The Catacombs - Socialism & Communism

Washington governor signs bill forcing priests to break Seal of Confession

Mon, 05 May 2025 13:20:29 +0000

Washington governor signs bill forcing priests to break Seal of Confession
Left-wing Washington Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson – a professed Catholic – signed legislation

on Friday that will force priests to break the Seal of Confession in some cases or go to jail.

May 2, 2025
OLYMPIA, Washington (LifeSiteNews [adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original aritcle]) — Citing his alleged Catholic faith, Washington’s leftist Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson signed a bill today that orders priests to divulge when they hear of purported abuse in the confessional – or face potential jail time.

The governor also cited his uncle, a Jesuit priest, when signing the bill.

Ferguson is a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT governor. While running for governor, but still serving as attorney general, he threatened prosecution against several other candidates with the same name. He also initiated legally dubious investigations into pro-life nonprofits as attorney general. He additionally supports prosecuting Christians who decline to provide their services to homosexual “weddings.”

READ: Washington state Democrats pass bill effectively legalizing infanticide

SB 5375 is the latest attempt by Washington state Sen. Noel Frame to force Catholic priests to break the Seal of Confession and reveal what they hear in the confessional – or go to jail. The bill explicitly singles out priests, removing their “privileged communication” exception, while allowing it for professionals who may hear of abuse.

Frame previously cited the Catholic Church’s support for penitential secrecy in her decision to no longer practice Catholicism. However, she already had a history of supporting abortion and the LGBT movement, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.

“At this time the Washington State Catholic Conference has no comment,” Tracey Yackley told LifeSiteNews on Friday morning when asked prior to the signing for comment.

The debate over the bill often involved severe misunderstandings of how the Catholic Church operates, with some people asking why the late Pope Francis could not simply change the Church’s teaching about the Seal of Confession. Frame herself berated Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster for not agreeing with her on this bill. Bishop Schuster shared how he counseled victims of abuse and could still help them while protecting Confession.

Last year, a similar bill that was backed by the Washington Catholic Conference, though not by all bishops in the state, died.

At the time, Frame and the Catholic conference gave contradictory explanations for the bill. Frame told her colleagues that she wanted to go further and eliminate all exemptions but that such a bill could not pass. Meanwhile, the Catholic conference said it supported this bill because it feared a law eliminating all exemptions would pass, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.

This year, Frame’s bill includes no exemptions at all for the religious liberties of priests. It passed the state senate 28 to 20 – all but two Democrats voted to violate the religious freedom of Catholics and remove the clergy-penitent privilege. All Republicans voted against the measure on February 28.

Senate Bill 5375 and House Bill 1211 in the state of Washington are “no exemption” bills that remove all protections for what priests hear in Confession when it comes to alleged abuse. Frame said the bill will not compel priests to testify but only to report abuse. However, that is not written in the text of the law.

Furthermore, a priest would presumably have to reveal the name of a person admitting to the abuse in the confessional in order to alert authorities about a child who might allegedly be at risk, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.

Frame previously dismissed religious freedom concerns during a hearing. “I have tried really hard over the last couple of years to find a balance and to strike a careful compromise,” she claimed before saying “sorry” for not being willing to “make a compromise anymore.” She criticized efforts to protect clergy-penitent privilege “in the name of religious freedom.”

Yet canon law is incredibly clear on this issue.

Canon 1386 states, “A confessor (priest) who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”

Efforts to force priests to do so, including Montana and Washington this year, have drawn condemnation from Catholic groups as well as several legal experts.

“Putting aside the obvious violation of the sanctity of the confessional, it presents a novel problem for priests if they both encourage the faithful to unburden themselves while at the same time reminding them anything that they say can and will be used against them in a court of law,” Professor Jonathan Turley previously wrote on his commentary website.

“In my view, the Washington State law is a frontal attack on free exercise and would be struck down if enacted,” the George Washington University law professor wrote.

“The only question is why Democrats consider such legislation to be any more viable politically than it is constitutionally.”

New York Greenlights Quarantine Camps [March 2025]

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 12:08:43 +0000

New York Greenlights Quarantine Camps

By Bobbie Anne Flower Cox, American Thinker | March 29, 2025

Though somewhat hard to imagine in 2025 with COVID-mania in our rearview mirrors, the truth of the matter is that the highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, has unbelievably opened the door for quarantine camps to become a reality. I have fought the governor in court for the past three years to prevent quarantine camps from taking hold, and I was successful to some extent (the Department of Health cannot currently throw you into a quarantine facility), but ultimately the State has been given the green light by our courts. A unimaginable travesty of justice!

When COVID-19 hit back in March of 2020, the NYS Legislature (illegally, I might add) gave then-governor Andrew Cuomo the power to make “directives” (read “laws”). Continuing with the illegal trend, Cuomo then passed that power on to the Department of Health (DoH). The DoH then created the “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation, which the public rightly dubbed the “Quarantine Camp” reg. The regulation was not a law, as it did not come from the NYS Legislature. Instead, it was a reg written by unelected bureaucrats who answer to nobody but the bureaucrat or politician who hired them. The reg actually conflicted with our long-standing (full-of-due-process-protections) quarantine law that was passed by the Legislature in 1953. Regs cannot conflict with laws! That is a violent breach of Separation of Powers, which is the cornerstone of our free society.

Details on the atrocities of this reg can be found in a previous article. But in sum, the Quarantine Camp regulation gave the unelecteds in the DoH the power to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lock down, indefinitely, and at any location of their choosing -- you had no say. They could have locked you down in your home, or they could have removed you from your home, with the force of police, and stuck you in a quarantine facility for days, weeks, months, etc. No notice was required, so they could have knocked on your door during family dinner and removed you from your home without any warning whatsoever. You did not have the right to an attorney until after you were locked up or locked down. There was no age restriction, so they could have done this to you, or your child, or grandchild, or elderly parent… And the most shocking part of this reg was that they did not even have to prove you were sick! Guilty until proven innocent -- the very antithesis of the principle upon which our nation’s judicial system is based.

So, when I became aware of this dystopian nightmare of a reg a few years ago, after realizing that none of the so-called traditional “civil rights” organizations would touch it, I sued Governor Kathy Hochul and her DoH on behalf of a group of NYS Legislators and a citizens’ group, Uniting NYS.

After months of battling it out in the trial court, on July 8, 2022, the court ruled that the “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation was unconstitutional and “violative of New York State law as promulgated and enacted, and therefore null, void and unenforceable as a matter of law.” The judge also made note that, “involuntary detention is a severe deprivation of individual liberty, far more egregious than other health safety measures, such as requiring mask wearing at certain venues. Involuntary quarantine may have far-reaching consequences such as loss of income (or employment) and isolation from family.”

Stunningly, Governor Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James appealed the decision. Yes, that’s right… the governor and AG, both unabashedly support insanely unconstitutional quarantine camps!

On September 13, 2023, over 400 showed up at the appellate courthouse to witness the battle first hand. It was indeed historic -- never do people take a day off of work, flock by the hundreds, and cram into a courthouse to hear a couple of lawyers go at it in a courtroom devoid of witnesses, TV cameras, and all of the other pomp and circumstance that, for example, a high-profile criminal trial might have. It was a true testament to freedom-loving citizens of a state that is wrought with corruption and greedy politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Photo by Emanphoto.com

In November 2023, the panel of five appointed judges disgracefully reversed my trial court victory, and then dismissed the case! They dismissed, not because we were wrong in our arguments… No, instead the court copped out and used an age-old dodge, ruling that my plaintiffs lack standing! With the majority of my plaintiffs being NYS legislators, it was absurd for the court to claim these lawmakers had no standing to fight against a regulation that usurped their lawmaking power.

Photo by Emanphoto.com

The decision not only lacked logic, it lacked integrity, and it flew in the face of longstanding, binding case law from our highest court.

Not wanting to back down, in January 2024, I filed my appeal with the Court of Appeals which is our highest State court. In May, that Court denied my appeal, saying there was no automatic right to be heard because the case, get this, had no constitutional issues. Unbelievable! A lawsuit about a regulation that breaches Separation of Powers and violates our Constitution doesn’t have a constitutional issue in question? Another terrible decision.

My last hope was to file another motion with the Court, this time asking them to hear the case on their own volition, you know, because it’s good for humanity and the integrity of this Court not to allow an agency to override our laws and throw people into camps without due process, etc. Sounds rather noble, doesn’t it? Well, not to an unnoble court, for a few weeks ago they issued their decision… The Court refused to hear the appeal. Period. Case closed.

Unreal.

And so, my three-year-long battle against the elitist Governor of New York (whose approval rating now hovers around 30%) and her lawless Department of Health, is over. The silver lining is that my victory of eliminating their heinous “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” reg back in 2022 still stands today, despite the appellate court’s ruling. Here’s why: The reg was an “emergency” reg that the DoH was working to make permanent. Since I successfully got it struck down before they could make it a permanent reg, the regulation does not exist today. Amen.

However, thanks to the Court of Appeals allowing the appellate court’s decision to stand, the DoH is now free to reissue their dystopian reg. “Fire at will,” is what these courts have metaphorically told the Administrative State. There is nothing stopping the tyranny of the Executive Branch and its unconstitutional DoH now.

Bishop appointed by Communist China tells Catholics to study Xi Jinping: report

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:57:55 +0000

Bishop appointed by Communist China tells Catholics to study Xi Jinping: report
Joseph Shen Bin, a bishop appointed by the Chinese Communist Party, exhorted the Shanghainese clergy to study and preach CCP ideology, including General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thoughts on the sinicization of religion.

Borka Kiss/Shutterstock

Nov 21, 2024
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — During a November seminar about the “Sinicization of Religion in Shanghai,” Joseph Shen Bin, a “bishop” controversially appointed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), exhorted the Shanghainese clergy to study and preach CCP ideology, namely, the documents of “the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CCP Central Committee” and “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thoughts on the Sinicization of religion,” according to a report by news outlet Bitter Winter.

Catholic participants in the aforementioned seminar testified to Bitter Winter that Shen Bin encouraged members of the audience to concentrate on the “sinicization” of the Catholic religion, a process which Bitter Winter highlighted “does not mean adapting religion to Chinese customs but to the CCP’s ideology.”

Moreover, Shen Bin noted the significance of closer collaboration with the United Front Work Department, which oversees “official” religion in Communist China. The same Bitter Winter report added that “Yin Du, Director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Department of the Municipal United Front Work Department, and Gu Weidong, Director of the Catholic Affairs Department of the Municipal Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, attended the whole event.”

When Shen Bin was selected by the CCP as the new Bishop of Shanghai on April 4 last year, the Vatican officially admitted that “the Holy See learned from the media of the installation” only shortly prior to the appointment.

“Bishop Shen Bin, until now Bishop of Haimen, was installed in the Diocese of Shanghai, China, this morning,” Vatican News reported.

“The Holy See had been informed a few days ago of the decision of the Chinese authorities,” Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

“I have nothing to say about the Holy See’s assessment of the matter for the time being,” Bruni added.

In other words, it was the CCP and not the Vatican that unilaterally appointed Shen Bin to head Shanghai.

During Shen Bin’s inauguration ceremony, he pledged to “adhere to the principle of independence and self-government” that forms the raison d’etre of China’s pro-CCP Patriotic Catholic Church.

In a statement dated April 4 last year, the Shanghai Diocese revealed that around 200 people were present at Shen Bin’s inauguration ceremony.

“Bishop Shen Bin said that he will continue to carry forward the fine tradition of patriotism and love of the Catholic Church in Shanghai, adhere to the principle of independence and self-government, adhere to the direction of Catholicism in China, and better promote the healthy tradition of Catholic evangelism in Shanghai,” the statement read.

Unsurprisingly, many critics regarded Shen Bin’s installation by the CCP as a violation of a contentious and clandestine Sino-Vatican agreement regarding the appointment of bishops signed in September 2018.

According to the 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement, Rome would acknowledge seven bishops appointed by the CCP, as well as admit the establishment of a new Catholic diocese in Chengde, in the northern province of Hebei. While the Vatican would officially appoint new Chinese bishops these men would nevertheless be chosen by the CCP.

Besides, a new report, authored by Nina Shea for the Hudson Institute, has disclosed details about the clampdown of 10 Catholic bishops in China who have resisted the CCP’s efforts to interfere in religious matters since the 2018 Sino-Vatican deal. This Hudson Institute report narrates the traumatic encounters of Vatican-approved bishops who have experienced “detention without due process, surveillance, police investigations, and banishments from their dioceses for refusal to submit to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), a state-managed group controlled by the CCP’s United Front Work Department,” Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.

“This report shows that religious repression of the Catholic Church in China has intensified since the 2018 China-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops,” Shea stated.

“Beijing targeted these 10 bishops after they opposed the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which requires its members to pledge independence from the Holy See,” she elaborated.

Bitter Winter pointed out that in light of several events following the 2018 Sino-Vatican deal, it was evident that the CCP regards the deal as applicable to the Vatican only, which is expected not to decry religious persecution in China. For its part, the CCP can still unilaterally nominate “bishops” as it sees fit.

US doctors pushback over massive new federal data collection rules

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 12:37:16 +0000

US doctors pushback over massive new federal data collection rules
The AAPS is challenging a federal mandate requiring small entity managers to report personal data, arguing it violates constitutional rights and threatens privacy. The case is pending in Amarillo, Texas.

Shutterstock

AAPS
Nov 9, 2024
(AAPS) — The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (“AAPS”) filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the new mandate requiring tens of millions of Americans to report personal information to the federal government.

By January 1, 2025, Americans who participate in managing small entities – even some political ones – must report their home addresses, birthdates, and other information such as driver’s license numbers to the federal government.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) is creating a massive new database of personal information about ordinary, law-abiding Americans, to share widely with other agencies and even internationally to facilitate federal investigations and prosecutions. FinCEN will assign a “FinCEN identifier” to everyone about whom it receives this information, the brief notes.

While there are some exemptions, most small medical practices are subjected to this regulatory burden and possible investigatory harassment, as are non-profit groups not officially qualified under Section 501©(3), AAPS notes.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) imposes up to two years imprisonment for failure to report this information to the federal government or failing to update home addresses. Fines can be up to $10,000 for violations.

“This is a vast expansion in federal police power, with its political bias that has worsened,” said AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly. “Fortunately, multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution stand firmly against this federal overreach.”

AAPS asks the federal court in Amarillo, Texas, to grant a preliminary injunction against this unconstitutional law based on the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Amendments. Other district courts have rendered decisions on both sides of this issue.

“Particularly alarming is how this new disclosure requirement will have the effect of taking away the right to own guns by those found to be in violation of the CTA,” Schlafly points out. “The two-year imprisonment under the CTA triggers revocation of the Second Amendment right under a federal gun control statute,” he adds.

This AAPS lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, No. 2:24-cv-210-Z.

Reprinted with permission from Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Kuwait Suspends [Financial] Services to Thousands for Failing to Submit Biometric Data

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:55:34 +0000

A little foreshadowing perhaps?

Kuwait Suspends Services to Thousands for Failing to Submit Biometric Data

Oct 28, 2024

Kuwait has forced over one million citizens to hand over their biometric data in one of the most extreme pushes for digital ID. Kuwait introduced a national electronic ID (eID) that they say will assist with identification verification, digital signatures, E-government access, and the secure exchange of data. The deadline to file for this mandatory program was September 30 and the consequences for failing to comply were swift.

On October 1, the Ministry of Interior announced that those who failed to submit their data would be prohibited from all electronic services such as withdrawals, transfers, and account transfers. One cannot even withdraw cash. Around 35,000 people have been blocked out of their bank accounts and are unable to even view the balance. A few weeks later, those in noncompliance has their electronic bank cards deactivated. Visa, MasterCard, and K-Net all abided by the government’s rule.

Beginning on November 1, The Kuwait Banking Association stated it will implement a “complete block” on all accounts, which means one cannot even withdraw funds if they go to the bank in person. Expatriates have until December 31 to submit their biometric registration.

The government has reported an uptick of 6,000 new registrants per day compared to 600 since they began blocking citizens from accessing their own bank accounts. The government called this a “phased approach,” believing they’ve offered leniency to the public.

The issue here is that governments globally are strapped for funds and believe that they can increase revenues by at least 35% if they hunt down their citizens for taxes. Then we have the layer of the Great Reset put forth by Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum that is aiming to create a One World Government complete with a global database to track absolutely everyone. Australian journalist Maria Zaric has called it a “digital prison.” Once you’re locked in, you’re locked in. People will be less likely to speak out against the government, protest, or refuse vaccinations if they know their government can immediately exile them from society. This is more than a mere identification as it provides the government with instant access to all of your information and they will track your every movement. This is only the beginning of a massive wave of tyranny. [...]

2024 or 1984? Army Veteran CONVICTED for Silent Prayer Near Abortion Facility

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 08:32:48 +0000

2024 or 1984? Army Veteran CONVICTED for Silent Prayer Near Abortion Facility

gloria.tv | October 16, 2024

On October 16, a British magistrates' court found Adam Smith-Connor, an army veteran and father of two, guilty of silently praying for three minutes in an abortion "buffer zone," AdfInternational.org reported.

It is the first known conviction for a thought crime in modern British history. Adam was convicted and ordered to pay £9,000 (!) in legal costs to the prosecution.

He was accused of breaching the censorship zone in November 2022 by having prayerful thoughts there.

The British parliament voted to introduce "buffer zones" around all abortion facilities in England and Wales from October 31, making "influence" [of mothers who want to kill their unborn children] a criminal offence.

Hotez Calls For Police Deployment Against "Anti-Vaxxers"

Sun, 04 Aug 2024 10:16:45 +0000

Hotez Calls For Police Deployment Against "Anti-Vaxxers"

ZH | Aug 03, 2024
Authored by Paul Thacker via The Brownstone Institute,

Social media went a little bonkers last week when an interview of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Peter Hotez began circulating with the Big Pharma insider calling for the United Nations and NATO to deploy security forces against “anti-vaxxers” in the United States. Dr. Hotez’s statements first appeared on the YouTube channel of an international pediatric conference that took place in Colombia, but the interview then jumped onto X.

The Simposio Internacional de Actualización en Pediatría (International Symposium of Pediatric Updates) later removed the interview from YouTube although photos can still be found on Facebook.

In clips of Hotez’s interview that continue to circulate on X, he claims “anti-vaxxers” caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States. I uploaded one clip to my YouTube channel which you can watch here:

Quote:What I’ve said to the Biden administration is, the health sector can’t solve this on its own. We’re going to have to bring in Homeland Security, the Commerce Department, Justice Department to help us understand how to do this.

I’ve said the same with…I met with [WHO general director] Dr. Tedros last month…to say, I don’t know that the World Health Organization can solve this on our own. We need the other United Nations agencies—NATO. This is a security problem, because it’s no longer a theoretical construct or some arcane academic exercise. Two hundred thousand Americans died because of anti-vaccine aggression, anti-science aggression.

And so, this is now a lethal force…and now I feel as a pediatric vaccine scientist…it’s important, just as important for me to make new vaccines, to save lives. The other side of saving lives is countering this anti-vaccine aggression.

Hotez has long been noted for promoting controversial and sometimes false statements about the Covid pandemic and then accusing his critics of “anti-science.”

But this is not the first time Hotez has called for police to deploy against those who disagree with his views on science. Last October, Scientific American platformed Hotez as an expert on “anti-science” and didn’t bat an eyelid when he said support for scientists would require intervention by the Department of Homeland Security and the creation of a federal interagency task force.

Dr. Hotez again called for deploying federal police to support science during a grand rounds lecture he gave in August 2021. A whistleblower at Texas Children’s Hospital sent me the lecture where Hotez said the “disinformation empire” threatened America and would need to be dealt with by the Department of Homeland Security:

Quote:The problem is the disinformation empire is so vast and pervasive that until we do something more definitive to get to the source of the disinformation and stop it, it’s not going to have that much of an impact. And that’s where everybody moves away from me.

And I tend to be out on a…out on my own here.

Earlier this year, Time Magazine named Hotez a “Science Warrior” and one of the 100 most influential people in global health.

Republished from the author’s Substack

"CopenPay" – Europe's First Climate-Centric Social Credit Scheme

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:52:43 +0000

"CopenPay" – Europe's First Climate-Centric Social Credit Scheme

ZH [slightly adapted] | Jul 27, 2024
Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

The world’s first climate-related social rewards scheme came into being two weeks ago, when the city of Copenhagen officially launched it’s new “CopenPay” system.

Through the CopenPay scheme, tourists visiting the city will be rewarded for “green actions” – such as using public transportation or cycling – with access to “cultural experiences”, free meals etc.

For example, arriving at the CopenHill dry ski slope by foot or on a bike will get you 20 free minutes of ski time, while anyone who volunteers at an organic urban farm will get a free lunch (vegetarian, naturally).

The official CopenPay website describes the purpose of the system as follows:

Quote:…to encourage sustainable behaviour and enrich the cultural experience of visitors and residents in Copenhagen by transforming green actions into currency for cultural experiences.

WonderfulCopenhagen.com adds:

Quote:There is a need to change the mindset of tourists and encourage green choices […]Through CopenPay we therefore aim to incentivize tourists’ sustainable behaviour while enriching their cultural experience of our destination. It is an experimental and a small step towards creating a new mindset […] The hope is not only to continue the pilot project, but also to inspire other cities around the world to introduce similar initiatives.

Now, complimentary organic meals and free windsurfing lessons might seem benign enough, but any talk of “changing mindset” and/or “encouraging behaviour” makes my brain itch.

It’s pretty easy to see through the happy-clappy tone of the promotion to the heart of the issue, it’s right there in their own words: Transforming green actions into currency.

This is climate change based behavioral modification. This is a social credit system. Small scale and optional, sure, but there’s no denying that’s what it is.

For now it’s optional and only for tourists. They are testing the waters. Barring a catastrophic failure it won’t stay that way for long. They likely won’t ever make it mandatory to take part, rather – like bank accounts and cellphones – opting out will simply be too difficult for most people to bother with.

Eventually “rewarding green actions” will segue into “punishing non-green actions”. The currency of “cultural experiences” replaced with actual currency.

This isn’t guesswork.

We don’t have to guess where this leads, because we know. They told us.

They laid out the world they want to build, and this is just one of the first bricks.

UK Requires Residents to Register Chickens

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 11:52:50 +0000

UK Requires Residents to Register Chickens – New rules for all poultry keepers

First published 22 March 2024

New rules on registering poultry are coming into force this year and backyard birdkeepers will need to officially register their flock regardless of the number.

Previously, only people with more than 50 birds were required to register, but the new measures announced by Defra has reduced this to anyone with just one bird.

Defra consulted on the changes in March last year and has this week announced that the government, along with the devolved administrations, has agreed to make the following changes in England, Wales and Scotland:

The threshold for mandatory registration will be reduced from 50 birds to 1, which means all poultry and captive bird keepers will be legally required to register their birds.
Poultry keepers will be required to review their poultry register entry annually to ensure their details are up to date.

Key dates

The requirement for all poultry keepers to register will come into force in autumn 2024, with the requirement for an annual review to be introduced 12 months later. Budgies, parrots, canaries and similar species that are kept indoors or in a dedicated ‘bird house’ without any outside access will be exempt from the above changes.

In England and Wales, keepers are encouraged to register their birds ahead of the legal deadline on 1 October 2024.

Bird keepers will need to provide information, including their contact details, the location where birds are kept and details of the birds (species, number and what they are kept for).

The government said the changes would help manage potential disease outbreaks, such as avian influenza, and limit any spread.

The information on the register will also be used to identify all bird keepers in disease control zones, allowing for more effective surveillance, so that zones can be lifted at the earliest possible opportunity.

NFU Poultry Board chair James Mottershead said the NFU was pleased to see Defra and the devolved governments taking steps to improve the accuracy and the relevance of the information it holds on poultry keepers of all scales and sizes.

He said: “It’s important that the government now focuses on making the process of registering, reviewing and updating the GB Poultry Register as straightforward as possible to minimise the administrative burden on all poultry keepers.

“These changes should help the government communicate important information to all poultry keepers in a more timely manner, which in turn will help protect the health of the national flock.”

There have been more than 360 cases of avian influenza across Great Britain since October 2021, including a significant number of backyard flocks.

Climate Scientist Suggests “Culling” the Human Population with a Deadly Pandemic

Tue, 14 May 2024 10:13:41 +0000

SICK: Climate Scientist Suggests “Culling” the Human Population with a Deadly Pandemic to Solve the “Climate Crisis”

Credit: @ProfBillMcGuire

By Cullen Linebarger May. 13, 2024

One government climate scientist made the mistake of blurting out the real end-game of so many radical environmental activists in a bid to preserve the planet: Killing off the human population.

Bill McGuire, a Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London (UCL), authored a tweet Sunday that lamented the fact carbon emissions were not falling nearly as fast as needed and suggested solving the “climate crisis” with a deadly pandemic to wipe out swaths of the human population.

“If I am brutally honest, the only realistic way I see emissions falling as fast as they need to, to avoid catastrophic #climate breakdown, is the culling of the human population by a pandemic with a very high fatality rate,” he wrote.

After righteous backlash from social media users, McGuire deleted his post and whined that people were deliberately taking his words out of context.

He then lied and claimed that his initial post was about falling economic activity despite clearly referencing a pandemic killing off mankind.

As the National Pulse notes, McGuire is infamous for being a member of a British government body that advised politicians on the COVID-19 response. He also co-authored a report for the radical United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which helps influence climate policy worldwide.

McGuire is also not the first leftist to suggest exterminating the human population to solve the planet’s issues. For example, infamous animal rights activist Jane Goodall once floated reducing the Earth’s population to what it was 500 years ago. A University of Texas professor also called for killing 90 PERCENT of all humans to save the planet.

The Biden regime is funding dangerous experiments that could turn these vile individuals’ dreams into a reality. The National Pulse reveals Peter Daszak, a researcher with ties to Anthony Fauci, is still receiving millions in taxpayer dollars to “research” not only coronavirus samples in Wuhan, but also to source new bat viruses from Burma, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries. Some of these pathogens are highly infectious.

American taxpayers are also funding risky Chinese research on the bird flu more transmissible, a disease that kills over 50% of the people it infects. COVID-19, by comparison, has a fatality rate of less than 1%.

These facts add fuel to the theory that COVID-19 was created as a trial run and globalists are planning to develop a far more deadly virus to provide a “final solution” to the human race.

Prominent freemason and occultist predicted 50 years ago a one-world religion

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 12:16:29 +0000

Prominent freemason and occultist predicted 50 years ago a one-world religion led by a ‘Christ’ to come
It is not until now, in the era of Pope Francis, that we can make sense of Foster Bailey’s prediction that Catholicism — which he considers to be the most backward religion — may lead a ‘Christian religious revival.’

Shutterstock

Mar 22, 2024
(LifeSiteNews) — A high-ranking freemason, occultist, and co-founder of the Lucifer Publishing Company 50 years ago predicted key features of a coming one-world government, including a “cashless society” and worldwide socialism. But his blueprint for a new world order is unique in its specific predictions about a one-world religion that is to be led by a “Christ” to come — or rather, the Antichrist.

In the book “Things to Come,” (issued by what is now called the Lucis Publishing Company) Foster Bailey, author of “The Spirit of Masonry” and husband of Alice Bailey, a “godmother” of the new-age movement, gives hints as to what the coming one-world religion will look like and helps the reader to imagine the unthinkable: that a one-world government will indeed promote a new religion, and even be wedded to that religion.

In fact, the one-world religion will be the very heart of the new world order, because the most important conquest of the inner circle of globalists is not your body, but your soul. This is largely why the coming religious deception is generally shrouded in obscurity, unlike the political and economic facets of the NWO.

If anyone were to grasp the plans for the one-world religion, it would be someone like Foster Bailey. As a 33rd degree freemason, he was evidently privy to the secret society’s designs to subvert the Catholic Church and help usher in this one-world religion, which his writings hint at.

His wife, Alice, suggests that freemasonry will help prepare the way for the “Great One” to come, also known as “the Christ,” who Foster describes as a “great spiritual leader” and a “living man today” who “does not come to save us but to help us save ourselves,” and “not from a hell of physical suffering.”

Alice predicted that “mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the masonic fraternity,” calling the “Masonic Movement” the “home of the Mysteries and the seat of initiation.” The “Great One,” (read: Antichrist) she says, is working toward the same end as freemasonry: “When the Great One comes with his disciples and initiates we shall have … the restoration of the Mysteries,” Bailey wrote in “The Externalization of the Hierarchy.”

She admitted that freemasonry is, at its core, an occult group, writing that the “masonic movement” “is a far more occult organization than can be realized, and is intended to be the training school for the coming advanced occultists.”

A Luciferian endeavor

The occult involvement of Alice and Foster give credence to the claim of ex-freemasons that the fraternity is satanic at its highest levels — that the “Great Architect of the Universe” is Satan. As hardcore occultists, the couple openly praised Lucifer, and were literally “plugged in” to demons, through what they describe as “New Age” practices.

For example, in “Things to Come,” Bailey described a “process of overshadowing” by which “the Christ” (not Jesus Christ as Christians understand Him) or an “ascended Master” renders a “disciple” “much more usable. This suggests that he deliberately opened himself to possession or at least influence by “spirits,” which as many former New Agers can testify, are often demons in disguise.

And Alice claimed to “telepathically” receive messages from a “Master of Wisdom” she labeled “the Tibetan” or “Djwal Khul (D.K.), which she said comprised the majority of her writings. These messages are likewise probably of demonic origin, all the more so because of her esteem for Lucifer/Satan.

We can, therefore, while taking the Baileys’ predictions regarding the “Christ” to come with a grain of salt, understand them as a likely foreshadowing of how the Antichrist will deceptively sugarcoat himself and his evil religion.

Regarding the “Christ” who will lead the one-world religion, Foster Bailey gives a couple of hints as to what he will be like (expanded on by Alice, as detailed below):

“The word Christ is a name in the Hierarchy for the holder of an all embracing world-wide divine leadership and as so used, transcends orthodox limitations. Christ to the modern mind is an active, intelligent world executive, and a living man today. His vision and his action are for all men. He is not at all limited to Christianity.”

Thus, the Antichrist will deny one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, which is that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Foster, by contrast, insists that the idea that Christianity is “the only true religion” makes Christians guilty of the “special sin” of “separatism.” However, such a belief not only conforms to the words of Jesus Christ Himself but to the logical principle of noncontradiction: Two contradictory things cannot simultaneously be true.

Foster signals that this “Christ” to come will not consider necessary the belief in Heaven or Hell, since he wrote, “It is not the function of any religion or any church organization to … try to scare people into a mythical heaven.”

We can glean more about the nature of the Antichrist and his one-world religion through Foster’s remarks about the major religions. It is telling that Foster’s disdain for Christianity contrasts with his esteem for Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, which are spared criticism entirely (“liberal Jews” get a very brief positive mention, while other Jews, like Catholics, are mentioned to be “excessively separative”).

Catholicism: The supreme enemy of Bailey — and freemasonry

Even more revealing is the fact that Catholicism is the religion most repugnant to Foster, an attitude inherent to freemasonry, which is diametrically opposed to the Catholic faith above all.

This is because Catholicism is more opposed than any other religion to Foster’s/freemasonry’s idea that we should “be obedient to our own inner spiritual selves.” In other words, Catholicism is most opposed to the “supreme injunction” promoted by the occultist and “magician” Aleister Crowley: “Do what thou wilt.” (It is noteworthy that Crowley, who, it is publicly acknowledged, deliberately summoned demons, said he wrote his seminal work according to the dictations of a disembodied voice, like Alice Bailey.)

It is why freemasons, when they reach the 30th degree, crush under foot a papal tiara, swearing to free mankind from “the thraldom of spiritual tyranny,” according to Father Alex Zenthoefer.

Dr. Taylor Marshall explains in his book Infiltration that a major goal of freemasonry (echoed in Things to Come) is in fact to replace Catholicism: “The strategy of … Freemasonry is to arrange secret societies to subvert the current (Catholic) order and replace it with an enlightened order in which all religions are approximations of the truth — all religions become allegorical and equal. The Catholic Church is the Vetus Ordo Saeculorum — the Old Order of the World. Freemasonry is the Novus Ordo Saeculorum — the New Order of the World.”

Second Vatican Council is evidence of “New Age” influence

In keeping with his masonic and occult beliefs, while Foster Bailey makes clear that Catholicism is too “dogmatic,” he sees a spark of hope in the Second Vatican Council, which he considers a watershed moment largely because the clergy are distancing themselves from “useless dogmas”] [emphasis The Catacombs]:

Quote:Increasing numbers of religious leaders are recognizing that the church must abandon useless dogmas and that it is out of step with the development of human intelligence today. There is a ferment arising in the religious field which is forcing reformation of churchianity. Amazing things are taking place in the Roman Catholic Church, for example.

For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has been dominated and controlled by the Curia, a body of ultra-conservative doctrinaires who wielded undisputed power over all cardinals and bishops. Until this control was broken there was little hope for any spiritual change. Pope John XXIII broke it in the first session of the Second Ecumenical Council.

Today the present Pope is largely free from this shackling influence and a new Collegia is gaining power and great influence as to all Church affairs. This is a far-reaching change in the organization itself, the fruits of which will be startling indeed.

Foster is not talking about a difference of mere degrees in what the Catholic Church teaches or how, but about a fundamental “break,” a disconnect with its past. He goes on to explain how:

“The Second Session of the Ecumenical Council witnessed the promulgation of the doctrine that every man is free to worship God as he chooses without condemnation of the Church,” Foster wrote, predicting that “This new religious freedom in the Catholic Church, when implemented, will completely change the system by which the Church has controlled its followers for ages.”

The idea of religious freedom is so revered today, even by devout Christians, that it is difficult for people to consider why the Catholic Church long taught that “error has no rights.” This does not mean the Church ever taught that people should be legally coerced into practicing Catholicism. But to teach that a human being has a right to publicly practice a false religion is contrary to the Church’s desire that all men find the truth and be saved.

It is easiest to understand this when considering whether a satanist has a right to erect a Baphomet statue at a state capitol or run a satanic children’s club at a school. Most Christians today will passionately insist that satanists do not have this right. Why? Because it is harmful both to a just society and to souls. But we make exceptions for other religions because they aren’t explicitly or obviously opposed to God, forgetting that other religions harm souls as well and put them at risk, because they reject what Jesus taught — that He is the only way to the Father — and the fullness of the moral law.

We forget that it is because we have embraced this very principle of religious liberty in the U.S., for example, that satanists are able to erect statues and displays before state capitols and start “after school satan clubs.”

Many have forgotten that religious indifferentism — the idea that it really does not matter to which religion one belongs — is a masonic idea, something also noted by the traditional Catholic priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

While they are much criticized and considered “irregular” by the Vatican for refusing to embrace the entirety of the Second Vatican Council, the SSPX correctly points out that Vatican II’s teaching that no one is “to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly,” stems from freemasonry, breaks with the Church’s perennial teaching, and undermines the conversion of souls to the Catholic faith.

Vatican II did in fact greatly weaken Catholic belief and practice, as seen in the dramatic decline in religious vocations and even Church attendance after the Council. The climate of religious indifferentism that it encouraged led to a newfound religious apathy among Catholics, which Foster Bailey noted when he wrote, “Youth no longer fears to disobey the Church.” He predicted that from their “freedom” would emerge a “new attitude toward religion based on reasonableness and cooperation.”

Keeping in mind that the new-age movement was (wittingly or not) demonically inspired, and that freemasonry is inseparable from the occultism at the core of new age practice, we can grasp why Foster Bailey would say that Vatican II showed the influence of “new age spiritual energy”:

“It is significant that the Council has issued no anathemas, condemned no movements, not even communism, and avoided dogmatic declarations, as has been wisely pointed out. Here again we have evidence of the presence of new age spiritual energy affecting religious thought. The whole edifice of law, custom and religious practice that had supported Catholic stability since the Council of Trent was threatened.”

“Satan will rule in the Vatican”

Foster goes so far as to predict: “It may eventuate that the most crystallized, materialistic and dogmatic Church in the Christian world will become the leader in a Christian religious revival.”

That should seem like a strange remark. What would make Foster think that the religion most opposed to the supremacy of one’s own “inner guidance” would eventually become its biggest champion?

As Dr. Marshall has well documented in his book on the subject, Infiltration, freemasonry has indeed long planned to infiltrate the Catholic Church, even to the point of making one of its own the pope.

This is revealed in the “Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita,” [see here] which Dr. Marshall notes was reproduced in the English translation in the lecture by Right Rev. Msgr. George Dillon D.D., in Edinburgh in October 1884. Its author, who writes under the pseudonym Piccolo Tigre or “Little Tiger,” explains the long-term goal of freemasons:

Quote:Our final end is that of Voltaire and the Revolution, the destruction forever of Catholicism and even of the Christian idea which, if left standing on the ruins of Rome, would be the resuscitation of Christianity later.

The Pope, whoever he will be, will never come to the secret societies. It is for the secret societies to come first to the Church, with the aim of winning them both. The work which we have undertaken is not the work of a day, nor of a month, nor of a year. It may last many years, a century perhaps, but in our ranks the soldier dies, and the fight continues.

Now then, in order to secure to us a Pope according to our own heart, it is necessary to fashion for that Pope a generation worthy of the kingdom of which we dream. Leave on one side old age and middle life, go to the youth, and if possible, even to the children.

The ultimate goal of freemasonry is the public reign of Satan in the world. St. Maximilian Kolbe testified in his Militia of the Immaculata magazine that in 1917 he had seen freemasons march in St. Peter’s Square flying a banner that read, “Satan will rule in the Vatican.”

In a Japanese November 1935 issue of the magazine, St. Kolbe wrote, “Years later, the Freemasons in Rome began to demonstrate openly and belligerently against the Church. They placed the black standard of the “Giordano Brunisti” under the windows of the Vatican. On this standard the archangel, St. Michael, was depicted lying under the feet of the triumphant Lucifer … Right then I conceived the idea of organizing an active society to counteract Freemasonry and other slaves of Lucifer.”

He elaborated in 1939, “A reckless hand felt no repugnance in writing: Satan will rule in the Vatican and the Pope will serve him … This mortal hatred for the Church of Jesus Christ and for His Vicar was not just a prank on the part of deranged individuals but a systematic action proceeding from the principle of Freemasonry: Destroy all religion, whatever it may be, especially the Catholic religion.”

However outrageous this may seem to some Catholics, this scenario was also predicted by the Blessed Mother in a message to the children of La Salette in 1846. In 1879, the secret of La Salette was published as written by one of the visionaries, Mélanie Calvat, lamenting the corruption of so many priests, and foretelling that “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the antichrist.” [1]

Now, in 2024, 10 years into the pontificate of Pope Francis, we can finally make sense of Foster Bailey’s prediction that the Church may become a “leader in a Christian religious revival,” as well as the freemasons’ prediction that the pope would serve Satan. Over the past decade, Francis has given sign after sign after sign that he is not really interested in upholding Catholic doctrine and practice, but rather in undermining it in favor of a less “rigid,” more “inclusive,” faith.

He has done this by:
[/b]

Reinforcing religious indifferentism (ex: he has said even atheists can be redeemed, that he is “not interested in converting evangelicals to Catholicism”; Releasing a video promoting his prayer intentions featuring Muslim prayer beads, a Buddha statue, and a Menorah, along with a Baby Jesus (but no cross); saying ‘It’s not right to convince someone of your faith’)
Promoting impiety and even blasphemy (ex: he has said “God was unjust with His Son” and joked that “Inside the Holy Trinity they’re all arguing behind closed doors”)
He has also appointed a slew of prelates to the Synod on Synodality who brazenly defy Church teaching.
Most egregious of all, attacking the very foundation of Catholic moral teaching by, for example claiming that one can receive Holy Communion in mortal sin, and that same-sex civil unions are permissible. These claims have been denounced as heretical.
He has also plainly aligned with the masonic view of religions in his statement that “the most important role of religions is that of promoting the culture of encounter, along with the promotion of true education in responsible behavior in caring for creation.” No mention of God, of Christ, or salvation.

If any doubt remains as to whether Francis has a masonic bent, consider that his election was immediately praised by Grand Master Gustavo Raffi of the Grand Orient Masonic Lodge of Italy, who said, “Fraternity and dialogue are his first concrete words: perhaps nothing in the Church will be as it was before.”

Is he the long-awaited pope “according to the heart” of the freemasons?

He checks all the boxes.

[b]Features of the antichrist and his ‘New Age’ deception

Just as naturalism and religious indifferentism are merely means to the end of Lucifer worship for those initiated into freemasonry, so are they in the freemasons’ plan for a one-world religion.

The Baileys help show that this religion will be packaged in new-age practices and beliefs, which will be embraced by the Antichrist who will lead this religion.

Under Pope Francis, the Vatican has already signaled that it is on board with such new-age religion, as anti-Catholic as it is. In 2018, a Vatican conference on “How Science, Technology and the 21st Century Will Impact Culture and Society” featured a talk by pop star Katy Perry on transcendental meditation as well as a talk by New Age guru Deepak Chopra. Perry is a particularly disturbing choice as a guest speaker because she has included themes of lesbianism and cannibalism in her music.

Alice Bailey, in her 1948 book “The Reappearance of the Christ,” explains some of the features of the “Christ” to come and the one-world religion she says will emerge after his appearance. It is noteworthy that, just as the antichrist is traditionally understood, Bailey describes him as the “second coming” of Jesus Christ who became incarnate 2,000 years ago. However, he will have notable differences, she says.

Alice Bailey claims that “undue emphasis” was laid upon “Jesus Christ’s” divinity, and also that man himself is “divine,” essentially undermining the very meaning and uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. She states that today, “There is a growing and developing belief that Christ is in us, as He was in the Master Jesus.” This is a first huge red flag.

She also explains that, in keeping with religious indifferentism, he will (at least initially) put all religions on the same plane, writing, “The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.” She even calls “the Buddha the spiritual leader of the East, and the Christ, the spiritual leader of the West.”

What will his proclaimed mission be? According to Bailey, it will be essentially world peace and “international cooperation”: “His major task is surely the establishing of right human relations in every department of human living,” going on to state that “when the United Nations has emerged into factual and actual power, the welfare of the world will then be assured.”

“What is that welfare but love in action? What are right human relations but love among men, groups and nations? What is international cooperation but love on a world scale? Those are the things which the love of God in Christ expressed … ”

Thus, the Antichrist’s conception of “love” will emphasize world peace — which is of course a good in and of itself — but this drive for “peace” will be used as a pretext for a one-world government, which both Baileys discussed directly.

Alice Bailey says that unlike Jesus Christ, this man will “not be a ‘man of sorrows'” and “will not be a silent, pensive figure.” Also, “this time, He will play His part, not in obscurity as He previously did, but before the eyes of the entire world … because of the prevalence of the radio, television and the rapidity of communication, His part will be watched by all … ”

But didn’t Jesus say that in his real Second Coming, he would come “in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty?” Alice Bailey attempts to dismiss this Scripture as meaningless in an age of airplanes, writing, “He will come indeed ‘in the clouds of the air’ as the Christian Scriptures say, but of what great interest is that when millions come and go in the clouds each hour of the day and of the night?” It’s a rather weak refutation of Scripture’s real meaning, but it will unfortunately still dupe people ready to embrace the Antichrist.

Finally, Alice Bailey offers a disturbing prediction that suggests that the Antichrist may possess the minds of his followers. She claims that the “Hierarchy” will “impres(s) the minds of enlightened men everywhere by spiritual ideas embodying the new truths” and “by the overshadowing of all world disciples and the New Group of World Servers by the Christ Himself.”

Could this perhaps be through a chip implant without which people will be unable to buy or sell (the “mark of the beast”), as foretold in the Book of the Apocalypse?

Let us remember the words of Christ regarding these times:

“Take heed that no man seduce you: For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.” (Matthew 24: 4-5)

“ … Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.

If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24: 23-27)

REFERENCES

[1] Johannes Maria Höcht, Die Große Botschaft von La Salette [The Great Message of La Salette], Stein am Rhein 2004 (8th ed.), p. 161.[/b]

Benedict XV: On the Need to be Aware of the Socialist Propaganda

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 11:23:19 +0000

EPISTOLA SOLITI NOS DEL PAPA BENEDETTO XV
AL R. P. LUIGI MARIA MARELLI, VESCOVO DI BERGAMO SULLA NECESSITÀ DI DIFFIDARE DELLA PROPAGANDA DEI SOCIALISTI

The original document (in Italian) is here

ON THE NEED BE AWARE OF THE SOCIALIST PROPAGANDA
Taken from here

Venerable Brother,
health and Apostolic Blessing.

Since we are used to considering with particular satisfaction our Bergamaschi, who distinguish themselves in an exemplary way for their Christian life, with real displeasure we have learned some negative voices relating to certain popular motions that would have happened there. In truth, it is no wonder that the ” enemy», Having long envied the fertility of this field of the Lord, and carefully spying on the opportune moment to devastate it, took advantage of the crisis of these unfortunate times to sow the weeds on such fruitful soil. But since the bad seed, once it has taken root, can choke the good wheat over time, we value our strict duty – since the Lord has entrusted to us the care of the whole mystical field – to work with all our strength because it does not have to develop. We therefore address you, Venerable Brother, with this letter, not because we doubt your zeal, of which you have already given valid testimony in this regard, but because we consider it appropriate to exhort the beloved children, your medium, to remain faithful to your duty;

First of all we want everyone to know that We warmly approve what you have done, Venerable Brother, when, after the war, when everyone returned to the usual jobs, meeting new needs, with the collaboration of the Diocesan Council, you have set up a special Labor Office to cater to the needs of the various categories of workers. Really excellent and very useful institution if its functioning is regulated according to the dictates of religion; otherwise we know unfortunately which and how many disorders it can cause to society. It is therefore necessary that the managers of this Office, which has such close connection with the common good, always have before their eyes and scrupulously observe the principles of social science inculcated by the Holy See in the memorable Encyclical “Rerum Novarum or Of the new things» And in other documents. Remember especially these fundamental points: in this short mortal life, subject to all evils, no one is given to be truly happy, since true, perfect, eternal happiness awaits us only in heaven, as a reward to those who have lived well; up there, therefore, whatever we do, it must strive for all our actions; therefore, rather than being jealous of our rights, we must be considerate of fulfilling our duties; on the other hand, we are allowed to improve our condition in this mortal life and obtain greater well-being, but for the common good, nothing is more beneficial than harmony and harmony among all social classes: it is the maximum advocate of this Christian charity.

So see how the workers’ interests would hurt those who, having plans to improve the conditions, they only lent themselves to help him in the purchase of these fallen goods, and not only neglected to temper his aspirations with the reference to Christian duties, but they endeavored to incite him more and more against the rich with that ceremony of language that is usually used by our opponents to excite the crowds to the social revolution. To remedy such a serious danger, it will be your care, Venerable Brother, to make present, as you already do, to those who dedicate themselves to patronizing the cause of the workers they do, being careful not to use the intemperance of language proper to the “socialists”, they must explain an action and propaganda all pervaded by a Christian spirit; without this they will be very harmful, certainly not beneficial. However, we hope that everyone will want to be obsequious; and if someone refuses to obey, you will certainly remove him from the assignment.

Moreover, it is natural that this Christian elevation of the humble should be more widely shared by those who have been provided with greater means by Providence. So those who are higher in social position or culture, do not refuse to help the worker with the council, with authority and with the word, especially promoting those works that have been providentially instituted to his advantage. Those who are then supplied with makeshift goods do not want to regulate their interests with the proletariat according to strict law, but rather according to fairness. Indeed we warmly urge them to use even greater indulgence in this, by making the widest and most liberal concessions they can. Here what the Apostle says to Timothy: To the rich of this world … he recommends being ready to give, to be generous"[1]. In this way they will gain the soul of the poor, who had antagonized them by considering them too attached to money.

Therefore the less well-off and those in a lower position are well penetrated by this truth, that the distinction of the social classes comes from nature, and therefore itself from the will of God, since ” He himself made the little and the great”[2]; and this is wonderfully beneficial to the good of individuals and society. They are therefore persuaded that however much they can improve their condition with their own activity and with the help of the good, it will still remain to them, as to all the others, not a little to suffer. Therefore, if they wish to operate as wise men, they will not endeavor to pursue unworkable utopias, and will bear the inevitable evils of this life in peace and fortitude, awaiting immortal goods.

Therefore we pray and beg the Bergamaschi, for their singular piety and devotion to this Apostolic See, not to be fooled by the flattery of those who with fallacious promises strive to wrest their faith from their hearts to encourage them to brutal violence and upheavals. The cause of justice and truth is not defended with violence or disorder, since these are weapons that first of all hurt those who use them.

It is therefore the duty of priests and especially of parish priests to vigorously oppose these extremely dangerous enemies of the Catholic faith and of society, fighting them together and compact under your guidance, Venerable Brother. Nobody must believe that this is extraneous to the sacred ministry, being an economic question, while it is precisely for this reason that the risk for the eternal salvation of souls is looming. They consider it one of their duties to devote themselves as much as possible to science and social action with study and hard work, and to help those who worthily work in our organizations together by any means. At the same time, they should try to teach their faithful attentively the norms of Christian life, warning them against the pitfalls of the "socialists". Also promoting economic improvement, always remembering what the Church recommends: "Let us go through temporal goods, so as not to lose the eternal ones."

In the meantime, we will not cease to invoke upon you all the gifts of divine goodness in favor of which and as a testimony of Our benevolence, we impart with great affection the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brother, to the clergy and to your people.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on 11 March 1920, in the sixth year of our pontificate.

Pope Benedict. 15

[ 1 ] I Tim ., VI, 17, 18.
[ 2 ] Sap ., VI, 8.

“Growing your own vegetables is bad for the planet”

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:07:39 +0000

“Growing your own vegetables is bad for the planet”
Another blatant step in the plan to control our food

OG | January 24, 2024

Have you ever made a prediction and wished you’d recorded it?

Last week, in a phone conversation with a family member, they happened to mention growing their own vegetables, and I said in reply “Enjoy it while you can, they’re gonna start claiming it’s causing climate change soon.”

Literally four days later…

Apparently, a new study from the University of Michigan has found that “urban gardening” is 5 (or maybe 6, they’re not sure) times worse for the environment than “conventional crops”.

I don’t know how they calculated it, and it doesn’t really matter. If you read the bodies of the articles they even say it only applies to some vegetables in some places and it all depends on how the “infrastructure” is put together.

The details aren’t the point. The point is yet another weapon in the war on food. More regulation, more commercialization, less freedom, all in the name of “fighting climate change”.

And if you’re doubting that’s the agenda here, check out the sheer number of government research agencies which the “supported” the research project:

Quote:Support for the project was provided by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, French National Research Agency, U.S. National Science Foundation, Poland’s National Science Centre, and the European Union’s Horizon 202 research and innovation program.

It’s a fairly obvious case of needing a study to support a position, going out and and buying one.

This is one of those stories that exists simply to be a headline, so some pundit can quote it on some political panel on primetime TV and start a conversation about “regulation”.

Since we started with a prediction, let’s end with another one: This is just the first step, and you don’t have to be paying especially close attention to see where it goes from here.

They are never going to make growing your own vegetables illegal, they are just going to make it increasingly difficult.

It will start with licenses, for food safety purposes or something. Maybe an outbreak of a disease will be linked to people sharing food from their allotments.

Licenses will be increasingly expensive, and come with restrictions. You’ll only be allowed to use seeds from specific approved vendors, seeds of GMO plants which “mitigate the impact of climate change”. These seeds will likely be “terminator seeds”, meaning they are sterile in the second generation.

And, in that fashion, growing your own vegetables will no longer be an individual and independent experience, but just another corporate subscription service.

EU set to allow draconian use of facial recognition tech, say lawmakers

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 11:41:58 +0000

EU set to allow draconian use of facial recognition tech, say lawmakers
Late tweaks to the EU’s artificial intelligence law have caused uproar over loopholes for biometric identification.

JANUARY 16, 2024
BRUSSELS (Politico.eu) — Last-minute tweaks to the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act will allow law enforcement to use facial recognition technology on recorded video footage without a judge’s approval — going further than what was agreed by the three EU institutions, according to European lawmaker Svenja Hahn.

The German member of the European Parliament said the final text of the bloc’s new rules on artificial intelligence, obtained by POLITICO, was “an attack on civil rights” and could enable “irresponsible and disproportionate use of biometric identification technology, as we otherwise only know from authoritarian states such as China.”

The wording also made it to the full legal text, which the Spanish Council presidency put together on December 22. The current presidency of the EU Council, held by Belgium, is working with Parliament to finalize bits of interpretative text known as recitals.

In early December, the EU agreed on a pioneering artificial intelligence rulebook — the world's first — to slap wide-ranging binding rules on the use of the burgeoning technology. But Hahn, a member of the liberal Renew group, said the final wording of the text introduced a loophole for the use of facial recognition technology, which was not in the original agreement.

In a statement to POLITICO, Hahn outlined issues with final language on so-called post facial recognition, where the technology is used on pre-existing footage, distinguishing it from real-time scanning of public spaces with AI-augmented cameras, the use of which would be largely outlawed under the AI Act.

The Spanish presidency of the EU Council — representing member countries' governments — and aides from Parliament agreed the rules on post facial recognition on December 22, two weeks after the two institutions and the European Commission reached a common position on the AI rulebook as a whole.

Hahn argued that the text breached that December 8 agreement. “The oral agreement had foreseen the use of post [facial recognition] only for very serious crimes, under very strict conditions, such as a prior judicial reservation. Little of this remained,” Hahn said.

The German parliamentarian said the rulebook's final text would allow police forces to use post facial recognition after the say-so of an administrative authority, rather than a judge's decision. She also lamented that the technology would be allowed to identify suspects for all types of crimes, regardless of how severe these crimes are. “The most trivial misdemeanors could be prosecuted using facial recognition,” she said.

Hahn's concerns were echoed by European Parliament member Patrick Breyer, a member of the left-leaning German Pirate Party and self-proclaimed "digital freedom fighter," who said in a statement Tuesday that "it appears the EU intends to compete with China not only technologically but also in terms of high-tech repression."

The kerfuffle over facial recognition underlines how European Parliament and Council officials left the 36-hour final negotiation round on December 8 with different understandings of what had been agreed to regarding post facial recognition. That happened despite a version of the text being shown on the negotiating room’s screen, according to a diplomat familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to speak about confidential negotiations. The Spanish presidency of the EU Council did not respond to a request for comment.

Clarion call

“We had heard from both the Commission and the Parliament that post [facial recognition] would be subject to strict safeguards and only allowed in some narrow, exceptional circumstances,” said Daniel Leufer, a senior policy fellow at digital rights NGO Access Now. “The latest text that we’ve seen makes a mockery of those announcements.”

Ella Jakubowska, a senior policy adviser at European Digital Rights, said that the text opened “huge loopholes which allow the wide use of post biometric identification.”

But others, including Parliament's leading negotiators of the deal, defended the final text.

Dragoș Tudorache, one of two lawmakers who steered the AI Act through Parliament — and member of the same political group as Hahn — said the language on facial recognition was "supported by a majority" of leading parliament members and that it "reflects the political agreement reached" in December.

EU governments are slated to receive the AI Act’s final text on January 24, with the aim of green-lighting it on February 2. After that, the Parliament will have to pass the law with a plenary vote. Parliamentary committees, political groups or alliances of over 40 lawmakers will be able to propose amendments — which, if approved, will need further legislative work in Council and Parliament.

Major Pharmacies Release Customer Medical Records to Police Without Warrants.

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:59:22 +0000

Major Pharmacies Release Customer Medical Records to Police Without Warrants. Here Are Some of Them.

ResisttheMainstream | December 12, 2023

The pharmaceutical industry is held in low esteem by most Americans.

Complaints of releasing customer’s medical records to police and government agencies without warrants are now added to accusations of gross price gouging.

According to the Washington Examiner, which cited the Monday release of a Congressional Investigative Report, “Several major pharmacies” have released confidential medical information to “local law enforcement and federal investigators without warrants.”

Disclosed information includes prescription history and medical records. Additionally, the report revealed that pharmacies released this information without notifying the customer before or after the fact.

Offending companies include RiteAid, CVS Pharmacy, Kroger, Walgreens, Boots Alliance, Cigna, Optum Rx, Walmart, and Amazon Pharmacy.

Several government leaders have pledged to enact policies to prevent this practice in the future. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA) reportedly sent a complaint letter to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

An excerpt from the letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, read: “Through briefings with the major pharmacies, we learned that each year law enforcement agencies secretly obtain the prescription records of thousands of Americans without a warrant.”

The letter continued: “In many cases, pharmacies are handing over sensitive medical records without review by a legal professional. Although pharmacies are legally permitted to tell their customers about government demands for their data, most don’t.”

Pushing back, a CVS Health spokeswoman said the company’s processes are consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law designed to protect patient privacy.

CVS Health spokeswoman Amy Thibault told the Washington Examiner in a statement that “The Office for Civil Rights, the agency that enforces HIPAA, has reviewed our processes on multiple occasions and deemed them to be compliant. Additionally, our processes are consistent with industry practices.”

Thibault, however, suggested a process review and recommended a judge-issued subpoena be requirement before medical information is released to third parties in the future.

Concerned lawmakers concur. Their letter to Becerra read: “Pharmacies can and should insist on a warrant, and invite law enforcement agencies that insist on demanding patient medical records with solely a subpoena to go to court to enforce that demand. The requirement for a warrant is exactly the approach taken by tech companies to protect customer privacy.”