Bits & Bytes

ABORTION: Forty-eight senators have sent a letter to Majority Leader Schumer promising to block any bill that would undermine the Hyde Amendment or other current protections for the unborn.

• https://catholicvote.org/48-senators-pledge-to-block-pro-abortion-bills/

CONFIDENCE: If it was Trump, it would say “EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY DOESN’T TRUST TRUMP!! DID YOU HEAR THAT?! EIGHTY PERCENT!! THAT’S 4 OUT OF 5 AMERICANS THINK DONALD TRUMP SUCKS!!”

• https://nypost.com/2021/01/24/1-in-5-have-confidence-biden-can-unite-the-country-poll/

HHS: FAUXTUS’ nominees for the top three spots at the Department of Health and Human services have two things in common. One, they are incompetent. Two, they are big supporters of abortion on demand.

1) Nominee for secretary of HHS – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra – has no background in the field of healthcare at all. His background includes attacking the First Amendment rights of pregnancy care centers in California, an effort he ultimately lost at the U.S. Supreme Court.

2) Nominee for deputy secretary of HHS – Wisconsin’s acting Secretary of Health Andrea Palm – has no healthcare education. She repeatedly exceeded her position’s lawful powers and, at public appearances, appeared not to understand the data. She’s been sued and lost after trying to close the whole state and for continuing to close and restrict religious gatherings. Under her leadership, Wisconsin hasn’t even completed its priority lists for who should be vaccinated and when; half of the vaccine doses provided to Wisconsin have not yet been administered.

3) Nominee for assistant secretary of health – Pennsylvania’s secretary of health Dr. Rachel Levine – is the worst of the three. Knowing it would lead to excess deaths, her office issued orders forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients, then moved her own mother into private care. Six of the 10 nursing homes with the most COVID-19 deaths in the nation were in Pennsylvania — a direct result of Levine’s policy. Her leadership has put the commonwealth behind more than 30 other states in vaccine distribution, though overdoses from illegal drugs increased 11.7% under her watch.

• https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/bidens-hhs-nominees-lack-basic-competence-in-public-health-but-boy-do-they-protect-abortionists

IMPEACHMENT 2: Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Feb. 6 that congressional lawmakers are violating the U.S. Constitution with what he described as a “show trial” against former President Donald Trump.

The House impeachment brief (pdf) alleges that Trump incited a mob to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while lawmakers were convened in a joint session to consider the certification of Electoral College vote.

• https://www.theepochtimes.com/congress-put-itself-above-the-law-in-trump-impeachment-dershowitz_3687699.html
• https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/house_trial_brief_final.pdf

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: The Supreme Court issued a ruling late Friday night that California must immediately allow churches to reopen at 25% of occupancy — ending the state’s ban on indoor worship.

• https://catholicvote.org/supreme-court-rules-california-must-allow-churches-to-reopen-at-25-occupancy/

SAINT OF THE DAY: Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita (b. 1869 in the Darfur region of Sudan – d. February 8, 1947 in Vicenza, Italy). In 1877, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders and forced to talk 600 miles to a slave market. Over the next 12 years, she was bought, sold and given away more than a dozen times. Some owners treated her well. Some abused her viciously.

One took her to Italy where another placed her in a convent while the family was traveling. There she learned about Jesus and decided to join the order. When her mistress returned from her trip, Josephine refused to leave the convent. A superior in the order took her case to court, where she won her freedom.

She was baptized on January 9, 1890, receiving the Sacraments of Initiation from Archbishop Giusseppe Sarto, twho would later become Pope Pius X. She spent the rest of her life as a member of the Daughters of Charity, where she worked as a cook and a doorkeeper at her home convent. She also traveled and visited other convents telling her story to other sisters and preparing them for work in Africa.

She was known for her gentle voice and smile. She was gentle and charismatic, and was often referred to lovingly as the “little brown sister” or honorably as the “black mother.” When speaking of her enslavement, she often professed she would thank her kidnappers. For had she not been kidnapped, she might never have come to know Jesus Christ and entered His Church.

• https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5601

GRAMMY NOTES: I just did the math and realized I am coming up on the 50^th anniversary of giving my life to Jesus! I don’t remember what time of year it was, only that I was 17. I’ll be 67 on May 7.