I Wonder How Much Our Bishops Got?

For shutting down the churches that is.

The indefatigable Taylor Marshall (a former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism) runs a very popular podcast.  He’s what I’ve come to call a “tradcat”; a good guy any way you slice it.  Aside from this, Gail and I listen to him religiously and agree with him on whole host of issues.  We heartily recommend putting him on your podcast rotation if you haven’t already.   

One of the things I appreciate about him is that although he’s absolutely devoted to the Roman Church, he’s not an “ultramontane” Catholic:  The kind of convert who sees nothing but unicorns and rainbows when it comes to his Faith.  No, he’s anything but that.  He is a man of intense integrity who does not pull any punches if they’re needed.  And boy, are they needed.  

So let me get right to the point.

Dr Marshall just broke a huge story:  specifically that the Federal government bought the silence of the Catholic bishops by giving them “billions” of dollars.  There’s no other way to characterize it.  Oh sure, the “official story” was that this was done  to subsidize the losses that thousands of Catholic parishes and institutions would lose out of the collection plate during the lock-down.  Even then, this is certainly a questionable from a separation of Church and State standpoint, wouldn’t you agree?  (Where’s the ACLU when you need them?)

But it certainly answers some questions.  Specifically, why almost no Christian leader (of whatever denomination) raised his voice against this unconstitutional lock-down.  (you know, the shunting of monies such as this  might also explain why the various Orthodox jurisdictions seem to be agreeing on so many things all of a sudden, even though the St Nicholas Shrine is still under Federal investigation.  

But it gets better:  The monies for the bailout came from the Payroll Protection Program; money that should have gone to (and was specifically earmarked for) struggling small private businesses.  Instead, the American taxpayer –that’s you and me, folks–bailed out the Catholic Church.  Think about it, the Roman Catholic Church is America’s largest denomination and second only to the Federal government in all the land it owns. 

So, when you drive down the street in D.C. and see your favorite restaurant closed, you could make a reasonable assumption that funds that were earmarked for that particular store were shunted to the Cardinal Archbishop of D.C. (who is known affectionately as “the African Queen”), instead. 

Thanks to Uncle Sam, he has all the cash he needs to maintain his lifestArchdiocese.  Same for the mom-and-pop laundromat where you used to take your laundry.  Luckily, the tobacconist and cannabis dispensary escaped the Wrath of Fauci.  Come to think of it, so did the local abortuary.

Sidebar: I’d be really curious to know how the money was disbursed to the various dioceses.  Odds are better than even that those Catholic bishops who are on board with whole liberal agenda got more than those who are more conservative.  Anyway, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.  Time will tell.  This story is still breaking and it’s so huge that more information will come out in drips and drabs, with more twists and turns, that we can’t even imagine.

In any event, as an Orthodox Christian, I’m wondering how much our bishops got for shutting down Orthodox parishes?  Maybe we won’t need to have food festivals and bake sales anymore? 

Anyway, here’s the story, charts and all:

 

Comments

  1. Thirty pieces of silver.

  2. Pat Reardon says

    George, let’s put this in perspective.

    Every parish has a small business listing, doesn’t it?

    Small businesses qualified for funds from the Payroll Protection Program.

    All a parish had to do was apply.

    Our parish council applied. We received a check from the government.

    This perfectly legal arrangement had nothing to do with the Antiochian Archdiocese, and there was not the slightest hint of a “bribe” to buy my silence.

    Where is the big deal here?

    • Austin Martin says

      So, Father, are you claiming that churches should have defied the government and not shut down? Because otherwise, it’s shutting down and getting cash. If that’s not a bribe, it’s something close.

      • The moneys had nothing to do with shutting down. The article is misleading. My business applied for the PPP. It was to ensure people stayed employed during the pandemic – any business, including non-profits and churches – could apply and receive funds.

        • George Michalopulos says

          The point is that none of our bishops (of whatever denomination) decided to fight back with this rejoinder: “We are not non-essential”.

          What a difference that would have made. If that meant them not receiving these “loans” then so be it. Make no mistake: those churches which will go along with the globalist agenda will have their loans forgiven.

          • Peterburgskaya says

            One Archbishop (Roman Catholic) did speak out specifically against being “non-essential,” though it didn’t make much of a difference since he was so alone and in a very hostile area. Alexander Sample, of Portland. He has a very consistent track record of being courageous though.

      • Pat Reardon says

        All Saints in Chicago did not shut down.

        We stayed open, completely open, and we did not “stream’ the services.

        We did not require anyone to wear a mask in church or maintain ‘social distancing.’

        No one had to sign up for services, and we never took anybody’s temperature. Not a single person was ever turned away.

        As for the Antiochian Archdiocese, Metropolitan JOSEPH was very careful, correct, wise, and precise in his directions to us; he left ample leeway for the exercise of prudence and local pastoral discretion.

        As for the civil government, our Chicago alderman came to my home to reassure me of the city’s support and to ask if he could do anything for us.

        That is to say, both Metropolitan JOSEPH and the city of Chicago could not have been more helpful during this crisis.

        And All Saints Church is very grateful to both.

        As for that check from the government, I believe it was modest. It sure as hell wasn’t a bribe.

        • “All Saints in Chicago did not shut down.”

          I wish I could say the same about Saint Luke’s in Glasgow.
          But I can’t.

          • Sad. I think I mentioned before that I heard that it was a very good parish from someone who came from there.

            As I understand, lockdown in the UK has been stricter than the States, for the most part, correct?

            • Compared to Florida, yes.
              Compared to New York and Californicatia, no.

              However Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the 4 parts of
              the UK) all make their own arrangements – which vary from time to time.

        • Austin Martin says

          So you disobeyed your bishop? I read Metropolitan Joseph’s directives last March, and he said attendance must be kept to ten people and only chanters and altar servers.

          • Pat Reardon says

            So you disobeyed your bishop?

            I most certainly did not.

            • A Sinful and Unworthy Priest says

              So His Eminence authorized you to defy The Antiochian Synod and His Holiness’s letter of the 6th of April?

              “Thirdly: The services and prayers during the Great and Holy Week, and during Palm Sunday and Great Pascha (April 19) are to be held by just the priests and monastics in churches and monasteries, offered for the sake of all the people and for the peace of the whole world. In other words, the services are held behind closed doors, without the participation of any of the believers, while activating the possibility of direct broadcasting of daily prayers through the websites of the parishes, thus allowing the believers to follow the services from their homes.”

              ??

              This is not a condemnation but a respectful nod of approval. The above quote coming from an Orthodox Patriarch blanketly cancelling services worldwide is appalling.

              • Pat Reardon says

                Thank you, Father.

                I had not seen this text before.

                Reading it now, and reflecting on what actually has happened in this Archdiocese over the past 9 months or so, I feel a renewed and enhanced respect for the courage, and pastoral prudence of Metropolitan JOSEPH.

        • George Michalopulos says

          Fr, I’m glad to hear that you bucked the system (in your gentlemanly, courtly way) and I’m quite surprised (pleasantly so) that your local Alderman did not pay you a visit and was supportive. And of course, I’m glad that Metropolitan Joseph gave you much leeway, which you took in a prudent manner.

          My own parish priest moved heaven and earth to keep the church open, even doing daily liturgies (and if it was the eve of a Feast day, a nightly vesper). I thank God for priests such as yourselves. And I’m grateful to Arb Alexander Golitzyn for having my priests’ back.

          I’m afraid though that your experience is sui generis. I hope I’m wrong.

          • Pat Reardon says

            Johann Sebastian

            I feel for you, since we’re not going to be permitted, it seems, to enjoy one of your feast days this year. Dr Fauci has spoken.

            https://www.theonion.com/fauci-warns-public-against-holding-any-large-scale-cele-1846198177

          • Pat Reardon says

            I’m quite surprised (pleasantly so) that your local Alderman did not pay you a visit and was supportive.

            George, he did visit me in my home, as I described. Neither of us wore a mask. (I wear a mask only to the grocery store, since they won’t sell me groceries otherwise.)

            Our alderman is a prince of a guy, and for two decades I have cultivated a warm and solicitous friendship with him and his staff.

            The alderman has supported the parish in a great variety of ways over the years, attending special celebrations, and so forth, even appearing at the zoning commission on our behalf when we constructed our parking lot.

            BTW, he also has copies of my books in his office.

            This is all part of being a parish priest.

            • George Michalopulos says

              What I meant to say Fr, is “that I’m glad he didn’t pay you a ‘visit’.” (As in the “Chicago Way”.) In other words, your kneecaps are still intact.

              Those of us not familiar with Chicago grow up with many misconceptions about that city. Forgive me.

        • I believe All Saints in Chicago provides a lesson.

          If the bishops go all out in open public defiance against the government, we likely wouldn’t like the results. If, however, things are done discreetly, unnecessary confrontation can be avoided, and things can proceed as they should in the Church. For this sort of thing to work, there must be a certain sense of loyalty on the part of parishioners that I know exists at All Saints (though I also know it does not exist in all parishes).

          In my opinion, this COVID crisis has provided us with a wake-up call that we – and our leaders in particular – would all do well to pay attention to and learn from. What will we do if/when persecution gets really serious? How will we communicate when using the usual channels would lead to exposure and be counterproductive? With whom will we communicate when not everyone is trustworthy, etc.?

          I think most reasonable and faithful Orthodox Christians realize that it is not a matter of if, but when. Are we prepared? It seems to me that the troubles of this past year should teach us that we were are largely not prepared and need to start getting more serious about how we will continue as the Church in times of serious trouble.

          I would even say that some of this may be going on as we speak, though not publicly for obvious reasons. But I would also say that it is unlikely much thought has been given to it, or we wouldn’t be hearing so many complaints from priests and obviously faithful people who could be trusted and wouldn’t be complaining now about the ineptitude and oppression they feel.

          I can just hear it now. “This guy is crazy. These things can’t happen here in the land of the free.” Tell that to the Russian faithful. And be sure to comfort your children with these words when they ask you why you failed to heed the warnings of your Lord.

          • “If, however, things are done discreetly, unnecessary confrontation can be avoided, and things can proceed as they should in the Church.”

            This is wise, Brian. And it’s surprising that it hasn’t been done (or more often) during the Covidian scare. Fr. PR’s relationship with his alderman is necessary for a society to run well — it’s social grease (and grease in the good sense!). For that to happen, though, there have to be networks of relations, and we’ve become increasingly alienated and ghetto-ized . . . not simply churches, but everything. The fabric of society is dry-rotting, and the state bureaucracy tries (eagerly, at times) to substitute for the rent cloth. And, of course, that creates many problems — institutionalized idiocy (as bureaucracies inevitably create), compromised liberty, creeping authoritarianism, the enfeeblement of free men, etc. Civil society cannot be reduced to the state, and yet that is what has been happening for generations.

            Fun and only tangentially related story that I heard a priest say during a tour of the basilica cathedral of Baltimore. Many years ago, when Nancy Pelosi’s father Thomas D’Alesandro was the mayor of Baltimore, some ne’er-do-wells broke into the basilica and stole some liturgical vessels. The cathedral rector called the mayor the next morning upon discovering the crime, and the mayor assured him that the church would get back its treasures. After a few calls to “friends” (this was, after all, il sindaco di Baltimora), the treasures were promptly returned within 24 hours. Now, that is what I call συμφωνία! Fr. PR’s story isn’t as delicious as that, but it makes me glad to know that such sane and sensible cooperation continues.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Mayor D’Alessandro also commissioned a statue of Generals Robert E Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest and was rather proud of it.

              I have a feeling he’d spank his daughter today if he were still alive.

        • One cannot help but wonder how all this blatant, delusional “tempting of God” worked out.

          The infection rate must be off the charts! The good people of All Saints must surely be dropping like flies.

          Oh the humanity!

          • Pat Reardon says

            The good people of All Saints must surely be dropping like flies.

            Thank you, Brian, for your many kindnesses.

            All together, I believe, All Saints has had five cases of this virus.

            Now it is a fact that none of those five people attended church last year.

            Three of them, I know, were infected on a Sunday morning while attending a sporting event with masks on.

            Of those who actually attended church at All Saints last year, there was not a single case of the virus.

            • Funny how that works, ain’t it? 🙂

              • It is ironic; isn’t it? Just a little faith and a little wisdom is all that’s required.

                But the fear-mongers in our midst seem to believe nothing except what the ever-shifting ‘science’ (so-called) has to offer. I often wonder what ‘science’ has ever managed to teach them about baptism, holy Unction, the Eucharist…

                An even further irony is that these fear-mongers (those within the Church) act as if Fr. Patrick and the leadership of All Saints are somehow “tempting God.” Which is to say that actually believe that their actions are extremist and that, had there been an outbreak of disease in the parish, Fr Patrick and the good people of All Saints would have stubbornly refused to alter their course – that for them it is all about “proving a point” without regard for love or any obvious realities before them.

                If having a little faith and a little wisdom makes us crazies in their eyes, so be it. By now, we have grown accustomed to being labeled thus on any number of matters pertaining to faith (and morals). But don’t pretend that we deny reality merely because we refuse to be paralyzed by fear.

            • Ronda Wintheiser says

              Fr. Patrick — or anyone who can answer this question — I’m curious about something. I have wondered in the past but not followed up on it.

              How on earth does anyone know exactly where they “caught” the virus if indeed asymptomatic people can carry it around with them and bestow it on others all unawares? How did that person find out that they were infected attending a sporting event wearing a mask?

              (Also, way off topic, did you happen to know Joe Scheidler? For anyone wondering, he was an incredible Roman Catholic pro-life activist who directed the Pro Life Action League in Chicago… He died this past week at the age of 93… He offered me a job working for PLAL years ago. Now I wish I had taken it… I could have attended All Saints…)

              • Pat Reardon says

                Also, way off topic, did you happen to know Joe Scheidler?

                Joe Schindler and I were students together 70 years ago, Ronda. I remember him very well, but he was an upper classman—indeed, a rather prominent fellow on campus—there was no reason for him to notice me among the younger boys.

                When he and I ate supper together at a steak house here in Chicago a few years ago (an intimate table at a Touchstone event), he clearly did not remember me, so I never brought up our earlier acquaintance.

                I followed Joe’s path and ministry over the years, however, and my admiration for him grew apace. All of us will miss him.

                • Pat Reardon says

                  My apology for misspelling Joe Scheidler’s name. Old eyes, you understand, and old fingers.

                  • Ronda Wintheiser says

                    I’m so glad to know you knew him, Fr. Patrick

                    I stayed with his family for four days, back in the late 80s, checking out the city and deciding whether I wanted to move there to work for PLAL.

                    He took me to some little storefront diner somewhere in Chicago. He suggested the catfish, and that was the first time I had ever tried catfish. For dessert, he suggested I try Neapolitan ice cream — with saltine crackers!

                    And then, he and I went — oh, my gosh, you won’t believe this — to a Greek Orthodox church somewhere in Chicago. They were hosting — get this — Planned Parenthood.

                    Planned Parenthood was having a conference in their parish hall!

                    He and I stood at the end of the parish driveway offering pro-life and evangelism literature to any car coming in or out of that parking lot!

                    I wasn’t Orthodox yet. Can you imagine my opinion of the Greek Orthodox Church at that point? 🙂

                    Joe always carried several photographs of aborted babies in his wallet. He gave me copies of them. Actual photos. I still have them.

                    He told me that he would go to abortion clinics and strike up gentle, fatherly conversations with women going inside. He would show them photographs of his 8 children. Chat about them. And then get into conversations with them about where they were going and why they were going inside to have *their* children killed.

                    If they were determined, and unmoved by his gentleness, he would take those photos of aborted children out of his wallet and show them.

                    “Here are photos of *your* children… if you go inside…”

                    May God make his memory eternal.

                  • Ronda Wintheiser says

                    But I’m still curious about how a person knows when and where they contracted Covid 19. I have googled it and can’t find a thing.

                    • Gail Sheppard says

                      They don’t know because they are no longer doing any tracking. Given its virility, after all this time, in spite of the lockdowns, distancing, etc. I think it’s a pretty safe bet to assume many of us have been exposed, which begs the question: why do we need a vaccine?

                      This is the same point I tried to make back in March 2019 when there were only 33 known cases of polio (no longer believed to be contagious) IN THE WORLD, but 105 cases of vaccine-INDUCED polio due to the use of the OPV (a vaccine that uses an attenuated, live virus).

                      Gates was told by WHO executives to back off on the vaccine. Did he do it? No, he donated more money (becoming the largest single donor) and was able to call the shots. They kept using the OPV vaccine and the outbreaks went from 2 to 26 countries, as of this week. Because only 1% of people with polio get symptoms, they don’t know how many carriers there are out there and they all have the potential to infect other children.

                      https://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/?fbclid=IwAR0XRzU6qH_TWNmOU3aH8o8WW1gy1AVke3L9AsoVNhB7n3vOpjTrIx9IeSk

                      I think we’re coming to the point where more people will be harmed by the vaccine, than helped. They need to stop counting cases and deaths the way they do and start looking at what those figures are supposed to mean, i.e. the number of people (as opposed to cases) that test positive and the number of people who actually die of COVID.

                  • Ronda Wintheiser says

                    By the way, Fr. Patrick, I’m thinking you were thinking of Bobby Schindler when you “misspelled” Joe Scheidler’s name. Another pro-life warrior.

                    Is that possible?

                  • Ronda Wintheiser says

                    Fr. Patrick, he is Terri Schiavo’s brother.

                    She was starved to death back in 2005.

                    https://terrischiavo.org/story/

                    https://bobbyschindler.com/

        • This post inspired me to come for a visit this morning. I was not disappointed. All Saints was the most wonderful place I think I could have possibly been to. God willing I will be back next week.

      • Johann Sebastian says

        Austin Martin doesn’t seem to realize that business costs don’t stop when the business shuts down temporarily.

        • Austin Martin says

          The church isn’t a business. Maybe on paper it is, if we’re counting the opinion of the secular world.

          People give to the church because they expect the basic spiritual services (speaking broadly) to be provided. Those services were denied. Therefore funding stopped.

          Why should anyone give to the church if they’re told they aren’t allowed to come? If I can’t come, then I’m not part of the community. Why should I sacrifice my income for a community I am not a part?

          • Bingo!

            We started giving to food banks and rescue missions they were open and actually helping people…

      • Reader Seraphim Hanisch says

        I cannot speak for anybody else, but the answer to your question is “yes, unequivocally” the churches should have defied the government directives. The facts that (1) they didn’t and (2) many people happily went along with it shows a problem.

        As an example. A parish in my home state was restricted by COVID rules to having a maximum of ten people aside from minimum clergy serving. How many people went to a service to pray at that time? According to my friend who went, only she and her friend were there.

        I think a lot of people happily accepted COVID as a vacation from obligatory Church attendance. That is very sad but we cannot change that. For those of us who WANT to be in services, we should be defying directives everywhere, whether they come from the government or even our bishops, because our government is wrong and our bishops who support this set of directives are also completely wrong, setting themselves against Christ and His Church. Am I angry about this? Yes. But even taking my anger out of the picture, the reality is no different. What has taken place is wrong, soup to nuts.

  3. Jane Tzilvelis says

    I believe the Antiochian archdiocese got $1.5 million and the GOA around $2.5 million. I looked it up online.

  4. Jane Tzilvelis says

    Go to Federalpay.org to look up loan amounts received

  5. Jane Tzilvelis says

    Newsweek reports 88,411 churches received $7.3 billion in PPP loans – not just Catholic churches but denominations of all kinds.
    To be eligible, the federal government’s Small Business Administration had to overlook some existing rules, according to the SBA – they “decline(d) to enforce” existing rules barring some religious entities from getting SBA Loans.

    So much for “tax exempt” church thieves.

  6. I remember our parish applied for and got a small business grant at the beginning of this. I didn’t think it was strange at the time since people were losing paychecks and probably wouldn’t be able to give to the Church. But at the same time it is a good auestion to ask how receiving money from the government impacts our leaders’ actions. So much had been done ostensibly to avoid losing 501(3) status.

  7. lexcaritas says

    If properly used, the “loans” are gifts and I’m afraid they do have the effect of bribes. But the churches are not the only ones, all the private business recipients as well–and all of us individuals and households who also received checks from the government. We all thought it necessary and right in the beginning: since the government was shutting us down, it ought to pay people who’s incomes were being affected through not fault of their own. My firm took the money–though we did not suffer any any loss of business. We know of many other similarly situated. As for our parish: I counseled them to apply and take the money. Small as we are it wasn’t much .

    But think about the affect of this government largesse: it has enable the government to prolong the harmful policies with little-or certainly less–opposition than would occur if the costs were being felt. Furthermore, this placid atmosphere has been purchased with money to the tunes of a couple trillion dollars that the government does not have. It has had to borrow it or create it and the tab is yet to pay down the road.

    When political decisions are made without the cost being paid, bad decisions result and are not discovered until it’s too late.

    On another note, George, regarding our parish and support from the hierarchy, take note that our policies have markedly changed in the past 4 weeks or so, and masks are now officially required of everyone in attendance. Masking has thus increased three or fourfold in the temple, though the mask are promptly removed–LOL–for coffee afterwards. Apparently COVID only strikes during worship. Even father–who has had the COVID and recovered and, hence, should be immune, is putting on the mask before and immediately after Liturgy to address the congregation. This even though positive tests have been on the decline in our area. Makes no sense and is, for me, a cause of sadness. Dark days are ahead and we are ill-equipped to deal with them. Apparently, Christ God, in His mercy and goodness knows that we need the suffering to shake us from our sloth.

    lexcaritas

    • George Michalopulos says

      Lex, I too, receive a pittance and took it. I have no problem with any parish or parochial institution or diocesan chancery receiving a PPP loan as well.

      What worries me is that our bishops –of whatever denomination–did not fight back and say “yes, we’ll take this ‘loan’ but our services are essential.”

      Because we didn’t stand up to the government, we’ve allowed this horrible precedent to stand and the looming communard government will use it against us.

      I’m not even going to go to how the masquerade requirements are going to do harm to the people’s Orthodox phronema. As a former acolyte of at least 15 years’ standing, I must have been one of the last people to partake of the Gifts, at least a hundred times. It never occurred once to me that I would get sick from partaking. I am afraid that now that that fidelity has been broken.

      I especially grieve when I see young children being masked and wonder what the toddlers (who are not) think of their older siblings and parents.

      On another tangent, I remember seeing photos of Biden’s inauguration and seeing him and several others (including Marines) and seeing them all masked up. It was all very surreal.

      Forgive me.

      • George Michalopulos says

        P.S. Of course, the fiscal toll that our nation will have to pay will be positively horrendous. But that’s a story for another day.

      • Peterburgskaya says

        Out here on the left coast, some people mask their toddlers in church even though it is not required by law and certainly not by parish custom. There are few things I find more distracting, in that it tempts me to judge in the worst way, because I think trapping a child in a gag and stifling his free breathing, making him feel (with his young lack of sophisticated understanding) like a germy leper is child abuse. I try to tell myself “they are just trying to be good, they are just afraid, they are just trying to be conscientious” but I can’t help but look at the little fellows’ eyes and see the sadness there and feel wrenching grief for what is being done to them, followed by hot outrage at the parents doing it when it’s not even required!

  8. On a happier note, blessed day of St Xenia of Petersburg, fool-for-Christ (Jan. 24/Feb. 6).

    Here’s a fantastic short video on the restoration of the only known portrait of her. In Russian, but well worth a watch even if you don’t understand Russian, if only for the “feel” of what’s going on.

    https://youtu.be/H-rXTNG5nIg

    • George Michalopulos says

      Interestingly, I started thinking about her last night as I was falling asleep. If one ever gets a chance to go to St Petersburgh, you must go see her shrine. It’s as lovely in structure as she was in spirit.

  9. Please don’t be under the allusion that Taylor Marshall is some friend to Orthodoxy. He and Eric Ybarra spend a lot of time “refuting” Orthodox. Luckily we have a lot of good Orthodox apologists who counter them. Apparently they have noticed a torrent of people leaving Roman Catholicism for the Orthodox Church (I have as well), so they have been attacking the claims of Orthodoxy.

    As for the topic posted, I’m not at all surprised. As someone who was in that world for a long time I can say that there are probably very few power structures in the world as corrupt as RC’ism. Not saying our bishops in Orthodoxy aren’t corrupt, that’s been painfully obvious they are, but, we have the correct theology, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the unchanging apostolic faith…Rome clearly does not

  10. Has anyone noticed how the daily newspapers had daily alarming headlines about “COVID cases keep increasing” (oddly, never decreasing) and how President Trump was personally responsible for everyone who was numbered as a COVID case, and other COVID coverage, but since resident Biden has been installed, all the newspaper can find to write about is vaccine programs and where to sign up? What a coincidence!

    The main trick used by the authorities to control every aspect of our lives is based on a numerical error which is never admitted to or explained. That is the overt propaganda based on defining a “case” not as the medical term for someone with symptoms, but as someone who tested “positive” from a covid test with otr without any symptoms.

    But the inventor of the technology always said that it should never be used that way. It was supposed to be only used to CONFIRM a diagnosis, not invent a non-diagnosis state of being. The technique is to DOUBLE over and over the presence of some viral fragment (not even necessarily covid), for a number of times called the “Ct” number. But Ct = 20 means a million, Ct = 30 means a billion, and Ct = 40 means a trillion. Most tests this year are in the 35-40 range (undisclosed of course), which means it takes multiplying some unknown viral fragment a trillion times to even “see” it and call it covid. That’e even assuming they are actually doing a test on a human sample and this whole thing is not a pure exercise in social and political control.

    As I have said before on various forums, I do not personally know anyone afflicted with any symptoms called covid (whixh evidently consists of a floating range of all possible ailments), with the exception of one friend who felt poorly for a week a year ago, and one woman who had a slight cough for a week). If this is a pandemic (called when the number of worldwide “cases” was about 1,000), then one might well imagine that it could become a permanent feature of human life.

    • And this is why it is completely – completely – political. Call it the Democrat Plague. It is a measure of just how sick the Democrat leadership is. The fact that they’re foolish enough to think that they’re deceiving anyone but the choir is a telltale sign that they are too stupid and corrupt to hold power.

      Victor Davis Hanson was interviewed about the emerging political divide and observed that if you look at the map territorially, Democrats don’t have a lot of political power, controlling only coastal enclaves and a number of urban centers in the North. He suggested that this leaves them frustrated and always hungry for power.

      But over half the electorate, well over half, has been red-pilled. Stolen elections aside, that is highly significant. I predict something like what happened in the Ukraine will happen here. The Coup will not survive the next round of elections – that’s assuming that election reform gets done in swing states under Republican control.

      Biden is a disaster in the making. He feels free to be as stupid and Left-friendly as he pleases, being a one termer. That’s actually an ideal situation given his incompetence and that of the Democrats in general. If we had to lose by theft, having Barney Fife and the Keystone Kops in charge is the next best thing to galvanize Trumpists. They aspire to be fascists, but they lack the brains and the balls. They will incite the Right without having the ability to repress or control it, building unity and strengthening it.

      It is a tinderbox and when Trump gets re-involved that will become apparent to everyone.

  11. Anonymous II says

    Greece announces vaccine passport with Israel

    From the article:

    Greece and Israel agreed to a coronavirus vaccine passport “trial run” scheme, the countries’ leaders announced in Jerusalem.

    Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been one of the leading voices in the European Union pushing for the adoption of vaccine passports, as the tourism industry upon which his country thrives has all but collapsed during the pandemic.

    At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Greek leader said on Monday: “We need to facilitate travellers once they provide easy proof of vaccination and this is what we intend to do with Israel.”

    “I expect what we will be doing with Israel to be a trial run for what we can do with other countries,” Mitsotakis added in comments reported by Ekathimerini.

    Mr Netanyahu said that the scheme between the two countries would allow travel “without any limitations, no self-isolation, nothing” for those who can prove that they have been inoculated against the virus.

    Tourism is at the backbone of the Greek economy, employing about a fifth of all workers in the country. The industry was incredibly hard hit by the Chinese coronavirus last year, seeing revenues drop from around 15 billion euros in 2019 to just over three billion euros in 2020.

    While the European Union has said that it is “premature” to introduce bloc-wide vaccination passports, Margaritis Schinas, the European Commission’s vice-president, said last month that it is time for the EU to begin to “recognise” vaccine passports.

    The bloc’s health commissioner, Greek politician Stella Kyriakides, also revealed that the EU is currently in “active discussion” as to how to adopt such a scheme.

    Several member states have already announced their intentions to implement the scheme, including Spain, Iceland, and Denmark, the latter of which is expected to launch the world’s first such passport later this month.

    On Sunday, Britain’s Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi claimed that the government would not implement a vaccine passport system, saying that it would be “discriminatory” in nature.

    However, the government is currently funding two projects to create digital QR code-based vaccine passports, including one from Logifect, which is expected to be launched next month.

    While the UK has been reticent to endorse the idea publicly, sources within government told The Telegraph that officials are considering ‘numerous’ options for vaccine passports. Government minister Grant Shapps has said the government is discussing the possibility of an “internationally recognised” corona passport.

    Travel industry leaders have begun pressuring the government to implement vaccination passports in the hopes of saving the sector.

    The chief executive of Saga Travel, Nick Stace, said that it would help the British people “be among the first people in the world to travel the world again”, adding that it would prop up the government’s post-Brexit vision of a “Global Britain”.

    Others have warned of the implications that it would have on personal freedoms and privacy rights, including civil liberties watchdog Big Brother Watch, which has previously said: “Vaccine passports would create the backbone of an oppressive digital ID system and could easily lead to a health apartheid that’s incompatible with a free and democratic country.

    “They’d normalise identity checks, health inspections and increase state control over citizens.”

    See: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/10/greece-announces-vaccine-passport-trial-run-israel/

    • ‘Mr Netanyahu said that the scheme between the two countries would allow travel “without any limitations, no self-isolation, nothing” for those who can prove that they have been inoculated against the virus.’

      Given that the ‘vaccinations’ cannot prevent either infection or transmission of the virus, does this statement (by itself) not demonstrate the utter folly of lockdowns and covid-passports.

  12. https://100percentfedup.com/cdc-exposed-inflated-covid-deaths-by-1600-throughout-the-election-peer-reviewed-study-finds-brave-state-local-governments-must-act/

    Peer reviewed study alleging massive inflation of Covid deaths reported in US by CDC. Standards in place before March 2020 would have yielded figure 1/16 the total of what is currently reported.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      In other words, the globalists lied.

    • CNN also gave up on its daily/all-the-time “daily covid death toll” hours after Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20th. Why? Because it’s no longer needed.

      The diagnostic PCR test run through 40 times was abandoned hours after, as well.

      Americans refuse to acknowledge that we’ve been had.

      Covid hysteria was hyped and amplified with one goal in mind: Trump needs to be defeated. In their minds, if that happens, it’s all worth it.

      We must admit it – we’ve been had by our government and leaders. They no longer work for us. We work for them now.