The Stupid Things People Say

Did you hear the latest from ex-President Obama? Unlike most former presidents, he just can’t help telling us what he thinks of his successor, while at the same time proving that the Obama presidency was unsurpassed in incompetence. Every time he opens his mouth he confirms his inability to understand our nation and its people. Of course this is to be expected from someone who despises the country that was foolish enough to elevate him to its highest office.

As a man who admittedly considers religion no more than a crutch, something the riffraff cling to as a way to deal with frustrations. Yes, indeed, he said this in a closed-door speech when he was first running for president. Here's a link to a recording of his 2008 comments about small-town Americans: Obama 2008.

Today, Obama has shifted his focus to Hispanic-Americans, with whom is is not at all happy. While publicly mulling over the results of the recent election, he criticized the Hispanic voters who cast their votes for Donald Trump. He was greatly displeased because some actually consider abortion an intrinsic evil and gay marriage anything but a marriage. His actual words (listen to him here):

"People were surprised about a lot of Hispanic folks who voted for Trump. But there's a lot of evangelical Hispanics who, you know, the fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans, or puts detainees, you know, undocumented workers, in cages -- they think that's less important than the fact that, you know, he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion, right?"

No, Mr. President, wrong! Certainly, there are many evangelical Hispanics, but there are many more Catholic Hispanics. And many of these Christian Hispanic-Americans consider abortion the muder of innocent children. They also reject so-called gay marriage. They are against these things because as believing Christians most Hispanics know them to be sinful.

But several other facts seem to escape Obama's notice. Many first- and second-generation Hispanic-Americans are intimately familiar with socialism because they lived under it and experienced its deprivations first-hand. They know what life is like in Cuba and Venezuela and Nicaragua, and came to this country to avoide the socialistic hells those nations have become. 

Equally important, though, Hispanic-Americans benefitted tremendously from President Trump's economic policies that drove Hispanic unemployment to its lowest levels in history, and also did wonders for Hispanic entrepreneurs. What Obama likely doesn't know -- because he really seems to know very little -- is that Hispanic-Americans are three times more likely to be entrepreneaurs than other Americans. They strive mightily to live the American dream and pass its benefits on to their families, something that Obama apparently considers a nightmare. 

Then, we had to listen to Obama's comment about Trump putting "undocumented workers in cages." The truth, which the mainstream media has avoided like they avoid the truth about the China virus, is that the "cages" were not the brainchild of the Trump administration, but were actually installed and used by the Obama administration to separate various groups of illegals. Jeh Johnson, Barack Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, when confronted with photographic evidence, admitted this and told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that the "cages predate the Trump Administration." Johnson went on to say, "You can't just dump 7-year-old kids on the streets of McAllen or El Paso. And so, these facilities were erected...they put those chain-link particions up so you could segregate young women from young men, kids from adults, until they were either released or transferred to HHS. Was it ideal? Of course not." But it was done by the Obama administration.

Thomas Homan, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Trump, stated that "The kids are being housed in the same facilities built under the Obama Administration. If you want to call them cages, call them cages. But if the left wants to call them cages, and the Democrats want to call them cages, they they have to accept the fact that they were built and funded [by the Obama administration] in FY '15, and I was there."

President Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and dozens of others have all knowingly lied about these so-called "cages" being a Trump travesty. They use the old Lenin-inspired tactic of repeating the big lie again and again until people actually come to believe it's true. ("It must be true because everyone's saying it.") And, of course, the media has supported the left in this effort by repeatng the lie over and over. Eventually, though, the people begin to comprehend the real truth and realize that the lie really is a lie.

I have long considered President Obama to be the most ineffectual and incompetent president of modern times. But he just might be relived of this title when Joe Biden actually moves into the White House.

A Few Questions

Have you noticed how the media usually describe Catholic politicians who reject their Church's teaching as "devout Catholics" or, if they are a bit too far from Church teaching, as "practicing Catholics"? They are, of course, neither. A devout, practicing Catholic will accept the Church's magisterial teaching, especially that teaching which the Church declares to be based on divine law. The Church cannot change, and has never changed, divine law, and neither can the political authorities, the media, or any worldly entity. When the Church, for example, declares abortion to be an "intrinsic evil", it will remain so, regardless of the opinions of self-described "devout" or "practicing" Catholic politicians.

I believe it's important to realize that someone who supports abortion will likely support anything. After all, abortion is nothing less than the willful, dismembering slaughter of a living, unborn child, the most innocent of God's children. Every Sunday at Mass, we come together and pray the Nicene Creed in which we praise the Holy Spirit as "the Lord, the giver of life." To destroy a life given by the Holy Spirit, and to support the wholesale destruction of those lives, are serious sins indeed.

My next question: For whom should we vote in November, and what should be our deciding criteria? I found it interesting that a few days ago Joseph Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, stated publicly that “a person in good conscience could vote for Mr. Biden.” I suppose that’s true, at least literally: yes, a person in good conscience can vote for Joe Biden, but the important question is, as a faithful Catholic, should he or she? But I really don’t believe Cardinal Tobin was thinking or speaking semantically. No indeed, he was providing Catholic Biden voters, like himself, with a convenient excuse.

The Cardinal's feelings toward President Trump become apparent when he continued by saying, “I, frankly, in my own way of thinking, have a more difficult time with the other option.” Wow! Your Eminence, in your “own way of thinking,” you really find it more difficult to vote for President Trump than to vote for a man who has supported abortion since it was “legalized” by the Supreme Count in 1973? You do realize that Mr. Biden has supported the slaughter of more than 60,000,000 unborn American infants -- that's 60 million for the numerically challenged. I’m sure you’re familiar with unborn infants — like Jesus on that day of Annunciation, or John who leaped in his mother's womb when the pregnant Mary and the unborn Son of God came to visit -- you know, like those unborn infants.

I suppose Cardinal Tobin is simply following the morally confusing recommendations found in the U. S. Bishops' document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." Here the Bishops state:

"A Catholic cannot vote for a political candidate because he or she supports an issue considered an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion, euthanasia, deliberately subjecting workers or the poor to subhuman living conditions, or assisted suicide."

Does this mean I can indeed vote for such a person only if my reason has nothing to do with those intrinsically evil acts he might support? And did you note the use of the word, "considered"? Intrinsically evil acts aren't simply "considered" evil; they are evil. But then, as if afraid of picking sides, the Bishops add:

"At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate's opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity."

I can picture the Catholic voter asking, "Okay, Bishops, what's it going to be?" Are the Bishops saying we cannot vote for Joe Biden who has consistently supported, and continues to support, intrinsically evil acts? Or are they telling us we can overlook this if we don't like what his opponent says about the dignity of a murderer on death row? Would I be wrong to suspect that these statements were written not by moral theologians but by lawyers?

I support the Church's teaching on capital punishment, which is clearly described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2266 & 2267). Unlike abortion, though, capital punishment is not intrinsically evil. Morally, the two are very different acts.

I find it particularly interesting that Cardinal Tobin, the day after he seemed to support one presidential candidate over the other, defended his comments by saying: "I neither endorsed nor opposed anyone running for office. I simply reminded Catholics of our responsibility to take part in the elective process."

Okay, then, I guess I can say the same thing.

Politicians vs. Navy Lives

During my years in the Navy I had a few interactions with our special warfare troops, specifically the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) and their successors, the Navy SEALs. SEALs are remarkable, extremely competent warriors whom our nation calls on to carry out the kind of special operations few others can do. Years ago, as a Navy helicopter pilot, I occasionally flew small teams of SEALs out over the Pacific so they could practice their night, over-water parachute jumps. Although I would never doubt their courage, as a pilot I will always question anyone’s decision to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft, particularly at night over the ocean. But that’s the kind of men they’re are. They do whatever the mission demands, all that must be done, even in training.

Something else most people don’t know about SEALs is their intentional avoidance of publicity. Indeed, the less said about the SEALs in the media or anywhere else, the happier they are, something that applies to most special warfare groups. As you might expect, they’re a highly decorated bunch, but many of the citations for their medals are classified and cannot be shared with others. There are, of course, important reasons for all this. Because most of the operations conducted by SEALs are clandestine, and for good reason highly classified, media coverage can jeopardize other related operations and national security. But media coverage can also endanger the lives of individual SEALs and even their families. This is especially true these days when the target of most operations are terrorist groups that would love to know the units and the men responsible for destroying their people and assets. The Navy and the entire Department of Defense, therefore, do not release the identify of individuals, unit names, or even which special warfare groups were involved in an operation. It’s always best to keep the enemy in the dark and guessing about who’s just hammered them.

At a Pentagon briefing the day after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011, a senior defense official was asked if it were a Navy SEAL team that found and killed the world’s most wanted man. The terse and proper response was: “Not going to comment on units or numbers.” On May 3, however, Vice President Joe Biden, at a awards banquet event in D.C., told the world that Navy SEALs we’re responsible for taking out the terrorist leader. His words:

"...the incredible, the phenomenal, the almost unbelievable capacity of the Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday...I'd be remiss also if I didn't say an extra word about the incredible events, extraordinary events of this past Sunday. As Vice President of the United States, as an American, I was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community, the CIA, the SEALs."  

Hearing this, most folks considered it fine praise for our Navy special operators. But not the members of SEAL Team Six. They were surprised and upset that the Vice President had named the SEALs as the operators involved in the mission. Most told their families to remove any references to them and the SEALs from social media because intelligence folks had already alerted them of expected attempts to retaliate. For example, the next day, SEAL Aaron Vaughn called his mom and told her, "There's chatter and all our lives are in danger, including yours. Mom."

Three months later, on August 6, 2011, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. All 38 aboard died, including many members off SEAL Team Six, including SEAL Aaron Vaughn. Was this attack related to the earlier "outing" of the SEALs? Unanswered questions still remain about this incident, and many believe it was a well-planned attack by the Taliban in retaliation for the raid against their favored ally, Osama bin Laden.  Check out this report: SEAL Team Six Betrayal.

Here’s a brief news video from 2012 highlighting the family of one of those SEALs killed by the Taliban.

When it comes to understanding military operations, politicians often display abysmal ignorance. As you might expect this leads them to say and do a lot of foolish things. Joe Biden’s not alone here. Politicians of all stripes have fallen prey to the temptation to reveal information best kept confidential. Sometimes they do so simply to grab a headline, gain a few political points, or just to hear applause during their after-dinner speech. Ironically, too often they hope to highlight their patriotism by addressing things military. I suppose this is to be expected since so few members of Congress are veterans. Back in the late 60s and early 70s almost 80% of the members of Congress were veterans. Today it’s down to about 20%. Joe Biden was one of his generation’s exceptions. He never served in the military, but instead got one deferment after another. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump did much the same, but at least Trump seems to understand his job is to define the objectives and let his commanders do what’s necessary to achieve them. 

Perhaps our politicians' most catastrophic errors have been the politically inspired rules of engagement forced on our warriors by those who have never experienced combat. Our enemies today don’t follow the rules of the Geneva Convention, but use any means whatever to kill and destroy. How many 911s do we need to understand this? To send our warriors into harm’s way with their hands tied behind their backs always leads to unintended but predictable consequences that inevitably result in disaster.

Going Poilitical Again...

Since the 2016 presidential campaign, my opinion of our president has undergone more than a little change. I was no Trump supporter, but neither was I a "never-Trumper." Before and immediately after his election I was leery of the man and his intentions. It was hard to believe he really meant what he said, especially when some of what he said, and how he said it, seemed so outrageous at the time. For example, his campaign comments about John McCain's status as a POW during the Vietnam conflict were particularly offensive to me, a veteran of that war and, like McCain, a naval aviator. I was never a fan of John McCain, the man or the politician, and believe the Republicans couldn't have chosen a worse candidate to compete with Barack Obama. But McCain's military service was honorable and not worthy of ridicule by someone who never served in the military. This, plus other Trumpian campaign statements, caused me concern. And yet, despite my misgivings about the man, I predicted Donald Trump's election fairly early (see my post of July 18, 2016), and did so for a number of reasons:

First, I agreed with candidate Trump that the American people had become increasingly fed up with career politicians, especially Washington politicians, who promise everything and anything during their campaigns. Once established in Congress, however, many, perhaps most, vote against the good and the will of their constituents, and do so without embarrassment. I thought that Donald Trump's clearly stated mission -- Drain the Swamp -- appealed to enough voters to make his election probable.

Bill and Hilary

And second, although Hillary Clinton was perhaps the best candidate the Democrat party could have nominated, she was still a horrible candidate. She seemed to exhibit an attitude of entitlement, as if she and only she deserved to be president. This is the kind of elitist attitude despised by many Americans. It's an attitude we'd expect from socialist elites who believe they are so much smarter than the rest of us that they should have the power to plan every aspect of our lives. Despite her husband's Rhodes Scholarship and his two terms as president, I'm pretty sure she's convinced she's the smarter of the two. She might well be right. I also believe a large number of Americans had come to view her as unethical in the extreme and hoped she and her husband would vanish from the public square. Some voters probably feared a Clinton presidency more than they hoped for a Trump presidency. And others simply didn't believe her or like her. I never really thought Hilary Clinton could be elected president. I could not believe our nation had fallen that low.

Donald Trump won the election, and like most of the nation, I sat back and wondered how this most unusual president would carry out the responsibilities of the office. Since then, however, I have come to appreciate his rather unorthodox approach to things political. Don't get me wrong, though; I am still astonished, and often perplexed, by some of his comments (and his tweets). And yet his use of Twitter and other unorthodox means to communicate directly to the American people and the world, thus bypassing a hostile and increasingly irrelevant media, is a stroke of true genius. Although I don't always agree with the man. I suspect we're probably on the same page more often than not. And most surprisingly I usually know exactly where Donald Trump stands on any given issue. If he changes his stance, he doesn't dance around the issue, but lets us know. He is actually willing to admit a change in belief or policy, and to tell us why. This is more than refreshing; it's unheard of in modern American politics. We have become so accustomed to politicians and their constant lawyerly spin (apologies to my few honest lawyer friends) that we have come to accept their behavior as "normal."

The career politician's approach to his responsibilities eludes me. I've known quite a few over the years, and if I were to name one trait that most of them shared it would be their unfamiliarity with the truth. Instead of accepting the Gospel maxim, "The truth will set you free" [Jn 8:32], they seem to believe that the truth will lose elections. A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to name the members of Congress whom I most respect, and I decided it would be best to ignore the question. Whenever I've spoken well of a politician he or she soon says or does something that causes me to regret my words of praise.

President Trump Rally

I'm pretty sure President Trump honestly believes he is speaking the truth. And he delivers it in plain, non-political, unrehearsed language. It's the kind of talk most Americans hear around the dinner table or when they share their views at work or with their friends. Like me, you might not always agree with him, but unless you're a denizen of the far left, consumed by hate, you probably find him refreshing.

As I look back on the past few years, I am truly amazed that Donald Trump, who is so despised by the mainstream media and his political enemies on both sides of the congressional aisle, has accomplished so much. But even more amazing, to me at least, is that I am in agreement with so many of these accomplishments.

Perhaps most encouraging is his pro-life record, one surpassing that of all his predecessors. I never expected this of him, largely because other Republican presidents talked pro-life during their campaigns but did little while in office. I just assumed Donald Trump would be no different. How inspiring to encounter a president who took action and courageously took the heat that predictably followed.

Pro-Life Support for Trump

I also agree with President Trump's decision to move our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is our only real ally in the Middle East, the only nation in the region with a truly representative form of government. Israel isn't perfect, but then neither are we. And every nation, including Israel, should strive to do what is best to further its citizen's interests and defend itself from aggressors. The rest of the region is a sewer, a collection of despotic regimes that truly despise both Israel and the United States. Worse, far too many of them support, bankroll, or harbor the Islamist terrorists that have plagued the world for so long.

Like Trump, I too am not a big fan of the nation-building goals of our protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although I'll admit my views have undergone some change in recent years. But I've always believed that any effort to develop democratic systems in Muslim-majority nations is doomed to failure. Islam is far more than a religion; it is a societal totality that strives to permeate and control every aspect of a people's life. Its governing rule of law -- shariah -- is simply incompatible with democratic, representative forms of government. Any attempt to democratize a fervently Muslim nation will eventually fail. Such attempts will also be overwhelmed by the growing number of Muslims willing to use force (I.e., terror) to achieve their Islamist ends. 

Pope Benedict XVI (2006)

Most informed people now realize Pope Benedict was absolutely correct when he addressed violence and Islam during his Regensburg lecture in 2006. It was the ideological intolerance of both Islamists and Western academics that drove the criticism and violence that followed the pope's well-reasoned remarks.

President Trump has shown he understands the need to destroy the Islamist terrorist organizations whenever and wherever they arise and thrive. This may well be his most difficult international challenge because this aim runs counter to the appeasement efforts of so many of our European allies, and of too many in our own government, including both the state and defense departments. Yes, indeed, it's easy to hide in that murky swamp water.

President Obama made a total mess of the Middle East. Examining his policy in the region, one would think his every decision was driven by what would be best for the Shiites of both Syria and Iran. His do-nothing approach to the atrocities the Syrian government inflicted on its people only strengthened Russian presence in the region and increased Iranian influence. Repairing the long-term damage caused by President Obama's agreement with the Iranians is a case in point. I find myself in full agreement with President Trump's decision to dump the agreement, a non-treaty even the current Congress would never have supported. Russia and China are certainly long-term threats, but Iran, the world's foremost exporter of terror, must be dealt with today.

I also support the president's tax cut, a piece of legislation to which only a socialist would object. Whenever we have slashed taxes, especially taxes on businesses, the economy has boomed. It happened when John Kennedy cut taxes, just as it happened when Ronald Reagan did the same. And yet not a single House or Senate Democrat voted for this tax cut. Democrats have certainly changed since Kennedy's time. Indeed, their rejection of the legislation tells us much about the current core beliefs of the Democrat party, a party that has moved increasingly to the far and irrational left.

What the Democrat Party Once Believed

President Kennedy, when promoting his plan to cut taxes, said, "It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -- and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut taxes now." He was right and his tax cuts led to a period of remarkable economic growth. Like Kennedy and Reagan, Trump also ignored the deficit hawks of his own party, believing that the tax cut will, in the long run, lead to a significant increase in revenues. Ironically, many Democrats, and more than a few Republicans, who have never uttered a word against increased deficits were suddenly all aflutter, expressing fears about the legislation's potential impact on the deficit. Go figure.

When it comes to immigration I find myself wondering why we don't focus on the root cause of illegal immigration. Most immigrants flock to our borders because they want to leave the failing economies and corrupt governments of their native lands. How often have individual bishops, much less the USCCB, challenged the corrupt governments of Latin America and elsewhere? They seem far more interested in attacking our nation for trying to control immigration and protect our borders. And how often do our politicians do anything to encourage our corrupt neighbors to change their ways? If these nations actually developed free economies and truly representative governments perhaps they, too, would become lands of opportunity. As for those screaming for "no borders," I think we can safely ignore them for the ideologues (or "useful idiots") they truly are. The only aim of those pulling their strings is to destroy this nation. Every nation has the obligation and the right to control its borders -- how much control is something its citizens must decide. This is a question that Congress has danced around for some time, but time is running out. I suspect the President and the voters will force the issue sooner rather than later.

As for North Korea, President Trump's efforts to overcome the horrendous mistakes of previous administrations should be interesting to watch. For the first time since 1953 this vicious, totalitarian regime seems to realize they are dealing with someone who won't allow them to break agreements. I expect these negotiations will take some time, quite likely several years, before they bear real fruit. We'll see what happens.

Then there's China, the world's most populous, communist, totalitarian state. It is a nation ruled by those who murder and enslave, a pack of liars and thieves who will do anything, absolutely anything, to maintain their power. Like Mafia dons, they dress up in their shiny suits and smile at the cameras while they plan the destruction of all that is good. They cleverly instituted some elements of a free economy because they realized their socialist policies had failed and they needed to bankroll their ever expanding base of power. But make no mistake, every Chinese firm is under the thumb of the ruling Communist Party leadership. 

The Communist Dons

Unlike his predecessors Trump seems to recognize the truth about China and his negotiations with the communist leadership will surely break the mold. When he hammered the Chinese with tariffs and other barriers, the talking heads and Wall Street hand-wringers screamed and assured us the president would drive us into economic ruin. Many said the same thing when Trump was elected in November 2016, but our economy instead experienced continued record-setting growth. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly in the long term, despite the efforts of the Senate Democrats to block confirmation votes on the president's judicial and executive appointments, most of these appointments, particularly those of federal judges, have been wonderful. Once again a president is appointing men and women who actually read and understand the Constitution and reject ideological activism. If President Trump serves another four years the federal judiciary will likely experience historic change.

Our president, like all men, is far from perfect, but he's certainly far better than the collection of wannabes the Democrat Party offers us. Every single one of them supports the great atrocity of our age, the deliberate, pre-meditated murder of the most innocent among us. I fear God's judgment, not for me, for I'm too near the end of my life. No, I fear for my children and grandchildren, and for all who may well face a faith-testing decision to choose between a culture of life and a culture of death. 

Here's something I trust all the faithful can agree on: Pray for our nation and our president.

Sad Happenings...and Odd

The slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and Africa continues, but at least our president openly addressed this ongoing tragedy when he spoke to the gathering of the leaders of Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia. He didn't parrot the foolish political correctness of the previous administration, but identified the enemy as Islamist terrorists.

President Trump in Saudi Arabia

It was also refreshing to hear him scold those leaders for their halfhearted, at best, efforts to rid Islam of this cancer. Now we'll see if they actually do anything. I'm not holding my breath because in far too many of these nations a sizable percentage of the population actually support some of the terrorists' goals, specifically the universal imposition of sharia law. (See Pew Research Center's polling results.)

I also applaud President Trump's strong support for our ally, Israel, perhaps the only nation in that part of the world that doesn't hope for our destruction.

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Yesterday's slaughter of Coptic Christians in Egypt provided an interesting juxtaposition alongside the recent terrorist attack in the UK. While the UK attack has almost monopolized the news for several days,  I suspect we'll hear much less about the wholesale murder of a larger number of Egyptian Christians, many of whom were also children. I'm not belittling the tragedy in Manchester, far from it, but what happened in Egypt is no less tragic.

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In a related story Thomas Mair, the mayor of Greater Manchester, speaking about the horrific terrorist bombing in his city, stated: “This is an extremist act and the person who did it no more represents the Muslim community than the person who killed Jo Cox represents the white Christian community.” Jo Cox, you might recall, was the Labour MP who was stabbed to death a week before the "Brexit" referendum. The problem with the mayor's statement is that I'm pretty certain the vast majority of the UK's white Christian community doesn't support the indiscriminate killing of Muslims and would report such plots to the authorities. Sadly, a recent poll indicated that a majority of the UK's Mulims would not report suspected Jihadist activity to the police.
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I found it interesting that Nancy Pelosi, now perhaps the most irrelevant of left-coast politicians, for some unknown reason chided the president for visiting Saudi Arabia on his first international trip. She seems to think he instead should have visited Canada, or perhaps one of those needy foreign people's republics like San Francisco. I expect some in her party are urging her to retire before she does even more damage to their collective credibility.
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Greg Gianforte, Body-Slammer

And speaking of the credibility of the Democrat Party...Things must be very bad indeed when a Montana Republican, Greg Gianforte, wins a special election for a U.S. Congressional seat the day after he's charged with misdemeanor assault for body-slamming a pesky reporter. The Democrats had expected the election to result in an anti-Trump win for their party, an expectation considered a certainty after the Wednesday assault. Last-minute radio and tv ads by the Democrats focused almost exclusively on the assault, and three Montana newspapers pulled their endorsements of Gianforte. But the Repblican still won, and by a decent margin. I certainly don't support assualting reporters, even those who are purveyors of fake news, but the incident certainly says something about the mood of the country. Mr. Gianforte has since publicly apologized for his ill-considered aggression toward the media.
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Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's Finance Minister, another of Europe's brighter lights, suggests that Germany's Christians can learn from its growing Muslim population. What can they learn? In the minister's words, “Many human values are very strongly realised in Islam. Think of hospitality, and other things like, what is there… And also tolerance, I believe, for example.” Hospitality and tolerance were certainly in evidence in Manchester and Nice and Paris and San Bernardino and Egypt and...the list goes on. Of course many, perhaps most, Muslims are hospitable and tolerant, but to deny the religious basis of Islamist terrorism is not just foolish in the short term, but suicidal in the long term. 
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I have to admit, I've pretty much written off all career politicians, a class of people epitomized primarily by their inability to tell the truth. It's no wonder people are rejecting the liars and increasingly voting for politically inexperienced men and women. It's a trend I suspect (and hope) will continue. 

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One of my heroes, the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen, believed strongly that the Islamic world would eventually convert to Christianity through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. He expected that Mary, because she occupies an especially exalted position in Islamic theology, would draw the Islamic world to her Son and Christianity. She will bring this about as Our Lady of Fatima, a title that has some fascinating Islamic roots.

I've always thought that Archbishop Sheen was likely correct about all this and that our politicians, as usual, will follow a much less productive course. This, of course, is just another good reason for all Catholics to pray the Rosary daily, not just for the conversion of Russia, but for the conversion of the entire world. After all, as St. Paul reminds us: 

"This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" [1 Tim 2:3-4].

"All men to be saved..." Why not? With God all things are possible.

And how fitting that we should turn to Our Lady of Fatima this year, the 100th anniversary of her apparition to the three children of Fatima. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Inauguration

I'm beginning to like Donald Trump...a lot! I especially enjoyed his inaugural address even though I wasn't able to watch or listen to it live. Dear Diane and I spent a good part of inauguration day taking an elderly acquaintance to the doctor. She had fallen and broken her wrist a week or so ago and needed to see an orthopedic specialist. Sadly, the closest who would honor her Medicare and Wellcare insurance was almost an hour away so that's where we had to take her. The entire adventure, from home to home, took over six hours; therefore, we missed the new president's inauguration. But that's OK. The day was a typical, beautiful Florida day, so we had a delightful drive to Clermont, Florida. I got some reading done in the doctor's waiting room and we also met several very nice folks there. The traffic was light, and we stopped for a milkshake on the way home. What more could we possibly desire? It's these little things in life that I've come to enjoy as I shuffle through my senior years.

Oops! As I write this on Sunday evening, we've just been issued a tornado warning by the Weather Service. It's all very exciting, so exciting I've changed the channel from the Patriots-Steelers game to my favorite bunch of weather guessers on Orlando's channel 9. Dear Diane and I are ready to jump into the interior guest bathroom in the event of a tornado. Lots of thunder and lightning, very high winds, and torrents of rain -- it's all raging right now outside our doors. Interestingly, this storm system is moving through the area at 60 mph, much faster than most of the storms that visit us here in central Florida. I remember outrunning a storm like that years ago in my Navy helicopter. It was roaring across the South China Sea at over 70 mph and I had to race it back to the ship. Fortunately I won that race. (I will take a break until the weather improves.)

The storm is now over and we were, thankfully, untouched by tornadoes. And the Patriots won!

As I said above, I'm beginning to like Donald (now President) Trump. I've learned to measure people by their enemies. And when one looks at who hates President #45, it's hard not to like the man. Just consider all those who have convinced themselves his presidency is illegitimate: the same people who ranted when, during the campaign, he gave one of his famous off-the-cuff comments that he might not accept a Hillary victory. Well, these folks have taken non-acceptance to a new level. 

One particularly interesting Trump-hater is the Reverend Al Sharpton who along with his good friend, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, has perfected the profitable art of race-based extortion. Rev Al is very upset, certain our new president's election wasn't legitimate. In this he agrees with US Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, a man who has done little of note since he was beaten up by thugs decades ago on a bridge in Selma. But because of that beating, we are not permitted to question his current absurdities. Both men, along with their admirers, are apparently convinced that the Russians perpetrated a Slavic version of the Vulcan mind-meld on the American people, causing them to shift allegiance from Hillary to Donald during the final days of the campaign. Rev Al, of course, is no more than a race-pimp, a walking, talking irrelevance who need not be taken seriously...and so I don't.

When considering haters, one can't ignore Madonna and her apparently unfulfilled desire to blow up the White House. Speaking to a sympathetic mob at the Women's March, she stated that she had instead chosen "love" and then proceeded to spew forth a stream of hate-filled rhetoric. The mainstream media, of course, were thrilled by her inarticulate diatribe even though she dropped a load of f-bombs and other obscenities on live TV. Such a lovely woman. 

I couldn't help but note that abortion seemed to be the overriding issue for those on the Women's March. For a gathering that speaks so much about love they sure do enjoy killing innocent unborn children. It boggles the mind.

Oh, yes...almost forgot. Michael Moore also addressed the Women's March. He was particularly upset with those women who voted for Donald Trump, calling them “victims”  of “misogyny and the sexism that is still so prevalent and ingrained.” Like most on the left, Moore believes that anyone who disagrees with him is either evil or crazy. 

Back to the president and the media...Did you hear Chris Matthews and the other MSNBC jokesters compare President Trump to Hitler and Mussolini? Or how about Democrat Representative Yvette Clarke of NY who was distraught because of the new president's fascism? In her words:

“You know, we may have fallen short on election day, but we did carry the popular vote. And, so, there are many more Americans who are in tune with the fact that we’re in the 21st century. And we’re not turning back the clock. We’re not going to stand for the type of, if you will, fascism — and I’m going to use that word — that many use to their advantage while suppressing and oppressing marginalized communities in this nation.”

One suspects that the representative doesn't have a clue about the real meaning of fascism. But who cares? Fascism is one of those scary words -- like racist, sexist, Islamophobic, etc. -- the left loves to toss around when speaking of conservatives. 

I also found it odd that the less-than-dynamic duo -- Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham -- seem a bit confused about the new leader of their party. Senator McCain claimed today that he was unsure whether he had confidence in President Trump. This seems a rather odd thing to admit before the man has completed two days in office, but I suspect the senator's evaluation of the president might be colored by a few personal concerns; i.e.,  he hates Donald Trump. Senator Graham also expressed confusion today when he stated: “I don’t know what America first means.” If that's true one can only assume he paid no attention to Donald Trump during the campaign. Of course, it's pretty apparent that he too hates Donald Trump.

The next four years should be interesting indeed.