Sydney attack on Christian bishop WAS Islamic terrorism

The attempted murder of His Grace, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, while he was preaching the homily during the Sunday liturgy at Christ the Good Shepherd Assyrian Orthodox Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakely, Australia, has caused some dissension in our cabin in the woods. 

Some readers on Disqus amd elewhere pounced on Walt's first post, accusing me of jumping to the conclusion that the assailant was yet another jihadi wannabe. I was told I had a terminal case of Islamopbia, and criticized me for reposting this meme.

Ed. told me we the Aussie cops weren't disclosing the name of the teenage assailant or saying anything about his religious or other motivation, so maybe (Ed. said) just this one we jumped to the wrong conclusion. [We weren't alone! Ed.] So we edited the first post, and duly apologized the very next day (WWW 14/4/24), before all the facts were in.

The following day we posted the video, and I reiterated my suspicions. See  "For real, this time: 'Allahu akbar!' in Sydney", WWW 15/4/24. At that point, New South Wales still refused to say anything more than they were investigating what appeared to be a "lone wolf" attack by someone with emotional problems. And they still refused to utter words like "Islam" or "Muslim".

Now, almost two weeks after the dastardly attack, we have additional news about who the dastard was and who was behind him. Apparently he did not act alone, and his attempt on the life of the prelate did have some connection with some unspecified religion. Here is the report from AP. Please read it carefully and think about what's not being said, which we've indicated with [???].

Five teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology have been charged with a range of offences in an investigation that began with the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church, police said Thursday.

The five, aged from 14 to 17, were among seven boys arrested across southwest Sydney on Wednesday in a major operation by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team. 

The team includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and the New South Wales Crime Commission, which specializes in [???] extremists and organized crime.

Two boys, ages 16 and 17, have been charged with conspiring to engage in or planning a [???] terrorist act, a police statement said. The older boy was also charged with carrying a knife in public, it said. Two boys aged 14 and 17 were charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material accessed online, police said. All five remained in police custody and were scheduled to appear before a children’s court Thursday. 

Two other boys arrested Wednesday had not been charged so far, police said. Three other juveniles and two men were being questioned by police but were not under arrest, police said. 

More than 400 police officers executed 13 search warrants Wednesday at properties across southwest Sydney and one in Goulburn, a city about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Sydney. New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson alleged Wednesday that the arrested boys "adhered to a religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology." [???]

That's all she wrote. Now ask yourself... What "religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology" do you suppose they're talking about? Once again, the woke police forces and the lickspittle media are censoring themselves, carefully refusing to use wordes like "Islamic", "Muslim", "jihad" or "jihadis", or anything that might fuel the fires of Islamophobia. 

But seriously now... do you think the "religiously motivated, violent, extremist ideology" could be anything other than The Religion of Peace (TM). C'mon now... Really??!! Dear infidel (non-Muslim) readers, please remember the old saying, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to kill you."

The real, true, honest-to-Pete [Buttgag] story of Uncle Bosie

And here's another one.

Remember in November that Dementia Joe appears to believe these tall tales about himself and him family... including the boy. Either that or he knows he's lying but can't stop himself from gilding the lily.

Suggested reading: "The Unprotected Class", i.e. White Americans

According to the website of the Claremont Institute, of which he is a senior fellow, Jeremy Carl's primary focus is on immigration, multiculturalism, and nationalism in America. 

Prior to joining Claremont, Mr Carl worked for a decade as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, serving as a policy advisor to many national political figures. While at Hoover, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz praised his "mastery of subject matter" and "ability to write comprehensively and with clarity." 

He is the author and editor of several books on energy policy, most recently, Keeping the Lights on at America’s Nuclear Power Plants, lauded by Nobel-Prize Winning nuclear physicist Burton Richter and former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre. His political writing and commentary has been featured in the National Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, T, National Review, and the Economist, among others.

Jeremy Carl's latest opus, The Unprotected Class (Regnery 2024), makes a strong argument that anti-white racism, undisguised and unembarrassed, is now official policy in America. 

One class of citizens -- whites -- is openly discriminated against in every sphere of public and private life. The Unprotected Class is a comprehensive explanation of how we got here and what we must do to correct a manifest and dangerous—injustice. 

Launched with an appeal to justice for all, the civil rights movement went off the rails even as it achieved its original goals. Soon its excesses and failures were exploited to justify discrimination against whites in business, education, law, entertainment, and even the church. With the death of George Floyd and the shedding of all pretense of racial justice, vindictiveness, resentment, and hatred were unleashed in America.

The Unprotected Class is available directly from the publisher (a lot cheaper than Amazon!) in hardcover or e-book form. Tell `em Walt sent ya! I haven't actually read it yet [That's a hint, dear reader! Ed.], but if Victor Davis Hanson recommends it, that's good enough for me.

First official photo of jury for Trump's NYC trial

From The Patriot Post. Walt suggests you bookmark their site. Any organization that has a Latin motto -- Pro Deo et libertate -- in its banner has my support.

Dementia queen story time

Brazilian woman tries "Weekend at Bernie's" trick to get bank loan

Walt loves stories about stupid criminals, and this is the best one I've heard in a looooong time. Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, a resident of a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, has been arrested after she brought her uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga into a bank to co-sign for a loan. Unfortunately, Mr Braga, who was brought in in a wheelchair, was determined to be dead.

The Rio newspaper O Dia reports that, in a CCTV video, Ms Nunes is heard calling Braga her uncle as she speaks to the body and props up his head. "Uncle, are you listening?" she says. "You need to sign [the contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you."

She then grabs a pen and forces it into the hands of the corpse, saying, "Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore." According to the video, she replies "He doesn't say anything, that's just how he is," before turning to the dead body and adding: "If you're not okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital." 

Bank staff soon became suspicious as the man's head kept falling back so they called the police who arrested Ms Nunes. The cops allege that Mr Nunes, who was 68, had died just hours before, while ly ing down. "She knew he was dead," said the investigating officer. "He had been dead for at least two hours."

Ms Nunes now faces charges of violating a corpse and attempted theft through fraud. Her lawyer says that Mr Braga was alive when he entered the bank. "The facts did not occur as has been narrated. Paulo was alive when he arrived at the bank. All of this will be cleared up. We believe in Érika’s innocence."

"Project 24K" proves Greater Toronto a really multicultural city

Today, 17 April 2024, is the first anniversary of the Great YYZ Gold Heist. (Regular readers will know that YYZ is the airport code for Toronto's Pearson airport.) This was the largest theft of gold in Canadian history, and possibly the sixth-largest in the history of the world. Here's a CCTV image of (police say) the robbery in progress.

According to the Peel Regional Police, the take was 6,600 gold bars, valued at over C$20 million ($14.5 million in real money) and roughlyC$2.5 million in folding money. The gold and currency was ordered from a refinery in Zurich, Switzerland, then transported in a container through an Air Canada flight that landed at YYZ at 1556.EDT.

The cargo was then offloaded to an Air Canada cargo facility, where, a couple of hours later, a suspect arrived at the facility with a "fraudulent airway bill...for a legitimate shipment of seafood that was picked up the day before." A police spokesthingy told the meeja today, "This duplicate airway bill was printed off from a printer within an Air Canada cargo facility." 

Shortly thereafter, a forklift arrived with a container of gold and foreign currency and was loaded into the rear of the suspect’s truck. He then hauled ass with the haul. [You're not quoting the copper, right? Ed.] Almost six hours after the plane landed, Brink’s Canada employees arrived at the Air Canada cargo site to collect up the shipment of gold and currency, only to be told it had already been picked up. Everyone had a good think overnight, and called the cops the next morning.

An investigation dubbed "Project 24K" was launched right away... kind of... and has now identified nine suspects, who have been arrested, charged or had Canada-wide warrants issued against them. Let's see who they are.

Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old resident of Brampton ON, has been identified as the driver who allegedly stole the cargo from the airport. It was his bad luck to be stopped last September by a Pennsylvania state trooper, who found dozens of illegal firearms inside his rented car. 

Police say the driver ran away but was arrested shortly after. He appeared to be illegally in the United States, and when they checked him on the police database, it flagged him as wanted by Peel police. 

When troopers opened the Nissan’s trunk, they didn’t find gold bars, but 65 guns instead, that were destined to be smuggled into Canada, according to an indictment filed in the US of A. Besides the guns, American investigators found messages between King-Mclean and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, another Bramptonian. Paramalingam sent King-Mclean a photograph of large amounts of Canadian currency wrapped in stacks with rubber bands. 

Paramalingam and another unnamed person from Toronto flew from Toronto to New York City to deliver money to King-Mclean. Five days later, Paramalingam flew back to Toronto via Miami. King-Mclean stayed in Fort Lauderdale, where he allegedly took several photos of guns and large amounts of real money. He left Florida in August 2023 in a rental vehicle and drove north. That's when he was stopped just outside Washington DC by Pennsylvania state troopers. 

In today's presser, Peel police named nine people identified and/or charged as a result of  Project 24K. Arrested in Canada were: 

Parmpal Sidhu, 54, of Brampton [Again? Ed.] who was named as an Air Canada employee. He is charged with theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; 

Amit Jalota, 40, from Oakville, charged with possession of property obtained by crime, theft over $5,000, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; 

Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, charged with accessory after the fact; 

Ali Raza, a 37-year-old jewelry store owner from Toronto, charged with possession of property obtained by crime; and 

Prasath Paramalingam, charged with accessory after the fact.

Durante King-Mclean, the alleged getaway driver, is formally listed as wanted by Peel police, although he is in custody in the United States.

Peel police are also searching for:

Simran Preet Panesar, a 31-year-old Brampton man who was an Air Canada employee at the time of the theft but resigned after the heist. He is wanted for theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Archit Grover, 36, from Brampton, pictured at right [Sorry, Walt, this is the only photo I could find. Ed.] is considered a fugitive in Canada and the United States. In Canada. He is wanted for theft over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. In the US. he is accused of helping King-Mclean after his roadside arrest and hindering the investigation, including removing possible evidence from the Floridea Airbnb where King-Mclean stayed, and arranging a $1000 payment to the car rental agency for an amended rental agreement. 

Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga, wanted for theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and conspiracy to commit and indictable offence.

Reading through that list of names, Walt is struck by the apparent ethnicity of the suspects. Not an Irishman among them! With the exception of "Jimmy" Durante King-Mclean, they all appear to be... errr... south Asian. Paramalingam is a Lankan name. The rest are probably Indians, some of them Sikhs. By their turbans ye shall know them, and large numbers of them work in and around Pearson Airport.

I mention this because I'm reminded of Project Kraken, about which I wrote in "'Project Kraken' proves Greater Toronto a really multicultural city", WWW 29/6/19 -- one of our most-read articles. Project Kraken had to do with drugs and guns. I've asked Ed. to find out if any of the same names appear in the list of those charged in that case, but he hasn't got back to me yet. [Don't hold your breath. Our readers got the point already. Ed.]

The greatest evils...

Another stabbing in Sydney. Walt was right, this time!

We took quite a bit of flak over our post about the First Sydney Stabbing, which was the work of a demented "incel", not an Islamic terrorist. Ed. thought it better to remove a meme which was included in "'Allahu akbar!' in Sydney, Australia", WWW 13/4/24, and we did apologize for jumping to conclusions.

However, we didn't promise not to do it again. Good thing, because before the weekend was out, there was another stabbing in Sydney, when a man with a beard attacked Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Orthodox Church and stabbed him right in the middle of his homily! All this was captured on video. Click here to see the clip, which we posted yesterday.

At first, a spokesthingy (Constable Bruce Constable) told the meeja the motive for the attack on a Christian cleric was "unclear", but everyone jumped to the same conclusion anyway. We make no apology for running this meme again.

And so it was! And so it is, and (unless Santiago Matamoros intervenes) so shall it ever be!

Today, police arrested a 16-year-old boy who they allege (LOL) is the one shown in the video. Constable Constable's boss, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb, said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack. She did not name the religion, but anyone who wants to bet (100-1) that it's not the Religion of Peace (TM) should just send me a cheque.

Said the boss cop, "We'll allege there’s a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location, which is not near his residential address, he has travelled with a knife and subsequently the bishop and the priest have been stabbed... They’re lucky to be alive."

Commissioner Webb said the teenager was known to police but was not on a terror watch list. Notice the implicit bias there. He was only a kid, never known to be a terrorist, a good boy trying to turn his life around. Where have we heard that before?

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation's main domestic spy agency, and Australian Federal Police had joined state police in a counter-terrorism task force to investgate who else was potentially involved. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said the investigation had yet to uncover any associated threats. "It does appear to be religiously motivated,: he said "but we continue our lines of investigation." 

But wait, Mr Burgess had more to say. “Our job is to look at individuals connected with the attacker to assure ourselves that there is no-one else in the community with similar intent." Walt says, oh really? No-one else? This kid was the only jihadi wannabe imported into the woke land of Oz in the last few years because the Aussie politicians don't want to be labelled as Islamophobes?

Mr Burgess then contradicted himself by adding that the risk of a terrorist attack in Australia is rated at "possible" -- the second lowest level on the five-tier National Terrorism Threat Advisory System after "not expected". 

He didn't actually say "Don't worry. Be happy." What does Walt say to his Aussie readers and friends? "Don't be surprised!"

VIDEO: For real, this time: "Allahu akbar!" in Sydney

Walt has already apologized (see below) for suggesting that the late Joel Cauchi (note the initials) was a fanatical follower of the Religion of Peace (TM). Turns out he was merely an "incel". His father told the meeja he killed all those innocent people because he wanted a girlfriend. Seems like a funny way to go about getting one, but there ya go.

However, there's no mistake about this one. His Grace, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, was preaching the homily during the Sunday liturgy at Christ the Good Shepherd Assyrian Orthodox Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakely, when this happened.

  

 

Ahe man dressed in black -- so far unidentified -- approaches the bishop, and stabs  him repeatedly in the head and upper body. Members of the congregation, including a nun, can be seen screaming and rushing to the bishop's aid. Amidst the commotion, the assailant can be heard shouting "Allahu akbar!" as he is wrestled to the floor. The bishop and three congregants, including a priest, were injured.

Sydney police, who are got a lot of practice dealing with this kind of thing this weekend, arrested a suspect, whom they have so far declined to name. Don't be surprised if it's "Mohammed". They are also saying that his motive is "unclear". Well, some people can't recognize a blackberry in a saucer of milk.

An ironic sidelight to this story is that, according to AFP, the neighbourhood is a hub for Sydney's small Assyrian Christian community, many of whom have fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. We know the religion of those who are fighting a civil war in the Middle East, don't we. The trouble is that the Muslim Civil War, and the Islamic jihad against "infidels", is being fought all over the world. No place, not even remote Australia, is safe.

When you're wrong, you're wrong. I admit it.

Following up yesterday's story, the BBC reports that the murderer was one Joel Cauchi (no, not "Mohammed" or "Abdul"), aged 40, whose home state was Queensland. He was "known to police" but never arrested or charged. Authorities have been unable to find any evidence of a terrorist motivation, and believe that the attacks were "related to the mental health of the individual."

Like millions of others, I jumped to the Muslim terrorist conclusion. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. This might have been avoided if the police had released the attacker's ID right away, instead of "waiting for verification." But it shows you the world we live in, doesn't it.

UPDATED! "Allahu akbar!" in Sydney, Australia

A meme has been removed from the original version of this post, and some text deleted. Ed. 14/4/24.

Let me remind those of you who think Israel is being a bit hard on the Hamas of the ideology underlying the jihadis' attacks on Jews and other non-Muslims. Militant Islamists are enjoined by their Religion of Peace (TM) to kill all infidels -- that means us, fellow Christians, as well as Jews -- "wherever they may be found."

Many infidels may be found in the AABC countries -- America, Britain, Canada, and... oh yeah... Australia. It was in the wonderful woke Land of Oz that a man fatally stabbed six people at a Sydney shopping centre. The dead included men and women, one of whom was the mother of a 9-month-old baby who has not yet died.

According to the BBC, the "suspect", who was known to police and shot dead by police, acted alone, so there's "no ongoing public risk". So that's OK then. In an unsurprising fit of political correctness, the Aussie authorities have refused to name the "suspect", because they are "waiting for formal identification.

The Aussie authorities also say it's "too early to speculate" about Mohammed's motives. Could be he was just exacting revenge for the Jews' killings of 33,000 (and counting) of his co-religionists. Or maybe he's just calling attention to the need for a "two-state solution" in Israel, so Muslims and Jews can live side-by-side, happy forever after. Yah. Sure.

UPATE ADDED at 0910: Suspicions confirmed! We now have a picture.

 Still waiting for the name so I can pay off/collect the bets. Lifetime pct .991.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall..."

Mr and Mrs William Clinton were A-list guests at last night's White House state dinner, which honoured Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. A spycam in one of the ladies rooms caught Hellery checking her makeup in the mirror.

Originally posted to X by @realCarola2Hope, and reposted on Breitbart News.

Funny Canadian headline

There seems to be considerable interest in the funny headlines we post here from time to time. Perhaps it's because nothing else is funny any more. Anyhoo, Agent 3 sent us this one, seen yesterday on Canada's Global TV website. 

Non-Canuck readers will be forgiven for thinking that the accompanying story is about the rumour that Blackie McBlackface and his wife separated because of his affair with a toothsome staffer, but it isn't. Oh, this works on soooo many levels! LMAO

How the liberal media deals with stories about black crime

The Eclipse Day celebrations of Mother Earth, the climate crisis and suchlike nonsense were eclipsed [Geddit? Ed.] in the Florida panhandle by a news story about someone who was so moonstruck or sunstruck or whatever that she decided to go on a shooting spree. Here's a photo of a car which was damaged in the incident.

That's the photo chosen by Canada's Global TV to illustrate the report on their website's landing page. And here (below) is the first three paragraphs of their report.

"A 22-year-old woman from Georgia was arrested for allegedly going on a shooting spree on the day of the solar eclipse and telling people that God told her to do it. Taylon Nichelle Celestine faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery for the Monday shootings. 

"She is accused of injuring two people after opening fire on vehicles travelling Interstate 10 through northern Florida. One victim was shot in the neck and is currently in the hospital receiving treatment. The other was grazed on the arm by a bullet. 

"Before the incident, Celestine allegedly checked out of a local hotel and told staff there that she was 'going on a shooting spree, directed by "God" in relation to the solar eclipse,' Florida Highway Patrol wrote in a statement. No other details about motives were provided in the statement."

Based on that information, a lot of readers might have jumped to the conclusion that Ms Celestine is a crazy black woman, but of course the liberal mainstream media wouldn't want to confirm any such suspicion. 

That is likely why they refrained from publishing the mug shot at the left, which found its way into the not-very-liberal New York Post.

Why wouldn't they show us what the accused looks like? For the same reason that the lickspittle media don't (unless forced), identify criminals with "black names", e.g. Velveeeta Taneesha Jones.

What really burns my ring, though, is when the story gives a description of a wanted person like "Female, 5", 150 lbs, with dreadlocks" -- omitting any reference to colour -- and then concludes, "Anyone with further information about the identity or whereabouts of the suspect is asked to call the Police or Crimestoppers." LMAO.

VIDEO: The moment is coming

No, not today. November 5th is MAGA day!

Originally published on Truth Social, 8/4/24.

Another funny headline

Ed. here. While Walt and I wait for the eclipse (see yesterday's post), I've been digging through the electronic slushpile, and found this, submitted by Agent 34.

Keep `em coming folks. In times like these we need all the laughs wew can get!

Going to Niagara Falls to see the eclipse? Read this first

Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] are in Niagara Falls ON to see the solar eclipse this coming Monday. Niagara Falls is reckoned to be the best place in the world to see it, being right in the middle of the path, so there should be 100% totality around 1518 EDT. 

The only hitch could be the weather. Local Indians First Nations have been persuaded to do an anti-rain dance, just in case.

We chose the Canadian side of the river for reasons anyone who has visited Niagara Falls NY will know. The best views of the falls are from the Canadian side, and a US dollar will get you $1.35 in funny money -- but it'll be all coins. Canuckistan have no paper notes of less than five dollars.

Warning! If you're farther away than you can manage in a day trip, and haven't got a guarantee place to stay, forget it! The hotels, motels and inns on the Canadian side are 100% full... and have been for some time. 

Tourists who thought they had a hotel room booked months ago are being told by some hotels their reservations are cancelled because "a large group of people have decided to extend their stay." See "Screwed by Wyndham Garden Niagara Falls--they cancelled our prepaid rooms for the eclipse. What can we do?" on Reddit.

How come? What the lickspittle media are not telling you is that Niagara Falls hotels are full of "refugees" and asylum-seekers, sent there over a year ago by Canada's Liberal government (Blackie McBlackface, Prop.) See "Thinking of visiting Niagara Falls? Think again!", WWW 25/3/23. 

The supposedly temporary arrangement was, of course, anything but. The real reason for the "state of emergency" declared last week by the Region of Niagara is that the unwelcome "visitors" refuse to leave. 

Last wee, over 100 of them -- from shitholes like Nigeria, Pakistan, and Mexico -- who had their claims approved [Really? Ed.] were told to find other accommodations. But if they leave the hotels, they'll have to pay for their own lodgings, food, etc. So they're still there. 

They were given a check-out deadline of 22 April, but everyone knows it won't be enforced. Bad optics for the Trudeau government and wokesters in general. The hoteliers don't care, as they're still getting paid. Better a month of illegals @ $200/night than two days of tourists @ $1000, eh!

That's the news from Down by the Falls. Canada... or Niagara Falls at least... is full up. Stay home.

Funny headlines department

It's hard being an editor. Sometimes you really have to think about possible alternative interpretations of what the ink-stained wretch puts on your desk.

Thanks and a tilt of the eyeshade to Agent 34.

VIDEO: "Climate change": the TRUE story of the greenscam HOAX

Here it is, folks, the film that lifts the lid on the climate alarm, and the dark forces behind the "climate consensus". Watch this (running time 1:19:53) and learn how an eccentric environmental scare grew into a powerful global industry.

Spoiler aleret: There is no consensus. The science of climate is not settled. There are lots of skeptics who are now being labelled as "deniers". 

In this powerful video Written and directed by Martin Durkin. Produced by Tom Nelson, these eminent scientists debunk the hoax that is being perpetrated by the liberal "progressive" elites and their lickspittle media each and every day.

 

Trivia: The music at about 9 minutes (where the dynosaurs appear!) is from Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on the Bare Mountain".

Thanks once again to Agent 6 for passing this along.

April Fool

What? Not funny? Walt didn't think so either. I haven't seen the customary April Fool's Day jokes in the lickspittle media this year, because -- let's be honest -- the biggest April Fool of all is pranking America, and we are not amused!

Cardinal Müller calls for American bishops to excommunicate Biden

Most Rev. Gerhard Cardinal Müller, the former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Vatican’s highest doctrinal office), condemned American President Joe Biden’s support for abortion, saying it is "infanticide" and that those promoting "infanticide" should be "excommunicated".

"The word ‘abortion’ is too much a soft word," said the prelate. "The reality is killing, murder of a living person,” said Gerhard Cardinal Müller. "There’s no right to kill another person. It’s absolutely against the Fifth Commandment."

The cardinal made his comments condemning President Joe Biden during an extensive interview with LifeSiteNews in Rome. Click here to read the original article, which contains links to the video of the interview.

His forthright critique of Mr Biden's very public and consistent pro-abortion stance came shortly after the President [pro tem. Ed.] used his 2024 State of the Union Address to promise to "restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again."

Cardinal Müller likened the killing of the unborn and the elderly to the Nazi times, saying that "it’s absolutely unacceptable that you can say you are a Catholic and promote and justify killing of human persons, human beings [from] the beginning in the mother’s womb, until the last respiration [with] euthanasia… Killing of ill people, like in the Nazi times, is euthanasia."

Mr Biden is very public about his self-professed Catholic faith, but Cardinal Müller suggested that while Biden is "nominally a Catholic, in reality he is a Nihilist. It’s cynicism and absolute cynicism."

The prelate contrasted Mr Biden with Catholics and other Christians throughout America who "know and accept as everybody also, the nonbelievers, with their own mere reason, they can understand that it’s not possible that one human being has a right to kill another one."

Happy Easter

Walt Whiteman [and Ed., Ed.] wish all our readers

HAPPY EASTER

Truly He is risen! Alleluia!

Going electric requires electricity. Who knew?

The headline is that of an article by Lionel Shriver, which appeared today in The Spectator. The cartoon, however, appeared on one of Walt's favourite blogs, Blazing Cat Fur, who we thank for the lead.

The lede quotes the leftist rag which is the New York Times: "'Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge.' Personally, I’d have headlined that article 'Well, duh!"

Walt's choice for the subhead would be, "Imagine that!" You can click on the link to read the article for yourself. It's amazing to me that none of the geniuses who made up the greenscam ever asked (or thought the public would ask), "But where is the electricity going to come from?" Amazing.

Good Friday, A.D. 2024

Reading: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 

according to Saint Matthew, 26: 36-75 and 27: 1-54 (DRV)

Stabat mater dolorósa

juxta Crucem lacrimósa,

dum pendébat Fílius.

Good Catholic friends... If you attend the Good Friday Liturgy at a mainstream Roman Catholic church today, you will hear only a "reformed", politically correct version of the Solemn Prayers which were said in all our churches, on every Good Friday for centuries, until the disorientation caused by Vatican II. Here are the traditional prayers -- note numbers 8 and 9 in particular -- in a translation bearing the imprimatur of Francis Cardinal Spellman. 

1. For Holy Church. Almighty and eternal God, who in Christ hast revealed They glory to all nations: preserve the works of Thy mercy; that Thy Church, spread abroad over the whole world, may with a steadfast faith persevere in the confession of Thy Name. Through the same our Lord... 

2. For the Supreme Pontiff. Almighty and eternal God, by whose judgment all things are established, mercifully regard our prayers, and in Thy goodness preserve the Chief Bishop chosen to rule over us: that the Christian people who are governed by Thine authority, may under so great a Pontiff increase in the merits of their faith. Through our Lord... 

3. For all orders and degrees of the faithful. Almighty and eternal God, by whose Spirit the w hole body of the Church is sanctified and governed, hear our supplications for all the orders thereof; that by the gift of Thy grace, they may all in their several degrees faithfully serve Thee. Through our Lord... 

4. For the rulers of the state. Almighty and eternal God, in whose hands is all power and authority: look with mercy on those who govern us, that Thy right hand protecting us, integrity of faith and security of country may be preserved. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... 

5. For catechumens. Almighty and eternal God, Who dost continually enrich Thy Church with a new offspring; increase the faith and understanding of our Catechumens; that being born again in the waters of Baptism, they may be joined to the children of Thine adoption. Through our Lord... 

6. For the necessities of the faithful. Almighty and eternal God, the Comfort of the sorrowful, the Support of the weary, let the prayers of them reach Thee that cry to Thee in any affliction; that all may have reason to rejoice that in their need Thy mercy hath come to their aid. Through our Lord... 

7. For the unity of the Church. Almighty and eternal God, Who saves all men, and desirest not that any should perish: look down on such souls as are deceived by the wiles of the devil; that laying aside all heretical perverseness, the hearts of those who are in error may be converted, and may return to the unity of Thy truth. Through our Lord... 

8. For the conversion of the Jews. Almighty and eternal God, Who art ready to extend Thy mercy even to the Jews, hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people; that by acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same our Lord... 

9. For the conversion of infidels. Almighty and eternal God, Who dost ever desire the life, and not the death, of sinners: mercifully receive our prayer, and deliver them from the worship of idols, and join them to the flock of Thy holy Church, for the praise and glory of Thy Name. Through our Lord...

Recommended viewing: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

What America has come to...

Business News: Trouble at Boeing Boeing

Guess we don't have to tell you that this is from the Babylon Bee? Click here to read the article. You're welcome.

Funniest name of the year, so far

Although some of my best griends are Jewish [Really? Ed.] OK, start again... Although some of my best friends were Jewish... [Do you mean they used to be Jewish or they used to be your best friends? Ed.] OK, never mind...

My pool of knowledge of the religion of the Chosen People could be deeper. For instance, I was unaware that yesterday was Purim, a holy day in the Jewish calendar. Seemed to some of the looney left pro-Hamas types like a good day to stage a demonstration in support of calls for a ceasefire (read: We're losing so let's have a time-out) in Gaza.

This was in mid-town Toronto, the city that thinks it's world-class but is actually Democratic-American-class. Such demonstrations are almost daily occurrences in the Little Green Apple. They are marked by the shouting of anti-Semitic slogans, and the display of Palestine flags mingled with pro-queer, union, and indigenous banners.

There's occasionally a little violence, when Toronto cops try to separate the SWINE (Students Wildly Indignant about Everything -- Hello to Al Capp, wherever you are) from the pro-Israel types. Weapons are occasionally produced and sometimes (not often) the storm troopers make an arrest for littering or somesuch.

[Sorry to interrupt, but when are you going to get to the "funniest name"? Ed.] 

Hey, I'm coming to it!

Yesterday, the Toronto police said they received a complaint that a man at the demonstration had a knife concealed on "their" [sic - this is Toronto the Gay. Ed.] person. They then investigated, eh, found a large knife under "their" clothing, and took "him" into custody. 

In a news release, Toronto police said "Sodapop Liptrott" [sic], 25, of Toronto, has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon, and is schedule to appear in court on May 2nd. 

I hope Agent 3 can get to the courthouse to find out if that's the accused's real name, or just something he told the cops. If it's his real name, what part of Ireland do you suppose he was from? And whose side do you think he's on? Will he change his name to "Mohammed" to get a slap on the wrist and be back on the streets in time for the next demo? Stay tuned.

Answer to yesterday's quiz

The foot pedals [Is there another kind of pedal?] from a late `40s car, are, L-R: high-beam toggle switch; clutch; brake; accelerator, starter. If you got all five, you're a true geezer!

And now for something not altogether different....

Thanks (for the second day in a row!) to Agent 6.

Saturday photo quiz for geezers

Can you identify the function of all five of these controls?

Answers tomorrow... bwuahahahahahaha.

Thanks to Agent 6.

VIDEO: "Allahu akbar!" in Moscow?

Looks like last night wasn't a good time to go out to pubs, clubs and concerts in Moscow, the capital of the Russian Empire (including Ukraine - NOT!) You've probably seen this video already, but just in case...

This happened at Crocus City Hall, a well-known Moscow region shopping centre and concert venue. [When I first saw "Crocus City", I thought of Crocus SK, just down the road from Lilac, made famous by George Bain. Ed.]

At least three gunmen, possibly as many as five, dressed in combat fatigues, burst into the concert hall and fired automatic weapons, injuring dozens of patrons and killing a significant number of them, according to Russian media. Russia's Federal Security Service(FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said about 40 people were killed while a regional ministry, quoted by the Tass news agency, said 145 were wounded. 

The death toll made it one of the worst attacks on Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, when Islamist militants took more than 1000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage. Children were reported to be among the dead and injured at the concert. Dozens of ambulances arrived at the Sklifosovsky emergency care institute in Moscow.

In a post on Telegram, Islamic State (aka ISIS) said its "fighters" attacked on the outskirts of Moscow "killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely." 

A spokesthingy for the Russian Foreign Ministry called it a "bloody terrorist attack" that the entire world should condemn. The United States, European and Arab powers and many former Soviet republics expressed shock, condemned the attack and sent their condolences. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement. 

Two weeks ago, the American embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" -- notice they didn't say "Muslim fanatics" or "Islamic extremists" -- had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow. The embassy issued its warning several hours after the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by a cell of Islamic State. "While events continue to unfold, we strongly recommend that U.S. citizens in Moscow avoid the area, follow the instructions of local security services and keep an eye on local media updates," the US embassy said today.

To Vlad "the Impaler" Putin and his military advisors, Walt sez: Ya see? It's not Ukrainian nationalists you should be worrying about. It's those damn Islamists. What're you doing attack the Ukrainians? Swivel your guns about 220 degrees and send the jihadis to Paradise!

Democrats finally waking up?

A precious child of God

VIDEO: Fact-checking the media's "Trump calls for 'bloodbath'" hysteria

"WTF?!?", said I to myself, said I, when I heard something like the stories (word chosen carefully) on the early AM news. 

I didn't listen to President Donald Trump's speech last night, but couldn't believe he would be so careless in his choice of words as to predict, let alone call for, anything like an insurrection or revolution or a "bloodbath".

For years now, as the divisions in the American society get more and more pronounced, pundits and SJWs and others with political and social engineering agendas have talked about cultural wars, political wars, and even "civil war", but almost no-one believes there could be an actual shooting war, let alone a "bloodbath". 

It turns out that, at the Buckeye Values PAC rally, the once-and-future POTUS was talking about the financial "bloodbath" that awaits the U.S. motor industry if he is not elected, so that China would be enabled to swamp the country with their tinker-toy EVs and other cheap products.

Here's what the once-and-future POTUS actually said:

 

For the hard-of-hearing [or hard-of-understanding. Ed.], here's a transcript:

"If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now … you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected. Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it … It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it...."

The usual critics -- Democrats, RINOs, and the lickspittle media -- jumped on the "bloodbath" word, only, toick to infer scary intentions, even after Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung made clear that Mr Trump had clearly been talking about the impact of offshoring on the country’s auto industry and his own plans to increase tariffs on foreign-made cars. 

What lesson do we learn from this, campers? Always listen carefully to what is being said, and give the words...all the words...their plain meaning. Just as judges should do with the Constitution of the US of A. Just read it. Don't "interpret" it! End of lesson.

UPDATED 20/3: Saint Patrick's Day greetings to ye all!

Here we are again, another Saint Paddy's Day gone by and Eire still divided. Not that it matters as much as it did when you and I were young, Magee. Today's Ireland bears little resemblance to that for which our ancestors fought. 

Faith, didn't they elect a prime minister who's not only a brown furriner, but gay to boot! And didn't his very woke government just bring forward a prooposal to change the Republic's constitution away from traditional Christian family values? On March 8th, the government called on citizens to vote in two referendums called "the Family Amendment" and "the Care Amendment".

The first of these proposals asked to remove a reference to marriage as the basis "on which the family is founded" and replace it with a clause that says families can be founded "on marriage or on other durable relationships". Like "gay marriage", you see.

The care amendment proposed to remove women's role in the home, by deleting a statement that says "mothers shouldn't be obligated by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their home duties" and adding a clause saying the state will strive to support "the provision of care by members of a family to one another".  

Thanks be to God and the Blessed Virgin, the Plain Peepul of Ireland still have enough of the Faith to reject the proposed amendments. 67.69% of voters in the referendum said "NO" to the first amendment. The second, anti-family amendment, was rejected by 73.93%! Did the wokesters in Dublin really think the Irish were going to vote against motherhood?! 

Well, enough politics. To all the Irish -- including those who identify as Irish, those who feel like they're Irish, and those who wish they were Irish [and who doesn't?! Ed.] -- wherever they are -- in Derry, Sligo, Coleraine, Tullamore, Adjala Township and/or south Boston -- HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY TO YEZ. 

Recommended reading: na Gopaleen, Myles (pseudonym of Flann O'Brien): The Best of Myles, Picador 1977. 

In particular, Walt likes the chapters titled "The Brother" (how could yez not laugh?) and "The Plain People of Ireland". 

Many denizens of the auld sod won't be able to read the parts written in Irish Gaelic. [Faith now, I can't read it meself! Ed.] But the Irish are still the Irish, even if they live in a part of Ireland separated from the rest by the foreign (read: English) oppressors. God bless all of them, and haste the day that the Six Counties will be reunited with the rest of the country.

GREAT UPDATE added 20/3/24: "It's a long road that has no turnings." (Auld Irish saying.) Glory be! Ireland's "progressive" (read: woke as all get out) Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has announced he is resigning for "personal and political" reasons. 

This news comes less than two weeks after he was soundly defeated on a referendum (see above) to redefine marriage and the role of women in the nation's constitution. Click here to read the whole story on Breitbart News. St. Patrick must indeed be smiling on his people.

USA, Canada no longer in Human Development Index top 10

There was a time, way back in the 20th century, when the US of A and Canada ranked in the top 10 countries on the United Nations Human Deveopment Index. In fact, for something like five years in a row, Canada was No. 1 [Wut? Ed.] with the US around No. 5. Citizens (word chosen with care) of North America (excluding Mexico) were healthier, wealthier, and better-educated than those of any other region.

Sadly, those days are gone forever. Since the triumph of "liberal progressivism", North American standards of living have fallen below those of northern Europe. 

It's true that the HDI for the whole world have declined, particularly since 2020, due to Covid, climate hysteria, the greenscam and other factors. However, the Europeans are recovering, whereas under the terminally woke governments in Washington and Ottawa, things just get worse and worse.

The Human Development Index is one of the most widely used measures of countries' development. It gauges progress in terms of societal outcomes, including life expectancy at birth, expected and average years of schooling and gross national income per person. The latest figures, released yesterday, show that the global HDI is rising again, but progress has been slow and uneven. 

The countries shown in darkest squa are those which score highest on the HDI. The Economist has published a table showing how the 194 countries tracked by the UN compare. The left column shows the HDI score (1.00 would be perfect). The middle column shows life expectancy at birth. The right column shows expected years of schooling. We don't have room to show the whole table or even the top 20 countries, so have excerpted just Nos. 16 through 22.

Embarrassing, isn't? [Not to Brandon or Blackiie McBlackface, evidently. Ed.] The country with the highest Human Development Index, for the second year in a row, is... wait for it... Switzerland! Cue cries of "They're Number One! They're Number One!"

The Swiss score is boosted by high incomes and long life expectancies. Other countries in western Europe have some of the highest scores. Some parts of Asia also do well, with Hong Kong and Singapore making it to the top ten. 

Elsewhere on Turtle Island -- especially in South America, the Middle East and Africa -- things are worse. Countries such as Peru, Colombia, Libya and Lebanon have made little progress since the global HDI started to fall in 2019. Living standards in Ukraine (100th) and Russia have also dropped. War-torn Yemen, poor and indebted Belize, and Micronesia, an island country at risk of being swallowed by rising sea levels, all peaked in 2010 and have declined every year since. Here are the Bottom 10.

Walt notes that 9 of the bottom 10 are in sub-Saharan Africa. The 10th is Yemen, at the south end of the Arabian peninsula, where a Muslim civil war has been going on for years. That's where the Houthis come from. Have you heard that name recently?

We return now [Quickly, please. Ed.] to the Excited States of America, which is fighting its own cultural and political civil wars. The War on Poverty, however, is over. We lost! Here's how the American HDI looks, county by country.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 46.2 million American people were living in poverty in 2010, and the poverty rate reached 15.1%, the highest in 52 years. In 2020, the year in which Senile Joe was (allegedly) elected, the poverty rate climbed by 0.9 percentage points to 11.4% from 10.5% in 2019. Do you really think that, as Joe claims, things have gotten better since then? Really?! 

Ask yourself: What would it take to get the US of A back into the Top 10 on the Human Development Index? How can we Make America Great Again? Well, there's your answer... right there!

Lest we forget

I was going to write something clever here, but I forgot what I was going to say.

Facebook sez Vatican stamps "adult content", vs "community standards"

Our Agent 78 is a philatelist [= stamp collector, Ed.] as well as a Catholic. A couple of days ago, 78 listed a small collection of stamps from the Holy See [= Vatican, Ed.] on Facebook Marketplace. Here's what happened next.

Our agent appealed, and the appeal was denied. Apparently the Karens at FB -- owned by (((Mark Zuckerberg))) -- Think there's something about these little bits of art that violate their woke "community standards". What could the problem be? Look closely!

I don't see anything naughty there. Do you? But, as Vince Offer used to say: wait, there's more! the collection includes this postcard.

By George, Holmes, I think you've got it. The wokesters at Facebook aren't anti-Catholic. They're anti-Michaelangelo! Funny, though. You'd think their biases in favour of all that is encompasssed by the liberal queer agenda would welcome publication of depictions of the beauty of the male body. Apparently not.

Anyone who's had similar experiences with ridiculous censorship on Facebook Marketplace is encouraged to share them in the Comments section. Click on the headline and the window will open underneath the text.

Brandon, Trump cinch nominations... big deal... change subject

Looks like we're in for a rematch - repeat, not a repeat! - of the stolen 2020 election. Surely American patriots won't let the biggest, riggedest fraud in history happen again! Walt will have more to say on that subject as the next eight(ish) months pass. 

Then comes R-Day -- "R" for "revenge". For today, let's change, let's change the subject and think for a bit about greenscam. An article on the state of China's economy reveals that the CCP's biggest market for wind turbines and solar panels is... the US of A. 

While the Chinese keep building more and more thermal power plants (powered by coal, oil and natural gas), they're selling billions of dollars worth of this junk to followers of Al Gore, Deluded Joe et al who keep telling us to "Go electric, go green!" 

Here's the latest green craziness.

ICYI: Why did Walt call wind turbines etc "junk"? See the VIDEO in "Is wind power really the way to a clean, green future?", WWW 19/10/23.