The News & Topicality Thread

[Jocose]

It is curious that Elon Musk has taken a sudden interest in the world's real-life Bond villains, like Soros and Starmer.

Buckle up, some wild times are a comin’

[Del]

It is curious that Elon Musk has taken a sudden interest in the world's real-life Bond villains, like Soros and Starmer.

Buckle up, some wild times are a comin’

Last July 2024, Elon sat down for a long interview with Jordan Peterson.

Short clip here.... Elon reveals how he was tricked into allowing his son to undergo gender transition, just 4 years ago during the covid craze. Now he has lost his son to quack medical grift. It is heart-wrenching to see the pain on this father's face. All of his wealth and power could not protect them.

https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/1815504648788193405

As a result, Elon has vowed to fight against the "Woke Mind Virus"... any way that he can.

In this light, Elon's recent actions make perfect sense. Especially his feud with British PM Starmer, who is allowing large grooming gangs of Pakistani immigrants to pass young English girls from rapist to rapist. The British leftists have allowed this to go on, for years, because they want to call conservatives "racist" whenever someone complains.

Elon's feeling for all of those fathers.

JK Rowling is joining Elon in the fight. Rowling has already taken a lead against transgender ideology in the UK, especially regarding men in women's sports, men in women's bathrooms and lockers, and men in women's prisons. Rowling is all about protecting women and girls....

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wor ... 880704.cms

In Britain, you can be imprisoned for calling attention to the rape gangs... It is considered a form of "hate speech" that is "likely to incite violence."
(Tommy Robinson is a famous example.) This is the Woke Mind Virus that Elon is fighting.

[Jocose]

It is curious that Elon Musk has taken a sudden interest in the world's real-life Bond villains, like Soros and Starmer.

https://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/18 ... 9075530957

Former Labour MP Ivor Caplin, who criticized Elon Musk on British TV last week for his remarks about Keir Starmer, has been arrested following a sting operation by citizen pedophile hunters.

Caplin allegedly attempted to arrange a meeting with a 15-year-old boy.

Just last week, he condemned
@elonmusk
's tweets about Jess Philips and Keir Starmer, calling them "unacceptable":

"The abuse he has tried to bring on Keir Starmer is completely and utterly unfound."

"He can't do that. That's unacceptable."

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Texas Has a Perverse Idea of Religious Freedom [Analysis, Opinion]
Source: New York Times
Link: nytimes DOT com/2025/01/19/opinion/texas-catholic-immigration-paxton.html

The Money-Quote:

Here’s a quote from [TX AG Ken] Paxton’s brief:

Annunciation House’s house director testified that Annunciation House (i) goes periods of “nine months, ten months” without offering Catholic Mass, (ii) does not offer confessions, baptisms, or communion, and (iii) makes “no” efforts to evangelize or convert its guests to any religion.

In other words, Annunciation House isn’t Catholic enough to earn Pope Paxton’s seal of approval.

This is absurd — and threatening to American civil liberties. First, it’s ridiculous to believe that service to refugees isn’t “free exercise” all by itself. In fact, serving the poor is one of the purest forms of religious service that exists. It’s mandated or endorsed in, by one count, more than 2,000 passages in Scripture. It’s also one of the most ancient manifestations of Christian service and identity.

The very idea that a state official would take it upon himself to judge a faith-based institution’s religiosity and authenticity is deeply problematic. It entangles the state in ecclesiastical affairs. Whenever public officials pass religious judgment on expressions of religious faith, it raises profound Establishment Clause concerns.

∗∗∗

The State (i.e. Pope Paxton) being the arbiter of authentic Catholicity would certainly seem to present some Religious Freedom issues.

[Del]

+JMJ+

Title: Texas Has a Perverse Idea of Religious Freedom [Analysis, Opinion]
Source: New York Times
Link: nytimes DOT com/2025/01/19/opinion/texas-catholic-immigration-paxton.html

The Money-Quote:

Here’s a quote from [TX AG Ken] Paxton’s brief:

Annunciation House’s house director testified that Annunciation House (i) goes periods of “nine months, ten months” without offering Catholic Mass, (ii) does not offer confessions, baptisms, or communion, and (iii) makes “no” efforts to evangelize or convert its guests to any religion.

In other words, Annunciation House isn’t Catholic enough to earn Pope Paxton’s seal of approval.

This is absurd — and threatening to American civil liberties. First, it’s ridiculous to believe that service to refugees isn’t “free exercise” all by itself. In fact, serving the poor is one of the purest forms of religious service that exists. It’s mandated or endorsed in, by one count, more than 2,000 passages in Scripture. It’s also one of the most ancient manifestations of Christian service and identity.

The very idea that a state official would take it upon himself to judge a faith-based institution’s religiosity and authenticity is deeply problematic. It entangles the state in ecclesiastical affairs. Whenever public officials pass religious judgment on expressions of religious faith, it raises profound Establishment Clause concerns.

∗∗∗

The State (i.e. Pope Paxton) being the arbiter of authentic Catholicity would certainly seem to present some Religious Freedom issues.

New York Times is not a credible source, especially regarding religion, most especially regarding Catholic faith. Mostly, NTY hates Christians. They only like us when we provide cover for their political agenda.

I'm not sure where to go to settle this fairly. Partisan news sources will devolve into a classic "He said, she said" impasses. It will take a court, obviously.

We don't want government to intrude on authentic religious charity work, as Biden oppressed pro-lifers and Pregnancy Care Centers.

And we don't want corrupt NGO's to disregard laws and due process under the cover of "religion," as Texas AG Paxton accuses here.

So this will just have to be sorted out in due time.

The only datum I know for sure is that the local Bishop has expressed his support for Assumption House. So I hope that the bishop is right and AG Paxton is wrong.

I believe the issue is that Assumption House refuses to submit documentation to evidence their own compliance with Texas law. But it could be more complex than this. It's all over my head.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Pope Francis calls Trump’s plans for mass deportation a ‘disgrace’
Source: Crux
Link: cruxnow DOT com/church-in-the-usa/2025/01/pope-francis-calls-trumps-plans-for-mass-deportation-a-disgrace

The Money-Quote:

Pope Francis on Sunday said it would be a “disgrace” for incoming US president Donald Trump to make good on promises to expel undocumented immigrants.

“We have not spoken [of this],” Francis told Italian TV-host Fabio Fazio during a conversation on Fazio’s Che Tempo Che Fa program on Sunday, “but if it is true, it will be a disgrace, because he will make these poor wretches, who have nothing, pay the bill of disorder [It. squilibrio].”

“This won’t do,” Francis said, “this is not the way to resolve the matter.”

∗∗∗

Making the poor the scapegoats (i.e. making them "pay the bill of disorder") for our inability/unwillingness to rightly order our essential services at the Border so as to fulfill our most basic duties to Migrants just about sums up the current sitch.

• The Dems & the GOP kicking-the-can on routine Immigration Upkeep? Sad.
• Shirking our humanitarian duties in order to save a couple of bucks? Disgraceful.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Bishop says Trump’s efforts against immigrants ‘strikes fear’ in border communities
Source: Crux
Link: cruxnow DOT com/church-in-the-usa/2025/01/bishop-says-trumps-efforts-against-immigrants-strikes-fear-in-border-communities

The Money-Quotes:

President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the United States has raised “urgent moral and human concerns,” according to Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso.

[…]

“The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking healthcare and dropping off and picking up children at school,” the bishop says.

“We have also seen the rapid and indiscriminate closure of the border to asylum seekers and the return of the ill-conceived Remain in Mexico policy, violating due process and restricting the few legal options available to the most vulnerable who knock on our door seeking compassion and aid,” Seitz continued.

[…]

“In response, the Diocese of El Paso will continue to educate our faithful on their rights, provide legal services and work with our community leaders to mitigate the damage of indiscriminate immigration enforcement. Through our Border Refugee Assistance Fund, in partnership with the Hope Border Institute, we are preparing to channel additional humanitarian aid to migrants stranded in our sister city of Ciudad Juarez,” Seitz says.

∗∗∗

Bp Seitz is serving public notice that the Great Commission will continue on schedule. The trains are running on time.

[Del]

3 days into the new Administration, and ICE have arrested 1300 illegal aliens.

According to Tom Homan, over 1000 of these are dangerous criminals.
The rest are "fugitive" persons who have been adjudicated through due process and had their asylum claims denied, but failed to depart as ordered....
Or they are "collaterals."

https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/1882600909710168202

Homan discussed the unfolding situation with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, where he explained that of the 1300 arrests, more than 1000 had committed additional crimes other than simply coming into the United States illegally or overstaying a legal visa.

“What I can tell you right now, Chris, is we’ve arrested 1300 people, over a thousand of them are criminals,” Homan began. “Who are the other ones? They’re either fugitives who’ve been through immigration court, have been ordered to be removed but didn’t, became a fugitive, or collaterals.”

Homan went on to explain that “collaterals” were illegal aliens who had not necessarily committed additional crimes other than entering the country illegally, but they got caught up when ICE agents arrested someone else who should have been held by local authorities but were not because they were in a “sanctuary” jurisdiction.

In normal areas, a bad dude is arrested for crime. If he is an illegal alien, local cops call ICE. ICE sends an agent to pick him up at the jail.

In Sanctuary areas, a bad dude is released back into the public. ICE sees the arrest report. ICE sends a team of agents to dig the dude out of hiding. Otherwise innocent aliens are caught up in the operation.... and these are sent home or invited to wait across the border in Mexico.

Lesson for the Wise: When local authorities refuse to enforce just laws and common sense, innocent people suffer.

[Jocose]

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1882564538463105386

The U.S. Catholic Church feels it has to speak out on President Trump's immigration policies, "which we see as going against some of the basic tenants of our faith, frankly — the fundamental right of every human person that need to be respected, no matter their origin, no matter their situation," says Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on migration. Seitz also says Pope Francis "certainly is paying attention" to the administration's actions.

https://x.com/GraduatedBen/status/1882636620685615363

Bishop Seitz conveniently leaves out the fact that his organization rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding every year to facilitate human trafficking:


[url=https://ibb.co/x3yYv3c]

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1882725948795367825

Under
@realDonaldTrump
, the US government will stop bribing religious organizations to facilitate illegal migration