The other day the UK voted to kill people to save on their healthcare budget. Of course, it wasn’t presented that way…it was all about “compassion” … where we compassionately whack granny rather than take care of her. After all, the old broad has been around a while and in her current condition she can’t bake a pie…so, here: take this $20 pill instead of this $20,000 medical treatment. It is all just horrific…but what is to be expected by people who don’t really believe anything any more. This is why I say the UK is doomed – and its not doomed by Muslims being imported, but by Brits not believing in God or, indeed, anything of note. The Muslims will take over the dead body of Britain…but someone would no matter because very soon there won’t be any British people left even if you do see some white guy with a Cockney accent. The only slight chance for Britain is the fact that – like a lot of places around the West – there is an ongoing revival of Christianity among youth. Still small in numbers, but growing rapidly…so, there might be a fight for Britain. But not over the current system – over who gets to replace it.
But I bring this up because there was this Lib-Dem MP who was rebuked from the pulpit by his priest. His Catholic priest. Had the guy been Church of England his non-binary priestess of color would have awarded him a medal for voting to kill. The MP was upset because the priest had made the public statement that he could no longer receive communion. That’s what bothered him – the public rebuke. Not the fact that he took his immortal soul in his hands and let it slip away because his constituents favor offing the elderly. The man goes to Mass every Sunday. Over the years the entire New Testament and most of the Old has been read out to him. He’s heard untold numbers of homilies expounding Catholic teaching…and he’s shocked and hurt that his public defiance of Catholic teaching led to a public rebuke of same. Catholic in Name Only! But that is the problem and if you wonder why we get some bad things happening in the Church – and, indeed, in all religions – it is just this: some people are only nominally in their religion. It is a sort of a hobby but it doesn’t touch their lives in any meaningful way…they live lives of practical paganism. And there are plenty of priests and pastors (and rabbis and imams) who are just as practically pagan as their wooden-headed congregations.
In case you wonder why I’m no longer in favor of universal suffrage it is really this: it isn’t that people are too stupid to vote but that people are too indifferent to be allowed to vote. If you don’t believe in anything, then why the heck are you even voting? For more welfare? To make some sort of social statement because you voted the “right” way? Well, that’s what gets us people like Obama in office so no thanks on that. I’d rather compete with people who hate me for a reason rather than people who hate me because TV told them to.
Canada tried to slap some BS tech tax on us retroactive back to 2022 and Trump terminated trade talks and Canada dropped the idea. It can’t be emphasized enough that access to the US market is the most valuable thing in the world…other countries might be richer per capita, other countries might have more people in them…but nobody has our combination of money and people. To sell in the USA is the most magnificent opportunity available…and people will pay through the nose for the privilege. That is what our Experts didn’t and don’t get and Trump instinctively knew all along. The tariffs are to get them to understand that there’s a price for doing business here and it’ll either be paid at the customs house or by a deal which allows us to sell in your country. Everyone gets to pick what they want but nobody gets a free ride any more.
Over on X a veteran posted about his experiences in the Muslim world during the War on Terrorism. It isn’t a pretty picture. It went viral. A lot. The guy has about 45,000 followers but the post is now up to 13.7 million views. Give it a read. What I believe is important about it is the fact that he’s just brutally telling us what it was like – with no condemnation of Muslims as Muslims. It is just what he saw – what he had direct experience of in a wartime situation in the Muslim world. I can tell it is true because it is a very extreme version of what I experienced in the peacetime Muslim world back in 1985-86. And do note that none of this sort of stuff was reported in the MSM…they’d be all over an American who shot the wrong guy but they never gave the actual context of what being there was like. It didn’t fit the Narrative.
First thing for all Americans to remember about Islam: it is different from the United States. This may come as a shock – especially for the fine people at Gays for Palestine – but they really aren’t just like us. Different language, different religious atmosphere, different historical development. The point being made in the post was that you can’t just willy-nilly transport these people to the USA – or the larger West – and expect them to simply fit in. Sure, self-selected people arriving via normal immigration process can be fine…and have been fine for ages…but waves of “refugees” being shoved in via NGO-funded human trafficking, not so much. The difference is that the Muslim who simply wants to live in, say, Germany and so does his best to live like a German is an immigrant…the Muslim trafficked into Germany is a combination of welfare bum and invader…who not only does not understand the West, but holds it in contempt.
We don’t want to have any more excuses for bad behavior – and it extends not just to importing people who don’t want to be here, but also to excusing Third World failure. I pointed out on X that Haiti is on the same island as the Dominican Republic and yet Dominica’s per capita GDP is more than five times that of Haiti. I asked, reasonably, just how could people louse it up as bad as the Haitians had? And then I got hit by The Excuse:
After independence from France – a quite brutal affair where the Haitians massacred all the white men and forced the surviving white women to marry Haitians – the French and Haitians reached a deal…and to be sure, it was a deal made with a French fleet off of Port au Prince. The French demanded an enormous sum of money as compensation for lost property and all the French who had been killed and, faced with overwhelming force, the Haitians agreed. These payment were enormous, especially on a poor country like Haiti, and the various financial means used to pay off the indemnity ended up working out to the last payment not being made until 1947. And that’s it, you see? Had that indemnity not been imposed, the Haitians would have had the economic sinews to build themselves up. There are serious calls for France to pony up $100 billion in reparations for all this.
I’d like to point out at this moment that 1947 was 78 years ago. Suppose Haitian development was negatively impacted by the debt – a reasonable assertion – this doesn’t explain why since the debt was paid there’s been no real improvement. Over the course of 78 years – a human lifetime – there should have been some movement towards economic prosperity and political stability. Instead we recently had some sort of bizarre cannibal gang rioting in Port au Prince. I get that Haiti has a legacy of slavery, colonialism and being treated unfairly by Great Powers…but lots of countries have that and aren’t basket cases. I start to suspect that there’s some fundamental failure in the Haitian people.
And we’re all done with that – and Trump revoking Temporary Protected Status for 500,000 Haitians has got the Democrats in an uproar and the rest of us asking, “does this mean we’ll get them all out? I’m sure there are more than 500,000 here”. It isn’t indifference to human suffering…it is impatience with endless excuse-making and explaining-away. The Haitians – and the rest of the people of the Third World – are human beings just like the rest of us. They are no dumber and no smarter than we are. They are as capable of building up a free and prosperous society as anyone…and we’re now suggesting that they get on it.
Blogs For Victory 
I’ve been listening to the recent discussions on trade agreements made between the US and China. It appears there is some level of secrecy in the details, mostly on the Chinese side as it undermines Xi Jinping. It seems a person called the shots, He Lifeng (??), a former CCP loyalist who is now cooperating with opposing reform minded party elders, has negotiated with the Trump administration. Four major points were agreed upon, 3 of which benefit the US and 1 benefitting China.
With open access to US financial markets, Chinese investors will likely flock to US companies. This will be a major shift in the balance in power away from party control toward individual & market investors, who will then better determine the price of goods and services and not through political manipulation.
With US media platforms being open to the Chinese population, it will break through the infamous Chinese firewall with highly restricted and controlled messaging.
Interestingly, this deal was signed right after the US – Midnight Hammer operation in Iran, which was a clear indication of the American resolve to do whatever is necessary to safeguard US interest.
As would be expected, Xi Jinping was furious when he found out about this agreement. First for having been left out of the discussions and second for making a deal that significantly erodes his powers. If any of the above is true, it becomes clear the Chinese elders intent to push Xi aside. This agreement is essentially a roadmap to dismantle the CCP’s state run economy and embrace capitalism.
To be sure, there are elements of the CCP who will not relent to easily or quietly, fighting to retain power over all of China and the international relationships built over decades. Israel’s ability to eliminate key military leaders inside Iran has apparently made a psychological impact on Beijing’s inner circle. It will be interesting to watch this all play out.
IMO, it is Chinese being able to move money to the USA that is key – also a bit risky because that money will buy influence. But a rich Chinese guy pretty much has to toe the Party line at all times because all of his wealth can be confiscated in an instant in China…if he’s got investment accounts in the USA, then that relieves some of that pressure…and also pressures the Chinese government to stop using phony stats about Chinese economic prowess (they’ve been lying for decades)…because the rich guys actually know and in response to reality, will move their money to the one safe haven in the world: the USA. The only country on Earth where you can have a reasonable expectation of being able to keep your property regardless of your opinions.
And the Dems, true to type, are lining up in NYC to vote for another virulent America-hater with a fake resume. His might even be more fake than Kamala’s.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GuulFFpXYAAWrBL?format=jpg&name=large
LOL – and he is, like all Communist leaders, totally fake – man has never worked a day in his life. A worthy heir of Lenin (who was a nobleman living off Daddy’s money) and Stalin (was fired after a few months from the only job he had, made his way via robbery until he could live off the Party for the rest of his life). Best way to stay out of the working class is to fight for it!
Re: the big beautiful bill …. To me it looks just like another ugly morass of massive government spending. There really is no stomach in Washington to shrink the debt. Once a program is created and funded, it is permanently funded with automatic increases every year … and that is absolutely insane. This being said, I trust Trump when he says this is the best he could get (and wouldn’t you think a dictator could get what he wanted?). I am hoping a rescissions package will trim a lot of the pre approved spending in this bill and that we continue to eliminate duplicate agencies and defund weaponized NGO’s
I am hoping a rescissions package will trim a lot of the pre approved spending in this bill and that we continue to eliminate duplicate agencies and defund weaponized NGO’s
And here I thought you were a realist. If those things are not done, it will eventually collapse under its own weight, and most of the politicians who enabled it will be retired or dead.
Everyone is forgetting that as soon as OBBB passes it is on to FY2026…host of bills, lots of back and forth…and Trump people inserting things all over the place. Sometimes the smallest adjustment to an existing law can make a huge improvement…Trump in this term is firing continual shotgun blasts at the Democrats and they can’t stop them all…and, in fact, aren’t really stopping any of them.
I don’t doubt that this is the best Trump could get, which is what happens with a huge omnibus bill. We need to start limiting bills to no more than ten pages (five should be enough) covering one item, and require that anyone voting sign an affidavit that he or she has read the bill.
Just when I thought that Trump 2.0 had moved beyond the utter stupidity of Early Trump, he gets into the weeds with Elon. He could just say something diplomatic, like “I understand why Elon is frustrated at seeing so much ongoing waste—so am I. But we have to work within the political system we have. He did a great job and I don’t want him to give up because it is taking so long to make a difference.”
But no…he has to go Full Trump with crap like this:
I’m still glad he won, and I still support him, but a lot of it is back to nose-holding to do so. This comment is not only childish and petty, it is downright stupid. So he is going to give up on our space program because his feelz are bruised?
One of the responses:
And it is even worse than using a presidential temper tantrum to damage a privately owned business. (Tesla shares are down 4% in premarket trading, currently hovering around $303 per share. On the year, shares are down 21%, as of Monday’s close.)
So much for all the preening about how Trump trolls reporter. This reporter trolled Trump to the max, and he fell for it hook, line and sinker and made a fool of himself.
He is Trump! That will never change. They’ll sort it out – the two need each other.
They might sort it out but Trump has been working to overcome a respect deficit and was doing very well till this. To even HINT that Musk might be deported over a silly squabble is very damaging to Trump’s newly-earned reputation for acting like a grown-up.
It won’t take much to revive Trump Fatigue and stupid comments like this will do the job. My reaction was disgust and contempt—-and I like the guy. Or did.
Pope Leo made several recent profound decrees:
2. Any priest who publicly supports LGBTQIA lifestyles or relationships will be suspended indefinitely.
3. Every priest, bishop and cardinal must now sign an annual declaration of celibacy, swearing they are living up to their vows, not just in words but also in private. With this decree the Pope opened a private anonymous reporting channel where any parishioner or fellow priest could report if a priest was breaking his vow of celibacy, whether with women or with men. This has already resulted in some resignations.
On June 21, 2025, the Vatican published 10 names on their official channel. Each had formally been found guilty of sexual misconduct. There was no coded language, no buried footnotes or obscure documents, no reassignments, no euphonism. The list was public and final. All 10 were immediately and irrevocably excommunicated by direct papal authority. Of those excommunicated, one was a South American bishop, another was monsignor from Canada, and a third was a director of a prestigious seminary in France.
4. The Vatican issued a global instruction to all dioceses. Digital confessions are banned. No phone confessions, no live stream absolutions, no chatbot priests or AI powered forgiveness, no virtual repentance via apps or video chat. Confession must now be face-to-face or live behind a confessional screen.
Given how easily digital access can be hacked, it surprises me that anyone would trust this for confessing.
5. Sell the treasury. This was in reference to stored away treasures, the ones behind gilded doors, jewel encrusted chalices, diamond crosses, the famed golden papal tiara, gifts from kings, history soaked in opulence, dozens of ornate item rarely touched and rarely seen. They were all sold quietly, efficiently, without fanfare. The church didn’t just sell treasures, it returned the money to the people in areas who needed it the most.
6. No priest, bishop or cardinal may live in luxury. If they do they must renounce it or lose their position. Some have tried to resist and have been quietly removed from ministry.
7. Catholic women will now have full voting rights in Vatican synods.
8. Every soul belongs to the church but repentance must walk alongside welcome. We will not bless confusion but will love the confused. The pope simply made room for a return to conscience and grace.
These decrees give significant insight into Pope Leo’s direction for the church and a great many are elated. There is still resistance with some clergy. Many have quietly removed social media statements that would put them in the cross hairs of discipline or even excommunication. With the previous person sitting in the chair of Peter filling cardinal positions with like minded people, it was believed by many (myself included), that the next pope would be of the same mold. The good Lord has blessed us with a Pope intent on bringing people back to the teachings of Christ. Given the state of the world it might seem these decrees would result in many people leaving the church, but it appears to be the opposite. It seems when you remove ambiguity and become of voice of clarity, people are finding renewed faith in our loving and merciful God.
I recently saw an online article about this which explained the Pope’s personal experiences, mostly in Peru, that formed his new rules. I found it very moving and hopeful. (OK, there was a commitment to being “Green” but then it looked like it was mostly just using some solar panels.)
Every bishop is required to walk in at least one procession a year in bare feet. He has also decreed that the elaborate vestments are just for certain occasions, and he has been wearing plain white unadorned cassocks in recent photos.
He is pushing hard for confessionals again, though evidently for the time being he will tolerate face-to-face confessions. The article did not mention abortion but given the overall tone I am sure there will be a strong opinion on them as well, and hopefully on clergy who support them. I would like to see the sacraments denied to abortion providers and advocates.
He has opened the Vatican gardens at night to provide a safe place for the homeless to sleep and be fed.
I lost my link to the article because I knew you and Mark would find it interesting.
I want confessionals back! It just makes it so much easier when you can’t see the priest.
And it also looks like Leo will be more open to the TLM – while I am not a personal fan of it, a lot of very deep Catholics want it. I understand why Francis went against it – there is a strain of Trad Cath who went right past Traditionalist and on to Rigid Old Fogey. But the TLM is part of us and it should be allowed.
I love the traditional Latin Mass. Of course, I grew up with it. When I drifted away from the Church and then went to a Mass it didn’t feel that I was even in a Catholic Mass. It felt cold and alien and unspiritual. I got back into the Church but never did warm up to the new style. I liked the addition of singing hymns but that was that.
The thing about the Latin Mass is its universality. You could go into any church in the world and experience the same Mass, which communicated the depth of meaning of the Church. With the Novus Ordo, every church is different, every Mass is different. Even though every church follows the same outline of which scriptures to read, etc. there is a huge difference from one church to another. I went to many, looking for a home.
The jarring introduction of “music” was unpleasant—one lovely church with a nice priest had a little combo that played during the services and the drums were so loud they echoed off all the hard surfaces and were distracting and eventually headache-inducing. In another, a charming little mountain church, the musical accompaniment was by a woman playing one of those electronic piano/organs you find in some homes, and she really got into it. I tried, I really did try, to accept the fact that she was joyfully serving the Lord in her own way, but the odd tempos she applied to the hymns, sometimes with the addition of the electronic rhythm feature of the organ, finally just drove me away, with the unshakable (though unChristian, no doubt) sense that all she needed was a tin cup and a monkey.
I started driving half an hour to a church near a college campus, which I was surprised to find had an atmosphere I found more appealing. I also found a church in Denver that features the Tridentine Mass and attended several times, going online to find the right missal to use and having to reacquaint myself with the rituals, but I found myself much more comfortable with them. I think the thing I liked the most was the communion rail.
During Covid, I quit going to Mass, and have not yet returned—partly because finding a time to go to confession to bring myself up to date, so to speak, is weirdly hard. Confession times are limited when scheduled before Mass, sometimes the priest has just not shown up at the time listed in the bulletin, and I admittedly have not been as focused on this as I should have been. But I did find a couple of Tridentine services within 30-45 minutes of my home in Florida and bought a missal to have there.
I found this commentary on the Novus Ordo:
“So what is wrong with the new Mass you ask? In one word: nothing. However, the American Catholic Church and their perception of the new Mass is dangerous. When we tamper with the order of the Mass and the beauty surrounding it, we are tampering with the highest form of prayer. The way the Mass is said, and in the manner which it is done says a lot about the seriousness of the faith, and shows a deeper understanding of Christ and His sacrifice on Calvary.
Gone are the days of receiving the Eucharist on bended knee, symbolizing how we will praise Christ in the next life. Gone is the priest offering the sacrifice to God at His high altar. Catholics receive the Eucharist in their hands, and now the priest says the Mass facing the congregation, giving the perception that the Mass is for our benefit. Before, the priest would face the altar and offer the Mass to God, the congregation were there as blessed witnesses to the ultimate sacrifice of the Mass.
I recognize that the Eucharist is the Eucharist, and that the Novus Ordo has the same merit as the Tridentine Mass, but there is something more beautiful, mystical and awe inspiring about the Latin Mass. Maybe it is because we can trace the Tridentine Mass back 1500 years to the time of Saint Justin the Martyr? Or maybe it is because Saint Peter said Mass the same way? It is true that people may not know Latin now like they used to, but the best way to learn a language is total immersion into that language. Pax Christi!”
(And, as a side note referencing that last sentence, it was exposure to Latin six hours a week as I attended daily Mass in parochial school and then again on Sunday, that led me to my current passion for words, their meanings, their origins and their proper usage. So some here, and no doubt many others, have yet another gripe about the Catholic Church.)
As far as using a confessional, I know of some people with hearing impairments that find face-to-face their only true option. I guess if a confessional had some kind of digital screen with voice to text that might be a solution. Without being able to hear the priest, respond to his questions / directives or know what the penance is, it becomes a greatly diminished encounter.
Accommodation of circumstances is one thing: A policy overturning centuries of tradition is another.
Interesting how this report comes out nearly 5 years later … and it won’t get much air time
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/fda-announces-new-safety-warning-all-mrna-covid/