There often is ...
As if one needed further proof that Hamas is a form of pond scum:
Pessach also said hostages were subjected to psychological torture (as
in being told that Israel no longer exists). "What really struck me is
how prepared the Hamas terrorists were with their psychological
torment," he said. "It was structured and preplanned. They're constantly
saying, 'Nobody cares about you. You are here alone. You hear the bombs
falling? They don't care about you. We're here to protect you.' And this really played with their minds.
**
The director of a Gaza hospital admitted to Israeli interrogators that he had been recruited by Hamas to help turn the Strip’s medical centers into military facilities, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet)
announced on Tuesday.
We don't have to trade with China:
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed authorities have been accused of staging a show trial “worthy of Stalin,” as Catholic entrepreneur Jimmy Lai went
on trial Monday on charges of breaching national security and colluding
with foreign forces.
Lai,
76, arrived at a Hong Kong court on Dec. 18 amid a heavy security
presence and dozens of supporters for a trial expected to last several
months.
The
self-made media mogul, who denies all the charges, has already been
detained for more than 1,000 days and faces the possibility of life in
prison if he is found guilty — an outcome that observers say is most
likely.
His
arrest and incarceration followed the imposition of a national security
law in 2020 in response to massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. The controversial law aims to punish what China considers to be subversion, secession, terrorism and working with foreign powers, but critics say it aims to quash dissent by removing civil liberties and free speech.
Lai was arrested
and jailed for 13 months in 2021 for taking part in a banned vigil for
the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, but some of the most
serious charges against him concern his Apple Daily newspaper, which was staunchly critical of Beijing and for which a colonial-era law is being used.
The newspaper was forced to close in 2021, following a raid on its offices. Six former Apple Daily executives were arrested along with Lai, accused of “colluding with foreign forces” to endanger national security.
His
prosecution has caused an international outcry, with the opening of his
trial prompting condemnations from both the U.S. and U.K. governments.
**
Way to cop out, Australia:
Before the request, Australia took the very unusual step of voting (in a
non-binding resolution) against the interests of the US. This is
something not seen in a long time. This may have been done to placate a
growing domestic opposition to Israel's actions but it makes little
difference since the US had already vetoed a ceasefire through the UN
Security Council. ...
Australia is located on the other side of the world. It has citizens
from both sides of the conflict and is witnessing growing extremist
movements within its own borders. It has finally stepped out of the US'
shadow to call for a ceasefire and could potentially act as a mediator
in the conflict if needed. That opportunity will be lost if it has a
military presence in the region. It is sensible for Australia to
continue distancing itself from the US.
The above was written by a hack working for a Chinese newspaper.
Afuera!:
Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, and his new justice minister,
Patricia Bullrich, have advised Argentina's rioters they can kiss their
welfare payments goodbye if they go out rioting -- starting fires,
spraying graffiti, breaking windows, blocking roads, and looting.
Now, about this blessing nonsense:
For the second time in a month, the media has taken a document from the Vatican and mangled it beyond all recognition.
In November, the subject was so-called transgender baptisms.
Now, it is the supposed authorization of blessings for same-sex unions.
But that’s not what the document says at all. If anything, the document
could be understood to encourage blessings so that same-sex-attracted
individuals (or any individual in what the document calls an “irregular”
relationship) will be encouraged to live out God’s plan for human
sexuality rather than their own.
On Dec. 18 the Vatican issued Fiducia Supplicans,
a “Declaration on the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings.” It’s a meaningful
action to be sure; the Vatican has not issued a declaration on any
topic in more than 20 years. According to the liturgy office
for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, “A
declaration is a papal document that can take one of three forms: 1) a
simple statement of the law interpreted according to existing Church
law; 2) an authoritative declaration that requires no additional
promulgation; or 3) an extensive declaration, which modifies the law and
requires additional promulgation.” And the purpose of this declaration
is to expand “the pastoral meaning of blessings.” In part, it is a
clarification of the Vatican’s 2021 responsum, which taught that “the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit.”
The most important point is that Fiducia Supplicans does not overrule or set aside the responsum.
At every turn, it confirms the teaching of the Catholic Church about
same-sex and other relationships that do not qualify for the sacrament
of marriage.
Paragraph 4 of the
declaration deems “inadmissible” any “rites and prayers that could
create confusion between what constitutes marriage — which is the
‘exclusive stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman
naturally open to the generation of children’ — and what contradicts
it.” The same paragraph reiterates, “The Church’s doctrine on this point
remains firm.”
Paragraph
5 reminds us that this “is also the understanding of marriage that is
offered by the Gospel.” Accordingly, “the Church has the right and the
duty to avoid any rite that might contradict this conviction or lead to
confusion.” Indeed, Fiducia Supplicans clarifies that this “is also the meaning of the responsum,”
“which states that the Church does not have the power to impart
blessings on unions of persons of the same sex.” In other words,
continues Paragraph 11, “the Church does not have the power to confer
its liturgical blessing when that would somehow offer a form of moral
legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an
extra-marital sexual practice.”
If
there is any doubt on this point, Paragraph 38 reiterates that “one
should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessing of
couples in an irregular situation.” Additionally, Paragraph 39
emphasizes that “when the prayer of blessing is requested by a couple in
an irregular situation,” “this blessing should never be imparted in
concurrence with the ceremonies of a civil union, and not even in
connection with them. Nor can it be performed with any clothing,
gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding. The same applies when
the blessing is requested by a same-sex couple.” And Paragraph 40 makes
clear that “there is no intention to legitimize anything, but rather to
open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to
invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived
with greater faithfulness.”
So if Church teaching remains firm, the 2021 responsum’s restrictions are still in place, and same-sex unions and other irregular unions cannot be blessed, what’s the point of Fiducia Supplicans?
It’s simple, as the document states: to help Catholics “understand the
possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex
couples without officially validating their status or changing in any
way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.” In other words, the
Church contemplates the possibility of blessing individual persons in
irregular relationships to call them to holiness.
As clickbait as Pope Francis' words were, even the idea of blessings is a bad and confusing one.
No one, not even the Pope, can defy the Church's teaching which stems from God Himself.
**
(Sidebar: the original article is in German. Below is a translation from Google Translate.)
The
chairman of the bishops' conference also noted that Catholic teaching
remains unchanged: "The ideal type is and remains the coexistence of a
woman and a man, in which only life is passed on naturally. The Church
will adhere to this teaching." The
church wants to “promise good things in the name of God to couples in
non-regular situations who stand together in loyalty and love.” And
further: "The differences must be allowed to be named, although what
unites us is great - the common calling from baptism, which makes us
brothers and sisters in the Lord."
**
The Episcopal
Conference of Malawi issued a directive on Tuesday forbidding the
blessing of same-sex unions in the wake of confusion over a Vatican
declaration allowing blessings “for couples of the same sex.”
**
The recently canceled Bishop of Tyler, Texas, His Excellency Joseph Strickland, is calling on Catholic bishops to resist Fiducia Supplicans, a document released earlier today by Pope Francis in conjunction with left-wing Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández that calls for blessings of homosexual couples.
In remarks shared exclusively with LifeSiteNews via video, Bishop
Strickland encouraged “my brother bishops that we all join with a voice
of strength and joy in the Lord in these last days of Advent and say
‘no’ to this latest document.”
So there's that.
It's awful that we treat children this way:
I have delivered babies with Trisomy 18 and have had to counsel
mothers pregnant with these babies. This is a life-changing diagnosis.
But medically speaking, to say children with Trisomy 18 have no chance
of life is a bald-faced lie. The actual percent of these babies that
would survive to adulthood is impossible to calculate — the high rate of
their early abortion precludes this — other than to say survival to
adulthood is very low. The best estimates
we have state that less than 40 percent of these babies will survive
their first month of life, and that less than 10 percent survive to
their first birthday.
Cox could have quietly driven to another state to abort her child,
but she isn’t just interested in termination, she’s interested in
twisting the situation for political gain. She claims her life or
fertility is in danger to make a point about what is legal and illegal
in Texas and doesn’t care what the people or duly elected
representatives of those people think.
Cox also has a doctor that is a party to the case. Her obstetrician, Damla Karsan, is willing to say
under oath that “a D&E abortion is medically recommended,” but will
not go as far as to say that it is necessary to protect Cox’s life or
health. For this very reason, the case was overturned by the Texas
Supreme Court, as it stated,
“The statute requires that judgment be a ‘reasonable medical’ judgment,
and Dr. (Damla) Karsan has not asserted that her ‘good faith belief’
about Ms. Cox’s condition meets that standard.”
It’s a very important point that Cox cannot find a doctor who is
willing to say that her pregnancy caused “a serious risk of substantial
impairment of a major bodily function.” If she could, under Texas law
(§170A.002(b)(2)), it would actually be enough if the doctor included
this in his or her “reasonable medical judgment” to make the abortion a
valid exception to the ban. It would not be necessary to prove anything
further.
In fact, even if the Texas Medical Board then convened to remove the
physician’s license for extreme incompetence, the doctor would still be
protected by the law for performing the abortion because he or she
believed these facts to be true at the time. I think it is a benefit to
the citizens of Texas that no doctor who is this delusional is currently
practicing in the Lone Star State.
Further, Cox knows her life is not in danger. Cesarean sections account
for 32 percent of deliveries in the U.S. Having prior cesarean sections
does not constitute a significant risk to her life. This includes the
risk of uterine rupture and the risk of losing her fertility from an
emergency hysterectomy. I routinely perform cesarean sections and have
never had such a complication. Women have repeat cesarean sections and
vaginal births after cesarean sections every day. Furthermore, with such
a high rate of cesarean sections, if the Texas Legislature wanted
“prior cesarean sections” to be an exception, they would have put it in
the law.
At the heart of this matter, Cox (and her enablers) want to eliminate
the Texas laws governing abortion. They want to throw out the will of
the Texas Legislature and the will of the people. They want to go around
the rule of law to make the world work the way they want.
Unfortunately for Cox, unlike Lloyd Austin and Joe Biden, she does
not have the resources of a fully functioning and completely corrupt
Department of Justice at her disposal. Cox resides in a state that
understands that electively killing an unborn baby when a mother’s life
is not in danger is not medical care. As a board-certified obstetrician,
I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. This is why she lost her
case.
Now that she’s lost, she has stated that she will be leaving Texas to receive the abortion in another state,
an option she has had the whole time. There will be no penalties for
wasting the time or money of the Texas courts. She has received an
unbelievably favorable portrayal by the corporate media as a martyr, and
of course, the defenseless baby with Trisomy 18 will be (or already has
been) killed and cheated out of whatever small chance of survival he or
she had.
Damn pasty Irish:
The Irish have proven to be irredeemably white.
It is hopeless.
So what is the solution?
The cure will have to be brutal. Nothing else can root this evil out. It will involve a population transfer.
As punishment for their racism, the Irish must forever be banished from Erin. They should be shipped to New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver.
Instead,
the isle of Erin should be given as a remedy to a truly deserving and
victimized people of color: the Gazans. Cork could be renamed
Al-Khorq. Dublin could be renamed Al-Dubleen. Belfast could be renamed
Balfazz. Derry could be renamed Derree, and the island could be
renamed West Palestine.
The Irish are pro-Palestinian anyway, so they should consent to the justice in this.
If
Britain complains about placing 2 million Gazans adjacent to their own
island, they must be reminded that this is the consequence of their
Balfour declaration.
Yes, America will suffer. Brooklyn will
become more Irish and less Arab, but this will be the condign punishment
we deserve for our American racism. We will just have to suffer our
lot, as a national atonement.
Come to think of it, Norway may be racist as well.
And Iceland...and the Baltic countries...and Poland...
