From the Deacon’s Bench:
SCOTUS BLOCKS CUOMO’S COVID RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
This is a big win from the Diocese of Brooklyn — and shows the impact of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
From the Deacon’s Bench:
This is a big win from the Diocese of Brooklyn — and shows the impact of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
30 comments:
Anonymous K is grieving today. He LOVES and WORSHIPS the State
And thank Mitch McConnell for employing double standards with regard to Supreme Court nominations. Back in 2016, after Scalia died, McConnell blocked a vote on Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland---even though the nomination was made 8 months before the presidential election. Fast forward to 2020---Ginsburg dies about 45 days before the election, but somehow there is enough time to nominate a justice in a presidential election year. And Lindsey Graham is on video saying we should not consider nominations after the primary process in a presidential election year. McConnell said in 2016 that we don't consider court nominations in a presidential election year. Hmm, what changed in 2020? Just a coincidence that we have a Republican president right now and we had a Democratic one in 2016? I guess the ends justifies the means...
Certainly you are not surprised by politics and tit for tat! Trump will give Biden hell for the next 4 years just as dems did for last 4. But I am sure you are rejoicing with me tha Judtice Barrett was confirmed by Divine Providence!
Anonymous K,
Thanks for your revisionist history. Anyone who claims to be Catholic and votes for the Abortion Party is a total fraud and has nothing to offer but lies
In 2016 you had a President of one political party and a Senate the majority of whose members were of another party. This year the President and the majority in the Senate were of the same party. That's a big difference. The President and Senate were on the same page so to speak. Whatever reason was given to not confirm Garland in 2016 does not matter.
I'm thankful for a lot of things and one of them is that Amy Coney Barrett is on the Supreme Court.
"In 2016 you had a President of one political party and a Senate the majority of whose members were of another party. This year the President and the majority in the Senate were of the same party. That's a big difference."
This is the completely imaginary "difference" cooked up by Senator McConnell.
McConnell said NOTHING about the president and Senate being of different parties when he blocked the nomination of Garland. Nothing.
When he chose to rush Barret in via the fire-drill process, then and only then did this "president and Senate" concocted reasoning appear.
He followed the rules precisely, losing any shred of integrity along the way.
I will not be the least surprised if 1) the Senate is controlled by the Democrats come January 5th, and 2) if McConnell pays dearly for his treachery. If either of those is the case, McConnell will have only himself to blame.
"McConnell said NOTHING about the president and Senate being of different parties when he blocked the nomination of Garland. Nothing."
What makes you think the Senator was obliged to say anything about that? He is a politician after all. C'mon man.
In the end it was, he could, and he did.
.
Anonymous K,
You need to repent, you are risking eternal damnation
This helps put the SCOTUS ruling in perspective:
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/11/26/supreme-court-ruling-doesnt-have-any-practical-effect-cuomo-says-1338228
Father, I'm surprised you have not posted Pope Francis' statement on COVID-19, published yesterday. It is a beautiful statement about suffering and sacrifice and the need to put the common good first. I guess it doesn't fit the political spin here.
"""With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.
"""Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom! Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate.
"""It is all too easy for some to take an idea — in this case, for example, personal freedom — and turn it into an ideology, creating a prism through which they judge everything."""
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opinion/pope-francis-covid.html
Unlike you, I don’t deify the government or think they know better how to protect the common good. For example President O’Bama’s desire to make the Catholic Church eat “pork” and give up religious freedom in the public square comes to mind and his disgusting attempt to make the Little Sisters of the Poor provide contraceptive and abortion care in the medical insurance they provide their employees.
Your trust of Government is misplaced then and now.
Pope Francis is correct though, we should protest those who limit our religious freedom, impinge on the right to live and allow hiring hitmen to kill babies. We should protest those governments that do nothing to assist the poor, provide basic health care and do so with or without masks just like those celebrating Biden’s election did, with and without masks and no social distancing.
Yes the pope is right and if I protest governments that don’t care for the poor, I can protest their Orwellian Mask laws too.
Conservatives: There are limits to how far government can interfere in our private lives, and politicians should respect them, even when that puts lives at risk. Aye verily l, even when we see people dying. Because people should make their own decisions.
Also conservatives: Biden is a Baby Killer!
Yep, the Barrett nomination was "expediency over principle." Two different standards for confirming a Supreme Court nominee. McConnell could have had a vote on Merrick Garland, Obama's choice, back in 2016...what was he afraid of? That the nomination might pass a Republican Senate?
No wonder Barrett it was rushed through---Republicans feared Trump was going down to defeat and, well, could not take any chances. As for "divine providence", is that what the author of this blog would also attribute Ginsburg's death to?
Republicans just look so desperate in Georgia these days. Both the state's senators have called on the Republican secretary of state to resign (which of course he will not, nor should he do). Guess they just could not possibly imagine a Democrat carrying Georgia in a presidential race. But the same Republican secretary of state certified returns that have Perdue leading his Democratic opponent by 88,000 votes. Some gratitude the Republican secretary of state gets from fellow Republicans.
When Jesus showed the Pharisees the Roman coin, he was not deifying Caesar, he was illustrating the difference between God’s law and temporal authority. There is nothing in God’s law that prohibits wearing a mask or social distancing or keeping in small groups. In fact, He is pleased when even two gather in His name.
McConnell, knowing that his party's ability to hold on to power by having a majority of voters is declining fast, obstructed the nomination of Garland in order to place on the court a justice that he thinks will be more amenable to his values. What they seek, but will not obtain, is permanent minority rule.
Along with his Supreme Court Nominee shenanigans, Republicans have eliminated competitive voting districts and are continuing to explore ways to erect obstabcles for many voters on election day. The Redistricting Majority Project - REDMAP - is well documented: "Republicans, searching for a path back to power, hit upon a bold countervailing strategy: A sweep of key swing-state legislatures in 2010, they reckoned, could be quietly more consequential on the eve of the decennial redistricting that follows the census. In The Wall Street Journal that March, no less an eminence than Karl Rove outlined a strategy Republicans named the Redistricting Majority Project—REDMAP for short—led by former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie and funded with $30 million kicked in by Fortune 500 mega-players like Walmart, Reynolds American, Pfizer, AT&T, and Citigroup, together with mainline GOP stalwarts including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Blue Cross Blue Shield. "
At present, the lame-duck president is fighting to ensure further disenfranchisement by trying to defy the Constitutionally required census count (See the Enumeration Clause) that requires a count of ALL persons be reported and used for determining a variety of things, including representation in the House of Representatives.
They know they are losing power and will continue to act in underhanded, destructive ways to hold on to it.
True conservatives should boycott the Senate runoffs. Perdue and Loeffler didn't deliver Georgia for Trump. We should not deliver victory for them! Write in President Trump!
MAGA Man - If you are boycotting the election, meaning you aren't participating in it, how can you write-in the name of anyone?
This is yet another example of why MAGA is melting and running into the sewers of Mar-al-Lago.
Anonymous MAGA Man said...
True conservatives should boycott the Senate runoffs. Perdue and Loeffler didn't deliver Georgia for Trump. We should not deliver victory for them! Write in President Trump!
Spoken like a Democrat operative. That is the worst thing Republican voter can do.
When Jesus showed the Pharisees the Roman coin, he was not deifying Caesar, he was illustrating the difference between God’s law and temporal authority. There is nothing in God’s law that prohibits wearing a mask or social distancing or keeping in small groups. In fact, He is pleased when even two gather in His name.
There is nothing in God's law that says one has to wear a mask either.
Of course Jesus was not defying Caesar. If Caesar says you owe him tax you must pay it.
If he says worship me as God - then no, you don't have to do that.
By the way, I do wear a mask.
"At present, the lame-duck president is fighting to ensure further disenfranchisement by trying to defy the Constitutionally required census count (See the Enumeration Clause) that requires a count of ALL persons be reported and used for determining a variety of things, including representation in the House of Representatives."
That will probably be decided by the Supreme Court and is a decision, like many decisions, which could go either way.
"We should protest those governments that do nothing to assist the poor, provide basic health care and do so with or without masks just like those celebrating Biden’s election did."
As Archbishop Chaput pointed out in a talk at a Prolife event some years back, Federal and state governments do that no matter which party is in power( and spend huge amounts doing so).
"With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak."
Right now Eight of the top 15 states in deaths per million from COVID are Democrat-run blue states. And that doesn't include the District of Columbia which is also in the top 15. Five of the top six states are blue states, the exception being Louisiana which does have a Democrat governor.
Glad you are calling the Democrats to task on this.
"Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom! Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate."
In the United States groups on both the Left and the Right are guilty of this.
The choice to wear or not to wear a mask in time of pandemic is a moral choice.
Any choice that impacts the health and well-being, or that has the recognized potential to do so, is a moral choice.
You choose to have your kitchen painted shocking pink - no morals involved in that choice.
You choose to refuse to pay the painter what you owe her for the job - morals come into play and that choice is immoral.
Natural Law commands us to be our brothers' and sisters' keepers - to care for their good and for the Common Good. A choice to act in a way that puts others or the Common Good in danger is an immoral choice.
As I have suggested before on this issue, members of the Greatest Generation must be spinning in their graves if we, their children and grandchildren, cannot make even the teeniest sacrifice of wearing a mask given all the huge sacrifices they had to make both at home and abroad during the Second World War. Good bloody grief as my father might say! It seems beyond pathetic.
The top 10 states today, 27 November, for COVID-19 cases are ND, WY, NM, MT, IA, SD, NE, MN, WI, and UT.
Of those SIX have Republican governors.
The notion that the party of the governor of a state impacts the number of COVID-19 cases is absurd.
Well said anonymous at 6:44PM.
Here is another thought. When the churches first opened after the pandemic, our pastor made it a priority of disinfecting the church after mass......it was pristine and it "smelled" disinfected. You felt safe being there. Now a days either we have gotten lazy or whatever the issue may be.....but we are going back to the pre pandemic days. I went to an early morning mass last week and there were people there taking off their masks to blow their noses with obvious colds.....snorting and sniffing throughout the entire mass. Hand sanitizer is not going to cut it for what is hanging in the air. The windows remain closed so there is no air circulating. I have encouraged my 83 year old mother to stay home. People make choices to come to mass with colds, the flu, whatever is ailing them....but they do not take into consideration the health impact it may have for others. I am in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Look no further than my Parish for the next "Super spreader" event.
Latest numbers in COVID deaths per million
State Deaths per million
1 New Jersey 1,923
2 New York 1,770
3 Massachusetts 1,543
4 Connecticut 1,391
5 Louisiana 1,375
6 Rhode Island 1,271
7 Mississippi 1,270
8 North Dakota 1,184
9 South Dakota 1,004
10 Illinois 1,001
As you can see, most of these are blue states or headed by a Democrat governor(Louisiana). Four of the top five are.
One thing that can be taken away from this is that you can't entirely blame the governors of these states or President Trump lacking any evidence that they purposely didn't do what was necessary to mitigate the virus and its effects.
There is evidence both in this country and other countries that lockdowns didn't
work as well against the virus as was originally thought.
Anon 6:05
Frustration is understandable, but too many grow complacent.
Months ago we installed polarizing ionizers in every air handling system on our parish/school campus. There are 42 of them! These devices have been used in, among other places, food preparation factories where getting rid of potential contaminants in the circulating air is essential. The ionization process causes things - allergens, bacteria, viruses, even dust particles - to clump and fall out of the air or get filtered out by the system.
We've had near 100% compliance with our mask requirement, and close to that with the no-touch hand sanitizers in our narthex. Folks in this parish are continuing to take it seriously, as we should.
God Bless you and your parishioners Father. You are fortunate. Please say a prayer for those of us who are not as well protected!
MAGA man, you cannot "write in" anyone in the January 5 Georgia Senate runoffs. Such would be an invalid vote. Really. A runoff is a choice between 2, and only 2, candidates, so no other votes are allowed. You could write in the pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Brian Kemp, Amy Comey Barrett, Matt Ryan (QB for the Falcons), or Fido...and the result is the same. Invalid. As for Loeffler and Perdue not delivering for Georgia, well, it is not exactly a secret, but Georgia has been trending purple for years. In the latest count, Biden has 49.5% in Georgia---less than a point (0.7%) ahead of what Stacey Abrams got in the 2018 race for governor (she lost to Kemp by less than a point and a half). Trump only got 50% in Georgia in 2016 (45 for Clinton and 5 for third-party candidates). Trump even visited the state several times this past fall---something a candidate typically would not do if they knew they were going to win the state, or lose it for that matter. (Which is why you didn't see Trump holding rallies in Wyoming, which has not backed a Democrat for president since the 1964 LBJ landslide, or Biden holding any in Alabama, which hasn't voted D for president since Carter in 1976).
As for Loeffler, she ran hard to the right in the November general election, boasting she voted with Trump 100% of the time, Hmm, not seeing those ads after the November 3 general election. Wonder why? Instead, she and David Perdue are running about 95% negative ads against their 2 opponents, Desperation? You might say, given as well Trump's insistence on berating Kemp and the Secretary of State. Trump even regrets endorsing Kemp (who helped guide Georgia's heartbeat legislation thru in 2019). Oh, I can only hope Biden will not feel the need to tweet every day in office.
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