Pope Francis Should Heed The Advice Of The Late, Great Yogi Berra

The Pope told Obama he's not happy about the abortion culture, so Obama told the Pope he's pissed about the Crusades...WH Press Secretary Tweet (satire)

Full disclosure. I'm a Roman Catholic, albeit not a good practicing Catholic (I'm still practicing at being a better one.) I'm also a former member of a religious order. However, I won't disclose which one. I don't want to embarrass them.

As I write this, Pope Francis concluded his address to Congress. He's also taking a lot of heat from conservatives for some of his positions especially on climate change, capitalism and immigration. And while I agree with some of those critics, I'm more disappointed at his failure to focus more on the genocide of Christians around the globe and abortion. (To be fair, he did mention abortion briefly in his remarks at St. Mathew's yesterday as well as the importance of families and the sanctity of life in his speech today.) Nevertheless, in my opinion, his speech to Congress today would have sent a more powerful message if he took advantage of highlighting both issues more. In addition, I was also disappointed he didn't meet with the dissidents of the Cuban regime, especially those imprisoned. After all, when he visits Philadelphia this weekend, a prison visitation is on his agenda.

If you recall, after he was elected Pope, he quickly became a hero to progressives. He appeared in Rolling Stone (on the cover too) and the Advocate, a gay publication, featured Pope Francis as their "Person of the Year." This was shortly after he said, "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge." Initially, one could understand their euphoria. But what they didn't understand was that this Pope had no intention of changing Church doctrine when it came to same-sex marriage and even abortion. Church doctrine in both areas remains as it has been.

Regarding his position on global warming, he said it's one of the major problems facing the poor. Unfortunately, it's not. (The earth has cooled and warmed for billions of years and climate changes minute by minute.) Even as polls continue to show that global warming comes in last place in most rankings---even among the poor---it's this warped ideology of progressives and socialists that has created a larger poor class of people (while also shrinking the middle class). Not only have we seen this occur in most South American Socialist regimes, but we've even seen this phenomena result from the policies of our own government in the last seven years. The fact is economic growth results in the betterment of human lives and drives many poor out of poverty. We've seen this occur in many parts of the globe as in many former Eastern European nations after they unshackled themselves from Communism two decades ago.

The Catholic Church has always focused on the poor. It's also one of the reasons the Church has also been directly involved with both legal and illegal immigrant populations. That's not going to change. It's always been one of its primary missions. In many respects, it should surprise no one. In addition, Pope Francis and his liberal ideology were formed by the socio-economic environment of Argentina, the country of his birth and his vocation as a priest. During the mid-1970's to the mid-1980's,  Argentina was involved in what was known as the Dirty War. In that war, the right-wing military and security forces fought against left-wing guerrilla groups including Marxist groups. Much of this had to have an impact on his view of capitalism and the plight of poor people.

I have no doubt Pope Francis is a good man with good intentions. He has a lot of charm and is overflowing with compassion. However, like many of his critics, I believe some of his priorities are skewed. And as he continues on his journey through parts of our nation, I hope he heeds the advice of the late Yogi Berra: "You can observe a lot just by watching."

Dr. Ben Carson Shows It Takes Courage To Be Politically Incorrect

Ben Carson said he wouldn't approve a Muslim as president. Obama reacted with extreme anger, until he was reminded he's a Christian...WH Press Secretary (satire)

It's now clear that the progressive media and critics of Ben Carson are trying their hardest to portray the good doctor as an anti-Muslim bigot. Earlier this week, Carson said he wouldn't advocate to put a Muslim in charge of the nation. But what's failed to be reported---again, another example of the media's sins of omission---is that Carson was referring to those who support theocracies. Islam, based on Sharia Law, is incompatible with our Constitution. You don't have to take my word for it. Sam Adams, a Founding Father, said the same thing---theocracies co-opt civil governance. Instead, they replace it with theocratic fascism. Moreover, in a follow-up interview, Dr. Carson also said he would be against Christian theocracy.

To all of Dr. Carson's critics, I would ask them: where would the civil rights movement be today if it wasn't for Dr. King's political INCORRECTNESS? After all, segregation was considered politically correct at the time in many parts of our nation. In fact, in 1930's Germany, it became politically correct to bash Jews. Opposition by some to that warped ideology expressed more courage in their political incorrectness.

Those advocating that someone holding strict Islamic principles would be qualified to be president neglect to understand that type of political correctness limits and retrains freedom and liberty. All one has to do is witness how Islamists treat gays and women to illustrate just two examples. Charles Heston once described political correctness as tyranny with manners. He was generally correct with one exception. Islamists are devoid of any manners as we've seen with ISIS and Boko Haram in just the last two years.  

I can't predict whether Dr. Carson will survive this PC onslaught. But I do know this. He's absolutely correct. History is replete with evidence supporting his contention.

Sidebar:

For those who like to throw the Islamophobia card on the table (like the Hamas front group CAIR), according to the latest FBI hate crime stats, 59.2% of religious-based hate crimes were toward Jews. And against Muslims? 14.2%. 

The Truth & Facts Have Never Been Progressive Values

"The shadow of crisis has passed." Pres. Obama in his 2015 State of the Union Address

It's undeniable that the first impulse of most progressives is to reach for a lie. The most recent examples have been illustrated by almost every word uttered by Hillary Clinton and her campaign. Just this week, news erupted regarding Trump not correcting some idiot at a campaign event who said Obama is a Muslim. Clinton jumped on the issue and called it appalling. In Clinton's 2008 campaign against Obama, she said Obama was not a Muslim "as far as I know." In fact, it was The Telegraph (UK) that reported the lie that Obama was not born in the U.S. was fueled by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008. In the last Republican debate, it was left to Mike Huckabee to remind viewers "None of us on this stage are under investigation by the FBI." 

It wasn't that long ago when I warned New Yorkers that the election of Mayor de Blasio would plunge NYC into progressive hell. It didn't take long. Homelessness is now becoming an epidemic on NYC streets. This past weekend alone, seven people were killed. Within one year, the city's weekly murder rate quadrupled. And just today, it was reported that 75% of the city's high school students failed math. Many New Yorkers now don't even feel safe in Central Park due to an alarming rise in crime.

Perhaps one of the most egregious examples of both political progressives and their enablers in the media followed the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in August of 2014. It was both the politicians and media who perpetuated the "Hands-Up/Don't Shoot" myth (lie) surrounding the shooting. This even continued after Darren Wilson was cleared of all charges by the U.S. Justice Department---a department headed by Eric Holder. The advancement of the myth was so blatant that even 4 CNN hosts expressed their own bias by making the "Hand-Up/Don't Shoot" gesture on their news broadcast. We're watching some of the same phenomena unfold with the Black Lives Matter crowd.

We also witnessed the flagrant sins of omission by the media when it came to the conflict between Israel and Hamas two years ago. These sins and lies even extended to ObamaCare, the absence of national reporting regarding Dr. Gosnell's crimes and their failure to initially report on the IRS targeting of conservative groups. And more recently, we've be subject to conspicuous lies regarding the Iran Deal. Because of these and countless other examples (how can we forget Dan Rather's false hit piece on George W. Bush and his military experience), I was inclined to write not long ago that even Joesph Goebbels---The Nazi propaganda minister--- would be proud of the press today. 

While the malfeasance of today's press is disturbing, it's apparent they really don't care as long as they make their news fit their own political agenda. The behavior of the progressive political class is equally disturbing because it's dangerous as well. Remember, as stated at the beginning of this piece, it was Mr. Obama who proclaimed, "The shadow of crisis has passed." 

Postscript:

Today The New York Post reported murder, rape and robbery are on the rise in NYC. And homelessness is on the rise.