Just a Few Thoughts

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits [Mt 7:15-16].

Portland “Protesters” 

In Portland a man who apparently supported the president was murdered by an unknown assailant. Afterwards, the crowd of so-called protesters, made up largely of Black Lives Matter and Antifa Marxists radicals, were told by one of their leaders with a megaphone that, "I just got word, the person who died was a Patriot Prayer person...He was a f***ing Nazi. Our community held its own and took out the trash. I'm not going to shed any tears over a Nazi." The crown of Biden voters cheered. Really, do you think they’ll vote for the president?

These words, of course, were spoken by a woman who has no idea what the Nazis -- the National Socialist German Workers Party -- believed. Indeed, it's unlikely she even knows what she, as a Marxist, is supposed to believe. Her comments were echoed the following day in a video by one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter who told his followers: "I'm at a point where I'm ready to put the police in the f***ing grave! I'm at the point where I want to burn the White House down! I want to take it to the senators! I want to take it to the Congress!"

If you've been one of those passive supporters of BLM and Antifa, assuming they're simply peaceful protesters, I trust you've been disabused of that notion. There's a sad irony here. The rioters are ignorant, rootless young people, and as Russell Kirk wrote years ago, "The rootless are always violent, and the lonely and bored find riot a welcome diversion." 

Eventually, though, and this always happens in this country, the sanest of a nation's citizenry will refuse to accept the continued violence and destruction, and demand a response. Such a response, designed to stop senseless violence, will likely involve an acceptable level of directed, defensive violence. Violence always begets violence.

Far Left Democrats and Jews.

I'd call them anti-Semites, but I doubt if that label would bother too many of them, just as some seem to take pride in being called anti-Israel. It's really been an amazing transformation, watching the Democrat Party move so quickly from supporter of Israel and friend of the Jews to the party of the anti-Israel far left. Like the Islamists of al-Qaeda and Isis, many members of the far left wing of the party simply hate Jews. Sadly, these views seem to be moving to the party's so-called mainstream.

It's really quite disturbing, even for someone like me who has no ties to Israel. It's disturbing because it should be obvious whom we should support in the Middle East. The Muslim nations surrounding Israel are either authoritarian theocracies or just corrupt dictatorships; and most despise the United States. With only a few exceptions, they also teach their children anti-Jewish hatred, revenge, and extreme violence.

Do you support these nations, or do you support Israel, the only true representative democracy in the Middle East? Surrounded by its enemies, Israel must defend itself constantly from an insane degree of aggression. It's the kind of aggression that celebrates when Islamist terrorists murder a young Israeli family, stabbing them to death as they sleep. It's the kind of aggression that sends unguided rockets to strike random targets in Israeli cities and towns. Yes, Israel responds. Israel always responds. The nation must respond because its survival demands it and its sane citizens demand it. Just last week, Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon fired on Israeli troops on the border. This prompted Israel to send attack helicopters and other aircraft to strike Hezbollah targets. This was the first raid of its kind by Israel since the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Violence begets violence.

Black Lives Matter and Slavery.

Black Lives Matter protesters claim to be concerned about racial injustice and the legacy of slavery in the United States. But have you ever heard them protest the slavery that still exists in Africa today? Of course not. BLM, you see, really has little interest in the lives of black people, whether Americans or Africans. As a Marxist movement, it is concerned only with rewriting the history of the United States, undermining the nuclear family and religious values, and destroying our form of representative government. Injustice against blacks, which certainly exists but is far from "systemic," simply provides a handy excuse to take to the streets so they can continue their destructive work.

Slavery does exist today, and in some nations on a rather large scale. In the West African nation of Mauritania, for example, it is estimated that 20% of the population is enslaved; that is, they are "owned" by others who can do with them as they please. In fact, ownership of slaves in that country often passes from father to son. Given the Qur'an's rather explicit support for slavery, it's no wonder there's no Islamic abolitionist movement. And the left, Including Black Lives Matter, does not dare to criticize Islam. Christianity and Judaism are far safer targets.

Kamala Harris and Religion.

Senator Harris has made a career of attacking the religious values of her political opponents and others she hopes to  destroy in the public square. Her attacks on Catholics have been especially virulent. Two years ago she tried to block the nomination of a federal judge, Brian Buescher, because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal and charitable organization. Such an attack, of course, violates the Constitution's prohibition of religious tests:

"...no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." [Article VI, Clause 3]

The senator also smeared current Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, a Catholic, during his confirmation hearings.

Interestingly, though, when Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault last year, Senator Harris said this of Biden's accusers: "I believe them and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it." And now, although she never retracted those comments, she's Joe's running mate. Do you get the feeling she might be a complete opportunist, lacking any moral or philosophical foundation?

Harris has repeatedly attacked pro-life advocates and led the fight to keep abortion legal right up to the time of birth. As the Attorney General of California, she tried to inflict pregnancy centers with regulations really designed to close their doors. Taken to court, she lost her case thanks to the U. S. Supreme Court. She also co-sponsored the so-called "Equality Act" that would not allow Catholic hospitals to be Catholic by destroying rights of conscience and free speech, and even the freedom to follow one’s religious values. Her support for Planned Parenthood, gay marriage, and transgendered rights, plus her denial of school choice, especially for the poor, has put the Catholic Church in her cross-hairs. 

Nancy Pelosi on Children.

Every so often -- and these days it's far too often -- I read something that makes me want to scream nasty words. Fortunately, Diane's presence softens me and (usually) forces me to think twice before letting the neighbors know how I feel. The words of Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), inexplicably the current Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative, are the most recent cause of my loss of verbal control. Here's what she said:

"My whole purpose in politics, the three most important issues facing the Congress: our children, our children, our children...that's the hill I fight on."

Yes, hearing these words from Nancy Pelosi is truly scream-inducing. She cares so much for "the children" that during her 33 years in Congress she has overseen the slaughter of tens of millions of unborn children. I'm sorry, Nancy, but the hill you fight on is indeed a huge hill, one made up of the dismembered bodies of more than 60 million American children. The hypocrisy of this woman, who constantly claims to be a "devout Catholic," is beyond comprehension.

How wonderful that this week Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, demanded that Catholic politicians "must stop promoting anti-life laws." He went on to say that "it is a great error" for Catholic legislators "to promote legislation favoring abortion or euthanasia." Encouraging the Catholic faithful to correct their errant political leaders, he said, "The Church has a great responsibility to help its members, first of all, to convert to the Gospel of life, to the beauty of life. It is important that we avoid the dirty work of death and carry out the beautiful work of life."

One can only pray and hope that our Catholic politicians, including Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, will listen and convert.

Slavery in our Modern, Progressive World

I am always amazed at the historical myopia of those who actually believe that we humans have evolved into smarter and better beings, that we have continually progressed en route to some wonderful man-made utopia. The facts, of  course, tell us quite the opposite. But who wants to face the facts when they've already made up their minds?

There are plenty of available measuring sticks by which we can compare the present with the past. Warfare is a good example. Did you know that more people were killed during the wars in the twentieth century than in all previous wars combined? And if we add other kinds of government sponsored slaughter -- Hitler's death camps, the gulags of the Soviet Union, the Cultural Revolution of Mao's China, the "reeducation" of the Cambodian people, etc. -- the resulting comparison is even more lop-sided.

Another measurement, one that isn't talked about too often in polite company, is slavery. Indeed, about the only context in which slavery is discussed today is relative to the idea of reparations for the descendants of African slaves in this country. But how often have you heard any discussion of slavery as it is currently practiced in today's world? And yet, it is estimated that throughout the world 27 million or more humans are enslaved today. This is a higher number than at any other time in the world's history. People are enslaved everywhere on earth, with the exception, I suppose, of Antarctica...

Most people don't realize that in the Middle Ages, under Christianity, slavery virtually disappeared in Europe. Yes, there was serfdom, but even as a serf a man enjoyed all his personal rights except the right to leave the land he cultivated and the right to freely dispose of his property.  Even serfdom eventually disappeared in Catholic countries, although it remained longer in countries affected by the Protestant Reformation. It wasn't until the later wars with Islam that prisoners began to be treated as slaves and then, with the exploration of the New World, and the so-called Enlightenment, slavery once again flourished.

It is a blot on Christian civilization that this happened. But slavery was repudiated again and again by the papacy, even if these repudiations were most often ignored:

• In 1462, before the exploration of America, Pius II declared slavery to be "a great crime"
• In 1537, Paul III forbade the enslavement of the Indians
• In 1639 slavery was forbidden by Urban VIII and by Benedict XIV in 1741
• In 1815 Pius VII demanded that the Congress of Vienna suppress the slave trade
• In 1839 Gregory XVI condemned slavery
• In 1850 Pius IX, when beatifying the Jesuit Peter Claver, a famous opponent of slavery and minister to the slaves, called the practice of slave traders, "supreme villainy". (Photo is of the Church of  St. Peter Claver in Cartagena, Columbia which Dear Diane and I visited last year. The saint's remains are visible under the main altar.)
• And in 1888 Leo XIII addressed the Brazilian bishops, instructing them to banish the remnants of slavery from their country. The bishops responded enthusiastically and many slave owners freed their slaves, as happened in the early days of the Church during Roman times.

The slavery we encounter in the world today is a relatively recent institution, quite different from that of the ancient world and a far cry from the kind of slavery, largely agricultural,  that existed in the United States prior to the Civil War. The sad thing is that slavery still exists and is a booming business in much of the world. 

How would you define slavery? Do you think of it only in 19th Century terms; for example, the slavery of Africans who were bought and sold and forced to work on Southern plantations in the United States? Or is your conception of slavery more expansive? Does your idea of slavery encompass the unwilling trafficking of human beings for a variety of reasons? I suggest that the latter is a far more realistic view, especially in today's world. Probably the most accurate definition of slavery is "forced labor with little or no pay under the threat of violence."

Slavery has changed over the years and, perhaps most surprisingly, it has also grown significantly since those days when it was common practice in a large part of our own country. And, believe me, just because slavery is now constitutionally illegal in the United States, this does not mean it isn't practiced here. In fact, the CIA estimates that between 14,500 and 17,000 victims are trafficked into the US every year. Many consider this a very conservative estimate, since for some victims the US is merely a place of transit, a way-point, so to speak, on their way to some other destination.

But what happens in this country is a mere drop in the bucket compared to other nations. These victims of modern slavery fall into a number of different categories: chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced labor, and sex slavery.

• Chattel slaves are consider to be personal property and can be exchanged for money or other property (cars, trucks, etc.). They and their children are expected to perform labor and provide sexual favors. Chattel slavery was used as a weapon in the war in southern Sudan. And in Mauritania Arab Berbers bought and sold black Africans as inheritable property. Slavery was legally prohibited in 2007 there, but the "freed" slaves seem to be doing exactly the same work they did before being freed. Click here to read more.

• Debt bondage, or bonded labor, is probably the most widely practiced form of slavery worldwide. Extreme poverty can force parents to offer themselves or their children as collateral against a "loan". And though they are told they will work only until the debt has been paid, inflated interest rates often make this impossible. This kind of debt can cut across generations and keep a family in bondage indefinitely. This form of debt bondage slavery still exists in some form here in the US; for example, the Immokalee workers right here in Florida.

• Sex slavery usually involves women, and children of both sexes, forced into prostitution. They are often lured into slavery by promises of real work and then threatened, beaten and forced into working in brothels. Some are sold by their fathers or brothers to pay off a debt, while others are simply kidnapped from their rural villages. The brothels of Thailand are filled with sex slaves, but they exist as well in many other places throughout the world. Here's an example from the Middle East where a young 15-year-old girl was sold by her father in Syria and then taken to the United Arab Emirates to work as a sex slave: Sex slave girls face cruel justice in Iraq. (Sex slavery in the Islamic world is particularly cruel since the victim is often blamed rather than the actual perpetrator.)

• Forced labor, another common form of slavery, usually results when individuals are promised a good job but then find themselves trapped in conditions of slavery; i.e., forced to work for no pay in harsh or hazardous conditions while being physically abused. And depending on how one measures it, this category could include hundreds of millions of people. Victims include domestic servants, construction workers, children forced to fight as soldiers or even act as human mine detectors. The UN estimates that there are upwards of 300,000 children forced to fight as soldiers worldwide. Many of these children have died or been disabled in armed operations, while others have been interrogated, tortured, beaten, or kept as prisoners of war. Teenage suicide bombers, brainwashed by their controllers, would also seem to fall into this category. Child domestic servants -- often as young as seven years old -- not only work 12 to 14 hours a day, but many are paid absolutely nothing. They are also particularly vulnerable to sexual as well as other physical abuse. At the extreme fringe of forced labor, children are kidnapped, held in remote camps, and chained at night to prevent their escape. They are put to work on road-building and stone-quarrying. Forced labor in one or another of its forms occurs almost everywhere but, in its worst forms, is probably most common in parts of Africa, East Asia, and the Middle East.

Every year nearly a million people are trafficked internationally, and approximately 80% of these are women and children. And make no mistake about it, human trafficking is an extremely profitable business. Experts estimate that trafficking just in the US yields more than a $ Billion annually. And around the world, trafficking in human sex slaves is a multi-billion dollar business. Interestingly, today human slaves are actually very cheap. In 1850 the average slave cost $40,000 in today’s money, while today the average cost of a slave is $90.

Logan Paul Gage wrote an excellent review of Benjamin Skinner's book, A Crime So Monstrous..., in the May 2008 issue of First Things. (Click here to read the review.) While Skinner's book offers a remarkable look into the world of modern day slavery, it is far too hostile toward some of the faith-based groups working to eradicate it. Gage's review helps to balance some of that hostility. Another book on the subject is Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People. Written by Kevin Bale, Zoe Trodd and Alan Kent Williamson, it offers a reliable view of this horrific problem facing the world. It, too, is worth reading.

Some other relevant links:

US Bishops Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Polaris Project

American Anti-Slavery Group

Free the Slaves

St. Peter Claver, pray for us.