Not only that, he’s a juggler as too:

Dr. Charles Camosy, a theology professor at Fordham University and former board member of Democrats for Life of America [which is where the juggling would come in, not to mention
prestigitation], praised Biden for attending Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral on Wednesday morning, along with congressional leaders.

The heart?

Biden’s heart, Camosy said, “is a Catholic one and a deeply Catholic one at that. His decision to pray with Leader McConnell before being inaugurated shows a deep commitment to the kinds of values we would expect from a son of the Church.” [Idea
being if you’re willing to pray with McConnell, you got it,
man.]

Had advice for us:

Catholics, Camosy said, should seek to work with Biden on areas of agreement and hold him accountable [well!] when his public policies conflict with the teachings of the Church–including on Biden’s support for taxpayer-funded abortion.

But keep in mind . . . the heart!

“Happily, he [Biden] believes in his Catholic heart that abortion is always wrong,” Camosy said. “This is a foundation on which to build for changing his mind about public policy.” [Hey, you got the votes, you got the change.]

But whatever happens . . .

“There is common ground to be had on abortion, and we owe it to prenatal children and their mothers to seek to find it. No pro-lifer should allow their understandable anger and frustration to lead them to put castigation and vitriol before taking the chance to save lives,” Camosy said.

Agreed. Let us all agree: No castigation and vitriol. It’s a fall-back position for his colleagues.

Biden Shuts Down Keystone, Kills 11,000 Jobs

What a way to start his presidency (Fox Business).

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “disappointed” but realizes this is part of what progressives demand in the name of climate change (NY Post).

From the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Biden is sending an early signal that the climate panic will trump nearly everything else in his Administration. The unstated but operative message from the Keystone kill is that he will use regulation and permitting to do the dirty work (WSJ).

Joe likes his finger in sooo many pies . . .

Reading these bishops’ almost all approving responses to the letter written to Biden by Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles, elected head of their conference, and noting the angry disapproval of it by Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, who decried the lack of discussion beforehand, I can only conclude that the cardinal wanted a statement by committee.

He wanted in on it, obviously, and a chance to tone it down, to “craft” it (his interesting word) so as to . . . what? Be less direct?

Pope and bishops not on same pages. Tangled web here.

The U.S. bishops’ conference held back a statement on incoming President Joe Biden Wednesday morning, after officials from the Vatican Secretariat of State intervened before the statement could be released.

The statement, from conference president Archbishop Jose Gomez, took uncompromising positions on abortion, gender, and religious liberty, warning that the Biden administration’s policy agenda would advance “moral evils” on several fronts.

Joe Biden is sworn in for his second term as vice president in 2009. Credit: United States Navy.
“[A]s pastors, the nation’s bishops are given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel’s truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture,” Archbishop Jose Gomez wrote in a statement that was expected to be released at 9:00 am Jan. 20.

“So, I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences,” Gomez added.

more more here on how bishops and Vatican have collided in re: Biden and abortion . . .

On the attack, Francis’ man in Chicago. Via Twitter! “Scathing attack.”

On Archbishop Gomez of LA, elected by his fellow bishops as president of the U.S. conference of same, who wrote the statement, which Cupich calls “ill-considered.”

Cupich is a tiger here and obviously was furious about the Gomez letter.

The vitamin D solution gets no traction.

Early in the pandemic, “trust the science!” could actually be used in a debate without attracting derisive laughter. But as the flip-flops, mistakes and, yes, lies have accumulated, a consensus seems to be forming that the health care authorities are no more trustworthy than the people running Congress or the Fed.

For proof, let’s start with vitamin D, which sure seems to lessen the severity of coronavirus infections. As the chart below illustrates (couldn’t find the source, but google “covid vitamin D” and you’ll find lots of studies that track with this data), people with higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream tend to experience covid-19 as a non-event while people low levels found the infection life-threatening.

There are obvious questions about causality here, so calling vitamin D a “cure” is going way too far. But if it has even a marginal effect – and the data suggest considerably more — a rational government would, you’d think, be handing out vitamin D like Halloween candy. In fact, since we’re mandating/prohibiting all kinds of other behaviors, we might expect vitamin D consumption to be required along with masks and social distancing.

Even covid-czar Anthony Fauci recently said: “If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. So I would not mind recommending — and I do it myself — taking vitamin D supplements.”

So why aren’t family-sized bottles of vitamin D arriving in the mail from the CDC? A cynic might wonder if the fact that Big Pharma doesn’t make much money from cheap, widely available supplements plays a role in the government’s apparent lack of interest.

Makes a guy wonder.

Yes, Frances, there is a Holy Father, but he doesn’t think like pro-lifers.

The Biden era begins.

They’re canonizing Joe Biden in the morning. It’s a cult in the making.

Comes a referendum to strip government of power to impose one.

Taking advantage of a unique provision in their constitution, campaigners in Switzerland have garnered sufficient signatures to force a national referendum aimed at stripping the government of its powers to impose pandemic-related lockdown measures.

The group Friends of the Constitution solicited 86,000 signatures requiring a nation-wide vote on whether to repeal the government’s 2020 COVID-19 Act, which was passed in September, Business Insider reports.

Switzerland’s constitution provides a recourse to direct democracy whereby citizens may trigger a referendum to overturn laws introduced by parliament if they are able to collect 50,000 signatures in 100 days. Having well surpassed this requirement, the vote is expected in June.

Wha’ happened?

Last week, the Swiss government announced tightened restrictions with a stated purpose of mitigating the spread of new COVID-19 variants which were first claimed to be discovered in Britain.

They closed shops which sell “non-essential” supplies, limited private gatherings to five people, and ordered companies to instruct employees to work from home where possible, or require staff to wear masks. They also extended the closure of restaurants, along with cultural and sports sites to the end of February, Reuters reports.

So?

Christoph Pfluger, a board member at Friends of the Constitution, said the group believed the government was “taking advantage of the pandemic to introduce more control and less democracy.” [A suspicion shared by many, I suppose.]

The group also stated that the COVID-19 Act is “disproportionate” and “demonstrably ineffective,” while others expressed that it gives the government too much power to enforce a “compulsory system with poorly tested vaccines.”

Now you’re talkin’. He’s sayin’ the damn lockdowns don’t work! and the vaccines are not trustworthy? What next? In any case, “The success of the referendum would be a call on the authorities to exercise the utmost caution in the vaccination campaign and even impose a moratorium on it.”

Negative thinking! He could be cancelled.

Keep an eye on those Swiss people.