ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, today announces that the closing chapter in a lawsuit has ended with a victory for Bill Donohue and free speech, as the time for appealing TMLC’s win in the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court has passed.
Bill Donohue, President and CEO of the Catholic League, is considered by most Americans as the fiercest defender of the Catholic Church in the world. He is often called to appear on national TV to respond to controversial attacks made against the Church. So, when he asked the Thomas More Law Center to defend him and the Catholic League in a defamation lawsuit filed because of comments in a press release, without hesitation we agreed.
Beginning in 2014, the case wound its way through both the state and federal courts. On April 18, 2017, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its opinion affirming a lower court decision which ruled in favor of Bill Donohue and the Catholic League by dismissing all claims in the lawsuit, including the defamation claim. The 90-day window for asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision has now lapsed.
Erin Mersino, who handled the case on behalf of the Thomas More Law Center always contended that lawsuit filed by Jon David Couzens, Jr. lacked legal merit and required dismissal. Although she no longer works for TMLC, Erin recently commented on the final end of case:
“The plaintiff’s decision not to appeal the case further vindicates this important victory for free speech. The Thomas More Law Center and the Catholic League are two heroic organizations that vigorously fight for religious freedom in our culture today. It has been a true honor representing Bill Donohue, the President and tenacious captain of the Catholic League.”
What is the Catholic League?
The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.
Motivated by the letter and the spirit of the First Amendment, the Catholic League works to safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever and wherever they are threatened.
The Catholic League is listed in the Official Catholic Directory and has won the plaudits of many bishops.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/catholic-league-logo.jpg363640Thomas More Law Centerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThomas More Law Center2017-08-17 18:26:552017-08-17 18:26:55Lawsuit Ends in Free Speech/Religious Freedom Victory for the Catholic League
Once again, Christians are fleeing Iraq. But this time, it’s not because they are under attack from the jihadi extremists who have terrorized their communities for the past fourteen years. It’s not even because of ISIS, which physically occupied the Nineveh Plain until just recently.
It’s because they have lost hope that they can ever trust their neighbors again.
“The situation for Christians is catastrophic,” the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Babylon, Archbishop Louis Sako, told me during a recent trip to northern Iraq.
According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organizations, nearly half of the 120,000 Christian refugees who fled the Nineveh Plain to the camps controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government when ISIS attacked in June 2014 have now left the country for good.
“Emigration actually increased after the liberation,” said Louis Markos, a town councilman from Baghdeda (also known as Qaraqosh), the regional capitol of the Assyrian homeland in the Nineveh Plain, about 20 miles southeast of Mosul. “When people went back and saw their houses ransacked, burned, or destroyed, they lost heart. They had waited for three years for their nightmare to end. It never did.”
While the U.S. government has earmarked more than $100 million in reconstruction funds to help restore vital infrastructure to the Christian and Yezidi areas in northern Iraq, so far local residents see only devastation.
“We haven’t seen a dollar of U.S. reconstruction funds,” the Patriarch told me. “Nothing has come.”
A U.S. official involved in the funding, which Vice President Mike Pence pledged personally to the Patriarch when he visited the White House in May, told me the money has been sent to U.S. AID in Erbil and to the United Nations. “It’s to be spent on restoring water and electricity in the Nineveh Plain,” he said. “But if there are no people, they can’t spend it.
“It’s a chicken and egg problem, I admit,” he added. “No people, no power. No power and water, no people.”
The Patriarch insisted that Christians return home, despite the devastation. “If we don’t rebuild, others will come to occupy our villages and towns,” he said. “Already, they are putting pressure on Christians to prevent them from returning home.”
Checkpoints manned separately by Kurdish Democratic Party peshmerga fighters and Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) militias make it difficult for families to return. “At each of these checkpoints, we often wait up to two hours,” Markos told me. “Two weeks ago, I was turned back.”
The KDP and the PMF have established a military Line of Control, effectively dividing the Assyrian Christian and Yazidi Nineveh Plain into two separate zones.
Towns that used to be just a ten minute drive from each other are now walled off from one another, requiring hours to reach crossing points manned by the warring militias.
The Kurds have been hardening their side of the border, to the north, by erecting concrete barriers and blockhouses, U.S. officials told me. While Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government, both insist that the military line is just a temporary separation, Assyrian Christian leaders fear it will become permanent, leaving them hopelessly divided.
Making matters worse, the Kurdish Democratic Party of KRG president Massoud Barzani has deposed prominent Assyrian Christian mayors in the Nineveh Plain in recent weeks, first in al Qosh and more recently in Tel Kaif, replacing them with Christian members of the KDP.
The move was so unpopular that protestors rattled the normally congenial KRG envoy to Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, at a recent event at the U.S. Institute for Peace, calling on the KDP to “get out” of the Nineveh Plain.
“The Nineveh Plain is not a “disputed area,” as some are claiming,” the Patriarch reminded me. “The Kurds and the Shia want to occupy the areas they liberated. They have no right to this.”
Restoring trust among the many ethnic and religious communities of Northern Iraq will not be a simple task. The U.S. Institute of Peace has been holding workshops in the Nineveh Plain for many years in an effort to build bridges between mutually suspicious communities, some of them shut down by the KDP.
“We Christians are the meat in the sandwich between the Arabs and the Kurds,” the recently deposed Mayor of Tel Keif, Bassam Bello, told me six years ago during an earlier trip to the region.
When ISIS seized control of the area in June 2014, it was Sunni Arabs who ate the sandwich. Today, the Christians are being nibbled at both ends by Kurdish and Shiite Arab militias.
“Our goal is to make the Nineveh Plain a magnet for Reconstruction,” Yohanna Yousef Towaya, a local businessman who works with the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, told me. “We are looking for private partners and NGOs to help us rebuild houses so émigrés will return.”
A big task, but an imperative one. Without reconstruction in the Nineveh Plain, there will be no more Christians in Iraq in a few years.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/bloody-cross-e1457095633356.png418639Kenneth R. Timmermanhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngKenneth R. Timmerman2017-08-16 18:36:312017-08-16 18:36:31Christian Genocide In Iraq: The Patriarch’s Plea
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, today announced that Cardinal Raymond Burke, who is viewed as a leading traditionalist and conservative within the Catholic Church, endorsed the Thomas More Law Center, for its “most important service for the restoration of Christian culture.” The extraordinary endorsement was transmitted in a letter, dated July 26, 2017, to Richard Thompson, the President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.
Text of Cardinal Burke’s Endorsement
“During these difficult times in which we are living, in which secularization has ravaged the culture of our homeland, alienating culture from its only true source in God and His plan for the world, theThomas More Law Center provides a most important service for the restoration of Christian culture by promoting the sanctity of human life, defending religious liberty, and protecting the good of the family. Through the intercession of its holy patron, may the Thomas More Law Center courageously continue to serve the true good of our beloved homeland of the United States of America.”
Thompson commented, “We are deeply honored and profoundly grateful to Cardinal Burke for his uncompromising defense of America’s traditional Judeo-Christian culture and moral values, and for his unprecedented endorsement of the Thomas More Law Center.”
In June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Burke as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See’s highest court. He was the first American named to head the Tribunal and became the second highest ranking prelate at the Vatican. However, in 2014 he was removed from that position by Pope Francis.
Regarded as a leading traditionalist within the Church, Cardinal Burke is a courageous and outspoken defender of the Catholic Faith and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Cardinal Burke’s views on key issues facing American culture and Western Civilization, are shared by the Thomas More Law Center and traditional Christians of all denominations.
On Islam . . .
In a 2016 interview with Italian newspaper, II Gioranle, Cardinal Burke stated:
“It is clear that Muslims have as their ultimate goal conquest and power over the world.”
“Islam, through sharia, their law, will rule the world and permit violence against infidels, such as Christians. But we find it hard to recognize this reality and to respond by defending the Christian faith.”
“Many people do not understand what Islam really is. They created these slogans: we all believe in the same God, we are all united by love and so on. It’s not true.
On Same-sex marriage . . .
In a November 10, 2013 interview with The Wanderer, Cardinal Burke said that same-sex marriage . . .
“. . . is a work of deceit, a lie about the most fundamental aspect of our human nature, our human sexuality, which, after life itself, defines us. There is only one place these types of lies come from, namely Satan. It is a diabolical situation which is aimed at destroying individuals, families, and eventually our nation.”
On Abortion . . .
In a March 2, 2009 Interview with the founder of ‘Operation Rescue’, Cardinal Burke stated:
“The service of the Church in the world of today has to begin first and foremost with the protection of the life of those who are the most defenseless and the most innocent, namely the unborn.”
In his January 22, 2017, sermon on the Roe v. Wade Anniversary Mass, Cardinal Burke stated:
“We recognize in that decision of the highest court of our nation a rebellion against God and His Law written upon every human heart in its first and most fundamental tenet: to safeguard and to foster human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.
In March 2009, Burke called on American bishops to withhold the Eucharist from Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion. The bishop’s failure to do so, Burke said, “is weakening the faith of everyone. It’s giving the impression that it must be morally correct to support procured abortion.”
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at(734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Cardinal-Raymond-Burke.jpg366650Thomas More Law Centerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThomas More Law Center2017-08-11 17:15:592017-08-11 17:15:59Cardinal Burke Endorses Thomas More Law Center for ‘Restoring Christian Culture’
David Carlin writes that post-Vatican II, we’ve lost a sense of the sacredness of things: We need again altar rails, nuns wearing habits, rosary beads, holy water, Latin, etc.
The best definition of religion I have ever come across is that given by the great French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) in his book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and surrounded by prohibitions – beliefs and practices that unite its adherents in a single moral community called a church.”
“Sacred things” (or “holy things”) is the key here. In the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, there were lots and lots of sacred things. There was a great pyramid of sacred things. Way up at the top of the pyramid, of course, was God, the most holy of all holy things and the source of the sacredness that trickled down to all lesser sacred things. Of these lesser sacred things, the most holy was the Virgin Mary, the mother of God. Below her were angels and saints, some of them more sacred than others. There were nine orders of angels. Dante has many ranks of saints in his Paradiso.
On Earth there were sacred persons, they too in descending ranks of sacredness. The pope was very holy indeed; thus he was spoken of as “His Holiness.” Cardinals were somewhat less sacred; ordinary bishops less sacred still; parish priests were at the bottom rank of clerical holiness, but they too should be treated with a reverence due to sacred persons. Religious sisters were sacred, both the kind and gentle nuns and the mean nuns who hit your hand with a ruler. The habits nuns wore were also sacred.
Buildings were sacred. St. Peter’s in Rome was the most sacred of all, even though to some Catholics (me among them) it resembled a magnificent train station more than a great church. Medieval Gothic cathedrals were also sacred, especially those of Paris and Chartres. Ordinary parish churches were also sacred, even the hideous churches built in the 1950s in a “modern” style.
Inside, the church overflowed with sacred things: statues and pictures of saints, Stations of the Cross, candles, baptismal fonts, holy water. The altar was holy, made even more holy by the altar rail that set it apart from the rest of the church. The Eucharist was the holiest of all things on Earth, so holy that it mustn’t be touched by the hands of laypersons.
There were sacred ceremonies, the Mass above all. But also lesser ceremonies: Confession, burial of the dead, fasting in Lent, meatless Fridays, fasting from midnightbefore receiving Communion, reciting the rosary (whether with a group or alone), genuflecting when entering a church pew, making the sign of the cross prior to batting in a baseball game.
David Carlin is professor of sociology and philosophy at the Community College of Rhode Island, and the author of The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America.
EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is titled Mass by José Gallegos Y Arnosa, c. 1900 [private collection].
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/mass-e1502451855295.jpg387640The Catholic Thinghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Catholic Thing2017-08-11 07:44:242017-08-11 07:44:41Why We Need Sacred Things [Plural]
As it stands now, more than 50% of Americans have rejected the Founding Fathers worldview and therefore cannot understand their political philosophy let alone make dispassionate decisions on complex cultural issues.
There is no guarantee that a historic Republic built on our founding principles will forever remain in that belief structure, in fact history indicates just the opposite. This analysis attributed to several historians of the 18th century seems to portray an accurate reflection of what has occurred during our 241 years of existence as a democracy.
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
bondage to spiritual faith
spiritual faith to great courage
courage to liberty
liberty to abundance
abundance to complacency
complacency to apathy
apathy to dependence
dependence back into bondage
WHERE IS AMERICA?
IS IT TIME FOR SPIRITUAL FAITH?
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/good-without-god-e1502410726819.jpg360640Defend The Borderhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDefend The Border2017-08-10 20:19:052017-08-10 20:26:06Philosophers, Theologians & Talk Show Hosts Have Been Debating This For Years
AnneHendershott looks at the decline in male fertility, due partly to the Pill. Clearly, it’s time to consider the sociology and science surrounding the culture of “reproductive rights.”
The recent research revelation that sperm counts for men living in the West have plunged by 60 percent since 1971 provides readers of P. D. James’s great dystopian novel, The Children of Men, with a prediction of an unsettling future for a society that can no longer reproduce. Set in Britain in 2021, James’s frightening fiction described a world of mass infertility among males – a world in which no children have been born in more than twenty-five years. In the novel, the last baby to be born is now an adult, and the population is growing steadily older. And, like today’s reality, James’s scientists have failed to find a cure – or even a cause – for the sterility.
Publishing their most recent findings in the journal Human Reproduction Update, the researchers – from Israel, the United States, Denmark, Brazil, and Spain – concluded that the total sperm count had fallen by 59.3 percent between 1971 and 2011 in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Some scientists are claiming that “modern living” has caused serious damage to men’s health. Pesticides, pollution, diet, stress, smoking, and obesity have all been plausibly associated with the problem. But far fewer men smoke cigarettes than ever before, and the pollution and pesticide controls that the government has implemented in the past forty years have alleviated many of these risks.
Besides, during the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, men faced much greater health risks from factory work during a time when there were no OSHA regulations on air quality. There were few fertility problems at that time as families were large – and no one worried about sperm counts.
Anne Hendershott is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She is the author of The Politics of Deviance (Encounter Books).
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/baby-newborn.jpg381639The Catholic Thinghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Catholic Thing2017-08-10 06:27:322017-08-10 06:33:27Reaping What We’ve Sown: Reproductive Rights versus Male Fertility
Robert Royal writes of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) on her feast day: a Jewish philosopher, who became a Carmelite nun and, ten years later, was murdered at Auschwitz.
Every generation thinks it’s living in unusual times. Ours really is. We are witnessing the passing of our civilization and – like someone having brain surgery while wide-awake – are conscious of what’s happening. Or at least a few of us are. We’re suffering – among other things – massive amnesia. Juvenile rebellion, too, by people of all ages, against what’s taken to be “our civilization.” But the greater problem, by far, is that for most people our basic traditions have just dropped below the horizon. They don’t see that anything else than what they’re familiar with ever existed. And we have fewer and fewer witnesses to the truth.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the death of a woman whom St. John Paul II called “a martyr to truth,” Edith Stein, a brilliant philosopher, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who got caught up in the Nazi persecutions of Jews and the Church, and died at Auschwitz.
It’s just one reflection of the malice of those days that she and her sister Rosa were picked up by the Gestapo at their Carmelite convent in Holland, where they’d fled for safety, because the Dutch bishops had twelve days earlier issued a pastoral letter denouncing Nazi “racism.” In retaliation, Nazi authorities arrested Jewish converts to Catholicism and shipped them to the gas chambers.
I first got interested in Stein when I wrote The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century. She was canonized in 1998; controversy erupted over whether she should even be called a martyr since she was killed not in odium fidei, some argued, but because she was Jewish. It also seemed to some critics that JPII was trying to appropriate the Holocaust partly for Catholics.
In Poland, where the Nazis killed several million non-Jews, this is still a sore controversy. But the official Vatican explanation – one typical of what JPII called the “new martyrs” – was that several factors intermingled to make “martyr” the right term for Edith.
Besides the Dutch bishops’ statement of Catholic teaching about “race,” there were at least three features of Stein’s life that could be read as a willingness to accept martyrdom . . .
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/edith-web.jpg360640The Catholic Thinghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Catholic Thing2017-08-09 06:14:302017-08-10 06:22:02Edith Stein: Jewish philosopher, Carmelite nun, murdered at Auschwitz — A Witness to Truth at 75
Wimpy churches have contributed heavily to the moral decay of the USA. The Outlaws Chapel is calling men and women of faith who are ready to dump “girly man church” to become churches that challenge the evil agendas.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/sword-of-god.jpg360640Bill Finlayhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngBill Finlay2017-08-07 05:36:552017-08-07 05:36:55Dump the Girly Man Church and Girly Man Christianity
“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Matthew 4:7
The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to resist temptations, or without at least asking God’s help to conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the precipice, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians. God, as the Apostle says, “will have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. ii. 4); but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when he calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement.
I intend to show, in this discourse, that, when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive.
1. Saint Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other Fathers teach that, as God (according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” (Wis. xi. 21), has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. …
2. “The Lord hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart” (Isa. Ixi. 1.) God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. By His Prophet Amos, God has said: “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it” (i. 3). In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: “[T]he depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments” (Rom. xi. 33). He who receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God; and they who are chastised are justly punished. …
How many has God sent to Hell for the first offense? Saint Gregory relates that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to Hell. The Divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of 12 years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. You say: I am young: there are many who have committed more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend Him? In the gospel of St. Matthew (xxi. 19) we read that the Savior cursed a fig tree the first time He saw it without fruit. “May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.” You must, then, tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins.
3. “Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin” (Eccl. v. 5). Say not then, O sinner: As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it. Say not this; for if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fullness of sins” (2 Mac. vi. 14). God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed, but when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. “Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag.” (Job xiv. 17). Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe” (Joel iii. 13).
4. Of this there are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says: “All the men that have tempted me now 10 times … shall not see the land” (Num. xiv. 22, 23). In another place he says, that he restrained his vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed. “For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full” (Gen. xv. 16). We have again the example of Saul, who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf. “Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord” (1 Kings xv. 25). But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: “I will not return with thee; because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee,” etc. (v. 26). Saul, you have abandoned God, and he has abandoned you. We have another example in Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the temple, saw a hand writing on the wall: “Mane, Thecel, Phares.” Daniel was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel, he said to the king: “Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting” (Dan. v. 27). By this explanation he gave the king to understand that the weight of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend. “The same night, Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed” (Dan. v. 30). Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to offend God till their sins amounted to a certain number they have been struck dead and sent to Hell. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell” (Job xxi. 13). Tremble, brethren, lest, if you commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into Hell.
5. If God chastised sinners the moment they insult him, we should not see him so much despised. But, because He does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because, through mercy, He restrains His anger and waits for their return, they are encouraged to continue to offend Him. “For, because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evil without any fear” (Eccles. viii. 11). But it is necessary to be persuaded that, though God bears with us, He does not wait, nor bear with us for ever. Expecting, as on former occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson continued to allow himself to be deluded by Dalila. “I will go out as I did before, and shake myself” (Judges xvi. 20). But “the Lord was departed from him.” Samson was at length taken by his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns you not to say: I have committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me. Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? “For the Most High is a patient rewarder.” (Eccl. v. 4). God has patience for a certain term, after which He punishes the first and last sins. And the greater has been His patience, the more severe His vengeance.
6. Hence, according to St. Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when He bears with sinners than when He instantly punishes their sins. Plus timendum est, cum tolerat quam cum festinanter punit. And why? Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy, shall, if they do not cease to offend Him, be chastised with the greatest rigor. “Quos diutius expectat durius damnat.” The saint adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does not allow them time for repentance. “Sæpe qui diu tolerati sunt subita morte rapiuntur, ut nec flere ante mortem liceat.” And the greater the light which God gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin. “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than, after they had known it, to turn back” (2 Pet. ii. 21). Miserable the sinners who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit. Saint Paul says that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted. “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated and have tasted also the heavenly gifts … and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance” (Heb. vi. 4, 6).
7. Listen, then, sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: “My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee” (Eccl. xxi. 1). Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of the divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever. When, then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity? Should the Devil, in reply, say: “Fear not, God is merciful”; answer him by saying: What certainty or what probability have I, that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon? Because the threat of the Lord against all who despise His calls: “Behold I have called and you refused. … I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared” (Prov. i. 24, 26). Mark the words “I also”; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying Him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so He will mock you at the hour of death. “I will laugh and will mock” But “God is not mocked” (Gal. vi. 7). “As a dog,” says the Wise Man, “that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” (Prov. xxvi. 11). Denis the Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog that eats what he has just vomited is an object of disgust and abomination, so the sinner who returns to the sins which he has detested and confessed becomes hateful in the sight of God. “Sicut id quod per vomitum est rejectum, resumere est valide abominabile ac turpe sic peccata deleta reiterari.”
8. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it; and for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal salvation, saying: “I will go to confession after I commit this sin.” And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: “On tomorrow.” But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for confession, and that God will not deprive you of life, as He has deprived so manyothers, in the act of sin? “Diem tenes,” says St. Augustine, “qui horam non tenes.” You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: “I will go to confession tomorrow.” Listen to the words of St. Gregory: “He who has promised pardon to penitents has not promised tomorrow to sinners” (Hom. xii. in Evan). God has promised pardon to all who repent; but he has not promised to wait till tomorrow for those who insult him. Perhaps God will give you time for repentance, perhaps He will not. But, should He not give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God, and expose yourself to the danger of being lost for ever.
9. Would you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honor, your possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, Heaven and God? Tell me: Do you believe that Heaven, Hell, eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that if you die in sin, you are lost for ever? Oh! What temerity, what folly is it, to condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation! “Nemo,” says St. Augustine, “sub spe salutis vult ægrotare.” No one can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will condemn yourself to Hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards preserved from it. Folly — which, in conformity with the divine threats, has brought, and brings every day so many to Hell. “Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof” (Isa. xlvii. 10, 11). You have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: The punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution do you make? If, after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you, and regard you as lost.
EDITORS NOTE: Readers may sign up for a Premium Membership by CLICKING HERE.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/2017-08-01-judgment-e1501973317344.jpg356640Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2017-08-05 18:57:382017-08-06 15:34:11On The Number of Sins Beyond Which God Will Pardon No More
Battle of Ostia by Raphael (workshop), c. 1514 [Apostolic Palace, Rome]
William Kilpatrick urges Catholic colleges and Catholic bishops to be cautious in promoting dialogue with Muslims that refuses to acknowledge the violent side of Islam.
Marquette University will pay for its faculty to attend an “Overcoming Islamophobia” workshop in August. The Catholic university will also offer a graduate credit for attendees who submit a written assignment.
Fighting “Islamophobia” seems to be all the rage at Catholic colleges these days and also among Catholic bishops. At Georgetown University’s Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, “Islamophobia” is the main focus. “Islamophobia” is also a top priority for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Anthony Cirelli, the associate director of the secretariat, told Catholic News Service that U.S. bishops “are coming to stand with our Muslim colleagues…in trying to change the negative narrative surrounding Muslims in our popular media.” Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego put the matter more pointedly by saying that Catholics must fight “the scourge of anti-Islamic prejudice.”
Whether such a “scourge” actually exists is debatable. As I have pointed out elsewhere, a very high percentage of hate crimes against Muslims have been faked or falsely reported. Nevertheless, Muslim political action groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations still insist that “Islamophobia” is rampant in this country, and the Catholic bishops have been eager to enlist in the campaign against it.
The bishops, no doubt, hope to make America safer for minorities by signing on to the war against “Islamophobia,” but a case can be made that they are actually making it a more dangerous place for minorities and for everyone else.
How so? As Islam scholar Robert Spencer points out, the “Islamophobia industry” misleads “by deliberately conflating two quite distinct phenomena: vigilante attacks against innocent Muslims, which are rare but never justified…and honest examination of the motivating ideology of jihad terrorists.”
If one were to study the landscape of the Catholic Church in America these days, one would find not two, but three distinct groups who still self-identify as Catholic in meaningful ways. First, there are the Dissenters, well situated on the political and “theological Left.” Then, we have the Traditionalists, occupying the other end of the spectrum, which is the correct end and who are certainly theologically accurate, as well as largely politically conservative. And then there are what could charitably be termed the Emotionals — a crowd typified by sharing some aspects of orthodoxy, yet having been brainwashed into a type of Protestant worship style, as well as being largely unaware of the Dissenters.
If one were to study the landscape of the Catholic Church in America these days, one would find not two, but three distinct groups who still self-identify as Catholic in meaningful ways. First, there are the Dissenters, well situated on the political and “theological Left.” Then, we have the Traditionalists, occupying the other end of the spectrum, which is the correct end and who are certainly theologically accurate, as well as largely politically conservative. And then there are what could charitably be termed the Emotionals — a crowd typified by sharing some aspects of orthodoxy, yet having been brainwashed into a type of Protestant worship style, as well as being largely unaware of the Dissenters.
Indeed, some of what the Dissenters have preached and pushed for decades has been fully absorbed and accepted unquestioningly by the Emotionals particularly in areas of liturgy — from music, and reception of Holy Communion in the hand, to girl altar boys, to reception under both species, to the priest facing the people to name but a few.
The Emotionals crowd defines itself by, as the name implies, how they feel with regard to issues of the Faith. Attitudes about the Church are based on things they like. So, for example, they will go to such and such a Mass because they like Father or the band or the feeling of community. Issues like reverence, theological import of the sermon/homily etc. barely register with them as issues at all, much less as a determinant of importance. Small “T” traditions don’t hold anywhere near the significance they should for the Emotionals, if they are even recognized at all. What they don’t realize is that the loss of the small “T” traditions is how their children have come to lose the big “T” traditions and are falling away from the Faith.
One of the most clever tactics used by the Dissenters was to introduce “novelty” into Catholic identity — innovation that was passed off as “making things better,” ultimately, meaning relevant. Once the canard was accepted that traditional Catholic belief and practice was irrelevant and not able to be “sold” to the public, then the doors were flung open to any and all innovations and novelty anyone could think of and did. This is what is largely bandied about today as the New Evangelization.
Big screens came into many parishes, choirs moved from the lofts to the front of the “stage” where applause could erupt after Mass, signaling the congregation’s approval of their singing. Musical variety was accepted for just about every type of music, except sacred Catholic music. The emphasis shifted from the church building being the “door to Heaven,” to an entrance to a meeting hall where “community” needed to be shared and experienced. In short, the emphasis for the People of God shifted from God to the people.
So now, hoards of incorrectly called “Eucharistic ministers” cascade into the sanctuary in nearly every parish in America each Sunday. The list of things that have been inspired by the Dissenters and then gone on to be embraced by the Emotionals could occupy a multi-volume collection. The term “useful idiots” could be applied here, in that due to a lack of proper catechesis and formation, most who still attend Mass, which is roughly 20 percent of the entire Catholic population, simply do not know what they do not know and are, therefore, easily manipulated. The Dissenters know how to play them, and they have done so masterfully.
The goal of the Dissenters has not been to convince the Emotionals to join the Dissenters but to completely sideline and ignore the Traditionalists in belief and practice. In short, the vast majority of Catholics today who still go to Mass have been completely duped by a fifty-year campaign of propaganda by the Dissenters and believe the Faith should be viewed by how it makes them feel.
Time to strike back at the Dissenters crowd. They have played a masterful game of cunning and deceit for decades. Much of the work in the Church for at least the next 50 years will be pushing back at correcting the chaos these Churchmen have piled on the faithful. Right now, for the most part, they still hold sway from Rome to many individual dioceses. But they are aging rapidly. Soon they will be gone. And what they have left behind is not a group of young, hippie-minded Catholics like themselves but a Church that has been abandoned by and large. They did not change the Church, just emptied out the pews.
There won’t be much left to start rebuilding, but there will be enough. These next few years, which is all they have left, will be about resisting their evil and laying the groundwork for the greatest comeback in 2,000 years of our sacred history.
Game on Dissenters, you Leftists. We hope and pray you convert to the authentic faith, but until you do, your evil will not be tolerated.
EDITORS NOTE: Readers may sign up for a Premium Membership by CLICKING HERE.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/duped-by-the-dissenters.jpg360640Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2017-08-05 06:02:072017-08-05 09:56:11The Vortex—Completely Duped by the ‘Dissenters’ with Michael Voris
Act 1 July 14th: three Arab Israelis pick up weapons previously stored by an accomplice in the al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount and gun down two Israeli Druze policemen. Being courageous jihadis, they shoot the policemen in the back. Israeli authorities step in where the Waqf, guardians of the mosques, had failed to exercise due diligence. They bar entry to the Temple Mount, gather evidence, install metal detectors to prevent further killing-this type of crime often comes in waves-and then reopen the Temple Mount. This normal exercise of Israeli sovereignty provokes violence in Jerusalem and recriminations from Western media onlookers that echo the war cry: Israel is not respecting the status quo. Prime Minister Netanyahu remarks that stashing weapons in the mosque is a violation of the status quo, but chronology loses its bearing whenever Islam is concerned. Steps taken to restore that status quo are presented by Western media and commentators as provocative measures that led naturally to rioting, murderous attacks, and diplomatic aggression.
Thousands of Muslims prostrate themselves outside the gates, defiantly refusing to pass through the metal detectors. In between prayer sessions they unleash their fury on law enforcement, throwing firebombs, firecrackers, allahu akhbars, and threats of extermination. The genocidal war cry khaybar khaybar ya yahud, jaish muhammad sawfa ya’ud! ricochets in the steep narrow lanes of Jerusalem’s old city. We know that tune. It was on the hit parade in the summer of 2014 when our local jihadis stomped through the streets of Paris bellowing khaybar khaybar (“Remember Khaybar [dirty] Jews, Mohamed’s army is coming [to exterminate you] again.”) [cf Poller, The Black Flag of Jihad Stalks la République]
Act 2: our French media, undoubtedly guided and fed by Agence France Presse, report fulminatingly on the distress caused to Muslim worshippers by the installation of metal detectors at entries to l’esplanade des mosquées [mosque compound]. Commentators, never at a loss for words, lock into default position: The problem is the colonies. The problem is far and further right wing Netanyahu, gobbling up Palestinian land, making peace impossible. The problem is, he won’t make a 2-state solution.
N.B. factual mistakes, careless mistakes, incomplete information and sloppy reporting of every sort are the hallmark of news makers. However, honest mistakes are random. Deliberately failing to mention that the two Israeli policemen were shot with weapons smuggled into the al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount is not sloppy reporting. It’s a lie.
The metal detectors become an arbitrary gesture of humiliation and, far worse, they’re one step away from the total destruction of the al Aqsa mosque. Yes, our ladies and gentlemen of respectable media automatically identify with the most bloodthirsty of the ranting raging rioters. They integrate the rage and the rationale. It’s so natural they don’t miss a step. Metal detectors, they’re tearing down the mosque, the Israelis have turned this into a religious war,au secours, help! What about the hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Israel and the disputed territories that are not chanting khaybar khaybar kill the Jews? Enlightened Muslims publish op-eds denouncing the counterproductive uprising fueled by Islamic extremists. Our opinion makers don’t seem to be aware of their existence. Seventeen years since the al Dura blood libel triggered an unending wave of atrocities, the sky is still falling, the mosque is in danger, and kill the Jews seems like a reasonable response to a few metal detectors.
Muhammad’s army strikes Halamish
Act 3: another brave warrior girds for battle. Dressed like an Orthodox Jew, white shirt, black trousers, kippa…and a butcher knife, he deftly climbs over the barrier (we don’t know exactly how), enters the Jewish neighborhood of Halamish, and knocks on the door of the first house he comes to. The Salomon family, gathered around the shabat table, is celebrating the birth of a grandchild hat very morning. They open the door, thinking the young man is the first of many guests that will come to share their joy of fruitfully multiplying, of new life and renewed generations. He pulls out the knife and slaughters the grandfather, his adult daughter and adult son. The grandmother is stabbed but survives. The daughter-in-law runs upstairs, takes refuge in a bedroom with her five children and, holding the door closed with all her might, calls for help. An off duty soldier next door comes out, sees what is happening, shoots the killer, ending his spree but not his life.
We learn subsequently that the soldier did not shoot twice because the wounded murderer fell next to Yosef Salamon whose wife Tova had been the soldier’s kindergarten teacher.
Slash tag interlude: in nearby Amman, in the kingdom of Jordan, holy seat of the negligent Waqf, a young man delivering furniture to a residence in the Israeli embassy compound deliberately (or mistakenly…taking him for a piece of wood) stabs the security guard in the back with a screwdriver. The security guard shoots him dead. The owner of the building who had accompanied the delivery boy-reportedly the son of the furniture store owner-is apparently stuck dead by a stray bullet. So, of course, the royal Jordanian kingdom refuses to allow the security guard and other embassy personnel to leave his realm. Sticklers for international law, ready to set the world on fire if the status quo on their third holiest site is not respected, the Jordanians don’t only insist on the right to let Muslims store weapons in the mosque, they also trample diplomatic protocol like it was an Israeli flag at the feet of raging allahu akhbars. And of course they are raging all around the Israeli embassy.
The voice of reason strikes again
Act 4: A closed door emergency session of the UNSC is convened at the request of France, Sweden, and Egypt-three nations internationally known for their expertise in preventing jihad attacks and other subversive actions. The voices of reason prevail. What do they say? From this day forward, visitors to the Temple Mount will wear electronic bracelets, as do pilgrims to Mecca? Or perhaps, ceasefire first, negotiations afterward? Pull back your mob from the gates, apologize for allowing killers to store weapons in the Al Aqsa mosque, and then we can talk. The president of the United States brings the full force of his power to bear? True, the American embassy has not made one step off the Tel Aviv beachfront on its way to Jerusalem but never mind. The time has come to apply the directives outlined in President Trump’s May 22nd speech to sheiks, princes, kings and prime ministers assembled in Riyadh. What was the theme again? Oh yes, to fight terrorism.
Hah! The voices of reason prevailed. Israeli police under cover of the night dismantled the offensive metal detectors. An international sigh of relief and a friendly pat on the back to the Israelis for these tension- reducing measures. The liberated embassy staff comes home from Jordan. Smiles and thanks to the American president’s men, Greenblatt, Freeman, and Kushner without whom, it is publicly said, the metal detectors would not have come down and the embassy staff would not have come home and the tensions would not have been reduced.
Which is why the Temple Mount temper tantrum kept going strong. The high tech surveillance cameras had to come down too, but that didn’t prevent the war drums of street prayers interlaced with wild mob action to persist and grow with promises of another day of rage on Friday the 28th. The ummah was beside itself. Worldwide. An imam in Davis California, caught by MEMRI giving a classical exterminate-the-Jews sermon complete with the rock & tree surah protests his innocence: he was only referring to the Jews that prevent Muslims from praying at the al Aqsa mosque.
A day of rage is circled on the calendar when the mufti, the imam, Mahmoud Abbas, and King Abdullah suddenly tell worshippers they can go back to pray in their mosque on the Temple Mount that they now call al Aqsa. Not just the mosque, the whole Temple Mount, jihadistically expropriated, with the help of the willing executioners of UNESCO. Rage mixes with joy as Muhmmad’s army celebrates its victory and our media headline Israel’s surrender. Conveniently forgetting that Muhammad’s army has already taken stabs at Notre Dame!
Compensating for the removal of every sort of low and high tech surveillance gadget, Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi stood upright and reaffirmed Israeli sovereignty in advance of Friday prayers. All will go well if everyone cooperates. Suspicious people will be searched as always. Worshippers will be admitted as usual. But anyone that tries to create trouble will be met with iron fisted force. There will be injuries there will be arrests. We are strong and we know what to do.
Commemoration of execution of a priest in a Normandy church
July 26, 2017, St. Etienne du Rouvray. People gathered from near and far to commemorate the slaughter of Père Hamel, a Catholic priest celebrating mass in a small, nearly empty church in Normandy. Two young men born in France of North African origin put together a shahid video, walked into the church, solemnly pronounced allegiance to Daesh, forced an elderly parishioner to film the exploit as they slit the throat of the 86 year-old priest, and then stabbed their videographer-slave, who survived. The jihad attack was the third in a morbid series that summer: 13 June, a young couple, both members of the police force, were savagely assassinated in front of their 3 year-old child at their home in Magnanville. 14 July, 84 civilians were killed and more than a hundred maimed by a jihadi at the wheel of a truck on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Not to mention 130 murdered by ambitious shahids in 2015, and scattered incidents before and since…
Here too the voices of reason speak out. At the high point in a moving tribute to the slaughtered priest, President Macron thanks Catholics for not giving in to hatred after this heinous crime. He thanks them, as if they had been two steps away from going on the rampage, stomping through the streets screaming annihilate the Muslims, torching mosques, beheading imams, raping women in hijab and ripping open pregnant Muslim bellies. We’ve been hearing this nonsense for 17 years. Our bewildered citizens are doing candle and flower ceremonies and hugging the nearest Muslim, anything to prove how much we love each other.
We don’t make bloodthirsty calls for revenge! The ones that go on the rampage are there in front of our eyes. They are verbally photoshopped into defenseless victims. And the voice of reason orders the targets of their genocidal hatred to stand down. Jihadis are fulfilling their sacred duty to punish, annihilate, convert. They clearly state their inspiration and objectives. But our political leaders and confused opinion-makers keep prettying it up with lace embroidery. They [the killers] want to turn us against each other, preaches the president, but we won’t do it, we’re stronger than ever in our vivre ensemble. The blood of the innocent flows through the byways of our societies and the smooth talkers warble in harmony-Muslims and Christians closer than ever after the horrifying murder of the beloved priest. Here’s the July 2016 photo of Salafists in front of the mosque that is actually connected by a door to the [other] St. Etienne du Rouvray church. The sign says “mosque in mourning.”2
Dhimmitude
This wailing wall of the West is dhimmitude. This deliberate concealment of Islamic acts and methods, this insane identification with the bloodthirsty, this constant exhortation to tie our own hands behind our backs, this vicious condemnation of Israel’s self-defense is dhimmitude And it’s not just in France, not only European submission. I heard it wherever I went on a recent visit to the US. In North Carolina, in NY, in Boston, at a conference at Brandeis, always the same song, we should be better kinder more tolerant more aware of our faults and shortcomings more inclusive less judgmental… it’s dhimmitude. Bash me and I’ll weep for my sins. It’s not the media, the left, the stupid these and those, it’s jihad conquest. We’re being conquered and we don’t know it. It’s not just naked genocidal violence, it’s crass ignorance and dulled conscience. It’s cute conquest, an article bubbling with Muslim American patriotic appreciation of the American Eagle denim hijab, “as American as apple pie.”3 It’s the Islamic Center of Davis explaining that the imam only called for the annihilation of Jews that keep worshippers out of al Aqsa. And the Center has not been closed and shuttered.
It’s jihad conquest, dhimmitude, and vacancies at the highest levels of our democracies. At a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, President Trump awkwardly read out a prepared text praising the Lebanese army that is “on the front lines in the combat against Daesh, Al Qaida, and Hezbollah.” The statement included several lines about the evils of Hezbollah. Ha’aretz reports that Hariri respectfully corrected him: we’re fighting Daesh and A Qaida, yes, but not Hezbollah. They’re in the government. We have an understanding.” This rectification does not figure in the video posted by the U.S. government.4 Was it edited out? Or hidden in the untranslated questions and answers in Arabic?
Blood spattered wall
In the few short days since I started this text, a 26 year-old Palestinian born in the UAE stabbed a man to death in a Hamburg supermarket and wounded five. Like Kobili Traoré who savagely murdered Sarah Halimi, he is said to be psychologically fragile, and his motivations are not clear. At this stage of the investigation the flagged security risk doesn’t seem to “belong” to any terrorist “organization.” Like the Tunisian that crushed twelve people under his truck at a Christmas market in Berlin, this killer was awaiting deportation after rejection of his demand for asylum. The third European victim of a recent stabbing attack at an Egyptian resort died of her wounds. Two father-son couples suspected of preparing to bring down a plane have just been arrested in Australia. And Jordanian sources screaming for blood published the photo of the Israeli security guard that killed his assailant.
Metal detectors there, hamstrung bureaucracies here, and mentally disturbed allahu akhbars everywhere. But the Great Big International Al Aqsa Intifada did not occur. All things considered, who surrenders, and who stands his ground?
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/WAILING-WALL.jpg360640Nidra Pollerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNidra Poller2017-08-04 19:12:502017-08-04 20:41:09Wailing Wall of the West
American Taylor Force killed in Jaffa, Israel by a Palestinian terrorist, March 9, 2016
Before Congress adjourned today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Taylor Force Act (S. 1697) on a bi-partisan basis with all Republican members voting. Most Democratic members voted for the measure with one amendment introduced by Virginia Democrat Sen.Tim Kaine to keep any impounded funds for the Palestinian Authority in escrow for a year beyond any sequestration action. Other Democratic members of the Committee who voted for the Act included, Ranking Member Ben Cardin (Md), Robert Menendez (NJ), Chris Coons (De) and Ed Markey (MA).
The Act is directed at withholding U.S.funds from supporting the Palestinian Authority “pay for slay” program providing monthly stipends to terrorists in Israeli jails or their surviving families.
Analysis of the Palestinian Authority budget for 2017 revealed that such payments accounted for half of foreign aid of $693 million, $345 million. The only exempted funding allowed is for humanitarian and security purposes.
The State Department is required to report to Congress every six months on compliance with the Act. The measure now moves to a vote of the full Senate following its return from the summer recess.
The Senate Committee approval of the Act was attacked by the Chief Palestinian Authority representative in Washington, Husam Zomlot. According to Ha’aretz Zomlot claimed it would ‘harm’ the flagging peace process with Israel. Absurdly, Zomlot said the ‘pay for slay’ funding program “provides for the security and well-being of its people” who live under Israeli occupation.
The legislation won the support of most major US Jewish organizations including AIPAC, that announced support two days before the scheduled vote. The Zionist Organization of America and the Orthodox Union were early supporters of the Taylor Force Act.
The eponymous Act is named for the late Taylor Force, a 29 year old West Point graduate and former US Army artillery officer, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan . He was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian terrorist at a restaurant in Jaffa, Israel on March 9, 2016. His surviving widow was severely injured in the attack. Force, a student at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, was in Israel at the time with colleagues leaning about the dynamics of the country’s high tech start up entrepreneurship.
School Chancellor at Vanderbilt Nicholas S. Zeppos issued the following statement at the time of Force’s tragic death:
This horrific act of violence has robbed our Vanderbilt family of a young hopeful life and all of the bright promise that he held for bettering our greater world, Taylor’s family and his friends and colleagues have our deepest sympathy and utmost support.
Should the full Senate follow suit and pass the law sending it on to President Trump for his signature it will be a living memorial aimed at stopping the incentive for Palestinians to commit violence heedlessly taking the lives of Israelis and visiting Americans like the late Taylor Force z”l of blessed memory.
EDITORS NOTE: The featured image of Kid Rock is courtesy of Jeff Schear Visuals.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/kid-rock.jpg417639Bill Finlayhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngBill Finlay2017-08-04 06:29:322017-08-11 08:35:57VIDEO: If Kid Rock can run for congress, why not a timber wolf?
Last year Canary Mission released a damning exposé on anti-Israel activists at the University of Maryland (UMD).
Now the school has caught our attention again. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) activists innovated a devious new strategy to bolster support for BDS on campus.
In February 2017 SJP activists Sarah Eshera and Saarah Javed created the UMD Muslim Political Alliance (MPA). Ostentibly a Muslim political and cultural interest group, from the outset MPA functioned hand-in-glove with SJP.
In the short time since it’s creation, MPA has co-sponsored a host of events together with SJP, including:
a “Boycott Rally” timed to coincide with “Israel Fest”
a divestment resolution announcement that ultimately never materialized
SJP thought they could hide – they thought they could get away with it, but we caught them! MPA was founded by SJP activists and shares multiple members with SJP. Their cynical attempt to bolster BDS on campus by creating a new “political” organization is now exposed!
Watch our Twitter feed for NEW profiles from UMD coming soon! Check out the bottom of this column for the latest examples.
Exciting Bazian Updates!
The world finally knows about “the Most Dangerous Professor in America,” Hatem Bazian. There’s been a whirlwind of interest about him from national and international media outlets, and the campaign is only just getting started! Our videos have garnered over 100,000 views across different platforms – the world is starting to wake up to this truly menacing professor. Make sure to watch our videos, share them with your friends and keep an eye out for new developments in the coming days. There is so much more to this story- stay involved and help us get the word out!
Join The Mission!
You’ve seen our emails and checked out our site, but have you gotten a chance to check out our social media channels? Follow us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook to get real-time updates and exclusive content we don’t put on our site. And connect with us! We’d love to hear from you- what’s working, what needs work and what are the issues you want to hear more about. We value your voice and your support, so join us in our Mission!
The Canary Mission team are in an on-going effort to expose individuals and organizations that engage in hate-speech and anti-Semitism. But we need your assistance. You can help by donating and encouraging others to subscribe.
Sarah Eshera has vilified pro-Israel Jews on social media, disrupted pro-Israel activity on campus and campaigned for the BDS movement at UMD. An SJP activist, she is the founder and president of the Muslim Political Alliance (MPA) at UMD, which campaigns for the BDS movement alongside SJP at UMD. Ironically, she is also one of two undergraduate members of the UMD University Senate’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee! The committee is tasked with advising the Office of Diversity and Inclusion “in the prevention and eradication of all forms of discrimination on the campus.”
Saarah Javed , an SJP activist, co-founded the MPA with Sarah Eshera (above). She was also an active participant in a 2016 Israel Fest disruption.
Mariame Moumena, an undergraduate research assistant at the UMD Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, has spread hatred of Jews and Israel on social media. She tweeted “The amount of yahood [Jews] at my uni is disgustingly high .” and “Yan3al al yahood wa abu Al yahood [Damn the Jews and the Father of the Jews] .”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/sjp-maryland.jpg360640Canary Missionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngCanary Mission2017-08-03 11:36:182017-08-03 11:43:11EXPOSED: Students for Justice in Palestine’s Hidden Tactics at University of Maryland
David Carlin is professor of sociology and philosophy at the Community College of Rhode Island, and the author of The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America.
Some scientists are claiming that “modern living” has caused serious damage to men’s health. Pesticides, pollution, diet, stress, smoking, and obesity have all been plausibly associated with the problem. But far fewer men smoke cigarettes than ever before, and the pollution and pesticide controls that the government has implemented in the past forty years have alleviated many of these risks.
Anne Hendershott is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She is the author of 
It’s just one reflection of the malice of those days that she and her sister Rosa were picked up by the Gestapo at their Carmelite convent in Holland, where they’d fled for safety, because the Dutch bishops had twelve days earlier issued a pastoral letter denouncing Nazi “racism.” In retaliation, Nazi authorities arrested Jewish converts to Catholicism and shipped them to the gas chambers.
.” and “Yan3al al yahood wa abu Al yahood [Damn the Jews and the Father of the Jews] 
.”