Month: November 2016

Everything in this essay is subordinate to my earlier post on spiritual prepping HERE. If you aren’t prepping your soul, none of what follows matters.
The American political situation is NOT, repeat NOT settled. Regardless of the recount/electors/etc, everything is still in complete chaos. Even if Trump is installed, there will continue to be a massive push to maintain the status quo by the entire DC power structure, and this will include covert act of anarchy, possibly from both sides. $20TTT in debt, out of control spending led by a criminal oligarch/collusory “healthcare” industry, the death of the rule of law and the obstinate refusal of both parties to do anything about it — none of this is going away. The question I have for you today, the answer to which I hereby hope to influence, is this:
Are you prepared to protect your family in the event of some… shenanigans?
The situation of the financial markets, the irreversible debt bubble of world governments, the house-of-cards default-swap leverage mountains of the major banks… none of this will or can change or be remotely fixed in any way. The only solution is a total system collapse and hard reset. Have you done that research yet? Have you been adult enough to look at the publicly available balance sheets? Have you done anything to prepare? Whether the collapse is imminent or merely inevitable, you have a solemn duty to yourself and your family.
Natural disasters also sure seem to be on the rise. Large earthquakes from Europe to South America to Asia.  A lot of them. Earthquakes and other extreme natural phenomena (like lightning striking the dome of St. Peter’s TWICE in the last four years, an occurrence never before recorded) are God’s way of warning humanity to repent, because something big is about to happen. So first of all, repent; the spiritual prep is way more important than the corporeal prep. Start by reading yesterday’s blog post. But still, are you remotely prepared for a sudden natural disaster of any kind? Do you have a plan and does your family know the plan?
And I haven’t even mentioned ISIS! Domestic tactical terror, mass terror, cyber terror, infrastructure terror… are you prepared for any of this? We just had a fresh Somali Muslim “refugee” car/machete attack at Ohio State (soft target/gun free zone). How many tens of thousands of future terrorists have we purposely brought to our shores in the past eight years? Do you understand that invasion by immigration is Islamic doctrine? Google ‘Hijrah’.
How about if the grid went down where you live – no electricity, no cell phones, no refrigeration, no internet – cash registers don’t work, credit card readers don’t work, ATMs don’t work, ahem EBT CARDS DON’T WORK–how prepared are you? What contingencies have you made? Do you think that it’s someone else’s job?
There are plenty of logistical considerations that you can go do the research on crisis management. There are dozens of prepper sites to give you the basics on water, food, shelter, comms, mobility, currency, etc. I will limit myself here to speaking about the God-given duty of self-defense.
If you are a Christian, then you should be interested in what Jesus had to say about self-defense. Do you have not just a right, but actually a God-given duty, to arm yourself for the conflicts ahead?
First, let’s examine what is often presented as the answer. Are you familiar with the scene in the garden where Jesus is ultimately arrested? During the process, Simon Peter strikes the servant of the high priest with his sword, cutting off his ear. Jesus heals him, and tells Peter to put away his sword. This event is recorded in all four Gospels, which means it’s a really big deal, so listen up:  People who claim that Peter was wrong to resort to violence are diabolically inverting the very words of our Savior.
Peter was NOT wrong to resort to violence. Peter was RIGHT/JUST (as in, God-given right) to resort to violence. The reason he was rebuked by Jesus is only because of the broader context: It was time for Jesus to redeem the world, and He had to go willingly. The warning  “all that take the sword shall perish with the sword”, refers to aggressors, not defenders. In fact, not only was Peter justified drawing his sword, but Jesus goes much, much farther, telling Peter in the very next verse that He would be justified in calling down more than twelve legions of angels to slaughter their adversaries.  That’s 60,000 angels, y’all. Matt 26:53.
Also, do you remember what happened immediately prior to the scene in the garden?  Oh yeah, the part where Jesus instructs the apostles to ARM THEMSELVES, even if it means selling their clothes to acquire weapons. Right after He instituted the Eucharist and commissioned the apostles comes this:

He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” “No, nothing,” they replied. He said to them, “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, ‘He was counted among the wicked’; and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.” Then they said, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.” But he replied, “It is enough!” Luke 22:35-38

The last verse is a reference to the situation at hand (in the garden, which follows in the very next verse). The first three verses are a general instruction related to the missionary nature of the Church; a warning for disciples to be prepared, because the world will always be opposed to Truth.
May I also say, we are talking here about full-blown “assault weapons” of the day — swords. It was the most powerful weapon a man could carry with him.  If it were today, in the United States, the equivalent instruction would be to sell your clothes to acquire a semi-automatic rifle. But why, you say? Why would I want that, you say?
Because God doesn’t want the bad guys to have more firepower than you have.
Soooo… here is some very detailed advice from a recent veteran of multiple combat deployments, sent to me for the purpose of sharing here. Bear in mind, tools are useless or even worse than useless without training.

“If you don’t have one, you need one, and you need it now. When this thing comes down, which it will, a pistol isn’t going to cut it in defending yourself, your family, your home, your neighborhood, or in a mobile operation. “A pistol is a tool to get to your rifle”- anonymous SOF operator. You need a fighting rifle, designed to be used in open and close environments against hostile threats. This is a guideline for choosing that rifle, with various specs for you to consider.

Semi automatic: A semi automatic, magazine fed rifle allows for a rate of fire sufficient to rapidly engage threats with multiple rounds. No bolt actions; you are not going to win a close range fight with less than semi automatic.

Accuracy: A fighting rifle needs to have the accuracy to engage targets from 0-300 yards. Any AR or AK produced by a reputable manufacturer, chambered in an appropriate rifle round will be able to accomplish this.

Recoil management: The ability to control recoil to deliver rapid follow up shots. Downing an aggressor with one shot only happens in the movies, unless it’s a headshot. There are numerous examples of aggressors continuing to attack after taking ten or more hits, so you need to manage recoil to get back on target quickly. Example: The recoil of an AR15 or AK47 is manageable and easy to learn to control, but a battle rifle chambered in .308 is a much more difficult weapon to deliver rapid, accurate fire.

Caliber: Choosing a caliber that is both common, easily accessible, and is sufficient for neutralizing a human threat. Example; your chances with a 22 LR at 200 yards is low. Your chance of being able to find large stocks 6.8 SPC is low. It really comes down to just a few practical alternatives, which I will discuss in a moment.

Maneuverability: Your rifle should be of a size and weight that is easily handled in close quarters, and light enough to move rapidly. The same goes for the rest of your gear, i.e. body armor. Example; Deltas don’t clear rooms with a heavy chassis, 26″ barreled M1A, they used short barreled ARs.

Reliability: A fighting rifle should be made with capability to be extremely reliable, with proper maintenance. Your budget determines your options. You can buy a $500-600 dollar AK that will function reliably, but a $500 dollar budget isn’t going to work for a reliable AR.

These factors generally limit you to 2 platforms, an AK chambered in 7.62×39 or 5.45×39, or an AR15 chambered in 5.56. Both of these weapons are plentiful, AT THE MOMENT. They are the most common fighting rifles in the world, and their ammo just as common. These weapons are user friendly, easy to learn the basic operation, and therefore fast to train and become effective with. Yes there are other platforms that fire these cartridges, Tavor, Galil, G36, ACR, etc etc. If you are versed in these weapons, that’s great, if not, your best bet is AR or AK.

The AK and the AR both have ups and downs.  AK is cheaper not only in buying a quality rifle, but cheaper to buy ammo. The AR has greater accuracy and better recoil management. You can buy a quality AK for around $600. A high end AK might get up to $1200. A quality AR will run about $1000, high end ARs run from $1800 to $2600.
The importance is in buying a QUALITY weapon. Your life hangs in the balance of your weapon and level of training. If you are just starting out, its better to go with a quality $1200 rifle and a thousand dollars towards a solid training course than spend 3 grand on a rifle with no training. Training is life.

Lastly, attachments: Once again, just basics. Two things, a proper weapon light, because night time, and sights, because aiming. A proper weapon sight should be able to illuminate a target 50 yards away. Sights, Iron sights at a bare minimum, and a non magnified, quality red dot if you can. Nothing beats a red dot in CQB shooting, super fast. Furthermore, a red dot zeroed at the proper range will ensure that your point of impact will not drift more than 4″ off point of aim from 0-250 yards, depending on your platform and ammo used. You put that dot on a targets chest, and it doesn’t matter if they are 25 yards away or 200, you will hit your target. It is much easier to accurately engage targets at range with a red dot than with iron sights.

The time is now. You can go look at any website that sells weapons parts. They are wiped out. But your local gun shop still has plenty of ARs and AKs. When SHTF, they will be sold out in a day, and prices will skyrocket to the point people will be selling stripped lower receivers (a $150 part) for $550. It’s happened before, in the aftermath of various events.

A fighting rifle, and the training to use it, is the first piece of the puzzle, but not the last.”

Yet how many of you, after reading these 1900 words, instead of immediately seeking to strengthen and protect you and your family’s supernatural life, and immediately seeking to strengthen and protect you and your family’s corporeal life , will just go about your day like none of this is real?

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Isaiah 40:3-5, 25-26

Are you keeping track of everything? Are you starting to get the hint that we are not living in normal times, and that more is required of you at this moment? What are you personally doing about it?
You need to prep harder. While there are plenty of other considerations in the natural realm, which I will talk about tomorrow, on this First Sunday of Advent we will focus on the spiritual realm. No other preparedness makes any difference if you aren’t prepping your soul. As we prepare for the coming of the Lord every Advent by making a spiritual renewal, the current events swirling around us lend a greater urgency to the matter.
We have Francis, fount of heresy, squatting on the throne of Peter. We have Benedict, also dressed in white, who at times remains silent and at time offers great praise to Francis. Francis has promulgated heresy in a magisterial document, Amoris Laetitia. In this same document, Francis tries to support his heretical positions by lying about what former popes have taught, and claiming that his teaching is aligned with theirs. Cardinals are rightly attacking Francis for his heresy, and demanding answers. Cardinal Burke explains that no answer is the same as answering wrongly, and will bring additional sanctions. Unless there is some miraculous conversion of the Francis, there is only one way this is going.
The Church is about to descend into a war like nothing seen before, and you are not ready for it.

“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Matt 24:44

You must prepare your soul for this war. The Rosary is a great, great weapon.  If you don’t already say it every day, you need to start right now, today.  You can’t imagine the graces that flow from this practice.  Just do it. You will then find yourself drawn more into prayer – adoration, petition and thanksgiving – throughout the day. Unite your prayers to the sacrificial offering of Christ on the Cross, and beg the intercession of the saints.. Then start helping your family and friends understand the reality of the situation. Teach them that prayer isn’t nothing. So many people think prayer is literally “the least we can do.”  That is incorrect.  Prayer is huge.
You will be attacked by a relentless foe. The father of lies, upon seeing you engaged in the pursuit of sanctity, redoubles his efforts to destroy you. You will be shocked by your temptations even as you proceed on the path toward holiness.  Just remember, no matter how frequent the attacks, God is always sending you more than enough grace to abide. You have to decide, today, to prepare the way and begin your counterattack.

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The Law was given so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness, to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.…”
Romans 5:19-21

You will also be attacked in the spiritual realm by your brethren. We now know that among these will be “Catholics”. You will be greatly outnumbered. You may have to flee your parish. You may be driven from your parish. You may be driven from your diocese.We are talking about open schism here, and you will be seen as being ON THE WRONG SIDE.
Not to mention, the entirety of secular society will be against you. The schism that has been simmering for three and a half years is about to boil over into a very public spectacle that will captivate the whole world.
Are you starting to understand how bad this is going to be? And don’t you dare try to avoid it, because this is exactly what is necessary.  All of this is necessary, and it is for the best. Francis is awesome, because we never could have gotten to the hot war this fast without him. God created your soul to be born into the world at this hour. Cloak your soul in the armor of God, and figure out what your role is in all of this.
Blessed Advent, y’all.

^“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,  and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
Matt 24:10-15, 21-24

 
 
 

It’s starting.
Jill Stein filed the challenge today, just hours before the lawful deadline in Wisconsin. HERE
The deadline is Monday in PA and Wednesday in Michigan.
The recounts are vital in PA and MI, because of the difficulty in tampering with the electoral college in those states. The easier way to steal those electoral votes is by “proving” the popular vote count was wrong. HERE
Philadelphia has electronic machines that leave no paper trail.
But I’m sure there’s nothing to see here, right?
I heard one incredulous commentator ask, “Do you REALLY think Clinton is willing to risk civil war to attain the presidency?”  He thought the question was rhetorical.
My answer: Clinton was willing to risk WWIII as Secretary of State, as demonstrated by nearly every foreign policy decision she made. What’s a little civil war, especially if YOU control the military — a military which has had no problem embracing and implementing every bit of Leftist ideology the past eight years has served up.
Advent is here. Time to prepare the way of the Lord… and a great many other things.
 
 

All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add anything, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared.

That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.

I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity.

And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 14-17

Bishop Schneider issues his support for the Four Cardinals, via Rorate HERE.

“The Cardinals say that to “many — bishops, priests, faithful — these paragraphs allude to or even explicitly teach a change in the discipline of the Church with respect to the divorced who are living in a new union.” Speaking so, the Cardinals have merely stated real facts in the life of the Church. These facts are demonstrated by pastoral orientations on behalf of several dioceses and by public statements of some bishops and cardinals, who affirm that in some cases divorced and remarried Catholics can be admitted to Holy Communion even though they continue to use the rights reserved by Divine law to validly married spouses.
In publishing a plea for clarity in a matter that touches the truth and the sanctity simultaneously of the three sacraments of Marriage, Penance, and the Eucharist, the Four Cardinals only did their basic duty as bishops and cardinals, which consists in actively contributing so that the revelation transmitted through the Apostles might be guarded sacredly…
…the unusually violent and intolerant reactions on behalf of some bishops and cardinals against the calm and circumspect plea of the Four Cardinals cause great astonishment. Among such intolerant reactions one could read affirmations such as, for instance: the four Cardinals are witless, naive, schismatic, heretical, and even comparable to the Arian heretics.
Such apodictic merciless judgments reveal not only intolerance, refusal of dialogue, and irrational rage, but demonstrate also a surrender to the impossibility of speaking the truth, a surrender to relativism in doctrine and practice, in faith and life. The above-mentioned clerical reaction against the prophetic voice of the Four Cardinals parades ultimately powerlessness before the eyes of the truth. Such a violent reaction has only one aim: to silence the voice of the truth, which is disturbing and annoying the apparently peaceful nebulous ambiguity of these clerical critics.” (emphasis mine)

There is a lot more.  Go read at Rorate.
The support from Bishop Schneider is not surprising, of course.
The support from Dr. Jeff Mirus was, shall we say, a bit of a shock: HERE

…we have also been forced to admit the Pope’s shortcomings, and in particular the confusion he causes when the faithful compare what the Church has always asked of them with what Pope Francis asks of them.
This has been a source of pain for many deeply-committed and well-informed Catholics. Moreover, the entire problem has been exacerbated by Pope Francis’ unfortunate tendency to dismiss his critics—or even merely those who ask for clarifications—as “rigid”, “nasty”, and suffering from “psychological problems”.
I do not intend to recap all of the unfortunate controversies. Suffice it to say here that it is not “proselytism” to want to bring non-Catholic Christians into the Church so that they can enjoy the full range of God’s gifts for our salvation; and it is not “rigid” or “legalistic” to affirm, as we say to God in the Act of Faith, that we believe “all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because you have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”
Contrary to what Pope Francis often implies, Catholic teaching on faith and morals is not a matter of “laws” or “rules” but of the conformity of the mind with reality, which is the definition of truth. (emphasis mine)

Frustratingly, Mirus goes on to suggest the remedy for all this is merely to ignore Francis and go about your daily life. Nope, that’s not going to cut it, Jeff.
Still, for a guy who only two months ago was still twisting himself into a pretzel to defend Francis, after the affirmation to the Argentine Bishops HERE, this is a pretty big reversal. Welcome down the rabbit hole, doctor!
Sorting and sifting.  Sides lining up.  Everyone will have to choose. Choose wisely.
Happy Thanksgiving!
 

This is the open warfare I spoke about a few days ago. It seems the sides will now quickly line up, and we will find out where everyone stands. You also need to figure out where you stand. Standing on the side of Christ is going to become very uncomfortable, very quickly. More on that in a minute. But first, POPCORN.
Bishop Frankiskos Papamanolis, o.f.m. cap, President of the Episcopal Conference of Greece, addressing the Four Cardinals of the Dubia letter: HERE

“Before publishing the document and, still more, before you drew it up, you ought to have presented yourself to the Holy Father Francis and requested that he remove you as members of the College of Cardinals. Further, you should not have made use of the title of “Cardinal” to give prestige to what you have written, and this on account of coherence with your conscience and to alleviate the scandal you have given by writing privately…
I, dearest brothers, am “deeply moved by the true good of your souls”, for your double most grave sin:

• the sin of heresy (and of apostasy? This, in fact, is the way schisms begin in the Church). From your document, it appears clearly that, in practice you do not believe in the supreme magisterial authority of the Pope, strengthened by two Synods of Bishops coming from the whole world. It seems that the Holy Spirit inspires only you and not the Vicar of Christ and not even the Bishops gathered in Synod.
• and also the more grave sin of scandal, given publicly to the Christian people throughout the whole world. Concerning this Jesus has said, “Woe to the man by whom scandal comes” (Mt 18:7). “It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mt 18:6).
  Impelled by the charity of Christ, I pray for you. I ask the Lord to enlighten you to accept with simplicity of heart the magisterial teaching of the Holy Father Francis.

I fear that your mental categories will find sophisticated arguments to justify your work, so as not even to consider it a sin to be subjected to the Sacrament of Penance, and that you continue to celebrate every day the Holy Mass and to receive sacrilegiously the Sacrament of the Eucharist, while you are scandalized if, in specific cases, a divorced and remarried person receives the Eucharist, and you dare to accuse the Holy Father Francis of heresy.”

Well, that’s quite the smackdown. I can picture Francis pounding his fist on the desk LOLing as he wrote read this.
Now would be a great time for all the Pollyannas to revisit and correct their assessments of Amoris Laetitia and this entire pontificate.
“Popes come and go.”
“Off the cuff comments are meaningless.”
“The document isn’t Magisterial.”
“He must have been misquoted.”
“He must have been mistranslated.”
“He must have been misunderstood.”
Guys, the middle ground is undergoing the flamethrower treatment. There is no middle ground.  You are going to have to choose one side or the other.
Anyway, LiarCardinal Cupich must have felt totally outdone by the Greek bishop.  All he could muster about the Four Cardinals was this:

“I think that if you begin to question the legitimacy or what is being said in such a document, do you throw into question then all the other documents that have been issued before by the other popes. So I think it’s not for the pope to respond to that, it’s a moment for anyone who has doubts to examine how they got to that position because it is a magisterial document of the Catholic Church.”

If you have doubts about the document, the problem is within yourself, see. Go examine yourself to see how you wretchedly arrived at these doubts. Then settle down and accept the heresy. Don’t worry your pretty little head.
LiarCardinal Tobin:

“The Holy Father is capturing the work of two synods, so if four cardinals say that two synods were wrong, or that somehow the Holy Father didn’t reflect what was said in those synods, I think that should be questioned. … just to simply reduce it to a ‘dubium,’ I think it is at best naive.”

No, this is a lie.  Francis is not capturing the work of two synods.  He rigged the synods, still couldn’t come up with the votes he needed, so then forced the provisions into AL anyway.
The third of the American Triumvirate, LiarCardinal Farrell, couldn’t manage to make a comment today. He pushed away a microphone when the questions were asked. But I’m sure we will be hearing MUCH more from him shortly, in his official new position.
On the very day that Amoris Laetitia was released, 8 April 2016, I made this comment:

“The situation cannot be hyperbolized.  It is so, so, bad.  It affirms, for the most stubborn Pollyanna, that +Francis was the driving force behind the absolute worst of what went down in the synods.  That +Francis intends to institutionalize sacrilege, destroy three sacraments, and renounce Divine Immutability.  It’s kinda serious.”

For a brilliant assessment of where we stand and what is coming, you MUST read the latest from Hilary White over at The Remnant.  It is not comfortable, but you must: HERE

Four days after the U.S. election, I asked and answered the following question:
“Could the Electoral College pick Hillary?
“Yes, they could.” HERE

“You do realize there were already electors, before the election took place, who stated, for the record, that they would never, ever vote for Trump if he won. Yeah, go google that.  Now, for every one of them who dared to speak out, how many, many more of them must there be who kept quiet?  Somebody is going to figure out it is indeed possible to rig the this. It is being worked on right now, without any question.”

We also already knew the tactic they would employ to pull this off:

“The second and more important reason the Electoral College exists is in the event a person with a lack of character – unfit for the office – should win the vote.
See where this is going?
If you think that Hillary’s lack of character is far worse than Trump’s, well I have news for you. It doesn’t matter that you’re right.  These people think Trump is the most vile human being ever. Go look at youtube for 15 minutes. Not only that, but didn’t you notice that the entire GOP establishment was against Trump?  There are dozens and dozens of RINO electors just begging for the right combination of bribes and promises to flip their vote. The best part is, they’ll get to bathe their treachery in the soothing warmth of “following their conscience.””

Since that post, a few news items have emerged. As you read through what is happening, keep in mind that in the majority of states, it is the winning PARTY who nominates the electors, not the winning CAMPAIGN.
From The American Catholic: HERE
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brian Kemp issued a statement today asking people to stop threatening his state’s electors:

Our office has received numerous reports of individuals hurling insults and threats at Georgia’s Electors because they are unsettled with America’s choice for President of the United States. This is absolutely unacceptable and those participating in or encouraging these efforts should stop. The electoral process in America has worked, and everyone – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and others – should respect the will of Georgia’s voters and the Electors who represent them.

Idaho‘s Secretary of State made similar comments earlier in the week after reports that the state’s four electors were being barraged with harassing calls and messages. From the Spokesman-Review:

“A lot of ’em use bad, rough language,” said Layne Bangerter, one of the four electors. “Nothing I feel intimidated over. But we’re watching it very closely. They’ve got our home phone numbers, our cell numbers, our emails, our Facebook. We’re just getting an orchestrated barrage from the left.”…
Bangerter, who worked for U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo for more than a decade, said he’s received around 40 messages on Facebook alone. “They attack my religion, they attack my politics, they tell me that I must be a terrible father, I must be a terrible American, they use foul language – every swear word,” he said. “They’re just trying to steal this thing. They won’t be able to do it, but they’re trying.”

In Tennessee, electors told the Tennessean they were receiving 200 emails a day:

Several members of Tennessee’s Electoral College delegation told The Tennessean this week they’ve received as many as 200 emails per day and a handful of phone calls. Electors in other states told the Tennessean they too have received similar barrages of email.
“Certainly I would call it harassment,” said Pat Allen of Clarksville, Tennessee’s Electoral College representative for the 7th Congressional District.

In Arizona, electors say they are facing “total harassment” from mostly out-of-state emails. From the Arizona Republic:

Robert Graham, chairman of the state Republican Party and an elector, said the emails are mostly coming from out of state and appear to be part of a coordinated effort to try to deny Trump the presidency by swaying enough electors to back anyone but him…
“It is total harassment,” said Graham, who estimates he has received about 1,700 such emails and letters. “It started about a week ago. Now? Bam. It’s hardcore.”…
Sharon Geise, an elector from Mesa, said the emails have also flooded her inbox. She estimates she has received 8,000. Many of them are similar.
“Hillary’s got a great campaign going,” she said. “It’s the same thing, pretty much. Basically: Vote for Hillary Clinton. It’s bizarre. I don’t dare answer my phone.”

A similar flood of harassing emails was received by an elector in Iowa.
Meanwhile, in Michigan 22-year-old elector Michael Banerian has been receiving death threats. From the Detroit News:

“You have people saying ‘you’re a hateful bigot, I hope you die,’ ” he said. “I’ve had people talk about shoving a gun in my mouth and blowing my brains out. And I’ve received dozens and dozens of those emails. Even the non-threatening-my-life emails are very aggressive.”
The Detroit News verified one message containing a death wish and another containing a death threat, in which the person told Banerian he would “put a bullet” in his mouth. Banerian said he deleted the rest of the emails and messages “because as you can imagine they’re clogging up my email.”

 
From NBC DFW: HERE

The 38 Texans who will vote are all Republicans, because Donald Trump won Texas, but they don’t have to vote for Trump. In Texas, unlike some other states, electors may change their mind, and it has Democrats from around the country urging them to do just that, said Alex Kim, an elector for Texas’ 24th Congressional District.

“At first everyone was kinda enchanted by it,” Kim said. “Now all the electors are starting to get beaten down. There are some electors who have been threatened with harm or with death.”

Kim was named an elector at the Republican Party of Texas State Convention. Since the election, he said he has been receiving thousands of e-mails a day from all across the county.

“Usually the Electoral College is very ceremonial. You’re there, you cast your vote and you’re done…I had no idea it would be like this,” Kim said.

From The Detroit News: HERE

Michael Banerian wants to show that young adults still have faith in the political system, but he said his selection as one of Michigan’s 16 Electoral College voters has prompted emails urging him to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton and even threatening death…Trump’s opponents have deluged Banerian and other GOP electors with pleas and nasty emails to reverse course and cast their ballots for Clinton, according to the Michigan Republican Party.
“You have people saying ‘you’re a hateful bigot, I hope you die,’ ” he said. “I’ve had people talk about shoving a gun in my mouth and blowing my brains out. And I’ve received dozens and dozens of those emails. Even the non-threatening-my-life emails are very aggressive.”
The Detroit News verified one message containing a death wish and another containing a death threat, in which the person told Banerian he would “put a bullet” in his mouth…
Another elector, Kenneth Crider, said he hasn’t received any death threats or intimidating emails but has gotten more than 300 emails from people in other states asking him to vote for Clinton instead of Trump on Dec. 19.
The 51-year-old heating and air conditioning professional from Livonia said many of the emails were from teachers and professors trying to explain to him the gravity of the situation, urging him to change his mind.

And from Oath Keepers, in case you think I’m making too much of this: HERE

CALL TO ACTION: Oath Keepers Pledge to Protect Electors from Terrorist Death Threats
OFFER OF PROTECTION TO ELECTORS: Oath Keepers is hereby issuing a standing offer of volunteer protection to any of the Electoral College Electors who may feel threatened or in danger from leftist radicals attempting to coerce them into changing their vote as Electors.
 
All communications and requests from electors will be kept in the strictest confidence, and only vetted, trusted, qualified Oath Keepers members will be dispatched to provide security.
That protection can be overt or covert, or a combination of those two postures, at the discretion of the Elector after consultation with our security team leaders, and will consist of our unpaid volunteer retired police officers and experienced combat veterans with personal security detail training and experience. We can, and will, provide this protection from now through their vote on December 19. 2016, and even thereafter if they still feel threatened by terrorists seeking reprisal and punishment for the Electors not bending to their will.
CALL TO ACTION: Due to the gravity of the threat to our Republic from terrorists attempting to steal the election through coercion, this is also a call to action to our state and local leaders, and in particular to our Community Preparedness Team (CPT) leaders, to prepare security details in each of the targeted states to be on standby for immediate deployment if a request for protection comes in from an Elector.
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS: In the wake of President-Elect Donald Trump’s victory on Election Night, Republican Electors across the country have received an increasing wave of harassment and threats, in the form of phone calls, emails, messages on social media, and even in-person visits to their homes, by leftists who seek to pressure those Electors into changing their votes from Trump to Clinton when the Electoral College meets on December 19, 2016. Such harassment and threats intensified after anti-Trump groups published online the names, addressed, phone numbers, emails, gender, and race of Republican Electors in states that went for Trump.

As I stated in the original post, I think a much more likely scenario is using the threat of overturning the election as a blackmail tactic against Trump.
We shall see.  Or maybe we won’t.

What a year it has been.
I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with the events in Rome the past few days, and tomorrow will apparently bring added heresy with the publication of another Apostolic Exhortation. The pace of events, just when you think we are already at flank speed, continues to accelerate.
Let’s reflect back to last Advent, as the false mercy had just descended upon us. I wrote a post warning about the heresy. Some of it was quite prophetic, I’m sorry to say:

“The mercy offered is done so seemingly without any need for contrition.  No worries, you are just fine remaining in your sin, stay right where you are, the Church will come out to the “margins” and meet you there.  Then, we will accompany you back and feed you the Lamb of God, because you’ll be hungry from the journey.
That’s not mercy.  That’s a diabolical inversion of Luke 15:21. It’s as if the father saw the prodigal son in the distance, copulating with a harlot, and killed the fatted calf anyway.
This is what happens when you have vast numbers of clergy, many with red hats (or white), who don’t actually believe in the Real Presence. If they did, there is no way we get to this point.”

Regarding the state of the souls of men who think this way:

“Not only do they not believe the harder truths, they are EMBARRASSED by all of it.  So out of touch, you know. How in the world do you expect us to move about in polite society with all this talk of Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity, SIN, contrition, penance, mortification, firm purpose of amendment, CONVERSION? Are you out of your mind? Here, wrap all that nonsense up in this nice felt banner of Mercy, you’ll feel better.
Here’s the thing. At the end of the day, having the faith means believing ALL OF IT. Until your conscience is formed, molded, fired and cured around this concept, you are lost. Most of us have been on the other side at some point, so we understand how they think, and why they believe what they believe (or don’t). Our culture is so drenched in the errors of modernism, it all should be so obvious to anyone with a brain. But they can’t see what we see, because they refuse the graces being offered to them. They refuse to be converted, choosing narcissism instead.”

Regarding where this is going:

“Back to the question of sacrilegious Communion. With the world growing stranger by the day, I find myself distracted in prayer, with thoughts of tactical measures and wondering how it all ends. I mean, I know it all ends in total victory, which is great sustenance. But I’m talking about the actual “how”. If we wind up with the vast majority of Masses ending in sacrilege, not only with the communicants in mortal sin but also the priests themselves intentionally committing sacrilege, then I’m pretty sure that will be the Abomination of Desolation we’ve all been wondering about. And no faithful Catholic can be a part of that.”

That was five months before Amoris Laetitia came out. I had help from other bloggers, who are credited on the original post.
Read the rest HERE.

New Archbishop of Newark and Cardinal-designate (red hat in less than 12 hours) Joseph Tobin chimes in:

“Amoris Laetitia cannot simply be reduced to a question of ‘yes or no’ in a specific pastoral situation. The Holy Father is capturing the work of two synods so if four cardinals say that two synods were wrong, or that somehow the Holy Father didn’t reflect what was said in those synods, I think that should be questioned. He believes that what he published is rooted deeply in that reflection, which was not an easy one. I was not a member of that synod but reading the documents and knowing a little about the participants, I realise it was not easy but you are dealing with difficult pastoral questions. Just to simply reduce it to a “dubium”, I think it is at best naive.”

Instead, Cardinal-elect Tobin explained, Amoris Laetitia is about “addressing the challenges Catholics in their moral life and their ministers face” and trying to show that “it isn’t simply a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ [but] a whole manner of arriving at the proper conclusion for an individual”.  HERE

“Addressing the challenges Catholics…face” — you mean, like, the Commandments? Because those are pretty much full of Yesses (Thou Shalt) and Nos (Thou Shalt Not).

Also, since you weren’t at the synod, let me remind you that massive numbers of cardinals and bishops voted against the very provisions in question, but then Francis included those in the Post Relatio anyway, and finally into Amoris Laetitia. So these ideas were not at all “rooted deeply in that reflection”, on the contrary, a massive battle took place.

+Tobin is another one of these “One of the heads of the beast appeared to be fatally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world was astonished” from Rev 13:3. After serving as Superior General of the Redemptorists, he was appointed to a curial role. But then he got bounced by BXVI, less than three years into his assignment, for intentionally botching the visitation into the apostate LCWR and then trying to block the report from the CDF. He was sent packing from Rome to Indiana in what was an obvious rebuke and demotion.

At the very start of his curial role, answering a question about the relationship between Rome and the particular churches, he said this:

“But my hope is that the Vatican’s relationship with the local churches can be a sort of creative tension. I think life without tension would be very boring and useless…The challenge is to recognise the diversity of gifts and the plurality of churches and the one spirit that unites us. And I think that is the adventure of a lifetime.” HERE

In August of 2011, with the LCWR at the height of the blowback from the pantsuit sisters, +Tobin went public by blaming the Vatican for all the troubles:

Archbishop Tobin, who was appointed as Secretary in May last year, said that the Visitation has nearly finished its work and that the progressive religious orders will have nothing to fear.
“Certainly, on our side of the river or our side of the pond,” he said, “we had created an atmosphere” where the prospect of canonical penalties was thought possible, and in which the possibility that some communities would be closed down “didn’t seem to be so outlandish.”
“It’s like preaching; it’s not what you say, it’s what they hear … and what a lot of these women heard was someone telling them their life was not loyal and faith-filled,” he added.
Shortly after his appointment last year, Archbishop Tobin told veteran Vatican journalist John Allen that he hoped to offer the Vatican a “different picture” of U.S. women religious.
Archbishop Tobin’s comments to CNS are unusual for high-ranking Vatican prelates, who rarely openly criticize their former superiors. He said, “I believe a visitation has to have a dialogical aspect, but the way this was structured at the beginning didn’t really favour that.”
“I’m an optimist, but also trying to be realistic: The trust that should characterize the daughters and sons of God and disciples of Jesus isn’t recovered overnight. I think women religious have a right to say, ‘Well, let’s see,’” he said.  HERE

But in a few hours he will be a cardinal, because old Joey had an ace up his sleeve.  Ten years ago, he spent a week of tender caresses with, you guessed it, Jorge of Buenos Aires, as they sat next to each other in a Spanish language discussion group at a synod of bishops.

One day during a coffee break Tobin told Bergoglio that while they were all happy with the election of then-Pope Benedict XVI, who had become pope a few months earlier after the death of John Paul II, “in all honesty, Cardinal, you were my mother’s favorite candidate” to be chosen. (Bergoglio was reportedly a strong contender in that 2005 conclave.)
Bergoglio was surprised at hearing this. “How does your mother know me?” he asked. Tobin explained: “Well, she read in the newspaper that you pick up after yourself, you cook your food, and you drive a modest car. And frankly, she’s had it up to here with princes of the church!”
Bergoglio laughed, but never forgot. HERE

I wish I could forget this whole wretched mess.