Monday, October 30, 2023
Saturday, October 28, 2023
As Attacks on Gaza—and Escalation Risks—Grow, Free Debate is More Vital Than Ever.
As Attacks on Gaza—and Escalation Risks—Grow, Free Debate is More Vital Than Ever. Are All Pro-Palestinian Protesters Antisemitic? PLUS: Matt Taibbi |
SYSTEM UPDATE #172
Use of the Vocal Organs
Use of the Vocal Organs
Careful attention and training should be given to the vocal organs. They are strengthened by right use, but become enfeebled if used improperly. Their excessive use, as in preaching long sermons, will, if often repeated, not only injure the organs of speech, but will bring an undue strain upon the whole nervous system. The delicate harp of a thousand strings becomes worn, gets out of repair, and produces discord instead of melody.
It is important for every speaker so to train the vocal organs as to keep them in a healthful condition, that he may speak forth the words of life to the people. Every one should become intelligent as to the most effective manner of using his God-given ability, and should practise what he learns. It is not necessary to talk in a loud voice or upon a high key; this does great injury to the speaker. Rapid talking destroys much of the effect of a discourse; for the words cannot be made so plain and distinct as if spoken more deliberately, giving the hearer time to take in the meaning of every word. The human voice is a precious gift of God; it is a power for good, and the Lord wants his servants to preserve its pathos and melody. The voice should be cultivated so as to promote its musical quality, that it may fall pleasantly upon the ear and impress the heart. But the vocal organs are strangely abused, greatly to the injury of the speaker, and the discomfort of the hearers.
The Lord requires the human agent not to move by impulse in speaking, but to move calmly, speak slowly, and let the Holy Spirit give efficiency to the truth. Never think that in working yourselves up to a passion of delivery, speaking by impulse, and suffering your feelings to raise your voice to an unnaturally high key, that you are giving evidence of the great power of God upon you. All who learn in Christ's school, allowing God to work them, will cultivate the voice, so as to make the very best impression, and to honor the truth which they present to the people. The Lord demands an unreserved surrender of the body, soul, and spirit, that the divine power may work through all your energies and capabilities during the entire period of your service for him.
Your influence is to be far-reaching, and your powers of speech should be under the control of reason. When you strain the organs of speech, the modulations of the voice are lost. The tendency to rapid speaking should be decidedly overcome. God claims of the human instrumentality all the service that man can give. All the talents entrusted to the human agent are to be cherished and appreciated, and used as a precious endowment of heaven. The laborers in the harvest-field are God's appointed agents, channels through which he can communicate light from heaven. The careless, improvident use of any of their God-given powers, lessens their efficiency, so that in an emergency, when the greatest good might be done, they are so weak and sickly and crippled that they can accomplish but little.
Careful attention and training should be given to the vocal organs. They are strengthened by right use, but become enfeebled if used improperly. Their excessive use, as in preaching long sermons, will, if often repeated, not only injure the organs of speech, but will bring an undue strain upon the whole nervous system. The delicate harp of a thousand strings becomes worn, gets out of repair, and produces discord instead of melody.
It is important for every speaker so to train the vocal organs as to keep them in a healthful condition, that he may speak forth the words of life to the people. Every one should become intelligent as to the most effective manner of using his God-given ability, and should practise what he learns. It is not necessary to talk in a loud voice or upon a high key; this does great injury to the speaker. Rapid talking destroys much of the effect of a discourse; for the words cannot be made so plain and distinct as if spoken more deliberately, giving the hearer time to take in the meaning of every word. The human voice is a precious gift of God; it is a power for good, and the Lord wants his servants to preserve its pathos and melody. The voice should be cultivated so as to promote its musical quality, that it may fall pleasantly upon the ear and impress the heart. But the vocal organs are strangely abused, greatly to the injury of the speaker, and the discomfort of the hearers.
The Lord requires the human agent not to move by impulse in speaking, but to move calmly, speak slowly, and let the Holy Spirit give efficiency to the truth. Never think that in working yourselves up to a passion of delivery, speaking by impulse, and suffering your feelings to raise your voice to an unnaturally high key, that you are giving evidence of the great power of God upon you. All who learn in Christ's school, allowing God to work them, will cultivate the voice, so as to make the very best impression, and to honor the truth which they present to the people. The Lord demands an unreserved surrender of the body, soul, and spirit, that the divine power may work through all your energies and capabilities during the entire period of your service for him.
Your influence is to be far-reaching, and your powers of speech should be under the control of reason. When you strain the organs of speech, the modulations of the voice are lost. The tendency to rapid speaking should be decidedly overcome. God claims of the human instrumentality all the service that man can give. All the talents entrusted to the human agent are to be cherished and appreciated, and used as a precious endowment of heaven. The laborers in the harvest-field are God's appointed agents, channels through which he can communicate light from heaven. The careless, improvident use of any of their God-given powers, lessens their efficiency, so that in an emergency, when the greatest good might be done, they are so weak and sickly and crippled that they can accomplish but little.
Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 7, pgs. 9-11.
ISTANBUL - President Erdogan speaks at the "Great Palestine Rally"
NOTE: The video is captioned, so tap on settings icon and chose captions in English.
Friday, October 27, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Monday, October 23, 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
New Zealand is a Crime Scene: In one clinic, in one day 30 people were covid injected and all 30 have died
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Al Smith Dinner Raises Record $7 Million for the Underprivileged
10/20/2023
By: Steven Schwankert
Henry Kissinger and Rob Speyer honored at the evening’s event
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger (left) joined Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the keynote speaker at the 78th Alfred E. Smith Foundation Dinner at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan, October 19, 2023. (Screenshot from event livestream)
The 78th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, held Thursday night, raised a record amount of funds for its namesake, featured Dr. Henry A. Kissinger as its keynote speaker, and honored Rob Speyer, CEO of Tishman Speyer, with the Happy Warrior Award. Mary Callahan Erdoes, vice chair of the Foundation’s board of directors, served as the evening’s host.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, participating in the Synod on Synodality in Rome this month, made a trip to New York to attend the dinner and returned to Italy shortly after its conclusion.
Known colloquially as the Al Smith Dinner, the event took place at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan and raised $7 million for the Foundation, which supports charitable endeavors throughout the Archdiocese of New York and beyond, including Catholic schools, migrant outreach, substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation, and pediatric care for those in need.
The annual event gives hope to the underprivileged people of the archdiocese. While, traditionally a lighthearted affair that aims to put unity ahead of politics, Thursday night took on a more serious tinge because of the recent violence in Israel.
Catholic-Jewish unity was a recurring theme throughout the dinner, with numerous attendees of both faiths pointing to efforts by the New York community to remain united during the current crisis. During the event, it was announced that $150,000 from the night’s proceeds would directly benefit the UJA Federation of New York.
Rob Speyer, chief executive officer of real estate company Tishman Speyer was honored with the 2023 Happy Warrior Award. The award gets its name from Al Smith’s nickname, given to him by political rival and future president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“The world needs more happy warriors, people who go out and fight for what they believe in with dignity, with love, and with joy,” said Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla introducing Speyer.
“Our people left the job site after the Pyramids. In fact, I can think of only one Jewish carpenter,” said Speyer, who is Jewish, making light of his involvement in real estate.
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State of the United States, who turned 100 on May 27, offered the keynote presentation. Born in Germany, Kissinger grew up in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan after his family emigrated to the United States in 1938.
“[Kissinger has] made it to almost every dinner since 1973, so we wanted to honor him this year, in his 100th anniversary,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan told reporters in remarks prior to the beginning of the event.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was slated to introduce Kissinger but was unable to attend after contracting Covid. Instead, E. John Rosenwald Jr., vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase, gave the introduction.
In his remarks, Kissinger recalled his previous speech at the Al Smith Dinner in 1974, while he was still Secretary of State during President Richard Nixon’s term.
“On that occasion, there was a public controversy about Senator Jacob Javits going to Cuba which was under sanction, without State Department permission. I was then Secretary of State and I commented about it at this dinner by saying “People ask me whether I was bothered by Senator Javits going to Cuba without sanction. The fact is, what bothered me was not his going, but that he came back,” a political joke that still evoked laughter almost a half-century later.
Kissinger then focused on more serious topics. Having just returned from China, Kissinger said he hoped the United States would use both diplomacy and military deterrence to prevent conflict between the two nations. “Much therefore depends on whether the leaders of the two countries can find a context in which they prevent such a conflict and I wish [President Biden] every success in the negotiations which he is about to undertake.”
Turning his attention to Russia and Ukraine, he said, “We have to cooperate in finding a solution that affirms the independence and freedom and the resistance to outside intervention of Ukraine. And we also need to build Russia back into the European system.”
After decrying the recent violence in the Middle East and expressing hope that the United States would continue to support Israel, he closed by saying, “The future is one of hope if America has confidence in itself…And on that basis, I hope we can build a peace of strength and reconciliation for the next decade.”
Special guests included New York Senator Chuck Schumer; New York City Mayor Eric Adams; State Attorney General Letitia James; New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban; Fire Department of New York Laura Kavanagh; and Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly.
Members of the clergy included Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia Permanent Observer of the Holy See To The United Nations; Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia; Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Brooklyn; Bishop Edmund Whalen, vicar for clergy of the Archdiocese of New York; and Monsignor Joseph LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York.
Cardinal Dolan closed the event, thanking all those in attendance and asking, “We render praise to Almighty God, without whom nothing is possible, with whom, nothing is impossible, whose help we ask in guiding us safely home, and in keeping us secure until next year. Amen.”
Alfred E. Smith was born into a Catholic family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1873. A Democrat, Smith served as governor of New York from 1919 to 1920, and again from 1923 to 1928. Smith ran for president in 1924 but failed to gain the Democratic nomination. In 1928 he became the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party. He faced Republican Herbert Hoover in the general election and lost by a significant margin, partly due to anti-Catholic prejudice and partly because of his support for repealing Prohibition. He did not hold public elected office again.
Pope Venerable Pius XII appointed Smith a Papal Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape in 1939. Smith died in 1944. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.
Cardinal Francis Spellman established the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in 1946 to honor the former governor’s legacy. Learn more about the Foundation here.
Source
The 78th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, held Thursday night, raised a record amount of funds for its namesake, featured Dr. Henry A. Kissinger as its keynote speaker, and honored Rob Speyer, CEO of Tishman Speyer, with the Happy Warrior Award. Mary Callahan Erdoes, vice chair of the Foundation’s board of directors, served as the evening’s host.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, participating in the Synod on Synodality in Rome this month, made a trip to New York to attend the dinner and returned to Italy shortly after its conclusion.
Known colloquially as the Al Smith Dinner, the event took place at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan and raised $7 million for the Foundation, which supports charitable endeavors throughout the Archdiocese of New York and beyond, including Catholic schools, migrant outreach, substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation, and pediatric care for those in need.
The annual event gives hope to the underprivileged people of the archdiocese. While, traditionally a lighthearted affair that aims to put unity ahead of politics, Thursday night took on a more serious tinge because of the recent violence in Israel.
Catholic-Jewish unity was a recurring theme throughout the dinner, with numerous attendees of both faiths pointing to efforts by the New York community to remain united during the current crisis. During the event, it was announced that $150,000 from the night’s proceeds would directly benefit the UJA Federation of New York.
Rob Speyer, chief executive officer of real estate company Tishman Speyer was honored with the 2023 Happy Warrior Award. The award gets its name from Al Smith’s nickname, given to him by political rival and future president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“The world needs more happy warriors, people who go out and fight for what they believe in with dignity, with love, and with joy,” said Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla introducing Speyer.
“Our people left the job site after the Pyramids. In fact, I can think of only one Jewish carpenter,” said Speyer, who is Jewish, making light of his involvement in real estate.
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State of the United States, who turned 100 on May 27, offered the keynote presentation. Born in Germany, Kissinger grew up in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan after his family emigrated to the United States in 1938.
“[Kissinger has] made it to almost every dinner since 1973, so we wanted to honor him this year, in his 100th anniversary,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan told reporters in remarks prior to the beginning of the event.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was slated to introduce Kissinger but was unable to attend after contracting Covid. Instead, E. John Rosenwald Jr., vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase, gave the introduction.
In his remarks, Kissinger recalled his previous speech at the Al Smith Dinner in 1974, while he was still Secretary of State during President Richard Nixon’s term.
“On that occasion, there was a public controversy about Senator Jacob Javits going to Cuba which was under sanction, without State Department permission. I was then Secretary of State and I commented about it at this dinner by saying “People ask me whether I was bothered by Senator Javits going to Cuba without sanction. The fact is, what bothered me was not his going, but that he came back,” a political joke that still evoked laughter almost a half-century later.
Kissinger then focused on more serious topics. Having just returned from China, Kissinger said he hoped the United States would use both diplomacy and military deterrence to prevent conflict between the two nations. “Much therefore depends on whether the leaders of the two countries can find a context in which they prevent such a conflict and I wish [President Biden] every success in the negotiations which he is about to undertake.”
Turning his attention to Russia and Ukraine, he said, “We have to cooperate in finding a solution that affirms the independence and freedom and the resistance to outside intervention of Ukraine. And we also need to build Russia back into the European system.”
After decrying the recent violence in the Middle East and expressing hope that the United States would continue to support Israel, he closed by saying, “The future is one of hope if America has confidence in itself…And on that basis, I hope we can build a peace of strength and reconciliation for the next decade.”
Special guests included New York Senator Chuck Schumer; New York City Mayor Eric Adams; State Attorney General Letitia James; New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban; Fire Department of New York Laura Kavanagh; and Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly.
Members of the clergy included Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia Permanent Observer of the Holy See To The United Nations; Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia; Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Brooklyn; Bishop Edmund Whalen, vicar for clergy of the Archdiocese of New York; and Monsignor Joseph LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York.
Cardinal Dolan closed the event, thanking all those in attendance and asking, “We render praise to Almighty God, without whom nothing is possible, with whom, nothing is impossible, whose help we ask in guiding us safely home, and in keeping us secure until next year. Amen.”
Alfred E. Smith was born into a Catholic family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1873. A Democrat, Smith served as governor of New York from 1919 to 1920, and again from 1923 to 1928. Smith ran for president in 1924 but failed to gain the Democratic nomination. In 1928 he became the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party. He faced Republican Herbert Hoover in the general election and lost by a significant margin, partly due to anti-Catholic prejudice and partly because of his support for repealing Prohibition. He did not hold public elected office again.
Pope Venerable Pius XII appointed Smith a Papal Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape in 1939. Smith died in 1944. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.
Cardinal Francis Spellman established the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in 1946 to honor the former governor’s legacy. Learn more about the Foundation here.
Source
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Monday, October 16, 2023
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Flag Burning and Violent Clashes in NYC When Anti-Migrant Protest Got Out of Control – Antifa and the NYPD Blamed
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Jim Lambert
October 15, 2023 by O. Davies
At an anti-migrant rally, protestors clashed from both sides, with Trump supporters violently coinciding with Antifa, leading to countless arrests.
Rally Outside Mayoral Mansion
An anti-migrant rally outside New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Gracie Mansion residence turned violent as Trump supporters clashed with counter-protesters.
The clash marked a stark escalation in the ongoing debate surrounding the city’s response to the influx of migrants from the southern border.
The rally drew a sizable crowd, with thousands of people converging outside Gracie Mansion to voice their opinions on handling the migrant crisis.
Among them were vocal Trump supporters and counter-protesters advocating for migrants’ rights, setting the stage for a dramatic and emotionally charged confrontation.
Surge of Migrants
The backdrop of the rally was a staggering surge of migrants arriving in the city, totaling around 100,000 individuals from the southern border.
Mayor Eric Adams responded to the influx by opening more than 200 shelters across all five boroughs of New York City, intended to provide emergency housing for the newly arrived migrants. Still, their presence became a flashpoint for heated discussions and disagreements.
Tensions quickly escalated as violent Trump supporters and passionate pro-migrant protesters clashed outside Gracie Mansion, leading to violent physical altercations with arrests swiftly being made.
Arrests Were Made
Amid the chaos, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels and a former mayoral candidate, emerged as a central figure in the protest; his fiery speeches and charismatic presence further fueled the already charged atmosphere before a shocking twist.
As the clashes intensified, law enforcement intervened and made several arrests, including Curtis Sliwa.
Sliwa claimed an elderly woman, Coletta, who emigrated to the States from Casablanca, was also detained at the rally.
He also claimed another elderly couple was arrested alongside him, claiming they were “Treated like Trump and Guiliani being fingerprinted and photographed for a desk appearance ticket.”
Migrants “Jumping the Queue”
Curtis Sliwa used his platform to passionately criticize Mayor Adams’ approach to the migrant crisis, accusing Adams of lacking a comprehensive plan and expressing his concerns about the impact on local residents.
“Nobody is opposed to immigration as long as it’s done the right way!” He exclaimed to the public.
Sliwa seized the opportunity to address the contentious issue of migrants allegedly “jumping the queue” ahead of others in need, criticizing the preferential treatment migrants were receiving.
Burning the Flag
Amid the chaotic scene, a protester’s attempt to burn the American flag and stomp on it further ignited emotions.
Curtis Sliwa’s history of activism came into focus as news of his arrest spread. This wasn’t his first run-in with the law, as he was arrested at a protest in an abandoned Queens psychiatric center two weeks ago.
Sliwa accused both Antifa and the NYPD of failing to control the situation, shifting the blame from his side to the authorities and the anti-fascist organization.
Sliwa expressed his intention to run for mayor again in 2025, determined to bring change to the city’s leadership.
Exceeding Expectations
Sliwa put forth an alternative solution to address the migrant issue using Riker’s Island to provide migrants with a transitional period before making their way into the city, “There are empty buildings, lots of land, there’s a bridge that takes them in, and out, they stay on the island six months,’ he said.
The housing of migrants in Brooklyn’s McCarren Park added another layer of controversy to the situation.
With the number of migrants far exceeding expectations, the city’s shelter system faced overwhelming demand.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
ISRAEL, HAMAS & THE MEXICAN BORDER - 10.13.2023
Listen in app
ISRAEL, HAMAS & THE MEXICAN BORDER - 10.13.2023
Today's Show: ISRAEL, HAMAS & THE MEXICAN BORDER
Chris discusses the terrible circumstances happening in Israel, since the surprise attack by Hamas against the civilian population there. As horror stories emerge, we are also being warned by American leaders that similar circumstances could take place in the United States, due to the open border with Mexico. Millions of illegal aliens have entered the country under Biden's leadership, and many of them are reported to be from the Middle East. We discuss and listen to audio from political leaders.
Source: https://on.soundcloud.com/HX1NF
Friday, October 13, 2023
Jesuit Disinformation Agents
October 14, 2023
James Arendt
Jesuit disinformation is rife on the Internet. The Jesuits are the leaders of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Their goal is to destroy Bible-based Christianity in the USA and the world. It’s no surprise, therefore, when some people are actively working to divert attention from the Jesuits and call Satan’s work on earth a “Jewish-Masonic cryptocracy.” I’m thinking specifically now about a guy named Timothy Fitzpatrick of fitzinfo dot net. He mocks conspiracy researchers who point to the Jesuits and calls them, “naïve dupes.” He specifically mentions Alexander Hislop, Walter J. Veith, Christian J. Pinto, Tupper Saussy, David Wilcock and Sherman Skolnick whose articles are on this website. But Fitzpatrick exposes himself when he writes such things as,
Jesuit disinformation is rife on the Internet. The Jesuits are the leaders of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Their goal is to destroy Bible-based Christianity in the USA and the world. It’s no surprise, therefore, when some people are actively working to divert attention from the Jesuits and call Satan’s work on earth a “Jewish-Masonic cryptocracy.” I’m thinking specifically now about a guy named Timothy Fitzpatrick of fitzinfo dot net. He mocks conspiracy researchers who point to the Jesuits and calls them, “naïve dupes.” He specifically mentions Alexander Hislop, Walter J. Veith, Christian J. Pinto, Tupper Saussy, David Wilcock and Sherman Skolnick whose articles are on this website. But Fitzpatrick exposes himself when he writes such things as,
Documentary filmmaker Christian J. Pinto of Adullam Films pulls out all the tired old slanders against the Church—all for the advancement of the Jewish-Protestant alliance…and,
Pinto is your typical Zionist shill accusing the Vatican of everything the world has known for 500-plus years that the Jews are responsible for. Make no mistake, the Vatican is now an agent of the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy, thanks to Jews and masons subverting the Church, especially during the buildup to the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution, culminating in the Jewish-sponsored Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. But the true Church remains within the fractured Vatican as well as in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Protestantism has and always will be a Jewish perversion, a cheap imitation of the Church of Christ, right down to the sexually depraved Waledensians and Albigensians, whom Pinto specifically defends, giving away his Puritan bias. (Ref: https://fitzinfo.net/2014/04/01/christian-j-pinto-zionist-shill-espousing-what-else-jesuit-conspiracy-theories/)
Wow! Timothy Fitzpatrick is clearly identifying “the Church” as the Roman Catholic Church. And he’s calling Protestantism – which is really only Bible-based faith in Jesus Christ – a “Jewish perversion.” Who else would say that but a Jesuit or a hard-core traditional Catholic?
I believe the primary source of Neo-Nazi antisemitic rhetoric is the Roman Catholic Church. It’s very convenient for the Jesuits to deflect blame of the evils they are doing away from themselves and say, “The Jews did it!”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all Jews are guiltless. What I am saying is the Jesuits are using the Jews as scapegoats. Former Catholic priest Leo H. Lehmann gives pretty convincing evidence that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was written by Jesuits, not Jews!
Articles about that:Evidence of Jesuit authorship of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
Authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion — Jews? Or Jesuits!
If anybody has any further evidence of the Jesuits / Catholic Church as the source of antisemitism, please share it in the comments section.
I believe the primary source of Neo-Nazi antisemitic rhetoric is the Roman Catholic Church. It’s very convenient for the Jesuits to deflect blame of the evils they are doing away from themselves and say, “The Jews did it!”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all Jews are guiltless. What I am saying is the Jesuits are using the Jews as scapegoats. Former Catholic priest Leo H. Lehmann gives pretty convincing evidence that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was written by Jesuits, not Jews!
Articles about that:Evidence of Jesuit authorship of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
Authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion — Jews? Or Jesuits!
If anybody has any further evidence of the Jesuits / Catholic Church as the source of antisemitism, please share it in the comments section.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
ICE admits record 5.7 million migrants in US — Biden wants to provide ‘medical services, housing’ to all
By
Diana Glebova
Published Oct. 12, 2023, 2:13 p.m. ET
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is overseeing 5.7 million migrants in the US — who could soon be provided free medical services, food and even housing by the Biden administration, The Post has learned.
The record number of non-detained migrants being monitored by the federal agency — 2.4 million more than before Biden became president — was buried in paperwork detailing its “Release and Reporting Management” (RRM) program.
The plan is for vendors to join ICE’s monitoring of migrants through ankle monitors, phone apps and in-person check-ins.
However, the initiative also aims to provide a range of other perks to the non-citizens on the taxpayers’ dime.
The program would cost “billions” and effectively be a “welfare” program for non-detained migrants awaiting court dates, former ICE director Tom Homan told The Post.
“The RRM is just a push by the open border advocates to provide welfare benefits to 6 million people,” the former ICE director continued.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the United States.James Keivom
The Biden administration has experienced record-breaking numbers of migrants crossing into the US illegally.James Keivom
NY Post composite
RRM is anticipated to “replace all of ICE’s non-detained programs” and would “apply to the entire non-detained docket,” a question-and-answer form ICE published in September reads, clarifying: “The current non-detained docket is 5.7M.”
Those held in ICE detention for processing at the border or in facilities awaiting deportation are not included in the 5.7 million figure.
The services for “all RRM participants” would include “legal assistance; psychosocial services; therapeutic services; medical services; food and clothing banks; housing; public transportation information; parental information; education information; and repatriation and reintegration services,” according to the RFI form published Aug. 17.
“These services are designed to increase participant compliance with immigration obligations through information, stabilization, and support. Services will be individualized to each participant’s needs and may range from basic referrals to intensive direct assistance,” the RFI form reads.
Homan criticized the program for providing legal assistance to migrants who crossed over the border.
“They’re going to give legal assistance to illegal aliens at the taxpayers’ expense to fight the government,” he said. All the services combined are a “massive giveaway that are going to cost billions of dollars.”
RRM is anticipated to “replace all of ICE’s non-detained programs” and would “apply to the entire non-detained docket,” a question-and-answer form ICE published in September reads, clarifying: “The current non-detained docket is 5.7M.”
Those held in ICE detention for processing at the border or in facilities awaiting deportation are not included in the 5.7 million figure.
The services for “all RRM participants” would include “legal assistance; psychosocial services; therapeutic services; medical services; food and clothing banks; housing; public transportation information; parental information; education information; and repatriation and reintegration services,” according to the RFI form published Aug. 17.
“These services are designed to increase participant compliance with immigration obligations through information, stabilization, and support. Services will be individualized to each participant’s needs and may range from basic referrals to intensive direct assistance,” the RFI form reads.
Homan criticized the program for providing legal assistance to migrants who crossed over the border.
“They’re going to give legal assistance to illegal aliens at the taxpayers’ expense to fight the government,” he said. All the services combined are a “massive giveaway that are going to cost billions of dollars.”
The Biden administration has let in 99% of migrants who have come over the border during his presidency, a GOP congressional report found on Monday.REUTERS
The number of migrants in the country under ICE monitoring stood at 3.26 million in fiscal year 2020 and had exploded to 4.7 million by fiscal year 2022, according to ICE records.
When migrants are admitted to the US to pursue asylum claims, most have to check in with ICE on a regular basis at an office in the area where they are staying. Others have ankle monitors or have to check in via an app with facial recognition.
In 2021, each case manager had an average of 125 people in the scheme to monitor, according to a fact sheet produced by the agency.
In August, ICE sent out a Request for Information (RFI) form to US “vendors” to gauge their interest in participating in the government-funded program.
The Biden administration is in the planning phase and has not rolled out RRM, but plans to send out a “Request for Proposal” to vendors in fiscal year 2024, the ICE Q&A form reads.
US Customs and Border Protection officers prepare to transport migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border at the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to a vehicle for transportation to a facility for processing.NYPJ
RRM is intended to replace its “precursor,” Alternatives to Detention (ATD), which was released in 2004, according to the RFI form. The new Biden initiative would “require additional funding” beyond what is currently allocated for ATD, the Q&A form says.
Only 194,632 migrants are being tracked by GPS or other technology in the ATD program, ICE estimated in fiscal year 2023, meaning millions of migrants are roaming the country untracked.
US Customs and Border Protection has encountered a record-breaking number of migrants during Biden’s presidency. In fiscal year 2022, the number of encounters topped 2.76 million, according to agency data.
The government previously admitted to losing track of 177,000 migrants after they were released into the US, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
ICE did not respond to an inquiry from The Post at the time of publication.
RRM is intended to replace its “precursor,” Alternatives to Detention (ATD), which was released in 2004, according to the RFI form. The new Biden initiative would “require additional funding” beyond what is currently allocated for ATD, the Q&A form says.
Only 194,632 migrants are being tracked by GPS or other technology in the ATD program, ICE estimated in fiscal year 2023, meaning millions of migrants are roaming the country untracked.
US Customs and Border Protection has encountered a record-breaking number of migrants during Biden’s presidency. In fiscal year 2022, the number of encounters topped 2.76 million, according to agency data.
The government previously admitted to losing track of 177,000 migrants after they were released into the US, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
ICE did not respond to an inquiry from The Post at the time of publication.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
The Watchman's Duty
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezekiel 3:17-21.
Monday, October 09, 2023
The UN Calls for Prosecuting Online Religious Hate Speech and for Training Initiatives for Faith-based Communities to Help Stop It
Press release
The UN Calls for Prosecuting Online Religious Hate Speech and for Training Initiatives for Faith-based Communities to Help Stop It
Truth is under attack. People are facing more and more restrictions on their right to free speech, both across the world and here in America. Powerful elite groups and politicians are calling for a crackdown on truth to criminalize certain speech that contradicts the prevailing popular narrative. At the same time, these very same people are pushing godless, anti-Christian propaganda upon the world, and to them, that's fine. New proposals are being written to impose censorship, and this will result in the erosion of the rights of all people.
On October 5, 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Council called upon UN member states and governments to do more to stop religious hate speech online and on social media platforms. Some of the hate speech that was addressed had to do specifically with sexual orientation and gender identity. The UN reported the following:
• "Religious hate speech, a phenomenon that was far from new, was now unfolding unchecked. Online, social media algorithms were amplifying hateful messages and nourishing the echo chambers of ignorance." [1]
• "The human rights impacts of religious hatred and discrimination were clear. They undermined human dignity, and could lead to incitement of violence - or to violence itself." [1]
• "Gaps in national policy, and in legal and law enforcement frameworks were letting hate and discrimination slip through the cracks. Member States could and must do more." [1]
• "Training initiatives for law enforcement officers and the judiciary, faith-based actors, teachers and media professionals in combating religious hatred needed to be part of a comprehensive approach which integrated faith literacy, better understanding and sensitivity, and clear measures to address discrimination." [1]
• "A number of speakers also expressed concern about persistent discrimination against people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. The recognition of diversity was essential to preserve human dignity." [1]
It is deeply troubling when churches are enlisted to assist the government in stopping religious hate speech. These globalists want to turn the churches against each other to spy out, track down, expose and arrest those who spread so-called religious hate. Any criticism of the radial sexualization of our children by LGBT+ activists could soon be prosecuted with the help of our fellow church members. The UN wants to criminalize any online speech that opposes abortion, the transgender agenda, the Pope's climate message, the common good, Sunday rest by law, the 2030 agenda, or any other policies it supports. Any dissenting voices will be labeled as "hate speech."
Let us be clear: when these globalists say "hate" speech, they actually mean conservative biblical views. It's not about equality, it's about steamrolling and silencing the voice of God's people. Free speech is coming to an end because the United Nations wants to define what constitutes hate speech. Unelected officials at the UN want to decide which speech will be accepted and which will be forbidden in society.
Our world is in trouble. We are becoming more and more intolerant of speech that deviates from what the elitists deem acceptable or true. And don't think for a second that this cannot happen here in America. These kinds of Marxist laws would be enthusiastically supported by half the population. There are plenty of activist politicians and judges who care little about our Constitution and would support anti-freedom and anti-Christian legislation. It can very easily happen here.
But regardless of what the New World Order eventually does, God still tells us to use our divinely appointed right of free speech to expose the dangers that are threatening the spiritual lives of the people:
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." Isaiah 58:1.
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me." Ezekiel 3:17.
We have to denounce the popular and national sins that are corrupting society. This is part of the work of the gospel. We must also expose the rampant apostasy that is prevailing in the religious world and in the churches.
"Those ministers who are men pleasers, who cry, Peace, peace, when God has not spoken peace, might well humble their hearts before God, asking pardon for their insincerity and their lack of moral courage. It is not from love for their neighbor that they smooth down the message entrusted to them, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. True love seeks first the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, God's ministers will not consider self, but will speak the word given them to speak, refusing to excuse or palliate evil" (Prophets and Kings, 141).
The Bible says that when God's truth is suppressed, there will be a famine in the land. Truth will be scarce because evil men are conspiring to censor the preaching of the word that will set men free. This famine represents an organized effort to restrict and suspend the preaching of truth.
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, But shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12.
In this fearful hour, God's people will understand their responsibility, and they will lift up their voices, encourage the faithful, and warn the disobedient. They will use their right to free speech to "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering" (2 Timothy 4:2). The time to do this work has fully come.
Sources
[1] https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2023/10/le-conseil-des-droits-de-lhomme-se-penche-sur-les-moteurs-de-la
Contact: Andy Roman, Publisher
Address: Advent Messenger, PO Box 96, Dover, OK 73734
Phone: (888) 299-2119
Website: www.adventmessenger.org
Email: adventmessengers@gmail.com
About: Advent Messenger provides news and commentary on current events, top stories, social trends and political and religious events. For more news visit www.adventmessenger.org
This release was published on openPR.
Sunday, October 08, 2023
Saturday, October 07, 2023
Friday, October 06, 2023
Jesuit Hollywood
← Antichrist Powers on the Rise
Jesuit Hollywood
Contents
1. Intro
2. CHAPTER ONE
THE JESUIT USE OF THE DRAMATIC ARTS
3. CHAPTER TWO
THE JEWS CREATE HOLLYWOOD
4. CHAPTER THREE
PROTESTANTS, ROMAN CATHOLICS AND FILM CENSORSHIP IN THE EARLY YEARS
5. CHAPTER FOUR
JESUIT REGULATION OF THE MOVIE INDUSTRY: THE PRODUCTION CODE
6. CHAPTER FIVE
JOSEPH I. BREEN AND THE CODE
7. CHAPTER SIX
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LEGION OF DECENCY
8. CHAPTER SEVEN
THE ‘GOLDEN AGE’ 1930s AND 1940s: ROME TRIUMPHANT IN HOLLYWOOD
First published in 2015 for Bible Based Ministries
by New Voices Publishing
Cape Town, South Africa
www.newvoices.co.za
Bible Based Ministries
www.biblebasedministries.co.uk
info@biblebasedministries.co.uk
Bible Based Ministries’ worldwide contact:
Contending for the Faith Ministries
695 Kentons Run Ave
Henderson, NV 89052
United States of America
BBMOrders@aol.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The author has no objection whatsoever to anyone reproducing this book in printed form for free distribution, provided it is reproduced in full, including the cover, without being altered or edited in any way. His desire is for this book to be as widely distributed as possible. However, anyone wanting to print the book for sale, must obtain permission from the author.
ABOUT THE SOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS BOOK:
In writing this book, factual information was compiled from a number of sources, which are referred to in this book for documentation purposes. However, reference to a particular source does not by any means necessarily imply agreement with the doctrinal position of the author, nor with every statement in the work referred to.
ISBN-PRINT: 987-0-620-66718-0
ISBN-EBOOK: 978-0-620-66719-7
INTRODUCTION
This is a book about the influence of the Roman Catholic institution over Hollywood during its so-called “Golden Age”, then the waning of that influence, and the frequently open hostility towards Roman Catholicism, in the post-“Golden Age” period. The purpose of this book is to provide evidence of the way in which the Roman Catholic institution pursues its never-ending objective of conquering the world, in particular what could be called the “Protestant world”, by seeking to harness and make use of the most powerful entertainment medium the world has ever known: the movie industry.
This is a battlefield which almost no one recognises as such. The Papacy works through politics; through religion; through international finance; and many other channels to achieve its objective. But Hollywood? Moviegoers have no idea, as they sit munching their popcorn and viewing the films they love so much, that they are being deliberately indoctrinated, subtly, slowly, via the very movies they naively think they are watching solely for entertainment. And this indoctrination is virtually as old as Hollywood itself. Their beliefs, morals, worldviews, are all being shifted, changed, altered; and this is being done gradually, film by film, year by year, decade by decade, without them being aware of it. The morality and religious thought of the western world is nothing like it was prior to the advent of the movies. The harm that has been done, and is being done continuously, by the movie industry can never be fully calculated. But it is beyond all doubt that the movies have played one of the greatest roles of all in the destruction of the morals of the West, and the destruction of the Protestantism of the West as well.
Thursday, October 05, 2023
'Attention - remain calm': Russia tests public warning system
By Guy Faulconbridge
October 4, 20235:07 AM EDTU
pdated 2 days ago
People, including Russian law enforcement officers, walk near St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, March 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia... Acquire Licensing Rights
People, including Russian law enforcement officers, walk near St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, March 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia... Acquire Licensing Rights
Summary
- Russia holds public warning tests
- Russia says: Please remain calm
- United States also to hold public warning test
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia tested its emergency public warning systems across the country on Wednesday, blaring out sirens and interrupting some television and radio broadcasts to warn the population to stay calm.
The test, first conducted in 2020, is part of a new initiative that requires authorities to conduct tests twice a year, starting from Sept. 1.
It comes, though, amid the war in Ukraine that has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
00:12Bodies recovered after deadly strike in Ukraine
At around 10:40 a.m. Moscow time (0740 GMT), sirens wailed across some parts of Russia and stern announcements demanded "Attention everyone!".
"The readiness of warning systems is being checked, please remain calm," speakers said in a stern male Russian voice.
"When you hear the sound of a siren, you need to remain calm and not panic, turn on the TV - any publicly accessible channel or radio - and listen to the information message," the Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
"The warning system is designed to timely convey a signal to the population in the event of a threat or emergency of a natural or man-made nature."
The United States was also conducting a large-scale test of its public warning systems on Wednesday, via U.S. mobile phones and TV and radio stations.
The purpose of the U.S. test is to ensure that the systems "continue to be effective in alerting the public to emergencies, particularly at the national level", the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, said in a press release.
Many other countries have also conducted alert system tests for crises and disasters in recent years.
The Russian test falls on the 91st anniversary of the creation of Russia's civil defence system and follows nationwide educational drills in August on practicing actions and procedures in emergency situations, Russian media reported.
The goal of Russia's tests is to assess the warning systems, the readiness of personnel responsible for launching them and raise public awareness, the emergency ministry said.
Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Alex Richardson
Wednesday, October 04, 2023
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION LAUDATE DEUM
Francis Apostolic Exhortations
[ AR - DE - EN - ES - FR - IT - PL - PT ]
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
LAUDATE DEUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS
1. “Praise God for all his creatures”. This was the message that Saint Francis of Assisi proclaimed by his life, his canticles and all his actions. In this way, he accepted the invitation of the biblical Psalms and reflected the sensitivity of Jesus before the creatures of his Father: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these” (Mt 6:28-29). “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight” (Lk 12:6). How can we not admire this tenderness of Jesus for all the beings that accompany us along the way!
2. Eight years have passed since I published the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, when I wanted to share with all of you, my brothers and sisters of our suffering planet, my heartfelt concerns about the care of our common home. Yet, with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.
3. This is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life. The Bishops of the United States have expressed very well this social meaning of our concern about climate change, which goes beyond a merely ecological approach, because “our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together. Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community. The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world”. [1] In a few words, the Bishops assembled for the Synod for Amazonia said the same thing: “Attacks on nature have consequences for people’s lives”. [2] And to express bluntly that this is no longer a secondary or ideological question, but a drama that harms us all, the African bishops stated that climate change makes manifest “a tragic and striking example of structural sin”. [3]
4. The reflection and information that we can gather from these past eight years allow us to clarify and complete what we were able to state some time ago. For this reason, and because the situation is now even more pressing, I have wished to share these pages with you.
Acting speaker orders Pelosi to vacate Capitol office she held as former speaker
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) also is losing coveted office space at the direction of Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the new speaker pro tempore
Updated October 4, 2023 at 9:43 a.m. EDT|Published October 3, 2023 at 10:02 p.m. EDT
In one of his first moves as speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) on Tuesday ordered former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to vacate her hideaway office in the Capitol by Wednesday.
Although lawmakers who are not in leadership do not usually have offices in the Capitol, Pelosi, as a former speaker, was allowed to keep one.
On Wednesday morning, the office of Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), the former Democratic majority leader, confirmed that he also had been asked by McHenry to vacate his Capitol hideaway.
Both Pelosi and Hoyer still have offices across the street from the Capitol, in one of the complex’s attached buildings. But because of their time serving in House leadership — the two octogenarians led the Democratic Party in the House for two decades — they had been assigned offices in the main Capitol building.
In a statement, Pelosi said “this eviction is a sharp departure from tradition” and noted that when she was speaker, she gave former speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
Pelosi said that office space “doesn’t matter” to her, “but it seems to be important to them.”
“Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time,” Pelosi said. “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
McHenry’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Hoyer’s office declined to comment Wednesday beyond confirming the request to vacate.
As of Tuesday night, it was unclear which office spaces McHenry and McCarthy would occupy, given the speed of McCarthy’s ouster and McHenry’s appointment.
After the vote to remove McCarthy was over, he marched back to the speaker’s office, which is next to the Rotunda. An hour or so later, McHenry made his way there, too. Later that night, McCarthy was seen walking out of the speaker’s office, and the Capitol building, with a box under his arm.
Source
Presentation of the Apostolic Exhortation: "Laudate Deum"
NOTE:
The Vatican in Rome is "6" hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
P.S.
Tuesday, October 03, 2023
Monday, October 02, 2023
At Red Mass, Bishop Esposito encourages those in legal professions to be good stewards of the law as they serve others
OCT 1, 2023
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito gives his homily at the annual Red Mass on Oct. 1, 2023 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in the nation’s capital. The 71st annual Red Mass in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the John Carroll Society. The Red Mass seeks God’s blessings and guidance on those who work in the administration of justice. Bishop Esposito, who has degrees in civil and canon law, serves as the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. (John Carroll Society photo by Christopher Newkumet)
Speaking at the annual Red Mass that seeks God’s blessing and guidance on the administration of justice, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito encouraged those who work in law to be good stewards of their profession and offer generous service to others, like the son from the parable in that day’s gospel who carried out his father’s will by working in the vineyard.
“We are all charged with fostering a good and just civil society. Lawyers and judges and civil servants are entrusted to be good stewards of that portion of the vineyard that is the law and legal system,” Bishop Esposito said Oct. 1 at the 71st annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the John Carroll Society.
Being servants of the rule of law means holding to “the principles of justice, of fairness, of authentic equity even when it is difficult. We will strive to know and to hold to the truth as we understand it… It is the truth, the Scriptures teach us, that sets us free,” said the bishop, who serves as the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Bishop Esposito, the main celebrant and homilist at the Mass, has degrees in both civil and canon law. Before becoming a priest, he earned a law degree in his native country of Argentina, at the Catholic University of Cuyo in San Luis. After being ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2008, then-Father Esposito earned a licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America. He served as a parish priest, in the archdiocese’s Metropolitan Tribunal and as an official with the Vatican’s Dicastery of Bishops before being ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington in February 2023.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington who normally serves as the principal celebrant of the Red Mass in the nation’s capital, sent a greeting to the participants at the Mass, noting that he was in Rome participating in the Oct. 4-29 Synod of Bishops.
An estimated 900 people, including judges, lawyers, diplomats and government officials attended the Mass. Dignitaries attending the 2023 Red Mass included two current justices and one retired member of the U.S. Supreme Court who are Catholic – John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States; Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett; and retired Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Also attending the Mass were Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick, the president of The Catholic University of America; and John J. DeGioia, the president of Georgetown University. The opening procession included deans and professors from law schools at local universities, and the offertory gifts were brought up by law students from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University, the Georgetown University Law Center and the Howard University School of Law.
Speaking at the annual Red Mass that seeks God’s blessing and guidance on the administration of justice, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito encouraged those who work in law to be good stewards of their profession and offer generous service to others, like the son from the parable in that day’s gospel who carried out his father’s will by working in the vineyard.
“We are all charged with fostering a good and just civil society. Lawyers and judges and civil servants are entrusted to be good stewards of that portion of the vineyard that is the law and legal system,” Bishop Esposito said Oct. 1 at the 71st annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the John Carroll Society.
Being servants of the rule of law means holding to “the principles of justice, of fairness, of authentic equity even when it is difficult. We will strive to know and to hold to the truth as we understand it… It is the truth, the Scriptures teach us, that sets us free,” said the bishop, who serves as the Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Bishop Esposito, the main celebrant and homilist at the Mass, has degrees in both civil and canon law. Before becoming a priest, he earned a law degree in his native country of Argentina, at the Catholic University of Cuyo in San Luis. After being ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2008, then-Father Esposito earned a licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America. He served as a parish priest, in the archdiocese’s Metropolitan Tribunal and as an official with the Vatican’s Dicastery of Bishops before being ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington in February 2023.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington who normally serves as the principal celebrant of the Red Mass in the nation’s capital, sent a greeting to the participants at the Mass, noting that he was in Rome participating in the Oct. 4-29 Synod of Bishops.
An estimated 900 people, including judges, lawyers, diplomats and government officials attended the Mass. Dignitaries attending the 2023 Red Mass included two current justices and one retired member of the U.S. Supreme Court who are Catholic – John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States; Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett; and retired Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
Also attending the Mass were Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick, the president of The Catholic University of America; and John J. DeGioia, the president of Georgetown University. The opening procession included deans and professors from law schools at local universities, and the offertory gifts were brought up by law students from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University, the Georgetown University Law Center and the Howard University School of Law.
The John Carroll Society presents The 71st Annual Red Mass | 10/1/2023 |...
The John Carroll Society presents The 71st Annual Red Mass | 10/1/2023 | Washington, D.C., USA
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and The John Carroll Society invite you to join the 71st Annual Red Mass via Livestream on Sunday, October 1, 2023, at 9:00 AM EDT. Bishop Juan Esposito, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, will serve as the Principal Celebrant and Homilist from The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC, USA. Before the Mass, at 8:40 AM EDT, Liz Young, a John Carroll Society Board of Governors Member, will detail the history of the John Carroll Society. Music will then be provided by the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle's Schola Cantorum choir, who will sing throughout the Mass.
View the virtual program here: https://adw.org/wp-content/uploads/si...
You can follow along with today's readings here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/reading...
The Red Mass is celebrated annually at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, traditionally on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, which marks the opening of the Supreme Court’s annual term. Its purpose is to invoke God’s blessings and guidance on those responsible for the administration of justice as well as on all public officials, and is a tradition that dates back many centuries to Rome, Paris and London. The name comes from the color of the vestments worn by the celebrants and the color of fire, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Immediately following the Mass, The John Carroll Society will honor several individuals and law firms for their pro bono support of the Catholic Charities Legal Network.
Sunday, October 01, 2023
FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023
Release Date August 3, 2023
Release Number HQ-23-124
Release Date:
August 3, 2023
Test Messages Will be Sent to All TVs, Radios and Cell Phones
WASHINGTON -- FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) this fall.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.
This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message.
For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.
Important information about the EAS test:The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.
The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.
Release Date:
August 3, 2023
Test Messages Will be Sent to All TVs, Radios and Cell Phones
WASHINGTON -- FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) this fall.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.
This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message.
For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.
Important information about the EAS test:The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.
The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.
Vatican Power Over Governments
October 1, 2023 James Arendt
 |
Download PDF
This is a chapter from a book, AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & THE VATICAN: POPULATION GROWTH & NATIONAL SECURITY By Stephen D. Mumford. It’s recommended to read by Christian J. Pinto of Noise of Thunder Radio. “The Church” referred to in this article is the Church of Rome, not the true Church of Jesus Christ.
It is also true that the Vatican controls governments whenever possible—either completely or partially.
Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, professor of sociology at the University of Montreal, a Catholic, and author of Papal Power: A Study of Vatican Control Over Lay Catholic Elites,9 has studied extensively Vatican efforts to achieve this dominance:
[The] Vatican is, above all, an organizational weapon in the hands of the papacy and other top ecclesiastical officials. Religious ideology has increasingly become subordinated to organizational imperatives. Among these internal and external organizational imperatives, organizational control of lay elites seems to have become a major preoccupation and necessity for Church authorities.10
No matter who the pope is, there are structural and institutional influences that operate because the Vatican is not only a religious institution and a center of political power but also an economic institution with vast financial and real estate holdings, a “fiscal paradise” which ranks alongside Monaco and Hong Kong as a haven for tax evasion.11 In spite of the purely religious image that it endeavors to put for ward, the Vatican is deeply involved in Italian and international politics and finance, promoting conservatism and capitalism while professing a Christian approach to democratic reforms. The Vatican is constantly intervening in Italian politics to protect its interests, including its economic interests. The Vatican is not only a political and a religious entity, it is also an important financial enterprise. . . . Church authorities have let themselves be used by political and economic elites as ideological legitimators of capitalism and conservatism, in return for economic advantage and political favors.12
It is a fact that the Vatican exercises enormous control over governments in predominantly Catholic countries:
From its inception, the Catholic Church has moved gradually from grass-roots democracy and collegial authority to a vast concentration of power and authority in the hands of the hierarchy, and especially in the hands of the pope and his curia. This development has been accompanied by the alliance of these ecclesiastical leaders with the dominant classes and elites in civil and political society.13
“Shogun,” another recent highly successful television mini-series based on a novel, dramatized the development of just such an alliance in an Asian country three centuries ago.
This alliance is truest in developing Catholic countries and developing countries that have substantial Catholic leadership and is less true now than it once was in countries in which the population is well educated, such as France, Italy, Belgium, and The Netherlands:
On the basis of its office charisma, the Church obtains certain privileges from the state, like tax exemptions, special subsidies, and protection from disrespect and even from secular jurisdiction.
In particular, the Church establishes a distinctive way of life for its officials. This requires a specific course of training and hence a regular hierocratic (of or relating to government by ecclesiastics (as priests or prelates) education. Once it has created the latter, it also gains control overlay education and, through it, provides the political authorities with officials and subjects who have been properly brought up in the hierocratic spirit.
From parochial schools to Catholic colleges, from minor seminaries to the pontifical universities in Rome, the Catholic educational system, with few exceptions, was organized under the central control of the Catholic hierarchy and the Vatican. . . . Building on all these educational institutions, with the help of a private taxation system and important investments, the Church developed a far-reaching system of socialization and controls which ultimately functioned to block threats to the established secular system. This ecclesiastical system of controls included, besides the various educational facilities, a whole network of mass media and meeting places for retreats, meetings, and various other kinds of sessions and congresses of groups and organizations, the most important of which have been examined in some of the preceding chapters.
The relative independence of the Catholic Church bureaucracy vis-a-vis political and socioeconomic forces permit it to fulfill better the role of an agent of ideological control which the ruling class assigns to it, and which it willingly assumes because of its links with that ruling class. Conservative Church officials do not have to receive direct orders from businessmen and from politicians to act in accordance with interests, since their own interests coincide with those of the ruling class.14
The Church functions optimally when it teams up with a right-wing dictatorship or single-party government such as commonly seen in Latin America, certain African countries, and the Philippines. The government offers an environment in which the Church can prosper and the Church reciprocates by controlling the masses—the laity—and ensures the status quo for the government. Referring to Italy as an example, Vaillancourt says:
The papacy gives religious legitimization to the socioeconomic and political status quo in Italy in exchange for political and economic advantages. It is itself controlled partly by the remunerative power of the ruling class, and in return it uses various kinds of normative and social control mechanisms to keep the laity loyal to itself and to the socioeconomic and political system that supports it. It helps reproduce the monopoly capitalist system and is in part determined in its own internal control activities by economic and political imperatives.15
The Church controls the masses using techniques that took centuries to develop. These have been classified by Vaillancourt as: (1) ecological power; (2) remunerative power; (3) coercive power; (4) social power; (5) legal power; (6) traditional power; (7) expert power; and (8) charismatic power.
Through its control of large segments of the population, the Church can and does perpetually intimidate governments. Persevering and monolithic (two well-recognized characteristics), the Church is eminently qualified to overcome the resistance of any government on any issue, given sufficient time.
The Church is accurately described as a totalitarian international government:
After the financial power which is practically uncontrolled, the ecclesiastical hierarchy exercises an authoritarian power. The accession to the episcopacy comes through a system of aristocratic co-optation. The people of God, the faithful, have no controlling power. The bishop’s power, once acquired, is nearly absolute, as long as one respects the supreme norms of orthodoxy that the ruling stratum itself has established. Without elections, without parties, without unions, ecclesiastical power rules according to the model of absolute monarchy. . . . In its relationship with political power, ecclesiastical power is in perfect symbiosis, as long as there is no mutual disagreement. . . . The financial basis and the power of the Church condition its doctrine and its ideology.16
Its preoccupation with power also affects the way in which it defines morality. Because the Vatican answers to no one, it can define morality in any way it chooses—and it does. Anything that threatens its power is automatically deemed immoral. For example, legalized abortion seriously threatens its authority and thus its power. It is thus immoral and great attention is given to this immorality. Illegal abortion, on the other hand, does not threaten the authority of the Church, because the government has passed no law confronting the Church’s authority. Its authority over the people is upheld, and the government does not try by legalizing abortion to assume greater authority over the people than held by the Church. For example, Portugal, Argentina, and Uruguay all have illegal abortion rates greater than five hundred abortions per one thousand live births— even higher than the rate seen in the United States. However, the Church pays only lip service to illegal abortion since it does not directly threaten Church authority and thus Church power. “Illegal” abortion is apparently much less “immoral” than “legal” abortion, and little attention is given it by the Church leadership. Abortion thus becomes an issue of power—not morality!
References:
9. Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, Papal Power: A Study of Vatican Control Over Lay Catholic Elites (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980).
10. Ibid, p. 15.
11. Ibid, p. 245.
12. Ibid, p. 283.
13. Ibid, p. 11.
14. Ibid, p. 261.
15. Ibid, p. 284.
16. Ibid, p. 265.
Smoke and mirrors: I’ve been debating Vivek Ramaswamy for 2 years. Here’s how I got past his diversionary tactics
Smoke and mirrors: I’ve been debating Vivek Ramaswamy for 2 years. Here’s how I got past his diversionary tactics
August 31, 2023 at 11:33 AM EDT
Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley at the Republican primary presidential debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.
AL DRAGO—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
As the great illusionist Harry Houdini once said, “The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.” Entrepreneurial huckster Vivek Ramaswamy has graduated from being the court jester of corporate governance to now becoming a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination as some 5% of primary Republican voters indicate they are entertained by his antics.
As one of the few people who have debated Ramaswamy in multiple public appearances and studied the reality of his business resume, I have repeatedly cleared the diversionary smoke he deploys by revealing the reality of his pump-and-dump business playbook. Now Ramaswamy seems to have retrofitted it for politics.
I always knew that Ramaswamy would excel on the debate stage by running circles around his more experienced rivals who are more likely to be grounded by facts and dignity. Attention-seeking is core to the Ramaswamy playbook. He thrives on it–whether that attention is positive or negative.
Two years ago, Ramaswamy, as a Harvard College and Yale Law School alumnus, desperately begged me through mutual friends to debate him on campus in a bid to promote his book attacking business ESG practices. Even then, he indicated a smoldering interest in running for president on the GOP ticket, according to emails I possess, by exploiting his anti-woke branding.
He claimed he was drawn to me based upon three back-to-back pieces I had recently written in defense of corporate leaders who took courageous positions on corporate social impact, showing that doing well for shareholders doesn’t have to come at the expense of doing good for society. In fact, I demonstrated how social harmony was important to fortify the trust needed for free markets to thrive.
He wanted to debate, and I declined. However, I could not avoid him for long as he charmed his way onto cable TV, and a year later, as a CNBC contributor, I had my first on-air live debate with him. The fiery debate ignited viral Twitter reviews. Angry MAGA sympathizers were thrilled by his pugnaciousness–and CEOs were relieved that someone knew how to respond to him. Off stage, he was charming and gracious. In email and Twitter exchanges, he was provocative, trying to bait me into endless fights.
He succeeded in doing so at a different forum a year later–last December, before the National Association of Attorneys General. At the time, he was still honing his debate technique: Make an outrageous claim (the injustice of the SEC following any EPA guidelines on toxic emissions), find an irrelevant point where it could apply (one arcane trace chemical where the rulemaking might need revision), and then recast that into condemnation of all regulation. If you go down that rabbit hole with him, you’re trapped–unless you are an expert chemist who is prepared to give the full context.
Just this weekend, he employed this technique with CNN’s Dana Bash who skillfully led him to label as “a fringe comment” his own shameful attack on a Black congressional leader. When Bash asked him about his claim that scientifically well-documented climate change is a hoax, he said that the same people who warn us of global warming used to warn of a coming ice age–as if they were now contradicting themselves.
Of course, that is nonsense as a future ice age would be one of the results of global warming melting polar ice caps, as NASA has confirmed. Then, Bash had to go into a break, leaving Ramaswamy’s smug gotcha reply–and misinformation–unchallenged.
Last year, Ramaswamy penned an anti-woke screed in the Economist in response to my own Economist article on corporate social impact, while actively pitching media with ridiculous attacks on the 1,000+ companies that exited Russia, which I helped encourage since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as snipping away at me unprovoked on Twitter.
Earlier this year, after I exposed his shady business track record of brazen pump-and-dump schemes, his campaign staff bizarrely threatened me by email, over the phone, and in Twitter taunts, interspersed with provably false claims. Here’s what the facts show about Ramaswamy’s business record, as we earlier exposed, and which Ramaswamy inadvertently confirmed to us, revealing his talents as an illusionist.
Ramaswamy’s tax records show that the first time he ever made big money was when he hyped up an Alzheimer’s drug candidate, Axovant, which had been discarded by other pharmaceutical companies. Axovant, which was 78% owned by Ramaswamy’s corporate holding company Roivant, blew up after failing FDA tests, with the stock crashing from $200 to 40 cents, fleecing thousands of mom-and-pop investors who bought into the hype. Ramaswamy himself profited handsomely (even if the Ramaswamy campaign took a while to acknowledge the truth).
Ramaswamy spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin first told us that “the idea that Vivek made any money on [Axovant’s] failure is a total lie” before finally acknowledging that Ramaswamy did indeed cash out, claiming “[Ramaswamy] and other shareholders were forced to sell a tiny portion of their shares in 2015 to facilitate an outside investor entering Roivant.” The facts are that Ramaswamy’s own tax returns show he opportunely sold out of nearly $40 million of Roivant stock right as Axovant’s hype was peaking. Meanwhile, Roivant was raising $500 million driven largely by Axovant. As Ramaswamy was busy selling his own personal stake, Roivant gradually reduced and diluted its Axovant stake from 78% to just 25%.
Clearly, the facts show Ramaswamy’s words did not match his actions as he was busy cashing out while shamelessly hyping Axovant’s prospects in media interviews–almost resembling a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Some $40 million in personal windfalls is hardly “tiny.” Ramaswamy was not “forced to sell” as that was clearly a personal choice without anyone holding a gun to his head. Amazingly, Ramaswamy’s spokesperson further confirmed to us that Ramaswamy was aware that 99.7% of all drugs tested for Alzheimer’s fail even though he was relentlessly hyping Axovant’s chances of success with nary a mention of that inconvenient truth.
Similarly, in 2020, Ramaswamy reduced his stake in Roivant Sciences, with his tax returns showing he made nearly $200 million in a sweet deal with Sumitomo right before the company’s valuation shrank fivefold after its SPAC-driven public listing. Meanwhile, Ramaswamy’s pharma companies are behaving like patent trolls, persistently suing both Pfizer and Moderna and weirdly claiming ownership of their mRNA COVID vaccines. Ramaswamy’s campaign claims that Ramaswamy has helped develop countless new drugs, but Roivant’s own SEC filings show the company has only ever commercialized one drug, the obscure skincare drug VTAMA.
Ramaswamy’s most lucrative stock investments when he was working for QVT Investments, including Pharmasset and Inhibitex, shared the same underlying attributes of improbably spectacular timing, buying into the stocks ahead of mergers.
It is noteworthy that convicted “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli who first came to prominence by jacking up the price of a life-saving 62-year-old drug frequently used by HIV and malaria patients by more than 5000% before going to prison for securities fraud has called Ramaswamy “a friend” and one of his “biggest investors.” (The presidential hopeful says it was during his tenure as an investment analyst at QVT Financial.)
Ramaswamy’s other business, Strive Asset Management, is even more of an illusion. Its assets under management have stagnated as the company is reduced to begging for consulting contracts from politicos in state governments, an obvious conflict of interest given Ramaswamy’s political activities. Strive has some of the highest fees of any of its peers and is now facing multiple lawsuits from former employees who say they were aggressively pressured into violating securities laws and that Ramaswamy routinely exaggerated his company’s abilities.
Interestingly while he attacks ESG hiring priorities in the name of meritocracy, he happily staffs his enterprise leadership ranks through cronyism (hiring his high-school pal as president of one firm) and nepotism (hiring his brother and mother to help lead another firm).
Claiming he “didn’t have the money” to afford law school, Ramaswamy benefited from a Soros Fellowship. However, his tax returns show he was apparently earning several million dollars as an investment analyst while simultaneously being a full-time student–before reportedly paying a Wikipedia editor to delete any reference to Soros.
Similarly, Ramaswamy has bragged about building a successful multi-million dollar business when he was still an undergraduate in college while moonlighting as a lyric-belting Eminem-knock-off rapper. However, his tax returns show that he apparently sold that company for merely a few thousand dollars.
This opportunistic, dual Ivy-Leaguer with well-educated professional parents was so desperate to be recast as a populist that he sued the Davos World Economic Forum to purge him from the participant lists.
After CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins revealed the falsehood of his denials of disgraceful statements implying 9/11 was an inside job, he called her “a petulant teenager.”
Obviously, he can’t handle the truth. Hopefully, Ramaswamy’s GOP rivals and political reporters can avoid his diversionary maneuvers–and focus on the truth.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at Yale School of Management. He was named “Management Professor of the Year” by Poets & Quants magazine.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
AL DRAGO—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
As the great illusionist Harry Houdini once said, “The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery-loving public thinks you do.” Entrepreneurial huckster Vivek Ramaswamy has graduated from being the court jester of corporate governance to now becoming a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination as some 5% of primary Republican voters indicate they are entertained by his antics.
As one of the few people who have debated Ramaswamy in multiple public appearances and studied the reality of his business resume, I have repeatedly cleared the diversionary smoke he deploys by revealing the reality of his pump-and-dump business playbook. Now Ramaswamy seems to have retrofitted it for politics.
I always knew that Ramaswamy would excel on the debate stage by running circles around his more experienced rivals who are more likely to be grounded by facts and dignity. Attention-seeking is core to the Ramaswamy playbook. He thrives on it–whether that attention is positive or negative.
Two years ago, Ramaswamy, as a Harvard College and Yale Law School alumnus, desperately begged me through mutual friends to debate him on campus in a bid to promote his book attacking business ESG practices. Even then, he indicated a smoldering interest in running for president on the GOP ticket, according to emails I possess, by exploiting his anti-woke branding.
He claimed he was drawn to me based upon three back-to-back pieces I had recently written in defense of corporate leaders who took courageous positions on corporate social impact, showing that doing well for shareholders doesn’t have to come at the expense of doing good for society. In fact, I demonstrated how social harmony was important to fortify the trust needed for free markets to thrive.
He wanted to debate, and I declined. However, I could not avoid him for long as he charmed his way onto cable TV, and a year later, as a CNBC contributor, I had my first on-air live debate with him. The fiery debate ignited viral Twitter reviews. Angry MAGA sympathizers were thrilled by his pugnaciousness–and CEOs were relieved that someone knew how to respond to him. Off stage, he was charming and gracious. In email and Twitter exchanges, he was provocative, trying to bait me into endless fights.
He succeeded in doing so at a different forum a year later–last December, before the National Association of Attorneys General. At the time, he was still honing his debate technique: Make an outrageous claim (the injustice of the SEC following any EPA guidelines on toxic emissions), find an irrelevant point where it could apply (one arcane trace chemical where the rulemaking might need revision), and then recast that into condemnation of all regulation. If you go down that rabbit hole with him, you’re trapped–unless you are an expert chemist who is prepared to give the full context.
Just this weekend, he employed this technique with CNN’s Dana Bash who skillfully led him to label as “a fringe comment” his own shameful attack on a Black congressional leader. When Bash asked him about his claim that scientifically well-documented climate change is a hoax, he said that the same people who warn us of global warming used to warn of a coming ice age–as if they were now contradicting themselves.
Of course, that is nonsense as a future ice age would be one of the results of global warming melting polar ice caps, as NASA has confirmed. Then, Bash had to go into a break, leaving Ramaswamy’s smug gotcha reply–and misinformation–unchallenged.
Last year, Ramaswamy penned an anti-woke screed in the Economist in response to my own Economist article on corporate social impact, while actively pitching media with ridiculous attacks on the 1,000+ companies that exited Russia, which I helped encourage since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as snipping away at me unprovoked on Twitter.
Earlier this year, after I exposed his shady business track record of brazen pump-and-dump schemes, his campaign staff bizarrely threatened me by email, over the phone, and in Twitter taunts, interspersed with provably false claims. Here’s what the facts show about Ramaswamy’s business record, as we earlier exposed, and which Ramaswamy inadvertently confirmed to us, revealing his talents as an illusionist.
Ramaswamy’s tax records show that the first time he ever made big money was when he hyped up an Alzheimer’s drug candidate, Axovant, which had been discarded by other pharmaceutical companies. Axovant, which was 78% owned by Ramaswamy’s corporate holding company Roivant, blew up after failing FDA tests, with the stock crashing from $200 to 40 cents, fleecing thousands of mom-and-pop investors who bought into the hype. Ramaswamy himself profited handsomely (even if the Ramaswamy campaign took a while to acknowledge the truth).
Ramaswamy spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin first told us that “the idea that Vivek made any money on [Axovant’s] failure is a total lie” before finally acknowledging that Ramaswamy did indeed cash out, claiming “[Ramaswamy] and other shareholders were forced to sell a tiny portion of their shares in 2015 to facilitate an outside investor entering Roivant.” The facts are that Ramaswamy’s own tax returns show he opportunely sold out of nearly $40 million of Roivant stock right as Axovant’s hype was peaking. Meanwhile, Roivant was raising $500 million driven largely by Axovant. As Ramaswamy was busy selling his own personal stake, Roivant gradually reduced and diluted its Axovant stake from 78% to just 25%.
Clearly, the facts show Ramaswamy’s words did not match his actions as he was busy cashing out while shamelessly hyping Axovant’s prospects in media interviews–almost resembling a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Some $40 million in personal windfalls is hardly “tiny.” Ramaswamy was not “forced to sell” as that was clearly a personal choice without anyone holding a gun to his head. Amazingly, Ramaswamy’s spokesperson further confirmed to us that Ramaswamy was aware that 99.7% of all drugs tested for Alzheimer’s fail even though he was relentlessly hyping Axovant’s chances of success with nary a mention of that inconvenient truth.
Similarly, in 2020, Ramaswamy reduced his stake in Roivant Sciences, with his tax returns showing he made nearly $200 million in a sweet deal with Sumitomo right before the company’s valuation shrank fivefold after its SPAC-driven public listing. Meanwhile, Ramaswamy’s pharma companies are behaving like patent trolls, persistently suing both Pfizer and Moderna and weirdly claiming ownership of their mRNA COVID vaccines. Ramaswamy’s campaign claims that Ramaswamy has helped develop countless new drugs, but Roivant’s own SEC filings show the company has only ever commercialized one drug, the obscure skincare drug VTAMA.
Ramaswamy’s most lucrative stock investments when he was working for QVT Investments, including Pharmasset and Inhibitex, shared the same underlying attributes of improbably spectacular timing, buying into the stocks ahead of mergers.
It is noteworthy that convicted “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli who first came to prominence by jacking up the price of a life-saving 62-year-old drug frequently used by HIV and malaria patients by more than 5000% before going to prison for securities fraud has called Ramaswamy “a friend” and one of his “biggest investors.” (The presidential hopeful says it was during his tenure as an investment analyst at QVT Financial.)
Ramaswamy’s other business, Strive Asset Management, is even more of an illusion. Its assets under management have stagnated as the company is reduced to begging for consulting contracts from politicos in state governments, an obvious conflict of interest given Ramaswamy’s political activities. Strive has some of the highest fees of any of its peers and is now facing multiple lawsuits from former employees who say they were aggressively pressured into violating securities laws and that Ramaswamy routinely exaggerated his company’s abilities.
Interestingly while he attacks ESG hiring priorities in the name of meritocracy, he happily staffs his enterprise leadership ranks through cronyism (hiring his high-school pal as president of one firm) and nepotism (hiring his brother and mother to help lead another firm).
Claiming he “didn’t have the money” to afford law school, Ramaswamy benefited from a Soros Fellowship. However, his tax returns show he was apparently earning several million dollars as an investment analyst while simultaneously being a full-time student–before reportedly paying a Wikipedia editor to delete any reference to Soros.
Similarly, Ramaswamy has bragged about building a successful multi-million dollar business when he was still an undergraduate in college while moonlighting as a lyric-belting Eminem-knock-off rapper. However, his tax returns show that he apparently sold that company for merely a few thousand dollars.
This opportunistic, dual Ivy-Leaguer with well-educated professional parents was so desperate to be recast as a populist that he sued the Davos World Economic Forum to purge him from the participant lists.
After CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins revealed the falsehood of his denials of disgraceful statements implying 9/11 was an inside job, he called her “a petulant teenager.”
Obviously, he can’t handle the truth. Hopefully, Ramaswamy’s GOP rivals and political reporters can avoid his diversionary maneuvers–and focus on the truth.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at Yale School of Management. He was named “Management Professor of the Year” by Poets & Quants magazine.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)