Viganò: America is in midst of ‘colossal electoral fraud'
While this does not represent the Catholic mainstream it does, unfortunately, represent a strong current. It also highlights one possibly intractable obsticle to persuading Trump voters that Biden's election is in fact legitimate.
Comments on the last thread.
ReplyDeleteI came across the video at the top of the thread by accident, if there is such a thing as accident. Couldn't bear to read the comments, but I did read a few of the comments on a video providing a link to this one. They made me feel sad and quite alarmed because the commenters were totally sincere in their belief that Trump is God's chosen one, meaning voting for him equals doing the will of God, where as Biden is the instrument of the devil, if not indeed the devil incarnate. The comments I read said nothing malicious about Biden, they merely asserted that it is God's will for Trump to be reelected and that the commenter would pray the Rosary in the confident belief that Our Lady (who is incidentally the patroness of the United States) would bring about Trump's reelection. Simple, sincere, totally wrongheaded faith of this kind is difficult to combat.
DeleteYeah, I didn’t even make it halfway through it. Let them pray the Rosary. Fortunately, intent of this sort will never be honoured. What we choose either turns us toward God/Love/Good or away from God/Love/Good. This is what comes of people thinking they are working for God when all they are about is doing God’s work (equating themselves with God). As they say, “The road to hell is paved with good* intentions.”
* (and horribly misguided)
How anyone would think that a loving God would choose the likes of DT to be a chosen one, just reveals how corrupted their view of God really is.
Thanks for getting a post up, Cat.
DeleteI was late to the party. But I’m starting to get ahead of it again. 🙂
Just after encountering your post, Cat, I came across a post by Kenneth Tanner which speaks so well about this situation that I am going to post it here.
DeleteApologies to folks here who aren’t into the God thing. Just wanted to offer a truly Christian perspective to counter that weird, warped, pseudo-christian, gnostic claptrap. This is especially for you, Catreona.
Kenneth Tanner:
Today’s parable of the ten virgins is about trusting the character of God, whether you have oil in your damn torch or not. And, in the end, we can only trust a person we actually know.
“I knew you were a harsh man,” says the servant who buried the talent in the parable that follows. Really? You knew that about me...did you?
This wedding story is not about your character; it’s about God’s character, about how your encounters (or lack of encounters) with God cause you to sketch, or fail to capture, his actual likeness.
And how do you get to know the character of God?
We can encounter God in the poor and the prisoner and the refugee, in the naked, the hungry, and the thirsty of this world.
We can ingest the character of God in bread and wine. We can commune with the character of God by dwelling in the Scriptures.
We can worship with the body of Christ as she gathers and encounter God as he inhabits her praises.
And, as mystics like Archbishop Lazar tell us, we can encounter God in the secret place of the heart.
And when this genuine encounter happens you will never again mistake God for the cruel taskmaster or the Wizard of Oz or the despotic king or the snake oil salesman or the abusive husband or the egomaniacal control freak.
You will never leave to go looking to buy what is already yours by the loving initiative of God.
You will remain and go out to meet him, even with a guttering torch, perhaps navigating the uneven and perilous ground by the light from the lantern of someone wiser, confident that when the Bridegroom arrives he will surely escort you into the wedding feast...but not all of you.
The fire of his embrace will burn everything from you that is not of love. Only the person God intended from the moment he thought of you will remain. And there will be indescribable joy.
This story is a warning about a judgment that heals but does not destroy, that transfigures but does not annihilate, because Love gladly bears the judgment for all humans in himself.
You never have to wander away, anxious about having enough. This God has everything and gives us everything in himself.
And you can trust this God, now and in the hour of your death.
Just to add, Cat, that author (and clergy spouse) Lucy Maud Montgomery wondered if, when the soul stands before God and the chaff of that person is burned away, will there be enough left of that soul to be recognisable?
Something I read this week:
Delete“Live your life in such a way that the entire planet would not dance in the streets when you lose your job.”
That fellow is quite a piece of work, all right.
DeleteRomney and Murkowski have called Biden to congratulate him. ONLY those two GOP Senators.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/11/09/joe-biden-gop-republican-senators-congratulate-election-win-brown-nr-vpx.cnn
I left LOTS of posts on the last thread!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I was especially taken with your post on the last thread about Four Seasons.
Pure Poetry!
Heather Cox Richardson’s post l tonight:
ReplyDeletehttps://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-8-2020?r=a0zry&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy
No frost in our yard this morning, but the neighbor's roof (across the street, north-facing) was covered with frost when I got up. The river bottom was filled with mist/fog, which disappeared almost as soon as the sun struck it.
ReplyDeletelistener--at least one response in the appropriate place(s) on yesterday's thread.
Wouldyoubelieve it was 64ºF here in NW Vermont today?
DeleteIf you say so; is that unusual?
DeleteYes. It was also unusually warm here today. forecast high was 77 degs. Donno if we made the forecast, but it was warm.
DeleteNormal in November would be anything between 50 and 30.
DeleteThe greatest gift Alex Trebek left us - Click
ReplyDeleteTrump campaign planning messaging blitz to fuel unsupported election questions - Click
ReplyDeleteI actually want you to see a video, "An online movement has these Trump supporters convinced the election was stolen." If it's not the one that starts playing when the page loads, look for it in the bar beneath the video port. Sorry, I couldn't work out how to link to the video itself.
The point is, just like the religious fanatics who think Trump is God's chosen instrument, the "Stop the Steel" demonstrators sincerely and profoundly believe that Trump won the election. We can't dismiss either group as ignorant trailer trash. The fact is, nearly half the electorate voted for Trump. Biden needs to reach at least some of them. But, as with the faith based group, how do you combat such deeply held convictions? These facets of Biden's problem are real and immediate. CNN is running an ad which I think is narrated by the VP Elect, urging unity. It's very nice but my suspicion is that Fox News is not running it, and they're the network that really needs to. The Pres. Elect and his team are going to have to do more than run a lovely, feel good ad about everybody trusting each other on networks whose viewers largely get it already. I have no idea what more they can do, but they have to do something, since Trump is clearly the root of the problem, not the solution.
Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska: Here’s why these states have not yet had a winner declared in the presidential election. The AP has also not called IL-14, where the first-term Democratic incumbent now leads by ~1150 votes. (She trailed by ~600 on Wednesday.)
ReplyDeleteVT:2415(+23)
ReplyDelete59 deaths (3days)
425 active cases
Recovered 1931 (+8)
In Hospital 8(+6) 4 in ICU
Tests 194,794 (+412)
My Mini is home! 🚗
ReplyDeleteThe tow truck guys who cut my brake line have paid the bill,
and I am so glad to have this chapter behind me.
What caused the snow tire to fail?
DeleteNot entirely sure. Mini Service said it seemed a pothole did some damage. I never felt one, and the tire was knit 2 days old. The belt inside it broke and there was a bulge in the tire wall.
DeleteAnyway, $120 later I have another new tire. They only charged me for the tire, not the labour. So I baked the team a double batch of brownies. The tow truck guy got to pay $243.75 for Mini to fix my brake line.
* knit = only
DeleteMum is very ill. As far as we can tell, she had a stroke earlier this evening. Please keep her in your prayers.
ReplyDeleteGood Heavens. Let us hope for the best.
DeleteKeeping your family in my thoughts, Cat, and hoping for the best.
DeleteVery much best wishes to her and the entire family.
DeleteThanks, guys. She rallied and is now sleeping. Hoping she'll be stronger in the morning.
DeleteMy goodness! Prayers ensuing, Catreona...!! 🙏💛
DeleteI hope Mom was checked out at the hospital or by her doctor. There are things they can do to help if they do them soon enough.
Hoping so much that she will be okay. Sending love. ❤️
Krugman: What’s Not the Matter With Georgia? [Click] “A Democratic win offers hope — but also a warning.” It occurs to me to wonder if Stacey Abrams will get a prominent position in the Biden administration; and if so, which one?
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden can only pick one running mate. Here’s where other contenders could end up in his administration [Click] Speculation from three months ago, but still worth reading, I think. Stacey Abrams for AG, or at least head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division? Nice idea. . .
The Conservative Movement Needs a Reckoning [Click]
See that blue belt around California’s midsection? That’s us, Fresno County [Click] “Conservative compared to the Bay Area and Los Angeles? Absolutely.But compared to where we were 20 or 30 years ago? Not even close. So next time you flip on the radio and hear someone describe Fresno as a red pool in a blue sea, remember it’s based more on history and wishful thinking than cold, hard votes.”
OHIO; COVID cases 254,974 and 5,524 deaths.
ReplyDelete2.17%
Delete99% of Green New Deal Co-Sponsors Won Their Races This Cycle: Analysis [Click] Sounds about right to me, it does.
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
DeleteBiden transition threatens legal action on GSA decision [Click]
ReplyDeleteThe New Yorker interviews Nate Cohn on the polling mishaps in the 2020 election. [Click] His biggest surprise: “The Hispanic vote.” The second surprise: “the white, rural, Midwestern vote.”
Top Justice Department Official Quits [Click]
Trump is attempting a coup in plain sight. [Click] “How do we cover it when it’s happening here?”
To the first headline: As they should. Not only do the Biden admin. elect need that box checked, so to speak, but let the Trump admin. get a little of its own medicine. My guess is they'll find, unlike their election-related litigation, such a suit would not be considered frivolous.
DeleteI was just reading these very articles, Alan!
DeleteGood for Pilger. He shows some credibility.
Tonight on CNN, former CIA Director John Brennan suggested that it's time for the 25th Amendment.
Getting back to the theme of this thread, I looked up Vigano on Wikipedia and found THIS. [Click] Yep, quite a piece of work, he is. Or to put it another way, he's a farking nut case.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, you understand.
DeleteI love that phrase "with all due respect." It's right up there with the British use of "lovely" or the Scottish use of "Fantastic!"
DeleteToday at the beginning of his daily mini concert, Neil Sedaka congratulated the President and Vice President Elect. As happened four years ago when Engelbert congratulated Trump, a number of fans ran the gamut from irritated to furious enough to stomp off. The difference today was that nearly all the angry comments I read included this "The election isn't decided yet" nonsense. From this I gather it is more widespread than I initially thought.
ReplyDeleteY'know, all this noise about fraud can only go so far. Without evidence, it's not going to fly. We are badly divided, because of four years of chaos and lies. People will not change as a group. They can only change individually.
DeleteBiden is trying to unite the nation. I understand that it's dangerous for our citizenry to be this polarised. I don't envy anyone the job. But I am NOT happy with the idea of him putting Republicans in his cabinet. At very least, he needs to hold their roles hostage until the Senate confirms all his Dem and Progressive picks.
It feels like he's bending over backwards to placate them. All they're going to do is laugh.
It might be more effective to get their attention, like the proverbial mule. Ramming through a complete administration during a congressional recess imposed on the Senate ought to do. If not, there are other candidates.
DeleteI think the Senate should be in recess, or at least McConnell. Send him out for recess. I'm angry with Kentucky for imposing him on us again!!!
DeleteWhere are the alien abductions when we need them?
DeleteCANZUK [Click] The proposed international union you have probably never heard of. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlaska is supposed to report its results tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThe nearly 50% we've been waiting on were mail-in ballots.