Pope Francis to children: “All religions are paths to reach God … some are Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christians; they are different ways to God.”
Saint Cyprian of Carthage (200-258), an early Church Father, instructs us: ex Ecclesiam nulla salus; outside the Church there is no salvation, which is Church dogma, an immutable divine truth. Apparently Francis feels differently. Interestingly, he omitted the Jews from his list, presumably because he knows many would be bemused at best, deeply offended at worst, by such a remark. Bickerstaff also wonders how an imam might react to it. Not positively, he suspects.
Look for some furious backpeddling soon from the Vatican–again.
CNN — The 14-year-old shooter who confessed to killing four people last week at Apalachee High School in Georgia was allowed to leave his classroom with his belongings before returning with [an AR-15] in his backpack, the state Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
Thanks to Charles Glasser of Instapundit for breaking this fascinating account. He kindly provides an explanatory illustration used by know-nothing CNN reporters, and their similarly handicapped peers in government, when drafting stories on the subject of guns.
The pollsters are reporting Kamala Harris’ lead in the presidential race is slowly but steadily declining, after an initial jump following the Democratic National Convention. This has many Donald Trump supporters hopeful he may pull off a victory. Meanwhile, Kamala supporters, especially major media, are beginning to show signs of concern, as witness their finally acknowledging her most obvious weaknesses. Perhaps, they admit, their adored Kamala wasn’t the best choice the DNC could have made, which the voters of course had no say in.
The candidate and her running mate, “Tampon Tim” Walz on the other hand, are showing little concern over their declining poll numbers and neither is the cadre of advisors who will assume the powers of the presidency when their two puppets “win.” Thereafter they will finish the job, so ably begun in hopeless Joe Biden’s administration, of transforming the United States of America into a socialist republic.
Your Tatler deliberately uses the conjunction “when,” instead of the modal verb “should,” for he is increasingly pessimistic the Democrats, when saying they will win the upcoming election, are not merely expressing a desire, but in a rare moment of truth are informing us of a fact; the election is already sewn up. Via ballot box stuffing, fabricating the count by election officials and a host of other corrupt procedures, particularly imported voters, they likely have or will have enough votes to widely outnumber those of Donald Trump, however large the number. They learned their lesson in 2020 when insufficient numbers of votes for the inept Joe Biden were created, thus permitting the possibility of doubt, and the spawning of protests. They will not allow that to happen again.
Donald Trump seems aware of the Democrat manipulations when he tells supporters the number of votes he receives must be “too big to rig.” Unfortunately, the Dems are onto his admonition and are acting accordingly, not merely by relying on receiving more genuine votes than Trump, which is increasingly unlikely, but by manufacturing and stockpiling as many votes necessary to ensure their margin of “victory” is such a number, any protests may be safely dismissed by a government they own as only the complaints of cranks and malcontents. They also have enough Trump-hating friends in the judiciary who will ignore civil procedure and thwart possible legal actions.
It looks more and more as if the Democrats are emulating tactics of the former Soviet Union. No doubt more is to come.
From Times News World, India (the only major news organization to report on this so far):
Social media claims suggest that members of the Hells Angels are heading to Aurora, Colorado, to confront Venezuelan gangs amid concerns about gang activity. This follows the release of a surveillance video showing armed men allegedly “taking over” an apartment building, identified as the Edge at the Lowry, linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
If the story is true, and the Angels’ intention is to dispatch the illegal alien gang members from the apartment building they took over (it seems the Aurora police are too timid to do it themselves), then the Tren de Aragua doesn’t stand a chance against the bikers. Bickerstaff’s only concern is Aurora’s police will suddenly find its misplaced courage and arrest the Angels’, no doubt at the behest of the local district attorney, for violating the Venezuelan gang members’ “civil rights” or other dangerous crimes, whatever is expedient.
From the BBC comes the most heartbreaking and sickening story this blogger has beheld.
A British woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a global monkey torture network.
Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster, was a participant in a private onCould that be a look of remorse on these horrible peoples’ faces? Perhaps, but only because they were caught.line group that was paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.
The convictions follow a year-long investigation by the BBC Eye team.
They went undercover in the groups to expose the existence of the sadistic global network.
The BBC goes into some detail but cautions: “Warning – this story contains distressing content.” That isn’t the half of it and if you manage to get through it you will be thoroughly shaken and wonder, as your Tatler did, how human beings can be so heartless and sadistic to inflict such indescribable cruelty on innocent creatures like monkeys.
Not surprisingly, drugs played a big part. The monsters would load up on every illicit drug imaginable, then “enjoy” videos of the torture. The BBC doesn’t say, but it seems obvious they would pleasure themselves while taking in the horrors.
It should come as no surprise though, in an age where there are no behavioral taboos remaining, the sickos simply took perversion a step or two lower. In time the lowlifes of our world will find even lower ways to stimulate their addled and twisted minds.
When those depraved killers take their place in hell, may our God let them suffer for eternity the same cruelties they subjected those poor creatures to on earth.
An astonishing story in the New York Post reports a whistleblower with the Secret Service has revealed agents assigned to Donald Trump for the July 24th rally at which he was shot, were “specifically told by headquarters in Washington not to request any additional security for the outdoor rally.” Moreover, the service repeatedly turned down offers by local police to provide drone service, which would have exposed Trump’s attempted assassin in a trice.
The Secret Service’s actions can only be described as willful neglect. Did the order orignate from someone high up in the Biden administration? We can only speculate, but while it may be over the top believing there are people in the Biden administration who would like to see Trump assassinated, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to believe they would not be overly saddended if he were.
Nor does it seem out of bounds believing, were Vice President Harris presiding at the ribbon cutting ceremony of a transgender counseling center for adolescents, there would be Secret Service agents at the event as far as the eye can see. And it also doesn’t seem out of bounds believing someone in this hate-filled administration would object to increasing the likelihood of someone bumping off Donald Trump.
Your Tatler tries to avoid providing links to social media TikTok, as it is a Chinese enterprise. Regular readers of this blog are well aware of our antipathy toward them and the corrupt, oppressive government they collude with.
That apologia being cheerfully ignored for the nonce, do watch what is comedy gold: Vice President Kamala Harris explaining collective bargaining to her adoring fans.
It is remarkable this life-long public servant [sic] has no knowledge of such a basic concept of modern labor negotiating. Your Tatler looks forward next to our possible future president tackling the subjects of mediation, binding arbitration and contracts.
The lovely Island of Nantucket, the “Gray Lady,” was a whaling port in the 19th-Century, slowly evolving after the whaling had ended into a quiet, low-keyed resort, attracting the sort of people Cleveland Amory ably and urbanely described in his classic volume, The Proper Bostonians, referring to an elite known as Boston Brahmins. There were also a few habitués from old New York families, permitted on the island if they promised to behave and not talk too much about money. This demographic continued into the late eighties-early nineties, when the island underwent another transformation, becoming more like Martha’s Vineyard, where many consider a billion dollars chump change and put up the kind of huge, tasteless houses one might expect of them.
Decades ago Bickerstaff ferried across Nantucket Sound to escape the hurly-burly of New York. During his stay he did what many visitors do and stopped by the well-known and charming Murray’s Toggery Shop. There he bought a signature item, a pair of “Nantucket Reds,” which not only looked good but, to be honest, were only worn by certain people in the know, lending them a certain cachet.
That all changed with the publication of a ghastly book by a ghastlier person: The Preppy Handbook by Lisa “Bunny” Bernbach, who greatly popularized Reds, sending sales soaring and undoubtedly providing the Murray family with a much tidier income.
Regardless of their huge popularization, Bickerstaff continued wearing his Reds at dressy and not so dressy events, until they finally wore out. He never considered replacing them, especially after jumping ship to Taos. That is, until last week, when he shrugged his shoulders, muttered “what the hell,” and ordered a new pair of Reds from Murray’s.
They arrived soon and the Tatler was delighted with them, as they looked identical to his old ones from long ago. One thing he was curious to know was, were these lovely Reds still made on-island, as his original pair were. Alas, they were not only not made on-island, these essential New England artifacts are now made in China.
Bickerstaff can understand if, owing to their popularity, and no doubt having difficulty in these times finding skilled needle workers, and the like, especially among young people wanting to learn a trade, the Murrays had to go off-island. But in China, where the factories use forced labor, prisoners of war, and even children to man their sweatshops? In addition, there’s the god-awful Chinese government to consider, which supports some of the worst people on earth, and some of America’s worst enemies.
Hey Murrays, (they still own the company), why, in your search for cheap labor did you not consider other countries in the Far East, such as Bangladesh, India, Timor Leste, Kazakhstan, Nepal and others, where democracy and human rights are respected, and labor is affordable? Why patronize such a cruel and easily bought dictatorship as China?
Your Tatler doubts he will ever wear his beautiful Nantucket Reds, there is too much of a corrupt stench emanating from them. He will also do his best to spread the word on the sad, selling-out by the Murray family. You think they would know better. For shame.
ADDENDUM: after criticising Murray’s Toggery Shop in an email, your Tatler received this reply from a representative:
As you probably realize, American made products have a higher price point and we here at Murray’s strive to provide options for all of our customers, some of whom may want to save some money.
Hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Kate Murray’s Toggery Shop
So you can buy American if you’re willing to pay a substantial premium, separate and unequal, one could say. Fair enough we suppose, but there’s no explanation why preppies on a budget must buy Chinese.
It’s safe to say that other than the validity of the sacraments and church teachings, there is little or nothing that your Tatler is in agreement with Pope Francis. Until now. In an excellent piece by Christopher J. Scalia of the National Review, he writes on the sorry state of reading in this country, that the percentage of those who read literature and poetry regularly has been sharply declining the last several years.
Scalia, when confessing his own decline in book reading, which Bickerstaff alas shares, attributes the decline, correctly, Bickerstaff thinks, to increased reading on the Internet; that there is more and more decent reading found on it and that takes away from our more traditional reading.
Scalia has a surprising ally, Pope Francis. In a Papal letter released on August 4th, His Holiness writes,
Often during periods of boredom on holiday, in the heat and quiet of some deserted neighbourhood, finding a good book to read can provide an oasis that keeps us from other choices that are less wholesome. Likewise, in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind.
Quite so, and His Holiness presents many other good arguments for reading good literature, making it worthwhile to read the whole Papal letter.
So salve, your Holiness. Bickerstaff takes back all the mean things he has said about you–today, anyway.
THE TAOS TATLER. 