109 years ago today, this happened...

Today, May 13th, is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. On this day in 1917, three shepherd children --Lúcia dos Santos (10) and her cousins Francisco Marto (9) and Jacinta Marto (7) -- saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cova da Iria, near Fátima, Portugal. She appeared as a "lady brighter than the sun," holding a rosary, and entrusted the children with a message from Heaven.

The Three Seers (as the children became known) were leading their flock out from Aljustrel on the morning of the 13th of May, the feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. They passed Fátima, where the parish church and cemetery were located, and proceeded a kilometer or so north to the slopes of the Cova. Here they allowed their sheep to graze as they played in the pasture studded with a few oak trees.

After having had their lunch about noon they decided to pray a rosary, although in a somewhat truncated fashion, saying only the first words of each prayer. Shortly, they were startled by what they later described as "lightning in a clear sky." Thinking that a storm might be approaching they debated whether they should take the sheep and go home. Preparing to do so they were again surprised by a strange light.

"We began to go down the slope driving the sheep towards the road," Lúcia said. "When we were half-way down, near a holm oak there [still standing there today, encircled by an iron fence], we saw another flash of lightning, and after a few steps we saw on a holm oak [a small one lower on the hillside] a lady dressed in white, shining brighter than the sun, giving out rays of clear and intense light, just like a crystal goblet full of pure water when the fiery sun passes through it.

"We stopped astounded by the Apparition. We were so near that we were in the light that encircled her, or which she radiated, perhaps a meter and a half away [4-5 feet]. The lady said, 'Please don't be afraid of me, I'm not going to harm you.'"

Lúcia responded for all three, as she would throughout the apparitions, "Where are you from?" The Lady answered, "I come from heaven."

The Lady wore a pure white mantle, edged with gold and which fell to her feet. In her hands the beads of a rosary shone like stars, with its crucifix the most radiant gem of all. Still, Lúcia felt no fear. The Lady's presence produced in her only gladness and confident joy.

"And what do you want of me?", Lúcia asked. The Lady said, "I want you to return here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the very same hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time."

"And shall I go to heaven?", asked Lúcia. "Yes, you will," said the Lady. 

"And Jacinta?" "She will go too."

"And Francisco?" "Francisco, too, my dear, but he will first have many Rosaries to say." For a few moments the Lady looked at Francisco with compassion, tinged with a little sadness. 

Lúcia then remembered some friends who had died. "Is Maria Neves in heaven?" "Yes, she is."  

"And Amelia?" "She is in purgatory."

"Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for all the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?"

"Oh, we will, we will!" 

"Then you will have a great deal to suffer, but the grace of God will be with you and will strengthen you."  

Lúcia relates that as the Lady pronounced these words, she opened her hands, and "we were bathed in a heavenly light that appeared to come directly from her hands. The light's reality cut into our hearts and our souls, and we knew somehow that this light was God, and we could see ourselves embraced in it."

By an interior impulse of grace we fell to our knees, repeating in our hearts: "Oh, Holy Trinity, we adore You. My God, my God, I love You in the Blessed Sacrament." 

The children remained kneeling in the flood of this wondrous light, until the Lady spoke again, mentioning the war in Europe, of which they had little or no knowledge. "Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war."  

After that she began to rise slowly in the direction of the east, until she disappeared in the immense distance. The light that encircles Her seemed to make a way amidst the stars. Lúcia said, "that is why we sometimes said we had seen the heavens open."

Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco were canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017, the 100th anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. They are the youngest non-martyr saints in the history of the Catholic Church. Lucia dos Santos (aka nSister Lúcia of Fátima) has not yet been canonized, but was declared Venerable by Pope Francis on 22 June 2023. This recognition of her "heroic virtues" is a significant step in the Church's canonization process.

VIDEO: Disaffected Michael Matt asks: Did you REALLY vote for this?

I am one of the many 1000s who are (to put it mildly) disappointed that President Trump has not yet succeeded in Making America Great Again. I think POPTUS made a hyuge (mildly, again) mistake in attacking Iran, after having promised to keep us from getting entangled in any more Mid-East wars, and putting the treasure spent on Iraq and Afghanistan to better use at home. And yet, here we are, wondering how in hell he's going to get America out of this hot mess. See "WINNING! "The war is over!" POTUS orders 5000 troops back to USA", WWW 2/5/26.

I know Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper, agrees with me [or vice versa. Ed.] Here's an excerpt from the latest edition of the Remnant Underground, in which Mr Matt asks: What's going on with Trump's America? Is this what we voted for?!

ICYMI, Mr Matt said it seems to him that there's not much to choose from between the Trump Republicans and "the other guys", that neither party seems prepared to do what is necessary to truly fix a broken America. He might agree with my argument in "Uniparty politics FAILS in UK... still working in Canada though", WWW 10/5/26, that we (the AABC countries) are headed in the wrong direction, no matter which half of the Uniparty is in power.

Because it's Monday, that's why

Scraped from the Patriot Post.

Uniparty politics FAILS in UK... still working in Canada though

    I often think it's comical... fa-la-ah-lah

        How nature always does contrive... fa-la-ah-lah

    That every boy and every gal

        That's born into this world alive

    Is either a little Liberal

        Or else a little Conservative! Fa-laaaa-lah!

Private Willis (of the Grenadier Guards), in Iolanthe, book by W.S. Gilbert

Ever since the electoral reforms of the mid-19th century, the Mother of All Parliaments -- the Westminster Parliament of the so-called United Kingdom -- has been dominated by a party of the left(ish) and one of the right(ish). The latter calls itself "Conservative". The "Liberal" party, as the former was known when W.S. Gilbert wrote those lyrics was supplanted in 1924 by the Labour Party, which, under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, is now having its turn at bat.

The Right Honourable Mr Starmer has a rude awakening a couple of days ago when his party was thrashed in a local elections bloodbath which saw it routed on English councils, and destroyed in Wales and Scotland.

His Majesty's Loyal Opposition can take no cheer from the Labour debacle, as the Conservatives also lost hundreds of council seats across Once-great Britain. Labour also lost control of the devolved parliament of Wales, to the nationalist Plaid Cymru party, while the Scottish National Party kept its majority in Scotland.

While the slightly less leftish Liberal Democrats and the loony Green Party made gains, the big winner was the Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage. Mr Farage now looks the best bet to be the next prime minister of the Disunited Kingdom, as pressure mounts on Sir Keir to fall on his sword. See "Over 100 Labour Politicians Call on Prime Minister Starmer to Resign After Election Disaster", Breitbart News, 10/5/26.

What we are seeing here is nothing less than the destruction of Britain's two-party system, where power is rotated between two parties with virtually indistinguishable liberal democratic policies, who might better be called not "Labour" and "Conservative" but "Ins" and "Outs".

Vote share projections by Rallings and Thrasher suggest that if a general election had been held on the same day as these local elections, Labour would have scored only 15%, with Reform on 27% and the Tories on 20%. The Greens and the Lib Dems were both on 14%. At a Westminster election those numbers would probably produce a hung Parliament, with Reform the largest party but well short of an outright majority.

Prime Minister Starmer has argued that his Labour party stands its best chance at political survival with him at the helm, rather than tacking to the left or right with a replacement leader. Speaking to The Observer yesterday Saturday, he said he hopes to be in power for the next eight years, meaning that he hopes to lead the party to victory in the next general election in 2029. 

For his part, Nigel Farage boasted of a "truly historic shift in British politics" and said he is "heading for Number 10" (i.e. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence), as Reform plundered seats in previous Labour strongholds in the North and Midlands. Mr Farage predicted that Starmer will likely be removed from office by mid-summer, and joked that he would be "very sad" to see Sir Keir ousted, adding "he is the greatest asset we have got."

Meanwhile the Canadian parliament continues to be controlled by the Uniparty, a de facto coalition of the leftish ("but not so much as under Trudeau!") Liberals and the rightish ("but not so much as under Harper!") Conservatives. 

The only thing the two parties disagree on is who should sit on which side of the House of Commons. The general election of 2025 resulted in a hung parliament, with the "New Look Liberals" four seats short of a majority, In the year since, that embarrassing shortage of power has been rectified by the simple expedient of having three Liberals and one pinko (NDP-er) cross the floor to sit on the government side. Canuckleheads will now be ruled by the wokesters of the Laurentian Elite until the next election in 2029.

SCOTUS judges in conclave

Scraped from Patriot Post.

Your Singhs today: British Columbia double murder edition

For some time, "Your Sikhs today" has been a standing headline on WWW. Every day we receive tips and leads to news of crimes -- criminally dangerous driving, extortion, arson, drug smuggling, and murder -- committed by Sikhs living (legally or otherwise) in our countries. All Sikh men bear "Singh" as a surname or middle name.

As I said, we receive such news every day, but Ed. declared a moratorium on posting such, not because we cavil at fanning the flames of anti-Sikh sentiment (especially in British Columbia and Ontario) but because our readers are getting bored, as witness the declining number of "hits" on such articles. Today's story, however, is so horrific that it cannot pass unnoticed.

Yesterday, three Sikhs men from Surrey BC were found guilty of killing an Abbotsford BC senior couple in their home. Pictures of the murderous Singhs are hard to find. Some meeja outlets have confused them with the "Surrey 3" implicated in the 2023 assassination of Sikh extremist leader Hardeel Singh Nijjar. So Ed. has inset a court artist's drawing into a photo of their victims.

In a crime reminiscent of the movie In Cold Blood, the elderly couple, Arnold and Joanne De Jong, were murdered in their Abbotsford home in May of 2022 by Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh, and Khushveer Singh Toor. 

Dismissing the "botched robbery" defence put forward at trial, Justice Brenda Brown accepted the Crown's argument that the three men were motivated by "debt, financial pressure and greed" when they  planned the home invasion and murders.

Evidence was presented during the trial that they used the De Jongs' credit cards, driver's licence and cheques to make purchases, pay off debt, withdraw cash and send money to relatives in India. Said the judge, "I’m satisfied that the murders of both victims were carefully planned, deliberated and executed. I’m satisfied that each accused is guilty of first-degree murder."

The bodies of the De Jongs were discovered on the morning of 9 May 2022 in their home on a rural road in east Abbotsford. Arnold De Jong owned two trucking companies and was a stereotype of the rich farmer portrayed stories like In Cold Blood. 

The court heard that Joanne De Jong, 76, was found in her bed with her hands and feet tied by rope and surrounded by a “significant amount” of blood. A pathologist determined she had died as a result of "sharp-force trauma" – stab wounds to her neck, possibly caused by a screwdriver – and "blunt-force trauma" to her head, possibly inflicted by a hammer. 

Arnold De Jong, 77, was also found in bed – in a separate bedroom – with his hands and feet also bound, and his entire head and face tightly wrapped in duct tape. His cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to smothering. 

The court heard that the three Sikhs, who all lived together in Surrey BC, knew the De Jongs because Abhijeet Singh owned and ran a cleaning company, and the two others worked for him. They had done work at the De Jong home in July 2021 and April 2022. 

The Crown had argued that all three should share culpability no matter who inflicted the mortal injuries. Each of the defence lawyers argued that the killings were not premeditated – a requirement of first-degree murder – and that there was no evidence to directly link their client to the murders. The defence lawyers each argued that their clients might have participated in the home invasion, but they were not involved in the actual killing.

Justic Brown said, "The suggestion that anyone in the house would not have been aware of what was going on is unrealistic, and I reject any evidence suggesting otherwise." Both Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Singh Toor had cleaned the De Jong residence a month before the killings, the judge found, and knew they would be recognized by the couple during the robbery. "Because of this, they could not leave the De Jongs alive at the conclusion of the home invasion. Even if the invaders were masked, the police would likely be able to learn their identities in short order."

Victim impact statements will be heard later this month. Under Canadian law, the murderous Sikhs will be sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. However, our legal expert reminds us, there is a loophole -- the "faint hope" clause in the Criminal Code -- which says parole eligibility hearings may be held earlier in certain cases. 

What if the Singhs raise the argument that they are actually political prisoners, since they were raising money to help in the fight for a Free Khalistan? Don't dismiss the possibility that a typically liberal Canadian adjudicator might just buy that!

"Just wait!", Iran warns Trump

From the creative Christian satirists at the Babylon Bee. Click here to read the article.