My Twitter — I refuse to call it 𝕏 — feed was full of chortling posts claiming that the Vatican denied Vice President J D Vance a meeting with Pope Francis, sending the Vatican’s second-ranking official instead, in what the left loudly proclaimed was a deliberate snub to Mr Vance.
That’s not quite what it was.
The story behind JD Vance’s unlikely visit with Pope Francis
Vance and Francis had publicly disagreed in recent months on immigration policies and other aspects of church teaching.
Our parish church, St Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, is small, with only about 24 families. We can’t afford the fancy decorations that some larger churches can, and don’t really have the room for them, but even in our small church, the Lord is present.
His Holiness Pope Francis passed away this morning, after a bout with pneumonia and a long physical decline. There is no doubt that he loved the Church, even if I disagree with some of his policies as Pope.
It was back in 2023 that one of my fellow parishioners at St Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church told us that the Estill County Community Food Bank was losing the ‘extra’ money coming from the federal government in COVID-19 ’emergency’ money was ending. The parish council then decided that we would take up a quarterly extra second collection specifically for the Food Bank, and I’m happy to say that most of those second collections netted slightly over $1,000 for the organization.
I thought of that when I saw the tweet on the right from WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, and the following (brief) story:
Delaware Food Bank loses nearly 1M meals after Trump administration ended food aid funding
What would happen to you if you tore up and burned a copy of the Holy Bible on the steps of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan? What would happen to you if you dropped a Crucifix into a jar of urine, and photographed it, claiming it to be art?
There would be people claiming that you were a religious bigot, who ought to be thrown in jail, but you’d actually face no legal charges. Some people might think you were headed straight to Hell, but no one would actually try to send you there.
What would happen to you if you participated in, or perhaps even led, a protest March in support of Hamas or the Palestinians in New York or Washington or foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia? As long as the protest march was peaceable, there might be some hecklers shouting from the sidewalks as the protest march passed, but you’d not be facing any charges. If you were in the country illegally, now that Donald Trump is President — it wouldn’t have happened under our previous President or Kamala Harris Emhoff, had she been elected — you might get sent back home, but that’s it. And if you are young and pretty, NBC News might even publish a celebratory glamour photo of you!
But, if you lived in Sweden, legally, you could be charged with a crime. Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee legally granted protection there, was charged with incitement against an ethnic group over the 2023 burning of a Quran, and was due to be sentenced Thursday morning. Continue reading
My Twitter feed was filled with images of the Patriot Front marching at Fridays March for Life in Washington, DC. Much of it was condemnatory, and a lot of conservatives were repeating the meme that these were “Feds,” by which they meant federal law enforcement officers, rather than real civilians. I can see, at least in appearance, why people might conclude that. Robert Stacy McCain addressed that issue in “Is the ‘Patriot Front’ a Fed PsyOp?” He cited the very liberal Southern Poverty Law Center, a group which hates all things conservative, normal, and moral, telling us:
Like other hate and extremist groups, the need to recruit and grow their members makes PF a target for antifascist activists who attempt to infiltrate white nationalist groups to expose and disrupt their activities. Since 2018, antifascist activists have infiltrated PF at least five times, which has led to journalist and activist networks obtaining thousands of documents, including internal chat logs, audio and video recordings, and photographs. The laxed operational security measures of PF that are responsible for these infiltrations led to the identification of more than 130 current and former members since 2019.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s far left columnist Will Bunch skeeted an editorial by the UK’s left-wing The Guardian about protecting journolists, oops, sorry, journalists.
The Guardian view on Trump’s threat to the media: time to pass the Press Act
Bipartisan legislation offers historic protections for journalists, banning secret surveillance and ensuring source confidentiality
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 | 1:40 OM EST
Fears of a press crackdown under Donald Trump’s second term deepened with his nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director – given his calls for retribution against journalists. Yet a rare chance to protect press freedom has emerged. The bipartisan Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (Press) Act, the strongest press freedom legislation in US history, is on the brink of a vote. While President-elect Trump has urged Republicans to block it, the Senate could still deliver it to Joe Biden before the lame-duck session ends in January. Continue reading
The Most Reverend John Stowe, Bishop of Lexington
While I cannot say that I am friends with His Excellency, the Most Reverend John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., Bishop of Lexington, we are at least acquainted with each other. The Bishop at least recognizes me when he sees me, though I cannot be certain he remembers my name. We have had some pleasant conversations the few times he has visited our small parish.
I have written about him, or at least mentioned him, on this poor site, in 17 previous articles, not always charitably. Bishop Stowe is an excellent homilist, one who can really connect with a congregation, and I have no doubts at all about his faith. But, as a Catholic priest, he chooses the wrong things far too often for me.
Kentucky prelate calls lack of election response from American Church ‘disappointing’
by John Lavenburg | Tuesday, December 3, 2024
NEW YORK – In the month or so since former President Donald Trump was elected to occupy the White House for a second term, the majority of American bishops have either not commented on the election publicly, or issued a generic statement about the importance of civility, unity, and democracy.
That extends to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where – outside of responses to Trump’s stated plan for mass deportations – not much has been said. Bishop John Stowe, in a recent conversation with Crux, said that reality isn’t surprising considering how American Church leaders have handled the presidency of Joe Biden over the last four years.
“It was not surprising coming from the USCCB. What was surprising was the attitude when Joe Biden was elected, a Catholic president four years ago, and there was such an uproar in the conference about that election, and because of that, I really had no expectation that there would be much said about the Trump election,” said Stowe, the bishop of Lexington in Kentucky.
His Excellency the Bishop does not like former and future President Donald Trump. Speaking in August of 2020, before the 2020 election, the Bishop let us know, let all of his Catholic parishioners know, that he was opposed to President Trump’s re-election. Bishop Stowe was appalled by Mr Trump’s anti-illegal immigration policies, calling them “anti-life.” Continue reading
We’ve seen so many demonstrations, by supposedly educated Americans and other Westerners, in support of the ‘Palestinians’, their Islamic culture, ‘settler colonialism,’ and fighting ‘Islamophobia’. Sensible people have mocked them, noting that those protesters are the beneficiaries of ‘settler colonialism,’ being privileged to live in the United States, and especially the “Queers for Palestine,” pointing out that being openly queer in any of the Islamic lands is an invitation to beating, torture, jail, or even execution.
Now we come to this, from, of all place, al Jazeera:
Five children among seven killed in attack on Pakistan polio vaccine drive
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemns attack near a girls’ school in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2024
At least seven people, including five schoolchildren, have been killed and 23 injured in a bombing near a girls’ school in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
Friday’s attack targeted police guarding a polio vaccination drive in Mastung, a town in Balochistan province.
“The target was a police van which was going to pick up a polio [vaccination] team,” Senior Superintendent of Police Rahmat Ullah told the Reuters news agency.
One police officer and a shopkeeper were also killed in the explosion, senior police officer Abdul Fatah told the AFP news agency.
The blast was believed to have been caused by an improvised device attached to a motorcycle parked near the school.
The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan have frequently attacked polio vaccinators, claiming that they were distributing evil, Western medicine. Some believe that the vaccines are prohibited by Islam:
Another population study from Peshawar, Pakistan, reported that 79% of participants were not willing to vaccinate their children as they believe that vaccine was composed of ingredients that are prohibited in their religion.
These are the people the supporters of the ‘Palestinians’ admire!
Of course, the doctors who developed the two polio vaccines were Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, both of whom were Jews, so perhaps that has something to do with the radical Islamists not wanting people vaccinated.
This poor site, along with literally hundreds of others, has covered the pro-‘Palestinian, really pro-Hamas ‘demonstrations’ on our college campuses last spring. I did note, with some pleasure, that at least at my alma mater, the University of Kentucky, the protests were carried out the way the First Amendment, which guarantees to all of us both the freedom of speech and the right of peaceable assembly, contemplated, peaceably.
Sadly, many of the pro-savages demonstrations at other schools were not entirely peaceable. But I did gloat report on those demonstrations fading away when school was out for the summer.
Well, it’s a new school year — though October seems like this article is a bit late — and the Usual Suspects have been up to their old tricks. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Temple suspends pro-Palestinian student group; Muslim advocates call to investigate police over alleged hijab removal during campus protest
CAIR is calling for an investigation after Temple University’s handling of a protest, where they say a Philadelphia police officer allegedly removed a Muslim protester’s hijab.
by Max Marin and Robert Moran | Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | 2:02 PM EDT | Updated: 6:37 PM EDT
Temple University has temporarily banned Students for Justice in Palestine from operating on campus, the latest in a wave of suspensions against pro-Palestinian student groups amid sustained protests against the war in Gaza.
The move comes after police detained four SJP members, including a Temple student, during a demonstration that interrupted an on-campus career fair last week.
So, the “Students for Justice in Palestine” demonstration was not peaceable in nature, but interrupted a meeting to help more sensible students at Temple who were looking to begin their professional careers after graduation. You know, the sensible thing to do after spending a boatload of money for a university education.
Muslim community leaders are calling for an investigation into the university’s handling of that protest after a Philadelphia police officer allegedly removed a Muslim protester’s hijab and detained the woman without access to her religious head covering.
If that happened, and I will never believe claims by “Muslim community leaders” without outside corroboration, it would have been because the woman was resisting arrest.
While Temple did not cite that specific incident, a university spokesperson said in a statement that the interim suspension stemmed from “recent conduct,” and the student activist group is now forbidden from holding on-campus activities, including “meetings, social and philanthropic events.” The suspension was first reported by the Temple News.
The spokesperson pointed to the university’s on-campus demonstration guidelines that are “in place to ensure the safety and well-being of community members while also encouraging and preserving freedom of expression.” . . . .
This is not the group’s first brush with university leaders. Temple president Richard Englert denounced an SJP-led demonstration in August after protesters chanted outside a Jewish student center on campus.
In a statement, Englert threatened disciplinary action against students who participated in the rally, which he described as a form of “intimidation and harassment.” The pro-Palestinian student group pushed back against Englert’s comments, arguing in a post on social media that the president “distorted our message to serve the false narrative that Temple SJP is a threat to Temple.”
No, I suppose that the pro-barbarian students wouldn’t see accosting Jewish students outside of a known Jewish student gathering place as “intimidation and harassment,” but the Jews on campus certainly would have, and did:
Temple University says it is investigating a student pro-Palestinian demonstration held outside a Jewish center on campus
“Targeting a group of individuals because of their Jewish identity is not acceptable and intimidation and harassment tactics like those seen today will not be tolerated,” Temple’s president said.
by Robert Moran | Thursday, August 29, 2024 | 10:40 PM EDT
Temple University said it is investigating for possible disciplinary action a pro-Palestinian march by students and nonstudents who demonstrated outside a Jewish center on campus Thursday.
The protest march began at the Charles Library, said Temple University president Richard Englert in a statement, then some demonstrators went to the Rosen Center, which is the home at Temple of Hillel, an international organization for Jewish students.
“While there, the demonstrators used megaphones to chant directly at the occupants within the building,” Englert said.
Emphasis mine. Using megaphones to chant directly at the people in the Hillel Center, the majority of who could be assumed to be Jewish, would constitute targeted ethnic and religious harassment.
“We are deeply saddened and concerned by these events,” Englert said. “Targeting a group of individuals because of their Jewish identity is not acceptable and intimidation and harassment tactics like those seen today will not be tolerated.”
This was clearly a protest against Jews in general, not just Israeli policy, as the “Students for Justice in Palestine” have conflated the two. Not all Jews are Israelis, and at an American college 5,774 miles away from Israel, it’s virtually certain that most of the Jews on campus at Temple are not from Israel.
There is an Israeli consulate in Philadelphia, at 1880 John F. Kennedy Blvd, which is just 2.6 miles away from the Hillel Center, at 1441 West Norris Street, pretty much of a straight march down Broad Street, though, admittedly, marching that way takes you partly into the Philadelphia Badlands. If the SJP wanted to protest Israeli government policies specifically, they could have been protesting outside the consulate; instead they were harassing people they knew to be Jooooos.
Temple’s actions won’t stop the SJP from existing; all it does is ban them as a student organization and deny them use of Temple’s facilities.
Our First Amendment was written by civilized men, with civilized behavior in mind; they cited “the right of the people peaceably to assemble”. It does not protect some right to harass others, or gather in mobs, or riot.
But the pro-‘Palestinian’ people in this country, and around the world, are not truly civilized men. They might think that they are, but they are supporting the barbarism of Hamas, they are supporting the antithesis of the Western civilization, the benefits of which they enjoy. The “Students for Justice in Palestine” have a right to exist, and to protest peacefully; it’s only when the break the code of civilization that they become subject to arrest.
The one thing they do not have is any right to the respect of decent people, and for them, I have none. When the anti-Semites tell you who they really are, you should believe them!