Actually, Cdl. Dolan, It IS the Money

Maybe Bannon's class-less crack about 'filling the pews' was ...ahhh...class-less.  And maybe Cdl. Dolan's heated riposte was correct.

But whether the (Catholic) Bishops' Conference (USCC) gets Big Bucks due to 'refugees' and 'immigrants'--that's not in dispute.

...Simpson goes on to list the nine primary “Refugee Contractors” whom the “federal government pays …. to resettle refugees and asylees.” Among the nine is “CC/USCCB: Catholic Charities/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops”.

According to the table provided — with figures from USAspending.gov — We see that from 2008 to 2015, the Catholic Charities/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shows funding received for refugee resettlement in an amount totaling over $2 billion dollars....

"Aha!" you say.  "Refugee" is not the same as "DACA immigrant!!"

Wrong, Bishop-breath.  Obozo re-wrote the rules.

...In December 2013, the Obama administration announced an in-country refugee program for Central American Minors (CAMs) that allows persons under 21 years of age from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador direct travel to the U.S. While those countries tragically suffer from high crime and poor economic conditions, merely being a member of an afflicted population does not raise a person to the definition of “refugee.” By offering this status, the Obama administration is deliberately expanding the definition, an action that has been called a “rogue family reunification program.”....

Thus the USCC's bleating and screeching about 'Samaritans' and "justice."  They would like to cover their income-generation with Good Terms and Double-Plus-Good Results and the Words of Jesus and the Bible.

Except that their "justice" flapjaw makes a mockery of the term "justice," because USCC doesn't give a flipped finger about "justice" for existing US citizens.  Think about a teeter-totter with only one occupant and you get the USCC's definition of "justice."

As in most controversies, the best advice is to Follow the Money.  Skojec did, above, and....well.....

No DACA, No Gummint!

So Paul Ryan's pal, Gutierrez, has a plan!

In an emotional press conference with progressive and immigrant activists, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said Democratic House leaders have told him they will support stopping the government to protect 800,000 people whose status has been in limbo since the Trump administration announced it will suspend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in six months.

Is that a feature or a bug?

Schimel Steps Up

Well, now.  Our AG is interested in potential criminal activity!

Attorneys General in 20 states asked the U.S. Supreme Court release undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s criminal activity.

The top law enforcement officers in those states filed a “friend of the court” brief with the nation’s highest court arguing that they should be privy to violations of law within their jurisdictions....

...Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are all part of the amicus brief....

The Wisconsin branches of the Margaret Sanger Chop Shop should be very, very, concerned.

Who Bought Jeff Sessions? And How Much??

The Deep State keeps its secrets and protects its own.

Sessions has told Judicial Watch and two Congressmen to shove it where the sun never shines regarding the Lois Lerner/IRS Mass Corruption case.

Who spent the $$ to shut off Sessions?  And how much did it cost??

And there's the BATF/E kickback scheme, on which Sessions will not release documents.

And of course, Sessions has yet to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her blatant, wanton, disregard of ALL national-security protocols and requirements for her emails.  Oh, yes, each one sent or received was a criminal violation, no "intent" required.

The Donald sleeps and tweets.  We're no longer impressed.

RoJo (Finally!!) Woke!

It appears that Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has finally awakened to the fact that voting with McConnell is damn near treason.

So he, and 16 other (R) Senators who actually love this country, voted against McConnell's bullshit bill.

Democrat Vote-Fraud Succeeds!!

Yes, indeed, vote-fraud can succeed!!

New Hampshire is the next Chicago/Illinois.  Can bankruptcy for that State be far behind?

Catholic Bishops Beclown Themselves Further

Sure enough, after Steve Bannon emitted a despicable slur to the effect that the Catholic Bishops only want immigration to fill the pews and coffers of the Church, the Bishops responded.

And looked even dumber.

"It is preposterous to claim that justice for immigrants isn't central to Catholic teaching," USCCB spokesman James Rogers said in a statement made available to the Washington Examiner....

So is justice for we who already are US citizens NOT "central to Catholic teaching," Mr. Rogers?  Or is "justice" a one-sided affair to the Bishops?  Oh, and Mr. Rogers, is "justice" served when the fraud-rate in DACA is north of 40%?  Hmmmmm???? 

Oh, but it gets worse!

"It comes directly from Jesus Himself in Matthew 25, 'For I was hungry and you gave me food … a stranger and you welcomed me.' Immigrants and refugees are precisely the strangers we must welcome...."

Of course, the above passage has nothing to do with immigration laws (justice) and everything to do with  the virtue of charity.  The USCC's spox doesn't appear to know the difference.

So how can the Bishops presume to instruct Bannon in Catholicism?  Beats me.

So Now, WellsFargo Cuts Off Pro-Family Charity!!

As a followup to its huge customer-account fraud AND its auto-lending/insurance scam, WellsFargo decided to cut off a pro-family, pro-marriage Christian charity.

Smooth move, WellsFargo!! 

The pro-family, pro-children Ruth Institute was notified Thursday that its online donation processor had cut off services because it promotes “hate, violence, harassment or abuse.” Correspondence suggests that there is a line leading directly to banking giant Wells Fargo and the Southern Poverty Law Center....

Their processing provider, Vanco, pointed the finger directly at WellsFargo in their press release on the question.  WellsFargo, which was "unable to provide a response" was using guidance from the Southern Piece-of-Crap Liars' outfit which has offices in Alabama and umpty-millions of dollars stashed in offshore tax-haven accounts.

Who knows?  Maybe some of their money is in WellsFargo tax-haven offshore accounts, eh??

Di-Fi, the Bigot

Seems that Sen. Feinstein has a long history of anti-Catholicism.

But of course, we should not notice what she shares with Schumer and Durbin, her co-haters?

The Silliness of the US Bishops

The US Bishops have spoken on the topic of DACA.

Not only is their pronouncement silly (or stupid, if you prefer); it ignores the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

But don't they look nice on TV?

ADDED:  The silly remarks, however, do not justify this crapola from Bannon (who ought to know better):

..."The Catholic Church has been terrible about this," Bannon said. "The bishops have been terrible about this."

"You know why? Because unable to really—to come to grips with the problems in the Church, they need illegal aliens, they need illegal aliens to fill the churches," Bannon said. "It's obvious on the face of it … They have an economic interest in unlimited immigration, unlimited illegal immigration."...

Yah, Steve, it worked with the Micks, right?   The Bishops 'filled the churches' with Irish who just wanted to eat something other than rotten potatoes....

The Usual Crap From RyConnell

These guys--Ryan and McConnell--are addicts.  They shoot up with OUR money, of course.

...on Wednesday morning, [they will] pass out of the House a so-called “clean” Harvey relief package. On Thursday, the Senate will add to that and tie it to the debt ceiling bill that would raise the debt ceiling by $2 trillion. That means the debt ceiling would be raised past the 2018 midterm elections with no reform whatsoever to spending or government. Then, the Senate would kick that back to the House for final approval before being sent to the president....

So relief for Houston becomes a Spend-A-Holic bill, too.

How About a Post on Sex??

There.  That should be click-bait.

This short essay quotes T S Eliot, then asks a question, then answers it, and tells us something that we all kinda-sorta knew without having formulated it.

Here's the (slightly-edited) end of the column--the part we all kinda-sorta knew:

...fatherless children don’t go to church.  In 1929, the American illegitimacy rate hovered around 3 percent. Today it is 40 percent overall.  Church attendance for adults who grew up in a household with a father who attended church every week is 72 percent; church attendance for adults who did not have a church-attending father is 2-4 percent.

...How many rioters grew up following their fathers into church every week?...

Now go back and read the sexy part.

Smith/Ricardo Economics: Not Too Correct

Vox Day posts a few grafs from Steve Keen, an Aussie economist, wherein the Smith/Ricardo theory of specialization/comparative advantage is dismantled.

Key to the argument is that Ricardo erred when he failed to account machinery as 'capital,' and used only money in that category.  Yah, well, machines are (generally) function-specific which means that they are (generally) industry-specific, and they are (generally) portable.

The archetypal machines for cloth and wine manufacturing in Ricardo’s time included the spinning jenny and the wine press. It is stating the obvious that one cannot be turned into the other, but stating the obvious is necessary, because the easy conversion of one into the other was assumed by Ricardo, and has been assumed ever since by mainstream economic theory.

In fact, the relative mobility which Ricardo assumed for his ubiquitous concept of “capital” is the opposite of what applies to machinery. Machinery designed for one industry simply cannot move to any other, even in the same country; but machinery in one industry can (and frequently is) shipped between countries.

Thus, as Vox concludes:

Free trade is not always and inherently inimical. The important point is that, contra Ricardo and his mindless adherents, it is not always and inherently beneficial either.

Trump was elected for a reason, people.

Recent History: Catholic Liturgical Music

This is a good 'historical context' essay about Catholic liturgical music--which is a shipwreck today.  Note well:  these excerpts skip some essay-content which is helpful; you should read the whole thing.  (By the way, the author inadvertently points to ONE of the reasons that the youth are flocking to the "Old Rite" Masses.)

...A century ago, Pope St. Pius X took on the reform of liturgical music in a big way. Late nineteenth-century liturgical music had largely pushed Gregorian chant aside, and the patrimony of the Roman Rite’s most distinctive musical form was in danger of fading away....The long-term project was to rediscover and reclaim the authentic root of chant, which had become covered in the overgrowth of centuries of adaptation and neglect. Thankfully, this pursuit was undertaken wholeheartedly by several key groups, and real progress was being made in allowing the Roman Rite to, once again, rely on its distinctive musical form in the twentieth-century liturgy.

However, this all-important step was really only tenuously connected to another all-important question related to liturgical music: How might the recovery of chant impact the existing state of congregational singing at Mass?...

Well, then:  the author makes a VERY important discovery:

...To my surprise, I’ve only recently come to learn that the Roman Rite has had a bit of an on again/off again relationship with the whole notion of liturgical singing done by anyone other than the clergy (remember, pre-Vatican II “clergy” included those in minor orders) or established choirs of the day. The people in the pews were not at all central to the notion of “liturgical” music, any more than they were at all central to providing the liturgical responses at Low Mass or High Mass (“Sung” or “Solemn”).

Yet the twentieth-century Magisterium did come down in favor of giving formation to the faithful such that they could at least minimally learn and participate in the chant that was being rediscovered. Granted, congregational singing of vernacular hymns was happening, but this was seen as distinct from the ceremonial-liturgical music that existed exclusively in Latin, not the vernacular....

...recited Low Masses were much more prevalent in the average parishes, meaning that congregations were really focused not on the distinctive music of the Roman Rite, but really on hymns in the vernacular, if they did any singing at Mass at all. The patrimony of “real” liturgical music—that is, chant and polyphony in Latin—still rested largely in the hands and voices of the clergy, choirs, and servers....

Yup.  Believe it or not, "hymn-singing" was more-or-less treated as one might treat a pet puppy.  Nice to have, but not necessary by any means.  But that was then, and this is now.

Then along came The Regulators (that is, Fr. Bugnini and his crowd) and The Publishers (there was a LOT of money in them-there-hills of parishes) and chaos emerged.

....the reform of the liturgy took a turn headlong in the direction of accessibility—despite the Council’s insistence, in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, that “The use of Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (36), and that Gregorian Chant “should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (116).

If any single thing could essentially derail the century-long project of reclaiming the Roman Rite’s chant and finally getting it into the pews, the unrestrained plunge into the vernacular could, and did, in my view. It’s pretty simple. If priest and assembly are no longer bound by a requirement to learn and use Latin in liturgy, and if liberation from Latin takes the shape of a tsunami throughout the Church, from priest to pewsitter, access to the patrimony of Latin-text music—both chant and polyphony—becomes utterly short-circuited.

Furthermore, that huge, whooshing, sucking sound we all heard by the mid-1960s was the immense vacuum created by the absence of any music in the vernacular that could really fill the void created by severing the connection to both the Church’s universal language and its universal music. It was also, in my view, the death rattle for the ambitious decades-long effort to restore and reconnect not only clergy and choirs but congregations to Gregorian chant....

Indeed.  

...Thus, the Church in the US was treated to the musical “M*A*S*H” unit that was first to arrive on the scene, offering not “meatball surgery” but offering “meatball liturgy.” And it wasn’t very life-saving—at all...

That was when Rembert Weakland's US Bishops' rump-committee on music authorized "meatball music" for the US Church.  Surprise!

Upshot?

...Mass is not supposed to make me musically comfortable—it’s supposed to make me more holy....

The youts' know that, too, which tells you why they are voting with their feets.

The Usual Suspects, Named

Well, now.  Some people are siding with North Korea.  They are right here in the USA, too, and join with another Communist outfit, the Workers' World Party.

This bunch, "Refuse Fascism," honors its "initiators."  Some of the names are very familiar, indeed.

Herb Boyd, activist, author, journalist and teacher
Isabel Cardenas,  Salvadoran-American activist, Los Angeles
Carl Dix, founding member, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Charles Gaines, visual artist
Henry Giroux
Chase Iron Eyes
Everett Iron Eyes Sr., Water Administrator, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Robin D. G. Kelley, Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA*
Fran Luck, Executive Producer of Joy of Resistance, Multicultural Feminist Radio at WBAI
PZ Myers, evolutionary developmental biologist
Arturo O’Farrill, composer and musician
Milton Saier, PhD, Professor of Molecular Biology, UCSD*
Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five
Ted Sirota, jazz musician
Bob Stein, Institute for the Future of the Book
Sunsara Taylor, writer, Revolution Newspaper
Cornel West, writer, professor
Michael A. Wood Jr
Frank Wulf, United Methodist minister
Andy Zee, spokesperson, Revolution Books
David Zeiger, filmmaker

The money for this cast of jackasses is provided partially by George Soros--but you knew that already, no?  HT:  Daily Caller

By the way, I can think of a few Milwaukee-area folks who may well belong to this group but are not listed above.

Why J.J. Watt??

Da Nooz tells us that J.J. Watt's Houston-relief fund is now at $180 million (and counting.)

That's absolutely GREAT!!  Pewaukee boy/NFL star, winning, American way, and all that. 

Now step back and ponder that for a moment.

The Country Class just sent $180++ MILLION to a nice young man who promises to use it responsibly to assist victims of a hurricane.  This is money that is not even tax-deductible (so far.)

It is also money which did NOT go to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, United Funds, Lutheran Relief, or any of the other long-existing, entrenched, and--dare we say it--"Establishment" charities.

Hmmmm.

Fixing DACA, Bull-Rushing Ryan: America First

Sen. Tom Cotton has an interesting idea.

..."We ought to take care of them," Cotton said in a telephone conversation Sunday, noting that DACA recipients arrived in this country illegally "through no fault of their own."

"In any legislative fix, I would like to see them receive a green card," Cotton said. At the same time, he continued, "We ought to recognize that giving them legal status has two problems. First, it creates a whole new class of people who will then be eligible for a green card and citizenship -- namely, the extended family members of those who will receive legal status who can, through chain migration, get legal status themselves."

"Second," Cotton said, "it will encourage more illegal immigration."...

Solution?  Yup.  Cotton has that, too.

...The first problem can be fixed by passing the RAISE Act, Cotton said -- the bill Cotton has sponsored with fellow GOP Sen. David Perdue that would strictly limit chain migration as well as re-balance current immigration policy in favor of skilled immigrants.

The second problem could be addressed by extending E-verify across the country, which Cotton called "the best way to reduce more illegal immigration."...

Paul Ryan is--among other things--a rabid "open borders" guy.  In order for Cotton's legislation to prevail, Ryan must be told that he should STFU and sit down.  In fact, the halcyon days of the Left-ish Pubbie closed out at the end of the Bush II Administration.

Now it's back to America First.

Chief Justice Roberts' Acolyte in Texas

Well,  now.  Since Roberts' "tax=fee=tax" bullshit in the ObozoCare decision, we note that Roberts has an acolyte; another blackrobe who reads the law any which way he wants!

IOW, that disease is spreading throughout the judiciary.

...Garcia illogically (or intentionally) misreads this statute to hold that local and state officials cannot assist or cooperate with federal immigration authorities in enforcement activities unless they meet all of the “exacting requirements” of the 287(g) program and its authorizing federal statute.

He does this despite the plain language of the statute that specifically states that this provision shall not “be construed to require an agreement” in order for state or local officials to “communicate with the attorney general regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States; or (B) otherwise to cooperate with the Attorney General in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the U.S.”...

The "rule of law" is being demolished by the judiciary itself; meantime, the judiciary demands that the Country Class worship at its blackrobed feet.

That won't go well.

Laugher of The Week: NYT's "Economists"

Even the NYSlimes has heard about the situation in Venezuela.

The country is run by a Communist, who succeeded another Communist, and at this point in time things are--predictably--getting desperate.  No food, no propane gas, and Weimar-style inflation caused by a typical Commie move:  print more money.

So.  Midst all that, what does the NYSlimes have to say?

...Many economists trace the inflation to problems at the state oil company....

OK, then.  That settles it.

The "Most Honorable" Comey? How About Spineless?

McCarthy clarifies for us.

Comey did, indeed, write a memo declaring that he would not prosecute Hillary for her crimes relating to national security and her toilet-room server.

Now we learn that Comey wrote it at the direction of Obama--who MAY be only the second-best crook to ever occupy the White House.

So we learned something.  Comey is not an "honorable, righteous" guy.  He is a spineless snake who should have resigned rather than--on his own authority--acquitted Clinton.

UPDATE:  The Left-O-Wackies now (9/4) claim that the spineless snake wrote the memo because Feebs always write memos in advance.  More efficient, yada.  Oh?  Then where's the memo stating the reasons FOR indictment?  Hmmmm?