in the drive through line, necessitating that cars had to drive around him. Wendy's called the police. They arrived and had trouble waking him up. When they did so it appears that he was intoxicated, giving odd and contradictory answers to questions, including whether or not he was drunk. He peacefully interacted with the police for over thirty minutes, took a physical sobriety test and a breathalyzer test and answered various questions. Both Brooks and the interviewing policeman seemed cordial and polite. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finally, one of the policeman concluded that he was intoxicated and told him he was under arrest. But as Brooks was being handcuffed, he resisted, attacking both of the cops and initiating a brief brawl, which included a three-man fight on the ground. One of the police officers is heard to say, "stop fighting! You're going to get tased!" It appears they attempted to twice use a taser on him to no effect. After a number of seconds, Brooks breaks away from the scrum, having captured one of the tasers. The police start to pursue with guns raised. While fleeing, Brooks briefly turned and aimed the taser at one of the policeman. He was then shot two or three times, apparently in the back as he turned around again while running.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not my purpose here to argue about whether his shooting was justified, though according to most law enforcement experts I've listened to, it was. The argument is that even though the taser itself may not have technically been a deadly weapon, aiming it at a policeman during a fight set up a potentially deadly situation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who was Rayshard Brooks?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The media has portrayed him as a devoted family man who had been celebrating his daughter's birthday and had planned to take her out skating the next morning. Brooks is in fact married with at least three daughters and a stepson.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These two pictures, taken from his Facebook account have been widely circulated:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-NOpvaVy99ioM75Vf1veSYZh8CQsaX69Ajrh1EqWJUUOWMML_-Sz0F2w-tVyQPVTMvG-T8LmLvN2ywNfxHENtK4IUcITQQ5oH_DdIjHnKNcD__Sj-fYvyI52JdOAkFbxYQBVX8CCSwQ/s1600/Devoted+Family+Man.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-NOpvaVy99ioM75Vf1veSYZh8CQsaX69Ajrh1EqWJUUOWMML_-Sz0F2w-tVyQPVTMvG-T8LmLvN2ywNfxHENtK4IUcITQQ5oH_DdIjHnKNcD__Sj-fYvyI52JdOAkFbxYQBVX8CCSwQ/s400/Devoted+Family+Man.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Devoted family men sometimes get drunk and even get stopped for DUIs. This part of the story is not particularly unusual or odd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But why did he attack the cops after a long peaceful interaction? Why did the prospect of being arrested for drunk driving lead to him initiating a violent confrontation which would, a short time later, end in his death?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The answer to that question has been completely blacked out by the media. Even now, it is difficult or impossible to even find it on Google.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rayshard Brooks appears to have been a convicted violent felon who was currently on probation. The "devoted family man" apparently had at least seven convictions including <i>cruelty to children</i>, <i>family violence battery</i> and <i>false imprisonment</i> - presumably against a family member.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I say, apparently, because it has not been confirmed that the Rayshard Brooks in the criminal listing below is the same Rayshard Brooks that died that night. But it almost certainly is, given his age, the timing of the convictions against other known facts and other evidence I'll cite below. And his mugshot looks like the same man, though younger (the convictions were in 2014).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The information can be found at this site. Here are the screenshots:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxCGLq88xBAwlEJF7DiWSWdYeXGXxx3c-FoONUPUYXUYtJgyvqMKA5Bi9B6PYa65Ic3zdyP02Z-c107jqWaNkrLVt9g0Rm6HaJRpGCa4Fcsr_-5JFn4kTsONExzdKO0DZCOLtco9oWAc/s1600/Brooks+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="718" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxCGLq88xBAwlEJF7DiWSWdYeXGXxx3c-FoONUPUYXUYtJgyvqMKA5Bi9B6PYa65Ic3zdyP02Z-c107jqWaNkrLVt9g0Rm6HaJRpGCa4Fcsr_-5JFn4kTsONExzdKO0DZCOLtco9oWAc/s400/Brooks+1.png" width="370" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqD9dWw-aZwx55miniJLeDJ8w1QZMUwLaKFTZl4IJq2hXYqIhKbDheHba6vLJruvE-Y8ChRcIsVYvj5YGYQbuItjrB62bNUB_Ro0SqTJrl1yl-Vc6xIrYrfR5vq2olMIUihaWiZEQxtLU/s1600/Brooks+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="568" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqD9dWw-aZwx55miniJLeDJ8w1QZMUwLaKFTZl4IJq2hXYqIhKbDheHba6vLJruvE-Y8ChRcIsVYvj5YGYQbuItjrB62bNUB_Ro0SqTJrl1yl-Vc6xIrYrfR5vq2olMIUihaWiZEQxtLU/s400/Brooks+2.png" width="270" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhze2KZIY7h7-c0AvSgx1da3OPCr8RQmfnkVpHcMygn0c20axfx9fr157GXzKej-eTdblqXQYu-u01ZHTwpnTnKdU6-MMwciOR9VR0BqM2tdyNeKE2T5Xgk8AutZgxUGFX-CLAuIt4mJ34/s1600/Brooks+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="291" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhze2KZIY7h7-c0AvSgx1da3OPCr8RQmfnkVpHcMygn0c20axfx9fr157GXzKej-eTdblqXQYu-u01ZHTwpnTnKdU6-MMwciOR9VR0BqM2tdyNeKE2T5Xgk8AutZgxUGFX-CLAuIt4mJ34/s400/Brooks+3.png" width="148" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So it appears that Brooks committed these crimes in the spring of 2014 and was sentenced in late summer. He was given a concurrent sentence of 7 years, the length of the sentence for the most serious charge - <i>false imprisonment</i>. For unknown reasons he served less than 4 months and was then released on probation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other sources have claimed that he had other convictions from before this time as well as after. I haven't been able to confirm this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the odd things about the case is that Brooks had a social media presence that, as of this writing, has still not been scrubbed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He had a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmIWIuwnP6hABA-N_J847MQ">YouTube channel</a>, which bizarrely included just one piece of original content - an interview that he did with some sort of legal reform show that he uploaded only a few weeks ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the interview he discusses how his own probation had "inconvenienced" and "stereotyped" him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Towards the end, Brooks good-naturedly declares: "The moment I do something out of hand, back to jail I go."</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uSYZ-OJm3KQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uSYZ-OJm3KQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It now begins to make sense why he violently resisted arrest for a comparatively minor charge. One also assumes that the arresting policemen, having spent at least thirty minutes with him, had at some point learned that he was a violent felon on probation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the interview, Brooks comes off as a somewhat appealing character, at least if you don't start to wonder why he is in any moral position to claim that probation is unfair considering that he served almost no time for committing multiple violent offenses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This interview has not been published anywhere in the mainstream media.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So he had a criminal past, had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about probation but was now a devoted family man.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Actually, I don't think that's the truest story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think it's more accurate to say that Rayshard Brooks was a thug. he did violent crime and was penalized for it (sort of) but remained a thug, probably until the end of his life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's what I think. I guess I won't be opening up any small businesses in Chicago in the near future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rayshard.brooks">Facebook</a> page of Rayshard Brooks is still up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What do we find there in the time since he was released from prison and up to the present?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The devoted family man posing with wads of cash and repeated references to "$$$$$$". The devoted family man admiring his "gangsta" look of saggy pants and a fur coat over an undershirt. The devoted family man making gang signs and sexually obscene gestures like the "shocker" - well known in the rap/hip-hop community. The devoted family man posing with his "family" of what look like partying hoods, one of whom is holding a gun.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIgA_sooXeDfGUOEEru-tKqRN40Jnt86I-GamEVF6-u-6bz0Zsftg_AuRRWNwpcTAYD9FcSyb37CWGRwNZIbAaFTLTM2aOmZ-ASApmmh0Ku0L1Q_MpGcdzx-pTf0bBgGFhtDmV3KCL1E/s1600/Brooks+fam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="513" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIgA_sooXeDfGUOEEru-tKqRN40Jnt86I-GamEVF6-u-6bz0Zsftg_AuRRWNwpcTAYD9FcSyb37CWGRwNZIbAaFTLTM2aOmZ-ASApmmh0Ku0L1Q_MpGcdzx-pTf0bBgGFhtDmV3KCL1E/s400/Brooks+fam.png" width="262" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And perhaps most poignant of all, the devoted family man calling his daughter "Daddy's lil gangster."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a free country, (or it was, or it sort of is) right? Why can't anyone, black or white, affect any attitude they want on Facebook? That's not a crime, is it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, posing with a bunch of hoods, one of whom is holding a gun, may well be a probation violation, as is posing with wads of cash while traveling outside one's state. Maybe he got permission, who knows? Though one doubts that probation officers - dealing simultaneously with many Rayshard Brookses - have the time or inclination to worry about such things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But let's stipulate that publicly affecting the look of a thug isn't a crime.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But we know what his crimes were:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Simple battery</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Cruelty to children</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>False imprisonment</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Family violence battery</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Receiving stolen property</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Criminal interference with government property</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Obstructing a law enforcement officer</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, the media still hasn't mentioned any of that, including that "cruelty to children" conviction. His surviving wife understandably didn't mention it. He was a devoted family man.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have no reason to believe that Rayshard Brooks didn't love his daughter. I'm sorry that her father died.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But Rayshard Brooks couldn't escape affecting the thug's life, even when it came to his daughter. And I think that's what initially got him into trouble with the law and later ended up costing him his life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gangstas commit crimes. Gangstas die in shootouts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why is any of this relevant?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I mentioned, earlier, I think it is relevant, or at least possibly relevant for the question of why Brooks and the policemen acted in the way that they did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But, more importantly, I think it's relevant to the general issue, which is, after all, what everybody seems to think is the issue at hand - race, racism and race relations in America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's why it's relevant:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are thousands of Rayshard Brookses in every black neighborhood. This is a problem for some whites. It's a huge problem for most blacks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More than 150 years after emancipation and the end of the Civil War, much of the contemporary black community is riddled with pathologies - violent criminal behavior, especially of young black males, being the most obvious but not the only one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Chicago, blacks are 30 times more likely per capita than whites to commit murder. And the statistics are similar for other violent crimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Black citizens being violent, not white cops being racist, is one of the most pressing problems for many Americans, though again, blacks suffer from it much more than whites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Almost everyone knows this but almost no one will say it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And don't be precious about why they won't. It's gone from getting snubbed at polite parties, to getting deleted from Twitter, to losing one's job to getting a firebomb thrown through one's window.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe it's all due to systematic racism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I think you know what I think about that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What are the answers?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe if we burn down every inner city, give a few trillion to community organizations and say "black lives matter" a lot the other Rayshard Brookses of this world will pull up their pants and start listening to folk music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I think you also know what I think about that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Black Lives Matter people are right (though, obviously not in the way that they think). Rayshard Brooks wasn't just one instance of a man who made an ill-advised split-second decision that cost him his life, or, alternatively, a man who fell victim to the hasty actions of one racist cop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The life and death of Rayshard Brooks is emblematic for our time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What do you think?</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-87159087464896649242020-05-07T09:51:00.001-07:002020-05-08T06:22:42.171-07:00Review of "Covid-19" - the New Science Fiction Novel by Philip K. Dick<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCd2aV9vbbxulDbkRHgEsJIlk6IBY0id2ai3onuQE3vgnHpdmVm4qOxF10JZFmwPIJouWW0tUdl9EFkqfoFMur33t1cgxVIDwah0Uaca8nq9NDCTY4vXipWR8H_HdTD5k0E9InvXw4DWM/s1600/Philip+K+Dick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCd2aV9vbbxulDbkRHgEsJIlk6IBY0id2ai3onuQE3vgnHpdmVm4qOxF10JZFmwPIJouWW0tUdl9EFkqfoFMur33t1cgxVIDwah0Uaca8nq9NDCTY4vXipWR8H_HdTD5k0E9InvXw4DWM/s400/Philip+K+Dick.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Philip K Dick, author of Covid-19<br />"Flatten the curve, citizens!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Covid-19 by Philip K. Dick.</b></span></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New York: Ace Books, 1960. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fifty cents.</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In his latest novel Covid-19, the prolific Philip K. Dick describes a bizarre and psychedelic dystopian future, recalling but surpassing earlier efforts such as The Minority Report and The World Jones Made.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The story is set on earth, sixty years in the future. Men landed on the moon (in 1969!) but then ended active space exploration in favor of making endless trips to the "International Space Station" - a growing modular maze in low Earth orbit whose purpose is obscure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a weird touch, the narrator claims that technological innovation is now largely limited to "making computers smaller and smaller."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most nations on Earth are nominally democratic (communism seems to have been earlier abolished in a set of revolutions named after the colors of the rainbow) but in truth, the planet's population is largely under the control of a few giant corporations and mass-media enterprises including the sinisterly named "Facebook."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Books exist but no one reads them. A few years before, scientists had invented a means for most people to instantaneously communicate with anyone else on Earth. Many people, including virtually all intellectuals, are obsessed by this activity and spend most of their waking hours in what is likened to making bird calls or "tweeting".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The populace is kept under control by legal Marijuana dispensaries, door to door liquor deliveries and watching "streaming content" on giant color television sets (manufactured by slaves in an unnamed Asian tyranny). These "smart TV's" are actually semi-intelligent and write little personalized messages to viewers on their screens such as "If you liked the Honeymooners, you'll also like I Love Lucy."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The telephones, too, are "smart" and can be carried around in one's pocket, doubling as miniature televisions and enabling users to make their bird calls and access "the cloud" - a kind of memory bank housing an encyclopedia's worth of information - vetted and curated by the mega-corporations. The little telephones (each equipped with a homing device monitored by the corporations and the state) are also used to track people's movements.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Covid-19 is a plague-like virus - or so it is claimed by the media corporations - and the novel opens with the government of the United States imposing a "lockdown" on its population, allegedly to protect them and save millions of lives. It's a sort of loose but mandatory quarantine. People may buy food and visit the Marijuana dispensaries but only if they wear surgical masks. The giant televisions may be ordered using the "cloud" and are delivered by post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Flatten the curve, citizens!" is the government's slogan, referring to the statistical graph of how the disease allegedly spreads among the populace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Underneath its quasi-benign surface this "bread and circuses" future can also be brutal. Political demonstrations and protests are banned (in the interest of public health) and gatherings of more than a few people on street corners are sometimes violently broken up by police. When they're not bashing people with their fists or billy clubs, Dick has the policemen of 2020 using "tasers" - a sort of miniature harpoon that shoots out an electrified wire. The police also employ "drones" - small unmanned flying-saucer-like devices that fly around watching people and barking out orders - "by order of the California Health Department, move along now!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is Covid-19 real? Or is it just a means for the corporations to consolidate power?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel's heroine - a rare investigative reporter in the old style; in Dick's 2020, journalism as all but ceased to exist - is determined to find out. She discovers that many of the "fatalities" - the number of alleged Covid-19 deaths are morbidly updated on a sort of stock ticker message on the televisions - are fake. But there IS something real going on. Among other things, she discovers that the elderly in nursing homes are dying in droves. Is it the virus? Or are they being murdered? For what purpose?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dick has never seemed to be particularly friendly to organized religion. But in Covid-19, he poignantly describes believers, banned from attending church, watching "virtual" services on their telephones and televisions. Indeed, in his typical offbeat form Dick has religious fundamentalists team up with beatniks to resist the Covid-19 propaganda efforts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel ends on a semi-hopeful note. People start taking off their surgical masks. The air is clean and breathable. No one dies - despite the stock-ticker numbers. Some kind of revolution appears to be brewing, although the bad-guys may have further tricks up their sleeve: One of their leaders - a child-man named "Gates" who carries around a slide-rule everywhere - can be heard mumbling something about "vaccinations" on the final page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Covid-19 is another brilliant effort by Dick, who this reviewer believes will go down as one of the century's most influential science-fiction authors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is it a realistic depiction of a possible future? Of course not. Dick mixes hard scientific speculation - miniature televisions - with psychedelic fantasy - "tweeting". His visions are arguably prophetic but also twisted and verging on the comedic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Covid-19 future is rule by a sort of military-industrial complex as it might be portrayed in an Ernie Kovacs skit. If you want realism, read Isaac Asimov.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chicago, 7 May, 1960 </span>Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-5961334022127855222019-12-19T11:58:00.003-08:002019-12-19T15:36:26.203-08:00USCCB: Psst, we're Masons...but don't tell Michael or Steve.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3go9fOBTaQolHBi5PbqyJrLj6EJn67yEN0XZiwPkZXtMiaD4jKxrTSbdep2KQW42kMGyOy6oMJAjMIeGcmL6qkUww1kMA5uTy-uIrg5v4610c_QfEYR6Q2Wk5i7fc7W12tQkzS7vSmwg/s1600/USCCB+Masonic+Tweet+Full+Image.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="585" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3go9fOBTaQolHBi5PbqyJrLj6EJn67yEN0XZiwPkZXtMiaD4jKxrTSbdep2KQW42kMGyOy6oMJAjMIeGcmL6qkUww1kMA5uTy-uIrg5v4610c_QfEYR6Q2Wk5i7fc7W12tQkzS7vSmwg/s400/USCCB+Masonic+Tweet+Full+Image.png" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">Two days ago, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) tweeted this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rrbnXVo4pnpWCglawRYwFTBdJR_rTt6puhGRpn81toMo4RJVqVrcD7v6p4gmQvWa7MLhuJq3QZeRaeCEH7_peYRC9gszsqtdWNgKjhcaxJB4SWfYH8klOpDU3fFBgYt5gOKQwbm5RNA/s1600/USCCB+Masonic+Tweet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="597" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rrbnXVo4pnpWCglawRYwFTBdJR_rTt6puhGRpn81toMo4RJVqVrcD7v6p4gmQvWa7MLhuJq3QZeRaeCEH7_peYRC9gszsqtdWNgKjhcaxJB4SWfYH8klOpDU3fFBgYt5gOKQwbm5RNA/s400/USCCB+Masonic+Tweet.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">See the header picture for the full image.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">Did the USCCB actually just tweet out a Masonic symbol?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Judging from the replies, many Catholics had no doubt: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimC0p9YaQnmU3vYLtqfxSpscONjaEkbjAJEC_l4paIzQoOdyTH5W2A-ECaOzC8Es0dHSnH_Wod7YnG03smz-ESxAG6sa2-9N_gJ5FtzLqgXOYMfw5pYeZPXxBirqlzysMHYfhYlGhqA0/s1600/Replies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="610" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimC0p9YaQnmU3vYLtqfxSpscONjaEkbjAJEC_l4paIzQoOdyTH5W2A-ECaOzC8Es0dHSnH_Wod7YnG03smz-ESxAG6sa2-9N_gJ5FtzLqgXOYMfw5pYeZPXxBirqlzysMHYfhYlGhqA0/s400/Replies.png" width="313" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On his <i><a href="https://nonvenipacem.com/2019/12/19/usccb-going-full-frontal-freemasonry/">non veni pacem</a></i> blog Mark Docherty published some actual Masonic images to dramatize the similarities. Take a look again at the image above. Now look at these: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aDJgQvf-XB7gwSMK2DRpq1zwXj8SlP51O6dR9fnSj2pHj8srTZcTW1ZW_Ad2OkVO0K8Q9tosNmcqc4zQ_nOtE3lLpzRGk-QhBoH-PDOSj7NjYYd5Guv9NItHc4w9MMS0Pc7ApCz5yt4/s1600/Masonic+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="524" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aDJgQvf-XB7gwSMK2DRpq1zwXj8SlP51O6dR9fnSj2pHj8srTZcTW1ZW_Ad2OkVO0K8Q9tosNmcqc4zQ_nOtE3lLpzRGk-QhBoH-PDOSj7NjYYd5Guv9NItHc4w9MMS0Pc7ApCz5yt4/s400/Masonic+1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6JoiAF76jdCEsALgq8JE5B-soJNjiMjkoIBg1sn0qi1pq5lRO5Uh1DZUbqTc1wzuaW1mDMq59z7BwugeG5hyphenhyphenacVf-yhy9ZO5iK4VBVec7qAx0zcKdj8Azysb1I8GZV6pSiaWyi01bzo/s1600/Masonic+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="673" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6JoiAF76jdCEsALgq8JE5B-soJNjiMjkoIBg1sn0qi1pq5lRO5Uh1DZUbqTc1wzuaW1mDMq59z7BwugeG5hyphenhyphenacVf-yhy9ZO5iK4VBVec7qAx0zcKdj8Azysb1I8GZV6pSiaWyi01bzo/s400/Masonic+2.png" width="331" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0gVeMSHnYf_CLpDr3mRommYWHbW23UOjFZ1dh7jSzNJc7OgvUVIOtm8KW8jza24Sz1AKl2hb-_IozlEO4gZEgq43SAdUpYLHrgCEAzvp2rQRqp3zgolqWpz22bhH81ah8CsUr3Wmz3w/s1600/Masonic+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="522" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0gVeMSHnYf_CLpDr3mRommYWHbW23UOjFZ1dh7jSzNJc7OgvUVIOtm8KW8jza24Sz1AKl2hb-_IozlEO4gZEgq43SAdUpYLHrgCEAzvp2rQRqp3zgolqWpz22bhH81ah8CsUr3Wmz3w/s400/Masonic+3.png" width="233" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I said "many" Twitter Catholics had no doubt what was going on. But, in fact, among those who replied to the USCCB's tweet, it wasn't many but <i>all.</i> There are currently 73 Replies to the tweet. Every one of them, in expressions ranging from anger to humor to incredulity, agreed that the symbol is Masonic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every. Single. One.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As far as I can see, no one is defending the USCCB on this, at least in that Twitter stream. The closest a few have come is to say something like, okay we know you're not really Masons but why are you being so stupid as to make people think that you are?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or, rather, one account did defend the tweet - their own:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir48uT5kBAHiaz0PgsKFEB0RHs8STVByN0qeo0_yrxRJomrDSIl-PJSlkoy3hMTyqPTPd9OfDAxiCkWbvDIHbAwrVAzCwYl1lhRhLFHoKL-U74SiNi_jCLrSMe-DNejdOxcfMMzuaFUCs/s1600/USCCB+Explanation+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="599" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir48uT5kBAHiaz0PgsKFEB0RHs8STVByN0qeo0_yrxRJomrDSIl-PJSlkoy3hMTyqPTPd9OfDAxiCkWbvDIHbAwrVAzCwYl1lhRhLFHoKL-U74SiNi_jCLrSMe-DNejdOxcfMMzuaFUCs/s400/USCCB+Explanation+1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcXNvDWR9XcPkV6ZjU2ck_VIVELm6fNwEBQ-TWduBTQxDTfvcK504lRcTNlkBC-gMOFFO2iG6eMqkzP7Hw3MUs7Mo5pBB-cTeB0TDdhG94RrM9utCY-f-hyF2eWjxM9Rz-PrVTSb8EzU0/s1600/USCCB+Explanation+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="597" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcXNvDWR9XcPkV6ZjU2ck_VIVELm6fNwEBQ-TWduBTQxDTfvcK504lRcTNlkBC-gMOFFO2iG6eMqkzP7Hw3MUs7Mo5pBB-cTeB0TDdhG94RrM9utCY-f-hyF2eWjxM9Rz-PrVTSb8EzU0/s400/USCCB+Explanation+2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXQkL9qoxUJONm388CxKlVo-8h7AtU8QtQ9nIjBK5u-7aDcgVpNHi1fSh_gOE7DkgGc8SpM32fBP3aO2UPVNUbQjU7tsAczbKnA6sz5N9CFl2yi-MScYEpFFOsLakCQqWeUuabocT3eQ/s1600/USCCB+Explanation+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="598" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXQkL9qoxUJONm388CxKlVo-8h7AtU8QtQ9nIjBK5u-7aDcgVpNHi1fSh_gOE7DkgGc8SpM32fBP3aO2UPVNUbQjU7tsAczbKnA6sz5N9CFl2yi-MScYEpFFOsLakCQqWeUuabocT3eQ/s400/USCCB+Explanation+3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See, even though <i>every single person</i> who commented though it was a Masonic symbol, i</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t's actually just a benign representation of the trinity and God's omnipresence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's also an oil lamp:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJud-iMEA1X2oVfP5Y_siDRMWUYR7cXASOHfDDgPaYRT5G-pLxl9Ff7RsKImOriKcYXStJHp3RtNhv89R0q3x5nSAGSAm4GvYUkooYSn0UaKbYz5F0rm9d0Dp5I3_IGZceHH3ygS-48EM/s1600/Oil+Lamp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="598" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJud-iMEA1X2oVfP5Y_siDRMWUYR7cXASOHfDDgPaYRT5G-pLxl9Ff7RsKImOriKcYXStJHp3RtNhv89R0q3x5nSAGSAm4GvYUkooYSn0UaKbYz5F0rm9d0Dp5I3_IGZceHH3ygS-48EM/s400/Oil+Lamp.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sorry for the confusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Are the members of the USCCB Freemasons? Let's stipulate that they're not. Rather, let's assume that they are exactly what they appear to be - a group of vaguely apostate aging homosexuals who when they're not reminiscing about their faster romantic lives back in the day do a bit of caring about immigrants and the poor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They wouldn't know a Mason from a Mason jar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But then why are they trying to look like Masons? Why would any non-Mason want to do that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or if they really are Masons, Isn't part of the point that one tries to hide it? It's a conspiracy, after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's as if they want people to know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe the stars are right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But here's one final detail:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">73 out of 73 tweet replies were negative. The USCCB left its tweet up and left the replies up. Except, sort of, for one. They actually </span><i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">hid</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> one of them.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBP1rFDfKFOIJg3vYY21cOgLbEA67_HVggwAFC5ySesin3rEzpsZc5QfRm1tAmwYcyJCUZy1S1wfHpVzkvuZkRtiTjnMSJTCZ377VrXqxBV2cMt-EpgOLcZ1el-WnMzYDOHUstd0ODPIc/s1600/Twitter+Hidden+Replies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="369" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBP1rFDfKFOIJg3vYY21cOgLbEA67_HVggwAFC5ySesin3rEzpsZc5QfRm1tAmwYcyJCUZy1S1wfHpVzkvuZkRtiTjnMSJTCZ377VrXqxBV2cMt-EpgOLcZ1el-WnMzYDOHUstd0ODPIc/s400/Twitter+Hidden+Replies.png" width="296" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I saw this, I wondered. What tweet could be so bad that they would want to hide it? I assumed it was filled with profanity or it called them poofters or whatever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They want you to know but they don't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They want you to know but on their terms. The don't want the story getting into the, as it were, wrong hands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They want to <i>control the narrative</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this is how the fiendishly clever social media people at the USCCB attempted to control the narrative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And that's why they're paid the big bucks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is what they hid:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUBA3pt4ICUq102eaztNpla-cnQlWfe6_ucfP0TfjvnPrV66OqTID5ynkQOFMbVYtFWHE795NV1IuQnK79XiNiAzRYGiJFXwaDrbZzM6Ha_jxkFRrqTomA02VIlTYuGUCzTXvMjJ2Y7Q/s1600/Don%2527t+tell+Michael+or+Steve.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="593" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUBA3pt4ICUq102eaztNpla-cnQlWfe6_ucfP0TfjvnPrV66OqTID5ynkQOFMbVYtFWHE795NV1IuQnK79XiNiAzRYGiJFXwaDrbZzM6Ha_jxkFRrqTomA02VIlTYuGUCzTXvMjJ2Y7Q/s400/Don%2527t+tell+Michael+or+Steve.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Psst, we're Masons. But don't tell Michael or Steve.</span>Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-256299351643761802019-11-09T05:23:00.000-08:002019-11-09T05:23:15.088-08:00The Best Short Explanation for Why the USS Liberty Conspiracy Theory is Off-Base<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygZTtwzmYOPF1C_gWwqQpnygWecj1dJMPddeZ-87i1immvnOLsox7WOaK9SCMxGH2o2LfDsfo6jII1W-cOthjLqh7wCXD25VBuNN2ltCBY3GoxTBMFO7vhqxRhVzkqxLsY5IKY50h1H8/s1600/USS+LIBERTY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="600" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygZTtwzmYOPF1C_gWwqQpnygWecj1dJMPddeZ-87i1immvnOLsox7WOaK9SCMxGH2o2LfDsfo6jII1W-cOthjLqh7wCXD25VBuNN2ltCBY3GoxTBMFO7vhqxRhVzkqxLsY5IKY50h1H8/s400/USS+LIBERTY.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The USS Liberty after being attacked by Israeli warplanes</span></td></tr>
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The blogger behind <a href="https://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/">A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics</a> has written a neat little summary of the issues surrounding the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. It is contained within a larger piece discussing the anti-Israeli views of some traditionalist Catholics and other members of the anti-establishment right.</div>
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<span class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first encountered USS Liberty conspiracy people on the left. Since anti-Israel and outright anti-semitic views now largely emanate from the left, this was not surprising. But it's also not surprising to learn that some of them can be now be found among nationalists, America Firsters, hard-core Trumpers, "groypers" and the like.</span></div>
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<span class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suppose I'm in some ways a nationalist and America Firster, but I also believe that there's no better way to put America First than to often put Israel first, at least among our allies. It's prudential as well as just.</span></div>
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<span class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's right, justice isn't only for Catholics.</span></div>
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<span class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, Israel didn't deliberately or intentionally attack the USS Liberty. It's a silly and more and more often malicious conspiracy theory. What follows is one of the best short explanations as to why the theory is off-base.</span><blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, is one of those incidents in history that has attracted far more attention and controversy than it has any right to. A US surveillance ship in international waters was attacked by Isreali fighter aircraft on the 4th day of the Six Day War. Israeli aircraft were constantly traversing this region of the Mediterranean going to and from targets in Egypt, whose military they obliterated in the course of a few days. The USS Liberty was in the area under NSA orders to gather intelligence on both sides, but particularly the Egyptians, who used mostly Soviet hardware. The ship was strafed and torpedoed repeatedly, with 34 men killed, 171 wounded, and the ship almost sunk.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Israel quickly apologized for the attack and paid some degree of compensation, but ever since, many people, including a number of the Liberty’s survivors, have claimed that the vessel was deliberately attacked by Israel, for what reason is never quite made clear, or makes much sense. The US was at that time Israel’s largest and just about only ally. How Israel would benefit from this attack is also far from clear.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, some survivors and those who feel the attack was deliberately made claim, Israel had to know it was a US ship! It was flying an American flag! Israel had been notified of the ship’s presence! Unfortunately, the notification of the ship’s presence never made it to the Israeli Air Force and the squadron involved in the attack. False reports of Egyptian ships shelling Israeli units in Sinai caused alarm in Israel’s chain of command. Aircraft were dispatched to investigate. They found the Liberty, and attacked.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But still, the flag! They should have known it was a US ship! Also, the Liberty was a converted freighter, which looks nothing like a warship. They should have, they must have known.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is where a little knowledge of military history enters in. In fact, misidentification of ships by aircraft is a constant, severe, and ongoing problem. Air force pilots are rarely well trained in ship identification. Even naval aviation pilots often make severe mistakes. How severe? A few examples: </span></blockquote>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">British pilots attacked US ships in several of the Malta convoys during WWII in the same region – the Mediterranean. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">US pilots at Coral Sea, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, and the Philippine Sea constantly misreported attacks. The Japanese did the same in all these battles, and more. The Japs sank USS Neosho, an 8000 ton oiler, at the Coral Sea, and thought they had sunk the USS Lexington, a 40,000 ton, 900 foot long aircraft carrier (they did, later). US pilots reported sinking battleships and aircraft carriers when they had actually slightly damaged a freighter or a destroyer. US pilots attacked US ships. German pilots attacked Italian ships. This kind of thing happened all the time. There were literally dozens of such incidents. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the invasion of Sicily, Allied warplanes attacked allied ships of the invasion fleet right off the coast, in spite being briefed that is exactly where they would be! </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And these were largely aircraft piloted by very experienced men who were experts in identifying ships! It goes to show how incredibly difficult it is to ID a ship from a fast moving aircraft. And fast moving is very relative. Those mistakes in WWII were made by men flying aircraft at perhaps 250 kts. A jet fighter will be going twice that speed, making identification all the more difficult. During the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident, Vice Admiral and later Vice Presidential candidate James Stockdale came within an ace of unloading his ordinance on a US destroyer, mistaking it for a North Vietnamese PT boat, which is about 1/6th the size of a destroyer.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same applies to the torpedo boats which attacked the Liberty. While not as common as aircraft friendly fire attacks on ships, in the fog of war instances of “blue on blue” or accidental attacks by surface ships are still quite frequent. During WWII, the motor torpedo boats – PT boats in US parlance – were a frequent source of accidental, US-on-US attacks. One particularly famous incident was during the 2nd Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, when the US’ best battleship admiral in history, Willis Augustus Lee, had to make an emergency, plain-language, unencrypted call to the nearby PT boat squadron base to keep them from attacking his ships. And that, too, was a close run thing. Now, most of these same side surface ship attacks occurred at night, when visibility is of course much worse, but they have been known to happen at day. So, what happened with the Liberty is not all that surprising.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I think that’s one of the reasons this has become such a persistent conspiracy theory, one maintained, to a large degree, by some of the Liberty’s survivors. If I’m right, their suffering and the deaths of their friends were the result of an accident, and thus devoid of meaning. That’s a hard thing to take. It’s too much for some people. So, instead of accepting this likelihood, they have created a mythos that the attack was deliberate.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read the rest of the piece, where the blogger more generally discusses the phenomenon of anti-Israeli sentiment among some on the right, <a href="https://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2019/11/08/the-uss-liberty-incident-as-a-basis-for-anti-israel-us-policy/">here</a>.</span></div>
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Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-32238195543615136702019-11-08T10:19:00.001-08:002019-11-08T10:19:17.341-08:00Cupich Weighs in on Pachamama "Vandalism" - "I learned a great deal from the Lakota people."<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5dtpS89R60ZLXz9JbKRDmKjbdtf8Bw20NaiZFHzVcp538ZgzWLx4Arkgp-EQjznHKAm8ugOEIOFcs599e1wZDEPA2FxdbJs9xzmDI91Y8ZhfdTwNLzVDT9vaRUKEeFcdFSQCqHfquIWE/s1600/Cupich+Lakota.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5dtpS89R60ZLXz9JbKRDmKjbdtf8Bw20NaiZFHzVcp538ZgzWLx4Arkgp-EQjznHKAm8ugOEIOFcs599e1wZDEPA2FxdbJs9xzmDI91Y8ZhfdTwNLzVDT9vaRUKEeFcdFSQCqHfquIWE/s400/Cupich+Lakota.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">R to L: Cardinal Cupich (then Bishop of Rapid City),<br />Bishop Lynch of St. Petersburg and Crazy Horse </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This article appeared Wednesday in Chicago Catholic, the biweekly newspaper of the Chicago Archdiocese. Other than inserting the fun picture, above, and noting that in his article, Cupich never once actually uses the word "Pachamama", I'm just going to leave it here without comment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cardinal Blase J. Cupich</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Inculturation: A two-way street</b></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday, November 6, 2019</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During last month’s Synod for the Amazon held in Rome, an incident occurred that outraged many people. Early one morning, two people removed from the Church of St. Mary in Traspontina statues that were used in the opening ceremonies of the synod — and threw them into the Tiber River.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The artwork from the Amazon region depicted a pregnant woman, a symbol of motherhood and the sacredness of life, that represents for indigenous peoples the bond humanity has with our “mother earth,” much as St. Francis of Assisi portrayed in his Canticle of the Creatures. As a further act of contempt, those responsible posted a video online showing them leaving the church with the statues and tossing them into the river. The public celebration of this act was done in the name of defending Catholic tradition and doctrine, as the perpetrators claimed the statues were pagan idols and had no place in a Catholic Church.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s admit that the statutes originate from a religious culture that is pre-Christian or considered “pagan.” What is the church’s approach as it engages such cultures? From the early days of the church, Christians believed that the seeds of faith have been planted in the hearts of all human beings, even before the Word of God is proclaimed. As such, the early church welcomed people of every culture, realizing that both the cultures and the church are enhanced in coming to know God.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A 1994 document issued by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship, “Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy,” speaks of the double movement of “inculturation.” On the one hand, the spiritual qualities and gifts proper to each people are brought to fruition in a way that “strengthens these qualities, perfects them and restores them in Christ” (Gaudium et Spes, 58). “On the other hand,” the text continues, “the church assimilates these values when they are compatible with the Gospel, ‘to deepen understanding of Christ’s message and give it more effective expression in the liturgy and in the many different aspects of the life of the community of believers’ (Gaudium et Spes, 58). This double movement in the work of inculturation thus expresses one of the component elements of the mystery of the incarnation.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The newly canonized St. John Henry Newman reminded Christians in the 19th century to approach other cultures, even if they are non-Christian, with humility. In his 1878 “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,” he noted that the church has always adopted pagan elements in its traditions and especially its liturgical rites:</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees, incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water, asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the church.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was pleased that a Vatican spokesman cited this passage in response to the vandalism in Rome.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The starting point for coming to a proper understanding of inculturation in our tradition, then, is the humble recognition that, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets and in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.” God has revealed himself in human living, in an incarnational way, and the fullness of the Incarnate God is the person of Jesus.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my years serving as the bishop in western South Dakota, I learned a great deal from the Lakota people. For instance, they helped me to better understand Catholic teaching on the communion of saints. The Lakota have a rich tradition of honoring their ancestors. The curtain between time and eternity is much thinner for them, which has much to say to us Christians who live in a Western culture where the sense of the eternal or life beyond this world is losing meaning.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our tradition and my own experiences have taught me that our approach to other cultures always must be done with humility, but also curiosity, always open to how God’s self-revelation can be better understood in the double movement inculturation implies. At the heart of our tradition of inculturation is the fundamental belief that God desires the salvation of all he has created. A recent passage we read in our liturgy from the Book of Wisdom testifies to this belief in praising God with these words: “You have mercy on all because you love all things that are.”</span></blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-82247938357060653502019-11-07T08:59:00.002-08:002019-11-07T09:02:39.984-08:00Mary Cain is a Fragile Flower<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXqEm2QpQqkDF0y43xpwiXTzn28EseiUqP9eg6Ej-RMnGqgnn2xFHZqRiG5yy_F67JNNIxqQrlriFPRwEdmeFWc3447PrT-uAW-GAae1g9J8YKjjOGVbwR3cvEhV-GYM9BfHGZyBLPGA/s1600/Mary+Cain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="589" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXqEm2QpQqkDF0y43xpwiXTzn28EseiUqP9eg6Ej-RMnGqgnn2xFHZqRiG5yy_F67JNNIxqQrlriFPRwEdmeFWc3447PrT-uAW-GAae1g9J8YKjjOGVbwR3cvEhV-GYM9BfHGZyBLPGA/s400/Mary+Cain.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American track athlete, Mary Cain, in a recent New York Times "Equal Play" video</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">See the end of this post for the text of today's recent New York Times "Opinion" piece by Mary Cain. Click the link to the </i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">NYT</span><i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> site to view the video.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary Cain, 23, is an elite American runner who started winning national races while still a teenager. After graduating high-school she joined Nike's famed Oregon Project under world-renowned runner and coach Alberto Salazar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While with the Oregon Project Cain had a number of good races, but many felt that she hadn't lived quite up to her potential; her personal best times all date from 2013 or 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not unusual for teenage athletes to fail to live up to their potential. Elite distance running for both men and women is incredibly competitive, and athletes of any age gain or fall back relative to their peers for a variety of reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But Mary Cain now alleges that it was the Oregon Project that was responsible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This of course may very well be true. Even the best coaches or training regimes may not be right for everyone. While Salazar and the Project had a number of apparent successes, training world champions Galen Rupp and Mo Farah, among others, they also have had their share of disappointments or "failures" including Mary Cain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Oregon Project was recently forced to shut down amidst blood-doping allegations, and Salazar has been suspended from coaching for four-years. Salazar and other principles have denied the charges.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Salazar may be guilty of involvement in blood-doping. Or not. But as a younger athlete he was a hero - arguably the greatest runner the United States ever produced. See an earlier post I wrote about his extraordinary story - <a href="http://mahoundsparadise.blogspot.com/2016/08/when-catholic-gutted-it-out-to-win-most.html">When a Catholic Gutted it Out to Win the Most Exciting Boston Marathon in History</a>.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now Cain is alleging that she was physically and emotionally abused by the coaching techniques of Salazar and others with the Project. She was "weight-shamed" and an extreme emphasis on being thin led her to break five bones. She became emotionally distressed due to the abusive atmosphere and began "cutting" herself. Salazar, she claims, was indifferent to her distress. She told her parents and they urged her to take the next plane home. And so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She also claims that the Project was tailored to men and the requirements of men's bodies and was indifferent to the different requirements of women to the point of being physically destructive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Salazar has denied most of her specific allegations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have absolutely no idea whether those claims are true. I certainly wouldn't be surprised to learn that they are at least half-true. Nike's Oregon Project, even before the recent scandal, had a reputation for being incredibly intense, with elite athletes living and eating together in a quasi-artificial and high-pressure environment. Nike and Salazar wanted to win. Many of their athletes did win and win big.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nike (and perhaps even Salazar) may not exactly have had the overall "wellness" of their athletes in mind. Or not. Again, I have no idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But one thing I can be fairly certain of is that Nike or Salazar would not have <i>intentionally</i> trained its male or female athletes (each of whom they spent a great deal of money on) in a way calculated to destroy their ability to successfully compete. That's just common sense. Of course, they may well have simply erred or misjudged the best training methods for one or more of their runners. It happens, though, again, keep in mind that the entire point of the project (with its high monetary costs) was geared towards <i>winning</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But here's the point. Elite coaches for elite athletes always make extraordinary physical demands. Depending on the sport, some of these demands may even be "damaging" in to the emotional or even long-term physical health of their athletes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, some coaches are bastards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whether that's "right" or "wrong" is not the point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Men, and more and more recently, women have been experiencing all of this since competitive sports were invented. But in most cases for, unless one was living in a communist country, there was always a sort of solution: If you don't like your coach, if you feel that he or she is not right for you for whatever reason, find another one. At the extreme, if you're on a team or whatever and switching coaches is not an option, then stop competing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm not trying to sound like a tough guy, here. Bad or bastard coaches have ruined careers, as well as other things. I'm against this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or you might just have a non-bad or non-bastard coach who is not right for <i>you</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And of course, illegal drugs, blood-doping and other sorts of cheating have been a scourge in many sports (though in fairness, it's very often the athletes themselves, not the coaches, that drive this).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, of course, I'm talking about adult athletes, not children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary Cain, an adult, albeit a young one, chose to stay with the Oregon Project for years, even when it was allegedly prescribing for her illegal and physically damaging drugs. It didn't work out for her, competitively and (she now alleges) emotionally or physically. But now, at the precise point that Salazar and the Oregon Project have been cast, rightly or wrongly, as the bad guys, she's jumping on the bandwagon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They harassed me. They abused me. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's sexist. It's their fault.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They weight-shamed me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm a "strong woman" say some who are not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But of course the vast majority of elite female athletes are strong women.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brigid Kosgei, who </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in the most recent Chicago Marathon </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">beat the 16-year standing women's marathon record by 81 seconds, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is a strong woman</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Emma Bates, the 1st-place American (4th-place overall) in that same race is a strong woman. With a time of 2:25:27 she would have beaten the male winner of the 1948 Olympic Marathon by 7 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Manuela Schaer won the female wheelchair category in 1:41:08. She would have beaten the top men's wheelchair time just a few years ago. She is a strong Swiss woman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary Cain is a fragile flower.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/opinion/nike-running-mary-cain.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">New York Times</a>, 10/7/19:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Opinion</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike</b></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mary Cain’s male coaches were convinced she had to get “thinner, and thinner, and thinner.” Then her body started breaking down.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By Mary Cain</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mary Cain became, in 2013, the youngest American track and field athlete to make a World Championships team.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>“Equal Play” is an Opinion video series showcasing the insurgent athletes who are dragging women’s sports into the 21st century. The article below is by Lindsay Crouse.</i></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At 17, Mary Cain was already a record-breaking phenom: the fastest girl in a generation, and the youngest American track and field athlete to make a World Championships team. In 2013, she was signed by the best track team in the world, Nike’s Oregon Project, run by its star coach Alberto Salazar.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then everything collapsed. Her fall was just as spectacular as her rise, and she shares that story for the first time in the Video Op-Ed above.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instead of becoming a symbol of girls’ unlimited potential in sports, Cain became yet another standout young athlete who got beaten down by a win-at-all-costs culture. Girls like Cain become damaged goods and fade away. We rarely hear what happened to them. We move on.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The problem is so common it affected the only other female athlete featured in the last Nike video ad Cain appeared in, the figure skater Gracie Gold. When the ad came out in 2014, like Cain, Gold was a prodigy considered talented enough to win a gold medal at the next Olympics. And, like Cain, Gold got caught in a system where she was compelled to become thinner and thinner. Gold developed disordered eating to the point of imagining taking her life.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nike has come under fire in recent months for doping charges involving Salazar. He is now banned from the sport for four years, and his elite Nike team has been dismantled. In October, Nike’s chief executive resigned. (In an email, Salazar denied many of Cain’s claims, and said he had supported her health and welfare. Nike did not respond to a request for comment.)</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The culture that created Salazar remains.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kara Goucher, an Olympic distance runner who trained with the same program under Salazar until 2011, said she experienced a similar environment, with teammates weighed in front of one another.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“When you’re training in a program like this, you’re constantly reminded how lucky you are to be there, how anyone would want to be there, and it’s this weird feeling of, ‘Well, then, I can’t leave it. Who am I without it?’” Goucher said. “When someone proposes something you don’t want to do, whether it’s weight loss or drugs, you wonder, ‘Is this what it takes? Maybe it is, and I don’t want to have regrets.’ Your careers are so short. You are desperate. You want to capitalize on your career, but you’re not sure at what cost.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She said that after being cooked meager meals by an assistant coach, she often had to eat more in the privacy of her condo room, nervous he would hear her open the wrappers of the energy bars she had there.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A big part of this problem is that women and girls are being forced to meet athletic standards that are based on how men and boys develop. If you try to make a girl fit a boy’s development timeline, her body is at risk of breaking down. That is what happened to Cain.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After months of dieting and frustration, Cain found herself choosing between training with the best team in the world, or potentially developing osteoporosis or even infertility. She lost her period for three years and broke five bones. She went from being a once-in-a-generation Olympic hopeful to having suicidal thoughts.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“America loves a good child prodigy story, and business is ready and waiting to exploit that story, especially when it comes to girls,” said Lauren Fleshman, who ran for Nike until 2012. “When you have these kinds of good girls, girls who are good at following directions to the point of excelling, you’ll find a system that’s happy to take them. And it’s rife with abuse.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We don’t typically hear from the casualties of these systems — the girls who tried to make their way in this system until their bodies broke down and they left the sport. It’s easier to focus on bright new stars, while forgetting about those who faded away. We fetishize the rising athletes, but we don’t protect them.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And if they fail to pull off what we expect them to, we abandon them.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary Cain is 23, and her story certainly isn’t over. By speaking out, she’s making sure of that.</span></blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-29384395777749949532019-11-06T08:16:00.001-08:002019-11-06T08:18:35.503-08:00British Blogger for Counter-Jihad Website Fahrenheit211 Arrested By "Hate Crime and Hate Speech" Police - Door Battered in, Computer and Other Items Confiscated <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>UPDATE: The <a href="https://twitter.com/fahrenheit211">Twitter account</a> for Fahrenheit211 has been suspended. I have no idea when this occurred.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who/what is Fahrenheit211?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a British blog/website that is anti-PC, pro-free-speech and anti-Jihad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If I may say so, it's a bit like Mahound's Paradise, except that it's much more professionally presented and the author isn't a Catholic (he seems to be a quasi-secular Jew).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two weeks ago, six police officers from London Mayor Sadiq Khan's "Hate Crime and Hate Speech" unit battered down the door of the blogger's home, confiscated computer equipment and phones, handcuffed him in front of his young son and took him away in a police van.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since by his own account the blogger lives 150 miles from London, it's unclear to me how this particular police unit had the authority to do this. But I'm not an expert on British legal jurisdiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of the blogger's own account of these events will be presented at the bottom of this post (reprinted from <a href="https://www.jihadwatch.org/">Jihad Watch</a>) but I wanted first to give a flavor of the site from its own <a href="https://www.fahrenheit211.net/about/">About</a> section. Apologies if the explanation for very name of the site has a PG rating:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Welcome to fahrenheit 211 – the temperature at which I believe piss boils...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m a centre right, reasonably free thinking person with interests in theology and politics expressed in an eclectic and often poorly spelt manner...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not racist but has a profound distrust and dislike of political correctness and the use of speech codes in order shut down debates...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Concerned with the growth of Radical Islam.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Concerned about the infiltration of institutions by the leftists and their fellow travellers...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Definitely anti Labour, sometimes anti Tory and often anti Lib Dem...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reluctant Monarchist (it’s better than the alternatives -President Clegg anyone?)</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m a supporter of British Troops and believe that they are treated scandalously by all governments. I wouldn’t want the military to run the country though.</span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Democracy although imperfect is better than that. To paraphrase Churchill it’s the least worst option.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m a supporter of liberal (in the classic sense of the word not the left-wing appropriation of the word) religious causes and although I admire those who have the personal strength to follow strict personal religious rules I know that it’s not for everyone and these extra rules shouldn’t be applied to everyone...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m a great supporter of the State of Israel and I admire it’s people and the way it manages itself. It is not perfect (what nation is). It is however the only working functional democracy in the Middle East and therefore needs to be supported...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although I have spiritual beliefs of my own I am an equal opportunities attacker of all religions including my own...I don’t gratuitously take the piss out of people’s faith but on the other hand I don’t really care if your offended at reasonable criticism of the way that you follow your particular sky pixie, as far as I’m concerned taking the piss out of Islam is justified.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I ALWAYS however take the piss out of Lefties.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don’t trust local govt and believe it needs radical reform including making it do LESS.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don’t trust those who mindlessly promote expansionist religious ideas (Mostly this concerns Islam but Christians do it too but in different ways however a Christian is less likely these days...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe in low taxation and personal freedom and responsibility.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don’t encourage violence but non violent self-defence in the first instance is to me morally acceptable. In challenging things like expansionist religions or dodgy politicos or whatever I would always advise that people take the peaceful legal road...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why this Blog exists</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because: ’I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore’.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Moderation policy basically there isn’t one but I will delete stuff that is gratuitously libellous, is porn is spam, is rabid conspiracy theorist rubbish, or which has links to the David Icke or Alex Jones sites or posts that I take a random dislike to although I will try to explain why I dislike a particular post or comment...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Islamists, Hitler worshippers (sometimes coming in the same package with certain Islamists sadly) tin foil hatters and similar loons can expect their textual frothing rubbish to be either deleted or seriously ripped to shreds...</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In other words, with his riffs against Alex Jones, etc. he appears to be a sort of <i>moderate</i> "mad as hell" person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That works for me, I'm adding him to my blog roll. If you have non-Catholic blogs on yours, I ask you to also consider it. It's the least you can do for a jailbird. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I half-like Alex Jones, but still.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is the <a href="https://www.fahrenheit211.net/">Fahrenheit211</a> Homepage (Big Ad-Brother knows I smoke cigars):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And here is </span><a href="https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/11/uk-jewish-conservatives-door-broken-down-he-is-handcuffed-and-jailed-on-suspicion-of-islamophobia" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">his account</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> of the recent unpleasant events:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before I begin this piece I would like to ask readers NOT to contact any of the individuals named in this article. This is because to do so could be construed as ‘Perverting the Course of Justice’ and that is in British law an offence. I respectfully request that you the reader do nothing that could be seen as ‘perverting justice’. As an aside, the information that I am sharing is not that much different from what Count Dankula shared when he was arrested for a bullshit ‘hate speech’ crime, so I do not believe that any of the information that I’m sharing is privileged in any way or that sharing it constitutes any offense.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so the story begins…</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Tuesday the 22nd October, at approximately 07:15, whilst I was getting my four year old child ready for school, there was a rather aggressive knock at my front door. I opened the door and found a whole bunch of police officers who wanted me to come out and ‘talk to them’. Knowing what the modern day British police are like in too many cases, which is thuggish and dishonest, I shut the door in their faces. The police do not turn up mob handed merely to have ‘a chat’. Instead I picked up the handset for my entryphone, which is remotely recorded, and spoke to the officer’s via that method.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I politely requested that they state the reason why they were at my front door and they said ‘we just want to talk’ and ‘you must come outside to speak’. They refused my request that I would speak to them via the window and insisted that I come out. Whilst this was going on I was watching what was happening on CCTV, the footage of which is now secured off site. I could see at least six police officers swarming around my front garden and to my back garden to which they had gained access. There were I observed, four officers in the front and two in the back.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The officer who appeared to be leading this mob of officers, kept saying ‘we want you to come outside so we can talk to you’. Of course I refused. This is because I know from other cases of a similar nature where the police have said this that this is a ruse to gain entry to a property so that they can later say that the occupier ‘invited’ them in. The lead officer, whom I later found out was PC Choudhury of Sidcup who is attached to Sadiq Khan’s ‘hate crime and hate speech’ unit, became ever more threatening and aggressive in his tone and refused to state exactly why he and the rest of the officers were there. He and the other officers kept shouting through the door that if I did not open the door then they would break it down. Because I did not want my son exposed to what the police were obviously going to do I sent him upstairs with my wife.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After about five minutes or so of these officers banging on the front door and issuing threats to break it down and officers menacingly patrolling my back garden, an officer, who at this point I cannot positively identify, brought up what looked like a battering ram. The officers were shouting through the door ‘we are going to break the door down now’.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the officers said they would, they smashed the lock on my front door causing approximately £100 worth of damage. At least three officers, one of whom was PC Choudhury, rushed into the house and into the kitchen at the back of the house. PC Choudhury then cautioned me, arrested me for ‘Malicious communication and racial and religious hatred’ and put me in handcuffs. They guided me out into the front garden where they searched me and then put me in the back of a police van and took me to the local police station. Whilst I was being searched in the front garden my son escaped from his Mum and ran downstairs to the front door and say his daddy being searched and taken away by police. If I recall correctly I turned to my son and said to him ‘don’t worry, it will be all right, daddy loves you’. He’s been asking me ‘are the policemen going to come back again?’ I will never forgive or forget the trauma that these officers put my child through.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before I was put in the police van I noticed that a considerable amount of police resources had been put into this arrest and there were at least two police cars present along with the van. I found out later that PC Choudhury and his Met Police civilian assistant, had traveled up the night before, distance of 150 miles and had stayed, at the taxpayers expense, in one of my city’s poshest hotels at a roughly estimated cost including meals of at least £150 per night. It’s good to know that Sadiq Khan’s ‘hate crime and hate speech’ unit is spending Londoners’ money so sensibly isn’t it? Maybe the Met has run out of real crime? Do I need a sarcasm sign here, no I don’t think so.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The police then searched my property and took away all my IT equipment including phones in order to examine them to see if they were related to the ‘offence’ that I had been arrested for. They also took my wife’s computer which is more than little annoying as she needs this machine for her work.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When we got to the police station I was booked in under the catch all and increasingly misused ‘malicious communication and racial and religious hatred’ acts, searched again and put in a cell. The custody sergeant, who incidentally said that I was one of the most polite detainees he had had in a long time, furnished me with paper copies of my rights whilst detained and a requested copy of the Bible, which I used in the cell to meditate upon Psalm 35, a psalm that was appropriate for this situation. I was removed from the cell, photographed, fingerprinted and had DNA taken. I was put back in the cell to await questioning and the arrival of the duty solicitor.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before questioning by PC Choudhury I consulted with the duty solicitor, who luckily turned out to be far better than many who perform this function, and I told him that I was not going to answer any questions that the police put to me, as is my right. I also gave the police a written statement that I was merely exercising my right to speak freely. I was offered food but I refused on the grounds that the food is unlikely to be Kosher but I was offered and accepted hot drinks as there’s not much you can do to instant coffee that would make this item not Kosher, or Treyf.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eventually I was brought, along with my solicitor, to an interview room for questioning under caution. I gave the officer my pre-prepared statement about speaking freely and the interview commenced. Of course I answered nearly all questions with ‘no comment’ and refused also to identify the vast majority of the items that the police alleged that they had removed from my home. The police also claimed that they had in possession written correspondence that they believed was between me and others who have challenged both Islam and ‘hate speech’ laws and certain organizations.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although I did not answer any questions, the questions themselves gave me an inkling into what the arrest was all about. From what I could gather both Mr Mughal, who is the founder of the Tell Mama organisation and London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan had complained about memes mocking them that the police allege they saw on the Fahrenheit211 website. They also asked me about an allegation made by Mr Mughal that I questioned the narrative surrounding the ‘punish a Muslim day’ case in which doubt was cast on the idea that this was the work of an organised group and rather, as it turned out, the work of a lone and deranged nutcase. The police asked me if I was an ‘Islamophobe’ to which I replied ‘no comment’. They also asked me to disclose my passcodes for the machines that they claimed they had seized to which I replied ‘no comment’</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Incidentally, if you want further information about some of the criticisms that have been levelled against the Tell Mama organisation and those involved in it along with the sad state of freedom of speech in the UK, then I can highly recommend that you read Nick Monroe’s article <a href="https://nickmonroe.blog/2018/05/05/escape-from-big-mother-freedom-of-speech-of-uk-in-decay/5/">‘Escape from Big Mother” </a>It is an article that makes for illuminating and indeed frightening reading, especially for those who live in nations that, unlike the UK, have a greater respect for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It should encourage those in places like the USA to hold on tight to their First Amendment, because without it the average citizen may suddenly find that there are a whole load of subjects that they may wish to discuss that are now ‘forbidden’.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I got the distinct impression that the police were trying to get me to make their job of prosecuting me for ‘hate speech’ easy by having me answer questions. This, knowing the parlous state of UK police forces, was not something that I was prepared to do. Basically, the Met are trying to prosecute me for memes and for criticism of those groups who are in receipt of vast amounts of public money, resources to which I and others do not consider them entitled to have.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After discovering that I was not going to answer any of the police’s questions, I was released at present without charge on unconditional bail pending investigation. I suspect that this case will go the way of many other similar cases of ‘malicious communication’ and ‘hate speech’ where the long drawn out process of investigation is the punishment or part of the punishment and also a way of intimidating those who engage in ‘wrongthink’.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the many people who have contacted me both privately and publicly to offer their support and those associates who have contacted various online ‘influencers’ in order to gain publicity not just for my case but also to support the cause of free speech in general. I have been truly heartened by those who have voiced their support and especially to those in the United States who are encouraging a letter writing campaign aimed at the British Embassy in Washington DC. I would also like to thank those (you know who you are) who have given me facilities to work ‘off site’ which is why I’m able to continue writing.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This case is likely to run and run, a bit like the West End play ‘The Mousetrap’, although hopefully not as long as that particular production. I have also been questioned by another government entity that has the misfortune to share initials with a security organisation that was operating in Germany between 1933 and 1945. This I believe is standard practise when a person who is arrested has children. But I have told this organisation the truth. That is that I am a centre rightist Jewish conservative who believes in equality between races, equality between men and women between different sexualities, along with civic nationalism, British values and who is not a member of any extreme party or political grouping. The last party that I was a member of was the Conservative Party who in no way could be called ‘extreme’ by any reasonable person.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This incident will not discourage me from standing up not just for the idea of freedom of speech, which includes freedom of speech for those with whom I vehemently disagree. I am also not discouraged in my view that ‘hate speech’ legislation has no place in a society that considers itself to be free as not only do ‘hate speech’ laws have a chilling effect on a citizen or subject’s speech, but also because they create a two tier system where one group is given virtually carte blanche to say what they want but others do not have this right. If I’m not fighting here, I will be fighting this fight elsewhere and I would encourage others to peacefully and politely protest against both the removal of free speech rights for Britons, but also the damaging and all too easily abused categories of ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crime’ legislation. In these matters we should be treated as equals no matter what our skin colour or belief system, something that the plethora of ‘hate crime’ legislation does not do. I’m going to fight this case as hard as I possibly can, as it’s not just my fight, but the same fight as everyone who wants freedom of speech and the repeal of the increasingly hated ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crime’ laws.</span> </blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-62361996395805008502019-11-04T11:47:00.000-08:002019-11-04T12:04:47.951-08:00"This blasphemy! This parody of Mary! This Antichrist!" Canon Hugo Valdemar, 15-Year Spokesman for the Mexico City Archdiocese, Publicly Burns Pachamama Figures in Reparation Ceremony <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fr. Hugo Valdemar Romero, one of the most famous priests in Mexico, a current Canon of the Cathedral in Mexico City and the Spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico (Mexico City) for 15 years, publicly burned three cardboard Pachamama figures in a public ceremony, yesterday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This video, with commentary in Spanish, shows the event:</span><br />
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<a href="https://abyssum.org/2019/11/04/bravo-father-hugo-valdemar/" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Bishop Rene Henry Gracida</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> has explained and translated some of Canon Valdemar's appropriately strong strong words:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fr. Hugo explains the following: “The most blessed Virgin [Mary] of Guadalupe, as we know, is a young woman who is pregnant. She has Jesus in her womb whom is to give birth to the new continent (the new world). She says that she comes to grant her love to all the inhabitants of this entire continent (not just Mexico). She is pregnant and carries Jesus who will bring us the Gospel and drive away the darkness of idolatry and the devil.” Then, Fr. Hugo, taking the statue of Pachamama say: “A friend exorcist says that this idol (Pachamama) is actually the figure of the antichrist; is a blasphemy and parody of Mary. Pachamama is pregnant but carries the antichrist to give birth to him in the masonic church: to destroy the sacraments which is to return to idolatry and superstition. So, this antichrist who is to give birth to a church with an amazonian face is an abomination, it is a contradiction to church doctrine, which is the dynamic into which these idolaters want to enter into now. So, in sign of repugnance to the offenses that they made to the most blessed virgin Mary in Rome, in her church of Transpontina, we, as a protest and as a sign of reparation, burn this satanic idol of the Pachamama” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://katholisches.info/2019/11/04/widerstand-gegen-das-pachamama-graeuel/&prev=search">Katholisches.info</a>, in an article published today, which also discusses recent statements by Cardinal Gerhard Müller and the "Pachamama dunker" Alexander Tschugguel, gives more background on Valdemar and his recent ceremony of atonement in which the Pachamama figures were burnt (google translation of text by Giuseppe Nardi):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Mexico City, Pachamama images were burnt last Sunday in front of a central church in the presence of the church's rector, Hugo Valdemar, and an exorcism was prayed for. By offering atonement, God was asked to be forgiven for the sacrileges that were "committed in Rome" in the previous weeks, as stated in the report of a faithful present who was published by <a href="https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://infovaticana.com/2019/11/04/la-pachamama-arde-en-ciudad-de-mexico/&prev=search">InfoVaticana</a>.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A month ago, hardly anyone knew the idol Pachamama outside of some Indio groups and neo-norse circles. Through the organizers of the Catholic Amazon Synod , he became known worldwide. Hugo Valdemar is a canon at the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Mexico City. He and the faithful gathered for the Atonement thought that the Pachamama figures in the Vatican Gardens could make their first appearance in the presence of Pope Francis on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. The idols made to Rome were triggers for a polemic, not least by Protestant free churches, which accuse the Catholics "idolatry" whose end is not yet foreseeable.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not a few Catholics were irritated and annoyed by the attempt of the synod organizers and the Vatican media to deny or disguise the pagan presence and the idolatrous background of Pachamama activism. In Latin America, you know exactly what you are talking about, because every day the church is fighting against forms of idolatry and superstition.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Canon Valdemar was 15 years under Cardinal Norberto Rivera spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico City. He is one of the most famous priests in Mexico. Above all, he is an excellent expert on the pre-Christian, pagan religions of Central America and knows about the great efforts of the missionaries, especially the Franciscans, to eliminate idolatry without any ifs or buts.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last Sunday, the canon referred to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is "like a great exorcism, which protects America from idolatry and prepares the way to meet their son Jesus Christ". Many believers called in recent days because of the confusion publicly and privately the sky.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is "unbearable" what happened on "crazy things" in the month of October in Rome and was also experienced remotely by Catholics in America and Mexico, the report says:</span> </blockquote>
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<i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"We have the impression that we are experiencing a kind of collective obsession that drives people crazy and darkens their consciousness."</i> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The atonement with the burning of the pachamama figures was for the actions that took place during the Amazon Synod in Rome, but also for the Pachamama prayer of the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Pachamama songs in the Cathedral of Lima. As for Mexico City, Pope Francis also installed a new archbishop in Lima to initiate a change of course for the local church.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In Mexico City, three depictions of Pachamama were burned. Canon Valdemar expressed the hope that the atonement and action might be a model for others. God does not tolerate frivolous dealings with His things, let alone as regards idolatry that violates the First Commandment.</span></blockquote>
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Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-49930693194575168252019-11-04T07:46:00.001-08:002019-11-05T18:27:55.981-08:00"Hello, my name is Alexander Tschugguel and I am the guy who threw the Pachamama idols into the River Tiber"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOz2_tNPPEfCXvOL8h-pekfAtY28HkrH3O1JkaJo2hsLMGTaQHAHC0HTlJpTBvM6nye6ESpbvTWYorGhJsMPPsxTUXJRL9xzcjUwZA6GfnWZw1WoPxMWYVzKYSUxK3P_HWfmKuAB5gt4/s1600/Alexander+Tsachugguel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="876" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOz2_tNPPEfCXvOL8h-pekfAtY28HkrH3O1JkaJo2hsLMGTaQHAHC0HTlJpTBvM6nye6ESpbvTWYorGhJsMPPsxTUXJRL9xzcjUwZA6GfnWZw1WoPxMWYVzKYSUxK3P_HWfmKuAB5gt4/s400/Alexander+Tsachugguel.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>UPDATE: Taylor Marshall has a long video interview with Mr. Tschugguel, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=_bSMK0ClDMg">here</a>, and there is a shorter one from LifeSiteNews, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9W-biCaxU0">here</a>. KathNet has a short text interview, <a href="http://kath.net/news/69620">here</a>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few hours ago, in a third video released on the YouTube channel of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTau6HMErGNHMHtiC-6acRQ">Michael Del Bufalo</a>," one of the until now anonymous "Pachamama dunkers" revealed his identity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His name is Alexander Tschugguel and he is from Vienna, Austria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, this real-life Catholic action hero actually has an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. Tschugguel, 26,</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> may not be a household name or social media star among international Catholics but he is a somewhat well-known Catholic activist in Austria who, among other things, organized the recent <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/march-for-life-in-austria-includes-4k-marchers-expects-5-digits-next-year"><i>March fürs Leben</i></a> (March for Life) in Vienna. He</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> has a </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/alexander.tschugguel" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> page and a </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ATschugguel" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> account where he has now identified himself as the anti-Pachamama culprit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In an interview with Taylor Marshall, Tschugguel revealed that he knows traditionalist Bp. Athanasius Schneider fairly well. He was married by him and had earlier traveled </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to Astana, Kazakhstan at his invitation. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the wake of the synod, he has apparently launched the <a href="http://www.bonifatius-institut.com/">St. Boniface Institute</a>, linked to from </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Michael Del Bufalo" and his Twitter account.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is its Mission and Description:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The St. Boniface Institute was founded to give Catholic laity the possibility to speak out. No to paganism in the Church! No to the globalist agenda in the Church! No to the ongoing destruction from within! From the heart of Europe, we want to fight for the restoration of our wonderful Catholic culture and traditions, for a church that follows our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The purpose of the association, whose activities are not profit-seeking, is to promote the Catholic tradition in Austria and throughout the European Union, to represent the interests of the Catholic laity in public discourse, and to assist in all matters relating to the activities of Catholic lay people to be. Especially by the holding of public events, the regular publication of writings, videos and sound recordings and the operation of a homepage, the association wants to draw attention to the interests of the Catholic laity. The association strives for good international networking with similar initiatives and associations in order to achieve its goals better.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The video is quite fun. Among other things we learn that when he and his YouTube confederate or confederates traveled to </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Santa Maria in Transpontina for their secret mission they had initially found it locked. At the precise moment they finished praying the Rosary it was opened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tschugguel explains that he wanted to initially remain anonymous so attention would be focused on the action and not on the identity of the "perpetrators." I think he was precisely right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As many would now agree, the heroic action of Tschugguel and his friends, followed by Francis's unexpected and bizarre reaction to it - fishing the wooden carvings out of the Tiber with the help of the police, admitting they were representations of Pachamama and then <a href="https://twitter.com/MahoundParadise/status/1189884770421035008">enthroning Pachamama</a> or an offering to her in the form of a ceremonial bowl on the altar of St. Peter's during the Synod's final Mass at St. Peter's formed the climactic and unambiguous final scene of what may go down in history as the beginning of the end of the Francis antipapacy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is the video. A full transcript follows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hello, my name is Alexander Tschugguel and I am the guy who threw the Pachamama idles into the River Tiber.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I do that?</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You have to know I followed </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">very closely what was happening in Rome </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">surrounding the Amazon Synod, and I had </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the idea in my mind that I should get </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">more information in Rome itself. So I </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">traveled to Rome at the beginning of the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Synod to attend a few conferences which </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">were held to get closer information on </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all the different issues of the Amazon </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Synod</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Around those conferences </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I visited the church Santa Maria in Transpontina, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> which is right between </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Castel Sant'Angelo and the Basilica of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">St. Peter. In this church there were two </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">side chapels prepared for visitors of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Amazon Synod. So there were </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">volunteers standing around, and within </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the chapels you saw different symbols of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Amazonian culture and the Amazonian </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">area, and with this, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you've those symbols [that] were statues of so-</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">called Pachamamas.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The volunteers there </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">explained us that these are signs of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fertility and of Mother Earth and of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">integral ecology and everything, and when </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">we talked a little bit longer with them </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">they even explained us that the Synod is </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">not about something religious it's more </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about politics. And I had lots of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">questions to them. I even talked to them </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about if the people in the Amazon get </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">baptized from the missionaries, and they </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">told me no, they normally not, because </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it's not part of their culture and so on.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I was very upset. I went inside the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">church another time with a friend who is </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">able to speak Portuguese to get even </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">more information, and after all the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">visits and everything I heard, for me it </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">was totally clear: this is against the F</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">irst Commandment. It is something wrong. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it is a Fertility goddess, Mother Earth, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the First Commandment - I am the Lord </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">your God you shall not have other gods </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">beside me, you shall not bow down to any </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">graven image. And then I saw the video </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of them bowing down to this particularly </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">graven image in the Vatican gardens.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I traveled back to Austria and really tried </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to think over and over over, is this, is </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">this good, is this good. And then I came </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to the conclusion, together with friends </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of mine, we should do that, we should go </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to Rome, we should get the statues out of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the church. They do not belong in a </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Catholic Church. They should be outside </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of the church.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we traveled there. And in </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the early morning, two weeks </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ago, now, we stood up and went to the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">church </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Santa Maria in Transpontina.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> We heard it </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">opens at 6:30 a.m. but apparently it was </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">not opened. So we walked around a little </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bit, prayed a rosary as we sat down on </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the bench next to the church, prayed the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rosary and when the last Hail Mary was </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">spoken, the church doors were opened.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">we just went inside. I looked at both of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the chapel's to see where the Pachamamas </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are now standing, then went inside the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">chapels and tried to get as many pagan </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">things out of it as possible, so I was </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">able to grab five Pachamama statues. Then </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">we went outside of the church, went to </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Castel Sant'Angelo, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and next to the Castel Angelo there's </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bridge, the so-called Angels Bridge, and </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from the Angels Bridge we threw them one </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by one into the River Tiber.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">great success. We didn't really </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">understood it in this second, but an hour </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">later and two hours later and three hours </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">later we really we really understood that </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">this had a great impact on the Catholic </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">world and on the Synod, because now </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">everybody was seeing what happens in the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Synod. T</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hey now try to inform themselves, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">what are these Pachamamas, what is it </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">directly, what do they stand for, and they </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">also - that that's not Catholic.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we got </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tons of support and fantastic people </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">prayed for us </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think millions of rosaries by now, and </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm so glad and I'm so happy that this </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">happened because you know without </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">praying for each other nothing works.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and so we decided we don't want to hide. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I want to go out to public and tell them </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">because I don't want them to think it </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">was a </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">coward action. We didn't go out earlier </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">because we wanted the action itself </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">being the main point at the discussion, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so we wanted the people to talk about </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">what happened and not who did it. But now, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">two weeks later, one week after the end </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of the Amazon Synod, we are ready, we </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">want to face them, we want to show them </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">there are some laymen, there are some laymen, we </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">stand up and we don't longer accept things </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">like that happening in the Catholic </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Church.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We were from Austria from Vienna </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and are now currently back in Vienna in </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">our wonderful city and ready for for </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">more action and for more work on it. So </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">just subscribe to this channel on </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">YouTube and then you will get another </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">video within the next few hours and/or days </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where we will explain a little bit more </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about our thoughts we had about on the Synod. Till then, Godspeed, God bless you all and thank you for all your support.</span></blockquote>
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Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-47683718666935523112019-11-03T04:42:00.001-08:002019-11-03T04:47:46.950-08:00Vatican's Former Chief Auditor: “We were getting too close to information that they wanted to be secret, and they fabricated a situation for me to be thrown out.”<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyAxolzF5ESFpiB1vVuMa9zQ0TGmp99UUYInLmYJDMNC0-GxqlpEvpwGvgPndLLVLlQ-AUUwRtcTj6cssxML-zuzsPKVuJMzpOPKmVsarAjEmqhyphenhyphenQWZrQZCaQ7VAWIqRbuAzvasFrp8c/s1600/Francis+and+Milone.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="700" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyAxolzF5ESFpiB1vVuMa9zQ0TGmp99UUYInLmYJDMNC0-GxqlpEvpwGvgPndLLVLlQ-AUUwRtcTj6cssxML-zuzsPKVuJMzpOPKmVsarAjEmqhyphenhyphenQWZrQZCaQ7VAWIqRbuAzvasFrp8c/s400/Francis+and+Milone.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Francis and then auditor general, Libero Milone in 2016</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amidst the idol worship and liberation theology teach-ins of the Amazon Synod, there's a huge perhaps more old-fashioned scandal brewing in the Vatican.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was initially hoped by some that Francis would be a potential anti-corruption reformer, perhaps because he was an "outsider."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That he had been a high-level prelate in Argentina, one of the most corrupt modern societies on the planet, was conveniently ignored. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the <a href="https://www.ft.com/">Financial Times</a>, 10/3/19:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Ousted auditor says he got too close to secret Vatican accounts</b></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Libero Milone believes his probe into huge sums held ‘off the books’ led to his removal</i></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Vatican’s former chief auditor believes he was ousted after investigating secret bank accounts, some of which have now been linked to a London property deal that has prompted an internal Holy See inquiry into possible financial irregularities.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Libero Milone told the Financial Times that he thinks he was forced to resign two years ago because of information he requested about hundreds of millions of dollars held “off the books” by Vatican entities in Switzerland.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Some people got worried that I was about to uncover something I shouldn’t see,” said Mr Milone, a former chairman of Deloitte in Italy who was hired by Pope Francis in 2015 as the Vatican’s first chief auditor.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“We were getting too close to information that they wanted to be secret, and they fabricated a situation for me to be thrown out.”</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last month Vatican police raided the offices of its Secretariat of State, the Holy See’s central administrator, to seize documents and computers linked to a $200m investment by the agency in a plan to build 49 luxury apartments in London’s Chelsea district.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr Milone left the Vatican after he was accused by its police of spying and embezzlement. Vatican authorities later dropped all charges, which the former chief auditor has always denied. Mr Milone said Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, then second-in-command of the Secretariat who authorised the London property deal, told him he would have to leave the Vatican.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment on Mr Milone’s allegations.</span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/da969ed2-fbef-11e9-a354-36acbbb0d9b6">here</a> to read the rest. </span><br />
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In sharing this story on Twitter this morning, <a href="https://twitter.com/EdwardPentin/status/1190917732134465538">Edward Pentin</a> wrote:</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Vatican’s ex-auditor general first said this publicly back in 2017. The Vatican also exonerated him of any wrong-doing last year but the mainstream media, particularly in Italy, has largely ignored all of this. Why?</span></blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-67072817459427297832019-10-31T08:29:00.000-07:002019-11-01T10:41:26.744-07:00The Pachamama Rag (with apologies to Tom Lehrer)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHsYPUV4TKkivkhEb0ameCnQ856xm3mzbB4jfawZvUQC-WSrAaPOHBtp3ChyphenhyphenfmzMkmCSFOfjuDfMtAEQXcfXryy8Kxh19DBySsUkHYoLpDlvwSKY4xOmWyrJICVj837y4cO1CIjAb-wg4/s1600/Lehrer+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHsYPUV4TKkivkhEb0ameCnQ856xm3mzbB4jfawZvUQC-WSrAaPOHBtp3ChyphenhyphenfmzMkmCSFOfjuDfMtAEQXcfXryy8Kxh19DBySsUkHYoLpDlvwSKY4xOmWyrJICVj837y4cO1CIjAb-wg4/s400/Lehrer+Image.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dedicated to Tom Lehrer, a very funny man, who made fun of us* but also made fun of everybody. P</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ray that he will somehow find salvation in Jesus Christ.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Pachamama Rag</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(to the tune of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do">The Vatican Rag</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First you get down on your knees,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fiddle with your native beads,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bow your head with great respect,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do whatever prayers you want if</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You have cleared them with the pontiff,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everybody say his own</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Native New Age occult poem</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Doin' the Pachamama rag.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hold hands in that hippy throng</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sing some 60's Marxist song,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There the gal who's got religion'll</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tell you that it's aboriginal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If it is, I think you'll you know that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's an idol on the throw mat </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mother Earth or Pachamama </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Time to sacrifice a Llama!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So get down upon your knees,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fiddle with your native beads,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bow your head with great respect,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Carve some pagan grooves around a stick</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When in Rome do like a heretic,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey wooden mama</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gee I'm glad they dunked ya,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's more than just moronic,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's really quite demonic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Doin' the Pachamama rag!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*If you pay attention to Lehrer's introduction to his original Vatican Rag, you may find that much of it is spot on (ignore the silly quip about Friday abstinence). For this Catholic, he seems to be making fun of Vatican II as much as the Faith itself, though of course he may not have quite looked at it that way.</span>Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-75267986785992077192019-10-30T12:48:00.001-07:002019-11-01T16:59:10.257-07:00Who is Right, Athanasius Schneider or Robert Bellarmine?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86SRW6-BZB802Qk0H6uzB5gTVGuQwqjp3vV3oynlVycuy8RG2VO-YqMau8XXUEv5mZh-xYlAvMeiGhyBhsWQ-2e1QsJOCXHgjAMUjTAittNVBRe91sixF0BHLx306g1GBjOht6czntWU/s1600/S+%2526+B.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1120" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86SRW6-BZB802Qk0H6uzB5gTVGuQwqjp3vV3oynlVycuy8RG2VO-YqMau8XXUEv5mZh-xYlAvMeiGhyBhsWQ-2e1QsJOCXHgjAMUjTAittNVBRe91sixF0BHLx306g1GBjOht6czntWU/s400/S+%2526+B.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the last few years, debate has swirled among traditionalist Catholics as to whether Francis may be a heretic. Implicit in the discussion has been the assumption that if he were a heretic, then he would forfeit his papal office and/or make himself liable for judgment or official deposition by the rest of the Church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The debate often seemed to turn on the differences between <i>material</i> heresy, <i>formal</i> heresy, <i>manifest</i>, <i>notorious</i> or <i>public</i> heresy and so on, and the possible juridical component of some of those definitions - who had the ability or right to pronounce or judge it, if such an official judgment was necessary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Curiously, among the traditionalist circles and sources that I participate in and follow, the debate seems to have recently somewhat quieted. Unfortunately, this has occurred because the general answer, however we might niggle over the precise definitions, seems to be now fairly widely agreed on, in private if not widely in public - Francis is probably a heretic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interestingly, it was Bishop Athanasius Schneider who implicitly confirmed that the debate may now be over. In his recent <a href="https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2019/03/important-guest-op-ed-bishop-schneider.html#more">On the Question of a Heretical Pope</a>, published in March, Schneider didn't name Francis as a heretic. But that was the elephant in the room. The purpose of his piece was to ask (and answer) the next question: Assuming he is a heretic, what do we do? </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or, rather, Schneider's essay was largely addressed to what the bishops should do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His answer was that they can and should do nothing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To be fair, Schneider didn't mean <i>literally</i> nothing - there are all sorts of things that he argued might be done, ranging from prayer to publicly calling out or correcting any further heretical papal claims or actions - but on the question of whether, say, an imperfect council should be called to depose the pope (or declare that he has deposed himself), his answer was forcefully in the negative. Schneider wanted to definitively settle the issue. The question of papal heresy would now be in one sense moot. Even a heretical pope remains pope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are two parts to Schneider's argument, the first we might call the practical <i>positive</i> argument. It can be summarized simply: Deposing an heretical pope just wouldn't work and/or it would do more harm than good: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The theory or theological opinion allowing the deposition of a heretical pope or the loss of his office ipso facto because of heresy is in practice unworkable.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few paragraphs later he continues:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A formal schism, with two or more pretenders to the Papal throne – which will be an inevitable consequence of even a canonically enacted deposition of a pope – will necessarily cause more damage to the Church as a whole than a relatively short and very rare period in which a pope spreads doctrinal errors or heresies.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And later:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The deposition of a heretical pope will ultimately foster the heresy of conciliarism, sedevacantism, and a mental attitude similar to that which is characteristic in a purely human or political community.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not my purpose here to pronounce on the soundness of this part of the argument. Certainly, it is thoughtful and well-presented and deserves a high level of consideration. Schneider, an auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan is not only one of the most implacable defenders of Catholic tradition alive today but appears to have an extensive knowledge of theology and history. Anyone would be a fool to dismiss his well-considered opinions out of hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But there is a second part of his argument, and this is what I wish to focus on here. Schneider is well aware that the view that a heretical pope should not or cannot be deposed is <i>not </i>the historically accepted view among Catholic theologians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Am-You-Always-Constitution-Indefectibility/dp/0911845089">I am With You Always: The Divine Constitution and Indefectibility of the Catholic Church</a>, the late Catholic his</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">torian Michael Davies sums up what <i>is</i> the accepted view:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The problem which would face the Church if a legitimately reigning pope became an heretic has been discussed in numerous standard works of reference. The solution is provided in the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm">1913 edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia</a>: <i>"The Pope himself, if notoriously guilty of heresy, would cease to be pope because he would cease to be a member of the Church." </i>Many theologians have discussed the possibility of a pope falling into heresy, and the consensus of their opinion concurs with that of The Catholic Encyclopedia. The Pope must evidently be a Catholic, and if he ceased to be a Catholic he could hardly remain the Vicar of Christ, the head of the Mystical Body. St. Robert Bellarmine taught: <i>"The manifestly heretical pope ceases per se to be pope and head as he ceases per se to be a Christian and member of the Church, and therefore he can be judged and punished by the Church. </i></span><i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers</b>" [part of I am With You Always is excerpted <a href="https://www.olrl.org/misc/sedevacant_md.shtml">here</a>].</i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bellarmine would go on to cite St. Cyprian (AD 200-256):<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction, and outstandingly that of St. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 2) who speaks as follows of Novatian, who was Pope [antipope] in the schism which occurred during the pontificate of St. Cornelius: "He would not be able to retain the episcopate, and, if he was made bishop before, he separated himself from the body of those who were, like him, bishops, and from the unity of the Church."</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to what St. Cyprian affirms in this passage, even had Novatian been the true and legitimate Pope, he would have automatically fallen from the pontificate, if he separated himself from the Church [from <i>De Romano Pontifice </i>Book II, Chapter 30, excerpted <a href="https://www.fisheaters.com/bellarmine.html">here</a>].</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, an educated reader might ask, how could Schneider be right and all the rest of Catholic tradition be wrong?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Schneider knew that he had to give sort of an answer. He did so by claiming that in fact the purported tradition <i>isn't</i> the tradition. Or if it is, it's only a relatively recent tradition that has no magisterial or determinative theological authority. It is worth quoting Schneider at length, here: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The theory or theological opinion that a heretical pope can be deposed or lose office was alien to the first millennium.</b> It originated only in the High Middle Ages, in a time when pope-centrism arrived at a certain high point, when unconsciously the pope was identified with the Church as such. This was already in its root the mundane attitude of an absolutist prince according to the motto: “L’État, c’est moi!” or in ecclesiastical terms: “I am the Church!”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The opinion, which says that a heretical pope <i>ipso facto</i> loses his office, became a common opinion starting with the High Middle Ages until the twentieth century. It remains a theological opinion and not a teaching of the Church and therefore it cannot claim the quality of a constant and perennial teaching of the Church as such, since no Ecumenical Council and no pope has supported such an opinion explicitly. The Church, however, condemned a heretical pope, but only posthumously and not during the term of his office. Even if some saint Doctors of the Church (e.g. St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Francis de Sales) held such an opinion, it does not prove its certainty or the fact of a general doctrinal consensus. Even Doctors of the Church have been known to err; such is the case with Saint Thomas Aquinas regarding the question of the Immaculate Conception...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The theory – deposing a heretical pope or the loss of his office <i>ipso facto</i> because of heresy – is only a theological opinion, that does not fulfil the necessary theological categories of antiquity, universality, and consensus (<i>semper</i>, <i>ubique</i>, <i>ab omnibus</i>). There have been no pronouncements of the universal ordinary Magisterium or of the Papal Magisterium, that would support the theories of the deposition of a heretical pope or of the loss of his office <i>ipso facto</i> because of heresy.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Note that as far as I can tell, Schneider provides no sources for his central historical assertion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So here are the positions:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Schneider:</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The theory or theological opinion that a heretical pope can be deposed or lose office was alien to the first millennium.</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bellarmine: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Just so as there is no confusion, the point is this: not only does Schneider differ with Bellarmine on the theological question itself (which Schneider fully admits), he also differs with him on the historical facts (which Schneider is silent on). </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is, not to put it too finely, a yawning difference between the two claims, though one that could presumably adjudicated by looking at the historical evidence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I suppose we might start with St. Cyprian.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post, uncharacteristically for me, isn't intended to answer a question so much as to ask one. And the question is important. Schneider argues that the theological views of Bellarmine and many other Doctors of the Church concerning the deposition of a heretical pope are only opinions, opinions based on a relatively recent sort of theological trend or fad stemming at least partly from medieval and post-medieval political theories. Davies and others have written that these "opinions" are in fact historically universal among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. As far as I can tell, this more accepted view is based at least partly on the writings of Bellarmine himself.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who is right, Bishop Schneider or Robert Bellarmine? </span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-81065938271155504762019-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:002019-10-26T06:11:49.630-07:00Since 2010, the Sisters of Mercy Have Been Partnering with the "Pachamama Alliance"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQ2WCUW6kiQF-kDp4dgiRaho4OmLIv4yZQeE6W1l60QTWV6ZeVXYP7zWEezWsh13f5eR7UuSg3p7mdzASFPdI9EWYNIF6Ako-YUTPrdRlNZRCH-nIsM1VHoVfQJorHuOIt1i5CPe2ius/s1600/Sisters+of+Mercy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="1000" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQ2WCUW6kiQF-kDp4dgiRaho4OmLIv4yZQeE6W1l60QTWV6ZeVXYP7zWEezWsh13f5eR7UuSg3p7mdzASFPdI9EWYNIF6Ako-YUTPrdRlNZRCH-nIsM1VHoVfQJorHuOIt1i5CPe2ius/s400/Sisters+of+Mercy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Catholic women's religious order, Sisters of Mercy</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Note: I briefly published this on October 22, but then pulled it for revision. Obviously, it has been somewhat eclipsed by recent events. But here is the final version for the record:</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The now famous Pachamama (or Mother-Earth goddess) carvings, first featured in a recent ritual in the Vatican gardens and then displayed in a side chapel of Santa Maria in Traspontina for a few days befor</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e they were <a href="https://mahoundsparadise.blogspot.com/2019/10/vatican-spokesman-on-destruction-of.html">accompanied into the river Tiber</a> by two anonymous Catholic activists, were not just, as it were, random pagan idols brought to Rome by a few feathered indigenous on a field trip. Rather, Pachamama and what she represents has been embraced by many on the North American and European Catholic left for years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <a href="https://www.pachamama.org/">Pachamama Alliance</a>, founded in 1995 by American philanthropists and activists Bill and Lynn Twist and economics and business consultant John Perkins, is now a $5 million dollar a year non-profit, based in San Francisco.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lynn Twist, Perkins and others associated with the Alliance have done numerous TED Talks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's stated <a href="https://www.pachamama.org/about/mission">Mission/Purpose</a> is to "empower indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest to preserve their lands and culture and, using insights gained from that work, to educate and inspire individuals everywhere to bring forth a thriving, just and sustainable world."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While much of the organization's focus is on development and environmental economics and "social justice," it also appears to have a quasi-religious element. First on its list of Guiding Values and Principles is this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The universe is friendly and the evolutionary Force that put the stars in motion is still moving through all of us and is a dynamic, self-organizing process whose grace and guidance we can trust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since 2010, the Pachamama Alliance has been involved in a partnership with the North American Catholic Sisters of Mercy </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">through a program called "Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">." A 2011 article in </span><a href="https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/awakening-dreamer-changing-dream" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">National Catholic Reporter</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> describes the program.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Earlier this spring, teachers from three Sisters of Mercy Catholic high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area were not numbing their feelings. Instead, they were quietly weeping and raging over video clips they had seen of environmental devastation. These teachers were participating in a six hour inter-active educational symposium, “Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream,” organized by the Burlingame, Calif. Sisters of Mercy. More than 100 teachers took part in three separate faculty retreat days.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Dreamer” is the creation of the Pachamama Alliance, a non-governmental organization in San Francisco. Its message holds that we who live in modern industrial society must be awakened from our destructive dream of runaway prosperty and consumerist fixation. Our trance-like belief system has produced a daily nightmare for every other creature and ecosystem on the Planet.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mercy Sr. Patricia Ryan views “Dreamer” as one of the best programs she has ever presented. “It puts everything together that we’ve been studying and supporting separately for years,” weaving together environmental sustainability and activism with social justice and spirituality. Tying together these three elements is what has riveted the attention of the entire Mercy community throughout the U.S. explained Sr. Ryan.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Her community became involved in April of 2010 when the Mercy Institute’s Extended Justice Team participated in a “Dreamer” symposium. Its success prompted members to carry the program back to sisters within their own geographical areas and to begin training symposium facilitators. Sessions have since taken place in Rhode Island, Maine, Maryland, and California.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The six-hour session packs in rich helpings of information, feedback and rituals. Participants experience guided meditations honoring their local indigenous ancestors. They view video clips of Fr. Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Joanna Macy, Wangarai Maathai, Julia Butterfly Hill and Maude Barlow. They listen to indigenous leaders. One of them warns, that “if you are coming to help us, you are wasting your time. If you are coming because you know your liberation is bound up with ours, then let us work together.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What exactly is the nature of these <i>guided meditations</i> and <i>rituals</i>? It's not stated. One has difficulty imagining the San Francisco yuppies of the Alliance or the tee-shirted nuns of the Sisters dressing up in Native South American feathers. But who knows?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the <a href="https://www.sistersofmercy.org/about-us/news-and-events/featured-article-awakening-the-dreamer/">Sisters of Mercy website</a> the philosophy or theology of the "Dreamer" program is explained in more detail:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have lived in a mythic trance of a worldview that has become dysfunctional and destructive. As participants begin to free themselves from the constraints of the unconscious, unexamined assumptions they have internalized, new possibilities for the future open... [There is also a] profound interconnection presented by science and spirituality in the universe story, which is beginning to shape the consciousness on Earth.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...Many teachers including Brian Swimme and Teilhard de Chardin think that we are the self reflective consciousness of Earth; that what is emerging through our awakened hearts and minds and mouths is the force of life itself, acting on behalf of all beings.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brian Swimme is a popular science author and professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's fair to say that while the Pachamama Alliance and the "Dreamer" program are theoretically focused on the "non-Western" people and cultures of the Amazon, complete with admonishments to not merely help but co-operate and <i>listen</i>, the actual philosophy expounded, with its references to Teilhard, etc. is decidedly modern American and European.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some might call it New Age.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Swimme claims not to be anti-religion but </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pro-multiplicity of religions. Science and environmental ecology are pointing to a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071002222111/http://meaningoflife.tv/transcript.php?speaker=swimme">new sort of synthesis</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.. if you take Buddhism and Christianity and so forth there's a kind of battle — a subtle sort of struggle taking place because they're not standing in a common ground but... take the Earth or ecology then suddenly they can begin to explore what they have to offer. So I do think absolutely that... there will be a flourishing of religions, not a withering away. And they will flourish to the degree that they will move into the context of planet and universe.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While for the Catholic Church these ideas in their most explicit form used to be confined to small pockets of radical women religious or leftist professors, with the ascendency of Francis this sort of mystical ecological theology, along with its alleged implications for economic and social policy seems to be in the ascendent, at least in the Vatican.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Pachamama Alliance recognized this with a <a href="https://blog.pachamama.org/pope-francis-changing-the-catholic-church-and-the-world">2018 blog post on Pope Francis</a> praising him for "Changing the Catholic Church, and the World." More than four years before the Amazonian Synod, they recognized that much of the direction of the Francis pontificate had been set by Laudato Si.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pope Francis’ statements point toward radical change of the very institutions that form the basis of our modern culture. The Pope is asking for economic and financial change; political change; and profound social change.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...Bill and Lynne Twist, and John Perkins, co-founders of the Pachamama Alliance, recently agreed that the Pope’s message is uniquely inspiring because it echoes the same call for a revolution that we are hearing at this time from the United Nations, the Dalai Lama, and social justice and activist groups from around the world.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Pope’s call for a revolution is unmistakeable.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What are we to make of all this?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlD6hAmLXA3PAEL-qxLxtUayyOVOKlD4cB_8TG8PiM3TSdpr2_TyB3UsSd0RbASjGAniNZgy8ULA607y75Hd-e91dQNCimSpkjR036GRlktv23fCEJzddaYry0ztoBuYKPq0nXO8518c/s1600/Pachamama+Alliance+Staffers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="887" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZlD6hAmLXA3PAEL-qxLxtUayyOVOKlD4cB_8TG8PiM3TSdpr2_TyB3UsSd0RbASjGAniNZgy8ULA607y75Hd-e91dQNCimSpkjR036GRlktv23fCEJzddaYry0ztoBuYKPq0nXO8518c/s400/Pachamama+Alliance+Staffers.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of the staff of the Pachamama Alliance</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6Ip2zEDaUEPC4zc7pNwRZRzNMy3RkqpdFm2ohfxm-CbyXsiD7Q1kseyr7wHe_AzemRbL9QNPJMsBlGc8k8S4eUpliM6PCuA35mc4HC7HHtCdYx5KYMOqEPiXxX8alxabcHwg63ioaG8/s1600/Sisters+of+Mercy+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="1050" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6Ip2zEDaUEPC4zc7pNwRZRzNMy3RkqpdFm2ohfxm-CbyXsiD7Q1kseyr7wHe_AzemRbL9QNPJMsBlGc8k8S4eUpliM6PCuA35mc4HC7HHtCdYx5KYMOqEPiXxX8alxabcHwg63ioaG8/s400/Sisters+of+Mercy+2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From the Sisters of Mercy webpage: "Become a Sister"</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkKydSEjY152GRiEz5bvgpTUvEq2yp8MQn95enWIlik0lv8iwGXIRbhodeeLhiUMqSODhH1vqUEKfYB4q1s_JMPYU_M1-6vMFeF8B9NcNZ829iE8bZUJ5SHnq3N8yC1Inz7PJkhRD8y4/s1600/Blowgun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="798" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkKydSEjY152GRiEz5bvgpTUvEq2yp8MQn95enWIlik0lv8iwGXIRbhodeeLhiUMqSODhH1vqUEKfYB4q1s_JMPYU_M1-6vMFeF8B9NcNZ829iE8bZUJ5SHnq3N8yC1Inz7PJkhRD8y4/s400/Blowgun.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An Alliance supporter on one of the group's "Journeys"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do any of the players involved - leftist nuns, TED-Talk NGO staffers or even very many of the "indigenous" themselves (who recently got a free trip to Rome if they would agree to dance for the gringos) - actually <i>worship</i> or wish to worship Pachamama in any meaningful sense?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who knows?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps they believe in the New Age claims of Bill Swimme, Tielhard or Laudato Si.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do they even understand them? Does anyone?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is it Marxism with an ugly goddess face?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or merely ecotourism with a legitimizing dose of protest signs?</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-61980979729412268722019-10-22T08:09:00.001-07:002019-10-22T08:46:11.081-07:00Video of Cardinal Ravasi Participating in a Pachamama Ritual in 2015 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPoQ_s2Q6cmQH_GOffTIIs2z_tyCUzgYdimGsEOYS-Ie8bqmuEJo5kDoyUUPwkN_iD7QzRwk9m9nspNBm7d5DzQPxpnlfGGLZb1WLqoZ9dSH2wvzaiRreZwG-rnNcr66yk5embhjoGUc/s1600/Ravasi+and+Pacha+Mama.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1142" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPoQ_s2Q6cmQH_GOffTIIs2z_tyCUzgYdimGsEOYS-Ie8bqmuEJo5kDoyUUPwkN_iD7QzRwk9m9nspNBm7d5DzQPxpnlfGGLZb1WLqoZ9dSH2wvzaiRreZwG-rnNcr66yk5embhjoGUc/s400/Ravasi+and+Pacha+Mama.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following video, "Cardenal Gianfranco Ravasi participating in the cult of the Pacha Mama," was uploaded four years ago by the Argentinian Catholic group, <a href="http://www.quenotelacuenten.org/">QueNoTeLaCuenten</a>, Javier Olivera Ravasi, director (no relation to the Cardinal, I assume).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It clearly shows Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, participating in a windswept and circular "Pacha Mama" ritual in San Marcos Sierras,<br />Córdoba, Argentina sometime previous to July 13, 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is this an "authentic" Pachamama ritual? Who knows? <a href="https://www.lonelyplanet.com/argentina/cordoba-the-central-sierras">Lonely Planet</a> describes the area, thus:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The hippie towns of San Marcos Sierras and Capilla del Monte give a glimpse into Argentina's alternative lifestyles.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One begins to wonder whether much of the current Pachamama craze is as much a re-invention by 21st century European or European-influenced hippies as it is an expression of true indigenous practice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Indeed, one YouTube commenter wonders why, as he put it, the most "superstitious" elements of indigenous worship are so often highlighted by progressives:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is curious that they talk about the cult of Pachamama and never speak for example of Tupá the god of the Guarani. Is it not that they do it because Tupá means God and the Guarani were monotheists, and instead they are more superstitious in believing that the earth is the creative goddess? Let me explain what I mean. Progressiveism gives more importance to this pre-Columbian belief because it is the most superstitious of all or almost all while the God of the Guarani was simply God.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The poor Guarani - their monotheistic religion isn't hip enough for septuagenarian Vatican prelates and Marxist professors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See, it's not idol worship, it's just an alternative lifestyle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And if you disagree, you're a racist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">H/t Hillary White</span> </span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-78645708449417468832019-10-21T16:29:00.000-07:002019-10-21T17:04:04.586-07:00Meet Kyle J Baker SJ, the Stalinist Hippy Trying to Get Catholics Banned from Twitter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJEh54ao8FhbMmbYaA5lP-XZTAU4tiCsTEZgzQu9RZiMC0XszDZtgTrWGzQVJ0zAkdrYbJS8_xdURwQAbZTDppNrCN_OwU845HpRsAeqBjol8nwmKkmr-C-rthIY-CBV6QShlJ9X7tjw/s1600/Kyle+J+Baker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJEh54ao8FhbMmbYaA5lP-XZTAU4tiCsTEZgzQu9RZiMC0XszDZtgTrWGzQVJ0zAkdrYbJS8_xdURwQAbZTDppNrCN_OwU845HpRsAeqBjol8nwmKkmr-C-rthIY-CBV6QShlJ9X7tjw/s400/Kyle+J+Baker.jpg" width="313" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, Kyle J Baker is a Jesuit. Or, perhaps I should say, of course he is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know what you're thinking, and you're right. He also has been called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudeism">Dudeist</a> (<a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/young-voices/dont-let-big-lebowski-super-bowl-commercial-delight-you">seriously</a>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today, he <a href="https://twitter.com/bakerkylej/status/1186308702074212358">reported</a> a number of Catholics - people positively tweeting about the recent accompaniment of five Pagan idols from a Catholic sanctuary into the river Tiber - to Twitter for "racism" and "sick hate mongering."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apparently, this is not the first instance Baker spent some of his free-time reporting people to Twitter. At least once his efforts have paid off:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oddly, and even sadly, even though he has <a href="https://twitter.com/bakerkylej">847 followers</a>, he rarely gets more than a few hits of activity on most of his tweets. Today's tweet only had one "like" for a while (though now it has ten), though it steadily garnered what must be a record number (for him) of "replies" - almost 200 by last count - virtually all of which were hostile and mocking about his "reporting". Many said they would report him right back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who is Kyle J Baker?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He's an excitable politics junkie who likes retweeting the usual suspects.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is often very disturbed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He believes things are very bad and wants them to change NOW.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He mourns glaciers and is a vegetarian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two days after the the Nativity of Mary, he lobbied for a Feast of the Nativity for a lesbian poet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He doesn't seem to like that there are no non-binary gender options when purchasing airplane tickets (maybe he reported the company).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He doesn't like Catholic youth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He does like Aryan youth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In other words, this Jesuit is just like that school chum who you run into occasionally but try not to talk politics with. Or he's just like 75% of Democrat voters on social media or whatever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bless their little liberal hearts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Except there's more to it than just that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The hippy Jesuit with the dorky smile is a Stalinist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If he doesn't like what you have to say, he will try to ban you from saying it. He will try to ban </span><i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">you</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If he could, he'd put you in a concentration camp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's simply my own opinion, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's also this opinion:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66Vg_8iQO-jOeRGfPU4u9AmB8B4x36Khsi3v8kOWL36evoyS6SuXv7ItjfOQ4ezVvbw4I3F6pgPG72K14yyguqdSBKCqzQggC0iPd0fl8Td8l7CnjNfXXgSkVa97NIGswObCLgSbwyXg/s1600/Baker+Jesus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="598" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj66Vg_8iQO-jOeRGfPU4u9AmB8B4x36Khsi3v8kOWL36evoyS6SuXv7ItjfOQ4ezVvbw4I3F6pgPG72K14yyguqdSBKCqzQggC0iPd0fl8Td8l7CnjNfXXgSkVa97NIGswObCLgSbwyXg/s400/Baker+Jesus.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But if anything is certain, it's that Kyle J Baker SJ is not really a Dudeist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In fact he's the anti-Dudeist. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Racist! Hate monger! Xenophobe! I will REPORT you!!!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Careful, man. There's a beverage here.</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-58188947924698566002019-10-21T07:21:00.001-07:002019-10-22T12:56:35.028-07:00Vatican Spokesman on the Drowning of the Pachamama Idols: "These people don't believe in dialogue."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZgbu4KYKvJoUZ8dLQhfff5X6R4MH2LE5dN8fhxdPzVDN2jMok6IZ2IbiKso3TdiULfSPyo-TzBHH3bQBx2gZliaXHtRX1yOSCf-VOBRWxaPJitY1NNLP_6p-wfr0z1GsRzHVykRTa4E/s1600/Pachamamas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="647" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZgbu4KYKvJoUZ8dLQhfff5X6R4MH2LE5dN8fhxdPzVDN2jMok6IZ2IbiKso3TdiULfSPyo-TzBHH3bQBx2gZliaXHtRX1yOSCf-VOBRWxaPJitY1NNLP_6p-wfr0z1GsRzHVykRTa4E/s400/Pachamamas.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this morning's Synod press conference in </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rome, Paolo Ruffini, the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Vatican's Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, said that the men who removed the "Pachamama" idols from a sanctuary at Santa Maria in Traspontina and then th</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rew them in the river Tiber "didn't believe in dialogue."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He also said the act was an "insult" to indigenous peoples.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you are just now waking up, here's the background:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few hours ago, just before dawn, Rome time, at least two men, entered the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Santa Maria in Traspontina</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, removed the four or five "Pachamama" idols from one of the sanctuaries, walked to the river Tiber nearby, and after a few prayers, knocked them into the water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of them recorded the act for video. At least two videos have been so far uploaded to YouTube by</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a "Michael Del Bufalo", an account se</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">emingly set up for this purpose.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Under the second video they posted an explanation for their actions:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was done for only one reason:</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, his blessed Mother, and everybody who follows Christ, are being attacked by members of our own Church. We do not accept this! We do not longer stay silent! We start to act NOW!</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because we love humanity, we can not accept that people of a certain region should not get baptised and therefore are being denied entrance into heaven.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is our duty to follow the words of God like our holy Mother did.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is no second way of salvation.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taylor Marshall quickly posted a longer explanatory video:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yesterday, there was a minor storm on Twitter when it was discovered that all of Taylor Marshall's tweets had been deleted. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Where is Dr. Marshall?" people asked. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Marshall and his friends weren't talking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Someone quipped, "Pachamama got him."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not quite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The mainstream press is now reporting the story. From the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/thieves-steal-amazon-fertility-statues-as-synod-nears-end/2019/10/21/65b8a9da-f405-11e9-b2d2-1f37c9d82dbb_story.html">Washington Post</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ controversial meeting on the Amazon has taken a criminal twist after thieves stole indigenous fertility statues from a Vatican-area church and tossed them into the Tiber River.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Video of the pre-dawn theft from the Santa Maria in Traspontina church was shared and celebrated on conservative social media Monday. The Vatican’s communications czar, Paolo Ruffini, termed it a “stunt” that violated the idea of dialogue. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It won't be long before they blame "Americans" and Donald Trump.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But even the Post is calling them "</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">indigenous fertility statues."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Synod did indeed take a criminal turn, but faithful Catholics know that this happened more than a week ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And the "dialogue" in the Church has been of the one-way Stalinist variety for seven years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What next for the Synod? Only God knows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But for now, in the words of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/christine.niles/posts/10158329310422908">Christina Niles</a>,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pachamama sleeps with the fishes,</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-27531296557707484562019-10-09T07:53:00.000-07:002019-10-09T12:58:01.868-07:00Francis: "Jesus was not a God at all."<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55ua-X_qeqQ3RtCI0VNqVGiZ0ukuTqVuL0PWRvb-ZBVFcYnldJ0NHejlEb9ApiFsPNSUNZSYvR8U463HYyGefGeiyHLIUiN95UzxwY5bZB9C8VuvDJVVZzCR_iABgKT2_lzgYkAhyphenhyphenfMk/s1600/I+want+to+touch+Indians.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="606" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55ua-X_qeqQ3RtCI0VNqVGiZ0ukuTqVuL0PWRvb-ZBVFcYnldJ0NHejlEb9ApiFsPNSUNZSYvR8U463HYyGefGeiyHLIUiN95UzxwY5bZB9C8VuvDJVVZzCR_iABgKT2_lzgYkAhyphenhyphenfMk/s400/I+want+to+touch+Indians.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Francis, surrounded by laughing cardinals, leftist nuns and Indians (La Repubblica editorial) </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">UPDATE/CORRECTION: The original title of this post was "Francis: '<b>I am the proof</b> that Jesus was not a God at all.'" Apparently, a more accurate translation of Scalfari quoting Francis is "<b>These facts show</b> that Jesus was not a God at all." This alludes to an earlier part of the conversation that Marco Tosatti did not include in his excerpt where it is discussed, among other things, that Jesus cried o</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ut, "why hast Thou forsaken me?" (H/t Hilary White.)</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2ND UPDATE: According to a bilingual Italian source cited by <a href="https://www.barnhardt.biz/2019/10/09/sono-la-prova-provata-means-i-am-the-demonstrable-proof/">Ann Barnhardt</a> "</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sono la prova provata” does indeed mean, "</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am the demonstrable proof". One of the bizarre things about this story is that no one seems to have access to the full original text. Or to put it another way, La Repubblica would appear to have few actual subscribers these days. (But they do have a very effective paywall.) </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari has just related the contents of another purported conversation with Francis, this time in the form of an editorial on the Amazon Synod.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In it, it is claimed that Francis's true goal is to promote</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a sort of one world religion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even more shocking, Scalfari has Francis denying the divinity of Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the latest of numerous Scalfari articles throughout the last six years in which Scalfari has either quoted or paraphrased Francis purportedly saying various heterodox and heretical things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Defenders of Francis have always claimed that Scalfari is an untrustworthy source who likes to put words in his pontiff's mouth to conform with his own atheism. But Francis keeps having these "conversations" and never himself denies the substance of what Scalfari has claimed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition, a number of claims and themes that Francis later would explicitly emphasize publicly first made their appearance in a Scalfari piece, later looking for all the world like trial balloons or attempts to "soften up" his Catholic audience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such was the case with his famous "proselytism is solemn nonsense", which first appeared in a Scalfari piece from October, 2013 or his support for communion for the divorced and remarried.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of yesterday's editorial in <i><a href="https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/editoriale/2019/10/08/news/sinodo_francesco_e_lo_spirito_dell_amazzonia-238040628/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I235134168-C12-P1-S1.4-T1">La Repubblica</a></i> is hidden behind an Italian paywall, but the first paragraph is public:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Francesco has been launching the idea of the One God for years. It is an obviously revolutionary idea that involves examining a serious problem that affects everyone...</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few hours ago, Italian journalist <a href="https://www.marcotosatti.com/2019/10/09/scalfari-il-papa-pensa-che-gesu-non-sia-dio-urge-smentita/">Marco Tosatti </a>excerpted a later part of the text:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chi ha avuto, come a me è capitato più volte, la fortuna d’incontrarlo e di parlargli con la massima confidenza culturale, sa che papa Francesco concepisce il Cristo come Gesù di Nazareth, uomo, non Dio incarnato. Una volta incarnato, Gesù cessa di essere un Dio e diventa fino alla sua morte sulla croce un uomo.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[...]</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Quando mi è capitato di discutere queste frasi papa Francesco mi disse: «Sono la prova provata che Gesù di Nazareth una volta diventato uomo, sia pure un uomo di eccezionali virtù, non era affatto un Dio</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Google translates this as: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyone who has had, as I have happened several times, the good fortune to meet him and talk to him with the utmost cultural confidence, knows that Pope Francis conceives Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, man, not God incarnate. Once incarnated, Jesus ceases to be a God and becomes a man until his death on the cross...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I happened to discuss these sentences, Pope Francis told me: "I am the proof that Jesus of Nazareth, once he became a man, though a man of exceptional virtues, was not a God at all". </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aside from the bizarre nature of someone who calls himself Pope denying an essential item of the Christian creeds, there is also the oddity of "I am the proof." Francis believes <i>he</i> is the proof that Jesus was merely a man? How is that? Perhaps he means that since he has repeatedly preached objective heresy as Pope, Jesus' promise to Peter to protect His Church would appear to have been broken or ineffectual. And such could only happen if Jesus was not God <i>[though, see above]</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Almost <a href="http://mahoundsparadise.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-last-word-on-scalfari.html">four years ago</a> I analyzed down what I saw as Francis's "Scalfari strategy":</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's now clear that the Eugenio Scalfari interviews in the anticlerical La Repubblica are actually an important part of Bergoglio's controlled demolition of the Church. In the interviews all sorts of heresies are proclaimed, as befits a South American Jesuit who came of age in the late twentieth-century: Indifferentism (proselytism is solemn nonsense), relativism (what really matters is that we all journey towards our own conceptions of the good) annihilationism or universalism (there is no hell), Kasperism (doctrine should bend to practicality) and so on.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bergoglio knows the message that he believes these things, and thus that they are now quasi-official teachings of the Church, will get out, not because everyone reads Scalfari, but because his words will gradually filter down to the bishops, priests and Catholic masses through secondary articles, headlines and the like. And they will be, as it were, implemented, just as surely as if that kissing priest had written an encyclical for him.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is Bergoglio worried about opposition? Sure. But telegraphing his thoughts through Scalfari gives him a certain protection. There will always be someone--even the official Vatican spokesman--who will imply (though never actually say) that these are not really Bergoglio's thoughts. Don't trust that atheist journalist spinning his words, etc. etc. This of course is ridiculous, but it gives his potential opponents just enough cover to provide an excuse to mask their own cowardice in doing and saying nothing. And Bergoglio, being an arch-coward himself, knows that most men grapple with that vice.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Doctrine is never officially challenged or denied, but it is undermined just as surely as if Bergoglio had solemnly declared what's what from the throne of St. Peter.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course we've travelled light-years since then. The Amazon Synod with its heretical preparatory document and sacrilegious opening worship ceremonies is now front and center for all to see. What's another silly Scalfari interview, whatever was supposedly said?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And of course, what was said (please, let's grow up and drop the <i>supposedly</i>), shouldn't be a shock.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Does anyone paying attention still really think that Bergoglio believes that Jesus was God? Even his allies and defenders don't believe that. After all, most of them don't believe it, themselves.</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-48701230138838521542019-10-05T10:05:00.001-07:002019-10-05T14:40:14.933-07:00The Perfect Symbol for the Current Pornocracy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQWbZ68GGiLSrnuMe4NVNBiCSx-EHgo83C8ACyx0v4uDdOhQEAvGazq2fGSImPUk1BjZtRR5oCGVV0WUBmnStyEHGm0M1_DMHpw8KIU6ZqWTxNLTT9kt9b8nEY-PIGAs17Q7rSYHL7d0c/s1600/Coco+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="240" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQWbZ68GGiLSrnuMe4NVNBiCSx-EHgo83C8ACyx0v4uDdOhQEAvGazq2fGSImPUk1BjZtRR5oCGVV0WUBmnStyEHGm0M1_DMHpw8KIU6ZqWTxNLTT9kt9b8nEY-PIGAs17Q7rSYHL7d0c/s400/Coco+2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The recent tree-planting ceremony in the Vatican, a preview kick-off for the Amazonian Synod, featured a sort of tribal picnic blanket on which were placed various native statues and objects.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik0fSGZqy9SmdHz2kahF_SXQJ2ITGvMKmA675RePn-ts390D_I0JZ6KrZT5iUVrNVpVNa6UI5qjCUsRPcQuy6NCE2JPoBCzlf5NofYXB0ohsmygE1rTS7O8sJZw_Hc8wlQLoKCjCw4aZg/s1600/Play+Mat+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="622" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik0fSGZqy9SmdHz2kahF_SXQJ2ITGvMKmA675RePn-ts390D_I0JZ6KrZT5iUVrNVpVNa6UI5qjCUsRPcQuy6NCE2JPoBCzlf5NofYXB0ohsmygE1rTS7O8sJZw_Hc8wlQLoKCjCw4aZg/s400/Play+Mat+4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The above scene was described by <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-and-cardinal-cardinal-cl%C3%A1udio-hummes-news-photo/1178968991">Getty Images</a>, thus:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 04: Pope Francis and Cardinal Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo, President of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), stand in front of a statue representing Pachamama (Mother Earth) as they celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi at the Vatican Gardens on October 04, 2019 in Rome, Italy. During a highly symbolic tree-planting ceremony in the Vatican Gardens on Friday, Pope Francis places the upcoming Synod for the Amazon under the protection of Saint Francis of Assisi. (Photo by Giulio Origlia/Getty Images)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This obviously seems embarrassingly pagan, so apologists for the Vatican soon spread the word that the two most prominent statues ("</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pachamama" and a similar one) </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">actually represented the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How DARE anyone suggest this was a pagan ceremony?*</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbboo2kTCj61dp7KpHcA8QAeD4CG9ux6AfIzb_eV2YGDxqqvt9y48iaV76Jm55R6d7w4ccaRLfiP5Xr3s2r-StYRDA84mn8nf9b56MoC6vJqoQ2AA_6-enZKFMoblbDZUH4FubqiIp_8/s1600/O%2527Higgins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="389" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbboo2kTCj61dp7KpHcA8QAeD4CG9ux6AfIzb_eV2YGDxqqvt9y48iaV76Jm55R6d7w4ccaRLfiP5Xr3s2r-StYRDA84mn8nf9b56MoC6vJqoQ2AA_6-enZKFMoblbDZUH4FubqiIp_8/s400/O%2527Higgins.png" width="362" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQGYvpRMizQ1g3XJ6we0hQ1Gn-aVjDLHZMoCsA5fFpdCBrrfKKkapCWV4uyIuCG5z3MUamdgkJlzB2Smws3oGRSm1r_0jfUkEFC-2buhWv4mj4o52pvfDi4_1qdm-ihGmCyqTlAzklFI/s1600/Play+Mat+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="530" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQGYvpRMizQ1g3XJ6we0hQ1Gn-aVjDLHZMoCsA5fFpdCBrrfKKkapCWV4uyIuCG5z3MUamdgkJlzB2Smws3oGRSm1r_0jfUkEFC-2buhWv4mj4o52pvfDi4_1qdm-ihGmCyqTlAzklFI/s400/Play+Mat+5.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apparently, the Catholic shamans moved the objects around like kids would on a play mat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What were the other objects? To be honest, I don't really want to know, especially that long thing with the purple and orange striped ends. But it turns out that the apologists had cropped a larger image*. Here's a different version, panning right:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhaK0bkE0pzQwmAkIb1S7F7MBWBqQGSzHzuUFlDy0x1eFLRFZyQz8yHubjDubjvHbeiJ095jvZ7WKX8EWjiFNLlG-wMM7Umqs8DA-9INgKgefc13hyphenhyphenpGv8m5cn9XjXcOZWqbFystJJ7Y/s1600/Play+Mat+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="679" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhaK0bkE0pzQwmAkIb1S7F7MBWBqQGSzHzuUFlDy0x1eFLRFZyQz8yHubjDubjvHbeiJ095jvZ7WKX8EWjiFNLlG-wMM7Umqs8DA-9INgKgefc13hyphenhyphenpGv8m5cn9XjXcOZWqbFystJJ7Y/s400/Play+Mat+3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's pan in more on the right:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFhAhdOrMRQEc95tR5koEWw1ITDWn2EKm6hyphenhyphena3juGKdN5RL32zBJDgiqqqdkD-qOnHkSMXWRWzCbNPG0jn-CV_qck4xRe1meIGln_gdtCSn_lvLWkus3c9FmZvrZXXJIiI-eSDKccBZA/s1600/Coco+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="240" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFhAhdOrMRQEc95tR5koEWw1ITDWn2EKm6hyphenhyphena3juGKdN5RL32zBJDgiqqqdkD-qOnHkSMXWRWzCbNPG0jn-CV_qck4xRe1meIGln_gdtCSn_lvLWkus3c9FmZvrZXXJIiI-eSDKccBZA/s400/Coco+2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, it appears to be a naked man with an erect Coco.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fertility idol? Not at all, it's simply a statue of one of the prelate inhabitants of Sanctae Marthae taking in a bit of sun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One Twitter friend made a <a href="https://twitter.com/apozoverde/status/1180495112368992256">funny comment</a>:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2LUqiG79u2o9m3jjxQ8BR6TE1zZN5g85OWhWQHUc_0bsfB8bGd587dDpLsxCxv9OR4YIf2ypekLfzz-oURa3D-msWDoGI4d5VzbM_gQlSr6BTvtNllEuZ_n__txPhBRZhldnx_uPWis/s1600/Viagris+Laetitia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="129" data-original-width="599" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2LUqiG79u2o9m3jjxQ8BR6TE1zZN5g85OWhWQHUc_0bsfB8bGd587dDpLsxCxv9OR4YIf2ypekLfzz-oURa3D-msWDoGI4d5VzbM_gQlSr6BTvtNllEuZ_n__txPhBRZhldnx_uPWis/s400/Viagris+Laetitia.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Arising?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Okay, but here's some <a href="https://twitter.com/Michael_Voris/status/1180498820234403840">cold water</a> for you:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeHRo-X40DwFF51_aP9UggBjRbA7NnCf9bauFzEK1CZAiSRE7GQ1KzeIDw-B3rYpmHlu_7O4lYKnnxPAQJPut8j6OAZ8f5pUf139byAC_59ykdeF3ZdwDjcIJrXQcpj-eJZX1t6u-noc/s1600/Voris.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeHRo-X40DwFF51_aP9UggBjRbA7NnCf9bauFzEK1CZAiSRE7GQ1KzeIDw-B3rYpmHlu_7O4lYKnnxPAQJPut8j6OAZ8f5pUf139byAC_59ykdeF3ZdwDjcIJrXQcpj-eJZX1t6u-noc/s400/Voris.png" width="313" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is reassuring. And I'm happy I didn't have to become hysterical. The lefties won't get any ammo from me, today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm NOT crazy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I'm still not sure I understand what's going on. Is it </span><i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">his</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> arm? Which arm? Does he have half an arm on one side and no arm on the other?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is that half an arm or are you just glad to see me?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, people are now debating this on Twitter, complete with different pictures at different angles with pointers and little circles and all the rest. What is it, really?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't care.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The original photo, however we characterize the native protrusion in question, is still the perfect symbol for the current pornocracy. The term was originally coined by a Protestant historian to describe the corrupt papacies of the 10th century. It originally meant rule by prostitutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I think it could also mean rule by the corrupt and sexually perverted. When they're not scheming to cover up scandals or ambiguify to death Church teachings, they're engaging in "drug-fueled orgies" - one of them, as we all know, broken up by the police just a few hundred yards from that picnic blanket.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But as we also all know, none of the <i>sexually</i> in question has anything to do with fertility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*H/t <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveSkojec/status/1180488626049708033">Steve Skojec</a> and </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ProtecttheFaith/status/1180427121233141768" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Nick Donnelly</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-13640143300737393352019-10-04T12:54:00.000-07:002019-10-04T12:54:16.058-07:00MUST WATCH: Suited Man's Hardheaded Response to Terrorist Wannabe on Commuter Train <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkbh-blrVYFisBKc1fRfNItizKB7vx8FjgQkfGnUs5I33SkFTVbcMbjSSVS8nLCbtD7TvJhDgL8BBvM3nUDbYPi4w30LC1bhxxziMI7pk1rb5g1zBnW33z0vn9fnvkP6PHvoBL35Ovf8/s1600/Headbutt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="340" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkbh-blrVYFisBKc1fRfNItizKB7vx8FjgQkfGnUs5I33SkFTVbcMbjSSVS8nLCbtD7TvJhDgL8BBvM3nUDbYPi4w30LC1bhxxziMI7pk1rb5g1zBnW33z0vn9fnvkP6PHvoBL35Ovf8/s400/Headbutt.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I'll kill you, I'm from Afghanistan, I'll kill you, I'll stab you!"</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.16px;">Sorry to say it, but haven't you always wanted to do this, or at least see it done?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;">Q: "You want me stab you, Kafir?!"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;">A: BONK!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;">It reminds us of this, I think:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.16px;">The <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7536723/Commuter-HEADBUTTS-passenger-fight-packed-train.html">Daily Mail</a> gives some background:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A commuter was today hailed as a 'hero' after headbutting a man who had allegedly been fighting and making violent threats on board a train from London.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suited man, who was believed to have been travelling home, struck the bearded man on the c2c service between West Ham and Barking in East London yesterday.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Commuters cheered and praised the suited man for protecting other passengers whom the bearded man was said to have been harassing on the train.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bearded man was restrained before police took him off at Upminster station in Essex, where he was arrested on suspicion of carrying a knife and theft by finding.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Del Scott-Lewis, a passenger in his 40s from Ockenden, told MailOnline he was involved in trying to stop the bearded man from attacking anyone on the train.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He told MailOnline: 'I'm looking round over my left shoulder, facing a girl sitting down. He's mumbling on about 'I'm from f***ing Afghanistan'.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Then an old workman behind him has got up and said to this guy 'leave her alone'. Then the guy punched him five or six times. I saw him fall backwards.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'I turned round and shouted out: 'let's get him off at the next stop'. When I got to him I grabbed hold of his right arm and marched him to the centre of the train.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'When I got him against the door, this bloke who did the headbutting grabs hold of his left arm. He started struggling. The heatbutt was needed, desperately needed.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'When against the wall, he started saying 'I'll kill you, I'm from Afghanistan, I'll kill you, I'll stab you'. I was on the phone to 999 and saying 'we need urgent help'.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'I put the phone down and went to restrain the guy. Before the headbutt comes, he was talking about killing me. Then the word 'stab' came up.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'We saw no knife, but he made the threat to stab us. When he made the threat, no one had a baton - so we headbutted him.</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/10/04/17/19305336-7536723-image-m-119_1570205399313.jpg" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="347" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The suited man helped to restrain the suspect until police arrived</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'If someone threatens to stab you, and you've got no baton on you, the only course available was to shut him up.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'At that point some of the kids on the train started getting scared. I've never been in a situation like this before. It was a judgement.'</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mark Taylor, who said he was also on the train, told MailOnline: 'The guy was causing trouble. He had tried to sit on the divider between the seats.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'When a bloke of about 60 asked him to stop he attacked him. The big bloke and some others pulled him off. The big guy restrained him for about five or six minutes while being permanently shouted at and abused. Finally he had enough.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'No one could blame him and it did the carriage a favour. That's why everyone was laughing. He was hauled out at Upminster. Eventful journey.'</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The video begins with the bearded man having a heated discussion with the tall suited man, who appears to be restraining his fellow passenger with his wrists.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bearded passenger then shouts at the suited man: 'Look at me I'm stupid!' – before the latter violently headbutts him, sending him forcibly flying backwards.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The victim of the headbutt was visibly thrown down and backwards by the force of the blow</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some passengers on the crowded train gasp in horror, while others cheered and laughed at the move. Later, commuters discussed the incident on social media.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A witness said on Facebook: 'This guy was harassing and trying to provoke fights the entire journey until he was escorted off.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Everyone was ignoring him as it was a busy train and no one wanted any trouble. The final straw was when he jumped in between two seats and was practically sitting on a person's head.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'The passenger simply told him to get down and the guy started laughing and started using horrible language towards him and a lot of other passengers on the train.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'He then started pushing the passenger and a fight broke out, which was quickly dispersed.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'After many more horrible and inappropriate comments later another passenger cornered him into the door so he would stop harassing people and said for him to get off the next stop - Upminster.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'He then started pushing him and insulting him, which resulted in the final headbutt. When he was escorted off the train he still continued to make comments and insults.'</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lindsey Walsh added: 'I'm in no way condoning violence. However, having witnessed the 15 minute build up prior to this head butt, I can confirm he deserved it. What you are seeing is the head butt with no context behind it.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'But that guy got on the train spoiling for a fight. He had a punch up with an innocent commuter and was abusive to everyone on the carriage. Again, I'm not condoning violence but the guy who gave the head butt was a hero.'</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A separate video also showed the man being pinned to the platform at Upminster station while police officers headed to take him away.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A British Transport Police spokesman said: 'British Transport Police received a report at 3.35pm on October 3 of a man fighting and making violent threats to passengers on board a train.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'He was restrained onboard the service and arrested when it arrived at Upminster station. Following a search, the man, aged 29, was further arrested on suspicion of carrying a knife and theft by finding. He remains in custody.'</span></blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-59090122363301710692019-10-03T10:02:00.002-07:002019-10-03T10:31:53.112-07:00BREAKING: Paris Police HQ Stabber Was Recent Convert to Islam<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCGJsCfjZcfRf_uJEjr9h4X93GCce7SDiZsluvMxc9XNadMuyj7F4CR6FzKa7JoLBH59kH0rYMRwirOyJ-VQdeS7ib-thj9T7bMe3b7TtY0lUc2lRKI0Z9dbbvgnrpV3HhGHXNiPNp-Q/s1600/Paris+Attack+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCGJsCfjZcfRf_uJEjr9h4X93GCce7SDiZsluvMxc9XNadMuyj7F4CR6FzKa7JoLBH59kH0rYMRwirOyJ-VQdeS7ib-thj9T7bMe3b7TtY0lUc2lRKI0Z9dbbvgnrpV3HhGHXNiPNp-Q/s400/Paris+Attack+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Security personnel guard area near Paris police headquarters after the attack</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do non-Muslims ever go on sudden mass-murder rampages? Of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But in nations where Islam is on the rise, ideologically and demographically, these attacks by Muslims are common and predictable. It's literally part of how aggressive Islam instills fear in the rest of the population and reduces it to paralysis and finally resignation regarding the process of Islamization.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This morning, a man went on a stabbing rampage inside Paris police headquarters. Apparently he was an employee and thus had security clearances. Four police employees were killed, three of them officers, before the man was shot dead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who was he and why did he do it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are all familiar with the usual denials and obfuscations. The man waas not initially identified. Here is one of the initial reports from <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/man-attacks-police-officers-with-knife-in-paris-11826248">Sky News</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The motive is unclear but another police union leader, Jean-Marc Bailleul, described it as a criminal act - a "moment of madness" - rather than terror.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other media reports in the country have said the suspect had "tensions" with his supervisor.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now some in French media are reporting that the attacker was a recent Muslim convert. This may have been part of the reason for the "tensions":</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<a href="https://actu17.fr/paris-un-homme-arme-dun-couteau-a-attaque-des-policiers-a-la-prefecture-de-police/">Actu17</a> later retracted the information that the slain victim was the attacker's supervisor.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is now reporting that the wife of the attacker has been arrested.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-security-convert-idUSKBN1WI1TS">Reuters</a> is now confirming that the attacker was a recent Muslim convert based on a report from French news agency BFMTV.</span></div>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-66561920898739431622019-09-16T07:40:00.000-07:002019-09-16T07:40:46.237-07:00A Granola Cath Weighs in on Why We Lost the TLM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her tattoo told her this.</span>Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-54426419565676781092019-09-11T13:29:00.000-07:002019-09-11T13:29:18.692-07:00Thank You for Saving Everyone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLGNEFUm84IKc66C_vsxoH7Gof40Y5ybqByrP90ek2Z0n2-7UG08eCNDhWkvo1cFWax5P5skZQ8YHhH2jNn4anvHfS54m0ZHdWmPKC2lPIWzs_XzgpUCoDcK1pubECzI-pjJNv-c5HtU4/s1600/WTC+Collapse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="370" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLGNEFUm84IKc66C_vsxoH7Gof40Y5ybqByrP90ek2Z0n2-7UG08eCNDhWkvo1cFWax5P5skZQ8YHhH2jNn4anvHfS54m0ZHdWmPKC2lPIWzs_XzgpUCoDcK1pubECzI-pjJNv-c5HtU4/s400/WTC+Collapse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For weeks and perhaps months after 9/11, the street side walls of practically every firehouse in Manhattan were covered with cards and letters, many of them written by children. You could walk from Ground Zero well up the length of the island and see them. In many cases the flutter of pinned up notes surrounded photographs of the fallen firefighters from that particular company.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The one I will always remember was the card with a drawing of the intact Trade Center Towers on each side. In between was a heart. Underneath was a message written in a child's hand:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thank You For Saving Everyone</i></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many cases, of course, these heroes and heroines physically rescued no one. The leading group that went up the stairs of the second tower that was hit (the first tower to fall) all perished before they could lead a single person out. There was no time. Two made it up to the 78th floor elevator waiting area where the second plane had plowed directly through a crowd. There, they reported back on the conditions and comforted the shocked, injured and dying in the few minutes they all had left. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Just as as a stretcher can help to save a body, an act of love - received or given - can lead to the salvation of a soul.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">They all died. But it is not unreasonable to believe that on the 78th floor that day, the actions of those brave men saved some. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not everyone but some. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Requiescat in pace.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Reprinted and edited from </i><a href="http://saveversusallwands.blogspot.com/2014/09/thank-you-for-saving-everyone.html">Save Versus All Wands</a><i><a href="http://saveversusallwands.blogspot.com/2014/09/thank-you-for-saving-everyone.html">,</a> September 11, 2014.</i></span>Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-4617620676867294502019-04-22T08:49:00.000-07:002019-04-22T08:54:06.385-07:00"First Muslim Peer" Lord Ahmed Charged with Buggery Against a Boy Under 11 in Sheffield Crown Court<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6s0688To_N9eN7t0f-_hMze3Xh7x2GAC9IVhQSrpC0rhbSJ735lnCVhDWMAuPQwrkX_wvIL0VNQ3u7HnWtEEkOOQwE4yBt2wY5TN6FgCRm05lEO5H4RIU80dwl7iayebt8qnr-2nm28/s1600/Lord+Ahmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="442" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6s0688To_N9eN7t0f-_hMze3Xh7x2GAC9IVhQSrpC0rhbSJ735lnCVhDWMAuPQwrkX_wvIL0VNQ3u7HnWtEEkOOQwE4yBt2wY5TN6FgCRm05lEO5H4RIU80dwl7iayebt8qnr-2nm28/s400/Lord+Ahmed.jpg" width="368" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Member of the British House of Lords </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazir_Ahmed,_Baron_Ahmed" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Nazir Ahmed</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> has been called (and has called himself) the "first Muslim peer". Apparently, this is technically incorrect, with two other Muslims beating him to it by a matter of weeks. (Apparently, appointing Muslims to the peerage was a thing in the Summer of 1998). There have also been a number of earlier Muslim hereditary peers, all converts, I believe.</span><span class="tr_bq" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But he is almost certainly the most well-known current Muslim Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last month he was charged with attempted rape against a girl under 16. It allegedly occurred in the early 1970's.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fittingly, perhaps, his peerage is Rotherham, the site of the notorious Muslim mass "grooming" scandals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lord Ahmed was also sexually attracted to young boys. Or so it seems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the <a href="https://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/view,rotherham-peer-lord-ahmed-charged-with-fourth-child-sex-offence_31646.htm">Rotherham Advertiser</a> (4/18/19) h/t <a href="https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/04/gates-of-vienna-news-feed-4-21-2019/#350791">Gates of Vienna</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Rotherham peer Lord Ahmed charged with fourth child sex offence</b></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ROTHERHAM peer Lord Nazir Ahmed has appeared at court — alongside his two brothers — charged with a fourth historical child sex offence.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The peer faced the further allegation of buggery against a boy under 11 when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday).</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ahmed, of East Bawtry Road, Rotherham, appeared at the lower court last month charged with indecently assaulting the boy and two counts of attempted rape against a girl aged under 16 in the early 1970s.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The former Labour politician would have been aged between 14 to 17 when the alleged abuse took place against the two complainants.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No pleas have been formally entered <a href="https://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/view,video-lord-ahmed-enters-no-plea-at-court-hearing-over-1970s-sex-crime-charges_31212.htm">but Ahmed’s solicitor told reporters at last month’s hearing outside</a> Sheffield Magistrates' Court “he will be doing everything he can in order to prove his innocence”.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His brothers (below L-R Tariq and Farouq) have denied sexually abusing the same boy between 1968 to 1972.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirlyfUmieEL4P7H4yaFN151iHtZHzL6NTpvVShrH8vUetqik6Qb7ZhAKZc1DRVL_vZ3wVxGOrwb4SVUkvouTkeoaKosSkH8b1f6rb1ScExiX9-hntaIvb0MLxnX5exyUZ2hxiilRDFEDc/s1600/Ahmed+Brothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1207" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirlyfUmieEL4P7H4yaFN151iHtZHzL6NTpvVShrH8vUetqik6Qb7ZhAKZc1DRVL_vZ3wVxGOrwb4SVUkvouTkeoaKosSkH8b1f6rb1ScExiX9-hntaIvb0MLxnX5exyUZ2hxiilRDFEDc/s400/Ahmed+Brothers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mohammed Farouq (68), of Worrygoose Lane, Rotherham, denied at the earlier hearing four counts of indecent assault, said to have taken place when he was aged between 17 and 22.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mohammed Tariq (63), of Gerard Road, Rotherham, denies two counts of indecently assaulting the boy when he would have been aged between 14 to 16.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A two-week trial date was set for December 2 and the men were granted unconditional bail. </span></blockquote>
Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1373152433565591514.post-6260256436633575432019-04-21T09:12:00.002-07:002019-04-21T09:15:11.098-07:00Man Screams "Allahu Akbar!" at Croatian Easter Vigil Mass in Munich - 24 Injured in Panic<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFxoI4RnVn6LHkubjlRS4kzODvTLULzt0f_YqMHPH3Ct8Dd2_r6SqdYCKDg38yTCW9TrBCJzthDu3pl3JYUwiACveRwzttbWEBDyy7uIbKfyQ94k9Rt2KUnR9XNZJ6T_U2DCfiFMs7sU/s1600/St._Paul_in_der_Maxvorstadt%252C_Mu%25CC%2588nchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="1280" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFxoI4RnVn6LHkubjlRS4kzODvTLULzt0f_YqMHPH3Ct8Dd2_r6SqdYCKDg38yTCW9TrBCJzthDu3pl3JYUwiACveRwzttbWEBDyy7uIbKfyQ94k9Rt2KUnR9XNZJ6T_U2DCfiFMs7sU/s400/St._Paul_in_der_Maxvorstadt%252C_Mu%25CC%2588nchen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A "dark-skinned" man or "person of African descent" screamed "Allah Akbar" at a Croatian Easter Vigil Mass at St. Paul's Church in Munich on Saturday evening. He attempted to make his way to the altar before being apprehended. At least twenty-four people were lightly injured in the ensuing confusion and panic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">St. Paul's Church is one of the larger churches in the city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One German source claims the man hurled firecrackers:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Strongly drunken man, dark-skinned and with a beard, enters St. Paul's Church in Munich at the Theresienwiese during the Croatian Mass (Easter blessing), with a bottle of alcohol in his hand, lights a firecracker and throws it into the middle of the church and shouts "Allahu Akbar", everyone panics and throws the baskets where the Easter meal was in, runs out and screams. Children and adults were injured. The police and their squad came and arrested the man. They are shocking pictures that must be spread and not hidden. There were some injured. Many children in a state of shock. Merkur Online reports that 24 people were injured (f</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rom </span><a href="https://politikstube.com/muenchen-dunkelhaeutiger-platzt-in-oster-gottesdienst-und-schrie-allahu-akbar/" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">PolitikStube</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, translated by </span><a href="https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/04/munich-germany-dark-skinned-man-barges.html" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Allah's Willing Executioners</a>, <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">h</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">/t </span><a href="https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/04/germany-muslim-screaming-allahu-akbar-throws-firecracker-in-church-during-easter-mass-24-injured-in-panic" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Jihad Watch</a>).<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However a </span><a href="https://www.total-croatia-news.com/the-croatian-diaspora/35455-allahu-akbar" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Croatia news outlet</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> reports that the man merely threw "stones". The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs also claimed that the man was mentally-ill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ZAGREB, April 21, 2019 - The person of African descent who disrupted Mass in St Peter's Church in the Croatian Catholic parish in Munich on Saturday evening by shouting "Allahu Akbar" and throwing stones, is mentally ill and not connected with terrorism, the <a href="http://www.mvep.hr/">Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs </a>said on Sunday.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The man was shouting and throwing stones at the congregation and around the church, and the people fled in panic. Twenty-five Croatian nationals were slightly injured in the confusion, the ministry told Hina, adding that police said that the man did not use firecrackers as some media reported.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Croatian media at home and abroad said that it was a middle-aged man who was shouting "Allahu Akbar", which led many of the believers to think that it was a terrorist attack.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fenix magazine, the Croatian-language news website based in Frankfurt, said that several people had managed to overpower the man and stop him on his way to the altar before the police came in force.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Croatian ministry quoted the Munich police as saying that the incident had nothing to do with terrorism and that it was caused by a mentally ill person, who has been hospitalised after being arrested.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Police stepped up security around the churches where Mass was celebrated in Croatian, notably around St Michael's Church.</span></blockquote>
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Oakes Spaldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08078500142758654392noreply@blogger.com2