The Commandments and the Common Good – “Every human right is rooted in the Commandments and aligns with a duty. Lawful authorities have the right to our obedience. We have a right to life. Spouses have a right to fidelity. We have a right to private property. We have a right to the truth.”Make America Good Again (Catholic Culture)
Male Intrusion – “Titled ‘Violence against women and girls in sports’ [an] August study conducted by the United Nations found that by March 30, 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 women’s division events across 29 different sports were defeated by transgender-identifying men.” Female Athletes Lost Almost 900 Medals to Trans-Identifying Men Worldwide, U.N. Report Finds (National Review)
Post-Vaccine Syndrome – “If it had not come from a government report I would have had difficulty believing this horrifying case history.” Euthanizing the Vaccine Injured in Canada (Human Flourishing – Substack)
Peanut the Squirrel – “meet peanut and mark. peanut is a squirrel. his mother died. he was taken in by mark who raised him and turned him into a social media celebrity.” getting squirrely (bad cattitude – Substack)
Ten Commissions – “Three years of discussions without end, crowned by a document that is not final. This is the synod desired and molded by Pope Francis with the apparent purpose of refounding the Church as a Church of the people, of all the baptized.” Everything, Except for Synodal. The Strange Church Pope Francis Wants (Diakonos.be)
Political Turbulence in Armenia – “Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church has emerged as an increasingly prominent leader in Armenia in the last year as discontent has mounted towards the sitting government, a process which has accelerated since Azerbaijan assumed control of Artsakh.” Exclusive interview with Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan: The Future of Armenia, Legacy of Genocide and Regional Relations (Providence)
Catholic Imagination Extravaganza – “I’m back. And it feels as if some sort of page has been turned, and not just in Willa Cather’s works. I’m not sure what I mean by that, but it certainly feels like it.” Imagine This (Charlotte Was Both)
The Propaganda Press – “Defenders of Leviathan from the White House on down criticized Musk for—well, for demonstrating in the starkest possible manner the effectiveness of private initiative compared with blustering government inertness.” With such Elon (The New Criterion)
Freedom from Reality – “One of the major pitfalls of our time seems to lie in its embraced, conscious or unconscious, vision of humanity. This is a vision inherited from modernity: that of a person who has broken the ‘chains’ binding them to God, to a natural moral law, to a human nature.” Christianity beyond politics, upholding faith above partisan allegiances (La Croix International)
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@ The Commandments and the common good
We read: “Society routinely replaces the Ten Commandments with secular policy statements, decoupling human rights from duties.”
“Conscience has rights because it has duties…” (Newman, Letter to the Duke of Norfolk).
@ The Propaganda Press
Reich [secretary of labor under Clinton] offered a number of ideas designed to rein him [Elon Musk] in, most of which involved imposing onerous regulations on his activities or canceling contracts he had with the government. If all else failed, there is always incarceration (New Criterion).
Criterion essayist portrays the Press, the Whitehouse on down as worshipers of Leviathan. Always confident this was the case and would prevail beyond our worst nightmares if the Party had won this election. With such Elon is a takeoff on elan vital, elan referring to force, vital life, a term used by Henri Bergson to describe the creative force of human nature [Bergson thus described the unexpected rallying of the French army on the brink of defeat in their WWI victory at the Marne, a matter of elan vital].
If the forces of darkness [although there are among the wicked a few good souls] had been victorious of late we could reasonably expect Reich and those like him to carry out their wicked policies. Fortunately a miracle not unlike the Marne occurred.
Peanut the Squirrel learned all about this :
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Ronald Reagan
@ Freedom from Reality
Our current disheveled humanness so well put. “Leaves fall in autumn. Certainly. But who, in all seriousness, claims otherwise?” (La Croix International). Man in his lost world has discovered freedom in abandoning truth.
Élisabeth Geffroy, philosopher, editor La Nef proposes we enter the political arena as Christians articulating its truths without a Right or Left ideology. Somewhat akin to Pope Francis’ rules for political engagement. Ironically, if we intend to offer Christ rather than nice sounding generalities we’ve got to add a degree of specificity. If it’s true it is neither Right nor Left.
Re New Criterion’s “With such Elon” – with a play on the French ‘elan’ meaning energy, style, enthusiasm: Now that Trump appears to have won, with Elon as his friend and perhaps future cabinet member, what new twists of demonic antic will the Progressive Socialist Left enact next?
May the workings of Divine Providence protect and guide us against demonic attack, but Thy will be done.
@ The Commandments and the Common Good
Beyond the Commandments. As expected Fr Pokorsky offers us good counsel. Natural law is inherent within our human nature, an ability to apprehend the difference between good and evil.
Aquinas in Quaestiones Disputatae De Veritate tells us, in affirming the exclusive nature of God’s gifts that there are actions revealed to Man that exceed by their nature anything that can be found in Man including the natural law. These revealed principles of human acts are necessary for our salvation, as distinguished from the natural law. Acts of charity that are not common to human nature.
Since the fall of Man from grace, the penalty of original s, Christ’s oblation to the Father by his crucifixion, we’re obliged to do more than the demands of the common good. That is shown by the Apostle John that as Christ lay down his life for us, we must do similar for our brother.
The incident with government agents and peanut the squirrel was one of the most grotesque abuses of power I have ever seen. Yes, people should obey the law—within the limits of one’s own conscience. Leaving a defenseless animal to perish from lack of care following the death of its mother is something most thinking humans are NOT willing to do, no matter WHAT the law says. The state could certainly make this law that wildlife may not be kept as pets better publicized. That is their choice. But in so doing they must set up (staff AND FUND!!) a reasonable number of state operated facilities to care for such orphaned or permanently injured wildlife.No zoo is interested in taking in a common squirrel or raccoon, and thats the reality. They are NOT rare animals and in fact in some places are so numerous as to be pests. So, what are we, or any THINKING humans, supposed to do?? Some common sense is required here. Further, euthanizing both Peanut the squirrel and his raccoon friend on the pretext of having bit someone and needing to be tested for rabies is a total lie. First, these animals had been primarily indoor pets, and that for some time. The likelihood of rabies was almost nil. Having said that, the concerned worker who was supposedly bitten could have opted for treatment as a precaution, WITHOUT requiring the death of the animals to confirm rabies infection.One could imagine that IF the animal did indeed bite anyone, it was doubtless out of fear and not out of aggressiveness, a situation this group of workers brought upon themselves and indeed instigated. Was it really necessary to have a large group of workers turn the animals caretaker’s home upside down for hours? What were they searching for? Illegal Wildlife roaches? This is government over-reach at its most disgusting, inhuman and indefensible. Abuse of power, period. The people never agreed to give the govt this level of power, and change needs to happen to take it back. Minimally, common sense in application of the law in badly needed. .
The incident with government agents and peanut the squirrel was one of the most grotesque abuses of power I have ever seen. Yes, people should obey the law—within the limits of one’s own conscience. Leaving a defenseless animal to perish from lack of care following the death of its mother is something most thinking humans are NOT willing to do, no matter WHAT the law says. The state could certainly make this law that says wildlife may not be kept as pets better publicized. That is their choice. But in so doing they must set up (staff AND FUND!!) a reasonable number of state operated facilities to care for such orphaned or permanently injured wildlife.No zoo is interested in taking in a common squirrel or raccoon, and thats the reality. They are NOT rare animals and in fact in some places are so numerous as to be pests. So, what are we, or any THINKING humans, supposed to do when faced with an animal in pain, or too young to survive alone?? Some common sense is required here. Further, euthanizing both Peanut the squirrel and his raccoon friend on the pretext of having bit someone and needing to be tested for rabies is a total lie. First, these animals had been primarily indoor pets, and that for some time. The likelihood of rabies was almost nil. Having said that, the concerned worker who was supposedly bitten could have opted for treatment as a precaution, WITHOUT requiring the death of the animals to confirm rabies infection.One could imagine that IF the animal did indeed bite anyone, it was doubtless out of fear and not out of aggressiveness, a situation this group of workers brought upon themselves and indeed instigated. Was it really necessary to have a large group of workers turn the animals caretaker’s home upside down for hours? What were they searching for? Illegal Wildlife roaches? This is government over-reach at its most disgusting, inhuman and indefensible. Abuse of power, period. The people never agreed to give the govt this level of power, and change needs to happen to take it back. Minimally, common sense in application of the law is badly needed. .