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White House High Holy Days Call
Friday, September 27, 2019
Operator: Hello and thank you for joining today’s High Holy Days call with Jewish faith leaders. Please note that this call is being recorded. At this time all audience members are in listen-only mode to minimize background noise. There will be Q&A at the end of this call, and we will provide instructions at that time. I would now like to formally begin today’s call and introduce President of the United States, Donald J Trump.
Pres. Trump: It’s a great honor to be with you and to host our third annual call with Jewish leaders, rabbis and friends to wish you Shana Tova, a sweet new year. During the High Holy Days, families gather in synagogues across the country and around the world to sound the shofar and pray, reflect and thank God for His many blessings.
As we mark the Jewish New Year, our entire country is reminded of the infinite ways Jewish Americans strengthen our communities, uplift our nation, and deepen our culture. You care for your neighbors, teach your children, cherish our heritage, and you embody the American dream. Throughout history, the Jewish people have suffered unthinkable oppression and persecution, yet they have persevered, endured, thrived, and created a flourishing democracy – the state of Israel.
In the last two and a half years, we have strengthened the everlasting friendship between the United States and Israel. I moved the United States Embassy to Jerusalem. We recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which was something they were trying to have done for 72, or 52 years to be more specific. We’re confronting Iran, a regime that chants “Death to Israel.”
As I said in my recent address to United Nations, America will never tolerate anti-Semitic hate. In recent months, our entire nation was stricken with shock and grief and righteous anger when two horrific anti-Semitic murderers attacked synagogues in California and Pennsylvania. To every survivor, family member and to the entire Jewish community, all of America embraces you with love. We pledge our undying and total resolve to excise the vile placing of anti-Semitism from our world. Earlier this year, I appointed a new special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. Elan Carr, who is with us now and will provide an update shortly. In the wake of such atrocious attacks, millions have been inspired by Jewish-American heroes who responded to the worst evil with remarkable bravery. During my State of the Union Address, we were all moved by the presence of Pittsburgh survivor, Judah Samet, who also survived the Holocaust. In May, on the National Day of Prayer in the Rose Garden, we were joined by members of the congregation from Poway, California, including Rabbi Goldstein. This afternoon we’re joined on the call by survivors of the Holocaust. We cannot comprehend the persecution and suffering you have endured, yet you have overcome the darkest chapters of human history with the purity of love and goodness in your hearts. We renew our pledge now and always. Never again.
I understand that during this time of year, you often read Psalm 27. We remember the promise of those words that says, “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.”
Today, we thank God for His faithfulness and for the countless ways Jewish-Americans bless our nation.
I again want to thank you all for joining this call. Melania and I wish you a very happy, peaceful and prosperous new year. And now I’d like to invite Special Envoy Elan Carr to tell us about his crucial work. Elan.
Special Envoy Carr: Mr. President, thank you so much and thank you for making the fight against anti-Semitism which always refer to as “the vile poison of anti-Semitism,” that’s exactly what it is. Thank you for making this fight a national priority.
Friends on this call, this current week alone illustrates the breadth of the work we’re doing. Three days ago, Tuesday, I was in Warsaw, where I set forth key strategies to combat anti-Semitism to the 57 different national governments in the OSCE region. Then the next day, on Wednesday, I was in Brussels at the European Parliament where the Israeli government and I together confronted the anti-Semitic BDS movement; and during those very same days I was on inter-agency phone calls with Washington addressing the anti-Semitism on US college campuses. This points to the breadth of our work at the President’s direction, we are simultaneously confronting far-right ethnic supremacy, radical-left Israel hatred, and militant Islam. With the Trump’s administration continued leadership, I’m hopeful that we can roll back the rise of anti-Semitism both here at home and abroad.
Thank you all so much. Thank you, Mr. President and Shana Tova.
Pres. Trump: Well, thank you very much Elan. We really appreciate; you’re going to be phenomenal. Do a great job, I have no doubt about it. Your past has been incredible and that’s usually a good indication of your future. Thank you very much Elan.
Special Envoy Carr: Thank you
Pre. Trump: And now, I’d like to call upon a friend of mine, a friend of all of us, Senator Norm Coleman to ask a question.
Senator Coleman: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President just on a personal note, as Chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, thank you for all you’ve done to strengthen the US-Israeli relationship. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
POTUS: Well, thank you, Norm.
Senator Coleman: But my question Mr. President focuses on Iran, and I’m going to thank you again, by the way, for pulling the plug on what you aptly described as the “worst deal ever,” the Obama nuclear deal that gave Iran 150 billion dollars to fund their terrorist networks in the amount of guaranteed debt and nuclear weapons. We’ve also already imposed the toughest sanctions ever hitting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, cut source, and now central bank. But Iran still bombs Saudi oil fields, it’s law makers and Supreme Leader chant “Death to America,” and it continues to be the greatest existential threat to the Jewish state, Israel.
As we look forward Mr. President, what else can you do to curtail Iran’s nefarious actions?
Pres. Trump: Well, Iran continues its provocative actions and they threaten our partners and allies, and supporting terrorism, developing ballistic missiles, increasing uranium enrichment. You know all about that Norm; and I don’t want military conflict, but we’ve offered to talk, we’ve offered to discuss things.
Right now, Iran is doing very badly, they’re a nation that’s much different than it was when I became president almost three years ago. If you look back, you’ll see that Iran was in more than 18 points of confliction. They were misbehaving in a very bad way in 18 different sections of the Middle East. They were very provocative. They were behind it. I’ve shown great restraint, and hope that Iran likewise chooses peace. I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to be happening, but we’re extraordinarily ready.
A friend of mine asked me a couple of questions the other day and I asked him one, I said, “So which was more important, bringing the Jerusalem into effect by having our embassy go to Jerusalem thereby becoming the capital of Israel, or the Golan Heights?” I said, “Which of those two things in your opinion were more important, Jerusalem or the Golan Heights?” And he said, “Neither. It’s what you’ve done for us with Iran.” And I said, “You know I’ve never thought of it that way, but I probably happen to agree with you.”
But we have done, the embassy in Jerusalem which was such a big deal at the time and promised by many, many presidents and they never fulfilled their promise; and I understood why because once I got here, there was tremendous pressure on me not to do that, but I did it; and the other one was Golan Heights. And as I said for 52 years, they’ve been trying to do something, and I did that also for Israel, and now we’re in the process of Iran and it will work out. I can’t tell you exactly how or why, but it’ll work out because it always does. I have a tendency to make things work out one way or the other. Sometimes, it’s not pretty but it happens. So, you can just rest assured. But Iran is a very bad actor, it’s been a bad actor for a long period of time and we’re going to end that.
So, thank you very much for that question and Helen Erskine, please if you’re there, the Women Zionist Organization. Highly respected person by the way, Helen. So, do you have a question?
Ms. Hershkin: Thank you. Of course, I do. Mr. President, thank you for taking the time to speak with all of us on this call. As you know, I’m speaking today as the National President of Hadassah, the Women Zionist Organization of America, and I’m also the daughter of a World War Two veteran who liberated the mass held in the Nazi concentration camp.
As you mentioned, we remember the horrific attacks in Pittsburgh and Poway, and our concerns about violence amid rising anti-Semitism and extremism remain front and center. To reduce this slip before it’s too late, we believe that the solution may be Holocaust education. Many students are not being taught about the Holocaust in schools including the dangers of bigotry and hatred.
Mr. President, do you believe students in America should learn the lessons of the Holocaust, and how can we work together on this?
Pres. Trump: Well, thank you for a very good question, Helen. I think that American students should learn the important lessons of the Holocaust. I have two great special envoys who look at this issue right here and around the world, and one who you just heard from who is a tremendous special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. Again, Elan, thank you very much. Cherrie Daniels also works in my administration as a talented special envoy for Holocaust issues. We have many great programs throughout the United States, as you know, to teach this in both the Department of Education and the Department of State are engaged in active work on Holocaust education here and abroad.
This is important as we should promote awareness of these lessons, and just remember that I’ve grown up always hearing “Never forget, never forget, never forget.” And that’s been a very very important part of, I think, what you’re talking about Helen, and we will never forget. Education is very important, and we will keep it very much in the forefront.
Ms. Hershkin: Thank you, Mr. President.
Pres. Trump: Well, thank you and thank everybody. It really has been an honor to be with you and we’ll have many many great years together. Thank you all.
Operator: Thank you to all of our speakers and thank you all in the audience for joining us today.
The feasibility of Trump’s “Deal of the Century” will be dramatically impacted by the nature of the regime east of the Jordan River and its prospective stability
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact – Sherlock Holmes, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”.
Israel must, in the most blunt and clear way possible, illustrate to Washington that the prosperity of Jordan is a first rate Israeli security and strategic interest – Former Head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, at “Between Jerusalem and Amman: 25 Years since the Signing of the Peace Agreement between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”, the Institute for National Security Studies, Sept. 25, 2019.”
With the media in a furor over the election deadlock and the legal woes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some of the other substantive issues looming on Israel’s overloaded national agenda naturally tend to be sidelined in the ongoing public discourse.
One such topic, with potentially far reaching significance that received scant media attention, was briefly broached last week: The relationship with Jordan and the rather ominous prospects for the future.
Understandably, in light of the regular flare-ups of violence, far more focus has been given to Israel’s fronts in the North and the South—where in the former, Israel has been engaged in curtailing the Iranian build up in Syria and Lebanon, and, in the latter, in containing the violence on the Gazan border.
This tends to obscure the immense importance of Israel’s eastern frontier with Jordan, and, as a direct corollary thereof, the mountain ridge separating that frontier from the country’s heavily populated coastal plain.
The potential volatility and impact along Israel’s longest border were thrown into sharp relief last week by Ephraim Halevy, former Head of Mossad, at a conference marking a quarter-century since the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.
According to Halevy, Israel should lobby the US on the Hashemite Kingdom’s behalf, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the security establishment should be drawing up plans to deal with various possible future alternatives in Jordan. Indeed, he prescribes that “Israel must, in the most blunt and clear way possible, illustrate to Washington that the prosperity of Jordan is a first rate Israeli security and strategic interest.”
Thus, in Halevy’s view, Jordan’s stability and prosperity is a critical Israeli “interest, not a Jordanian one, and it is different from ties with the other countries surrounding us.”
Somewhat ironically, Halevy made his plea less than twenty four hours after the Jordanian monarch, King Abdallah, addressed the UN, devoting half of his speech to castigating Israel.
However, despite Abdallah’s public display of enmity, it is not difficult to understand Halevy’s perspective. After all, under the Hashemite dynasty, Israel’s eastern frontier has, for all intents and purposes, been peaceful since the early 1970s.
Indeed, considering the possible Mid-East alternatives, having an ostensibly moderate, pro-Western regime installed in Amman has undeniable appeal.
Accordingly, Halevy bewailed the fact that Washington has now downgraded the importance it once saw in Jordan, lamenting: “The US has turned its back on Jordan…for three years there has been no American ambassador in Jordan!”
He warned ominously; “…the Jordan issue should have top priority because if, God forbid, something should happen in Jordan, and there will be a different situation across the [Jordan] River and we go back to the situation, in which the border is no longer our longest and quietest border, but our longest and most problematic border, it will be too late!”—cautioning that this could occur within the space of one to two years.
Halevy thus urged that Israeli representatives be dispatched to Washington to advocate US aid to ensure the stability of the Hashemite regime in Amman.
When someone as pro-Jordan and with as close a ties with the monarchy as Halevy issues such a shrill clarion call, it should be treated with the utmost gravity and be clear that the dangers, of which he warns, are indeed imminent.
The Jordanian economy, heavily dependent on imported energy and foreign aid, has been in dire straits for several years now. Dissatisfaction is seething, producing large scale street riots, government reshuffles and erosion of the monarchy’s longstanding base of support.
Although the country is straining under the burden of a million (possibly more) refugees, mainly from Syria, “many Jordanians now point to economic mismanagement and an over-reliance on international aid and International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance, rather than the Syrian crisis, as the fundamental ill plaguing the country”.
With unemployment spiraling to almost 20% , and the specter of decreasing foreign aid, the king is even in danger of losing the support of his traditional base—the Jordanian Bedouin tribes, which constitute the backbone of the regime. Thus, in March 2019, a protest movement, identified with Jordan’s large Bani Hassan tribe, issued an unusually harsh statement against the King, accusing him and his family of behaving like “demigods” and demanding a change of regime.
In the words of the statement:
“The crisis in Jordan is a crisis of the regime, not of [any particular] government. It is a crisis of corruption that stems from allowing the King, his wife and his family…to do as they like and to expand the powers granted them in Jordan’s constitution. This has led to the emergence of a sector of powerful people who are corrupt and have sown ruin and destruction throughout the land under the personal patronage of the [King and Queen], and to the neutralizing of the Jordanian people and their exclusion from participation in decision-making and in self-governance. We have therefore shifted from the delusional stage of demanding reforms to demanding a comprehensive change to the system of government…“
Significantly, other tribes—such as Bani Abbad and Bani Hamida—also reportedly expressed support for the Bani Hassan statement, and although some tribal dignitaries renounced it, declaring support for the king, it caused considerable consternation in official circles.
Moreover, retired regime officials and military personnel, many of them tribe members, who were formerly part of the establishment, also took part in public protests. A group of politicians and retired military officers calling themselves the National Follow-up Committee issued a statement severely criticizing the king and court for abusing their authority, and called to take measures to limit the powers of the monarchy.
Another source of criticism is the Muslim Brotherhood. Although the movement has “lost much steam” due to internal dissention and the dismal outcomes in countries where the Muslim Brotherhood held power, the movement still exploits the wave of discontent to score political points. Earlier this year, its political branch, the Islamic Action Front, issued a statement attributing the rising unemployment, especially among young people, to the regime’s economic policy and called for changing the political and economic systems.
It seems therefore, that Halevy has ample grounds for his concern. However, the fact that his diagnosis—of how tenuous the Hashemite dynasty’s hold on power might be—is accurate, this does not necessarily mean that his prescribed remedy—attempting to prop up a floundering monarch—should be adopted.
Although prime facie it might appear eminently plausible, we should not forget the fictional Sherlock Holmes’s salutary caveat: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
For as deceptively tempting as the idea might be, Israel cannot take upon itself the responsibility for ensuring the current socio-economic edifice of Jordan.
Indeed, Israel has bitter experience with regime-change in countries once reasonably benignly disposed towards it – such as pre-Erdogan Turkey, Iran under the Shah, Mubarak’s Egypt and Lebanon under Bashir Jumaiel.
The latter, in particular, underscores that Israel can do little to ensure the durability of a relatively amiable regime, if domestic forces deem otherwise.
Accordingly, for the authors of Israel’s national strategy, the prudent working assumption must be that the Hashemite regime has a limited—albeit not necessarily known—“shelf-life”.
It would therefore appear, that the emphasis should be placed on the second part of Halevy’s recommendation i.e. that Israel’s security establishment should be drawing up plans to deal with various alternatives in the Hashemite Kingdom.
The instability in Jordan and the prospect of other “various alternatives” (i.e. regime change) assume heightened importance in light of the rumored publication of the long-awaited Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century”, purported to bring the century plus old conflict between Jew and Arab over the Holy Land, to an end.
Although the details of the “Deal” are as yet obscure, it would appear the Jordan is slated to play a major role in it—grudgingly or otherwise. Accordingly, the feasibility of the “Deal”—indeed its acceptability—will be dramatically impacted by the nature of the regime east of the Jordan River and its prospective stability (or lack thereof).
After all, although some may hope otherwise, there seems little prospect that any successor regime in Amman will be more favorably disposed toward Israel than the current one.
This takes us back to the crucial strategic importance for Israel of the highlands of Judea-Samaria and the Jordan Valley. As I have been at pains to point out on numerous occasions, not only are these highlands the only topographical barrier between Jordan and the heavily populated coast plain, but any forces—regular or renegade—deployed on them will have complete topographical command and control of virtually all Israel’s airfields (military and civilian, including Ben Gurion, the only international airport), its major ports and naval bases, is principal traffic axes (rail and road), vital infrastructure installations/systems (electrical power, desalination plants and water conveyance), centers of civilian government and military command and 80% of the civilian population and commercial activity.
All of these will be in range of cheap, readily available weapons that have already been used against Israel from areas evacuated by it and transferred to Arab control.
Thus, the rationale of any plan that entails Israeli evacuation of this vital territory will hinge critically on the nature of the regime-type in Jordan, which abuts it from the East.
For whatever other grave detriments their might be in such a plan, it will matter greatly if Jordan is ruled by a government that strives to reign in forces hostile to Israel, or one that is indifferent to their aggressive intent—or worse, is complicit with it.
After all, should the Trump plan entail significant territorial concessions, Israel may well find itself in a situation in which it will have to contend with a huge expanse of hostile territory, stretching from the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv to the border of Iraq—and perhaps beyond.
Accordingly, Israel’s security establishment should indeed draw up plans to deal with prospective alternatives in Jordan—not only how to cope with them once they arise, but to prevent them from arising at all.
One of the greatest themes in art, literature, and sometimes even real life is when a person sacrifices his or her own life that someone else might live. In my worldview, all such acts point to the single greatest example of them all—Jesus Christ, who offered up His own life, that we might live, if you believe in Him.
What got me thinking about this theme of self-sacrifice for others’ sake was a story reported a few days ago about a dog. Near Orlando, Florida, there was a puppy dog that interposed his body between some children and a poisonous snake—thus, protecting the children. The puppy endured four bites from a coral snake before dying. But the children were safe.
Last year, we were all shocked at another horrific school shooting—the one in Parkland, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.
Lost in the headlines, it would seem, was a football coach at the school who sacrificed himself, interposing his own body that others might live. His name was Aaron Feis.
The Sun-Sentinel reported (2/22/18) on Feis’ funeral held at the Church by the Glades (a non-denominational evangelical congregation) in nearby Coral Springs:
“People called him ‘the mayor of Parkland,’ said former coach Mike Virden during the service. ‘Because if you needed anything or anyone, he was the guy to go to.’”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s football program tweeted the day after the shootings: “It is with Great sadness that our Football Family has learned about the death of Aaron Feis. He was our Assistant Football Coach and security guard. He selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot. He died a hero and he will forever be in our hearts and memories.” [Emphasis added]
NBCNews.com reported (2/15/18),
“The death toll, witnesses said, would have been even higher had it not been for Feis. They said that when the gunfire broke out, Feis quickly draped himself over students, acting as a human shield. ‘He shielded two kids from being shot. He took the bullets himself,’ Julien Decoste, a student who survived by hiding in a closet with classmates, told NBC News. ‘As I was being escorted out of the building, I had to step over him. Right then and there … I knew: He had to have been dead or injured.’” [Emphasis added]
Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friends.” Aaron Feis’ sacrifice should not be forgotten.
I am a student of history, including church history. One of the great heroes of history often overlooked, except perhaps in some Catholic circles, is Maximilian Kolbe. He was a Polish priest, who like many other non-conformist Christians ended up in Hitler’s concentration camps. Kolbe ended up in Auschwitz, where he died in 1941.
A prisoner had escaped from Auschwitz, and so the Nazi guards arbitrarily chose ten names of prisoners to die of starvation as punishment and as a warning against any future escape attempts. One prisoner’s name randomly chosen was Franciszek Gajowniczek, who had a wife and children back home. Kolbe went to the authorities and asked if he could die in the man’s place. I’m sure the Nazis were taken aback by such a request, but they allowed it to happen. Kolbe died so that the other man might live.
In literature, one of the greatest novels of all times is Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. I reheard the story again recently as a book on tape.
What a brilliantly crafted novel, climaxing with the theme of self-sacrifice. Sidney Carton, the hitherto ne’er do well, realizes he can be redeemed by sacrificing himself so that the main protagonist may escape the guillotine.
The novel opens with the famous line, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” And it closes with Carton’s words: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
All of these examples of self-sacrifice, from history to nature to literature, point to the greatest of all sacrifices.
Around 700 BC, Isaiah the prophet looked into the centuries ahead and declared, “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
The only perfect human being who ever lived, Jesus Christ, became sin for us. And sin was punished on the cross. He who was innocent bore our sin in His place. He did this that we might become righteous in God’s sight through faith in Him and thus have everlasting life. As a great Christian hymn puts it, “In my place condemned He stood…Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
TRANSCRIPT
I’m Michael Voris coming to you from Rome in advance of next week’s Amazon Synod.
Although a majority of Catholics probably don’t think in these terms when pondering Rome and the Vatican, it is a pool of intrigue, of personal politics of destruction, of competing agendas based on personalities.
Truth is, it’s always been this way to one degree or another, it’s just that pilgrims and visitors don’t think about it because, well, they don’t have to.
But, according to Church Militant friends in the Vatican — and yes, we do have friends inside — what’s very different under the papacy of Francis is the vindictiveness and pettiness that is the normal course of business here.
Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that people who work here have taken to calling this pontificate “The Reign of Terror.”
Despite the politics and machinations underlying all the intrigue, the truth is there is still actual work that needs to go on. Running a billion-plus person operation does require that people show up every day and actually do actual work.
For example, there are marriage cases that need to be reviewed, priests cases that need investigation, accounting issues that need auditing, personnel decisions and so forth.
In addition to the spiritual aspect, which has been relegated to the back of the bus, there are also temporal concerns which need addressing — the show, as they say, must go on.
And that is why the intrigue is so dangerous. It has reached such levels of personal vindictiveness that the actual work of the Vatican has come to a virtual standstill.
Various cardinals and archbishops have many, and deep, secrets to hide; and between the threat of blackmail, or being exposed as not being on board with the trajectory of the Francis papacy, or just plain old revenge, there is a pall of fear hanging over the Vatican.
Take, for example, just the area of finances, the costs to run the place day to day. The Wall Street Journal in fact highlighted this just yesterday.
For example, the Holy See’s deficit doubled in 2018 to roughly €70 million, which is nearly $80 million U.S.
In response, Pope Francis has ordered the head of the Vatican’s financial oversight council, Cdl. Reinhard Marx, “to study all measures deemed necessary to safeguard the economic future of the Holy See and to ensure that they are put into effect as soon as possible.”
There are a number of reasons that the deficit is ballooning.
First, there are simply less donations coming into the Vatican.
When it was announced that Francis took some of the Peter’s Pence collection last year — half a million — and gave it to support the migrant influx into the United States from Central America, many American Catholics called it quits.
The enormous scandal involving the U.S. Papal Foundation which broke in the wake of the Theodore McCarrick scandal also gave many Americans pause about donating a dime to the Vatican.
Likewise, Legatus, an association of U.S. Catholic business owners, also publicly stated it was withholding its annual donation of almost a million dollars until the sex and money scandals were cleared up.
Additionally, the seemingly non-stop circus of synods and extraordinary meetings and last February’s sex summit all combine to drain the budget. And this month’s Amazon Synod has extraordinary costs associated with it. Even heresy has a hefty price tag.
And if dealing with budget deficits and financial shortfalls isn’t difficult enough just on its own, when you layer on top of that personal agendas, the Vatican has become one big, dysfunctional mess.
For example, there is a practice here politely known as “demotion by promotion” — meaning when it’s determined someone needs to be pushed out because they disagree with the Pope or his henchman who are running the show day to day, a person is either made an example of, like Cdl. Raymond Burke or Cdl. Gerhard Müller, or that person is simply shipped up and out to another assignment, like a nuncio office somewhere else on the planet.
The moving of influential personnel out of the Vatican and into the diplomatic corps is a routine practice, a signal sometimes, in fact, that Francis sees those men as enemies who cannot be at the Vatican.
They are removed by promotion; that way everything appears copasetic but in reality is just a cover for malfeasance and revenge and punishment.
Another fallout from this huge dysfunction is that the middle management, the folks who actually administer the day-to-day operations of the various curial offices, are being fired, shifted around, demoted, transferred and laid off.
This has created a massive headache in administration because first, there is a huge shortage of bodies to get the actual work done, and second, many of the people being axed were the ones with experience, who knew how the wheels turned — in short, how to get things done.
There is hardly one curial office that has not been severely impacted by this, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the CDF — which handles some of the most difficult cases in the Church.
There is an enormous backlog which is causing havoc, and the situation is directly attributable to Pope Francis’ dismissal of senior middle managers who knew all the protocols and how to keep the machine moving.
But the CDF isn’t the only congregation impacted, and it’s not just a financial calculus going into these decisions.
It’s also ideological — in fact, according to our sources, it’s largely ideological.
According to them, Francis is, in their words, turning the Vatican into North Korea.
The operating principle inside these walls is fear. For all the talk about caring for humanity and reaching out to the most vulnerable, none of it should be believed.
The truth is for those who work for the Pope in the Curia, his papacy is a tyranny racked with fear, uncertainty, constant instability and revenge — all masked over by a false humility.
Some of this actually bubbles to the surface from time to time, like when Pope Francis publicly scolds them at annual meetings, insulting them and accusing them of various things, like gossip and pettiness.
The reality, according to sources, is that Francis has set up an out of control, unaccountable, alternative curia, and, to do so, has denuded the existing staff and offices, creating havoc and mayhem behind the scenes.
His alternative curia is, for example, responsible for locking down all information regarding the Theodore McCarrick investigation and to deflect all inquiries, in short, waiting the scandal out until interest in it has passed.
But this costly alternative curia is also leading the charge against Church doctrine in reformulating and carefully parsing existing teaching.
Lots of Catholics are becoming red-pilled to the outward manifestations of this. What they do not see is what we have just reported: a scuttling of tradition, protocols, best practices and good accounting practices, all at the service of creating an alternative-style Catholicism.
It takes a lot of energy and effort to dismantle a 2000-year-old Church.
RELATED ARTICLE: Cdl. Burke: Synod is Apostasy and attack on Christ’s Lordship
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WMFE.org’s Abe Aboraya reports:
The Reverend Bryan Fulwider has been arrested and charged with sexual assault on a minor by a person in a position of authority.
Fulwider is the co-host of Friends Talking Faith with The Three Wise Guys, an independent radio show carried by WMFE since 2012. It is also carried by WMFV.
When reached by WMFE Wednesday night, co-host Imam Muhammad Musri said he was unaware of the charges and arrest of Fulwider, and declined to comment.
His arrest warrant was issued by the Winter Park Police Department, but was not immediately available. Fulwider was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Seminole County Jail, and is due in court Thursday afternoon.
In 2012, a team from The United West exposed the hypocrisy of an interfaith meeting when conservative views are introduced by Egyptian Baptist Pastor Usama Dakdok. What followed was an interesting transition when Bryan Fulwider and Imam Sykes left and a true interfaith meeting followed.
The noted French writer, essayist, and broadcast journalist Eric Zemmour, the most famous public intellectual in France, was invited in late September to a meeting in Paris organized by supporters of Marion Marechal, the daughter of Marine Le Pen, and herself a former deputy in the French Assembly, routinely – and inaccurately – described as of the “far right.” Zemmour was invited to give the opening address, for he is the most important French figure among intellectual islamocritics. He is articulate, detailed, humorful, and relentless; his book The Suicide of France, has had an enormous and salutary impact on French public opinion.
Zemmour has the unsettling habit of saying what he believes to be true, and of being unfazed by those who, constantly yapping at his heels, try, through lawsuits and libel, to bring him down. He has for years been warning about the islamization of Europe, and his forthright islamocriticism has led to an endless series of attempts to punish and censor him; he’s been fined, lost jobs in journalism, and even been convicted in the past for “racism,” and more recently, for preaching “hate” (against Muslims). He was last year banned from television; fortunately, that ban was only temporary and he will soon be reappearing regularly on a news program.
What follows are rough translations, preserving the meaning without being literal, of excerpts from his address in French, including the unfriendly remarks of the writer of the article at Le Point.
“All our problems, that are made worse by immigration, are made worse still by Islam,” the polemicist Eric Zemmour claimed in his appearance on Saturday [September 28], in an impassioned speech against “colonizing” immigrants and the “Islamization of the street,” thereby espousing the conspiratorial and controversial theory of the “great replacement” of populations.
“In France, as in all of Europe, all of our problems are made worse by immigration: our [failing] schools, our [lack of] housing, our [rising] unemployment, the deficits in social spending, [the breakdown in] public order, prisons…and all of these problems are made much worse still by Islam. France is being punshed twice” insisted the essayist, who introduced the meeting organized in Paris by followers of the former deputy of the ‘extreme right’ Marion Marechal.
He [Zemmour] who was recently found guilty of provoking religious hatred castigated the “universalism of the marketplace,” as well as “Islamic universalism” which crushes our [European] nations…our ways of life, our cultures.”
The French state has become, according to Eric Zemmour, “the weapon that is destroying our nation and bringing about the subjugation of its people, the replacement of its [French] people by another people, another civilization.”
Between true living – and “living together in imposed and endlessly celebrated diversity”– a choice must be made,” he stated, citing the writer Renaud Camus, the theoretician of the “great replacement” of the white, mainly Christian population in France by Muslim immigrants.
“The question for us is the following: will young French people accept living as a minority in the land of their ancestors?” he insisted, making a plea for the notion of national identity, “the most unifying of subjects because it affects both the working and the middle class.”
“Our brilliant ‘progressives’ have led us to the brink of war among the races and war among religions,” he added.
Zemmour has been condemned for “racism” though he has never uttered a “racist” remark; he has been similarly condemned for “hate” though he has never promoted “hatred” of Muslims. His is simply a clear-eyed view of what is happening in France, where there are ever more Muslims, the result both of immigration, legal and illegal, and of the much higher birth rates of Muslims compared to that for the indigenous French. He cryptically lists the various aspects of French life that have been affected, for the worse, by the increasing Muslim presence. We can flesh them out below.
First, he mentions l’ecole, thereby alluding to the effect of Muslim immigrants on French schools, where classes are disrupted by Muslim students ill-inclined to obey Infidel teachers and rules, or to be well-disposed toward non-Muslim classmates. Muslims have also objected to parts of the required curriculum, such as the study of French history. Why should Muslims, after all, care about the kings of France, or the Crusades, or the Enlightenment, or the Resistance? And study of the Holocaust is unacceptable because it leads to sympathy for Jews, and that would never do. Why should they study Proust or Montaigne, both half-Jews? Or why should Muslims, many of them ask, study French literature at all, which has nothing to do with Islam, and indeed offends Muslims with its decadent themes? Why should Muslims have to learn about Western philosophy, art, music?
The tremendous pressures on teachers in French schools, at all levels, where the duties of instructors have increased, the demands on their time ever greater, and government financing has not kept pace with the needs of immigrant children, was recently brought home by the suicide of Christine Renon, the head of a school in the Muslim area of Seine Saint-Denis, who left a long letter describing her inability any longer to cope with an ever-more-difficult task and, she lamented, ever-less support from the government.
Logement is Zemmour’s allusion to the housing crisis in France. The government believes it has a duty – but why? — to provide public housing for Muslim immigrants, with their large families (requiring larger apartments). The heads of these families, the supposed breadwinner, are often unemployed, in no hurry to find employment, and happy to have French taxpayers provide such low-cost or practically free housing and other benefits. These H.L.M., or Low-Cost Housing (Habitation a loyer modere) projects, cannot accommodate all who are in need of such housing. The more that such low-cost housing is assigned to Muslim tenants, the less will be available for the indigenous poor.
Chômage refers to the high rates of unemployment in France. Many Muslim migrants arrive with no employable skills. Many of them are not too concerned; they are happy to accept unemployment benefits offered by the generous French state, and are in no hurry to be gainfully employed. Others who do take jobs at the lowest level thereby increase unemployment among those least able to afford it, the indigenous French poor.
Deficits sociaux is a broad term that subsumes the just-discussed categories and more besides. It refers to the failure of the French state to provide adequately for all the needs – decent schools and housing, family allowances, medical care, and so on — of the indigenous poor. Even the left-leaning Le Monde has written a scathing report on the amounts being spent by the French state on refugees, including single men who pose as children, who arrive from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, and other Muslim lands, with no skills, not a word of French, most often illiterate in their own language, who have to be provided at once with lodging, medical care, language training, the most basic needs of existence. It all adds up to colossal sums.
Another nightmare for French taxpayers are the large Muslim families that arrive, legally or illegally, wave after wave, in France and at once are provided with low-cost or free housing. Then the husband simply goes off somewhere, possibly to fight for ISIS or some other group, or perhaps he simply decides to return to his country of origin, having dumped his family in the lap of the French state. The wife, with five or six children in tow, has no idea how to cope, and a small army of French social workers now attends to her family’s every need. Unsurprisingly, social spending in 2019 in France has so far left a deficit of more than five billion euros. And there are no signs of budgetary relief.
The ordre public refers to the consequences of the Muslim presence in disrupting life, as when Muslims take over city streets to engage in their five daily prayers, halting traffic and making noise. It includes those who engage in street crime, attacking and robbing Unbelievers at will, or in larger demonstrations, such as those of the “Yellow Jackets” (Gilets Jaunes), taking the occasion of general unrest to smash shop windows and grab whatever they can. There is a general air of fear and lawlessness in the Muslim-populated neighborhoods of France, as in Seine Saint-Denis, where cars of non-Muslims are routinely set on fire, and even the police do not dare to enter except in groups. Muslim rates of criminality, especially for violent crimes such as rape and murder, are six or seven times as high as those for non-Muslims.
Prisons refers to the ever-increasing numbers of Muslim prisoners, whom some have claimed make up 70% of the prisoners, though Muslims are only 8-10% of the total population. Others claim the Muslim percentage of prisoners is “only” 50%. All prisoners cost a lot to house; Muslim prisoners, who must be supplied with halal meals and places for prayer, cost even more. And while in prison, Muslims have been able both to radicalize other Muslims, that is, make them even more dangerous, and to convert non-Muslims who are eager, for personal safety, to join the “largest gang,” that is, the Muslim gang. Once these converts, and these radicalized Muslims, get out of prison, they are high the list of those who need to be constantly monitored, at great cost, by the French security services.
Zemmour is a dangerous enemy of the apologists for Islam not only because he happens to believe what he says about Islam and Muslims is true, but because what he says about Islam and Muslims happens to be true. And that is why he is never answered point by point, because he cannot be; instead, his arguments are ignored and he is subject to endless personal attacks as a “racist” and a sower of “hate” whom we need not bother to refute. And so the Comédie Française continues. But as with the furious testimony against Islam and Muslims by the late Oriana Fallaci in Italy, Zemmour has become ever more impassioned about the palpable threat of Muslims colonizing France, and impossible, thank god, for anyone to ignore.
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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.
‘International Group of Fathers’ denounces four ‘unacceptable’ teachings
VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – An anonymous group of clerics and laity is denouncing “unacceptable” teachings put forth in the Amazon Synod’s Instrumentum Laboris (working document).
Calling itself the Coetus Internationalis Patrum Working Group (the “International Group of Fathers,” a reference to an influential traditionalist faction during Vatican II), the collection of “bishops, priests, and Catholic faithful from all over the world” explains that its members have chosen to conceal their identities owing to a “growing climate of intimidation and purges present in the Roman Curia and in the Church in general.”
Addressing Pope Francis and the synod fathers, the group begins by affirming that the Instrumentum Laboris “raises serious questions and very grave reservations, because of its contradiction of individual points of Catholic doctrine which have always been taught by the Church, as well as its contradiction of faith in Jesus Christ, the One Savior of all mankind.”
It goes on to summarize and refute four key “theses,” or errors, contained in the working document, declaring: “In conscience and with great frankness, we affirm that the teaching of these theses is unacceptable.”
First, drawing from paragraphs 30, 39 and 138 of the Instrumentum Laboris, Coetus Internationalis Patrum explains that according to synod architects, the religious diversity of Amazonian peoples “evokes a new Pentecost.”
Additionally, the group observes that according to the synod fathers, “respect for this diversity means to recognize that there are other paths to salvation, without reserving salvation exclusively to the Catholic faith,” and that the Catholic Church must integrate “other modalities of being Church, without censures, without dogmatism, without ritual and ecclesial forms.”
In its rebuttal, the group references the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2000 declaration Dominus Iesus (On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ):
It must therefore be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. Hence, those solutions that propose a salvific action of God beyond the unique mediation of Christ would be contrary to Christian and Catholic faith.
Second, Coetus Internationalis Patrum notes that according to the Instrumentum Laboris, “The teaching of Pan-Amazonian theology, which takes special account of myths, rituals, and celebrations of indigenous cultures, is required in all educational institutions” and that Catholics are asked to “adapt the Eucharistic rite” to these cultures.
The group answers these contentions by again referencing Dominus Iesus:
It would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions, seen as complementary to the Church or substantially equivalent to her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church toward the eschatological kingdom of God. One cannot attribute to [prayers and rituals of other religions] a divine origin or an ex opere operato salvific efficacy, which is proper to the Christian sacraments. Furthermore, it cannot be overlooked that other rituals, insofar as they depend on superstitions or other errors, constitute an obstacle to salvation.
Third, Coetus Internationalis Patrum notes that Instrumentum Laboris characterizes “the territory” of the Amazon and “the cry of its peoples” as a source of revealed religion, alongside theological sources such as Sacred Scripture, Church Councils and the Fathers of the Church.
The group responds by quoting from the Vatican’s 1965 document Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation):
Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church. But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.
Finally, Coetus Internationalis Patrum spotlights the Instrumentum Laboris’ attack on the priesthood: “It is suggested that ordination be conferred on older persons who have families and to confer ‘official ministries’ on women. There is thus proposed a new vision of Holy Orders which does not come from Revelation, but from the cultural usages of the Amazonian people.”
In its refutation, the group points to half a dozen Vatican documents, including Presbyterorum Ordinis, the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 decree on the ministry and life of priests; Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul II’s 1992 apostolic exhortation on the formation of priests; Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, Pope Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical on priestly celibacy; and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II’s 1994 apostolic letter on reserving priestly ordination to men alone.
In denouncing multiple errors in the Instrumentum Laboris, Coetus Internationalis Patrum joins a growing chorus of critics, including Cdl. Raymond Burke, Cdl. Gerhard Müller, Cdl. Walter Brandmüller, Cdl. Jorge Urosa and Bp. Athanasius Schneider.
“I dare you… Hold up the textbook in front of the camera and show them a picture of what 10-year-olds are going to be asked to see.” That was Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers’s (R) challenge to reporters, when they asked him about his fierce response to the radical Left’s sex ed. He pointed to a book, called It’s Perfectly Normal, that isn’t normal at all — unless you’re one of those rare individuals who think teaching anal sex to five-year-olds is a good idea.
Arizona State Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s (D), Twitter profile shows a picture of the new officeholder carrying a sign that says, “#IAmPublicEducation.” And after hearing her vision for sexualizing kids, that’s exactly what parents are afraid of. “I couldn’t even read the manual to you over the radio,” State Senator Sylvia Allen (R-Ariz.) told me on “Washington Watch” Monday. “When [they] talk about comprehensive sex education,” she warned, “that’s exactly what they mean. It’s very comprehensive, very detailed—they leave nothing out. And when you read the material, you can only come to the conclusion that if they’re going to give [kindergarteners] on up different types of information, the only reason for that is because you are… giving them information to help sexualize them.”Bowers, who is fighting alongside Allen, agreed. The dad of seven has been on a one-man mission to keep the curriculum changes the state derailed in June off track. “I don’t need to sexualize children and tell them how to masturbate,” he said. “It’s way beyond where we need to be.” Hoffman’s office fired back that his fears had no basis in reality.
Bowers is not alone in his concern.
When activists tried to overturn 40 years of conservative sex ed messaging and replace it with graphic, pro-LGBT propaganda, the crowd was so large at the state board of education that officials had to open three overflow rooms! Outside groups like Planned Parenthood and GLSEN were trying to strip the state’s ban on “abnormal, deviate, or unusual sexual acts and practices” — and parents on both sides were furious. “Instead of creating more Planned Parenthood customers, let’s put our energy into improving the reading ability of our children,” one mom railed. Another held up the same book Bowers did and pointed to the nude pictures. It’s completely unnecessary, Bowers argues. The board agreed, deciding to table the changes — for now.
But the battle isn’t over. Not by a long shot. Extremists are still finding ways to slip the indoctrination into districts where parents aren’t watching. At an event in September, Bowers took his warning on the road, asking people to think about these consequences. When we sexualize kids, he argued, what are the results? “Sexually transmitted diseases, which we treat for money. Abortion, which we do for money. Even the heinous selling of body parts, which we do for money. And the treatment of AIDS across the world, which we do for money.”
These activists, including the ones at the highest levels of state government, are counting on parents’ ignorance to push this agenda through. “That’s my reason for being very involved in this,” Sylvia told me, “because I believe that these programs are going against the vast majority of parents—and what parents want taught to their children about this subject… In Arizona, we have local control over curriculum. So that means parents have got to be active in their school district to see what their school district might want to propose on this subject.”
Of course, when we talk about sex ed, there’s probably a tendency for a lot of moms and dads to think back to when they were in school and the lessons were a lot more subdued. This is not your grandmother’s sex education. This isn’t even your mom’s. This is explicit. But the Left is overreaching — and in school after school, we’re seeing a monumental pushback from parents of both parties. As Sylvia said, this isn’t a partisan issue. No one wants to leave this crucial part of a child’s development to the activists in their district. They don’t want to be in a race to beat their schools to this conversation. In Arizona, leaders like Allen are trying to overhaul the system to create an opt-in type permission system where the schools will have to obtain the parents’ consent before teaching these subjects.
Right now, they’re hoping other states are paying attention to what’s happening in their districts and learning from it. Do you know if your local sex ed is an opt-in or opt-out program? Have you looked at the curriculum? If they update the materials, do they tell you? These are the questions our friends at the Center for Arizona Policy are asking their parents. Take a look at their post, “What is the state teaching your kids about sex?” and apply it to your community. The best parent is an informed parent. Join the movement to Take Back Our Schools!
Tony Perkins’s Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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Teas take on different significance in different cultures, but a TeaTime hosted by the Muslim Brotherhood members resembles no other. It is a time to be wary of the dualism of Islam and the gathering’s true purpose.
The modest event was publicized as TeaTime in a local church. It would not be a four-o’clock, English-style social occasion, complete with porcelain tea service and petit fours; or Japanese ceremony symbolizing peace, harmony and happiness; or Chinese ritual of peace, quiet, enjoyment and truth. Perhaps the focus would not be on the beverage at all but another T. The initial T. T as in Taqiyyah, whose meaning in Arabic is the practice of concealing one’s belief (more accurately known as duplicity) and foregoing ordinary religious duties in order to make Islam supreme. It is a concept and reality that must be borne in mind when reading or listening to the words of Muslims. It provides the opportunity for the affable advance guard to sell you an appealing story about a war monger, a mass murderer, so that we may continue to welcome the 1.6 billion adherents into the west, our country, and into our lives, and fundamentally and forever change what we have.
T might also refer to the visiting Taskforce and its Tactic, as well as Theocracy, Tyranny, Treachery, Territorialism, Thought control, Takeover and Theirs, all combined into a system by which they seize dominance of land and people through the centuries, as they have come to Threaten and dominate in the Middle East and Africa; proceeding in the UK, mainland Europe, Scandinavia, and progressing in the Americas and Oceania.
Their informational flyers would be displayed during the session, including one titled, “What they say about the Prophet Muhammad,” published by ICNA – Islamic Circle of North America, an offshoot of the Muslims Students Association (MSA), which is itself an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) – to complement the conversation at this Islamic outreach program. The MB is a religiopolitical organization, founded in 1928 to carry on the work of Muhammad, to advocate the application of Islamic law (sharia) in all aspects of society – and in every society on the globe. This is Hijra, conquest by population, and this is why they’re here.
This T-time would not be a Muslim outreach for socialization and assimilation, to engage their Christian neighbors and ease the adjustment of the incoming migrants into American life. They have not come to learn because they already know far more about us than we know about them, their ideology and their purpose. They have come to leave their spiritual mark on our Territory, on the church itself, because, according to Muhammad, now that they have set foot on this place, it is Theirs. There will be no need for war and bloodshed if they can convince these church folks that their religions are similar, that they believe in the same god, and that these kafirs (non-Muslims) will eventually make a peaceful Transition to worship Allah. A 2017 study revealed that Islam is the fastest-growing religion, primarily due to the young age and high fertility rate of Muslims. and conversion must be maintained to equal the rate of apostasy – desertion of the faith – which calls for the penalty of death.
When the Target country is too daunting for military conquest, a peaceful stealth operation may be employed to disable a population. In Leo Hohmann’s Stealth Invasion, the author reminds us that Muhammad’s unarmed warriors (men, women and children), come as legal refugees on air-conditioned planes, as legal guest workers, legal green-card holders, legal students, legal entrepreneurs, and legal professors and preachers. They will implement secret trade deals and mass immigration policies that will inevitably erode national sovereignty, divide national populations against each other, and cause civil strife, as well as inflict small increments of pressure for accommodation as we slowly adjust our lives to comply and adapt.
They live among us and donate to Muslim charities – particularly to the sixth pillar of jihad as directed by the Koran – and absorb the prescribed messages of behavior instilled at the five-times-daily prayer times in the mosques. These are the local businessmen, laborers, and parents who encourage their children to advocate the BDS (boycott-divestment-sanctions) movement in the hope of triggering Israel’s economic collapse, to restrict Jewish students’ educational rights and opportunities, and to harass and cause physical harm to the students who support Israel.
They are our neighbors who have suddenly purchased land that accommodates a mosque that far exceeds the size required for a Muslim community its current size, who demand special considerations for their children in school, halal foods in local food establishments, particular accommodations in the workplace, extra swim time for their women only at the local pool, and distinct laws in the courtrooms. They are our neighbors who run for local office – perhaps city council or school board – and make gradual, acceptable changes to the rules, the laws, the textbooks; the teachers and professors who change the curriculum to denigrate Christianity and Judaism, America and Israel, and provide a propagandist education about Islam. They are the instructors who take the children on unauthorized field trips to the local mosque, invite imams to class to teach the Shahada (Muslim profession of faith and conversion) to replace the Pledge of Allegiance to America, and influence the girls to wear hijabs. These are the doctors who brazenly declare they will prescribe wrong medicines to Jewish patients or the pharmacist who may administer the next flu vaccination.
The flyers include literature that describe Muhammad as one of unblemished character, the perfect human being and role model, who surpassed all standards of human greatness, and the “founder of twenty terrestrial empires.” The truth, however, is completely defined as Hudna in the Koran, which sanctions the use of deception (taqiyyah) to negotiate peace treaties and break them with sudden violence and perpetual massacre until the unwary conquered fall. Within a year of Muhammad’s death, his followers used the tactics against the indigenous people from Spain to India. Despite the complicit left’s ability to keep us underinformed, there is a website, “Religionofpeace.com,” that updates the Islamic attacks since 9/11, the (27) countries, (1176) people injured and (734) killed, and (13) suicide blasts in August 2019 alone.
On Internet websites, Muhammad is considered a charismatic warrior, but charismatic also means persuasive, and persuasive may also mean threatening. He was a self-appointed Messenger of God who revolutionized Arabian warfare, implementing his messianic ideology, his scheme of supersessionism over Judaism and Christianity, holy war (jihad) against infidels and apostates) and martyrdom (shahada). And, If his charisma did not win over the other faiths, their scimitars were drawn, and remain the weapons so proudly displayed on the flag of the “Religion of Peace.” He introduced guerilla warfare and established a belief that everyone – men, women, and children – has an obligation to fight and spread Islam throughout Arabia, thereby changing Christian pacifistic thinking.
Beginning with only 314 combatants in 624 ce, he amassed 10,000 men with his assault on Mecca in 620, and 30,000 men and a 10,000-man cavalry by that year’s end, acquiring additional military equipment as booty and quickly becoming the fearsome, powerful warlord. He ordered the beheading of Medina’s 900 Jewish men in the town square and enslaved (or sold into slavery) their women and children. Terrorism ensured discipline and control over his forces, but he also offered a better pay scale with all the booty they could carry for bravery, and a deceitful promise of sexual paradise for a hero’s death. His legacy is the death of perhaps in excess of 900 million people over 1400 years (600 million Hindus alone!), dwarfing the deaths of the Black Plague, and bested only by malaria and influenza.
Among the statements usually presented at a T-event is that we all worship the same God. In Judaism, God uses Moses to deliver The Ten Commandments to establish the moral foundation for human behavior. If we were to sum up the basic ideals of Judaism and Christianity, it would be The Ethics of Reciprocity, known as The Golden Rule and expressed in the former as “that which is hateful unto you do not do to others,” in the latter as “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” In both religions, the focus is on ethical teachings, honesty, dignity and acts of kindness. Although stories of violence are told in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, they are lessons to be learned – not open-ended dictates. The violence was an occasional and regrettable necessity, but it never became a rule of life. Islam has no Golden Rule. It has severe sharia law, replete with painful subjugation and slavery. Mainstream Islamic law stipulates detailed regulations for the use of violence, including the use of corporal and capital punishment within the family or household, as well as when and against whom to wage war. Judaism’s laws are meant for Jews, not to be imposed on others; Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have spent massively to promote and inflict their ultra-conservative version of Islam worldwide. They come not to America to become Americans, but to make us Theirs.
Toward the end of T-time, it is customary to send an American convert-to-Islam to collect the written questions from the audience. After selecting and reading aloud the simpler queries, the leader graciously announces his apologies that they’ve run out of time. The guests are invited to visit a mosque in the future, avail themselves of the literature on the table, and call with any questions. They have been softened up for the kill. And, should any of the Brotherhood presenters be running for office, the face is now familiar and friendly, and the unfamiliar name suggests there is no threat. No Threat indeed.
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EDITORS NOTE: © All rights reserved. If you liked this essay, consider Tabitha’s book, available on Amazon.
TRANSCRIPT
Things are growing tense in and around Rome — not to mention the whole Church — as Catholics on both sides of the Church brace themselves for a heck of a conflict.
That conflict is being fueled in a hundred different ways, including most especially by Pope Francis himself, who seems to have ramped up his own personal attacks and sideways comments about faithful clergy and Catholics.
The crew and I were barely off the plane at the Rome airport and some priests approached us — at the airport — and thanked us for our work at Church Militant.
We expected they were friendly, owing to their cassocks, and they were.
They also didn’t hesitate to express their unhappiness and frustration at the Pope’s latest swipe at tradition-minded clergy when he blasted them for wearing cassocks and hats known as saturnos — traditional garb for priests.
He said of them, “Have you never seen young priests all stiff in black cassocks and hats in the shape of the planet Saturn on their heads? Behind all the rigid clericalism there are serious problems.”
This is not the first swipe at traditional faithful clerics from the Pope who asks “who am I to judge?” — and those clergy are getting pretty sick and tired of their holy father insulting them and suggesting they have mental problems while at the same time he appoints men to the College of Cardinals who are walking heretics.
Men like Matteo Zuppi from Italy who support homosexuality and women’s ordination; or men like Brazil’s Cdl. Cláudio Hummes, the Pope’s point man for this shipwreck of an upcoming synod, who is pushing for veritable heresy to be instituted.
Hummes appeared at Bergoglio’s elbow on the loggia in Rome the night he was elected in 2013, and Francis credits Hummes, a supporter of the condemned liberation theology, for choosing his name as Francis.
The truth is the synod is little else than a collection of Marxist and theologically anti-Catholic ideas being promoted by a rogue gallery of Churchmen who have little faith, if any, and who have been condemned by other Churchmen for flirting with heresy, apostasy and schism.
So you can forgive the little group of tradition-minded clergy for being ticked off that Pope Francis goes after them with such abandon at nearly every turn.
Apparently, the condemnations against judging and being gossipy and divisive are lifted when speaking of traditional clergy and faithful.
The same concerns are being heard more and more commonly by tradition-minded faithful as well, who are also growing increasingly embittered by the constant insults emanating from Rome, including the Pope.
When the Holy Father freely tosses around the word “schism” and says he doesn’t really care and is unafraid of it, that’s a nuclear bomb going off among faithful Catholics, faithful Catholics who are sick to death of watching devils roam freely around the Church.
That was the underlying cause of the silent witness of prayers this past Saturday near the Castel Sant’Angelo where 200 Catholics stood silently praying, staring at St. Peter’s, and offering Pope Leo’s prayer to St. Michael for exorcism.
Church Militant participated in the event and was happy to do so. Even the Rosaries we prayed on were specially produced by cloistered Carmelites who understand that there are devils swarming the Church who need to be exorcised.
Saint Michael stands atop the medieval fortress next to the Tiber, the fortress which has always been identified with defending the papacy.
During the reign of Pope Gregory the Great in the late sixth century, a devastating plague broke out in Rome and Gregory made a public invocation to St. Michael to end the plague.
Saint Michael appeared over the top of Castel Sant’Angelo and the plague ceased.
For this reason, the statue was of the archangel was erected here and St. Michael became the official protector of Rome.
Saint Michael is being implored again, throughout the Church, to come once again and protect not just Rome and not just from a physical malady, but the entire Church from a spiritual infestation of devils.
Even Pope St. John Paul had strongly recommended that the prayer to St. Michael be reinstituted and offered at the end of every Mass.
In the spirit of starting small, perhaps we can all ask St. Michael to intervene and ask him to stop Pope Francis from attacking good priests and calling them names.
It’s going to be a wild ride here in Rome for the next few weeks, and it hasn’t even officially gotten underway yet.
Coming to you from Rome in preparation for the Sin-od on the Amazon.
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EDITORS NOTE: This Church Militant video is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.
The Justice Department filed a statement of interest in support of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which is being sued by a teacher because he was in a same-sex marriage in contradiction with church teaching.
“The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to teach their faith, and to associate with others who share their faith,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 27, 2019
Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in Indiana Lawsuit Brought by Former Teacher Against Archdiocese
The Justice Department today filed a Statement of Interest explaining that the First Amendment protects the right of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis to interpret and apply Catholic doctrine. The lawsuit was brought against the Archdiocese by a former teacher who was fired from a Catholic high school within the diocese because he was in a same-sex marriage in contradiction to Catholic teaching on marriage. The Archdiocese indicated that the school had to terminate the teacher, or the school would forfeit its Catholic identity, which would have led to several repercussions for the school.
“The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to teach their faith, and to associate with others who share their faith,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. “The First Amendment rightly protects the free exercise of religion.”
“If the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses stand for anything, it is that secular courts cannot entangle themselves in questions of religious law,” said United States Attorney Josh Minkler.
This case stems from a directive issued by the Archdiocese to Cathedral High School, a Catholic school in Indianapolis. The Archdiocese told Cathedral that the school’s continued employment of a teacher in a public, same-sex marriage in contradiction to Catholic teachings on marriage would result in Cathedral’s forfeiture of its Catholic identity. After much deliberation, the school terminated the teacher. The teacher then filed suit against the Archdiocese, claiming the directive to Cathedral interfered with his employment and his contractual relationship with the school.
The government explains in the Statement of Interest that the First Amendment prevents courts from impairing the constitutional rights of religious institutions. The former teacher’s lawsuit attempts to penalize the Archdiocese for determining that schools within its diocese cannot employ teachers in public, same-sex marriages, and simultaneously identify as Catholic. Supreme Court precedent clearly holds that the First Amendment protects the Archdiocese’s right to this form of expressive association, and courts cannot interfere with that right.
The Statement of Interest also makes clear that courts cannot second-guess how religious institutions interpret and apply their own religious laws. Supreme Court precedent explains that the First Amendment forbids courts from engaging in “quintessentially religious controversies.” Instead, as the Statement of Interest explains, “the legitimacy of the Archdiocese’s decision as a matter of Catholic law” is committed exclusively “to the judgment of the Archdiocese.”
In July 2018, the Department of Justice announced the formation of the Religious Liberty Task Force. The Task Force brings together Department components to coordinate their work on religious liberty litigation and policy, and to implement the Attorney General’s 2017 Religious Liberty Guidance.
Attachment(s):
Download payne-elliott_usa_statement_of_interest.pdf
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Tom Trento interviews Michelle Terris the founder of #JEXIT.
#JEXIT is a National Movement dedicated to educating and encouraging American Jews who are currently members of the Democratic Party to EXIT the Democratic Party and join President Trump who is a great friend to Jewish people and the state of Israel. Stand with us against anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party because anti-Semitism is anti-American.
Tom Trento discusses with #JEXIT leaders, Sofia and Michelle, why it’s time for Jewish Democrats to leave the Democrat Party.
QUESTIONS: Does the Democrat Party still affirm the basic principles held by President John F. Kennedy or has the Party taken a hard turn to the Marxist Left? Are there unapologetic Jew-haters now serving in the U.S. Congress with complete impunity? Is Donald Trump the most supportive President that Israel has ever seen?
EDITORS NOTE: For more information please contact Alexandra Levine at Alexandra@jexitusa.org
Friday, 27 September, al-Jazeera Arabic reported that the call for demonstrations against President as-Sisi asked for the people to hit the streets after the Friday prayers.
That has already happened early Friday morning U.S. time.
In the meantime the security services blocked off all the streets and bridges leading to midaan at-tahreer (Cairo’s center plaza which was the focus of the January 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations that brought Mubarrak down). Other areas of the city were also locked down.
This seemed to stifle the demonstrations at first, but then it seemed like the numbers picked up as the day went on as people began to gather in side streets to demonstrate. There were also demonstrations in a number of other cities in Egypt.
Since the only major Arabic news entity reporting on these events is al-Jazeera, which has an anti-President as-Sisi bias, and al-Jazeera’s only video feed are images from participators’ cell phones, It is difficult to judge exactly how extensive these demonstrations are and how numerous the demonstrators. (Note, all western news entities mentioning the demonstrations in Egypt are relying on the accounts coming out of al-Jazeera.)
My gut feeling though, is that it is not as big a deal as were those last Friday. Meaning that the heavy hand, and the lock-down of Cairo, may have succeeded in dampening the protests to some extent–in spite of al-Jazeera’s wishes.
The arrest count from last week’s protest is now at 1900 and includes people from all walks of life. There is no word yet as to the numbers arrested today, although tear gas has been used in some areas. There is some video feed of people burning pictures of as-Sisi. Unlike last week, there seems to be a lot more children and African immigrants participating in these protests.
Talk show host ‘Amru Adeeb reported on his al-hakaya (the Story) show that Muslim Brotherhood members who fled to Turkey have called for the formation of a new group which would be able to get the people out onto the streets to protest the regime. This new group is needed, according to the MB, because the regime has penetrated the previous groups it has formed.
(Note: Since the Egyptian government has declared the MB to be a terrorist group, it has been banned in Egypt. Therefore, they tried to get around that by forming new groups such as al-hasm, and al-murabitoun. Note also that the above-mentioned talk show host ‘Amru Adeeb is reputed to be close to the regime in general, and close to Egyptian intelligence in particular.)
Issues related to the current demonstrations (other than those delineated in previous reporting) include:
ANALYSIS: One of the major conundrums for U.S. policy makers with regards to the Middle East, is that in the Islamic Middle East it seems that the only choices for government are either a corrupt Monarchy (such as Saudi Arabia), a corrupt military dictatorship (such as Mubarak, Assad, Saddam, Qadhafi, etc.), or an equally corrupt Islamist regime such as the one Khomeini set up in Iran when the Shah was pulled down, or the MB regime in Egypt that took over when Mubarrak was pulled down.
The military dictatorships tend to become family mafia fiefdoms. We saw that in Saddam’s Iraq as he was grooming his two sons to take over. Syria is in the second generation of a family mafia rule, with both the father and the son appointing their brothers to head up Syria’s intelligence organization.
One of the final straws that broke the Mubarrak camel’s back was Mubarrak grooming one of his sons to take over after him. So, now we see as-Sisi making the same mistake by appointing his “still wet behind the ears” son to head the EGI.
President as-Sisi, on paper, has done a lot for his country. In the foreign policy arena he has developed good relations with virtually every country on the planet from the wealthy oil countries of the Gulf to the great powers of the north: Russia, Japan, China, U.S., and Europe (regardless of their antagonisms towards each other). He has good relations with both Pakistan and India, as well as both Koreas. Egypt, under as-Sisi, is at odds only with the Islamist regimes of Turkey, Iran, and Qatar.
President as-Sisi’s foreign policy successes have led to a massive uptick in foreign investments in Egypt allowing him to beef up the country’s infrastructure. This in turn has led to a roaring economy producing a Chinese-esque 5% annual GDP growth.
The carrot and stick approach as-Sisi has used to keep his people both happy and under control seemed to boost his actual popularity for awhile. However, I believe that the turning point came when he had the constitution changed Putin style allowing him to remain in office until the mid-2030s.
After the dethroning of the MB president Mursi in 2013 the new constitution that was voted in, and signed by as-Sisi after his assuming the office of president in 2014, called for the office of president to be up for election every four years, with a term limit of just two terms, as in the United States. President as-Sisi “won” re-election in 2018 (in an election in which all credible candidates were disqualified), meaning that based on the constitution he would still have to step down in 2022.
But, then (perhaps over-estimating his popularity with the folks) he had the constitution changed to make the presidential term six years, instead of four. Then, because the rules of the game were changed he had a judicial decision made that since he had never had the opportunity to run for a six-year term, he had to be granted that opportunity, i.e. to start all over under the new system with a blank slate.
Translation: When his current four-year term ends in 2022, he will now legally be able to run for one of the new six-year terms beginning in 2022, which would take him until 2028 at which time he could run for a second six-year term taking him to 2034 before he would have to retire—barring any additional changes to the constitution—and you can just imagine how “fair and legitimate” the 2022 and 2028 elections are going to be.
This move towards a Putin-esque “president for life” situation was so blatant that it embarrassed even his staunchest supporters, and no doubt poured fuel on the fire of his critics.
Thus, the appointment of his son to head the EGI may turn out to be the final straw to break the back of as-Sisi’s camel. His carrot and stick policy may have won this current round of Arab Spring 2.0, but my advice to U.S. policy makers is: don’t put all of your chickens in the pot in terms of as-Sisi’s long term survival.
Do you find yourself scratching your head wondering why your intelligent, moral, and Christian relatives and friends continue to support the Democratic party despite its amoral, anti-Christian and anti-American agenda? A part of the problem is for decades Republicans and Conservatives have brought an olive branch to a gun fight, allowing progressives free reign to demonize Republicans and Conservatives in the minds of many Americans. Trump is a rare Republican who understands the viciousness of our enemies-within and is fighting back appropriately.
No matter how hard I try to educate relatives and friends about the benefits of conservatism and voting Republican, some persist in viewing me as an Uncle Tom black man betraying his people. Stenciled on their brains is the lie that Conservatives and Republicans are selfish, rich and racist white men who abuse and exploit everyone. Thank God for the #WalkAway Campaign, the Jexit Movement and Blexit Movement which are youths, white and black, who have finally seen the light and are exiting the Democratic party with its decades of lies and broken promises.
Still, there are Democrat walking brain-dead zombies who reject the truth that their party has been hijacked by hate-filled anti-Christian and anti-American progressives. The Bible speaks of unfortunate souls who prefer to embrace a lie rather than the truth. We must pray for them.
However, there are Democrat loyalists who simply do not realize what their “working man’s” party has become. For example: A lifelong Democrat senior relative is excited about voting for Joe Biden for president.
This relative has no idea that Biden and his fellow Democrat presidential contenders demonically seek to legalize murdering babies after the child is born. In their perverted definition of women rights, Democrats say a woman has the right to murder her healthy born baby. I pray for the right time to tell my senior relative the truth about Biden and her beloved Democratic party.
Progressives are extremely good at keeping their extreme assaults on our culture off evening news broadcasts and front page of the New York Times. Consequently, few Democrat voters know their party supports LGBTQ ideology being taught is schools beginning in pre-k. The LGBTQ curriculum in public schools mandates that students read, “I Am Jazz” about a boy whose insane parents began his sex change at 3 years old. The Pope and pediatricians say teaching transgender ideology is child abuse. Hellbent on making the perverted sexual behavior of less than 3% of the population mainstream, Democrats seek to make it illegal to counsel anyone troubled by their same sex attraction.
I doubt that average Joe, Democrat voter, knows his presidential candidates welcome the invasion of illegals while promising them free healthcare, along with numerous other benefits unavailable to Joe and his fellow American citizens. Do loyal Democrat voters know Democrat sanctuary cities protect illegals who rape and murder Americans?
San Francisco is a Democrat controlled sanctuary city. A Democrat relative’s eyes almost popped out of her head as I told her about the poop maps distributed in San Francisco to help tourists avoid the piles of human excrement left by vagrants defecating on the streets. She knew nothing about the swiftly expanding massive tent cities, rat infestation and resurgence of old diseases due to filth. She had no idea that rather than reversing their policies which are destroying the once beautiful city by the bay, Democrats are tripling down on their insane policies.
As I stated, progressives are masters at hiding their war on all thing wholesome and good. I chatted with a Christian pastor at his church’s picnic. He never heard of the Equality Act which Democrats have already successfully passed in the house.
The pastor said in response to SCOTUS redefining marriage, his church wrote in their by-laws that they will not perform homosexual weddings nor rent their facilities for homosexual weddings. I explained to the pastor that the deceptively titled, Equality Act, will force his church to abandon their biblical convictions; making it illegal not to surrender to every demand of LBGTQ anti-Christian terrorists. A member said about 40% of that church’s congregation is Democrat. I doubt those Democrats are aware of their party’s war on their religious liberty.
How many blue collar Democrat voters know their party’s Green New Deal will kill jobs and destroy Trump’s booming economy? Within the next 12 years, their insane Green New Deal includes eliminating 99% of cars; eliminating air travel; banning affordable energy; banning meat; gutting and rebuilding every building in America and numerous other outrageous environmental wacko demands.
A gentleman probably in his 90s was in front of me in the checkout line at the dollar store. The pleasant gentleman struck up a conversation with me about the weather. He said the unusual humidity is the result of us not taking care of the environment. He said the Arctic icebergs are melting.
I thought, “Why bother trying to educate him. He is probably an old guy, stuck in his ways.” And yet, I felt guilty for not sharing the truth with the misinformed senior.
As we exited the store, I succinctly said, “Sir, we cannot control the weather. Everything you are hearing in the news about us destroying the environment is a political attempt for government to take more control of our lives.” To my surprise, he replied, “I think you’re right.”
This is what we all must do folks. We must begin speaking up rather than assuming we have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. My wife said because she does not possess expert knowledge of every issue, she is reluctant to speak-out when someone parrots Democrat and fake news media lies. I encouraged her to confidently share what she does know about an issue. Remember, God uses ordinary people. Your little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s Hand. Spread truth and trust God to reap positive results.