On the road again

I will be traveling over the next few weeks. Blog posts may be somewhat sparse during this period.

Donald Trump asks foreign policy expert 'Why can't we use nukes?'

Details.

Obama is right. (That is the first and probably the last time you will see that sentence on this blog.) Donald Trump is both intellectually and temperamentally disqualified from the Presidency of the United States. I am starting to consider a a course of action that six months ago I would have dismissed as evidence of mental illness or moral bankruptcy.

First Mass in the Krak des Chevaliers in 745 Years

Fr. Z has the story and some video. A truly remarkable event and it was gratifying to see that the Mass was celebrated using the Traditional Roman Rite.

The Scale of Turkey’s Purge Is Nearly Unprecedented

Only rarely in modern history has a leader detained and fired as many perceived adversaries as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has since a failed coup attempt last month. Here is how Mr. Erdogan’s vast purge would look if Americans were targeted at a similar scale.

Almost 9,000 police officers fired

Like firing every police officer
in Philadelphia, Dallas,
Detroit, Boston and Baltimore.

The Interior Ministry fired the police officers, some of whom government officials said had supported the coup attempt. Turkish officials have acknowledged that the number of people targeted in the purge is probably much greater than the number of conspirators.

21,000 private school teachers suspended

Like revoking the licenses of every
third teacher in private elementary and
high schools across the United States.

In addition to the teachers suspended, the government intends to close more than 1,000 private schools it linked to Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who the government said was the mastermind of the coup attempt. (Mr. Gulen has denied this, and his level of involvement remains unclear.) Followers of Mr. Gulen have sought to gain power within Turkey by infiltrating state institutions, often successfully.

Education officials said they planned to convert the schools into public schools and hire 40,000 new teachers.

10,012 soldiers detained

Like taking nearly every fourth
officer in the U.S. Army into custody.

The military, which has long been a unifying force for the country, is now deeply divided, diminished and discredited. A rebel faction of the military initiated the coup attempt.

Since then, nearly half of the top generals and admirals have been jailed or dismissed and more than 5,000 army officials have been sent to pretrial detention.

Read the rest here.

Memory Eternal

Queen Anne of Romania has reposed.

The Habsburgs, a Reconsideration

The Habsburg Monarchy has long been seen as an outdated empire doomed to fail. To the Central European societies it sheltered before 1914, it may have had a cosy charm, but as a dynastic empire among nation-states, critics and historians deemed Austria an anachronism. Nineteenth-century liberals judged the Habsburgs for ruling a prison of peoples and siding with fellow despots. William Gladstone, the British prime minister who epitomized liberal moralism, called Austria “the unflinching foe of freedom in every country of Europe.” Never and nowhere, he insisted, could it be said that “here Austria did good.” Those charges defined narrative even before the Habsburg Empire collapsed amidst the catastrophe of World War I.

Historical perspective and a wealth of detailed scholarship, along with intervening events over a brutal twentieth century, force a reassessment. The Habsburg Monarchy was more effective and popular than critics allowed. If doomed by internal contradictions, what made it last so long? How could a backward, repressive order have fostered the flourishing and diverse culture of Mitteleuropa? Why did it inspire such loyalty until the very end? Empire provided a unifying force as eighteenth-century Habsburgs sought to consolidate their disparate territories into a coherent state. Those top-down efforts created loyalties and institutions—including a conception of citizenship and state power limited by law—that made space for bottom-up responses within an emergent civil society. The world those interactions created requires a new approach to be understood on its own terms.

Read the rest here.

Memory Eternal

Please remember in your prayers the servant of God William, my Godfather, who reposed two years ago today. He is deeply missed.

May his memory be eternal.

On Anglican Orders

Fr. Hunwicke has written something important on the subject of Anglican Holy Orders. I have made a few, though far less erudite, noises of a similar nature in the past. Read his post here.

P.S. It goes without saying that the Orthodox Church does not recognize Anglican Orders, though for different and somewhat less complicated reasons.

The Democratic Conventions Odd inter-Faith Religious Service

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s resignation and being booed down at a breakfast of her state’s delegation was not an official event at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week, although given the coverage of the latest Hillary-related e-mail scandal, you could be forgiven for thinking it was.

What was one of the Dem confab’s first official events got little or no coverage. And it symbolized all that is bewildering about the Party’s approach to religion vis-à-vis the public square.

The event in question was the “Interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation” held at Philly’s cathedral, the Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul. Planning for the event began in February by the Philadelphia Liturgical Institute, at the request and on behalf of the DNC.

The prayer service was … odd.

This was not because of anything that happened at it. The service itself was fine and actually quite lovely. It featured beautiful music. The service of readings was fitting and even inspiring.

Cathedral rector Father G. Dennis Gill gave an inspiring sermon in which he said our nation’s foundational documents are very clear about how the country is founded on the power and presence of God. Then he looked at our national situation today, which reminds us, he asserted, of a need for us to once again rely on that power and presence so that God’s ways are our ways. One of the ways we can do that is to pray, he noted, and also support each other in whatever works we can do.

All well and good.

What was odd was this.

The DNC specifically requested that a prayer service be held on the convention’s first day. It was to take place at the cathedral because of its proximity to the delegates’ hotels and the Convention Center, where many of the day’s official events took place (the televised evening events took place at the Wells Fargo Center, home to the 76ers and Flyers sports teams).

And yet on the convention website listing the day’s official events, it wasn’t listed. The meeting of the DNC’s Faith Council was listed and at a time conflicting with the interfaith prayer service.

And so it should not surprise that the event drew such a small crowd. (See picture.) It was hard to tell who were delegates (I’ll assume the woman with the stylish American flag scarf was one) and who attended just because. Several DNC volunteers were evident by their bright blue T-shirts proclaiming, “ASK ME.”

But there was not one Democrat bigwig. No Nancy “I’m a devout, practicing Catholic” Pelosi. No Donna Brazile (a fellow Catholic whom I love, despite our differences).

Read the rest here.

Quote of the day...

"We denounce arbitrary interference by Federal authorities in local affairs as a violation of the Constitution of the United States and a crime against free institutions, and we especially object to government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression by which Federal judges in contempt of the laws of the states and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges and executioners..."

-A plank from the platform of the Democratic Party Convention (1896).

Political Agreement in an Election Year?

It's pretty astonishing, but the two parties actually agree on something, and IMO it's actually a very good idea. Both the Democratic and GOP platforms call for the reintroduction of the Glass Steagall Act as a sign of a strong (and rare) bi-partisan consensus that Wall Street's big banks are out of control.

Details.

It's been a while since I've said it, but do remember that banks are the enemy.

French Priest Murdered by ISIS in Church

Details.

Memory eternal!

Report: Beatings Torture Sexual Abuse and Lynchings in Post Coup Turkish Purges

Following the attempted coup in July 15, upon the calls of mosques all across Turkey and of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and PM Binali Yildirim to the Turkish people “to take to the streets and airports,” pro-government Islamists started hunting Turkish soldiers – their own soldiers – in the streets, beating, torturing, lynching them.

Torture and beatings of surrendering soldiers continued at police stations, too.

In a disturbing video published on social media and some Turkish newspapers, a police officer threatens a soldier with raping his 10-months-old baby.

The police officer asks a beaten and handcuffed soldier: “Do you have a child?” The soldier responds: “Yes, 10-months-old.”
The police says: “Do you want me to fuck her? I will bring her here. You can’t handle the police. Traitor!”

In another video shared on social media, soldiers are seen brutally tortured and beaten by police who continually insult and swear at them.

More videos and picture can be seen of a lynched soldier surrounded by a mob;  another lynching attempt, soldiers allegedly tortured in a mosque , Islamist crowds beating soldiers with their belts and trying to throw them off a bridge in Istanbul and a mob screaming “Allahu akbar” on the tanks.

Read the rest here.

Caution: Some of the content at the linked sites is graphic.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Sued for Rigging Primaries - Update: DWS Resigns amid growing scandal

On June 28, the Miami-based law firm Beck & Lee filed a class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

“There are essentially six legal claims we are asserting in this lawsuit on behalf of the composed class members,” said attorney Jared Beck in a YouTube video announcing the lawsuit. “The first is a claim for fraud—against the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—based on the revelations from the recent Guccifer 2.0 documents purportedly taken from the DNC’s own computer network.” The Guccifer 2.0 documents include internal memos in which the DNC broke legally binding neutrality agreements in the Democratic primaries by strategizing to make Hillary Clinton the nominee before a single vote was cast.

The second claim filed is for negligent misrepresentation, a legal theory based on the first claim of fraud. The third claim alleges the DNC and Wasserman Schultz participated in deceptive conduct in claiming the DNC was neutral during the Democratic primaries, when there is overwhelming evidence suggesting favoritism of Clinton from the beginning. The fourth claim of the lawsuit seeks retribution of any monetary donations the DNC to Bernie Sanders‘ campaign. The fifth claim alleges the DNC broke its fiduciary duties during the Democratic primaries to members of the Democratic Party by not holding a fair election process. The sixth claim is for negligence on behalf of the DNC—for not protecting donor information—as hackers broke into the DNC networks, potentially compromising their personal information.

Read the rest here.

Please note that this legal action occurred weeks before the release of DNC's emails.

Update: DWS quits over growing email scandal

And now for some really good news...

The Episcopal Divinity School of Massachusetts is going out of business. If this isn't the most heretical "seminary" in the United States (and it may be), it's damned close. Rod Dreher is practically doing a victory dance, and I don't blame him. Good news in the religion department has been a bit thin on the ground of late.

Oh my...

I'm not touching this one. Go here to comment.

Scandal: Wikileaks Publishes Near 20,000 DNC Emails

A few highlights uncovered so far (it's early yet)...

Plotting to expose Bernie as an atheist.

Constructing an anti-Bernie narrative.

Vetting BLM activist as official surrogates.

I think the Democrats may have just lost control of the narrative during their convention.

Search the emails here.

Trump's Speech: My first impressions

It was vintage Trump with lots of red meat for the party base. He excoriated Hillary Clinton while painting a picture of the state of the country that at times seemed unrealistically grim. Yeah we have problems, but there were moments when I felt like I was just discovering I live in a third world country. The speech was long on the dark vision of a lawless society with Clinton as the co-author of American decline both at home and abroad. It also presented Trump in a very personal way as the man who is going to fix things.

It has been suggested that inspiration was drawn from the angry acceptance speeches of Richard Nixon in 1968 and Ronald Reagan in 1980. Further it's worth noting that both of those men won. The lesson here is that the party out of power needs to explain why the party in power has made a hash out of things and therefore needs to be shown the door.

The highlights to my mind were the emotional moments when he spoke with what I thought was genuine feeling for families who had been the victims of violent crimes (committed of course by illegal immigrants), and his brutal dig at Clinton ('I've met with these people, you can bet Hillary won't.'). I particularly liked his shout out to the victims of the horrific night club massacre in Orlando. I don't think that would have happened in any earlier GOP conventions. Reasonable people can disagree on the morality of certain lifestyle choices, but no one has a right to hurt and or kill other people over such differences. His remarks on that topic really came across as just right, i.e. he raised the subject without belaboring it, and again, heartfelt.

Beyond that the speech was light on details, i.e. exactly how was he gong to deliver on all of these promises. Again that's OK. This was not a policy address at Harvard. A convention speech is an exercise in the art of political theater. Emphasis on vision is normal on such occasions. 

On to the mechanics. It was a speech delivered with the aid of teleprompters, and therefor a more formal address than what Trump is used to. They definitely helped to keep him from straying all over the place as he is want to do in his more customary off the cuff stump speeches. And he seemed more sober and on message than usual. But clearly this is not a form of address he is used to or comfortable with. At times he seemed to be struggling with the flow and the result was that he sounded like he was shouting during much of the speech.

There were also a number of pauses that really dragged on which in turn contributed to the one really serious failure, it was too long. A good public speaker knows that you have about 45 minutes in any formal address where you can reasonably expect the undivided attention of your audience. Once you start moving past that people are going to start to drift. Once you move past an hour, people are going to start wondering if you are ever going to shut up. This speech clocked in at just under an hour and fifteen minutes, the longest such address in forty or more years according to the talking heads.

So what do I think overall?

As an acceptance speech by a presidential candidate and the one address likely to be watched by millions of otherwise politically uninterested people I thought it was good to very good. Trump pushed pretty much all the buttons he needed to and at times he came across as quite sincere and empathetic in his desire to help the struggling people of our third world country.

On a scale of five, I give it four stars. The fifth was lost due primarily to the length. It started off strong and mostly stayed there. But once he went over the one hour mark, all I wanted was for him to wrap it up already.

P.S. Did it change my mind? Am I going to vote for him? No. The presidency is not an entry level position and I still think he lacks the temperament as well as the grasp of policy for the job. But it was still a good speech. One of the better ones I've heard.

Ted Cruz pours gasoline on himself and strikes a match

Wow! I don't think I have ever seen a major political figure fall so far, so fast, and then turn around and commit political suicide on prime time national television.

Long time blog readers will know that I am no fan of the Donald for a variety of reasons. So given what passed between the two during an exceptionally rough campaign season I can absolutely forgive Ted for not endorsing Trump. There are more than a few stars in the GOP orbit who are maintaining a discreet silence and staying away from the convention.

But you don't accept an invitation to deliver a prime time address at the national convention, and then use it to directly undercut your party's nominee. This was not just bad form. It was dishonorable. There are a lot of political sins that can be forgiven with the passage of time and other factors. Gross disloyalty, some are calling it calculated treachery, is not generally one of them.

Cruz has two years left in his term as a US Senator. No, I don't think it's too early to begin updating his resume.

Turkey

Whatever it was before the farce that has been described as an attempted coup, today it is clearly a dictatorship in all but name. The United States needs to start rethinking our relationship with that country. I am assuming EU membership no longer rates serious discussion. But Turkey is still part of NATO. Is this a country that Americans should be prepared to die for?

FREE SILVER AND CHEAP WHISKEY

A front page headline from the New York Tribune July 20, 1896. How I hate the modern world.

Scary Rumors from the Vatican (or not?)

Cardinal Christopher Schönborn is rumored to be inline to replace Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). If true this will mean the breach of the last really effective line of resistance to the ultra-liberal agenda of Pope Francis. Schönborn is a well known Frankonian yes man and theological modernist who recently opined that all previous Catholic doctrine on the family must now be interpreted in conformity with the Red Pope's highly controversial Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Müller has been widely viewed as moderately conservative during his tenure at the CDF. But contrasted with the tenor of the current Pontificate he might as well have been the reincarnation of Torquemada. I assume that if the rumors are true that Schönborn is only getting the post because Hans Küng is unavailable.

Update on 07-20-2016: I haven't come across anything furthering these particular rumors, so perhaps there is nothing to them. Hoping...

Sheriff David Clarke Destroys Don Lemon on CNN

Clarke just completely owned that liberal tool.

In light of recent events...

Athonite Fathers Slam Council of Crete - Demand Break With Constantinople

An "Open Letter" from Athonite Fathers to the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain of Athos is calling for an immediate convocation of the governing body of Mt. Athos in order to condemn the "false council" of Crete and cease the comemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on Mt. Athos.
 
OVER 60 Hieromonk and monks, with a disciple of Saint Paisios, Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos (Holy Monastery of Koutloumosiou) at their head, have written an open letter to the Holy Community of Mt. Athos calling upon the Abbots to reject the Council in Crete and stating their intention to cease commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on account of his leadership in the "false council" at which the pan-heresy of ecumenism was given a green light and bolstered in word and deed.

Read the rest here.

I would not get overly excited about this... yet. There are a lot more than 60 monks on the Holy Mountain. Still the more conservative wing in the Church is certainly not thrilled with the Council. We will have to wait and see where this goes.

Breaking News: Military Coup Reported Underway in Turkey

What took them so long? And while we are on the subject, why do I suddenly feel like the smartest guy in the room? (OK, so I am alone at the moment.) For at least two years I have believed that Erdogan has been playing with fire with his openly Islamist agenda and gradual suspension of basic civil liberties. Anyone who knows anything of Turkish history knows that the military is, and has been the source of final authority when the subject is Turkish government. And they have a history of acting as the guardians of a semi-progressive and thoroughly (at times almost militantly) secular state. All of the talking heads on TV are acting like this is a huge surprise. Maybe I should work for the CIA because, no joke, I've been waiting for this for a while.

“Islam - that theology of an immoral illiterate Arab bedouin is a decaying corpse that is poisoning all of our life”
- Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha / Ataturk

Excommunicated "priestesses" in the Vatican?

Details.

Church of Canada Votes Down Gay Marriage then Reveres Vote

TORONTO (AP) -- A day after the Anglican Church of Canada narrowly voted not to authorize gay unions, questions about the integrity of the voting process emerged Tuesday, leading to a reversal of the result with the church approving the measure.

More than 200 delegates attending the six-day General Synod 2016 narrowly rejected the resolution Monday night after hearing from more than 60 speakers, most of them in favor of gay marriage.

However, on Tuesday - the last day of the triennial conference - some members stood up to say their ballot had not been recorded during voting late Monday, when the resolution failed to pass by a single vote.

Read the rest here.

Great Britain: David Camerom to resign Wednesday - Theresa May to be next Prime Minister

The Tory leadership contest is over and Theresa May is the last man... er woman, standing. Mr. Cameron will go to the Palace on Wednesday to resign. Immediately after which the Queen will ask Mrs. May to form the next government.

Church of England Synod Faces Conservative Boycott Over Gay Marriage Talks

The Church of England's governing body may face a conservative rebellion over its discussions on gay marriage.

Despite pleas from senior bishops, a number of conservative Anglicans are considering boycotting the Church's private conversations over sexuality, designed to prevent a fracture over gay marriage. A deep fissure exists within the Church over whether or not to accomodate gay relationships in some way.

A memo sent round to some members of the Church's governing synod listed "reasons not to participate" in conversations, which aim to reconcile opposing factions. The note, seen by Christian Today, offers a damning assessment of the secret talks, known as "shared conversations".

Read the rest here.

Massacre in Dallas

Eleven police officers shot and at least four killed.

Lord have mercy!

Pope Francis Names Archbishop Cupich to Congregation of Bishops

The Pope has named one of the most liberal American Catholic hierarchs to the body that helps choose future bishops.

Important: Rome's Top Liturgist Urges All Catholic Priests to Return to Ad Orientem Mass by Advent

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Vatican’s liturgy chief, has asked priests to begin celebrating Mass ad orientem, that is, facing east rather than towards the congregation.

The proposed reform is arguably the biggest liturgical announcement since Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum gave greater freedom for priests to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass.

Speaking at the Sacra Liturgia conference in London on Tuesday, the Guinean cardinal, who is Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, addressed priests who were present, saying: “It is very important that we return as soon as possible to a common orientation, of priests and the faithful turned together in the same direction – eastwards or at least towards the apse – to the Lord who comes”.

The cardinal continued: “I ask you to implement this practice wherever possible.”

He said that “prudence” and catechesis would be necessary, but told pastors to have “confidence that this is something good for the Church, something good for our people”.

Read the rest here.

If this report is accurate, and the Cardinal is acting with the blessing of Pope Francis, then this is the best news to come out of Rome in a very long time.

Is the Catholic Church Inching Towards "Open Communion?"

Possibly, according to Sandro Magister...

ROME, July 1, 2016 – In his way, after encouraging communion for the divorced and remarried, in that it “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak,” Pope Francis is now also encouraging Protestants and Catholics to receive communion together at their respective Masses.

He is doing so, as always, in a discursive, allusive way, not definitional, leaving the ultimate decision to the individual conscience.

Still emblematic is the answer he gave on November 15, 2015, on a visit to the Christuskirche, the church of the Lutherans in Rome (see photo), to a Protestant who asked him if she could receive communion together with her Catholic husband.

The answer from Francis was a stupefying pinwheel of yes, no, I don’t know, you figure it out. Which it is indispensable to reread in its entirety, in the official transcription:

Read the rest here.

This Pope is a one man theological train-wreck.

Why the Mets Pay Bobby Bonilla $1.19 Million Every July 1st. (and will until 2035)

It's Friday, July 1, and we should be thinking about our Fourth of July weekend plans. But as baseball fans, we can't. Why? Because today is all about Bobby Bonilla.

A man who last played 5,381 days ago owns this day. Not just this July 1, but every July 1 through 2035. It's the day when the New York Mets pay him $1,193,248.20.

So with the water cooler and Twitter buzzing about the Bonilla deal, here's your primer.

How did the deal present itself?

Deferred-money deals have been going on for a long time, but the Mets did more of them than most. The first deferred-money deal we know about is Darryl Strawberry's 1985 contract, in which the Mets deferred 40 percent of his 1990 $1.8 million team option ($700,000) at a 5.1 percent interest rate. The deal, which pays out $1.64 million from 2004 to 2033, was obtained through a life insurance company.

Bonilla's agent, Dennis Gilbert, was an insurance agent at the same time he developed into a superagent (Gilbert's clients included Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Danny Tartabull), so he was more uniquely prepared to understand annuity-type payouts than other agents.

How does the deal actually work?

The Mets owed Bonilla $5.9 million for the 2000 season and no longer wanted him. So the club negotiated with Gilbert to attach an 8 percent annual interest rate to that money. With the clock starting in 2000, that adds up to $29.8 million. The first installment of the payout came on July 1, 2011, and the Mets will pay their sixth installment on Friday.

Read the rest here.

Poll: ‘Giant Meteor’ of death tied with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump among independents

Roughly 13 percent of Americans think extinction via “Giant Meteor” would be preferable to electing Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump the next U.S. commander in chief.

Public Policy Polling decided to gauge just how disaffected voters are with the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential contenders. A survey conducted June 27-28 among 853 registered voters yielded telling results, particularly among independents.

“It’s a simple reality that both of this year’s Presidential candidates are unpopular. Clinton’s favorability is 39/54, and Trump is even worse off at 35/58,’ the pollster’s report reads. “This has given rise to the ‘Giant Meteor for President’ movement, and we find that the Meteor would poll at 13 percent — far more support than the third party candidates actually on the ballot — with Clinton at 43 percent and Trump at 38 percent. The Meteor is particularly appealing to independent voters, functionally in a three-way tie at 27 percent to 35 percent for Clinton and 31 percent for Trump. Maybe that’s who the Libertarians should have nominated.”

Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson polled at 5 percent.

Read the rest here.

Archbishop of Brussels Suppresses a Conservative Religious Fraternity

BRUSSELS, June 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The Primate of Belgium, who has been in office less than a year, has closed down, for dubious reasons, a priestly fraternity that had been blessed with many vocations.

At the end of last year, Jozef De Kesel was named the archbishop of Belgium's main See, Mechelen-Brussels, the successor of the traditionally-minded Archbishop André Léonard. While his predecessor was outspoken concerning pro-life issues and attacks on human sexuality, De Kesel promotes a church "not closed within herself" and that gives "reverence to homosexual people."

Now De Kesel has taken yet another step towards the "liberalization" of his diocese, by closing down a priestly fraternity established by his predecessor. Archbishop Léonard founded the so-called "Fraternité des Saints Apôtres/Broederschap van de Heilige Apostelen", or "Fraternity of the Holy Apostles", which was a public association of the clerical faithful, of diocesan right. Léonard entrusted the education of priests to the Fraternity and gave them two parishes in Brussels.

Read the rest here.

Scott Adams on Guns

On average, Democrats (that’s my team*) use guns for shooting the innocent. We call that crime.

On average, Republicans use guns for sporting purposes and self-defense.

If you don’t believe me, you can check the statistics on the Internet that don’t exist. At least I couldn’t find any that looked credible.

But we do know that race and poverty are correlated. And we know that poverty and crime are correlated. And we know that race and political affiliation are correlated. Therefore, my team (Clinton) is more likely to use guns to shoot innocent people, whereas the other team (Trump) is more likely to use guns for sporting and defense.

That’s a gross generalization. Obviously. Your town might be totally different.

So it seems to me that gun control can’t be solved because Democrats are using guns to kill each other – and want it to stop – whereas Republicans are using guns to defend against Democrats. Psychologically, those are different risk profiles. And you can’t reconcile those interests, except on the margins. For example, both sides might agree that rocket launchers are a step too far. But Democrats are unlikely to talk Republicans out of gun ownership because it comes off as “Put down your gun so I can shoot you.”

Read the rest of this pointed, and hilarious post here.

About that online petition for a second EU referendum...

The Guardian thinks there could be something dodgy after discovering among other issues, that 39,000 of the signatures were added using one or more computers... in the Vatican City (population 800).

Hmmm...

Pope Francis Says Church Should Apologise to Gays

The Catholic church and other Christian communities must apologize to gay people and to many groups they have let down or offended throughout history, Pope Francis has said.

In a press conference Sunday on the flight back to Rome after his weekend trip to Armenia, the pontiff said bluntly: "The church must say it's sorry for not having comported itself well many times, many times."

"I believe that the church not only must say it's sorry ... to this person that is gay that it has offended," said the pope. "But it must say it's sorry to the poor, also, to mistreated women, to children forced to work."

"When I say the church: Christians," Francis clarified. "The church is healthy. We are the sinners."

The pope was responding to a question about remarks German Cardinal Reinhard Marx made last week that the Catholic church should apologize to the gay community for marginalizing them.

Read the rest here.
Image from here.

Some people exist for the sole purpose of making satire redundant

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill issued a guide this week which instructs students that Christmas vacations and telling a woman “I love your shoes!” are “microagressions.”

The taxpayer-funded guide — entitled “Career corner: Understanding microaggressions” — also identifies golf outings and the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” as microagressions.

The UNC Chapel Hill guide, published on Thursday, covers a wide range of menacing microaggressions — which are everyday words that radical leftists have decided to be angry or frustrated about.

Christmas vacations are a microagression, the public university pontificates, because “academic calendars and encouraged vacations” which “are organized around major religious observances” centralize “the Christian faith” and diminish “non-Christian spiritual rituals and observances.”

If you haven't had a good laugh today then you really should read the rest here.

Earthquake: Britain Votes to Leave the European Union

It's about 11:00 PM here on the East Coast and 4:00 AM Friday morning in the UK. While they are still counting votes in the great BREXIT referendum, the secessionists seem to have a near unassailable lead.

Wow!

God save The Queen!

The Great & Holy Council: Potentially Huge News

 In addition to discussing the six documents prepared beforehand at previous conferences, participants at the ongoing council, begun yesterday on the Great Feast of Pentecost on the island of Crete, are also to deliberate over and publish the official "Message" of the council.

A draft of the document covers an array of topics including the questions of remarriage and marriage to non-Orthodox, the oneness and unity of the Church in the holy Eucharist, the importance of the Patristic Tradition, and the Church's vision of conciliarity which places no one bishop over all others, among other matters, according to a source familiar with the document.

While the document mainly "states the obvious" on such topics in terms that all the Local Churches can agree on, the draft document, in large part prepared by theologians of the Greek and Serbian Churches, does contain some more noteworthy passages.

In it, the current gathering is referred to as a preparatory council for a further series of councils, rather than a one-time event, noting that the absence of four Local Churches is properly speaking the failure of all involved, and that the issues preventing certain Churches from participating in the current council are to be resolved before the convening of the next, that all might attend in good conscience.

Notably, the draft document currently under consideration also recognizes as ecumenical the Photian Council of 879-880, already sometimes referred to as the Eighth Ecumenical Council, which condemned the Latin addition of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed; the hesychast councils of Constantinople held between 1341 and 1351, already sometimes collectively referred to as the Ninth Ecumenical Council, which upheld the distinction between the essence and energies of God and man's ability to commune with these energies; the 1642 Council of Iași (Jassy) which countered certain Catholic and Protestant heresies which had exercised some degree of influence on Orthodox theology; and the 1672 Council of Jerusalem which refuted Calvinism and also rejected the Filioque.

Regarding these councils, the document especially notes their statements against Western scholasticism and the imbalanced emphasis on reason as obstacles to unity, and in light of the Councils of Iași and Jerusalem, states that the Catholic and Protestant confessions in no way make up a part of the Church, while avoiding the use of the word "heretic."

The overall atmosphere at the current council is one of a favorable impression of the document, according to the source. However, it is as yet a draft document and it remains to be seen what precise message the participating bishops and Churches will release.

Source
HT: ByzantineTexas

California's state religion

In a state ruled by a former Jesuit, perhaps we should not be shocked to find ourselves in the grip of an incipient state religion. Of course, this religion is not actually Christianity, or even anything close to the dogma of Catholicism, but something that increasingly resembles the former Soviet Union, or present-day Iran and Saudi Arabia, than the supposed world center of free, untrammeled expression.

Two pieces of legislation introduced in the Legislature last session, but not yet enacted, show the power of the new religion. One is Senate Bill 1146, which seeks to limit the historically broad exemptions the state and federal governments have provided religious schools to, well, be religious.

Under the rubric of official “tolerance,” the bill would only allow religiously focused schools to deviate from the secular orthodoxy required at nonreligious schools, including support for transgender bathrooms or limitations on expressions of faith by students and even Christian university presidents, in a much narrower range of educational activity than ever before. Many schools believe the bill would needlessly risk their mission and funding to “solve” gender and social equity problems on their campuses that currently don’t exist.

The second piece of legislation, thankfully temporarily tabled, Senate Bill 1161, the Orwellian-named “California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016,” would have dramatically extended the period of time that state officials could prosecute anyone who dared challenge the climate orthodoxy, including statements made decades ago. It would have sought “redress for unfair competition practices committed by entities that have deceived, confused or misled the public on the risks of climate change or financially supported activities that have deceived, confused or misled the public on those risks.”

Although advocates tended to focus on the hated energy companies, the law could conceivably also extend to skeptics who may either reject the prevailing notions of man-made climate change, or might believe that policies concocted to “arrest” the phenomena may be themselves less than cost-effective or even not effective at all. So, fellow Californians, sign onto Gov. Torquemada’s program or face possible prosecution and the fires of hell.

Read the rest here.

Jo Cox - Political Assassination - And the Hypocricy of the Left

At the risk of boring everyone to tears by asking the bleeding obvious, why does the liberal-left try to link the “right wing” to the murder of British MP Jo Cox, whilst fanatically disassociating Islam from any act of Islamic unpleasantness, be it anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny, terrorism, supremacism, subversion, beheading, electoral fraud, gang-rape, slavery, honour violence, infanticide etc etc etc?

The double standards involved here are simply jaw-dropping. Most of the Islamic downsides mentioned above can be directly linked to the scriptures of Islam, but left-liberals will deny this until their last pseudo- sanctimonious breath. And, as far as I am aware, there are no “right-wing” groups in the West which command members to murder their political opponents, yet left-liberals will go to the most extraordinarily wicked and immoral lengths in their attempts to link just such a scenario.

The horrible murder of Jo Cox is apparently now being blamed on Nigel Farage and his anti-immigrant campaign poster. The blame is being directed toward those who wish to leave the European Union, and of course on the political party / street movement Britain First based on hearsay evidence that was later retracted. The term “hate” keeps on cropping up, as though the lunatic who murdered Mrs Cox was the product of some trained political movement rather than a lone wolf with psychiatric problems.

Read the rest here.

Adam Shaw: Enough is enough, Pope Francis should resign

Pope Francis’s three-year-old papacy, marred by controversy from the beginning, has hit a new low.

After Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected to succeed Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, he quickly justified his reputation as an unconventional character who put himself on both sides of an argument with vaguely worded pronouncements.

From his “Who am I to judge?” statement on gay people that seemed to offer a hint at a change in church teaching, to his fumbles on contraception, to his recent claim that Donald Trump is not Christian, his off-the-cuff remarks cause headlines across the globe, often followed by some sort of “clarification” from the Holy See Press Office.

His papacy has been a litany of confusing statements for the faithful on the most sensitive and delicate topics. While clear on political topics dear to his heart, but where Catholics can legitimately hold differing opinions, such as immigration, economics and climate change, on matters of doctrine, Francis muddied the waters to an extent that many well-meaning Catholics feel they no longer know where the Church stands on issues of faith.

Most recently, in his latest off-the-cuff ramble on Thursday, he was asked about marriage. He said:

“It’s provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say ‘yes, for the rest of my life!’ but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know.”

To say that the “great majority” of Catholic marriages are null, or invalid, is a statement that is neither true, wise, nor fair. The Vatican has since toned down his remarks in the written transcript to say “a part of our sacramental marriages are null,” in apparent recognition of the damage Francis’s statement might cause.

For a “pope of the people” he certainly doesn’t give Catholics much credit. For a Catholic marriage to be valid all that is needed is the freedom to marry, consent from both parties, and the intention to marry for life and be open to children. That’s it.

Over the years, some clerics have used an interpretation of canon law to suggest “emotional immaturity” can be a reason for not understanding the responsibilities of marriage, and therefore as invalid and open to annulment. But marriage is not hard to understand, and the Catholic rite of marriage, as well as the preparation couples go through beforehand, makes clear what marriage involves.

For Pope Francis to say the great majority of marriages are null implies that the great majority of Catholic are ignorant fools who cannot understand the responsibilities of a bedrock of society that has existed for thousands of years.

Read the rest here.

The Liturgical Abuse Photo of the Month Contest Is Officially Over

Sorry, no one is going to top this. Not sure if they are Roman Catholic or some flavor of liturgical Protestant. Does it really matter?

Update: They were Episcopalians. Why am I not surprised?

Why a Leave Vote May Not Result in a Brexit

The officialdom in England and in much of the rest of the advanced world is suddenly in alarm over the possibility of a Brexit. US Treasury yields sank last Friday as investors ran for cover, and the flight to safety continued today as a surge in the yen led to a 3% fall in the Nikkei.

The UK's elites had been confident that frequent, loud "Don't Touch That Dial" warnings, with vivid descriptions of all of the horrors that would ensue, would herd voters into line well before the June 23 polling date.

Instead, an online poll commissioned by the Independent showed the Leave campaign to be winning by a stunning 55% to 45%. That revelation coming on top of weak economic data from the US, put Mr. Market in a funk. The Financial Times' "poll of polls" puts Leave in the lead by a smaller margin, 46% to 44%.

Moreover, the sense is that with only 10 days to the decision date, the Leave campaign is gaining momentum. The Conservatives have realized that having a bunch of toffs, big banks, and intrusive foreign leaders tell British citizens how economically damaging a Brexit would be seems only to have persuaded voters at most that the people at the top of the food chain would take a hit. Voters seem to be in a bloody-minded enough mood to be willing to take a hit if they can inflict some pain on their putative leaders and take the banking classes down a notch or two. Another sentiment (and one that the elites appear to deny) is that voters are willing to pay an economic cost, even a large one, for more national sovereignity. So now Labor leaders have been moved to the front line of the sales campaign.

But even the referendum next week results in "Leave" getting the most results, that does not mean a Brexit will necessarily happen. There are at least two ways that the will of the public could be thwarted.

Read the rest here.

Half of Turkish Germans hold Islam above state law

A wide-ranging new study by the University of Münster shows that Germany’s Turkish community still has very conservative views on the role of religion in society.

• One in 10 Germans wants country to be ruled by 'Führer' (15 Jun 16)
• Will closing borders drive Germans to incest? (10 Jun 16)

The survey provides an often contradictory picture of social attitudes among Germany’s 2.7 million people of Turkish origin.
A total of 47 percent of the 1,201 respondents said that “following the tenets of my religion is more important to me than the laws of the land in which I live.”

Read the rest here.

For the record

The Russians have confirmed... They are not attending the Pan-Orthodox Synod

Memory Eternal

O God of all spirits and of every flesh, Who didst trod down death and overcome the devil, bestowing life on this Thy world, to the soul of these Thy servants, departed this life, do Thou, O Lord, grant rest in a place of light, in a place of green pasture, in a place of refreshment, from where pain and sorrow and mourning have fled away. Every sin by them committed in thought, word, or deed, do Thou as our Good and Loving God forgive; as there is no man who shall live and sinnneth not, for Thou alone are without sin. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy Law is truth; for Thou art the Resurrection, the Life, and the Repose of Thy servants, departed this life, O Christ our God; and to Thee do we ascribe glory, together with Thine Eternal Father and All-Holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit; both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen

Poll: Britain Likely to Break With European Union

The campaign to take Britain out of the EU has opened up a remarkable 10-point lead over the Remain camp, according to an exclusive poll for The Independent.

The survey of 2,000 people by ORB found that 55 per cent believe the UK should leave the EU (up four points since our last poll in April), while 45 per cent want it to remain (down four points). These figures are weighted to take account of people’s likelihood to vote. It is by far the biggest lead the Leave camp has enjoyed since ORB began polling the EU issue for The Independent a year ago, when it was Remain who enjoyed a 10-point lead. Now the tables have turned.

Even when the findings are not weighted for turnout, Leave is on 53 per cent (up three points since April) and Remain on 47 per cent (down three). The online poll, taken on Wednesday and Thursday, suggests the Out camp has achieved momentum at the critical time ahead of the 23 June referendum.

Read the rest here.

The Russians Will Skip Council

Source.

This Council as presently envisioned is now dead. It is quite possible, maybe even probably, that at some point there will be a meeting. But there are going to have to be major changes/fixes before that happens.

A Collection of Documents Related to the Forthcoming(?) Pan Orthodox Council

Most of the documents are critical but well worth perusing.

http://jordanville.org/news_160511_1.html

Pope Francis: ‘Rigid… this or nothing’ Catholics are ‘heretical’ and ‘not Catholic’

June 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The stunning introduction to today’s official Vatican Radio report on Pope Francis’ morning homily reads: “Pope Francis warned on Thursday against an excessive rigidity, saying those within the Church who tell us ‘it’s this or nothing’ are heretics and not Catholics. His remarks came during the morning Mass on Thursday celebrated at the Santa Marta residence.”

The specific section of the homily referred to in the opening is as follows:

This (is the) healthy realism of the Catholic Church: the Church never teaches us ‘or this or that.’ That is not Catholic. The Church says to us: ‘this and that.’ ‘Strive for perfectionism: reconcile with your brother.  Do not insult him. Love him. And if there is a problem, at the very least settle your differences so that war doesn’t break out.’ This (is) the healthy realism of Catholicism. It is not Catholic (to say) ‘or this or nothing:’ This is not Catholic, this is heretical. 

Jesus always knows how to accompany us, he gives us the ideal, he accompanies us towards the ideal, He frees us from the chains of the laws' rigidity and tells us: ‘But do that up to the point that you are capable.’ And he understands us very well.  He is our Lord and this is what he teaches us.

Read the rest here.

California Declares War on Private Religious Colleges

Legislation pending in the California State Senate threatens to strip some private colleges and universities of an exemption that protects them from lawsuits and allows them to function as faith-based organizations.

What does the proposed legislation do?

SB 1146 would amend current California laws on postsecondary education to make two main changes.

The first is limiting the religious exemption from the Equity in Higher Education Act to educational institutions that are controlled by a religious organization specifically to train ministers. Seminaries would still be allowed to retain the exemption, but most Christian colleges and universities in California would no longer qualify.

The second stipulation is that it would require postsecondary educational institutions that receive the exemption to post a notice of it in a “prominent place” on campus, on their websites, on all brochures, and so on.

An amendment removed the language that would have allowed students who were “denied equal rights or opportunities on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation” to sue the schools for monetary damages.

Read the rest here.

The latest on the Pan-Orthodox Synod: Serbia is out & Russia is looking for the exit ramp

Serbian Orthodox Church refuses to participate in Pan-Orthodox Council

Moscow Patriarchate calls emergency session, weighs withdrawal from Pan-Orthodox Council

HT: Dr. Tighe

Antioch Withdraws from the Council

The statement of the Holy Synod of Antioch.

It looks like the council is now on life support.

Metropolitan Benjamin of Vladivostok and Primorsk on Orthodox participation in the World Council of Churches

April 19, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, hosted the conference: “The Pan-Orthodox Council: Opinions and Expectations.” Taking part in the work of the conference were prominent bishops, clergy, and laity. Among those called to take part in the conference was one of the most authoritative hierarchs of our Church, Metropolitan Benjamin (Pushkar) of Vladivostok and Primorsk, head of the Primorsk Metropolia. However Vladyka was not able to be present in Moscow, but sent his judgment-presentation to the conference concerning those themes which most concerned him. A photocopy of the document was given to each conference participant. As the opinion of Vladyka Benjamin is important for many children of our Church, we offer this document to the reader’s attention, written in the form of an address to the rector of the university, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyev.

Read the rest here.

No mincing of words here.

MPs Plot to Obstruct BREXIT if Britain Votes to Quit the EU

MPs could seek to keep Britain in the European single market even if the public vote in the referendum to leave the European Union, in a move which anti-EU Tories said was “unacceptable” and would cause a “constitutional crisis”.

Membership of the House of Commons is overwhelmingly pro-EU, with just over 70 per cent of its present members campaigning for Remain at the referendum on June 23.

However unnamed ministers have told the BBC that in the event of a vote to leave, pro-EU MPs could engage in what one called a “reverse Maastricht” process - a reference to the long parliamentary campaign fought by Tory Eurosceptic MPs in the 1990s against legislation deepening EU integration.

Read the rest here.

Fr. Peter Heers: From Vatican II to the Pan Orthodox Synod - Signposts on the Way to Crete

Delivered to the Diakideio Institute for the Education of the People in Patra, Greece, May 18, 2016.
 
It is an overused but necessary cliché to state that the Orthodox Church is the Church of the Oecumenical Councils. It is more essential to state that the Orthodox Church not only held and lived through those Councils, it also lives daily by the words spoken by the Holy Apostles in that first of all Church Councils in Jerusalem: it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us (Acts 15:28); first to the Holy Spirit and then to the Apostles and all the successors of the Apostles. This theanthropic way of being, which began in earnest in council on the day of Pentecost, is integral to, irremovable from, the life of the Orthodox Church and of Orthodox Christians.

It is the implication of this reality, or rather the absence of evidence thereof among those at the highest levels of the Church, which makes my presentation to you tonight all the more difficult, even painful.

The Orthodox Church stands just weeks away from the long awaited “Great and Holy Council,” which will convene in Crete on the Feast of Pentecost. This Council is unique in the history of the Church for the length of time it has been under preparation, but also for another first: the degree to which its preparatory meetings, organization and certain of its texts have, under the influence of a council of the heterodox, the Second Vatican Council, diverted from the Orthodox way.

This is the reason that, immediately upon the publication of the pre-synodical texts, a wave of objections arose on a Pan-Orthodox level. Certain among the more fanatical enthusiasts of ecumenism have attempted to downplay the serious and studies critiques which have been levelled against the pre-synodical texts and the Council itself asserting the criticism is coming from “extremists” and “fanatics” who are “against the council,” have no respect for the conciliar system or an ecclesiastical ethos. These critics neglect the fact that objections to the ecclesiologically abysmal texts have been expressed on a pan-Orthodox level by...

Read the rest here.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church withdraws from Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete

The governing body of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, signalled on June 1 its withdrawal from the Pan-Orthodox Council to be held in Crete from June 16 to 26.

Strictly speaking, the Holy Synod demanded the postponement of the council unless its various demands were met, but given that this is unlikely to happen, the Synod’s decision effectively amounts to withdrawal.

The Pan-Orthodox Council has been planned as the first such gathering in about 1000 years, but has been beset by controversies – one of the most significant ones being the fact that it is being held in Crete, not in Istanbul, seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch. The move was made under Russian pressure because of the tensions between Moscow and Ankara.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, where senior figures are strongly influenced by their Russian Orthodox co-religionist church figures, said that it would not participate if Bulgarian proposals for “thematic and organisational changes” to the planned council were not taken account of and respected.

The Holy Synod said that at its June 1 meeting, it had held “extensive discussions” on issues related to the convening of the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in June.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s leaders found a number of pretexts to call for the postponement of the Pan-Orthodox Council meeting and to say that unless the council was postponed, the church would not participate.

The Holy Synod listed six objections...

Read the rest here.
HT: Byzantine Texas

Three cheers for the Bulgarians!

Why Americans are renouncing their citizenship in record numbers (It's not Trump)

...And indeed, government statistics show record numbers of people are renouncing their U.S. citizenship. But it’s not Trump that has persuaded them to go. It’s taxes.

The IRS publishes the names of each American who gives up his or her citizenship. The list comes out every three months, and international tax lawyer Andrew Mitchel has tallied them up. In the first quarter of this year, 1,158 people expatriated — more than 10 times the number in the first quarter of 2008, when Mitchel began his count. Last year, a record 4,279 people renounced their citizenship.

Expatriations have grown steadily since 2008 but began to spike in 2013. That timing undermines the theory that Trump is responsible. (Back then, he was busy suing talk-show host and comedian Bill Maher for calling him the spawn of an orangutan.) But the increase dovetails with the implementation of new federal reporting requirements and penalties for assets held overseas by U.S. citizens.

The rules were passed back in 2010 as part of legislation intended to encourage businesses to hire more employees and jump-start the nation’s economic recovery. Attached to the law was a provision called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that was supposed to “detect, deter and discourage” tax evasion through offshore bank accounts. 

The law requires foreign banks to report whether their clients are U.S. citizens. The penalty for not complying is stiff: a 30 percent withholding from the proceeds of the bank's financial transactions in the United States. That has caused plenty of consternation among foreign firms, some of which have reportedly closed accounts belonging to Americans as a result.

The regulations also created new filing requirements for individuals with assets overseas and increased the fines for missing a form. The penalty for failing to file is $10,000 per form. The consequences are even steeper for intentionally not filing a document known as the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, which could result in a fine of $100,000 or 50 percent of what’s in the bank account — whichever is greater.

“They’re like, 'Oh my, God, the IRS is going to bankrupt me,'” Mitchel said of his clients. “People get terrified of this, and they don’t want to have anything to do with the IRS, and then they want to renounce.”

Mitchel said that many of his clients have been paying taxes in the country where they live now and may not have bothered filing a U.S. return. Most countries in the world expect you to pay taxes only when you live inside their borders. But two nations — the United States and Eritrea — require its citizens to pay taxes on income while living in other countries. And Mitchel said it’s not just the very wealthy who are chafing under the new regulations. Many of his clients are moderate-income households and retirees living overseas who find navigating the morass of requirements more trouble than it is worth.

Read the rest here.

Two Good Articles by Nicholas Kristof

A Confession of Liberal Intolerance

The Liberal Blind Spot

Memory Eternal

Patriarch Kyril: American, European de-Christianization is ‘apocalyptic’

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church received a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on May 24 and lamented the secularization of Europe and the United States.

“We are deeply worried to see what is going on in the Christian world,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who referred to the “ongoing de-Christianization of the European and American civilization” as “an apocalyptic scene: sin is affirmed by law.”

“As you know, we underwent a period of state atheism,” he said in reference to over seven decades of Soviet Communist rule. “However, the moral paradigm remained Christian in its major aspects. This is what saved us: our literature and fine arts were permeated with Christian ideas, hence the morality of our people remained Christian.”

Patriarch Kirill added that today the Russian Orthodox Church “has universities of her own, as well as over 40 seminaries, a thousand monasteries, Orthodox TV channels, journals, newspapers.”

From here.

Memo to My Fellow Trump Haters: Libertarianism isn’t Republicanism

Now that Donald Trump has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination — and, with it, foreclosed any lingering claims that the GOP is the party of limited-government conservatism — a small cohort of notable Republicans have signaled that they are shifting their affiliation to the Libertarian Party. The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney, already leaning that way, tweeted that he’s making the switch and longtime Republican strategist Mary Matalin recently explained that she would “never vote for Hillary and never Trump means always liberty. Hence, Libertarian.”

Wrong.

If all that these converts see is a safe house where they can ride out the storm, they’re missing the point: The libertarian ideal and the Libertarian Party stand as reminders that neither of the two major parties is committed to the principle that individuals are superior to the state. And in this election year, if fear of a President Trump results in libertarianism morphing into Republicanism-lite, it would cease to serve that purpose. While I’m not active in Libertarian Party politics, as a small-“L” libertarian, I want no part of diluting this core principle just to boost electoral success.

But I get it. The GOP has been taken over by a know-nothing vulgarian. For Republicans still invested in their party’s traditional priorities — big military budgets, tax cuts and morality-based social policy — Trump’s ever-changing views on nearly every issue present a real dilemma.

Libertarianism, though, isn’t a subsidiary of Republicanism. Like Republicans, we want limited government, but we reject the corporate welfare of auto-industry bailouts, the military adventurism of the Iraq War and the interference with individual liberty represented by initiatives such as North Carolina’s H.B. 2 — all policies that Republicans embrace. Matalin, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, and other Republican expats surely believe in liberty as a concept, but her support for Bush’s big-government conservatism suggests that at heart, she’s a statist. Which is her prerogative. But it places her, and many other Republicans, at loggerheads with libertarianism.

Read the rest here. The comments are also quite interesting.

There is a lot about libertarianism that I really like and admire. My problem is that when you dig down you find that most of the hardcore libertarians are really closet anarchists. Sorry, but that is a bridge too far for me. An orderly society can't function without some sort of authority.

I guess I just have to accept that there is no perfect system for the organization of society and go with the least bad.

Met. Saba on the Orthodox Diaspora

I commend to the reader's attention this excellent post over at Notes on Arab Orthodoxy dealing with the perennial question of the so called Orthodox Diaspora. Please leave your comments there.

HT: Byzantine Texas

On the Road Again

I will be traveling for the next month or so. During this period blogging will be on a when I can get to it basis.

Why Some Teachers Prefer a 401(k) Over a Pension

n 2012, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill that kept open the teacher pension system but began allowing school employees to choose a 401(k)-type defined contribution retirement account.
Since then, around 18,000 school employees have chosen the 401(k) instead of the old pension system, according to a FOIA request. Their reasons for making the switch range from concerns about future pension cuts and underfunding to wanting more control over retirement funds.

“I chose the defined contribution option for a number of reasons. One of which … [is] the pension program is underfunded and may or may not be existent when it comes my time to collect,” said Adam Hastings, a math teacher at Athens High School. “ I also was told that the 401(k)-type option was more portable under the circumstance that I should decide to move to another state.”

Read the rest here.

See also part II...

Fears About State Pension Underfunding Drive School Employees to Other Options

Top Catholic Nun Wants Women Deacons

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Catholic sisters globally would be better-equipped to carry out their work if they could become deacons, the head of a global network of nuns has said, an important marker in the sharp debate over women deacons that Pope Francis opened last week.

“We are already doing so many things that resemble what a deacon would do, although it would help us to do a bit more service if we were ordained deacons,” Sister Carmen Sammut, president of the International Union of Superiors General, or UISG, told RNS.

Francis put a spring in the step of women religious on Thursday (May 12) when, in talking with Sammut and hundreds of UISG delegates, he agreed to set up a commission to examine whether women should be ordained as deacons — something that arguably hasn’t been done since the early years of Christianity.

Read the rest here.

If Meat Eaters Acted Like Vegans

HT: Bill over at MCJ

One of the funnier videos I have seen in a while.

The Confessions of Congressman X

"A devastating inside look at the dark side of Congress as revealed by one of its own! No wonder Congressman X wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. His admissions are deeply disturbing. . .

"Most of my colleagues are dishonest career politicians who revel in the power and special-interest money that's lavished upon them."

"My main job is to keep my job, to get reelected. It takes precedence over everything."

"Voters are incredibly ignorant and know little about our form of government and how it works."

"It's far easier than you think to manipulate a nation of naive, self-absorbed sheep who crave instant gratification."

"Fundraising is so time consuming I seldom read any bills I vote on. Like many of my colleagues, I don't know how the legislation will be implemented, or what it'll cost."

"We spend money we don't have and blithely mortgage the future with a wink and a nod. Screw the next generation. It's about getting credit now, lookin' good for the upcoming election."

"The average man on the street actually thinks he influences how I vote. Unless it’s a hot-button issue, his thoughts are generally meaningless. I’ll politely listen, but I follow the money."

From here.

"America has no distinctly criminal class... except Congress." -Mark Twain

South Carolina passes bill banning abortion after 19 weeks

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban.

The legislation will now head to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. The Republican said in March she will almost certainly sign it, but wants to look at the details once it reaches her.

Similar laws are in effect in 12 states. They've been blocked by court challenges in three others, and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the ban's constitutionality. A South Dakota law signed in March takes effect this summer.

In Utah, a related law, also signed in March, requires doctors to provide anesthesia to a fetus at least 20 weeks in the womb.

Read the rest here.

Sears Sold 70,000 Homes From Their Catalog. Are You Living in One?

(click to enlarge) That looks pretty nice and I think I can cover it without a mortgage!

Not long ago, the Sears, Roebuck and Co. mail-order catalog was the ultimate marketplace, much like Amazon is today. You could even buy a house straight from the catalog. Just pick out the home you like, and voila, Sears would deliver it just for you. (The best Amazon can do is either a DVD box set or houses that, uh, would have some size and space issues for most people.)

These Sears homes weren't cheap low-end houses. Many of them were built using the finest quality building materials available during that time. It's not uncommon to find Sears homes today with oak floors, cypress siding, and cedar shingles. As with most old homes, the tough part is finding one that has been well maintained, and with the youngest of Sears homes going now eight decades old, they all require a significant amount of care. From 1908 to 1940, Sears sold between 70,000 to 75,000 homes, so there are plenty out there, you just need to know where to look.

Read the rest here. 

I can remember when I was a kid (many years ago) thumbing through my grandmother's copy of the Sears Roebuck catalog (and Montgomery Wards). I am still in awe at all of the things they had in there. Someone told me once that those old catalogs are now collectibles and people are actually selling them online.

Pope Francis: Let’s study idea of ordaining women as deacons

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In an opening with historic import, Pope Francis has said he wants to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, a step that could for the first time open the ranks of the Catholic Church’s all-male clergy to women.

The order of deacons was reinsitituted in the Catholic Church following the reforms of the 1960s, and while deacons cannot celebrate the Eucharist like a priest, a deacon can preach at Mass, preside at weddings and funerals, and perform baptisms.

But in restoring the diaconate, the church also restricted ordination as a deacon to “mature married men” over 35.

Read the rest here.

Ignore the conflation of "deaconess" with deacons. The former was a purely lay office and not considered as part of Holy Orders.

Mass Baptism in the Sea

Video scenes from a mass baptism in the sea at the medieval town of Herceg Novi in Montenegro presided over by the Serbian Orthodox Archbishop.

Ecclesiology and non-Orthodox Baptisms

I draw the reader's attention to this post over at Byzantine Texas where there is a lively and (unusual for Orthodox blogs) sober discussion of non-Orthodox baptisms and their ecclesiological implications. Please leave any comments there.

San Francisco may double down on its illegal alien "sanctuary" policy

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is set to vote Tuesday on an ordinance tightening the city’s sanctuary city law. Introduced by Supervisor John Avalos, the measure would prohibit local law enforcement from responding, except in very limited cases, to requests from federal immigration officials for an inmate’s personal information or release date. Supporters say that the change is necessary following findings earlier this year that police violated the sanctuary city law by releasing San Francisco resident Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno to federal immigration agents. Critics say that local agencies should have greater latitude to cooperate with federal authorities. We discuss the proposed legislation and how it might impact the city’s immigration policies.

Listen to the rest here.

Britain ‘sleepwalking to catastrophe’ over race

Britain risks “flames” of racial and religious conflict because of a “liberal self-delusion” over the impact of mass immigration, the former head of the equality watchdog Trevor Phillips claims today.

In a startling assault on decades of official multiculturalism and diversity policy, the founding  chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission argues the UK is being allowed to “sleepwalk to catastrophe” by leaders too “touchy”, “smug”, “complacent” and “squeamish” to talk about race.

Drawing a direct parallel with Enoch Powell’s notorious “rivers of blood” speech, he likens Britain’s politicians, media and educated elite in general to the Emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burned, unable even to recognise the “dark side of the diverse society”.

Read the rest here.