The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!


Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.

Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts

Saturday, February 18, 2023

U.N. Head Needs His Examined

I just read that the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, a Portuguese socialist, is all aflutter about what he sees as an imminent climate apocalypse. In a doomsday address to the Security Council, he warned that rising sea levels will completely destroy many coastal nations. In his words, “Low-level communities and entire countries could disappear forever...We would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale."
According to Guterres, such an inundation could wipe out a tenth of the world’s population. He continued, getting more specific with his fearful predictions: “Under any scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk…. Mega-cities on every continent will face serious impacts including Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago.” I’ve been to many of these cities and am trying to decide which ones I would miss. 

How to avoid the coming catastrophe? Guterres has the answer: get rid of fossil fuels, or as he describes it, “break the global addiction” to these nasty forms of energy. For Guterres they’re the real cause of everything wrong in the world. Last month he whined about his frustration with world leaders who simply did not give “the climate emergency the action and investment it requires.” He then lectured them on their lack of enthusiasm: “Words are not enough. Without climate action, climate catastrophe is coming for all of us.” And what a catastrophe it will be for folks like Barack Obama, Al Gore, and Joe Biden who own multi-million dollar waterfront homes. If they really believed this garbage, one would think they’d have already sold these homes and moved to Colorado.

I think, however, we can dismiss the Secretary General’s apocalyptic scenario simply because he’s a socialist. To buy into the socialist lie is to be irredeemably stupid. After all, socialism has failed wherever it’s been tried. But, you might argue, “How can he be stupid? He’s the Secretary General of the United Nations.” Allow me to don my conspiracy theorist hat and answer by suggesting that Guterres is just the sort of person those who strive to wield earthly power would want in the position of U.N. Secretary General. After all, it’s one of those all-talk, no action jobs, and he’ll willingly spew the party line. Were Teddy Roosevelt with us today, he'd probably say, “The Secretary General has a bully pulpit, but lacks the big stick.” Guterres can say a lot, probably far too much, but what can he really do? Indeed, most of what he has to say is just preachin’ to the choir of globalists. He won’t convince those of us who disagree with him because we must live with the consequences of globalist, socialist policies. Believe me, folks, Guterres won’t convert those who actually know what’s happening in the world. And he certainly won’t turn them into climate warriors.

Interestingly, in a speech at the World Government Summit last week, World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab predicted that those who control emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and "synthetic biology" will ultimately rule the planet. In his words, “Our life 10 years from now will be completely different, very much affected, and who masters these technologies, in some way, will be the masters of the world.” He also predicted the flourishing of transhumanism, "a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres." Sounds like a not-so-brave new world, doesn't it?  Schwab, of course, is hoping he and his world government cronies will become masters of this new world. Of course, they need help and Schwab is just the kind of person to manipulate the strings controlling “useful idiots” like the Secretary General. (I just saw today’s “Dilbert” comic strip and thought it particularly relevant…and good for a needed laugh. Here’s the link: Dilbert)
Klaus Schwab - Master of the World

The Secretary General — Don’t you just love that title, so typical of UN-speak? Is he a secretary or a general? Is there even a difference today? — anyway, he and so many others openly claim climate as the driving force causing several million people from over 100 countries to cross our southern border illegally. This is so wrong it’s ludicrous. People come to this country for several reasons, none of them climate related. For many it’s an economic decision. They come because they can’t feed or house a family in poverty, or educate their children, or even hope to advance in a corrupt, socialist society. And that, friends, is the overriding reason: corruption. Corruption is what drives so many people to leave their homes, travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles, and cross our borders. The elite — the nomenklatura, as they were called in the Soviet Union — run every aspect of socialist societies. They have the power and the money (and the guns) to keep the peasants in line and in poverty. And so, the poor, the forgotten in their own countries, do whatever is necessary to get here, even signing up with the some of the most vicious, murderous people on earth, the Mexican drug cartels. These poor people are used to dealing with nasty folks and are willing to risk the consequences. Some become forced victims of human or drug trafficking. And sadly, it could all have been avoided had our government only secured our southern border, something sovereign nations do.

The ultimate question, though, the question no socialist wants to hear is the question no one seems to ask either the globalists or our socialist-leaning political leadership: If our free-market economy and our constitutional representative republic is so evil and destructive of the poor and minorities, how come so many poor and minorities are pouring across our borders?

Pray for our nation and the world.



Saturday, October 9, 2021

How the French See Islam

Harris Interactive, in a survey they have called, “The Heart of the French,” offers some snapshots of the current religious and societal views of the French. As a result of significant migration in recent years, the population of France has undergone significant changes. Of particular interest are the thoughts of the French relating to the future growth of the nation’s Muslim population. I’ve included just a few tidbits below. The survey was conducted in late July. 

Note: If you would like to access and digest the complete survey and its results, you must be a French speaker, or at least a French reader. Unfortunately, I minored in German, and with the exceptions of a few “social phrases,” French remains a mystery to me. I relied, therefore, on the summarized reports of others. For the complete survey (quite long), click here: Le cœur des Français  (If anyone can find an accurate translation of the survey, please pass it along.)
  • 39% of French believe Islam will become the largest religion in France. 55% of Muslims and 44% of Roman Catholics believe this. 
At first  glance, this can be misinterpreted because today most French are essentially irreligious. This is particularly true among France's younger citizens. The threshold needed to become the "largest religion" is, therefore, not very high. The most relevant result here is that vast majority of Muslims are faithful believers, while most non-Muslim French have rejected Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant.
  • 72% of French believe France will lose its historic identity if Islam becomes the largest religion. 83% of Catholics and 67% of Protestants and non-religious people believe this. 
Interestingly, only 17% of Muslims responded by saying France would lose its historic identity were Islam to become the nation's largest religion. I can’t say what this wide divergence of opinion indicates, other than the fact that many French and Muslims view the impact of Islam on French culture very differently. 

According to a 2019 poll, 61% of French citizens believed that Islam was not compatible with French society. At the same time, when asked which party was best suited to handle the challenges relating to the Islamization of France, the rightist National Rally (RN) led by Marine Le Pen, received the highest score in the poll. France, of course is well “ahead” of the United States when it comes to Muslim migrants and immigrants. A Pew Research study predicted that the Muslim population in France will grow from 2020’s 5.7 million to 13.2 million by 2050. Muslims would then represent 20% of the French population. 

It’s all very interesting, but considering how the current US administration is dealing with immigration issues, we might expect similar responses from Americans in the future. I suspect Pew Research or another polling group might soon conduct a parallel study in the U.S. If so, its results will certainly be of interest.