Our Big Act of Faith

For John, BLUF:  Some weekends the Scripture Readings at Mass are OK, and somoe weeks they hit it out of the park.  This was a hit it out of the park weekend.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here is the Gospel Reading (John 6:60-69):

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said
"This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,
he said to them, "Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending
to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life,
while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe."
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe
and the one who would betray him.
And he said,
"For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father."

As a result of this,
many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

This is my favorite Bible passage.  In the reading the previous week Jesus lays out that His Body and Blood are food and drink for the believer.  Many disciples found this to be hard to accept.  They turned away from Jesus.  Then Jesus turns to the Apostles and asks them where they stand.  Saint Peter answers for the Twelve, and as if thinking, "I don't have a clue" he says

"Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

In my mind Saiant Peter is saying:

Boss I don't have a clue, but if you say so.

Saint Peter is speaking out of faith.  The same faith we show when we go forward to receive Communion.

But, it wasn't the only good reading.  There is the first reading, from the Book of Joshua.  Those of us of a certain age might remember the spiritual, Joshua Fought the Battle of Jerico.♠  In this reading the Prophet Joshua makes clear that he stands with God.

"As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

And, the Second Readding, from Saiant Paul's Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32) is good advice for Christians.  The reason there are two versions is becsuse this scripture calls for wives to be "be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord".  Some are offended by this wording.  Apparently, folks are not as offended by "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her," which calls for husbands to be willing to die for their wives.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Joshua is the person in the Bible with no parents:  "Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD" (Joshua 29:1).

Check the Data

For John, BLUF:  The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a difficult job and finds itself always having to update their data,  One would expect the Secretary of Labor to keep up on this.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Biden's commerce secretary ridiculed for saying she's not 'familiar' with damaging jobs report, blames Trump instead

Here is the sub-headline:

Many wondered why the commerce secretary was unaware of the newest jobs report.

From Blaze News, by an unkown reporter, 22 August 2024.

Here is the lede plus five:

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was mocked and ridiculed over her response to a blistering jobs report on Wednesday.

Raimondo was being interviewed on ABC News from the Democratic National Convention when she was questioned about a revision showing that the number of jobs in the U.S. had been overestimated by nearly a million over the last year. Instead, she accused former President Donald Trump of being a liar.

'We’re in the best of hands.'

“I don’t believe it because I’ve never heard Trump say anything truthful,” responded Raimondo.

"It is from the Bureau of Labor," replied the reporter.

"I'm not familiar with that," Raimondo said.

I have a friend who thinks the problem here is Fedeeral Bureaucrats who can't do the statistics well.  His solution is to fire people.

I expecct those bureaucrats are trying to do the job as best they can.  On the other hand, this response suggests that there might be an advantage to the Voters to fire the Cabinet Secretary.  How can she lead the Department of Labor if she doesn't know what is going on in the Department.  How can she emphathise with the workers if she doesn't understand the water within which they swim.

If the Cabinet Secretary doesn't understand the numbers, what is the chance the President, and the White House understands the numbers?

Regards  —  Cliff

Free Speech

For John, BLUF:  I worry that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz does not understand Free Speech the way the Founding Fathers did and I do.  Maybe he doesn't understand Democracy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

THEY BELIEVE THAT RIGHTS AREN’T ABSOLUTE,
BUT POWER IS

From Instapundit, by Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds.

Here is the first social media post in this larger blog post:

Gad Saad
@GadSaad
What we are seeing is precisely why the West was such an anomaly in the history of mankind.  Specifically, the reflex to suppress speech with which the rulers/elite disagree is the default reflex, and we are seeing a return to it.  The West is facing the classic Herculean fork in the road.  Take the easy or hard road in defending free speech.

This post by Professor Saad was in response to this 𝕏 post:

BBC Newsnight
@BBCNewsnight
Aug 9
"[Elon] Musk is trying to pretend freedom of speech as some absolute right.  It's never been an absolute right."  Keir Starmer's biographer Tom Baldwin says there should be more regulation of social media. #Newsnight

This is a fight for the West, for the Anglo-Saxon tradition of free speech and the idea of competing ideas in the search for truth and for a better future.  The problem is, if we squash free speech then we stunt our future.  We end up with hundreds of years of stagnation.

One person laid the issue at the feet of Wokeness:

Robert ₿reedlove
@Breedlove22
Wokeism is a psyop designed to destroy basic definitions to undermine rational discourse and divide people.  When people are unable to use speech to resolve conflicts, then their only alternative is force, and in the domain of force The State is unrivaled.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trump at the NAMJ

For John, BLUF:  Ms Juliette Ochieng, a retired Air Force Member, writes as a Black Conservative.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

No Pandering

Here is the sub-headline:

Amatuer shrinking the NABJ

From Baldilocks Talks, by Ms Juliette Ochieng, 2 August 2024.

Where the Blogger shifts from talking about her Caucasian Brother-in-Law to talking about Candidate Donald Trump:

He doesn’t treat black people like children - unless they’re his own children - and doesn’t kowtow.  If they’re nice to him, he’s nice to them and the same goes for nastiness.

After watching Donald Trump's interview with the NABJ I thought of this phenomenon.  Most journalists and politicians who are white tip-toe around black people in fear of being labeled as racist.  In contrast, President Trump treats blacks, whites, etc. as individuals.  (I was especially amused when the former president lambasted the interviewers for being on CPT.)

To be honest, I think that a significant segment of black Americans aren’t used to that, especially from white persons in authority. Many are more used to having smoke blown up their backsides, and when that doesn’t happen, they don’t know what to do with that, so they think it’s racism.

Yes, it’s true. Many of us aren’t used to being treated as equals. And I think it’s why many think Mr. Trump is racist but can’t name a racist thing he has said or done.

The last quoted paragraph was interesting to me in that I don't think of Candidate Trump as racist or Anti-semetic.  Yes, some do.  I was impressed that during his interview with the NABJ that President Trump was willinig to engage with the reporters asking questions.  It is my belief that as long as we are talking there is a chance that we are communicaitng and perhaps even learning.

Learning is good.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Assumption

For John, BLUF:  A Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Thursday, August 15, 2024
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This day celebrates the Assumption of Mary into heaven, body and soul, signifying her purity and her close relationship with God.

Masses at the Immaculate:

• There is a Mass of Anticipation (Vigil Mass) on Wednesday, 14 August, at 5:00 PM.
• The Mass on the Day will be at 9:00 AM.

Regards  —  Cliff

Avoid Anger, Pursue Love

For John, BLUF:  Before Mass this afternoon I was talking to Gail Ann Desmond and she mentioned that she had run into Bill Johnson at Market Basket.  We both agreed that he was a definite add to the City Life Show and had interesting ideas and put them forward in a calm manner, without rancor.  I said it was like our Second Reading for the day.♠  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Second Reading

St Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2

Here is the Reading:

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice.
And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.
Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.

Sure, it isn't always a piece of cake.  There are folks out there who work to get under our skin.  Responding in kind won't chnge them.  Saint Paul gives us the gouge.  Put away "bitterness, and anger, and indignation" and respond by "forgiving one another".  Not easy, but the best way.

Every morning signals a new day and a chance to put the anger of the previous day behind us and move forward with forgiveness and love.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I review the Readinngs before Mass in case the Sexton, Richard Sweeney, comes by and tells me the Reader is missing and it is on me.  Better to be prepared.

Is Equity Good For All?

Do we make more progress under equality or under equity?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Normies and Equity

From The Anchoress, by Ms Elizabeth Scalia, 7 August 2024, 11:37 AM.

Here is the 𝕏 post:

The video of Kamala talking equitable outcomes wld play much better if the outcomes of the so-called “public servant” classes were included in all that equity.  Somehow living in middle class nabes w/reduced health insurances & police & speech protections is never their outcome.

In my mind equality means we all get a fair shot.  This is, I believe, the traditional American ethos, even if not achieved at 100% in practice.  Equity is more a "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need.  To me equity is helping everyone be as fast as Roger Bannister.

As Ms Scalia states, there is doubt as to if we ever see universal equity.  What are Candidates Harris and Walz selling us, and how will they achieve it, and at what cost?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Origin of Species

For John, BLUF:  Science is about upstarts posing new ideas that disrupt the established ideas.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Wild Tale of the Cerutti Mastodon, a Fossil That Could Rewrite the Human Story

Here is the sub-headline:

The Cerutti Mastodon, found near San Diego, shows signs of being butchered 130,000 years ago—but by who? Or what?

From Atlas Obscura, by Reporter Gemma Tarlach, 1 August 2024.

Here is the lede plus five:

CALIFORNIA’S HIGHWAY STATE ROUTE 54, skirting southeast of San Diego, doesn’t seem like it would be the catalyst for challenging some of the longest-held ideas about human evolution and our spread across the planet. And yet, in 1992, along SR 54’s ribbons of asphalt and exit ramps to malls, taco joints, and subdivisions, road-widening construction unearthed a fossil that could rewrite the human story—if scientists ever stop arguing about it.

Here, 130,000 years ago beside the future site of SR 54, a young mastodon perished. There’s nothing uncommon about that—these heavily-built, distant relatives of modern elephants were found throughout much of North America at the time. Paleontologists don’t know how the mastodon died, but there is evidence preserved in its bones, and in rocks found nearby, that the animal’s carcass may have been butchered by humans. There’s just one problem with this scenario. Most scientists agree: Homo sapiens left our ancestral homeland of Africa less than 100,000 years ago, and arrived in the Americas only in the last 15,000–25,000 years, as the last ice age ended and travel from Asia and the land bridge known as Beringia, into Alaska and Canada, became possible.

So who—or what—made a meal out of that mastodon?

The fossil is now known as the Cerutti Mastodon, after the late paleontologist Richard Cerutti, who recognized the significance of the bones as they were uncovered during the highway expansion project. Greater San Diego was growing rapidly at the time, and so was its infrastructure. Previous highway projects had turned up a wealth of fossils, from ancient walruses to dinosaurs, and Cerutti worked on behalf of the San Diego Natural History Museum as a site monitor, on the lookout for more discoveries. But he wasn’t expecting this.

Cerutti was initially excited because he thought the fossil belonged to a mammoth. However, further excavation over several months revealed the distinctive teeth of its close relative, the mastodon—and turned up strange things neither Cerutti nor his colleagues could explain.

The heavy, massive limb bones of a mastodon are not easy to break, and specific fracture patterns on the Cerutti specimen were not consistent with natural processes, such as being tumbled in river rapids. There was also the curious arrangement of the bones. Two broken femurs appeared to be placed side by side, and one of the animal’s tusks was almost vertical, as if stuck upright in the sediment like a flagpole.

So maybe we have it all wrong.  Maybe the human species evolved in San Diego, a veritable Garden of Eden, and then moved across the Bering Strait, into Asia, Africa and Europe.  Perhaps we evolved from the Grunion, as they turned their fins into legs..

On the other hand, getting such a theory to be considered, considering the power of the scientific establishment, is a Sisyphian Task.  Look at the efforts expended and wasted by those scientists who differed from Doctor Anthony Fauci during the Covid-19.  Dr Fauci, who famously saaid:  "I Am the Science".

In the mean time, we have a conundrum.  How do we explain the early emergence of human type activity in San Diego, California.

Regards  —  Cliff

Offer Revoked

For John, BLUF:  The Department of Defense seems to be in administrative chaos.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Defense Secretary Revokes Plea Deal for Accused Sept. 11 Plotters

Here is the sub-headline:

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III assumed direct oversight of the case and effectively put the death penalty back on the table.

From The Old Gray Lady, by Reporter Carol Rosenberg, Reporting from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 2 August 2024, Updated 8:41 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday overruled the overseer of the war court at Guantánamo Bay and revoked a plea agreement reached earlier this week with the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two alleged accomplices.

The Pentagon announced the decision with the release of a memorandum relieving the senior official at the Defense Department responsible for military commissions of her oversight of the capital case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his alleged accomplices for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field.

The overseer, retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier, signed a pretrial agreement on Wednesday with Mr. Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi that exchanged guilty pleas for sentences of at most life in prison. In taking away the authority, Mr. Austin assumed direct oversight of the case and canceled the agreement, effectively reinstating it as a death-penalty case. He left Ms. Escallier in the role of oversight of Guantánamo’s other cases.

Because of the stakes involved, the “responsibility for such a decision should rest with me,” Mr. Austin said in an order released Friday night by the Pentagon.

This is embarrassing.  Why did SecDef Lloyd Austin not knonw about this before it went public.  This suggests very poor staffing.

The other side of this is that given an offer was made, and accpeted, and should it not have been peremptorily revoked?  It strikes me as going against our tradition of English Common Law.  I will ask a lawyer .

Hat tip to the Citizen Free Press.

Regards  —  Cliff

Leak

For John, BLUF:  My question is, was the lead deliberate, and if so why, or was it just an accident?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Philly Mayor Leaks Dem VP Choice

Here is the sub-headline:

Accidentally

From 𝕏, by Ian Miles Cheong, 2 August 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker accidentally published this video ahead of schedule. She leaked Kamala Harris’ pick for Vice President as Josh Shapiro.

I think it is a solid choice.

However, I wonder about the impact on certain corners of the Democratic Party, and the knock on effect when the Democratic National Convention convenes.  Will there be riots, as in 1968?

Regards  —  Cliff