Catholic bishops vs "catholic" bishops: the back story

A major story being ignored (or maybe I should say reported but in a biased way) is that the Pope is sick, and if he remains sick, retired, or dies, that this could result in at implosion of the Catholic church.

The bad news is that some bishops placed in positions of power by the last three popes are not good Catholics (and one suspects they were placed there by a Vatican bureaucracy that wants changes)

In the meanwhile, Pope Francis (or probably his minions) are pushing a synodality scam that resembles the meeting we had to attend in the 1960s, which are being promoted as a way to get everyone's opinons but in reality were reeducation meetings.

The bad news is that this is reported in the press as if the average catholic agreed with them.

The good news is that this scheme is imploding by pushback by the least likely people.

How bad it is? Well, even the very liberal/ecology minded/ liberation theology loving bishops in the Philippines are upset because they found their synodality conference was infiltrated by the Freemasons. 

The article is from one of "Catholic news agencies", and never quite explains the problem and instead defends the Freemasons. But this ignores that most Yanks are easy going Scots freemasons, most of whom belonged to the local churches, and didn't see an established church as evil, whereas in the Philippines the Masons are from the European branches that hated organized religion and so are anti Catholic, influencing the elites to see the church as corrupt and anti freedom.. But if you are into theology, this EWTN News article has the nuances of the theological problems for you.

America's toleration of religion is based on the Scots Freemasonic idea that all religions are good and brotherhood overrides dogma. And indeed, this idea has been pushed in the Catholic church after Vatican II.

But like all ideas, which are benign when practiced by people of good will, it becomes rabid when pushed by radicals who have another agenda. 

And in the USA today, tolerance has morphed to being called intolerant if you object to men in the ladies' room or having drag queen story hours for children (paid for by your taxes), or promoting the ethics of the gender revolution on your eight year old kids in public school that goes against the understanding of sexuality believed by most churches, mosques, or even biology students.

For Catholic Christians, in today's world the agenda being pushed means changing the target of the church from teaching how to live a holy life to supporting environmental issues and doing social work, and of course, pushing a gender neurtral sin free promiscuity agenda on the church that undermines marriage and the family.

We see this with the German synod, which is widely publicized and praised in the media.

What is not publicized a lot is that a lot of African and Asian bishops are objecting to this agenda, not just in the Catholic church but in the large Anglican churches in these regions. 

And not just African and Asian bishops: The Scandanavian bishops just released a letter criticizing this agenda, and explaining why. From Magister's blog:

The fact is that this confused noise of battle is drowning out the true and profound anthropological and biblical reasons in support of the Christian vision of sexuality. To the point that those who try to explain these reasons with competence and composure seem to be saying something unheard of, extraordinary, finally new and revelatory, whether one agree with it or not. This is a bit of the feeling one gets in reading the “Pastoral Letter on Human Sexuality” that the bishops of Scandinavia circulated among their faithful today, on this fifth Sunday of Lent.

the entire letter is at the link, but is nuanced so don't expect sound bites.

So the good news is that the plans of the NWO takeover of Catholicism to make a PC church is getting some push back.  

and has the tipping point been reached in the USA with the trans craze?

The trans craze is still pushed in the US press as good, and if you object or point out problems, you are told to follow the science (well, why not? It worked for Covid restrictions).

But the problem is that it is an agenda, not science: Which is why the Scandanavians have started becoming cautious about treating immature and emotionally unstable people indiscriminatly. LINK 

LINK2

The Karolinska Hospital’s new policies echo a growing international concern over the proliferation of medical interventions that have a low certainty of benefits, while carrying a significant potential for medical harm. The latest policy issued by the Karolinska cites the UK NICE evidence review , which found the risk / benefit ratio of hormonal interventions for minors highly uncertain; the 2020 UK judicial review , which highlighted the overarching ethical problems with the practice of medical "affirmation" of minors; as well as Sweden's own Health and Technology Assessment (SBU) evidence review conducted in 2019, which found a lack of evidence for medical treatments, and a lack of explanation for the sharp increase in the numbers of adolescents presenting with gender dysphoria in recent years.

,,,,,,

in the meanwhile, the MSM and liberal "catholic" press has been pushing the 1960s sexual liberation agenda of the German bishops, as if people in Germany actually go to church.

again, who is attending these meetings? and why are the Germany bishops given publicity but not the African bishops, who are the ones who are promoting the importance of the family. From the Wanderer. LINK

For the sake of space, I shall end this portion of the commentary with a beautiful insight by Cardinal Sarah and thereby also recommend to others that they should read and savor the entire book: “Either we choose the way that leads us to God — and it is the narrow way of which Christ speaks — or else we take the broad way of the world that leads us away from God,” says Sarah, reminding us that we should again and always place “God back at the center of our thoughts, at the center of our action, and at the center of our lives.”

Cardinal Sarah also sees that, along with the crisis of faith, there is also a pastoral crisis where pastors do not sufficiently teach the faith anymore. Therefore, he earnestly proposes to “revive the faith within families.”

to put this into perspective:

In much of Asia and Africa, the governments are weak and often corrupt. So the first line of protection is the family: not the nuclear family but the extended family, that includes those with close ties of friendship.

So where do you get your news about the grassroots effort to keep the Pope Catholic? Maybe with EWTN.

Of course, the founder of EWTN got in a lot of trouble with the bishops in the past, and her legacy continues:

I have read several bishops are opposing EWTN

"I would not have EWTN on diocesan media either," McElroy responded. "EWTN worries me because it represents a giant of economic and cultural power connected to a religious viewpoint that is fundamentally critical of the pope," the cardinal said.

"The main anchors of the channel constantly minimize the abilities and theological knowledge of Francis, cite Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's slander of the pope and try to move the world away from the reforms the pope is signaling," said McElroy.,,,   

McElroy said that Francis has encountered so much opposition because of his "intention of completing the work of the Second Vatican Council," as well as his "constant inclusion of the experiences and spiritual points of view of the Global South at the center of the life of the church."

the Global South? Obviously this doesn't mean the actual Christians in the Global south, but his idea of the Global south, where Asians and Africans obey him because of his white privlege (/s).

as for banning EWTN: this ignores that it is available both on shortwave, on some small AM stations in the USA, and over the internet.

If you are wondering why EWTN is being made the enemy, it could be because the Papal Posse segments dare to speak the truth to power.

 

Asteroids, Armadillos and Leprosy

Science headline of the day:

 
Asteroid the size of 33 armadillos to pass Earth Sunday - NASA...

Asteroid 2023 FL2 is 35 meters, which is as much as almost 33 nine-banded armadillos lined up tail-to-snout. However, it won't hit us, and armadillos might even be more dangerous.The asteroid in question has been designated 2023 FL2 and was discovered just this year, according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Headsup Instapundit

So how big are nine banded armadillos?

  Wikipedia says:

Nine-banded armadillos generally weigh from 2.5–6.5 kg (5.5–14.3 lb), though the largest specimens can scale up to 10 kg (22 lb). They are one of the largest species of armadillos.[7] Head and body length is 38–58 cm (15–23 in), which combines with the 26–53 cm (10–21 in) tail, for a total length of 64–107 cm (25–42 in).

Most people north of Oklahoma or Texas only have seen them dead as road kill, which is the idea behind this  comment on the Instapundit site:

Nine-banded armadillos are Texas truck mines, waiting on the road to perfectly time their defensive behavior jump to enter into the fan housing of your average (older) truck. Such a mess.

their tendency to jump to avoid predators  explains why so many become road kill.

When startled, the nine-banded armadillo can jump straight upward about three to four feet into the air. This reflex may help scare off predators in the wild. Unfortunately, many armadillos are killed when they jump into the underside of moving vehicles.

But please be careful when you touch an armadillo: They are the only non human animal that carries Hansens disease, aka Leprosy.

Smithsonian article discusses this.

This is a minor problem in the USA where only a couple dozen cases a year catch this disease, but as poor people move into the Amazon to farm, they also tend to eat meat from local animals, including the armadillo. 

Nat Geo explains:

The U.S. documents around 200 cases of leprosy each year—only around 25 percent of which are associated with armadillos. But Brazil records around 25,000 cases annually, which may actually be an underestimate according to Spencer’s research.

Note: the research was on a small number of people and most had antibodies, suggesting exposure, but no active disease

And while it’s true that armadillos can serve as a reservoir for leprosy that can sometimes spill back into humans, it’s worth noting that we gave them the disease first. “People brought leprosy from Europe, with the ships that came from the colonizers,” Spencer says.

uh, stop blaming Europe as the source of the disease: it came from Africa via the European slave traders.

actually leprosy, which was common in medieval Europe, sort of disappeared after the black plague killed most of the lepers, while leprosy in west Africa, where the Europeans obtained slaves, is still a health problem.

40 years ago, when I worked in Liberia, I knew the nun who ran the leprosy treatment outreach clinics there.

She was funded by the Knights of Malta, who are one of the NGOs who work with the WHO to are trying to eradicate the disease there.).

  Atlas obscura article about the Knights of Malta,

Also known as the Knights or Hospitallers of Malta, the Order has a global staff of some 42,000—mostly medical personnel, from a range of religions—and almost twice that many volunteers. There are national associations empowered to set their own humanitarian agendas, and no central, governing authority for these programs. The Order’s staff has provided disaster relief after typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, as well as care for people afflicted with ebola or leprosy in West Africa and Southeast Asia, and operates specialized dementia facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

Leprosy is easily treated nowadays and with aggressive treatment, can be eliminated from countries. 

This site has up to date statistics and information on how the disease is eradicated. And it seems to be working:

Over the past 20 years, more than 16 million leprosy patients have been treated. The prevalence rate of the disease has dropped by 99%: from 21.1 cases per 10 000 people in 1983 to 0.2 cases per 10 000 people in 2015. A dramatic decrease has been achieved in the global disease burden: from 5.2 million people with leprosy in 1985, to 805 000 people in 1995, 753 000 in 1999, and 176 176 people with leprosy at the end of 2015.

School shootings...Not it was anger, not being trans

 The only school shooting that I am familiar with was the Red Lake massacre. 

That perpetrator came from a very abusive family and was being cared for by his grandfather, a policeman. 

He was schooled at home and on psychiatric treatment, but spent a lot of time on the computer reading neonazi sites which probably just encouraged his rage. So one day he shot his grandfather and got his rifle and shot up the local high school.

Was he bullied in school? Probably. High school bullying is alas common, and bullies pick the vulnerable. Nor is this an American phenomenum: Dozens of K Dramas have this as a theme.

But it wasn't agains the bullies: It was inner rage that exploded.

Usually people have defenses to stop acting out on their impulses, and the irony is that often therapists, who tend to agree with the person when they are angry, end up making the mentally ill person think that the therapist is giving permission to them be angry, (and if they act on it, well it's okay).

Psychotherapy is often viewed as benign, but it does have side effects, and one of them is removing a person's defense mechanisms. In this case, rage against a scapegoat, but sometimes it leads to suicide or a psychotic episode.

So my first thought was: Who was her therapist? 

This was planned in detail: Not just where to kill but also how.

This brings up questions of how did a girl whose family was anti gun learn to shoot? Where did she practice using the weapons? And where did she buy body armor? 

So the second thing I thought was: Who helped her?

and then there is a question of medication: Depression is anger turned inward, so again if you add an anti depressant, the anger often comes out of it's box and causes rage incidents. These are rare, but a known side effect that needs to be monitored. Ditto for anti anxiety and anti psychotic medicine. 

Good therapy works with the person, makes them aware of these side effects, and how to cope with life as their repressed anger and repressed conflicts now come to the surface. 

So no this was not about being trans: This girl was 28, and only recently decided she was trans. She was at the Christian school for three years, 15 years earlier. What about the other schools?

It sounds like she had a major mental illness that included inner anger, and since the trans idea is the idea de jour being pushed to trouble teenagers this year, she fixated on the trans part.

To make things worse,  recently these troubled young people are being manipulated by the social justice warriors who are pushing radical trans violence, and she saw killing normal people who are Christians and tried to live by their beliefs as something good. She was also suicidal, and seemed to believe she could do this good deed while committing suicide by cop.

Here in the Philippines, trans and cross dressers and baclas and tomboys are accepted as part of the family, in the same way second wives and accepting gifts by those you help is accepted: as long as it is private and it doesn't go too far, no problem.

So when a US military guy killed a trans prostitute when he discovered she was a he, the stories (except in the US puppet press of Makati) lamented the death because this lovely bacla was supporting her extended family by her work, and didn't deserve to die.

in contrast, The internet pushes hatred of the other, and it's not just tictoc that is pushing abnormal behavior as something good: Jerry Springer anyone?

So why now?

There is a good argument that this mental problem is being weaponized to destroy the idea of the family and sexual differences. 

It is so radical that even Pope Francis and the US Catholic bishops have spoken against this agenda,  because in Catholicism the body is seen as good, and God made men and women and that this idea is the basis of healthy family life.

Catholics also have a long standing opposition against mutilating the body for frivilous/ non medical  purposes. 

The MSM and catholic libs who run much of the anti catholic "Catholic" press have either ignored this dogma, and ignored the longstanding Catholic idea that mutilating the body is a sin: the policy is mistated it as being against trans healthcare, ironically at a time when it is the medical establishment in many countries that is turning against the policy of using drugs and surgery on immature people to change their sex.

Sigh.

and don't forget the side effects of many of the hormones and anti hormones given to these childen. I took some of them for medical problems, and their side effects are significant: hormone blockers made me cry, (think menopausal ladies) and testosterone like medicine made me fat, hairy, horny and prone toward anger (a side effect for men using testosterone drugs for sports etc.).

Tag Init; time to read cozy stories with the aircon on

It is Joy's birthday, but she went to her family's farm where her family will have an all day party and get together.

Because it is hot here (tag init, or the hot season) I declined to go and will stay inside my room with the air conditioner on.

Alas, the poor folk nearby will be getting sick and having strokes from the heat, so lots of elders asking for help to buy medicine.

Kuya was planning to do a rice harvest, but he has a cold and not feeling well and the rice is not quite ready, so he is staying home.

But the road repair men are still busy working to resurface the local road before the rains/monsoon starts in June. We are making sure they have ice water and some snacks for "merienda" (what Yanks call coffee breaks).

Kuya usually drives me to church for the 5 am Mass, but he sounded so miserable I told him to stay in bed and I went back to sleep.

Yes we have a Pentecostal church that meets here in our meeting room on Sunday, but I don't understand Tagalog enough to follow the sermons, and for Catholics, without the Eucharist it is just a prayer service.

Traditional Catholics believe receiving the sacrament is a personal link where Christ comes into your soul, and for those who say well, it's just a symbol, I can only quote the acid tongued Flannery O'Connor;

Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the ‘most portable’ person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one.

I then said, in a very shaky voice, ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’ That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”

Sigh. 

So anyway, I am busy reading (actually listening to ) the Miss Buncle series of Books on my Scribd. Some of the ebooks of the series can be borrowed on internet archive.

Sort of a Miss Marple minus the murders. No violence, and no sex (at least no sex scenes: at the end of Miss Buncle Married she is pregnant).

We even have resorted to watching Hallmark stories for our evening movie (a lot of old ones are on youtube). 

Part of this is because there are no interesting new movies on Netflix. The latest Luther film has five percent plot and 80 percent violence. Supercell is about chasing a tornado: but for those of us who once lived in Tornado alley, it's not exactly showing the reality of fleeing to the nearest tornado shelter so you don't get smashed by a storm, although the cinematography is beaustiful. Most of the Oscar winning films are boring (or confusing). And we do watch old TV shows and K dramas.

The news is the same, and the banking crisis is getting worse spreading to Europe and Asia.

So who do you trust? Dr C has a series of videos about how the problems with the mRNA vaccine were known or suspected or not really investigated when it was released. LINK...

I suspect this might be why the Philippine Dept of Health wouldn't sign a no liability clause so we could get this vaccine early, which meant over six month delay to get it

eighth anniversary

sigh.

After Lolo died, I decided to stay here in the Philippines, since the business compound contained both his old house where I could live and the apartment above the business office for his son's family.

Widows are often lonely, but here I not only have family, and there is help to do the cooking and cleaning.

Retirement in the Philippines is attractive and there is a retirement visa. 

Often Filipinos like my husband who worked overseas come back to retire, and many US Military men have Filipino wives from when they were stationed here and met them here, so decide to move here to retire to her home town where they have family.

But there are places with a lot of retirees from overseas that cater to foreigners-- not just Yanks but Europeans and Asians (e.g. Japan and Korea). So there is a social life for them.

When I first arrived, I learned some Tagalog, because there weren't a lot of people here who were bilingual, however over the last 20 years I found that most of the clerks etc. do understand English so alas my Tagalog fluency has withered because I rarely use it.

That last part if the problem a lot of people talking about retirement overseas ignores: unless you have a Filipino spouse, it can be lonely.  

Look Squirrel: Is the Trump scandal there to distract us?

with all the trouble in the world, most of the headlines is about Trumpiboy's payment to stop a porn star who brought a frivilous lawsuit against him (something that is routine, since court costs are more expensive than just paying off frivilous lawsuits).

So wtf is going on? From CSAN

 

.....this doesn't really say anything. 

Question: why is the labor market lacking people wanting to work when hundreds of thousands are coming across the border? A lot of these, if not most, are coming to find jobs to support their family back home, and later if they get amnesty, bring the entire family with them to become patriotic Americans.

And how much is corruption due to people taking drugs? How many of these banks are involved in laundering drug money?

So was fraud/corruption one of the reasons behind the bank collapses, or was it just that they moved their money to banks that gave higher interest rates?

and did the large loans given out to friends of the bank, money spent to implement social policies, and money given to PC groups that interfere with politics have anything to do with the banks imploding? 

What about the bitcoin fraud that caused bitcoin banks to implode? Did this have anything to do with the banks instability? And while we're at it: How did the son of professors find someone to put up his bail? Why were his parents so rich?

The economy is bad. So, did shutting down the petroleum/fracking/pipeline policies have anything to do with the imploding economy?

What about the money being spent on the War in the Ukraine? I remember an Alex Jones video a couple years ago discussing the money that disappeared there after the CIA overthrew their pro Russian president and installed people more friendly to US politicians who shall be nameless. But now, is the money being spent on weapons etc or being diverted? And why are the Yanks doing this, when Europe is nearby?

it's not just the Ukraine: The corruption in Iraq and the weapons left behind in Afghanistan amounted to a lot of money too.

And what will the US do when people start starving from bad policies

Why are the greens trying to destroy farms by raising the price of petroleum, meaning cost to run farm machinery and increasing the price of fertilizer? And what about the Middle east, when Egypt etc. loses their ability to eat with the grain from the Crimea etc. not being sent thanks to the Ukraine war?

And why the F are all those Catholic bishops and the Pope pushing "no investment in petroleum" when anyone with a lick of sense knows this means that this will make the price of food soar for the poor in the third world, not to mention that it means China and Russia and Iran etc. will benefit, since they won't pay attention to the corrupt Vatican.

Speaking of the Vatican: Now I read they will add pagan rites to make a Mayan mass. But this will mean that believing Christians will be so scandalized they will become Good Protestants. And the Catholics who miss the reverence of the mass will turn Orthodox or join the schismatic sects because they just don't find holiness in go-go masses where sermons tell them they need to obey Saint Greta, not Jesus christ.

Rant over.

Helicopters on high: Yup. The Balikatan exercizes are back

 Every year, the US holds joint military exercizes with the Philippine military.

Usually I discover this when we hear helicopters flying over the town and yup while walking the dogs I heard one fairly high flying over us: an Apache, and only one this time.

Nothing new here: usually the Philippine special forces types teach the Yanks Jungle warfare, (Yum. Cobra blood) and the Yanks update the Philippine military with their latest gadgets and they both learn to coordinate with each other.

But what has changed is that the US will again post military troops on Philippine miltiary bases.

Up until about 1990 the US had several large bases, which have now been turned into civilian enterprises. The liberals asked the Yanks to leave because there was no threat to the Philippines, and local pride insisted the Philippines didn't need help from big brother any more.

But now things have changed, as for the last ten years China has been slowly taking over the West Philippine sea.

StrategyPage has the background here, and they have a long essay on the latest geopolitical stuff going on in the world with China.

While the South China Sea combat is non-lethal, the economic damage to other nations with legal claims to portions of the South China Sea is very real...

China created the current crisis over who controls Pagasa Island and nearby sandbars. Since 2019 China has sent a record number of ships to block access to disputed islands, especially, Pagasa. Most of these are Chinese fishing boats pretending to be fishing but in reality, are members of the Chinese naval militia which is now composed of about a thousand ships that are paid regularly to be available when called upon to carry out paramilitary duties, usually in the South China Sea.

China insists it has not ordered its naval militia fishing boats to physically block Filipino commercial or military ships from getting to Pagasa. Despite that pledge it has become more difficult for Filipino fishing boats to operate in areas they had long worked.

The Chinese are getting their knickers in a knot about the Philippines allowing US troops to stay on Philippine bases, and has been pouring out propaganda about US aggression, and a lot of the MSM just prints their talking points.

These article leave out little things like that the Chinese are making artificial islands in our fishing areas, terrorizing local fishermen by surrounding them with their (pseudo) fishing boats (they tried the same thing last week to a US Air craft carrier).

Duterte tried to make nice with them (partly because the CIA sicced Human rights types on him and funded a famous English language news site to oppose him, one that is often quoted in the west)

But after China screwed him, (didn't give requested aid they promised, and continued to threaten local fishermen), Duterte quickly moved to restore the US/Philippine alliance.

Alas, not much was done by the USA, so Chinese aggression continued. (not just against the Philippines, but against Viet Nam, and against other more distant neighbors where they want terristory such as Taiwan, Japan, and India).

The Ukraine was a wake up call: Because Putin perceived US weakness with a semi senile Preident Biden in charge, this led to Putin overplaying his hand. 

So now the major reason to support the Ukraine is to send a message not to start a war.

Hence President Marcos will allow US presence back into the Philippines.

AlJazeerah also has an article here about the problem and why BongBong Marcos is making nice with a USA who stood back and let his father be thrown out by locals.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has said his country’s military must urgently focus on the protection of territorial integrity as disputes between Manila and China multiply amid growing rivalry in the region between Beijing and Washington.

italics mine. 

Marcos Jr made his comment in a speech to his armed forces just weeks after he summoned China’s ambassador in Manila to protest against the use of a military-grade laser by the Chinese coastguard that briefly blinded crew members of a Philippine patrol vessel in the South China Sea.

the news is crazy

.

...yes. This is an update on a previous post about censoring valid medical opinions on covid and the vaccine.

--------------

And WTF is going on with banks?

,,,,

yes I know: It's about people moving their money to banks that have higher interest rates.

Except that this happened after the huge bitcoin bank collapse, a sort of bank that was run by grifters who spent a lot of their customer's money and gave money to all and sundry.

At the same time, I read a lot of stuff about these banks donating money to liberal political movements (BLM etc). 

OK. If tech guys want to spend their money I might object, but when banks and businesses do it, essentially they are stealing money from investors and their customers (via higher prices). 

What's wrong with this picture?

Wait a second: That's my money you are donating. We elders work hard and save our money, and then find instead of giving the interest back to us to live off of, you give it to grifters and politicians.

And I"m still unclear of how all those politicians in the US got rich while working for the government on a limited salary. Yes, donating to campaigns tends to be dirty and is a pseudo bribe (when I worked for the IHS the tribal authrities would donate to politicians of both parties so their needs would be a priority and not forgotten. Presumably this works for businesses too).

But when you hear of politicians wealth increasing while being in congress etc. I wonder what is going on. True, most hide it by having their spouses/children etc. get these lucrative overpaid jobs 

this is common in a lot of countries, but the USA is supposed to be an honest country, where people trust that they won't be cheated.

 That is why this is so dangerous for everyone.

what does it mean when I read about Swiss banks having problems? And that problem is causing  bank problems in Asia.

There are a lot of videos and stories out there that explain these things to lowly retired grannies like me.

But you know, when I find that these same types lied to me about covid etc., a subject where I do have some knowledge why should I trust what they say when it comes to monatary shennanigans?

So what will happen? will the bankers who mismanaged their banks go to jail? Will those who ignored the danger and didn't tell the public hang their heads in shame? Will the economy collapse? Will the bank problems be used to push us all into digital currancy and personal digital identifiction? 

One doubts this will happen.

the meme is: LOOK SQUIRREL.

They are salivating about arresting Trump for paying off a hooker (a common tactic because paying off frivelous suits is cheaper than going to court.)

And you can hear the hope in their voices that there will be another fake "uprising", helped out by outsiders who encourage violence (something that long predates Trump by the way...)

One halfway hopes this will work, since another alternative is to accidentally go to war. 

The Chinese propaganda agasint the US helping the Philippines is all over the place, but mainly in the English language press, because the average Filipino hates China and doesn't trust them.

I joked to my son that he might find me on his doorstep if things go crazy.

I was only half joking: Been there, done that when I worked in Africa (twice actually). Long story.

-------------------

update;

the "look squirrel" distraction in covid is the story that China found a racoon dog infected with the covid virus was in the wet market.

the fact that cats and other animals can catch covid from humans suggests that maybe the animal was infected by a human, not the opposite. But never mind.

how convenient for this news to come out the week after the coverup of the lab accidental release has become something one can post on line without being censored.

censoring medicine: Politics not science

 LegalInsurrection blog links to the latest twiiter expose on how discussions about covid were censored by a think tank.

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi examined Stanford University’s ‘Virality Project,’ which was ostensibly meant to combat “disinformation.” Actually, however, it appears to have targeted COVID content that ran counter to the establishment narrative.

So a private thinktank, not a government interfering with free speech, right? 

Uh... NO.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey...described the program: Federal health officials in the Surgeon General’s Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Health and Human Services collaborated in a “censorship enterprise called the Virality Project, which procures the censorship of enormous quantities of First Amendment-protected speech.”

Disinformation warriors worked overtime to suppress “false” claims about the side effects of COVID vaccine, especially the true claims. Since the Food and Drug Administration officially (and speedily) approved COVID vaccines, any reports of side effects were automatically disinformation.

The Virality Project recommended that social-media companies suppress “stories of true vaccine side effects” and “true posts which could fuel [vaccine] hesitancy.” The project “routinely framed real testimonials about [vaccine] side effects as misinformation, from ‘true stories’ of blood clots from AstraZeneca vaccines to a New York Times story about vaccine recipients who contracted the blood disorder thrombocytopenia.”

there is a long line of twitter posts, links, and refernces.

This would barely be acceptable if Covid was a severe disase (think smallpox or plague), but in today's world, it has larger implications.

@mtaibbi

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http://44.To recap: America’s information mission went from counterterrorism abroad, to stopping “foreign interference” from reaching domestic audiences, to 80% domestic content, much of it true. The “Disinformation Governance Board” is out; but truth-policing is not.

10:09 PM · Mar 17, 2023

Now alas the crazies will say conspiracy theory. 

Nuances are important: Which is why one needs free speech. By censoring free speech, you let the crazies and paranoids think they were right.

and one of the results is a loss of trust in the medical community, and in vaccines which save millions of lives but do have side effects that could kill a small number of people.

So do you stop people from spreading conspiracy theories that could result in hundreds dying, or do you use the power of the government to censor such talk?

We saw this dilemma here in the Philippines, with the debacle over the dengue vaccine, which was given to thousands of poor children at risk from that disease.

The Dengue vaccine here in the Philippines had side effects  that made getting complicated dengue more common, and probably killed a dozen kids (alJ says many more died ).

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as the film reports: the bad publicity from these deaths resulted in a lack of trust in other vaccines, and as a result dozens of kids dying of measles, etc.

So by the time Covid came around, one would suspect people would not get the vaccine. But that was not true, in part because a lot of us knew people who died of covid: not the elderly (elderly deaths are considered normal) but of the young and healthy middle age folk.

But once the omicron varient started, herd immunity meant the death rate was down, and not a lot of people are getting boosters, although they are still giving it to kids.

Our case load is low: But I suspect that it is because no one is being tested unless they are sick enough to go to the hospital.

The Haunted Red House of Bulacan

The Red House of Bulacan, where Filipinos were tortured and killed, and where women were raped by Japanese soldiers is again in the news.

PhilInquirer:

MEMORIAL TO HORRORS The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) is recommending the preservation of the Ilusorio Mansion (1997 photo on left), also called Bahay na Pula (2019 photo, right), in San Ildefonso, Bulacan province, as a memorial to the horrors experienced by young girls, their mothers, aunts, and even their grandmothers, who were forced into sexual slavery in this house by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The UN body says the Philippines violated their rights by failing to provide them with reparation, social support, and recognition for their ordeal. —JOAN BONDOC / TONETTE T. OREJAS

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/?p=1744675#ixzz7wGcwbmFC

this second article also reports on the use of comfort women in that house. The survivors and their families want the story to be remembered.

Yes, I know, this week is about Women's day, but why do I feel a lot of this emphasis on women is because political correctness

 it wasnt just the comfort women who suffered in the house: men and boys captured as suspected anti Japanese guerillas were tortured and killed there, including, we suspect, Lolo's cousin.

wikipedia page

The house is now in ruins but reported to be haunted.

How to make people mistrust doctors

 Sheesh. 

.....

Family news

 I am now almost recovered from my post shingles pain. I still have arthritis/aches and pains, but I can live with that.

Right now it is TagInit (the dry hot season before the monsoons hit). Usually it hits 90 degrees F with 90 percent humidity, so I tend to stay inside during the afternoon with the airconditioner on.

Since it is dry season, the city is fixing the streets around our house.

With the opening of the economy after covid, there are new shops and apartments being built in our area (and a new mall a mile from here near the new city hall).

To control traffic, the main street is one way, and there is a fence down the middle of the street to encourage traffic flow and discourage the tricycles from weaving in and out of traffic and causing accidents. Traffic is especially heavy near the Palenke up the street, and the city square nearby where they hold parties etc. all the time, complete with a ferris wheel and a night market with street foods. 

But two blocks before the plaza, traffic is diverted to an alternate street: the street around our house that has long been used to divert traffic in the opposite direction. And the heavy trucks (usually carrying dirt/ gravel or during harvest time, rice) were breaking the older street, breaking the pipes beneath the road that carry water, and sometimes even breaking the lid over the drainage ditches. 

So for the last week we have a bunch of workers who have torn up the street and are laying gravel, presumably to be covered with cement in the near future.

When the heavy machine was pounding the old road into pieces, it was two men, but now we have eight of them out there doing heavy work in the hot sun.

They have a huge jug of water, and the neighbor is letting them get water from her pump, and our cook is giving them ice to keep the water cold, I gave the cook a small amount of money to buy them pandesal (small rolls) or other snacks for merienda, the mid afternoon snack. '

Money is tight....Lately the banks have gone crazy and I am having trouble getting my checks cleared: not just my personal checks but the cashier checks from a small pension I get regularly.

Usually I am on a budget, and cash a check to cover food and expenses every week. It takes 21 bank days to clear, so I try to plan ahead. Then last week, the check didn't clear.... and didn't clear... and didn't clear. I finally asked what was the problem, and was told it now will take 45 days to clear a check. 

This happened during the covid shutdown, when the bank would be contaminated and closed, and they weren't sending physical checks to Manila and then overseas to clear, but now I suspect it is just a way for the bank to cope with inflation (keeping that money longer means they get the interest on the money. Not much from me, but multiply that by hundreds and you see the scam).

So I arranged for my US bank to wire me money, as I did during the covid shutdown, and it should arrive Monday.

The Whale

 We just watched the film the Whale.

Excellent acting.

The Whale is a double reference: not just to the protagonist's morbid obesity, but to a subplot about Moby Dick, which alas is never made clear in the film.

As a doctor, I found the film alas too realistic, 

It shows the challenges and frustrations of those of us who try to intervene with people who refuse to give up habits that are endangering their lives. Here it is eating (gluttony) but in medicine usually the problem affecting their health that we can't fix is usually alcohol or drugs or a promiscuous lifestyle.

we see this type of patient, who is stubborn, and has no insight into life: indeed, it's almost as if there is a part of their personality that is missing. And so it is here with the main character.

The main character has a major disconnect with reality. This is shown late in the film: his obsession is saving  his money to let his daughter inherit oodles of money when he dies. The money is cheap grace so he will be forgiven when he dies and his daugher will again love him.

 And never mind that his ex wife and daughter were not just deserted but that they ended up living living in poverty and could have used some of that money.

The love of his life was not a guy he met in a gay bar, but one of his students.

Harvey Weinstein anyone?

This student later committed suicide, which was of course blamed on his father's cultlike Christian church that rejected him for being gay.

Yet this ignores the high rate of psychiatric problems, including suicide,  of young people who were sexually exploited by teachers or clergy as young adults.

The protagonist seems oblivious to this fact (also a common response by those who abuse the young).

 They were in Love.

 Bah humbug. He seduced a student. An immature student. Am I the only one noticing he was probably banned from seeing his daughter and had to teach on line  not because of "homophobia" but because he was probably a registered sex offender and forbidden contact with underage students?

But of course, to explain the student's suicide, the film pulls out their favorite straw man type figure, the believing Christian, who seem to come right out of the latest Left Behind movie: you know, those who spout out of context bible verses at you to convert you.

These Christians seem more common in Hollywood films than in reality where the average Christians is the nice Lutheran Lady who brings you a plate of food when you're sick, or the Catholic next door who drives you to the doctor for your chemotherapy, or the Baptist guy down the street who will come to change your electric fuse when the lights go out and you don't know what is wrong.

Sigh. 

But in other ways, the film gets it right: for example, showing the struggle of caregivers who face trying to help people who just won't help themselves. The psychological lack of insight that they are causing their own problems is alas common in some patients.

The film gets most of the medical complications of morbid obesity correct. (something treatable with time and intensive intervention).

But I do have a problem in that, although the film implies depression was behind the guy's problem, it ignores that depression is a treatable disease.

This is a tragedy because all of these problems could be treated: Bypass surgery for morbid obesity, medication to control his high blood pressure and Congestive heart failure, medication and psychiatric therapy to help him confront his depression and guilt. 

And dare I say: maybe finding a real life clergyperson with experience in treating the sickness of souls to intervene. Or at least encouragement to join an AA group, which also could teach him to forgive himself, and ask forgiveness of others he hurt. He didn't need to eat himself to death to to punish himself.

I give the movie a 3 out of 5 stars: and warning: Very depressing film.

Films for Lent

there are few movies about religious believers that are high quality and get things right. 

Most of them are placed in the past, where believers actually believed and where you can pretend our ancestors never faced the same dileemas we face in these modern, corrupt times...

But modern ones? Rare: they present believers as ridiculous idiots and get things wrong, making one want to throw shoes at the screen when something especially absurd is shown.

But where is a contemporary film or tv series that takes on issues that resonate in today's world?

The book Brideshead Revisited has been made into a film, which cut out a lot of plot and characters and nuanced stuff, and there are rumors that they plan to refilm it again which I'm suspect will be politically correct and unwatchable.

Well never fear.

Someone has posted the 1981 mini Series  on youtube.

quick, before the copyright cops find it's there.

   

The scenery is great, and the characters are played by classic actors such as Jeremy Irons, Sir Lawrence Olivier etc.

From a Catholic point of view, it is accurate in portraying the pre Vatican II church, with all it's flaws and rules.

 The characters include a wide spectrum of believers and non believers: From the father, who rejects the faith because his holier than thou wife drove him away, his mitress,the lovely essentially agnostic Julia, the lovable Sebastion whose mother doesn't seem to worry he is gay but keeps trying to push him to stop drinking and makes it worse, Charles, his friend and narrator, 

So where would I fit in? I'd be Cordelia, the plain sister who simply helps people.

the audiobook is here LINK 

Happy Pi Day

 LINK

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.

Some things that still work

 With all the bad news (much of it seems to be caused by corruption, political correctness, or just sloppyness/incompetence) it's nice to know that some things work.

SpaceX just brought some astronauts back from the ISS.

The four astronauts on the SpaceX Dragon capsule, named Endurance, splashed down late Saturday (March 11), wrapping up a five-month mission to the International Space Station. Returning on the capsule were NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japan's Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina of Russia, who splashed down in darkness after streaking over the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa Bay, Florida at 9:02 p.m. EST (0202 GMT on March 12).

 

The successes in the space race would only be seen as news if something went wrong I guess.

headsup Instapundit.

Best comment about this there:

I find this just amazing. This is done with no fanfare, just doing a day job. I am 76 and remember Sputnik and the start of Space explorations. Its a Damn shame that it has taken so long to get where we are. We should have had a permeant base on the Moon, with trips to further points.'

how films can teach about the American dream

 I just read that the actor Topol just died. Remebered HERE.

So I dug out this film to watch (the family watches film or TV together every evening).

this film is a classic, and covers the story of both the importance of traditions that stablize families in times of poverty, but also confronts how people adjust in the face of change: not just the marriage of the daughters but when political oppression causes people to leave their homes.

  but somehow didn't win a lot of awards: it lost best picture at the Oscars to the French connection, a good film but not a classic.

yet in these days where everything is about America's sin and racism, one forgets that the reason many came to America was that they were fleeing oppression, ethnic cleansing (Russian Jews and from VietNam), famine (like the Irish) or extreme poverty (like Italians and eastern Europeans)  or maybe just lower class people who came for jobs (yes, Trumpieboy I'm talking about your mom) because they had no way to improve their lot in their homelands

Which is why the Jewish community and others fled to America, and sympathize with others who similarly want to come to the USA.

and it is the reason that, with the borders essentially being open, that there are a lot of people to help them in their trip (yes, this includes NGO's helping the drug gangs who know how to get people across the border.)

Myself, I think a bit of regulation is in order but that might mean compromise, not bluster (trumpieboy) or pretending the problem doesn't exist (Biden)

On top of this is the well funded manipulation of history about Americas racism, which is causing resentment and hatred to flare up, including crime and destruction of small businesses that often are run by recent immigrants. 

I am old enough to remember racism in the 1950s, but things have changed, and teaching history to inflame emotions and point guilt to "white people" (A term I first heard on NPR and wondered if this meant my Filipino/ethnic American/ Hispanic family or other hard working ethnics not considered oppressed by the elites who run this scam) 

This is different than teaching it in context of how things have changed, and how we can make things better (teach math and English skills).

Fine, teach black history. But don't forget the coffin ships, the pogroms, the ethnic cleansings, or those who fled the famines of Europe or the dire poverty where the peasants and workers had no opportunity to improve their lot so came to America. 

A bit if history might put things in perspective.

Kuya asked where did they go, and how did they pay for it? Good question. Some did sell their homes etc. and had money, some were helped by their relatives who had moved to other countries and sent money and would welcome them when they arrived, but others just went the best they could and relied on the kindness of strangers.

By remembering the extreme poverty of one's ancestors that brought them to America, one can sympathize with those trying to cross the border. And remembering their ancestors who fled oppression would cause them to sympahize with others who face the same thing today, both immigrants fleeing oppression or those facing racism in the USA.

But where are the stories of what happens when poor immigrants get to the USA? A lot of the annoyance is because the idea that they get welfare. Money is tight right now, and saying tax money has to go to support immigrants who don't want to work causes resentmen (as does competing with immigrants who do want to work for blue collar jobs).

the Catholic church  has outreaches to help these immigrants, but even the Catholic papers tend to talk about the help given, not about how the immigrants find jobs and raise families.

But there is a film abou that: