Tag Archives: Religion

Bits & Bytes

DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, We bind, rebuke, and renounce every block to prayer. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

BOLTON: CLICK https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1959774017298239827 [:44] to hear then-and-now reports on home raids by ABC.

CLICK https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1959675906924183976 [:33] for more of the same from CNN.

CLICK https://x.com/KurtSchemers/status/1959790672074154346 [2:18] to hear a small sampling of how the Fake News Media slandered Trump again and again and again.

CANADA: A gay pride parade in Ottawa had to be canceled after pro-Palestine protesters blocked the route.

D.C.: I think “Defund the Police” was a leftie ploy to eventually nationalize and militarize local law enforcement. Their problem now is not with either of those things. It’s with the infuriating fact that THEY are not in charge of it. [8:47] – CLICK https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1959748021757030785 [:30] to see the Sig Sauers National Guard troops were issued on Sunday. On Monday, Trump ended cashless bail for suspects arrested in the capital. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Monday that there have been a total of 1,007 arrests and 111 guns taken off the streets.

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rV-TIpy2J2M to hear a law enforcement specialist explain why Trump’s surge is a good thing.

From January 1, 2025, through August 11, 2025, there were a total of 101 homicides in D.C., yielding a murder rate of 0.45 homicides per day. There have been zero homicides since the National Guard arrived on August 12. Liberals are yammering that the homicide rate was “trending down” so they didn’t need the National Guard. Tell that to the seven or so people who are not dead right now.

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/q_vwarGJW_o and ask your favorite liberal this question.

DNC: CLICK https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1960043219879916008 [:23] and https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1960044454456316095 [:40] to hear clips from the Democratic National Convention speech that failed VP candidate, Tim Walz, gave. Love, joy, kindness? Hmmmm … more like sour grapes.

EVs: Between 2022 and 2024, the Biden administration awarded $159 million to Quebec-based Lion Electric to manufacture 435 school buses. The company has declared bankruptcy and will not be able to provide servicing to the electric school buses it built.

FLAG BURNING: CLICK https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1959997417304318072 [3:45] to see Trump sign an executive order directing the DOJ to pursue one year in prison for those who burn American flags for the purpose of inciting imminent lawless action.

In 1969, Brandenburg v. Ohio ruled that speech that directly incites illegal activity and is likely to produce it immediately is not protected by the First Amendment. Trump’s order merely encourages the DOJ to investigate flag burnings and apply the law where appropriate.

CLICK https://x.com/sabback/status/1960020393814823197 [:21] to hear then-Senator Hillary Clinton support having Congress pass a law criminalizing flag burning and desecration itself, not just where it was intended to incite lawless action.

NEW YORK SUCKS: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ri-ULtjO86A to hear a New York billionaire explain how Mamdani will bankrupt the city if he wins.

PSA: [1:57] – I suspect this can be applied to many areas of life. I’m reminded of when my brother urged his wife to get a job. She did and their bottom line increased. But their quality of life decreased, because she no longer had time to cook the amazing meals my brother had so enjoyed.

TDS: [7:53] – The stupidity at the beginning of the story is not as interesting as the bulk of the broadcast, which talks about Melania’s new project.

U.K.: The rate of sex crimes has increased greatly on the British Isles. From 2021 to 2024, the rate of sexual offense convictions of British nationals rose by 39.3%, while the rate for foreign nationals rose by 62%. Other crimes show a similar pattern.

SHORTS:

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P6mQK8WYd9E for maximum cuteness.

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The Counterfeit Catholic Church

Everyone acts like Islam “came out of nowhere” in the 7th century. It didn’t. It was built by lifting Catholic ideas, stripping them down, and repackaging them as “new revelation.” Let’s expose a few.

The Angel Gabriel

Appears to Mary in Luke 1. He brings the Word that becomes flesh. That’s Catholic revelation.

600 years later, “Gabriel” appears to Muhammad in a cave. But this time? No Incarnation. Just dictation. Sound familiar?

The Virgin Mary

Catholics had venerated Mary as Mother of God for centuries. Ephesus (431 AD) settled it: Theotokos.

Islam? Mary gets lifted wholesale into the Qur’an… but Christ’s divinity is stripped out. It’s like stealing the frame and burning the painting.

The Eucharist

From the start, the Church celebrated the Body & Blood of Christ at the altar. “Unless you eat, you have no life in you.”- John 6

Islam? Denies it, but keeps the “ritual meal” vibe in Ramadan’s breaking of the fast. A hollow echo.

Monasticism & Prayer

By the 4th century, Catholic monks prayed fixed hours daily. The Divine Office. Bells. Prostrations.

Islam? Five daily prayers facing a holy city. Prostrations. Ritual words. Copied—minus Christ.

Pilgrimage

Christians had pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, martyrs’ shrines. Long before Muhammad.

Islam? Hijacks the practice, re-centers it on Mecca, strips it of the Cross.

Scripture & Authority

The Church had the canon of Scripture locked down by the 4th century. Magisterium safeguarded it.

Islam? Claims a “book from heaven” with no witnesses, no councils, no continuity. Just one man’s word.

The irony?

  • Islam denies the very truths it borrows.
  • Loves Mary, but denies her Son is God.
  • Honors Jesus, but calls Him a prophet, not a Savior.
  • Copies prayer, pilgrimage, fasting—while rejecting the Cross that gives them meaning.

Islam is not an “independent revelation.” It’s a remix of Catholic truths— distorted, stripped of Christ, and repackaged as “submission.”

The Catholic Church: ✝️ The blueprint.

Islam: ☪️ The counterfeit.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you admire Islam’s discipline, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage — You’re admiring Catholic practices Islam stole.

SOURCE:

Original was posted by Totus Catholica @ https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxlXtvd9_PyoyCS2pbrBRGxZXmgdCbUUb3

Graphics and slight edits added by CtH.

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Bits & Bytes

Come, Holy Spirit. Replace the fear within us with holy faith. We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

AI: CLICK https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1952543179699609888 [:25] to see former CNN host Jim Acosta “interview” an AI gravatar of Parkland shooting victim Joaquin Oliver. The AI was actually created by Oliver’s parents who, last year, had their AI dead son call members of Congress to demand they ban guns. Is it just me or is this way beyond creepy?

BIDEN: [4:29] – Anita Dunn, former senior adviser to Biden for communications, says Biden’s inner circle believed allowing him to take a cognitive test offered no political benefit. Duh. They keep talking about “cognitive decline.” From what I heard, Biden’s cancer is slow to progress, so likely he has had it for as much as ten years. Moreover, the drug(s) used to treat it are known to cause clumsiness and mental confusion, both of which we saw during the 2020 campaign. My feeling is that the cover-up began as soon as he was diagnosed, whenever that was.

BORDER: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WdZDnnM6kEk to hear Clinton, Biden, Clinton, and Obama sound just like Trump.

DEMOCRACY: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IHbBESSdFvc for a quick primer into why we pledge allegiance to “the Republic” NOT “the Democracy.”

DEMOCRATS: According to the NY Post, “people with direct knowledge of the matter” say the Biden administration’s banking regulators and the Federal Reserve pressured JPMorgan and Bank of America to debank President Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol Hill melee.

Back in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan that Biden administration officials would demand Facebook remove certain content and, when Facebook refused, would “call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse.

FORTY ONE: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mGbo-YdsPeM for a very uplifting message about perseverance.

FRANKFURTERS IN AMERICA: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1292604115558224 to hear Dr. Ben Carson give examples of how the ideas developed at the Frankfurt School in the 1930s had made major inroads into American culture by the 1960s.

HEALTH: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IHbBESSdFvc to hear how many millions have been defrauding us to get free health care. In better news, twelve states now ban the use of SNAP (food stamps) to buy junk food. They include Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas , Utah, and West Virginia.

TEXAS: How long could you go without showing up at work before they would simply replace you?


TRUMP-ONOMICS
: [7:46] – Key takeaways from the video:

  1. During the last two years of the Biden administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) overestimated new job creation by 1.5 million jobs. Political con job or incompetence?
  2. From January to June, 2025, the average median household income (adjusted for inflation) increased by $1,174.
  3. During Trump’s first term, the average median household income (adjusted for inflation) increased by $6,400.
  4. During Biden’s first term, the average median household income (adjusted for inflation) increased by $551.
  5. When Trump’s and Biden’s first term income numbers are broken down by income level, every income group did better under Trump, while under Biden, only the rich got richer; everyone else got poorer.

Also, I asked Grok about the document and dark blue curtains on the wall. You can read about it at the Irish Star link below.

SHORTS:

CLICK https://x.com/ForePlayPod/status/1952420990010458222 to see the party game score of a lifetime!

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rEDTxF6_kp0 for a heartwarming win.

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Bits & Bytes

AI: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1311582794300127 to see a heartwarming video of an elephant gently lifting a child out of its enclosure and delivering it to its parents. The video looked too polished to be real, so I asked Grok to look for credible reports to verify the incident. It didn’t find any and noted that “elephants, while intelligent, are wild animals and typically react to intruders with defensive behaviors, not careful rescues. Given the polished nature of this video and the lack of credible reports to verify the incident ever happened, it’s likely this is a fabricated video created for viral attention.”

AMAZING GRACE: [3:39] – The octobass is a bowed instrument that typically plays one octave below the double bass. Because of the extreme fingerboard length and string thickness, the musician uses a system of levers and pedals to clamp the strings at the right spots. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is the only ensemble regularly using them in performances.

CLINTON: [1:03] – On July 23, DNI Gabbard released a recently declassified House Intelligence Committee report dated Sept. 18, 2020.

It reveals that Democrats covered up the fact that, during her 2016 presidential campaign, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was suffering from a mix of “intensified psycho-emotional problems” and was on a daily regimen of “heavy tranquilizers.”

It also reveals that the Russians knew about her health problems, but did not publicize the information. Obviously, if they had truly been working to get Trump elected, they would not have kept such damaging information to themselves.

DESPERATION: “The effort to sabotage Trump’s presidency—before he even took office—was not about protecting democracy. It was about protecting the machine.

“From George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama, the same interconnected network of intelligence operatives, political dynasties, and global financial interests built and maintained a shadow system of power. Trump threatened to bring it all into the light. … “

FAITH: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1240546340999534 to hear a wonderful testimony by an Iranian Muslim who converted to faith in Jesus Christ.

HULK HOGAN: CLICK https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1948415959527522565 [:08] to see him and his wife get baptized just 18 months ago.

KAMALA on RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA~!:: CLICK https://x.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1948079949476454772 [1:33] to thank God again that this drunken liar the Dems foisted on voters lost to to Donald J. Trump.

MEDIA: CLICK https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1948201380222546389 [:35] to hear how the Dem’s lapdog media misreported and/or after the Obama’s chef drowned. If the drowning was an accident, why did they lie?

SHORTS:

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EIUzo8jM_pQ to see another amazing ballet photo happen.

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1un7PMdqTfg to watch and listen to a really good man bless his neighbors.

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Bits & Bytes

DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Please help us to make kindness our default position, except when to do so would violate Your Truths. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

CATHOLIC: This is a beautiful talk. [20:09] – I am hypersensitive to perfume and, before I became too affected to attend Mass at all, I would stay in the cry room. One Sunday in the late 1980s, I went to the cry room as usual, but found it filled with youthful confirmands, all dressed up and smelling much too good. My little girl and I retreated to an adjacent, empty room, only to have Bishop Matthew Clark (Rochester, NY diocese) come in with his assistants to vest. I explained why we were there and tried to leave, but he said no, we should stay. Before he vested, he got down on his knees and had a sweet interchange with my daughter.

CHRISTIAN CULTURE: Recently, there has been controversy surrounding Chip and Joanna Gaines who decided to feature a same-sex couple on their Back to the Frontier reality show. The Gaines couple have been public about their Christian faith and, in the past, have been associated with the Antioch Community Church, which holds traditional views on marriage.

I don’t actually care about the issue, but I was intrigued by Allie Beth Stuckey’s comment about CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xUT4wcpDJVA. “You can believe that you have found a way to out-compassion God.” Whoa … what an excellent way to think about this! As for assuming that money and/or fame are God’s rewards, it was Satan who offered all that stuff to Jesus. Jesus promised His followers the cross.

FOUND on the GUADALUPE RIVER: A Texas woman founded a Facebook group where Texans can share photos of objects and pets lost in the flood or found after. I looked at a few pages and the tears were running down my cheeks.

HYPOCRITES: Democrats trying to benefit from MAGA-ites who are pissed about the Epstein files have been asked why they didn’t demand the files be released while Biden was in office. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (left) said she was too busy with other things. Rep. Jamie Raskin (right) said he doesn’t know.

MEDIA SHILLS: CLICK https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1946020435037925585 [:51] to see another example of the hyper-politicized, unfunny propaganda that CBS paid Colbert $15 million a year to produce.

NEW YUCK CITY: CLICK https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1945858127577940297 [:36] to hear Zohran Mamdani defend the abolition of private property. He is New York City’s leading (i.e., Democrat) mayoral candidate, which is a very scary thought. House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has reportedly met with Mamdani … and has continued to not endorse him.

PARENTING: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ogy9BesmOEk to see how identity politics should be handled. This is exactly what my parents would’ve done! LOL

PRISONER EXCHANGE: All ten Americans who have been held in Venezuela have been swapped for the return of more than 250 Venezuelan men (mostly Tren de Aragua members) whom we deported to El Salvadoran prisons.

Among those released was Wilbert Castañeda, a former U.S. Navy SEAL. His brother, Christian, said in a statement to The Epoch Times: “We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime. We knew that President Trump would not leave a decorated SEAL behind.”

RUSSIA HOAX: “A treasonous conspiracy” [7:40] – Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has declassified documents revealing “overwhelming evidence” that then-President Barack Obama and his national security team didn’t like the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had no ability or desire to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. At Obama’s direction, they suppressed publication of this assessment and manufactured fake evidence aimed at destroying Donald Trump and his administration.

GRAMMY NOTES: True. I was born this way. My first grade teacher remarked once that I was a “lone wolf.”

SHORTS:

CLICK https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1253936996465138 and watch closely!

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A1HLs8ZitRI for Nick’s One Rule.

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Bits & Bytes

DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Grant us the graces we need to know You more fully, to love You more deeply, and to serve You more perfectly. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

FREDDY: Yesterday, I reported on the airport security beagle who got kicked by the jerk whose luggage he outed. Today, Border Patrol posted, Thanks to everyone for their concern about Freddy who was injured while performing his duties at Dulles airport. He was treated by his veterinarian, and is expected to make a full recovery. Here he is enjoying his favorite comfort treat – a Pup Cup!

GROK: Dearest was suspicious of a text he got telling him UPS needed to schedule a delivery. I went to X and asked Grok if the URL was a scam or a genuine link. I got back “The URL https://www.ups.com@servicemik.cfd/us is not a genuine UPS link and is likely a scam.” It then gave us a detailed analysis, including the fact that the .cfd thing is used a lot by scammers.

LANGUAGE: Reply posted by Ahmed Saleh – Well, you see, after a thorough consideration of the available information, coupled with an exhaustive mental inventory of everything I’ve learned, observed, or experienced up until this moment, I must conclude that despite my best efforts to analyze the question from every conceivable angle, I am, regrettably, unable to provide a definitive answer to this question. In short, I don’t know.

I asked Grok at X. It said, “Half a dozen” is used instead of “six” for a few reasons. It’s a concise way to express the number six, rooted in the fact that a dozen is twelve, so half of that is six. The phrase carries a folksy, idiomatic charm, often used in casual speech or writing to add flavor or emphasis, like saying “a couple” instead of “two.” It can also imply an approximate count, suggesting a small, manageable group without being overly precise. For example, “I bought half a dozen eggs” feels more conversational than “I bought six eggs.” Historically, it ties to trade and commerce, where items like eggs or rolls were commonly sold by the dozen, making “half a dozen” a natural shorthand. Plus, it just rolls off the tongue nicely in certain contexts.

In short, it sounds folksy and is fun to say.

PSA: Voicemails are typically stored on the server of your cellular network provider, not directly on your phone.

SCOTUS: On X, @shipwreckedcrew wrote, The FACT that six Justices were OK with signing onto an opinion where Justice Barrett took a personal shot at Justice Jackson is a VERY STRONG indication that Jackson has alienated her colleagues and there is a growing lack of respect for her work. Justices circulate Memos among with their legal views on certain cases in order to bring others around to their thinking. Given what she has written in her dissent, imagine the memos that Jackson must have sent around in this case. Barrett aptly boils it down to a single point — Jackson would elevate the primacy of single district judges about the Executive because they are “the court” in the separation of powers.

Not The Bee (link below) highlighted some of the worst quotations from Jackson’s decision, including the use of the colloquial phrases “full stop” and “. . . (wait for it) . . .”

The thread on that post is an interesting read. Samples: My crystal ball predicts Jackson will be “pushed” out” forcing her to retire from SCOTUS. … Let’s be honest…in a non-DEI world, KBJ wouldn’t have made the top 50 list of candidates for nomination to SCOTUS. … Jackson was picked by Autopen to fill a quota. Another commenter noted that Jackson rudely failed to end with the customary “respectfully dissent.

GRAMMY NOTES: I recall reading about a longitudinal study that compared mortality rates for people who ate restrictive diets. The people in the middle, those who had eaten a balanced diet, lived the longest.

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Bits & Bytes

DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Help each of us to recognize our limitations and to cultivate modest hearts. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

COVID: Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, has released newly declassified documents revealing the Biden administration labeled vaxxx and mask mandate critics as “Domestic Violent Extremists.”

FAFO: CLICK https://x.com/IndianaGPA/status/1930063636996993375 [1:26] to see what the clerk did. My favorite part is the “always wads up his money” guy carefully opens and smooths out the ten.

FBI: CLICK https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1930441561034158122 [1:33] to hear what Dan Bongino told Sean Hannity.

PSA: [1:44] – CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DpkiCQohZgA to hear why another true story about a kid who got a piece of wire in his hamburger. ::brrr::

TARIFFS: May was the first full month since Trumps new tariffs took effect. Revenues from them hit an all-time high of $23.28 billion. The year-to-date total is $93.85 billion.

TAXATION: CLICK https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1930421251685921027 [:28] to hear a fact I never thought of quite like this.

TRAVEL BANS: President Trump has signed a declaration banning all travel from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. President Trump says in the proclamation, “I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people.” In addition to outright bans, the proclamation also calls for heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. The new travel protocols go into effect at 12:01 am Monday.

GRAMMY NOTES: Years ago, we had to get public assistance for a brief period. We received a new monthly check a couple of days after Dearest had landed a new job, so I took the check down to the welfare office to return the money. I guess they were short-staffed, because only one window was open and the line was very long. When I was finally in the #2 spot, the lady ahead of me told the beleaguered staff worker that she was there for the same reason I was. Upon hearing she’d have to wait until someone from upstairs told the worker how to handle it, the woman flipped out and, cussing at the poor worker, wadded up the check and threw it over the counter. The poor worker looked like she was going to cry, so I tried to be as nice as possible, telling her I was FINE with waiting while she called upstairs. A few minutes later, the answer came down from on high. With a big grin, the worker told me, “You can keep the check.”

SHORTS:

CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1703852270233497 to see a little princess who has embraced Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” agenda. LOL!!

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bPgKtcouxsU to hear a heartwarming story.

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The Politics of an American Pope

The Daily Mail has published a story claiming the new pope is a registered Republican. This is incorrect. Illinoisans do not register by party. They may vote in one party’s primary per election, but can switch at any time.

Pope Leo XIV, who has lived in Peru and Rome for most of his career, has allegedly voted in some GOP primaries and presidential elections. Obviously, there is no record of whom he voted for when he did vote, but since he is staunchly pro-life, it is unlikely he voted for Harris last November. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a MAGA Trumper.

In January, J.D. Vance said, “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.” The Daily Mail claims that then-Cardinal Prevost responded by writing an article entitled, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

I googled that title and got a hit at National Catholic Reporter; the article was written by Kat Armas. Prevost merely posted the link, without comment, on his X account. In his statement, Vance was referencing a concept in Catholic theology known as “ordo amoris” (Latin for “order of love”) which is based on the words of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the words of St. Augustine, we are called to give “special regard” to those persons who, “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with us.

Personally, I think it is odd that Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticize Vance with his tweet, given that he is an Augustinian priest and is certainly acquainted with this concept. I also doubt very much that he has not practiced ordo amoris in his own life. I mean … who hasn’t? Who couldn’t? If we were to reduce our most intimate personal interactions to only those that we grant to the billions of strangers living on the other side of the world, then we would have no personal interactions at all.

Jesus certainly practiced ordo amoris. He spent 30 years in intimate relationship with His mom, followed by less than 3 years in public ministry. But even during His public ministry, He treated His disciples differently than He did the people. Even amongst the disciples, He singled out some for special attention. E.g., only four of the twelve were at the Transfiguration.

The Left seems delighted to have found social media posts by Prevost that appear to be critical of the Trump administration. I noted a few reasons why they’re making way too much of it. One is that he rarely posts. There were no posts at all in 2024 and have only been five this year. Of these, two were about praying for Pope Francis’ health and three were links to published articles about Trump’s immigration policies.

Among other things, the American Magazine article entitled Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration by Jesuit priest Sam Sawyer says, “Catholic teaching both allows and calls for ‘development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.’ No one, except those who are misrepresenting the church’s advocacy and care for migrants, claims that Catholics are in favor of illegal immigration or open borders.”

It concludes with, “The Gospel does not offer a charter for how to legislate about immigration. It does offer a standard for how far we are to go to love our neighbor, and a refusal to accept the limits we might be comfortable with on who our neighbors are. The question we need to answer is whether we judge our politics according to the Gospel or the other way around.”

The Catholic Standard article, entitled This Ordeal is the Passion by Bishop Evelio Menjivar, is much more biased, calling the early sweep of criminal illegals “shock and awe” campaign of “aggressive threats” and “questionable legality.” One wonders where God’s demand for honesty lies in this diatribe. One could say much the same about the previous administration’s open border and sanctuary welfare benefits. However, even that article comes around to pleading for putting the Gospel first, saying “we cannot let the dark side of anti-immigrant animus take hold.”

Let us hope and pray that the new pope’s focus will be more on the Gospel and less on propping up progressive political causes. And maybe we can also be just a little like these kids, even if our first ever American pope is from Chicago! https://x.com/Monocarp_/status/1920536512782889126 [:43]

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Bits & Bytes

DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, We ask today for an extra dose of courage. Whatever challenges we face, keep us strong in faith, trusting in Your power and Your love to carry us through. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

BORDER: The Supreme Court has lifted a court order blocking President Trump from deporting Venezuelans under rarely used 1798 wartime law.

DOGE: The US African Development Foundation has terminated $51 million in grants, including: $229,296 for marketing 100% organic shea butter in Burkina Faso; $84,059 for a business incubator for spa & wellness entrepreneurs in Nigeria; $239,738 for marketing pineapple juice in Benin; $246,217 for mango drying facilities in the Ivory Coast; $99,566 to increase yogurt production in Uganda; $48,406 for a WhatsApp marketing chatbot in Kenya; and $50,000 to train farmers to grow dragonfruit in Senegal.

I saw some comments about these being worthy causes. The problem is that, when you’re in debt, your extra money belongs to your creditors. It is not yours to give away, regardless of how worthy the cause. The USA is trillions of dollars in debt.

HE AIN’T WRONG: CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ruhX2v31ufI and say “Amen!”

IGNORANCE: CLICK https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1908891272435408961 [2:30] to hear what “Trump is a fascist” protesters had to say.

MAHA: A new study entitled “Effectiveness of the Influenza Vaccine During the 2024-2025 Respiratory Viral Season” presents evidence that the 2024–2025 flu shot had 27% negative efficacy among healthy, working-age adults. Translation: People who got the shot were more likely to get the flu.

TARIFFS: Trump asked us to “hang tough” through a difficult-but-necessary adjustment period. He promises the outcome will be a historic economic revolution.

The European Union says they’re ready to negotiate with the United States, says they’ve offered zero for zero tariffs. “Europe is always ready for a good deal,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

VICTIMHOOD: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/3664780093668266 to hear about a study that speaks directly to the Left’s perpetual expectations.

WOMEN’S SPORTS: This year’s Ultimate Pool Women’s Pro Series Event 2 ended with a bang as the final game came down to “Harriet” Haynes and “Lucy” Smith, who are both dudes.

GRAMMY NOTES: [6:09] – Six minutes of good thoughts about “someday” clutter.

SHORTS:

CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h4Thi5Havwc to see a super cute “sports” upset.

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