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Friday, July 14, 2023

THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER CALLS OUT THE IMMORAL CATHOLIC PRESIDENT BIDEN FOR SENDING CLUSTER BOMBS TO UKRAINE

 YET THE SAME PUBLICATION SAYS NOTHING AND EVEN PRAISES THE IMMORAL CATHOLIC PRESIDENT FOR HIS RADICAL, HORRIFIC ABORTION POLICIES. BOTH IMMORALITIES ARE RELATED TO EACH OTHER AND ARE A PART OF THE IMMORAL CATHOLIC PRESIDENT’S PROMOTION OF THE CULTURE OF DEATH:

Sending cluster bombs to Ukraine contradicts good sense and Catholic teaching

36 comments:

James E Dangerfield said...

So we should oust THIS “immoral” president for Trump? If the answer is “yes,” them immorality is not your problem, Father. Is it?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Trump will more than likely be in prison, so maybe we should oust the immoral President Biden for DeSantis. But again, those who are Democrats and weigh options can vote for the party of death, as some call it, because of some of the good things accomplished by them, so I suspect the same criteria could be applied to Trump, even if he goes to prison. To be president today only requires a computer, Twitter and a few other tools.

James E Dangerfield said...

“Trump will more than likely be in prison…”. From your lips to God’s ear, Reverend Father in God! Amen.

TJM said...

If Hillary or Biden is not in prison, then there is no justice. Remember the Durham Report? Obama also violated the law on records but they did not touch him because a president may de-classify any information he wants. The same rule applies to President Trump. Quit spewing leftwing “news” disinformation. If Trump had been pro abortion none of this would be happening. The Party of Moloch is a crime organization masquerading as a political party. Abortion Uber Alles

Anonymous said...

Joseph Biden, to advance himself politically, if not also financially, long ago had sold himself to wealthy, influential folks who are embedded within the Culture of Death.

I am thankful that National Catholic Reporter has "called out" President Biden in regard to the issue of cluster munitions. But his support of abortion is not the only Culture of Death issue that National Catholic Reporter could address in regard to President Biden.

President Biden, for example, supports Culture of Death policies that attack holy matrimony, as well as the family.

President Biden has rejected the following:

Pope Francis, 2013 A.D: "So much is written about the gay lobby...not all lobbies are good. This one is not good."

Pope Francis, 2015 A.D:

"Spare no efforts in supporting the family and in the defense of life from conception to natural death."

MANILA - Pope Francis on Friday warned against an "ideological colonization of the family," a reference to gay marriage around the world and to a heated debate in the Philippines about a government population control plan.

Addressing an evening rally of families, he spoke of an "ideological colonization that we have to be careful about that is trying to destroy the family". He said it was coming from "outside" and had to be resisted.

Speaking in Spanish through a translator, he also heaped praise on Pope Paul VI, who enshrined the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial birth control in the controversial 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life).

Francis said Paul "had the strength to defend openness to life" at a time when the Church was under pressure to change its position against contraception because of population growth.

====================================================

MANILA, Philippines - Appealing to the traditional values of Filipino Catholic families, Pope Francis made one of his strongest calls as Pope against movements to recognize same-sex unions as marriage.

"The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage," the Pope said Jan. 16, hours after warning that Philippine society was "tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family."

"As you know, these realities are increasingly under attack from powerful forces which threaten to disfigure God's plan for creation and betray the very values which have inspired and shaped all that is best in your culture," he said.

===========================================================

President Biden has opposed Pope Francis in regard to the above.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Anonymous said...

Incredible...

Michael McCaul, Republican Congressman, is Catholic.

================================================================

From: The Hill

-- McCaul says he sees no wrong in providing Ukraine with cluster bombs

BY JULIA MUELLER - 07/09/23

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Sunday said he sees no wrong in President Biden’s controversial decision to equip Ukraine with cluster munitions as Kyiv mounts its counteroffensive against Russia.

“They want these as self-defense to use against Russians in their own country of Ukraine."

"I don’t see anything wrong with that because, quite honestly, … as you look at the counteroffensive, it’s been slowed tremendously because this administration has been so slow to get the weapons in."

"These weapons would be a game changer,” McCaul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Cluster munition are designed to spread out multiple submunitions over a wide area, and are banned by more than 100 countries due to the risks the explosives pose to civilians.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Anonymous said...

Father McDonald said..."YET THE SAME PUBLICATION SAYS NOTHING AND EVEN PRAISES THE IMMORAL CATHOLIC PRESIDENT FOR HIS RADICAL, HORRIFIC ABORTION POLICIES."

Father McDonald, there is, at least, the following:

2021 A.D. National Catholic Reporter.

Michael Sean Winters:

-- On abortion, both Biden and the pro-life movement lack moral consistency

https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/distinctly-catholic/abortion-both-biden-and-pro-life-movement-lack-moral-consistency

"Today is the annual March for Life, and that fact leaves me thoroughly depressed.

"None of this lets pro-choice Democrats or our new president off the hook. Joe Biden adopts a version of the Mario Cuomo "I can't force my religious beliefs on others" position.

"Last year, The New York Times looked at the long trajectory of Biden's positions on abortion and it indicates he, like the party, has become increasingly extreme on the issue."

"On the campaign trail last year, Biden said: "I'm prepared to accept for me, personally, doctrine of my church [about when life begins], but I'm not prepared to impose that on every other person."

"On other issues, Biden cites Catholic social doctrine as inspiring his stances."

"There needs to be some consistency about the invocation of religious sources. It is fine to have a liberal political expression of Catholic faith as it is fine to have a conservative political expression, but surely the presence of the faith element should cause a person to occasionally challenge their party, and it seems they only challenge their church."

"To be clear, principles of all kinds, including those drawn from our religious beliefs, must be applied to concrete political and legal circumstances with prudence. We all choose some elements from our patrimony and not others. It is complicated, and different issues require greater or lesser degrees of morally acceptable policy alternatives.

"But if Biden is going to state he agrees with the teaching of the church on such an important issue, surely his answer to why he does not fight for it should be more satisfactory."

"If he truly believes the unborn child is a person, surely he has an obligation to try to persuade others that those persons deserve legal protection."

"I tremble for our country when I think of how God and history will judge us for getting the abortion issue so wrong, for failing to craft and support a feminism that cherishes each and every human life."

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Jerome Merwick said...

Well Father, I really like the Spanish-styled reredos in your masthead photo. Can you tell us where that is?

Mark said...

History provides ample evidence that it is but a short step from “it’s a just war” to “it’s just war,” and then hey ho, down the slippery slope we go. Let us not forget that our ironically named species, homo sapiens sapiens (the duplication reinforces the irony), is the most efficient, ruthless, and successful killing machine the planet has yet produced.

Mark said...

TJM:

Here is an interview today with former Trump AG William Barr. Listen and weep:

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/14/1187646142/former-attorney-general-bill-barr-assesses-the-federal-charges-against-trump

rcg said...

Cluster bomb munitions are very effective against dismounted troops accompanying heavy and light armor. The problem is that they don’t reliably detonate so pose a persistent hazard to other people who travel in the same area afterwards. I understand the tactical appeal of the cluster munitions to the Ukrainian military who is probably weighing the advantages cluster bombs provide against the incremental increase of hazard they will inflict on their own people on top of the ruined nuclear power plants, boobytrapped cities and mined lanes. It surprised me that the US Military didn’t resist this recommendation more strongly because this reaction was predictable.

TJM said...

Mark,

Bagpipes Barr is a swamp creature. He lied to the American people weeks before the 2020 election. He said he would update the American people about the Durham investigation because voters had the right to know. That never happened, if it had, the results may have been different. Now unlike your intellectually dishonest friend, Father K Orwell, what is your response to the following:

1) Trump never started any new hot wars, and the Mideast became fairly peaceful by modern standards. Do you prefer that or American adventurism like in the Ukraine?

2) Trump's economic policies helped the working and middle classes, real wages began to rise. Minorities saw their lowest unemployment rates in history. In contrast Biden's policies have unleased inflation which has eroded their purchasing power. Are you fine with that?

3) Trump's energy policies put people to work and made the US energy independent. Biden reversed course cancelling the pipeline throwing hundreds of union workers out of jobs and triggered high energy prices which harm working people the most but it makes virtue signalling elitists happy. Are you in favor of that?

3) Trump appointed a Supreme Court that tossed Roe v Wade on the ashbin of history. In contrast Biden is vowing to make unfettered abortion the law of the land and his Pentagon tried to get taxpayers to fund abortions for the military. Which do you prefer as a Christian?

The so-called elites had a nervous breakdown when Trump was elected likely because grifter and extremely ethically challenged Clinton whom they favored lost and they knew he would work to curb abortion, their favorite sacrament. Their reaction was puerile and selfish. History will not be kind to them.

TJM said...

'
Incredible...

Michael McCaul, Republican Congressman, is Catholic."

Incredible - abortion droolers Pelosi and Biden are Catholic

TJM said...

Mark,

Yet you voted for Biden, I am quite sure, "mean tweets" triggered your delicate sensibilities

Anonymous said...

Holy Pope Benedict XVI, a great Pope of peace, had denounced cluster munitions.

-- Pope calls for strong, credible accord against cluster bombs

May 19, 2008 A.D:

GENOA, Italy -- Pope Benedict XVI called for a "strong and credible" international accord against cluster bombs, and he offered prayers for their victims around the world.

The pope made the remarks in the northern Italian city of Genoa May 18, on the eve of a major international conference on cluster munitions in Dublin, Ireland.

The Vatican repeatedly has called for a ban on cluster bombs, which scatter hundreds of submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Most casualties of these weapons are civilian, and a high percentage of those killed or maimed are children.

"I hope that thanks to the responsibility of all the participants a strong and credible international instrument can be adopted. We need to remedy the errors of the past and make sure they are not repeated in the future," he said.

Several major powers, including the United States, are not attending; the United States has expressed concern that a ban would restrict what it sees as the legitimate use of such weapons.

Recent studies have estimated that up to 98 percent of cluster-weapon victims are civilians.

The weapons have a high rate of failure, and unexploded munitions can remain on the ground for years before being detonated accidentally.

They pose a particular danger to children, as they are easily attracted to the bomblets' bright colorful casings, mistaking the explosives for toys.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Jerome Merwick said...

Yes sir, I would really like to know where that reredos wall comes from.

rcg said...

In defense of President Biden, I would not expect him to know the problems of using cluster munitions, notwithstanding whatever he may have heard from the press, Princess Diana, the UN, or anyone else. He heard a plea from President Zelenskyy, who is even less likely to discern the risks in context of his situation. Biden probably was relieved they didn’t ask for F-35 or tactical nukes; Zelenskyy is living in the wreckage of his country and measures the risks of a few extra UXO as minimal while being pressured by his general staff to get weapons to crush the Russians. Zelenskyy may feel the trade is worthwhile and is upset with the West ignoring the fact that his people, children included, already deal with the risks posed by cluster munitions and will continue to do so until the Russians are removed. Biden is likely looking for any smaller increment of escalation in hopes of avoiding a direct confrontation with Russia.

rcg said...

@Jerome Merwick - probably not Toronto. 😜

Mark said...

TJM:

We could go round and round on the ins and outs of specific policy initiatives (there are counterarguments to each of your points), but for me all that misses the point. Yes, I voted for Biden, but I don’t much care of him. Yes, I voted for Hillary, but I don’t much care for her either. I have made this clear in previous posts.

So, my votes were not really for Hillary or for Biden. They were votes against Trump. And I will vote against him again if he is the Republican nominee. Why? Because he represents a mortal threat to the Republic and the Rule of Law, and without a Republic and the Rule of Law, you can argue all you want about abortion, economic policies, energy policies, and foreign policy, but you will be whistling in the wind—even if the Great Leader tosses you a few bones to keep you quiet and in line and mouths appealing slogans like “Make America Great Again Again” or whatever manipulative inanity he and his apologists come up with..

Even more fundamentally than that, but related--and assuming we can prevent destruction of the Republic--we then need to do the hard work of repairing it. And this hard work falls to you and me, and the rest of us, first by engaging in respectful and civil political conversation about truly serious issues (not their superficial expressions such as the ones you list) at the grassroots level, and then by demanding that our elected leaders also reflect the virtues that hopefully we will have come to exhibit in such conversation. In sum, I too want change—but it is even more radical than what you want!

In the meantime, if there is a Republican candidate who tends in this direction, I will happily vote for him or her.

As for Barr, well, he was great until he wasn’t—that is, until he broke with Trump, who probably says, or will say, that he doesn’t really know who Barr is (isn’t that his usual M.O. after all?).

Mark said...

mark:

Yes, there is always a “legitimate use” isn’t there, whether it be nuclear weapons, carpet bombing, cluster bombs—or, of course, guns? If there is a Galactic Federation, why on earth (or off earth) would they want homo sapiens sapiens in our current state to be part of it? I wouldn’t, would you?

Dave Thoman said...

Mark – I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the past 2 general elections. I would be interested in knowing which presidential candidates received your votes in the 2016 and 2020 primaries and hearing how abortion positions were part of those decisions.

Anonymous said...

Given his excellent knowledge of the horrific consequences of cluster munitions: It is a shame that President Biden reversed his Administration's stance of having refused initially to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions.

Via a CNN interview that will air in full tomorrow, President Biden has made it clear that he is well acquainted with cluster munitions. He noted that he has discussed the topic of cluster munitions with multiple sources, including the Defense Department.

President Biden is well versed in the manner in which cluster munitions are utilized. He is well versed in the horrific problems that are associated with the use of cluster munitions.

Nevertheless, President Biden has sided with the Culture of Death in regard to his decision to equip Ukraine with horrific cluster munitions. But then, he has a history of having sided with the Culture of Death.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Mark said...

Dave:

It is good to hear from you again! In the 2016 primary I voted for Marco Rubio because he had the best chance of defeating Trump in Georgia. I honestly do not recall whether I voted in the 2020 primary. But had John Kasich been running, I would have voted for him.

Mark said...

Rcg:

As usual, what you write about President Zelensky makes perfect sense, seen from a certain perspective—that is, from the perspective of the so-called “real world.” However, rather like the gun control debate in the United States, seen from another perspective—one that is typically dismissed as being “unrealistic” but that is in fact arguably “more real"—the debate over whether or not to use/make available cluster bombs has the air of a discussion among the lunatics in the asylum.

Dave Thoman said...

Thanks Mark for sharing that information. You truly seem like an Independent voter. I respect that. As I am sure that you recall, it was more or less a foregone conclusion that Trump was going to be the GOP nominee in 2016 by the time we voted in Georgia. I too was looking for an alternative to Trump (would have been very happy with Rubio as President) but we differ in that I am firmly in the conservative camp and voted for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 general elections. I was generally pleased with his policy decisions and extremely pleased with his Supreme Court picks. I am again looking at other GOP candidates for 2024. Back to the 2016 primary, I voted for Carson.

rcg said...

Mark, the use of any weapon of war should include a detailed understanding and plan for the total effect and advantage it gives. In this case the use of cluster bombs could be an advantage as long as the region they are employed are limited and controlled through the postwar period to help protect the population and clean up. As I wrote above, the countryside is already littered with unexploded ordnance. If the postwar plan to clean up those weapons is expanded to include the cluster munitions then thei use could hasten the arrival of the postwar period.

the Egyptian said...

For all the jaw flapping here i think it's about time people really get a handle on why this "war" is happening and it's not what you may believe. Please watch Peter Zeihan

https://youtu.be/4QRMcrvyQ_U

then develop an opinion
The man is an eye opener

Mark said...

The Egyptian:

Thank you for the link. It would be naïve of us not to understand that the Russian psyche has been deeply scarred by history, especially (but not only) by the invasions of Napoleon and Hitler, and that this history feeds a deep-seated Russian existential insecurity bordering on paranoia. The many factors and vital Russian national interests are well explained in chapter 1 of Tim Marshall’s excellent book “Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World” (2015):

https://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Geography-Explain-Everything-Politics/dp/1501121472

But even if NATO could have proceeded much more cautiously in its expansion so as not to feed the paranoia, do we ourselves really believe NATO has designs on Russian territory?

Rather than a bloody and intractable war, then, isn’t the better way to offer the Russians credible security guarantees that the West is no threat to Russia (as well as guaranteed access to the Black Sea warm water port of Sevastopol, assuming Russia still needs it and also that Crimea is even negotiable at this point)? Should we not find a way to convince Putin as well as sufficient and sufficiently important elements of the Russian people and the Russian establishment that this is the case.

In sum, rather than war, shouldn’t we be talking peace with security guarantees for Russia, including, provided Russia offers reciprocal guarantees to Ukraine, that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO? Hasn’t there been enough horror and death already?

What am I missing?

the Egyptian said...

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/16/sunday-talks-president-trump-interviews-with-maria-bartiromo-full-video/

synopsis of interview

"The war in Ukraine ends the moment Trump is elected. Russia keeps the eastern part where the U.S. was provoking unrest. The U.S. stops trying to use Ukraine as a proxy provocation against Russia. Ukraine stops doing stupid stuff, becomes independent of the USA, and takes care of its own people. And with Trump’s assurance to Russia – Ukraine will not join NATO. Everything stops. Done."

Yeah anyone but Trump

Anonymous said...

With Father McDonald's permission:

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/working-groups/du-cluster-bombs-and-landmine-working-group

Via the above link (Veterans For Peace), I read the following:

"ELIMINATING WEAPONS OF INDIVIDUAL DESTRUCTION: LANDMINES, CLUSTER BOMBS, DEPLETED URANIUM"

But what had amazed me is that Daniel Ellsberg is listed among said group's Board of Directors & Advisory Board. Even more amazing to me is that last month, I had missed the following news:

Daniel Ellsberg, of the Pentagon Papers (1971 A.D.), had died on June 16, 2023 A.D. May he rest in peace.

From Wikipedia:

"In his autobiography, Liddy describes an "Ellsberg neutralization proposal" originating from Howard Hunt, which involved drugging Ellsberg with LSD, by dissolving it in his soup, at a fund-raising dinner in Washington to "have Ellsberg incoherent by the time he was to speak" and thus "make him appear a near burnt-out drug case" and "discredit him". T

"The plot involved waiters from the Miami Cuban community. According to Liddy, when the plan was finally approved, "there was no longer enough lead time to get the Cuban waiters up from their Miami hotels and into place in the Washington Hotel where the dinner was to take place" and the plan was "put into abeyance pending another opportunity."

==========================================================================

Wow! What a time that was in our history.

Anyway, Daniel Ellsberg, to his credit, had worked to rid the world of horrific cluster munitions. Conversely, Satan has worked to kill and maim, via cluster munitions, those who were/are created in God's image.

In addition to Daniel Ellsberg's efforts to have consigned cluster munitions to history's trash can:

May the world take to heart the anti-cluster munitions-related exhortations of holy Popes Benedict XVI, as well as Francis.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Mark said...

The Egyptian:

Trump talks a good game. He is an extremely successful conman. What you need to do, always, is fact check him. For example, research his comparison with Biden’s 1850 boxes and you will see just what a charlatan Trump is. This will get you started:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/06/10/trump-biden-classified-documents-holmes-dale-acostanr-vpx.cnn

And notice how Trump now says he wasn’t familiar with the Washington D.C. scene and so can’t be blamed if some of the people he appointed to his Administration turned out to be “not so good.” What?!!!! Did the following go down the memory hole? Orwell must be spinning in his grave:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/candidate-trump-promised-best-people-cabinet-50183308

Ooops!

But of course, he will end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. As you say, anyone but Trump!

Anonymous said...

Mark, thank you for your thoughtful, eloquent, contributions to this thread. You are a holy man of peace.

Mark, I wish that I could think, as well as write, at your level. But in that regard, I, if you will, trail you by billions of miles.

Mark, peace and good health to you and your family.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Anonymous said...

The war in Ukraine has sunk to the point that President Biden has delivered cluster munitions to President Zelenskyy.

That guarantees the following: Years and years from now, dud cluster munitions will maim, or kill, Ukrainians. Children will be torn apart, or killed, when they handle that which they believe is a toy.

From the beginning of the war in Ukraine to date, holy Pope Francis has tried to establish peace. However, it has been Satan who has prevailed in regard to the war.

President Biden, a Catholic who should have known better, has handed Satan a victory in regard to the deployment of cluster munitions.

Satan is laughing about that. Satan will also laugh years from now when Ukrainians are killed/maimed by cluster munitions that were deployed today.

May the warring parties in question turn to Pope Francis to establish peace in Ukraine.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Jerome, I copied the photo from a facebook page but don’t recall where it was or the church’s name. Sorry.

Mark said...

mark,

Thank you for your kind remarks.

And thank you for your contributions to this Blog. You help to keep us grounded in what is truly important by encouraging us to approach various topics, including the person of Pope Francis, with a higher sensibility. No matter what some may say, please continue to do that!

Peace and health to you and your family too.

Anonymous said...

Mark, thank you for your kind reply.

I hope that you continue to post comments to Father McDonald's great blog...for as long as Father maintains his wonderful blog.

By the way, this may be the shortest comment that I have ever posted to Father McDonald's blog.

But then, I am known for my brevity.

:-)

Pax.

Mark Thomas