Archive for September, 2022

Novena to St. Matthew for the FBI Agents involved in the Mark Houck Arrest Day 3 Whistleblowing in the Wind

Posted: September 28, 2022 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, catholic, catholic devotions
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There are those within the agency that do not like the direction it is going in:

“Special Agent Stephen M. Friend, who works for the FBI in Florida and serves as a SWAT team member, told the main federal whistleblower office in Washington he had an ‘exemplary’ work record since he joined the bureau in 2014 and even won awards but was suspended in recent days after he began raising concerns about the FBI’s and DOJ’s conduct in the Jan. 6 investigation“

‘ I believed the investigations were inconsistent with FBI procedure and resulted in the violation of citizens’ Sixth and Eighth Amendment rights,’ Friend wrote. ‘I added that many of my colleagues expressed similar concerns to me but had not vocalized their objections to FBI Executive Management,” Solomon quotes Friend.

One wonders if a new FBI Director might not be among the growing list of whistleblowers from within the bureau who are coming forward to Republicans Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Courage remains the first and most vital of virtues, let’s hope more FBI agents can must it.

Now day 3 of our Novena

St. Matthew Novena - Day 3
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Dear Lord, we thank You for giving us St. Matthew as an example of holiness. Help us to imitate the virtue he showed in choosing to leave behind his profitable life as a tax collector in order to follow You.

St. Matthew, you enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle when you worked as a tax collector. But when Christ called you to follow Him, you willingly chose to give up your earthly wealth in order to pursue heavenly reward.

Please bring my petitions before God Whom you chose to serve!

You became one of Jesus’ closest friends and His Apostle. You devoted the rest of your life to serving God, and you did not regret leaving behind your earthly riches.

Pray for me, that I may grow in detachment to earthly goods. Pray that I may always seek heavenly reward before earthly riches.

Please also pray for the FBI agents involved in the Mark Houck arrest.

St. Matthew, pray for us!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Read more at: https://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-matthew-novena

The Most Interesting Fact that Americans are Missing in Polling

Posted: September 28, 2022 by datechguy in culture, Uncategorized

Daniel Webster: What are you looking for, Colonel? What’s your name?

Martin Van Buren Aldrich: Martin Van Buren Aldrich. My pa is the only Democrat in Cross Corners. He said you had horns and a tail, Mr. Webster, but I ain’t seen them yet.

Daniel Webster: [laughs] You see, Martin, I only wear them when I’m in Washington. That’s the trouble. But if you ever get down there, I’ll be glad to show them to you.

Martin Van Buren Aldrich: Gee, would you, Mr. Webster? Honest?

Daniel Webster: Of course! And you tell your father for me, that we may be on opposite sides of the fence, but I’m always glad to hear of a man who holds to his own opinion. As long as the people do that, this country is all right.

All That Money Can Buy (also known as The Devil & Daniel Webster) 1941

Every day when I get up and look at the next I see multiple pieces on polling. Trump is up by four over Biden, Abbot up four or eight over Beto, the generic ballot favors democrats by one, or republicans by three or DeSantis is up over trump by five or Fetterman is up over Doc Oz by six etc etc etc

You can find polling on almost every race, almost every opinion, in fact on just about everything and there is one fairly consistent fact that is very easy to miss if you don’t take a moment to think about it.

No matter what side of the fence you are on, no matter what candidate you support, at least 40% of your fellow citizens think you are wrong.

You might find an odd issue or candidate where that number drops to as low as 35% in fact once in a great while you might find an issue where you might get even lower and of course regional differences might make the number as few as three in ten but the bottom line is this: As a general rule it’s safe to say two out of every five people who pass you on the street don’t hold the opinions you do.

Now for most of the history of this county this hasn’t been that big of a problem. People disagreed and were willing to let it go today this is not the case. There is a key line in the movie I quoted above when Daniel Webster challenges the contract the Devil uses to claim his clients soul on the grounds that an American can’t be made to serve a foreign prince

Mr. Scratch: It’s true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I’m neither.

In the end we’re all men, we share a common humanity and one of the basic rights of a man is the right to be wrong sometimes. Some may be wrong more frequently than others but in the end everybody gets some things wrong.

The danger is that when you criminalize disagreement and furthermore criminalize the attempt to hear the other side of an argument that’s when the Robespierres of the world arise.

There are those who may not object to this, and might fancy themselves the one who shall decide who gets the chop and who does not, but never forget that in the end every Robespierre ends up under his own guillotine.

Let’s see if we can avoid this fate for our country.

Novena to St. Matthew for the FBI Agents involved in the Mark Houck Arrest Day 2 Hawley weighs in

Posted: September 27, 2022 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, catholic, catholic devotions, official oppression, the courts
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Senator Josh Hawley has started asking questions directly of the AG concerning the Mark Houck case:

The answers won’t bode well for those involved so I suspect answers will not be forthcoming.

Anyways here are the day 2 prayers.

St. Matthew Novena - Day 2

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Dear Lord, we thank You for giving us St. Matthew as an example of holiness. Help us to imitate the love of You he showed in repenting from his sinful life and choosing to follow You.

St. Matthew, you were hated by other Jews because of your profession as a tax collector. You were seen as a public sinner because of the extortionary nature of your job, but you repented wholeheartedly when Jesus called you to follow Him.

Please bring my petitions before Jesus Who called you!

You left behind your old life and chose to devote yourself to Christ. You became His Apostle, and you continued serving Him and His Church for the rest of your life.

Pray for me, that I may devote my life to God wholeheartedly. Pray that I may repent of my sins whenever I fail.

Please also pray for the FBI agents involved in the Mark Houck arrest

St. Matthew, pray for us!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Read more at: https://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-matthew-novena

A breath of fresh air for higher education

Posted: September 27, 2022 by chrisharper in education
Tags: ,

By Christopher Harper

During nearly 30 years in higher education, I saw first-hand the growing problems at colleges and universities.

When I started in the academy in 1994, my colleagues already had a decidedly leftist bent. But other trends took hold. Money flowed out of the classroom into administrative coiffeurs, mainly because the federal government insisted on the changes to fight “racism” and other leftist aims. As a result, the cost of tuition soared.

But U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has developed a solid solution for many of higher education’s ills.

Here are a few salient facts that Cotton points out in his argument for the Student Loan Reform Act of 2022:

–Almost one-third of college students drop out before graduation. Nearly two in five college graduates regret their major, over 40% of recent graduates are underemployed, and more than half work in fields they didn’t study. Yet, in the past 20 years, tuition prices have risen over 180%, and total student loan debt is now nearing $2 trillion.

–College endowments have grown to over $800 billion in value—with Harvard and Yale sitting on over $70 billion of untaxed wealth. Colleges use their massive fortunes not to serve their students but to pay for bloated bureaucracies. Between 1976 and 2018, total student enrollment increased by just 78%, while the number of college administrators ballooned by 616%.

The federal government’s guarantee of virtually unlimited student loans is the primary cause of this disconnect. In return for issuing trillions of dollars worth of loans and protecting these loans from bankruptcy, the government demands almost nothing from the colleges.

Here’s how Cotton’s proposal would fix some of these issues:

–It would penalize colleges that leave students in debt from undesirable and unmarketable programs, causing graduates to default years later. The proposal would require that colleges become guarantors of up to 50% of future federal student loans and would fine colleges 25% of the value of future defaulted loans.

–It pressures colleges to reduce the cost of tuition and to stop hoarding large amounts of endowment money. Any university charging over $20,000 a year for undergraduate tuition must gradually eliminate 50% of its administrative staff to qualify for future student loans. 

–The legislation also places a 20% luxury tax on undergraduate tuition above $40,000 and a 1% tax on the wealthiest private college endowments. The revenue raised from these taxes would go toward workforce education to help the majority of Americans who don’t have a college degree.

The legislation also requires universities to implement policies protecting campus diversity of thought. It would protect free speech and ban all forms of racial discrimination as a condition of participation in the federal student loan program.

As Cotton puts it: “This will lessen the grip left-wing ideologues have on college campuses and ensures their academic environments no longer impedes the intellectual growth of all students.”

If Cotton’s proposal becomes law, I might be convinced to come out of retirement!

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