Saturday, April 18, 2020

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, APRIL 18

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

VICAR NO MORE?: The 2020 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the official Vatican year book has placed the Pope's historic titles in a section of their own rather than include them at the beginning of the papal biography. Francis's bio includes only "bishop of Rome" in its title for the Pope. Conservatives focused only on the move of "Vicar of Christ" as though it alone was formally rejected. While Cardinal Gerhard Mueller has called the move "theological barbarism" the director of the Vatican press office has said that none of the Pope's historic titles have been suppressed - unlike the 2006 suppression of "Patriarch of the West" by Pope Benedict XVI.

PELL FREED: In a unanimous Australian Supreme Court ruling, the wrongful conviction of Cardinal Pell has been overturned. Could this mean that Pell will go back to work investigating corruption at the Vatican Bank? We suspect his accusation had something to do with this auditing of the Vatican Bank. Dr. Taylor Marshall discusses Pell and a history of corruption at the Vatican Bank (IOR).

CHURCH CLOSURE THREATS: In NYC de Blasio has threatened churches with permanent closure. In Mississippi police gave $500 tickets to those attending a drive-in church service. We suspect grocery store parking lots in the Mississippi remained packed and shoppers unimpeded by police ticketing. While AG Bill Barr seeks to protect church gatherings, the governor of New Jersey told Tucker Carlson this week that all but outed homosexual Cardinal Tobin was all to happy to keep Catholics from receiving sacraments.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

VIRUS TREATMENT: Debate swirls about how best to treat the coronavirus in patients. One NYC doctor says the virus seems much closer to high-altitude disease — and not pneumonia. Here's a full interview with him.

THE PRICE OF VICTORY: Pat Buchanan ponders the cost of defeating the coronavirus.

PANDEMIC VOTING: Both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden supported voting during the pandemic in Florida and Illinois. Biden even supported voting in Wisconsin on April 7, saying hours before the polls opened "that’s for the Wisconsin courts and folks to decide." Democrats changed their tune after seeing a partisan opportunity in blaming Wisconsin's GOP-led legislature and supreme court for holding the election. It worked. The conservative justice on the ballot, who abstained from ruling on postponing elections, lost in a huge upset to the liberal candidate.

SANDERS OUT: Bernie Sanders and dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden. Elizabeth Warren, who dropped out weeks ago, also gave her endorsement of Biden. Dejected by Sanders' poor performance after his early wins, Bernie supporters weigh staying home in November, as one Bernie supporter humorously tweeted (language caution), or even voting Trump.

DEMENTED BIDEN: He may have won the nomination but Biden seems to be losing his mind. Biden has making a series of gaffes from his home production office. He appears to be in full need of cue cards and notes during his interviews - and even these do not seem to help. His inability to speak was on full display during a CNN interview on Thursday. Famed podcaster Joe Rogan - who had said he planned to vote Bernie - says he can't vote Biden over what seems to be his early onset dementia.

TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN: Trump has also noticed Biden's cognitive slips. When questioned during a coronavirus briefing about a Biden tweet, Trump replied by saying: "He didn't write that. That was done by a Democrat operative. He doesn't write...  he is probably not even watching right now and if he is he doesn't understand what he is watching." Joe Rogan is right, Trump v. Biden will look like a boxing match between Mike Tyson and a three-year-old.

END OF ME TOO? The credible accusations of sexual misconduct against Joe Biden reveal cracks in the foundations of the "Me Too" movement. "Believe all women," is the clarion call of the movement. But now that the accused in a Democrat, even the Alyssa Milano (the movement's founder) has rediscovered the need for due process. The New York Times' article on Reade's allegation included a link to the law on filing false statements to police (it treated the Kavanaugh case much differently). Sen. Amy Klobuchar says this vile article is all people need to read about the allegations. So much for believing all women.


III. THE NATIONS

CHINA COVERUP? Reports reveal the Trump administration is investigating the coronavirus as an accidental release from a virus lab in Wuhan. This comes after China revised its death count upward by 50% in Wuhan.

BORIS JOHNSON: The British prime minister is recovering from his battle with the coronavirus. This Peter Zeihan tweet takes a look at world leaders by age.

ITALEXIT: Is Italy's version of Brexit coming? According to Church Militant, a mere 27% of Italians approve of the EU and 49% of Italians now want out.

EU IN DANGER: Dr. Steve Turley reports.


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

UNNECESSARY ROUGHNESS: Authoritarianism from the Left is becoming more extreme during the pandemic. In Colorado a man was temporarily arrested for playing T-ball with his 6-year-old daughter and wife in a park that limited attendance to three. As protests against extreme measures begin to grow, the Democrat governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, is warning that such protests will only lead her to extend the stay-at-home orders. The same governor closed sections of stores that she deemed unnecessary - like home gardening sections that could be used by her citizens to socially distance by producing food at home.

WHAT'S IN A NAME? Bill Maher delivers a scathing monologue on the "Chinese" virus.

HUNGARY-RUSSIA PRO-LIFE: Dr. Steve Turley shares good news from Hungary and Russia. Seeking to increase marriage and birth rates, Hungary has given both financial incentives. The results have been dramatic. Marriage rates have begun to double and are now up 43% since 2010. During the same time, divorce rates dropped 23% and abortions decreased 35%. Hungary's rapid depopulation has now slowed by 43%. Dr. Turley reports that in Russia, abortion dropped by 10% in 2018 while seeing a 40% drop over the past seven years and about a 66% reduction since 2000. Meanwhile the number of Russian pro-lifers has increased 300% over the past 20 years.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLOSURES: There is some good news from the pandemic. NY Planned Parenthood is making cuts.

APOLLO 13 AT 50: Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13's splashdown. The "successful failure" was immortalized by the 1995 film, which depicted the brilliant teamwork of men both on the ground and 250,000 miles from home. Watch an interview with 92-year old Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13.

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