Bishop Egan Falls Asleep Next to a Pod

Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Don't laugh. It's the only explanation I can come up with.

Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth UK had the reputation for being one of the most stalwart defenders of Catholic orthodoxy in Britain.

He spoke out against giving communion to dissident Catholic politicians, and was unafraid to strongly proclaim Catholic teachings on the current hot-button issues involving marriage and family.

He urged caution for priests collaborating with groups holding or spreading non-Catholic or anti-Catholic views.

He often referenced "carrying the cross", "the coming persecutions", faithful Catholics and Christians comprising a "remnant" and so on.

Mundabor gave him three cheers.

He reintroduced and defended the Traditional Latin Mass.

So what's he doing going full-blown Laudato Si on us?

The full text of his Pastoral Message letter on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is now available on the website of the Portsmouth Diocese.

Yesterday we reprinted the Catholic Herald's description of the letter. If anything, the original is worse than we might have thought.

Had Bishop Egan ever used the term "Mother Earth" before?

Much of the letter is given over to a description of the recent encyclical Laudato Si with quotations of some of it's more famous (or infamous) passages.

He then announces that he's placing the Diocese of Portsmouth on "Environmental Alert", which will impact "(1) the way we think, (2) the way we act, and (3) the way we pray."

Regarding (1) among other things, he suggests "we heighten awareness (of environmental issues) through an occasional column in parish or school newsletters, through mentions in local media (and) through the parish Justice, Peace and Social Responsibility group." He also asks us to "consider engaging in an ecumenical effort with other Christians or with secular campaigns to bring about real change."

Again, remember, this isn't your local hippy priest. It's Bishop Philip Egan.

(2) quotes the encyclical on "avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse...planting trees" and the like.

Yesterday we reported Egan had asked penitents to confess sins against the environment. The actual language in (3) is: "And in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we should examine our life-styles, seeking His mercy for any sins we may have committed against an integral ecology."

It's true that Bishop Egan also recommends that we meditate on the first three chapters of Genesis, praise God for His Creation in Eucharistic Adoration and offer the Rosary.

But when offering the Rosary to "overcome the ecological crisis" as the Bishop advises, be careful it doesn't burn up in your hands.

I forgot to mention the most egregious recommendation. We should read and study Laudato Si carefully, "perhaps a few paragraphs a day". And Egan tells us it would be particularly appropriate to do this in a "parish Justice, Peace and Social Responsibility group."

The letter is signed "+ Philip".

Well, of course it is.

You want to stay Catholic? Sure. But this is about staying human.

Or if you don't like the pod metaphor, feel free to use another. Bishop Egan found a horse head in his bed, got a Malta phone call, was bitten by a member of the Zombie Church...

Or maybe he's just tired.

I know I am.

Confessional as Torture Chamber: Portsmouth Bishop Asks Penitents to Confess Sins Against the Environment

"I don't really believe any of this stuff, but Malta would be a drag."

This is a a secondary report from the UK's Catholic Herald (via PewSitter). I couldn't find the original letter online, though I assume it will at some point be available.

More than anything this makes me want to become more Christlike--by making a whip and charging into a Church office, ripping down eco-posters and overturning Laudato Si displays.

The Bishop of Portsmouth has placed his diocese on “environmental alert” as well as directing people to examine their lifestyles in confession, after reading Pope Francis’ encyclical. 

Bishop Egan called Laudato Si one of the most “challenging” papal encyclicals of our time, adding it prompted him to look at how his diocese should respond. 

In a pastoral letter Bishop Egan said the alert should impact the way the diocese, acts, pray and thinks “leading [it to a conversion of mind, will and heart.” 

In his message Bishop Egan highlights ways in which the faithful can respond practically to the Holy Father’s encyclical. 

He calls for every member of the diocese to “have a greater awareness of environmental and ecological issues” and to raise awareness amongst others through writing, ecumenical initiatives and evangelisation teams. 

The bishop also calls on his diocese to moderate their own lifestyles. 

“Everyone in the diocese should consider how they might respond in practice to the Pope’s call,” he said. 

He also adds the ‘environmental alert’ should influence the way people pray by having it as a bidding prayer, Mass intention or focus of prayer groups and even impact people’s examination of conscience for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

The bishop ends his message by offering tips as to how people can implement the pope’s encyclical. 

He suggests people pray the rosary, or meditate on Genesis chapters one to three, as well as advising praising God for creation in Eucharistic Adoration while “asking Him how [we] might become a better custodian of creation.”

Egyptian-Born Canadian Journalist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison by Egyptian Court

Don't work for Al-Jazeera

This is being presented as a story about press freedom, which it obviously is in part. The charges revolved around the journalists somehow collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood against the Egyptian Government. And it feeds the narrative that the current ferociously anti-Islamist government of Fattah el-Sissi is anti-democratic and authoritarian.

Somewhat neglected however are a few inconvenient facts. El-Sissi has himself come out against the cooked up case, and the currently imprisoned journalist Mohammed Fahmy has sued his former employer Al-Jazeera for 100 million dollars for reasons that substantially confirm the Egyptian Court's more general claim--that Al-Jazeera was (and still is) in collusion with the Brotherhood.

Best case ending: Fahmy goes free and that Jihad supporting news organization is knocked down a peg.

By Brian Rohan, CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison, the latest twist in a long-running trial criticized worldwide by press freedom advocates and human rights activists. 

The case against Canadian national Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed embroiled their journalism into the wider conflict between Egypt and Qatar following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. 

It wasn't immediately clear how the sentence would affect the three men, although lawyers said they would be asking for a pardon from President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who has personally spoken out against the case. 

Greste, earlier deported in February, spoke to Al-Jazeera from Sydney and said he believed an Egyptian appeals court would overturn the verdict. Fahmy and Mohammed, both on hand for Saturday's hearing, were immediately taken away by police after the hearing. 

"We broke no laws, we did nothing unethical or illegal or immoral. And so it's just incomprehensible to see how the court can come to this conclusion," Greste said, adding that the verdict was "clearly political." 

"There is no other way of interpreting this," he said. 

Mostefa Souag, Al-Jazeera's acting director-general, also criticized the verdict, saying it "'defies logic and common sense." 

"The whole case has been heavily politicized and has not been conducted in a free and fair manner," Souag said in a statement. "There is no evidence proving that our colleagues in any way fabricated news or aided and abetted terrorist organizations and at no point during the long drawn out retrial did any of the unfounded allegations stand up to scrutiny." 

Judge Hassan Farid, in his ruling, said he sentenced the men to prison because they had not registered with the country's journalist syndicate. He also said the men brought in equipment without security officials' approval, had broadcast "false news" on Al-Jazeera and used a hotel as a broadcasting point without permission. 

Fahmy's wife, Marwa, broke down in tears as the verdict was read out, with others sobbing in the courtroom. 

"I am asking for justice, for fairness," she said while leaving the court. "I feel extremely disappointed because I love my country and I know that Mohammed loves his country. ... It's really hard for us." 

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represented Fahmy on Saturday, said she would be meeting with Egyptian officials later in the day along with Canadian Ambassador Troy Lulashnyk to press for a presidential pardon. 

"The verdict today sends a very dangerous message in Egypt," Clooney said. "It sends a message that journalists can be locked up for simply doing their job, for telling the truth and reporting the news. And it sends a dangerous message that there are judges in Egypt who will allow their courts to become instruments of political repression and propaganda." 

Lulashnyk said Canada was deeply disappointed by the outcome. 

"We are calling for his full and immediate release and his return to Canada, and this is now the time for the government to make that happen," he said. 

The case began in December 2013, when Egyptian security forces raided the upscale hotel suite used by Al-Jazeera at the time to report from Egypt. 

Authorities arrested Fahmy, Greste and Mohammed, later charging them with allegedly being part of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which authorities have declared a terrorist organization, and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security. 

Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has cracked down heavily on his supporters, and the journalists were accused of being mouthpieces for the Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera and the journalists have denied the allegations, saying they were simply reporting the news. 

At the time of the journalists' arrests, Qatar and Egypt increasingly had been at odds over Doha's support of Islamist groups and the Brotherhood. In the time since, Qatar, which owns Al-Jazeera, has expelled some Brotherhood members and made overtures toward easing tensions with Egypt, though the Qatari government continues to support some Islamists in the region. 

At trial, prosecutors used news clips about an animal hospital with donkeys and horses, and another about Christian life in Egypt, as evidence they broke the law. Defense lawyers — and even the judge — dismissed the videos as irrelevant. 

Nonetheless, the three men were convicted on June 23, 2014, with Greste and Fahmy sentenced to seven years in prison and Mohammed to 10 years for being found with a spent bullet casing. That ruling was later overturned on appeal by Egypt's Court of Cassation, which said the initial proceedings were marred by violations of the defendants' rights, but a retrial was ordered. 

On Saturday, Mohammed received an additional six months for being in possession of a "bullet," according to the full text of the court decision carried by the Egyptian state news agency MENA. It wasn't immediately clear why Saturday's verdict referred to a "bullet," rather than a spent bullet casing. 

The case has brought a landslide of international condemnation and calls for el-Sissi, who as military chief led the overthrow of Morsi, to intervene. Egypt deported Greste in February, though he remained charged in the case. Fahmy and Mohammed were later released on bail. 

Fahmy was asked to give up his Egyptian nationality by Egyptian officials in order to qualify for deportation. It's not clear why he wasn't deported, though Fahmy said he thinks Canada could have pressed Cairo harder on the matter. 

Angered by Al-Jazeera's handling of the case, Fahmy has filed a lawsuit in Canada seeking $100 million from the broadcaster, saying that it put the story ahead of employee safety and used its Arabic-language channels to advocate for the Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera has said Fahmy should seek compensation from Egypt.

BREAKING: Thai Police Arrest "Foreign Man" with Turkish Links in Bombing Plot

We should note that, contrary to the first sentence of this report, other news sources have stated that this is NOT the backpack bomber in the video. The Turkish links and the police spokesman's claim that the plot was "unlikely to be terrorism...(but) taking personal revenge for his comrades," might indicate that the bombing was in retaliation for the recent deportation to China of 100 Muslim Uighurs. Sources have recently reported police interest in links between the Uighurs and the Turkish "Grey Wolves" organization.  

REUTERS-Police hunting the perpetrators of Thailand's deadliest bombing arrested on Saturday a foreigner they said matched the description of a man who left a bag at the crowded site of a blast in Bangkok nearly two weeks ago. 

Police raided a four-floor budget apartment in a suburb of the capital and found fake passports and bomb-making materials possibly used in the Aug. 17 attack at a Hindu shrine that killed 20 people and shook Bangkok's bustling commercial heart. 

The suspect was a 28-year-old foreigner who had been in Thailand since January last year and was being held at a military facility on initial charges of possessing illegal explosives, police said. 

"It's unlikely to be terrorism. It's not an international terrorist act," Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference. 

Somyot did not explain how police had come to that conclusion, but said the motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades". He did not elaborate. 

The bomb tore through the crowded Erawan Shrine, one of the country's top tourist attractions and close to several of Bangkok's most luxurious hotels and its biggest shopping malls. 

Among the dead were 14 foreigners, seven from mainland China and Hong Kong, in an attack the military government said was a strike at Thailand's ailing economy. 

With few clues so far, speculation has been rife about who masterminded the devastating attack, the scale of which Bangkok has never seen, despite going through a decade of intermittent political turmoil in the capital. 

National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said more people were being sought and evidence pointed to the arrested man's involvement in a second bomb a day later in the city's Sathorn area, which caused no damage. 

"We found he's connected to both Bangkok blasts," Prawut said. "We believe the perpetrators are from the same group." 

Stack of fake Turkish passports discovered in the suspect's apartment

The prime suspect is a young man with shaggy dark hair dressed in a yellow shirt seen on grainy closed-circuit television footage dropping off a backpack and casually leaving the scene before the bomb went off. 

A televised announcement showed still images of bags full of what appeared to be bomb-making materials and a photograph of a barefooted man, hands behind his back, with a beard and hair shaven short. 

Police showed another image of a Turkish passport with a photograph that appeared to be the same man but police indicated the passport was fake.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Speculation in media and among experts has been rife about who has motive and capability to carry it out, pointing to southern ethnic Malay separatists, opponents of the ruling military, international extremists or sympathizers of Uighur Muslims, of which Thailand forcibly repatriated more than 100 to China last month. 

Many of the Turkic-speaking minority Uighurs who hail from China's far west and have sought passage via Southeast Asia to Turkey. Thai police said on Thursday they were looking into recent arrivals from Turkey as part of their bomb probe. 

Police had made little progress and have been criticized for providing contradictory information. Reuters reporters on Friday found the authorities had not checked some CCTV footage taken minutes after the blast, which featured a man dressed like the chief suspect.

French Army Has Contingency Plans to Win Back Control of Muslim No-Go Zones

"We are not surrender monkeys!"

As my good friend John Kerry once said, "the French are . . . the French."

What I mean by that (whatever Kerry meant) is that the French are complicated. It is unfair to characterize the French as merely, say, "surrender monkeys". That expresses a truth, certainly (see 1940), but not the truth. In some ways and contexts the French are efficient, smart, honorable and I would want them defending my back.

After the Jewish deli siege, the government assigned hundreds of soldiers to patrol synagogues and Jewish schools. 

So, while pro-Muslim political correctness is still rampant in France--saying many of the things that I myself have said on this blog will earn you a fine and suspended jail-sentence--the French are not idiots. Many of them understand the mortal danger that Islam now presents to the French Republic--even if political correctness prevents them from clearly and explicitly identifying the problem.

Apparently, the French military and security services are actively preparing for when things get worse, as they obviously will. That's not even half of the solution to the current menace, of course, and doesn't really get to the heart of it. But it's a lot better than nothing.

By Henry Samuel and David Chazan, Telegraph, August 27, 2015 (via Jihad Watch):

French security forces are bracing for the eventuality of civil unrest and fear there could be a missile strike on a passenger airliner or a September 11-style attack, according to sources close to French intelligence. 

“Airlines have been warned of a possible attack on a plane with an anti-tank missile,” a source told The Telegraph. “But pilots are unsure how to take evasive action.” 

After Friday’s thwarted attempt to massacre passengers on an Amsterdam-Paris train and a series of terrorist attacks and attempted killings in France this year, President François Hollande warned the nation to prepare for more violence, considered inevitable as the Islamist threat grows. 

The army has made contingency plans for the “reappropriation of national territory”, meaning to win back control of neighbourhoods where the population become hostile to the security forces and where guns are easily obtainable, according to the source. 

“There are a lot of alienated and angry fourth-generation immigrant kids in the suburbs and the prospect of radicalisation is increasingly likely,” the source said. 

“The idea that attacks like the one on the train are carried out by individuals acting on their own is not credible. We’re dealing with highly-organised networks of militant Islamists embarked on a campaign of violence and determined to intensify it.” 

Kalashnikov automatic rifles — used by the train gunman and Islamist terrorists who killed 17 people in Paris in January — and anti-tank missiles are now obtainable in France. Many were smuggled in from the former Yugoslavia after the Balkan wars in the 1990s. More weapons have come in from Libya, the sources said, adding that organised crime and terrorist groups were working together to procure them. 

“We don’t know what happened to the arms we (France) to Libyan rebels. It’s worrying,” the source said. 

In the chaos following the fall of the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, French officials described the north African country as an “open-air arms market”. In 2011, France admitted to sending “light weapons” to Libyan rebels in 2011, but French media reported that consignments of heavier arms, including European-made Milan anti-tank missiles were also sent. 

There were fears that Isil, al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups were procuring heavy weapons from the stocks of Gaddafi’s former army, and that rebel groups were losing control of their own arms….

Britain's Largest Mobile Network Blocks Pro-Israel and Anti-Jihad Sites

No Jews, please. We're British.

Edgar Davidson of the Edgar Davidson: Confronting anti-Semitism and Israel hatred blog reports that EE (the largest mobile network operator in the UK) and the Virgin Network are censoring or blocking anti-Jihad and pro-Israel websites.

From Davidson's analysis and the helpful comments on his post, it appears that the blocking varies in type and severity. For example, for a few, the mobile blog version opens but is blocked for the "View web version." And if you spend the time, you can supposedly get around many (most? all?) of the blocks by, among other things, changing the parental control settings on your phone. Needless to say, however, Davidson did not find these blocks on the anti-Israel site counterparts, such as the well known and not-so-subtly titled Death to America and Israel. He assumes that the network operators are using the same 3rd party provider for their content lock system, and this is being gamed by antisemitic, pro-Jihad groups.

Here are some of the blocked sites. As you can tell by looking to the right of this blog, many of them are sites I link to on Mahound's Paradise:

• Pamela Geller
• Jihad Watch
• The Religion of Peace
• Bare Naked Islam
• Israel Matzav
• Israpundit
• Elder Of Ziyon
• Sultan Knish 
• Abu Yehuda
• Robin Shepherd 
• Edgar Davidson
• Daphne Anson 

(I keep forgetting to add Sultan Knish to my links. The name alone qualifies it. OK, done.)

Disturbingly, Davidson found that the blocking harassment is getting worse, with Pamela Geller and Jihad Watch being added to the block list at some point in August. Obviously, no self-respecting censor should leave those out.

I was alerted to this by Israellycool (also linked to on Mahound's Paradise). Curiously, Israellycool is the only site Davidson could find that was originally blocked but is now unblocked.

"Mystery Pugilist" Says He Wasn't Scared, Expresses Annoyance at Turks For Fighting With Sticks and Chairs

Kuwaiti-born Irish national Mohammed Fadel Dobbous--who singlehandedly fought off a mob of more than a dozen Turkish shopkeeper jackals (see the previous post)--just gave a brief interview to Turkey's Show TV.

I confess that I had started to wonder whether the "mystery pugilist" was indeed real, or whether there was some deep twist in the story that wasn't being reported--like the rumor that a drunken Mr. Dobbous had started the whole thing. It seemed odd to me that after more than 24 hours nothing else about the man had turned up.

But the interview appears to confirm the basic story, as well as adding some interesting details. In it we learn:

• The brawl actually took place on August 1.
• Mr. Dobbous is still in Istanbul where he has been in contact with the Irish consulate.
• He appears to have more than a casual link with Turkey as he speaks Turkish--albeit with a "thick Irish-Kuwaiti accent"
• He broke his hand, injured his shoulder and received a knife wound in the back during the fight. His left arm is still in a sling.
• He also lost his phone, a watch and a gold chain.
• He claims not to have been scared but expressed annoyance that his attackers wouldn't "fight like men...with their bare hands."
• Mr. Dobbous says that he doesn't drink and after accidentally spilling the water bottles, he tried to apologize to the shipowners before he was set upon by the mob.

Here's the original Show TV report, featuring the now famous fight video.

For the fun of it, here's another video of the brawl, this time with a play-by-play by Irish sportscaster Pat Spillane:

Video Tuesday: Erdogan Shopkeeper Jackals Pick Wrong Tourist to Mess With, Kuwaiti Born Irish Pugilist Defeats Entire Mob of Angry Turks

Finally. Good news.

This incredible video looks like a scene from a James Bond or Kung fu movie. But it's real. A Turkish shopkeeper overreacts when a tourist accidentally knocks over some water bottles. Other shopkeepers and hangers on quickly join a mob, armed with sticks, chairs and other found weapons. But the tourist--a trained boxer--methodically defends himself, laying a number of them out. At one point he calmly moves his sunglasses to the top of his head and then continues the fight.

Interestingly, this video has gone viral in Turkey, where thuggish shopkeepers are identified with the authoritarian Muslim government. From the  Independent:

An Irish tourist who was caught up in a mass brawl with local shopkeepers in Istanbul has become an unexpected hero among Turkish social media users. 

The video shows a man described in Turkish media as an Irish tourist and apparent “professional boxer” getting into a fight with locals after accidentally spilling a fridge full of water bottles. 

Far from criticizing the tourist, who can be seen taking on more than a dozen shopkeepers armed with sticks and chairs, the response in Turkey has been overwhelmingly positive by many. 

It’s not simply a case of backing the outnumbered underdog – though there is undoubtedly an element of that in the reaction. 

More so, Istanbul’s shopkeepers have become something of a symbol for the division in the country between a progressive left and the conservative government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Shopkeepers attacked demonstrators during the 2013 anti-government protest in Gezi Park, Istanbul, famous in part for an image of a policeman spraying a woman in a red dress with tear gas.

According to the Hurriyet newspaper, four suspects accused over the fatal beating of protester Ali Ismail Korkmaz were all local shopkeepers working at a bakery at the time. 

In 2014, President Erdoğan sparked anger when he implied support for shopkeepers taking the law into their own hands. Speaking while the trial over Korkmaz’s death was taking place, the president said: “My shopkeepers, when necessary, can be soldiers, fighters, heroes, police and judges.” 

Some Turkish social media users mocked the shopkeepers shown in the video which emerged today in this context. One user reportedly joked: “This Irish guy turned out be an Alevi, anti-Erdogan, and CHP (Republican People’s Party) sympathiser.” 

A source at the Irish consulate in Istanbul told The Independentthat the “fun incident” had been tweeted about 75,000 times in Turkey in less than 24 hours. 

He said the Irish national had been “attacked” by shopkeepers in Istanbul’s Aksaray district. 

“The fist and stick fight began after the tourist accidentally knocked over the bottled waters stored in the cooler,” he said. 

“The shop owner overreacted and attacked the tourist with a stick. The surprising thing is that the tourist turned out to be a pro boxer and knocked down the angry shopkeepers one by one.”

The man has been identified as Mohammed Fadel Dobbous, a Kuwait-born Irish citizen. As of this writing there seems to be no additional information on him. If he is a professional boxer, he doesn't appear to be registered in Ireland.

Denmark's Largest Newspaper Speculates on Civil War in Sweden

Sweden in flames: the 2013 Stockholm riots

I think it's fair to say that most Americans still think of Sweden as a sort of welfare state quasi-utopia. Not necessarily perfect of course. Sexy magazines; statism; blondes; not much religion; cold; long life expectancies; generally uneventful lives; chic wooden furniture; did I mention the blondes?

Of course, that almost defines utopia for some people.

But you know what? Whether or not you like that little fantasy, it's over. Or it's about to be over, very soon.

Sweden is ground zero in the Islamization of Europe.

Swedish cities have some of the largest Muslim populations in Europe. Given current immigration policies and demographic trends, they will have Muslim majorities or power-wielding pluralities within a generation. Already, large areas of these cities are no-go zones. Violent crime has exploded. Large scale riots are common. The small number of Jews that are left are in the middle of a slow-motion pogrom.

From being one of the safest countries in the world a few years ago, Sweden is now second only to Lesotho in terms of per capita reported rapes. And the vast majority of those rapes are committed by Muslims.

However, for reasons that defy understanding, if you have a mind to criticize this or even talk openly about it, the full force of the kind and gentle Swedish state and society will come down against you. You will be pilloried as a "racist" and a "hater". You will perhaps lose your job. You might even go to jail.

A Swedish academic recently went to jail in effect for publicly asserting the last sentence of the paragraph two paragraphs above.

So how will it end?

I cannot believe Swedes want to live under Sharia Law. But the momentum seems to be headed in that direction. It's not a question of how that momentum should be stopped (peacefully, of course) but how it can be stopped. Increasingly, it seems like the can might be civil war.

The largest Danish daily Jyllands-Posten just speculated on this in an August 18 editorial. Entitled "Good and Evil" the piece was penned by "Anonymous". Breitbart commented that it showed just "how quickly the narrative has moved in Europe" (the translation is from Google with a few Mahound touch ups):      

When Annie Lööf, the leader of the liberal Swedish Centre Party, was asked on Swedish television a few years ago how many immigrants Sweden could take in, she replied 30 million. They should simply be able to work, speak Swedish and pay taxes. Then they could be a dynamic part of the Swedish welfare state along with the approximately 9.5 million current residents of Sweden. 

The TV clip can be found on YouTube side by side with countless other funny, curious and entertaining ones. But Annie Lööf thought and said it in all seriousness. 

Although the current Social Democratic Swedish government led by Stefan Löfven has not in the same way explicitly mentioned numbers, it seems keen on importing as many immigrants as possible, despite the fact that resistance to this policy is growing even among traditional Social Democratic voters. 

Proponents of Sweden's immigration policy primarily refer to abstract humanitarian arguments, closing their eyes to concrete consequences such as the one billion spent on social services, a run-up in violence and crime rates, cultural segregation, a school and education system in free fall, religious radicalization around the major cities and a looming, popular discontent as more and more Swedes feel that immigration is transforming their social reality. Many simply can not recognize the Sweden, which is changing at record speed, and nobody seems to have control. Not the elites, who for more than 30 years, closed their eyes to the transformation, and as result, have difficulty admitting they were wrong and that their theories might be in need of revision. 

All of these components are a recipe for large-scale Bergmanesque drama, not least because the skeptics, critics and opponents have been excluded, belittled and demonized for decades. Demonization has been resounding even through the old folks homes. On the same day that a 36-year-old asylum seeker from Eritrea killed two random Swedes at IKEA in Vasteras with a knife from the store's kitchen section, it was in all seriousness discussed on Sveriges Radio P1, that beige medical patches are "discriminatory" and "racist" against "new Swedes" with darker skin. Since the killer's ethnicity was known to social media, the Swedish police uncharacteristically identified his country of origin - the suspect was from Eritrea - to prevent "evil forces" from speculating about the accident. Except that it was not an accident but a murder of a mother and her adult son. The IKEA store put up a sign at the entrance that read:

"Closed due to technical failure."

It can be difficult to sort out the good guys from the bad guys in today's Sweden. Decades of social democracy and cultural liberalism have built a sort moralist empire, but this is in the process of collapsing, and new voices are challenging the status quo, even in parts of the establishment press. This is new: the center no longer holds and the country is increasingly divided and split in blocks. The Swedes' future security depends largely on whether they can solve these problems politically. If not, the solutions are anti-political, i.e. violent and bloody. When large segments of society oppose the ruling dogmas while also feeling disenfranchised and powerless, that society will be in danger of descending into violence. It happened in Syria, but it can also happen in Sweden, whether it has 9, 15 or 30 million residents.

Philly Mayor and Pope: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Coming to America

Ne perdas cum impiis, Deus animam meam: et cum viris sanguinum vitam meam. 

In quorum manibus iniquitates sunt: dextera eorum repleta est muneribus.

Photo from philly.com, August 23, 2015.

Flashback: "Fury of the Falkland's Heroes Over New Pope"

"Go kiss that land that is ours!"

The above quote and others like it can be found if you Google "Bergoglio Malvinas".

This is a follow-up to the recent post on the Pope posing with a "Dialogue for Malvinas" t-shirt.

On this issue, the Franboys were in full swing, saying the Pope was "surprised" or "tricked" or "just being polite" or whatever. But the evidence for the Pope's nationalist pro-war sympathies (from when he was Archbishop Bergoglio) is incontrovertible. A few responses are possible:

1. Bergoglio wasn't actually in favor of war. It's true (as far as I know) that the then Archbishop wasn't standing at the docks yelling "Shoot the gringos!" But no priest would do that. In his subsequent comments and homilies he was as pro-war as any priest could be. Note that there is no evidence that he ever criticized the Argentinian attack. And while he appears to now be in favor of "dialogue", that's the current nationalist line. Preach dialogue. When that doesn't work, attack. After you get your butt kicked (and close to a thousand young men are killed) and it's clear you're militarily weaker and won't succeed through force, preach dialogue again.
2. Bergoglio is Argentinian. What do you expect? He's a priest and I expect him to act as a priest. Pope Benedict didn't endorse the Nazi's aggression and Pope Jon Paul II didn't endorse the policies of the Polish government. Indeed, he opposed them, and was one of the primary actors that helped bring down the communist regime.
3. But he's so clearly in favor of peace now. He's even against weapons in general. Well that's sort of my point. Pope Francis is a hypocrite. Or rather he's a consistent Latin American populist. War is a capitalist plot, unless it's a war of liberation against colonialist oppressors.
4. Shut up you Islamophobe traditionalist. Everything you're saying must be BS (see this minor Reddit  exchange). In a sense, that's the best response, since it cannot be countered with argument or logic. Someone making that response has shown that they are immune to such bourgeois fripperies.

I should also note that while the Pope has become known for being egalitarian in citing the sufferings of all--whatever their race, nationality or religion (as an example, consider his remarks on the current European immigration crisis)--in his many comments and homilies on the "Malvinas", to my knowledge he always extensively referenced the Argentinian war dead, but never the British war dead. Again, look up the homilies. The British victims don't count.

That's so weird.

Or rather, it's not weird at all. These days Bergoglio is trying to say pleasing things to the secular world media. In those days he was trying to say pleasing things to Argentinian popular opinion and the Argentinian government.

Bergoglio is a fake.

This blog post references the headline from a British newspaper article published a bit more than two years ago. Here's part of the original article from the Daily Mail:

Fury of the Falklands heroes over new Pope: He believes 'the Malvinas' belong to Argentina, and its president hopes he will support her case

• Pope Francis calls Falkland Islands 'Argentine soil' 
• General Sir Hew Pike said new pontiff does not observe islander's rights
• Argentina's president Kirchner hopes Francis will help her claim to islands

By NEIL SEARS FOR THE DAILY MAIL and HANNAH ROBERTS

PUBLISHED: 18:31 EST, 14 March 2013 | UPDATED: 03:36 EST, 15 March 2013

Falklands veterans told of their dismay last night after the Argentine president hinted she hoped the new Pope – her countryman – would mediate in the dispute surrounding the territory. 

Pope Francis believes the South Atlantic islands are ‘Argentine soil’. 

In 2010 the then Buenos Aires Cardinal declared: ‘The Malvinas are ours’, and last year he accused Britain of ‘usurping’ the islands. 

Firebrand Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, who has for months been seeking easy home popularity by calling for Britain to enter talks on withdrawing from the Falklands, has leapt on the promotion of her fellow Argentine to the papacy to boost her case. 

In a televised address yesterday she pointedly said she hoped the new Pope would ‘take a message to the major world powers that they need to participate in dialogue’. 

The controversy was stoked up only days after the islanders voted almost unanimously to retain their ties to London. 

Last night retired Lieutenant General Sir Hew Pike, who commanded 3 Para in the 1982 conflict, said the newly elected leader of the Catholic Church seemed not to recognise the Falkland islanders’ right to self-determination. 

Sir Hew, 69, said the Pope’s statements about the Falklands gave no recognition of the islanders’ wish to remain British. 

Sir Hew said: ‘It saddens me that a man of the Pope’s stature does not seem to respect the rights of a group of people to self-determination. 

‘We went to war on the basis of that principle of self-determination, for that small community of people in the Falklands, and that’s the point. 

One would have thought a priest should respect that.' 

Newly-elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, claims 'Las Malvinas' belong to Argentina and called Britain 'usurpers' 

‘Communities large or small are equally important in this world, but it seems that people like him don’t recognise that. I profoundly disagree with the Pope’s stance. 

‘I think when Popes get involved in politics that’s probably not very helpful.’ 

Major General Malcolm Hunt, who commanded 40 Commando Royal Marines, suggested the Argentine pontiff should take a more diplomatic stance after his elevation. 

Referring to his stated belief that the islands belong to Argentina, General Hunt said: ‘It is not ideal, it doesn’t help, and it certainly suits Madame Kirchner to have these things said by such a person. 

‘He’ll no doubt say something more diplomatic now he’s Pope. 

‘But certainly I would have thought that a man of faith would have been in favour of everybody, wherever they are, having some say about their own life and future.’

UK Labour Frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn Called For "Acceptance and Understanding" of ISIS Supporters, Likened US Troops to ISIS

A homeless man takes the microphone at a Corbyn rally. Just kidding, it's Corbyn himself.

You think British Prime Minister David Cameron is soft on Islamic terrorism, consider Jeremy Corbyn, his potential rival in the next general election.

The 66-year old hard-left Labour MP surprised even himself by narrowly getting enough votes to stand as a nominee, but is now running first in the polls for new leader of the Party.

The Economist describes his general politics thusly:

Mr Corbyn stands out as a (socialist) throwback. For him no policy is too dog-eared, no intellectual dead-end too futile. Public spending? Yes, please. Higher taxes? Soak the capitalists and the landlords. State ownership? Nationalise the railways and utilities, get the private sector out of public services and reopen the coal mines. If that were the secret of prosperity, Britain would never have fallen apart in the 1970s and Tony Blair would not have won three elections at the head of a modernised centre-left Labour Party. 

No prizes for concluding that Mr Corbyn would not get The Economist’s vote. He is stridently anti-American and anti-Israel—though he is a “friend” of Hamas and Venezuela. To him, Britain’s nuclear weapons are evil and always were. NATO is a warmongers’ plot to enrich the military-industrial complex. The European Union risks being a Trojan horse for liberalism.

In other words, he's the British Pope Francis.

He also appears to be almost an apologist for ISIS. From Yesterday's Daily Mail:

Jeremy Corbyn compared Islamic State brutality to US military action in Iraq in a TV interview, it emerged yesterday. 

The Labour leadership frontrunner called for 'acceptance and understanding' of IS supporters while speaking on Russia Today, the Kremlin-backed broadcaster, in June last year. 

He only condemned 'some' of the brutal regime's actions in Iraq, saying: 'Yes they are brutal, yes some of what they have done is quite appalling, likewise what American forces did in Fallujah and other places is quite appalling.' 

On the day he spoke, there were 32 people killed as militants fought for control of an oil refinery. Just weeks later, the first video of a hostage beheading was released. 

Former Labour adviser John McTernan said Mr Corbyn's comparison was 'nauseating' and showed he was 'not fit to be the leader of the party'.

No one seems to think that if he becomes leader he could lead his party to win an election, but we've heard that one before. These are strange times we live in. And the Economist and others have pointed out the negative consequences even he goes no further than becoming Shadow Prime Minister.

On the brighter side, could Corbyn vs. Cameron help UKIP? 

BREAKING: Unarmed U.S. Marines Overhear Jihadist Loading Kalashnikov, Foil Terror Attack on Amsterdam-Paris Train, 3 Seriously Wounded

Wounded passenger being removed from train (from Voix du Nord)

From the Daily Mail:

A crazed gunman, who opened fire with an assault rifle onboard a high-speed train was detained by a group of US Marines who were travelling on the service.

The man is understood to have been overheard loading the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle in the toilet by the un-armed Marines.

Three people were injured when the man opened fire, but he was soon forced to the ground and detained... 

...A report on Twitter said that three US Marines detained the gunman until emergency services arrived.

The incident happened at approximately 6pm local time.

Voix du Nord via Gateway Pundit reports that the man was of "Northern African" origin.

List of Shame: Sixteen Journalists Accept Maggie Award From Planned Parenthood

What to wear now?!!!

A necklace of baby parts, perhaps?

As you probably know, "Maggie" is Margaret Sanger. Here's yesterday's post from Katie Yoder at Newsbusters:

While the media stay away from the recent videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of aborted baby parts, they are drawn to Planned Parenthood’s annual media awards ceremony. 

During Planned Parenthood’s Maggie Awards for Media Excellence Tuesday night, the abortion giant recognized 16 journalists for pushing “reproductive rights.” From Buzzfeed and Yahoo! to MSNBC, MRC Culture compiled a list of several prominent media attendees – and found a picture announcing the winners. 

Those include Cosmopolitan.com’s Jill Filipovic, for TV & Online Reporting; left-wing magazine The Nation, for Excellence In Media, and TeenVogue.com’s Phillip Picardi, for Youth Media. Salon’s Valerie Tarico won Outstanding Individual Commentary for a piece undercutting liberal claims that no one is pro-abortion. Her story was titled: “I am pro-abortion, not just pro-choice: 10 reasons why we must support the procedure and the choice.” 

With no official list released yet, MRC Culture also searched Twitter to compile a list of media present and/or awarded at the event: 

Buzzfeed – via Casey Gueren 

Colorlines.com – via Akiba Solomon and Aura Bogado 

Cosmopolitan – via Jill Filipovic 

Ebony – via Jamilah Lemieux 

Elle – via Laurie Abraham and Leah Chernikoff 

Esquire – via John H. Richardson 

Mic – via Elizabeth Plank 

MSNBC – via Irin Carmon 

Pearl of Africa documentary – via Cleo Kambugu and Jonny von Wallström 

Salon – via Valerie Tarico 

Teen Vogue – via Phillip Picardi 

The Nation – via Katha Pollitt 

UpWorthy – via Ariel Azoff, Wagatwe Wanjuki and Lori White 

Vice – via Fazeelat Aslam 

Yahoo! Health – via Jen Gerson Uffalussy 

Tai Beauchamp of InStyle hosted the event.

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.