Day: January 28, 2019

Trump’s only option: Declare a National Emergency, build the wall, and declare victory

First, from William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection, lose the shutdown strategy:

Republicans cannot win government shutdown fights because no matter who caused it or who is unreasonable, the media blames Republicans. As satisfying and justified as a partial government shrinkage and slowdown may be, it’s a losing battle. [Emphasis added, as throughout]

But, but . . . a wall?

First, a wall would work. That is a real problem for those who favor either completely open borders or the current status quo of mass illegal cross-border migration. A wall wouldn’t be a cure all, but the arguments against it are mostly strawmen. It wouldn’t stop 100% of those attempting to enter illegally through the Mexican border. Fine, but it would stop most, and would allow the border patrol to focus on fewer areas. It also would serve as a deterrent. Another argument is that a border wall also would not stop visa overstays. Duh. It’s a border wall meant to keep out people who don’t have even a visa from illegally crossing the border. Let’s beef up tracking people who overstay their visas AND build a wall.

Besides, it’s Trump, stupid. He’s the ultimate target.

Second, and most important politically for Democrats and Republican NeverTrumpers, they see the failure of Trump to build the wall as a way to break Trump politically. It was a core promise. I think most Trump supporters understand that he has been undercut on the issue not only by Democrats but also by Republicans, but that won’t prevent the failure from being used as a wedge issue.

Enabling Democrats?

One argument I’m seeing a lot of from Republicans is that by using the National Emergencies Act for spending, Trump may be enabling a future Democrat president to do the same for climate change or single-payer. Such an argument demonstrates how differently different groups within the GOP see the illegal immigration issue: To establishment types, it’s just another issue; to Trump supporters and many others, it’s an existential crisis over whether we have a country. For the former, it’s a time to be cautious fearing future abuse, for the latter it’s now or never because the current trajectory is disastrous, a Flight 93 political issue. I’m with the latter.

Depends what worries you.

Here’s a list of the 31 national emergencies that have been in effect for years – ABC News

Did you know . . . ?

That presidents since Jimmy Carter have been handing out national emergencies — that are still in effect! — like popcorn, with Carter and now Trump being absolute pikers in the matter?

Of course, you soon will, as soon as NY Times and Washington Post learn about it. But they are slow learners in such matters, so you better not wait.

ABC News, on the other hand, has known it for 18 days!

Old-style Catholic mass in Oak Park, 1993, as in Chicago Tribune by Jim Bowman — Part Two

Replay two, a look at the old mass and hearing out worshipers . . .

Dominus Vobiscum: Notes from a massgoer's underground

Rite And Wrong Church Follows Its Conscience, Not The Orders Of The Archdiocese

Part two:

A `vertical’ approach

The more than 400-year-old Latin Tridentine mass (established by the counter-reformation Council of Trent) is “the true mass,” [said worshiper Miguel Garcia]. “God instituted it one way, and we shouldn’t be changing it. That’s what happened at Vatican II.”

Something else happened, according to organist and choir director John Cooper of Clarendon Hills, an insurance salesman and part-time jazz pianist. It’s not just that the new mass “an atrocity.” The new church “hasn’t worked.” Seminaries are closing and mass attendance is down, thanks to “all this liberty baloney. People need some kind of regimentation,” he said.

As Scott put it, “No condemnation, no obligation. Popes always used to condemn things, but liberals don’t believe in condemning anybody.”

Scott terms Pope John Paul II “a conservative liberal” who is “very weak…

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Old-style Catholic mass in Oak Park, 1993, as in Chicago Tribune by Jim Bowman — in two parts; Part One

Replay

Dominus Vobiscum: Notes from a massgoer's underground

Rite And Wrong Church Follows Its Conscience, Not The Orders Of The Archdiocese

Every time Julie Badon, a 46-year-old Berwyn homemaker and lifelong devout Catholic, goes to church in Oak Park on Sunday, she violates an edict of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.

The mass, in which a priest stands with his back to the people, who pray to God with prayer books and rosaries, is celebrated by a priest of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a Frenchman who rejected the reformist Second Vatican Council as the work of the devil and was excommunicated for ordaining bishops on his own.

For Julie Badon and hundreds of other worshipers at Our Lady Immaculate, 410 W. Washington Blvd., ostracism by her church is not too high a price to pay for the consolations of the pre-Vatican II mass and the devotion it inspires.

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