The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Innula Zenovka]

Perhaps they were worried about how Catholics might react to some of the prayers --

Pope at Palm Sunday Mass: ‘Jesus does not listen to prayers of those who wage war’ - Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV presides at Mass on Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, and reflects on Jesus as the King of Peace who rejects war and refuses to listen ...

www.vaticannews.va

US military archbishop says Iran conflict does not meet ‘just war’ standard



And, of course, there's this

Hegseth mentor’s anti-Catholic remarks expose divide in MAGA world

Far-right pastor Doug Wilson set off a firestorm by saying that Catholic parades ought to be banned in a Christian-controlled nation.

www.yahoo.com

More on MAGA Evangelicals vs Catholics

BREAKING: The Pope Just Declared War On Trump's War

While Hegseth prays for “overwhelming violence of action,” Leo XIV stands on the balcony of St. Peter’s and says: God is not listening to you.

deanblundell.substack.com

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

Bondi should just go on the BBC and tell the world everything Trumpndemmanded be removed from thr Epstine files.

BBC becsuse US news orgs are all compromised.

I like that idea but don't think it will happen because we learned at Nuremberg after WWII that "just following orders" isn't a defense for Crimes Against Humanity, and last I heard the UN was starting to investigate the Epstein files as Crimes Against Humanity.

Plus, I really wouldn't be terribly surprised if she turns up dead before too much longer.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I like that idea but don't think it will happen because we learned at Nuremberg after WWII that "just following orders" isn't a defense for Crimes Against Humanity, and last I heard the UN was starting to investigate the Epstein files as Crimes Against Humanity.

Plus, I really wouldn't be terribly surprised if she turns up dead before too much longer.

The relevant investigatory and prosecuting authority for crimes against humanity isn't the UN, though. It's the International Criminal Court (which the US doesn't recognise).

| International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.//La Cour pénale internationale (CPI) mène des enquêtes...

www.icc-cpi.int

However, while it's possible to see how, at least in theory, Trump and Hegseth might, like find themselves subject to international arrest warrants issued by the ICC if Trump carries out his threat to bomb Iranian power plants -- pretty clearly contrary to Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1977), Article 52 -- it's by no means clear, at least to me, that any crimes disclosed in the Epstein files, no matter how serious, amount to crimes against humanity "“pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organisational policy" in any sense that would bring them within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

 

[Free]

More on MAGA Evangelicals vs Catholics

BREAKING: The Pope Just Declared War On Trump's War

While Hegseth prays for “overwhelming violence of action,” Leo XIV stands on the balcony of St. Peter’s and says: God is not listening to you.

deanblundell.substack.com

Trump Goon Gives Vatican ‘Bitter Lecture’ Amid Growing Rift

The Pope’s ambassador to the U.S. was given a jaw-dropping telling to by a minor Trump functionary.

web.archive.org

A top Vatican diplomat was summoned to the Pentagon for a “bitter lecture” demanding that the Pope get behind Donald Trump, it has emerged.

Vatican officials briefed on the meeting told The Free Press that one of the Pentagon’s most senior officials summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre to meet in January—then told him that the United States has the military power to do “whatever it wants,” and that Pope Leo, the first American-born pontiff, “better take its side.”

The site writes that “as tensions escalated,” one U.S. official “went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, the period in the 1300s when the French Crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority.”

We're attempting to strong arm the Papacy. Always a good place to find oneself.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump Goon Gives Vatican ‘Bitter Lecture’ Amid Growing Rift

The Pope’s ambassador to the U.S. was given a jaw-dropping telling to by a minor Trump functionary.

web.archive.org

We're attempting to strong arm the Papacy. Always a good place to find oneself.

wu tang clan of xymox (@babadooknukem.bsky.social)

just so we're all super clear on what the threat was, what france actually did was send goons to break into the pope's house and beat him to death and then replaced him with a series of popes they liked better, who lived basically in captivity in france [contains quote post or other embedded...

bsky.app

 

[Free]

wu tang clan of xymox (@babadooknukem.bsky.social)

just so we're all super clear on what the threat was, what france actually did was send goons to break into the pope's house and beat him to death and then replaced him with a series of popes they liked better, who lived basically in captivity in france [contains quote post or other embedded...

bsky.app

It directly led to that really fun time in Catholic history called the Western Schism, where the Church got not one pope, and not two* (one in Rome and one in Avignon), but three popes at the same time. Catholics have often had difficulties knowing who their Supreme Pontiff is.


* Having two popes simultaneously was not as uncommon an event as one might expect. Or want, really.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The World Holds Its Breath

This week: I hate him I hate him I hate him. Also: a map of the horrors; and some notes on the Moon.

jonn.substack.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It directly led to that really fun time in Catholic history called the Western Schism, where the Church got not one pope, and not two* (one in Rome and one in Avignon), but three popes at the same time. Catholics have often had difficulties knowing who their Supreme Pontiff is.


* Having two popes simultaneously was not as uncommon an event as one might expect. Or want, really.

More on the Avignon popes and the threat

BREAKING: Trump’s Pentagon Threatened to "Crush" the Pope — Just Like Medieval France Did

The Avignon Papacy was the most humiliating chapter in Church history. The Trump administration just invoked it as a warning to Pope Leo XIV.

deanblundell.substack.com

I'm really not sure what to make of it. I mean, were they seriously threatening to use military force against Vatican City? Maybe send use special forces in a Venezuela-style operation to kidnap Pope Leo, or assassinate him and set up an antipope in Louisiana, or what?

 

[Free]

I'm really not sure what to make of it. I mean, were they seriously threatening to use military force against Vatican City?

You're asking this about an administration that was pondering the idea of acquiring Greenland by force, and started a war with Iran without ever considering that they might block passage through the Strait of Hormuz as a tactic?

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I doubt they will do anything to the pope. ...but just the fact they threatened him like this is a marvelous demonstration of how unhinged and stupid this administration is. It's very likely a very dumb, empty threat, but still.

 

[Free]

More war prep from the no new wars president.

Eligible US men will be automatically registered for military draft

The United States is set to automatically register eligible men for a military draft pool beginning this December

www.dailymail.co.uk

The United States will automatically register eligible men aged 18 to 25 for a military draft pool beginning in December.

The rule change was submitted by the Selective Service System, which maintains a database of Americans who would be able to serve in the military.

'This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources,' the agency's website said.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

If it ever came down to fisticuffs between Pope Leo and Pete Kegsbreath, my money's on the Pope.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

American Catholics Are Next

Pete Hegseth is waging a holy war against Islam. His mentor has classified Catholicism as its theological equivalent, and the historical record documents what that classification precedes.

open.substack.com

 

[Veritable Quandry]

American Catholics Are Next

Pete Hegseth is waging a holy war against Islam. His mentor has classified Catholicism as its theological equivalent, and the historical record documents what that classification precedes.

open.substack.com

Funny fact about a cage, they're never built for just one group
So when that cage is done with them and you still poor, it come for you
The newest lowest on the totem, well golly gee, you have been used
You helped to fuel the death machine that down the line will kill you too (oops)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump goes on the rampage attacking former supporters who've turned against him -- Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Alex Jones -- at inordinate length. He's not a happy bunny.

Aaron Rupar (@aaronrupar)

Trump posts a bonkers rant: “I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing...

substack.com

 

[Free]

Trump is raging against his former MAGA clan members because a lot of them are demanding an invocation of the 25TH AMENDMENT.

 

[Cristiano]

Now that Trump has gone after Candace, Tucker, Alex Jones and Megyn Kelly, his supporters are pissed. I love MAGA on MAGA violence.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I expected this after Trump's death. Looks like they aren't waiting to implode. Probably trying to set up blame for the midterms.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Welp, now that Operation Epstein Fury has wrapped up, and everybody won, I guess there will be big controversy over whether Tsar Dumkovski gets the Medal of Honor for bravely watching some of it on TV or the Nobel Peace Prize for heroically agreeing to the .... oh, 10-minute or so cease-fire.

Gawd, what an embarrassing time to be a USAnian.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I hear he's a finalist for the NFL Peace Prize.