Apparently there is celibacy...and then there is celibacy

"Celibacy": you keep using that word. Somehow I do not think it means what you think it means. 

Donald Wuerl, the Church’s Most Oblivious Cleric 

"The cardinal’s repeated denials of knowledge and
responsibility for sexual-abuse cover-ups defy all
credibility."

"The Catholic Church’s nightmare of a summer began with Theodore McCarrick. After news broke in June about his past sexual misconduct, including the abuse of minors, he resigned from the College of Cardinals and was exiled to a life of prayer and penance, out of the public eye. But the Archdiocese of Washington, which McCarrick once oversaw, remains very much in the eye of the storm.
"There, McCarrick’s direct successor, the embattled cardinal Donald Wuerl, clings to his leadership role, even after weeks of criticism and calls for his resignation. He has done little to silence them and much to bring further censure upon himself.
"In Something More Pastoral, a 2015 book about Wuerl’s life and work, the authors hail him as a public figure “known for his professional transparency.” This summer has indicated precisely the opposite." . . .

The Character Crisis Comes to Rome  

. . . "Yet still we haven’t learned. Still, partisans will impose accountability only when they can do so at zero cost to their preferred leader or their cause. If accountability means the other side wins, accountability has to wait. But zero-cost accountability isn’t evidence of character. It’s certainly not evidence of courage. It’s just a convenience." . . .

Vatican War Crimes | Roman Catholic Priests Ran Half the Nazi Death Camps in Croatia  . . . "As detailed in, “The Jasenovac Extermination Camp “Terror in Croatia”,  decree – law No. 1528-2101-Z-issued on September 25, 1941, authorized the establishment of ‘assembly of work camps for undesirable and dangerous persons’ in Fascist Croatia. " . . .

But yet...  Catholic Martyrs of the Holocaust   . . . "The truth is many thousands of Catholic men, women, and children died in concentration camps, SS and Gestapo torture chambers, or in fields and villages across Europe for the "crime" of proclaiming the truth to one of the most evil regimes in human history. The historical reality of this oppression does not in any way reduce the culpability of some Catholics in the Holocaust, nor does it suggest that the unprecedented genocide of the Jewish people should be forgotten or considered reduced in significance. " . . .

Still, with each new step in the Kirchenkampf, the Nazis discovered more Catholics willing to speak out against them. As some of the most powerful symbols of the Church, priests became primary targets for Nazi propaganda, legal traps, arrest, and murder.

Beto O’Rourke and the Democrats’ Turnout Dilemma

Democrats have been predicting for years that Texas will eventually be transformed from red to blue.

National Review

• The Texas Senate candidate will have to prove he can mobilize minority voters before he is anointed as the new Obama.

"As far as Texas Democrats are concerned, the future has arrived in the person of Representative Beto O’Rourke. Though Democrats have been predicting for years that Texas would eventually be transformed from red to blue through the magic of the Lone Star State’s changing ethnic demography, few even on the left had been willing to claim that this would happen as soon as 2018.

"But with the latest polls showing O’Rourke in a virtual dead heat with Senator Ted Cruz in the latter’s attempt to be reelected, it’s hard to blame Democrats for being giddy about his prospects, as well as those of their party, in a state that is the GOP’s largest electoral stronghold. The Emerson poll that gave Cruz only a one percentage point lead over O’Rourke was a stunner but it is actually consistent with other surveys that have shown the race to be competitive with the RealClearPolitics average of polls giving the incumbent only a 5.5 percent advantage. But before Democrats start celebrating, there are two key questions that need to be answered about the Texas Senate race." . . .  Jonathan S. Tobin

Well...there was this:  Police Report: Beto O’Rourke Tried to Flee Scene of Drunk-Driving Crash  Had he been a Republican, CNN and MSNBC would be having non-stop panel discussions on the guy. You know I'm right.

Farrakhan out front at the Aretha Franklin funeral cropped from news photos

And Democrats dare to call us conservatives "racist"! What Chutzpah!

2005: Obama with Farrakhan

Monica Showalter  "The funeral of Aretha Franklin was a defining moment for the black, civil-rights-linked establishment, yet who should turn up in its front row but Nation of Islam chief and notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. The so-called 'leader' who calls Hitler "a good man." Yet the press, particularly MSNBC, is trying to cover it up.

"That certainly leaves a double-sour note on what could have been at least a respectable occasion. Seriously, how'd that freak get in there, and why the heck was he seated in the front row, alongside the other so-called leaders of the black "community," such as the just-barely-past-the-respectable line Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and America's supposed "first black president," Bill Clinton?

"It is what it is, and what it shows is that Franklin, at best, didn't pay attention to what kind of black people she was supporting in her long and storied musical career. After all, back in the 1960s and early 1970s, she gave a lot of money to support the criminal defense of Angela Davis, who apparently let a gun slip in to a prison to help her then-boyfriend, George Jackson, something for which she was eventually and controversially acquitted. According to Franklin's Wikipedia page, she explained her support this way:" . . .

Now you see him . . .

Joe Banner

✔

It is beyond disappointing to see Louis Farrakhan at Aretha Franklins funeral. His hate and lack of belief in real equality for all should preclude it.

. . . Now you don't. What Farrakhan? I don't see no Farrakhan.

CNN: the most outed name in news

If CNN and Carl Bernstein Are Willing to Lie About the Little Things… 
"Why did CNN’s Carl Bernstein destroy his reputation and legacy with the following lie: “Contacted by CNN, one of Cohen’s attorneys, Lanny Davis, declined to comment.” We now know that’s a lie because we now know Davis was indeed a source for Bernstein’s story, a pile of fake news about President Trump knowing in advance about the Trump Tower meeting. But…
"That is not the point anymore.  The point is this…"

CNN’s Media Team Addresses Michael Cohen Story, Omits Key Details  
. . . "And in other CNN-Antifa news, Don Lemon claimed Tuesday night that yes, Antifa is violent, but hey, “no organization’s perfect.”
“ 'Listen, no organization’s perfect. There was some violence,” Lemon said in reference to Antifa. “No one condones violence, but there were different reasons for Antifa and for these neo-Nazis to be there. One, racists, fascists, the other group, fighting racist fascists. There is a distinction there.' ”

Is CNN proving President Trump's point?  . . . "Despite this obvious bombshell, CNN continues to stand by its reporting, leading some to question the network’s credibility. For example, Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Glenn Greenwald, founder of The Intercept. According to Greenwald: "They can’t retract the story and they can’t admit they lied… So they are continuing to stick to what everybody knows is a lie, but not many people care because people think -- a lot of people, anyway -- that it was done for the right political agenda.' "  . . .


And never forget this magnificent piece of "journalism" and speaking nonsense to power:
CNN Reporter Asks Obama: Are GOP Candidates "Uninformed, Out Of Touch, Or Irresponsible?"

" 'Last night at the Republican debate, some of the hopefuls, they hope to get your job, they defended the practice of waterboarding which is a practice you banned in 2009. Herman Cain said, quote, 'I don't see that as torture.' Michele Bachmann said that it's, quote, 'very effective.' So I'm wondering if you think that they're uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible?" CNN's White House correspondent Dan Lothian asked President Obama in Hawaii."

Trump's tweet got South Africa to back down

Don Surber  "I knew President Trump was onto something when I read this headline in The Hill yesterday: "Trump's South Africa tweet is false, counterproductive and dangerous."
"The author was Judd Devermont, an Obama administration appointee who is the director of the Africa program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"In short, an expert.
"South Africa's black president is re-establishing apartheid with whites as the victims this time. The government is seizing farms from white farmers, and Antifa-style hooligans are attacking them.
"A week ago, President Trump objected:

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account 

I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews

 "Today, the Daily Mail reported, "South Africa withdraws white farmland redistribution bill six days after Trump warned he was closely studying the situation."

"One tweet.

"One tweet got South Africa to stop.

"One tweet that Obama's expert on South Africa denounced." . . .

You Won't Believe What Obama Did in South Africa  . . . "Then, worst of all, he praised the president who presides over a country stealing white-owned land, murdering whites and threatening genocide.
"This could be the most disgraceful speech ever by a former U.S. president. Yet the media said nothing. 
"President Trump calls Don Lemon of CNN "dumb" on Twitter. It creates a media firestorm. Trump "must be a racist." 
"Obama praises the president of a nation murdering and robbing white people because of their race. No one says a word.
"What Obama did in South Africa should the biggest news in America. The fact that you never even heard about it tells you everything about the fraud, deceit and fake news of the mainstream media."

Obama's legacy: Transvestites monkeying up US Navy

Cagle

Ed Straker  "The Navy Times had a propaganda article yesterday featuring a sailor who likes to get dressed up as a woman and "perform" for the troops.  Why is this newsworthy?  It's all part of the liberal propaganda effort to increase acceptance of the so-called "transgendered."
"This is sick brainwashing of the worst kind.

Years before he became a yeoman 3rd class in the United States Navy, Joshua Kelley was entertaining exuberant crowds under his drag name, "Harpy Daniels."The 24-year-old Berwick, Pennsylvania native, who currently serves as an administrative supervisor aboard the forward-deployed aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, brought Harpy along for the ride when he decided to join the Navy in February 2016[.]

 "I think he should have left Harpy in the closet.

"With drag being my number one passion, it [dressing up as a woman] quickly became costly," he said.  "On top of just struggling to make ends meet and then pay college loans, the Navy became a great option to get myself situated in life."

 "The Navy is subsidizing perversion.

Within his first year in the Navy, Kelley ... became the public affairs officer for the carrier Reagan's Gay, Lesbian and Supporting Sailors association[.]

"Did you ever think you'd see the words "Reagan" and "Gay, Lesbian and Supporting Sailors association" in the same sentence?  Now that homosexuals can serve openly in the military, they have formed their own associations to promote homosexuality in the service.  Next to the priesthood, it's probably the best way to meet a lot of men in confined quarters.

"Kelly says his father was "confused" at first when he dressed up as a woman, but now, after seeing him perform, he cries "tears of joy."

Kelley, who was named the pageant queen in 2015's Miss Gay Harrisburg, continues to find joy in performing drag and as a sailor aboard the Reagan. 

"Our popular culture has been infused with perversion, and now so has the military – so much so that this insanity is promoted by "The Navy Times."  I just hope that while sailors are making out and trying on tutus, they are still ready to do the other function of the military – you know, war-fighting."

The Democrats: not our grandparent's party anymore

Then again, maybe it is. Read your history of the American Civil War and learn how the Democrats wanted to end the war at any cost, allowing the South to be a separate nation and still bolstered by slavery. Democrats, after hundreds of thousands of dead from the war, were ready to stop it and render the costs meaningless. Even up to our recent history America's allies could not count on Democrat's support no matter how worthy their cause might be. TD

American Spectator

Radicalized Democrats: Destroying the Country and Their Own Party  "From the wee hours of the morning on November 9, 2016, as they grappled with the sting of President-Elect Donald Trump triumphing over the anointed Queen of the Swamp, Democrats have been radicalizing by the minute.

"Objective Americans have witnessed the transformation of JFK-style classical liberals into Marxist protégés even the namesake himself would be proud to call his pupils, not to mention the hostile takeover of the Democratic Party by the"three home-owning multi-millionaire," Bernie Sanders, and "I'm not an expert on American-Israeli policy, but let me comment on it anyway" Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"The Democratic Party is soon to be more aptly referenced as the DemocraticSocialist Party.

"And it's not as if the Democrats don't have the resolve to combat such a monumental shift to the left.  They've certainly been known to fight when something has truly mattered to them – like the times when they fought tooth and nail to unanimously oppose the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, giving citizenship to freed slaves and an equal right to vote for all, respectively.  Or the time when they overwhelmingly opposed abolishing slavery by fighting to kill the 13th Amendment.

"If Democrats really opposed the radicalization of their own party, they would fight it, but the quiet truth is that they welcome it." . . .

Then, of course, there is the case of Democrats against In-N-Out Burgers, posted separately today

Dem rep threatens immigration agents; 'You will not be safe'  "Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona tweeted out a threat to immigration agents, warning them that if Democrats take over the House, 'you will not be safe because you were just following orders.' " 

If you are a US government official and you are deporting Americans be warned. When the worm turns you will not be safe because you were just following orders. You do not have to take part in illegal acts ordered by this President's administration.

De Blasio: Progressive Wave Is Just Dems 'Acting Like Real Democrats'
. . . " 'I think you see something happening all over the country, and the reason I say that is I think that is the pertinent reality is what's going to move people in their hearts emotionally to come out and vote," de Blasio told MSNBC this morning. "That energy is on the Democratic and on the progressive side right now, and that's what I think can't be tracked. You know, polling's not picking it up; the reality of turnout is something that is beyond the reach of traditional polling to analyze.' " . . .

Campus Identity Politics Are Leading To Racially Self-Segregated Dorms And Parties

The Federalist

Race-based dorms emerging across the country keep people in their cultural comfort zones. The result is higher education that’s never been more diverse, yet still deeply divided.

"Do you remember Harambe? He was the gorilla that got killed at the Cincinnati Zoo This hypersensitivity and political correctness is commonplace at colleges across the country, so you’d think campuses would be full of racial acceptance and cultural fusion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ironically, a campus culture rampant with identity politics has only reinforced social divisions and discouraged integration.

"At UMass, in the liberal bastion of Western Massachusetts, walk into any dining hall and you’ll see some students socializing across racial lines — but most often, black students will be sitting together, while nearby tables are filled with white students. This is all voluntary, but it’s sad to see such self-segregation. Campus housing isn’t much better, as many Asian students choose to live in one area together on campus, for no real reason.

"In 2016, California State University stirred up controversy when the college unveiled a special “Black Living-Learning Community,” not formally segregated, but thematically designated as a space for mostly black residents. The University of Connecticut boasts something similar, a “ScHOLA²RS House” where African American students will be prioritized in selection.

"It’s long been standard practice to structure student housing around common interests, like engineering-focused floors, language study immersion wings, or fraternity houses. But that type of housing can bring people of different backgrounds together, whereas the race-based dorm structure emerging across the country keeps people in their cultural comfort zones." . . .

Head of Calif Dem Party foolishly asks people to choose between party loyalty and In-N-Out Burgers

We ate there just yesterday; if only we had known! And they had plastic straws; plastic straws, I tell you!  TD

OK, no more In-N-Out for me, starting maybe tomorrow

Thomas Lifson  Trump Derangement Syndrome blows up in the face of Democrats, once again.  

"California’s far left progressives dominate the Democratic Party, and love to ban things: foie gras, plastic straws, and large containers of sugary soda, RE examples of food and beverage-related matters. But, asking Californians to forego In-N-Out Burgers is a bridge too far.

"Late Wednesday night, Eric Baumann, chair of the California Democratic Party, read an article in Los Angeles Magazine informing him that In-N-Out Burger had donated $25,000 to California’s Republican Party, and tweeted out a call for a boycott: . . ."

. . . 

"Another thing that I love about In-N-Out that is apparently of no concern to the Democratic Party’s chair: they pay and treat their employees very well. Hourly employees receive more per hour than competitors pay, and are chosen for their ability to handle service with courtesy and a smile, part of what makes going there so enjoyable. Their managers are promoted from within, and restaurant industry gossip has it that the manager of an In-N-Out store who started on a cash register or grill with a high school diploma earns well into six figures for keeping the restaurant spotless, efficient, and friendly. It is well-known as a great place for a teen to work, too.

"The Chick-fil-A boycott has flopped spectacularly, as will this effort.

"I want readers to know that such is my devotion to reporting that I will heading to In-N-Out today to check on the crowds – and incidentally eat a Double-Double Burger (two patties, two slices of cheese) protein style (lettuce substituted for the bun). It'sone of those off-the-menu "secret" items that everyone knows about. No sacrifice too great!

"It’s a clear case of Love (for In-N-Out Burgers) Trumping Hate (of Trump)."

Time to get my black outfit on! Where's my mask? Watch out for leftists with bike locks at In-N-Out!

PROTECT Political SPEECH From the TECH OLIGARCHS With The CIVIL Rights Act of 2019

Socio-Political-Journal...

We have a historical template for the solution, or at least a major part of the solution, to the once creeping, now galloping, repression of free speech in America.

"If you haven't noticed that freedom of political speech in America is under increasingly effective assault by the left, you haven't been watching. Over the internet, over lunch with colleagues, in every university classroom, indeed, everywhere in America, the wrong word, the wrong thought, can spell banishment or professional and personal destruction, or both.

"Among the worst aspects of this crisis is that high-tech forums, access to which is now essential to disseminating political argument and appealing for electoral support – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – increasingly bar or obstruct the sharing of conservative views. Without a dramatic statutory restatement of Americans' First Amendment right to free expression, the nation is in the fast lane to an Orwellian world where "correct" thoughts and public statements are mandatory and "incorrect" ones lead to exclusion from polite society and personal destruction.

. . . "The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and its close relatives, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, supposedly prohibited government denial of equal protection of the laws or discrimination in voting rights against former slaves.

"But nothing in the Civil War constitutional amendments protected minorities from private discrimination. In consequence, there followed one hundred years during which private racial discrimination, and not merely in the South, constituted a major barrier to full and fair participation in American society for the former slaves and their descendants.

"The solution the nation found for this problem in 1964 was that year's great Civil Rights Act, which, among other things, prohibited discrimination on the basis of race by private employers and all places of public accommodation.
"The First Amendment's protection of free expression is a limitation only on governmental action. The Founders never dreamed that the major private institutions of the Republic they were establishing would seriously limit freedom of speech for Americans. But beyond any dispute, the day has come when exactly that evil is occurring.

"We have a historical template for the solution, or at least a major part of the solution, to the once creeping, now galloping, repression of free speech in America. It is high time for a new Civil Rights Act extending First Amendment freedoms to major private actors – to internet forums, large employers, and the entire K-12 and university systems. 

"If conservative leaders and Republican office-holders had pushed back consistently against the 30-year process that has brought America to this sorry point, perhaps we could have avoided the necessity of a statutory cure. But, as on so many other fronts, they failed their voters and the nation.

"Now, nothing less than a great new reaffirmation of First Amendment freedoms by Congress and the president can restore the unfettered right to open public inquiry and political discourse on which the United States was founded." . . .

Keep reading...

China's Navy Is Studying the Battle of Guadalcanal. Here's Why It Matters.

National Interest

In lieu of real wartime experience, the PLAN is drawing from history.

"China's military has not had much combat experience in recent decades, and this is recognized among Chinese military leaders as a potentially serious problem. The reasons for this scarcity of battlefield know—how are obvious and might even be praise-worthy. It has been nearly four decades since Beijing undertook a significant military campaign, so how would its armed forces have attained this knowledge? As I have argued many times before in this forum, nearly four decades without resorting to a major use of force represents very impressive restraint for any great power.

"By contrast, the U.S. military has been at war almost continuously since 2001 and fought several smallish wars during the 1990s as well. But for all the innovations that these recent American wars have spawned (e.g., aerial drones, heavily-armored vehicles), it remains unclear that the lessons learned from small, counter-insurgency wars, such as Afghanistan, are actually applicable to high-intensity warfare of the type that might occur in a great power showdown.

"China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sought to remedy its lack of actual combat China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sought to remedy its lack of actual combat experience by the careful study of military history, including the bloody Pacific War as I have noted in other Dragon Eye columns. August is steamy in the South Pacific and so the Guadalcanal campaign that began in August 1942 was hell. It was through that campaign that the fate of the Pacific was decided. While the dazzling miracle of Midway gets infinitely more attention, the grinding attrition battle just a few months later of Guadalcanal, which could be termed the “Verdun” of the Pacific War, ultimately proved to be the turning point. Losing 38 ships and perhaps over 700 aircraft proved devastating for Japan, although these losses were quite similar to those suffered on the American side. The difference, of course, was that America could replace these losses quite easily." . . .

Lyle J. Goldstein is a research professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. In addition to Chinese, he also speaks Russian and he is also an affiliate of the new Russia Maritime Studies Institute (RMSI) at Naval War College. You can reach him at goldstel@usnwc.edu. The opinions in his columns are entirely his own and do not reflect the official assessments of the U.S. Navy or any other agency of the U.S. government.

CNN caught red-handed fabricating fake news, fake sources

The upshot of all this is that once again, CNN confirms it is not merely “fake news” but deliberately deceptive fake news. The network routinely fabricates fake sources and fake “facts,” and when it gets caught, it attacks the accusers rather than leveling with its own audience and admitting to its serious violations of journalistic standards.

Intellihub  "In a bombshell media scandal that’s growing by the hour, the tag-team of CNN and Watergate-fame journalism legend Carl Bernstein have been caught red-handed fabricating utterly fake news in a desperate effort to cast criminal blame upon President Donald J. Trump.

"The scandal is exploding across the media, with the Washington Post and other media outlets now retracting their original reporting based on CNN claims — now proven false — that attempted to assert the President had prior knowledge of a Trump Tower “meeting with the Russians,” an event that now appears certain to have been a deep state setup to ensnare Trump associates.

"The journalistic lies of CNN and Carl Bernstein are so blatant and disturbing that even Glenn Greenwald, who helped break the Edward Snowden story, has published a scathing piece exposing the gross journalistic misconduct that now appears to be routine at CNN and other Trump-hating “news” outlets." . . .