"First Muslim Peer" Lord Ahmed Charged with Buggery Against a Boy Under 11 in Sheffield Crown Court

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Member of the British House of Lords Nazir Ahmed 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.

But he is almost certainly the most well-known current Muslim Lord.

Last month he was charged with attempted rape against a girl under 16. It allegedly occurred in the early 1970's.

Fittingly, perhaps, his peerage is Rotherham, the site of the notorious Muslim mass "grooming" scandals.

Lord Ahmed was also sexually attracted to young boys. Or so it seems.

From the Rotherham Advertiser (4/18/19) h/t Gates of Vienna:

Rotherham peer Lord Ahmed charged with fourth child sex offence

ROTHERHAM peer Lord Nazir Ahmed has appeared at court — alongside his two brothers — charged with a fourth historical child sex offence. 

The peer faced the further allegation of buggery against a boy under 11 when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday). 

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. 

The former Labour politician would have been aged between 14 to 17 when the alleged abuse took place against the two complainants. 

No pleas have been formally entered but Ahmed’s solicitor told reporters at last month’s hearing outside Sheffield Magistrates' Court “he will be doing everything he can in order to prove his innocence”. 

His brothers (below L-R Tariq and Farouq) have denied sexually abusing the same boy between 1968 to 1972.

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. 

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. 

A two-week trial date was set for December 2 and the men were granted unconditional bail.

Man Screams "Allahu Akbar!" at Croatian Easter Vigil Mass in Munich - 24 Injured in Panic

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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.

St. Paul's Church is one of the larger churches in the city.

One German source claims the man hurled firecrackers:

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 (from PolitikStube, translated by Allah's Willing Executioners, h/t Jihad Watch). 

However a Croatia news outlet reports that the man merely threw "stones". The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs also claimed that the man was mentally-ill.

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 Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said on Sunday. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Police stepped up security around the churches where Mass was celebrated in Croatian, notably around St Michael's Church.

BREAKING: Indian Media Reporting Sri Lanka Attacks Carried Out By Muslims

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The aftermath of a suicide bombing at an Easter Sunday Mass in Sri Lanka 

The death toll for the six coordinated terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka has now risen to 160.

New Delhi based News18 is reporting that two of the suicide bombers have been identified as Zahran Hashim and Abu Mohammad.

Approximately 10% of the Sri Lankan population is Muslim.

The attacks occurred Easter morning at three hotels and three churches in the cities of Negombo, Batticalo and Columbo.

While the attacks appear to have the marks of an ISIS operation, no terrorist organization has as yet taken credit for the bombings.

However, RT News is now reporting that Sri Lankan authorities had received a tip from a foreign intelligence service ten days ago that the Islamic group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) was planning a set of attacks.  

Pope Francis Tweets that Lent is about "Fasting from Sin"

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Fasting from sin? Does that mean I can do two venials as long as they don’t equal a full mortal?

One wag added:

Unlike his nemesis Donald Trump, Francis does not make his own tweets. I believe he signs off on them but usually does not compose them.

But someone seems a bit confused about fasting.

I should point out that another Twitter user found something like the "fasting from sin" terminology in Catholic tradition:

At least one other Father referred to "true fasting" in a similar fashion. My own feeling, based on the examples I've seen, is that this sort of usage is more metaphorical or poetic than directly illustrative.

Steve Skojec and Trent Roman got into a friendly argument about what St. John Chrysostom meant or was saying. With respect to Trent Roman, I agree with Steve on this:

Francis is talking about fasting from sin. One cannot fast from a thing that is evil. The purpose of fasting is to deprive a legitimate good in order to bring the appetites under the control of the will and strengthen virtue. 

What Chrysostom is saying is that the POINT of fasting -- the honor of it; why it attains merit -- is not because food is bad, but because it helps us to stop sinning because by it, we gain self control.

Granted that doesn't seem to be quite how Chrysostom put it.

But Jorge Mario Bergoglio is no John Chrysostom.

One could make a few additional points. Of course we should always abstain from sin, not just during Lent. And, all things being equal, we should usually abstain from occasions of sin. A glutton might be advised to engage in a bit more "fasting," at least of a sort. And so on.

One of the reasons we fast for Lent is to honor and imitate Jesus' fast in the Judaean dessert. Jesus wasn't fasting from sin (which would have been a bit pointless for Him) but from food. And the angels ministered and attended Him in part because He was "hungry" not because He was suffering from sin deprivation.

So does "fasting from sin" by @Pontifex have any significance other than being yet another example of weird pop theology from the Vatican?

This Twitter user saw more sinister implications:

I agree.

But I would also make a different claim: Francis and, to be fair, much of the Church since Vatican II has often disparaged traditional Catholic practices - praying the Rosary or saying "rote" prayers in general, fasting and abstinence, confession, even the Sunday Mass obligation - as being mere hollow rituals - examples of only "going through the motions." The true Christian should be primarily concerned with just loving other people or whatever. Becoming fixated on following "rules" can often get in the way of that.

Thus they speak of giving up sin, not giving up food. At least they use the word "sin."

It's very Protestant but you can't have everything.

Another way of putting it is that externals are not that important. You have to really feel it, man.

I give up meat for Lent, and let me tell you: I really feel it, man.

I'd gladly trade two venials for a steak.

Lesbian Activist Who Urged Cupich to Take "Swift Action" Against Fr. Paul Kalchik Elected Mayor of Chicago

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Yesterday, Lori Lightfoot won the Chicago mayoral race runoff against rival Toni Preckwinkle by the landslide margin of approximately 74% to 26%.

My headline calls Lightfoot a "lesbian activist". By that I mean she is a lesbian and an activist for liberal and democrat causes. She is "married" to another woman with whom she raises an adopted daughter and she was endorsed by many LGBT groups. But I have no particular reason to believe she is or will be necessarily anymore pro-LGBT (which itself could have multiple meanings) than Preckwinkle or many other Democrats.

Lightfoot had begun the race as a political newcomer, at least to electoral politics, and had initially only been a relative unknown in a crowded field. But she steadily gained support to narrowly come in first with 17.54% in the first-round of voting. Preckwinkle, a veteran Illinois pol, came in second with 16.04%.

Both were African-American women, prompting predictable gushing stories in the national media about Chicago getting its "first black female" mayor.

Here's an interesting fact that you probably didn't see reported:

Both black female candidates had or had had white "spouses" (the Preckwinkles divorced in 2013 after a 44-year marriage), which I suppose is another sort of first.

Though since both were in interracial relationships, presumably neither of them lost any of the Chicago black female vote because of it.

Lightfoot was arguably initially the underdog, but by the day of the runoff the prediction markets had her winning comfortably.

For the record, on the level of practical politics I don't give a damn whether Lightfoot is a lesbian or not. And, in general, that goes for most candidates.

I'd vote for Anne Marie Waters in a second. Unfortunately, I don't imagine Waters will be running for mayor of Chicago anytime soon. You can follow that lesbian activist on Twitter.

Or, rather, you can't. She was banned for Islamophobia.

But I'd sooner get thrown off a building than cast a ballot for Miss Lightfoot.

In September, she wrote a letter to Cardinal Cupich urging him to take "swift action" against Fr. Paul Kalchik, who had recently presided over the "burning" of a rainbow flag at his Avondale parish.

I write to urge your swift action against Rev. Paul Kalchik of Resurrection parish for his hateful act and speech. As you know, apparently in defiance of your direct order, Rev. Kalchik, along with some parishioners, led a burning of a rainbow flag that had previously hung in the parish. He claimed to be banishing evil. 

Rev. Kalchik has gone further and described homosexuality [sic] as an act against God and stated that homosexuals are to blame for the clergy sex abuse scandal. Rev. Kalchik's ignorant and hateful speech and actions must be addressed swiftly. 

...No person of true faith can stand as a leader of a parish, church, synagogue or mosque and express the kind of hate as that Rev. Kalchik has shown. I have followed very closely both the teachings of the Holy Father and your words, and it is clear that Rev. Kalchik's views are wildly inconsistent with both. He should not have the ability to continue subverting the minds of any other parishioners, and especially not children. 

Please take swift action to stamp out this hate.

As many of you know, the flag was no ordinary rainbow flag but the actual flag - a rainbow with a cross superimposed - that a previous pastor, Fr. Daniel Montalbano, had hung over the altar to make it a "gay friendly" worship space. Montalbano was known for hosting homosexual parties in the rectory. Church staff would later find him dead in his bedroom, having apparently suffered cardiac arrest while being hooked up to a masturbation device. Supplies of sex toys and pornography were carted away and burned. But at the time they missed the flag.

A few days after Lightfoot's letter, Kalchik was removed by Cupich. Various archdiocese emissaries, most or all of whom were suspected homosexuals, had been sent to threaten him. It was recommended that Kalchik submit to "counseling" at a psychiatric center. Instead, he left his parish on only a few minutes notice and for the last six months has been more or less in hiding.

Kalchik is a Catholic priest. Lightfoot is not a Catholic, as far as I know. But she still thought it was very much her business to petition her ideological ally Cupich to fire him.

Not only does she want to administer the government of my city. She also wants to control who is and isn't a Catholic pastor in my neighborhood.

This is why on Twitter I called Lightfoot a "lesbian fascist".

Stamp out this hate.

Or maybe she's just a nice lady who saw an opportunity for political publicity. For all I know the letter helped her surge into the runoff.

And she hasn't gone full-fascist against half of the black churches in the city - who take the conventional Old Testament line against homosexual acts - to say nothing of writing letters demanding "swift action" against most of the imams in the Chicago mosques, who preach against gays and Jews, or Chicago-based Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, who preaches against everyone.

It wouldn't have helped her in the runoff.

Then again, Lightfoot's mother once said in an interview:

She is the shortest of my children … but she has never allowed height to cause her not to go up against whatever she feels is not right.

Without being uncharitable, the vertically challenged Lightfoot, with the big forehead and masculine uniform, does seem to have a whiff of the Mussolini about her.

 

Born This Way? Scientist Claims to Have Discovered "Trad Gene"

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Strands of DNA inside a human cell (from Science) 

Faith and science are not in opposition, but this recent story from Catholic News Agency is still pretty incredible. I vaguely knew of Dr. Hannah and his research program through rumors in the tradosphere, but I didn't know that his work had recently been published. It will be interesting to see what reaction there is among the usual suspects, foes and friends:

Baltimore, MD, Apr 1, 2019 / 8:13 am (CNA). - Dr. Kenneth Hannah, a senior researcher at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, claims to have discovered two gene variants that have a statistically significant correlation with "traditionalist" forms of Catholic worship. 

Hannah, 64, is the editor of the Annual Review of Genetics as well as being a cradle Catholic who has been a member of a Latin Mass parish in Baltimore for over thirty years. 

He published his findings last month in the Annual Review. 

The genes, HFDS and UXCSP6, both make a type of protein that stimulates certain areas of the brain. 

"I wouldn't call it a 'trad gene'", laughed Dr. Hannah, during a telephone interview with CNA. "Though I understand why some might stick the name on it. Genes have no opinions on liturgy or religious liberty. Rather, it's in some sense a random feature of a genetic control mechanism for analytical thinking that nevertheless has consequences for how we choose to worship." 

Hannah began research in this area five years ago, using volunteers from his own parish St. Alphonsus Ligouri in Baltimore as well as St. Mary Mother of God Church in Washington D.C. and St. Rita of Cascia Church in Alexandria, Virginia. He also took genetic samples from a control group of Novus Ordo attendees who had agreed to be part of the study by filling out the research consent form for a home genetics test. 

Simultaneously, he was poring through data from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS). 

"Consider this," Dr. Hannah said. "Two identical twins, put up for adoption in Minneapolis. One was raised in Bangor, Maine. The other in Dallas, Texas. One of them grows up in a mainstream Catholic family attending the Novus Ordo. The other was raised with no religious faith at all, later converting on his own. But in their twenties they each separately decide to become Catholic priests - indeed, traditionalist priests of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Though they were identical twins and photos from the time show them to be almost indistinguishable, since they were attending separate seminaries and of course had different names, no one knew they were related. It was only at the International Seminary at Econe, during a gathering of recently ordained priests, that they and others made their incredibly discovery. 

"'I'm not Fr. David. I'm Fr. Christopher. Why does everyone think that I'm David?'" 

Hannah, laughs again, recalling the story as told to him by Econe instructor Fr. Thomas Moreau who had witnessed the encounter. 

"When they met for the first time and knew that something incredible was up, they embraced. Apparently, it was very moving, as well as being somewhat humorous."   

Hannah began analyzing the data he had gathered from his own subjects. 

"As you know, members of traditionalist parishes can be fairly diverse and come from different backgrounds. Most of them don't live in the neighborhood but sought out the Latin Mass independently. At St. Alphonsus there were Irish, Italians, Anglo-Germans, a number of South Americans, three Jamaican families and so on. But what most of them had in common was that HFDS and UXCSP6 were fully active." 

According to Hannah, the protein creation sequence was active in 81% of the Traditional Mass attendees but was only active in 37% of the Novus Ordo Mass goers. 

"It was stunning. I just couldn't believe it," recalled Hannah. "I felt like maybe God was playing a practical joke on me." He then added, "or maybe it was one of my Jewish assistants." 

Dr. Hannah said it's not as simple as "nature vs. nurture." 

"Obviously, some non-traditionalists, including many non-Catholics have the active genes. But it has to be triggered in some way, for example, by exposure to chant, or perhaps a negative experience involving the New Mass." 

For Hannah, there is a personal dimension to the story. His father was a devout Catholic but also an enthusiastic promoter of the liturgical innovations of the sixties and seventies. 

"I worshipped my father and I wanted his approval," recalls Hannah, who was fourteen when Saint Pope Paul VI promulgated the "New Order of the Mass" in 1969. "I also wanted to fit in with my peers who were pretty gung-ho about all the changes. But as much as I tried, I always knew I was different." 

Hannah recalls hiding in his room on the day he was supposed to serve as a Eucharistic Minister. 

"I know that my father loved me, but as intelligent as he was he didn't realize his enthusiasm, as I would call it, was in fact pushing me away from him, as well as from Vatican II." 

Spending a year as an exchange student in Switzerland was a turning point for the young Hannah. 

"I fell in with a group of SSPX seminarians who were living together in Lausanne for the summer. For the first time I felt like I wasn't weird or an outsider. I began wearing my scapular flipped on the outside of my shirt. I didn't care. It was wonderful."

But he spent the last few months of the trip worrying about what his father would think. 

"I knew that my mother would be supportive. But it would be years before I would speak frankly with my father about it." 

When the Traditional Latin Mass was "legalized" (as Hannah remembers his father terming it) in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI, they reconciled. 

"'I don't agree with you, but I respect your choices and your right to make them, and apparently the Church now does, too'" he remembers his father, saying. 

But later, things would have a not so happy ending when his father, a retired executive with UPM Pharmaceuticals, left the family to study Buddhism in Vietnam. They never spoke again. 

Hannah believes that the active function of the genes, one of which is recessive, may often skip a generation. Hannah's grandfather never accommodated himself to the Novus Ordo, though this may have been due to other aspects of his personality. 

"My grandfather was a stubborn man." 

Nevertheless, Hannah suspects this may explain why it took two generations after Vatican II for the Traditional Mass to reassert itself, at least outside of SSPX circles. 

Hannah brushes off any normative aspects to his work in genetics. 

"I'm a scientist who also happens to be a traditionalist Catholic, but I follow the evidence wherever it leads. I have no idea whether my work will help the traditionalist cause. Obviously, that would be nice. But that's not the  point." 

Hannah revealed that a related part of his research program will be to investigate a possible link between the "trad gene" and IQ as well as male virility. But that's in the future. 

"It's all up to Him," Hannah said. 

"Benedicamus Domino."