Note on the Common Good

The common good cannot be separated from the good of individuals in particular.  The good of individuals is a necessary element of the common good.  Persons who love humanity in general but have no use for particular human beings do not thereby advance the common good.  Subordinating flesh-and-blood human beings to ideology does not serve the common good.  Even when an individual interest must give way to the common good, the common good nevertheless does not steamroll and run roughshod over the interests of individuals.

So anytime you hear somebody advancing some position in the name of the "common good" which however does not take into account the good of individuals, or which advances only the interests of one set of individuals at the expense of, or in disregard of, those of others...then the common good is not really being advanced.

Open Borders: Not a Catholic Doctrine

St. Thomas Aquinas: smarter than the rest of us
put together.

The impression is being created and fostered that, in order to be a truly good and great country, we must, at all costs, take in all who want to come here, no questions asked.  Many bishops and clergy seem to be on board with that view.  For this, and for a whole host of other reasons, it would seem that the Summa Theologiae is no longer required reading in Catholic seminaries.  But despite being a dead white Western male, and a member of the oppressive Catholic hierarchy into the bargain, the Angelic Doctor does have one or two illuminating things to say that are pertinent to the question of open borders.

Before we get to Aquinas, a couple of observations are in order.  First of all, when the rubber meets the road, virtually nobody really believes in open borders.  How many people would like to dissolve the borders of their own real estate holdings?  How many allow all and sundry into their residences?  How many open-borders advocates go so far as to live in gated communities from which most even of their fellow Americans are excluded?  During the last days his administration, Barack Obama, a passionate unbeliever in borders for the rest of us, busied himself with building a big, brick wall around his post-presidential palace.  He also put an end to "wet foot, dry foot" for persons who manage to escape the workers' paradise of Cuba, proving that there are some categories of people that even he thinks we already have enough of in this country.

Secondly, the average person who supports restrictions on immigration is not an ogre who wants to turn our backs on persons in dire distress.  I for one support reinstatement of "wet foot, dry foot," and I deplored the forced repatriation, under Bill Clinton, of Elian Gonzales, whose mother died getting him to our shores.  I think persecuted Christians from Syria and Africa and Asia should be moved to the head of the refugee line.  I welcome persons who believe in what America stands for and want to come here to work hard and be a part of it, like my Italian great-grandparents at the turn of the last century.

But am I wrong?  Is it true that, in order to be a good Catholic, I must support a policy of flinging wide the doors of the country to let in all comers, regardless of who they are or where they came from, or what they believe, or whether they have a criminal history, or contagious diseases, or are violently mentally ill, and to grant them all the privileges and prerogatives of citizenship?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church at paragraph 2241 says (emphases added):

The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.  

Clearly, (1) the obligation to take in immigrants is not absolute, but must be balanced against the common good, and (2) immigrants owe duties toward their country of adoption.

Let's look at the Summa Theologiae, First Part of the Second Part, Question 105, Article 3 (ST I-II. Q.105 A.3).  Question 105 explains the judicial precepts of the Old Law.  As you read through Question 105, it becomes clear that the preservation of a nation is a good, and the Law was designed in part to effect that good.  In his Reply to Objection 3 in Article 2, Aquinas says, "...the regulation of possessions conduces much to the preservation of a state or nation," and explains that the reason for the law against permanently alienating real property "was to prevent confusion of possessions, and to ensure the continuance of a definite distinction among the tribes."  Article 3 of Question 105 explains the laws pertaining to foreigners.  Aquinas begins by noting that there are two kinds of relations with foreigners: peaceful and hostile, and the Law provided suitably for both kinds.  Then he lists the three opportunities Israel had to carry on peaceful relations with foreigners: when they traveled through the land; when they came to settle as newcomers; and when they wished to join their full fellowship and mode of worship.  In the first two cases, the Law commanded that they not be molested.  Be it noted that you will nowhere find Aquinas suggesting that this precept applied to troublemakers and disturbers of the peace.

In the third case, Aquinas observes, there was a certain order:

For they were not at once admitted to citizenship: just as it was law with some nations that no one was deemed a citizen except after two or three generations, as the Philosopher [Aristotle] says (Polit. iii, 1). The reason for this was that if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people. Hence it was that the Law prescribed in respect of certain nations that had close relations with the Jews (viz., the Egyptians among whom they were born and educated, and the Idumeans, the children of Esau, Jacob's brother), that they should be admitted to the fellowship of the people after the third generation; whereas others (with whom their relations had been hostile, such as the Ammonites and Moabites) were never to be admitted to citizenship; while the Amalekites, who were yet more hostile to them, and had no fellowship of kindred with them, were to be held as foes in perpetuity: for it is written (Exodus 17:16): "The war of the Lord shall be against Amalec from generation to generation."  [Emphasis added.]

So peaceful foreigners are not to be molested.  Nor, as Aquinas emphasizes, are men of any nation excluded from the worship of God and the things that pertain to the good of the soul.  The question is to what extent are they admitted into a nation's civil affairs.  Answer: not until they have the common good firmly at heart.  Foreigners, then, especially newly-arrived ones, are not deeply rooted enough in their adoptive country to become involved in its affairs; thus, as Aquinas notes in Article 1 of Question 105, the Law forbade the Israelites to choose a foreigner to be king, "because such kings are wont to take little interest in the people they are set over, and consequently to have no care for their welfare...."

And foreigners have no right to cause injury to their adoptive country or its people, any more than any one else has.  Under the old Law, some nations were to be excluded entirely from citizenship, on account of their hostility.  Aquinas:

But in temporal matters concerning the public life of the people, admission was not granted to everyone at once, for the reason given above: but to some, i.e. the Egyptians and Idumeans, in the third generation; while others were excluded in perpetuity, in detestation of their past offense, i.e. the peoples of Moab, Ammon, and Amalec. For just as one man is punished for a sin committed by him, in order that others seeing this may be deterred and refrain from sinning; so too may one nation or city be punished for a crime, that others may refrain from similar crimes.

From the talk these days about immigration, one gets the impression that the rights are supposed to all be on the immigrant side of the ledger, and the obligations all on the nation side.  But the Catholic Church teaches otherwise.  Nations have rights as well as obligations, and immigrants have obligations as well as rights, and these must all be rightly ordered for the sake of the common good.  A nation has the right to self-preservation, and to grant citizenship only to those who have the common good firmly to heart.  Gratitude imposes on immigrants the obligation to respect the law and the culture of their adoptive country.  If they don't, the state has the duty not to tolerate disorders for the sake of the people's welfare.

Those of us who want strong borders believe that our distinctive American culture (as distinguished from foul, rotten pop culture), founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, is worth preserving.  We want our lives and our property to be protected from people who mean us harm.  We want to preserve the value of citizenship, and to not have its benefits diluted by conferring them on persons who are not entitled to possess them.  We want to help people in need, to the extent possible, but we want them to be willing to fulfill the duties of immigrants to their adoptive country.

None of which is contrary to the Christian faith, as the Catechism and St. Thomas Aquinas seem to indicate.

Dress Like Women

Melania Trump: dressed like a woman.

Donald Trump's latest ourtage against women, minorities, God, country, truth, justice and the American way: he allegedly requires his female staffers to "dress like women" at work.

You were waiting for the punch line?  That was it.

Believe it or not, dress codes are a staple of American life.  Schools have dress codes.  A lot of work places have dress codes, and not just the places where you have to wear a uniform.  Churches used to have dress codes, back before they started caring about being "relevant."  There are restaurants where they won't let you in if you're not wearing a tie.  There was a time, still within living memory, when people actually dressed up to fly on an airplane.  

I personally hate getting dressed up; but I have to admit, dress codes are a necessity.  Why?  Because an awful lot of people out there are lazy slobs, just like me.  The proof is all around us, especially in a casual state like the one I live in.  I see it at the courthouse every day.  You'd think that, of all places, a courthouse would be a bastion of solemnity and sobriety and formality, and maybe in some places, it is.  You'd think persons who are in trouble with the law would be, well, scared, and wanting to put their best foot forward to convince the judge not to send them to jail.  You'd think that, if you didn't happen to work in the system.  The reality is that many of the people who have business at the courthouse are there so often that they are as comfortable there as they are in their own living room -- or their friend's living room, if they happen to be couch-surfing.  A few people are scared, and do try to put their best foot forward, and do put on a suit and tie.  Others are working stiffs and couldn't get off the construction site or landscaping job early enough to shower and change before court.  But many show up in hooker heels with their boobs popping out of tight, see-through blouses; or looking -- and smelling -- like they just crawled out of a dumpster; or wearing shirts with pictures of marijuana leaves or obscene hand gestures; or -- so help me -- in pajama bottoms.

To return to the Telegraph story: I doubt seriously its suggestion that Trump has greater expectations of his female staffers than his male ones when it comes to appearances, or that he somehow imposes his tastes on the women in ways that he doesn't on the men.  Trump is generally a stickler for cleanliness and neatness.  He's made no bones about the fact that he likes looking at beautiful women.  But he's also commented in his books on the impression well-dressed men have made on him in business dealings.  Donald Trump has written at length about his business dealings and his business philosophies, and it's pretty clear that appearance is not in fact the number one quality he values in other people, particularly when it is not backed up by substance.

Still, there is no getting around the fact that, while they are not the be-all and end-all, appearances do matter, and how you present to the outside world, and how you represent your organization, does matter.  As a man of business, Trump understands this.  It is undeniable that people do judge you and what you represent based on your appearance.  This is where the word "counselor" in my title of "counselor at law" takes on a special meaning.  I have to counsel my clients on their appearance before the court, and especially before a jury.  I have to remind them that appearances do matter, and that how they present themselves creates an impression how seriously they take their situation.  I have to advise them to show up to their jury trial dressed like a citizen -- and I use the word "citizen," to try to convey something of the civic ceremony and solemnity and seriousness and dignity of the process they are involved in.  They don't need to put on a $2,000 three-piece suit; but they do need to be clean and neat and conservative-looking.  Whether they like it or not, they are testifying every minute they sit in front of the jury, even if they never take the stand.  I have never had a client appear in front of a jury in pajama bottoms; and, with the help of God's grace, I never intend to.

Of course, for purposes of his critics, it really doesn't matter what Trump does or says.  If his female staffers went around looking slovenly and slatternly, the media would be getting on his case for hiring people who didn't get the dignity of their position.  As it is, since there is no greater evidence of male chauvinist piggery than expecting women to meet high standards, Trump is being portrayed as a lout and a boor for allegedly telling his female staffers to "dress like women."  Assuming those are his actual words, I think I get what he's driving at.  All his staffers reflect on him, and he wants them to reflect well on him.  Every boss wants that of his people.  He wants them to look dignified and conservative and to show that they are adults and take their work seriously, women included.  He may very well even want them to project excellence for their own sakes.

And to shine all the brighter by contrast with certain other females.

Not dressed like a woman.  Admit it: you don't
want to have to look at this every day any more
than Donald Trump does.

What's Controversial About This?

Trump says Madonna is disgusting for her performance at the Women's March last week.

Is this controversial?  She is disgusting.  She's been disgusting for years.

Is she guilty of the felony offense of threatening the President of the United States (see 18 U.S. Code § 871)?  I don't know.  Possibly not.  But even if she is not, she is still a nasty, lewd, crass, putrescent, awful, extraordinarily pathetic human being.  God help her.

Questions

To all you women who engaged in such shameful conduct over the weekend in D.C., and any similar conduct elsewhere, a few questions*:

1. Why is Madonna, who has spent decades touting herself as a sex object and who offered to administer blow jobs to anyone who would vote for Hillary, one of your spokespersons against the objectification of women?

2. Why, if you want to be thought of as more than a vagina, did you wear big pink vaginas on your heads and/or dress up in vagina costumes?

3. Why, if you want to be thought of as strong and smart and powerful and made of stern stuff, are you melting down over a man's crude remarks from 20 years ago?  Why, if you want to be noticed for your brains rather than your lady parts, did you cheer so loudly over Ashley Judd's utterly incoherent "nasty woman" rant?

4. How many of you, who are now screaming over Donald Trump talking about grabbing pussy, voted for accused rapist, exploiter of White House interns and actual grabber of pussy Bill Clinton?  How many of you voted for him twice?  How many of you continued to support him even after all the disgusting revelations?

5. Why in God's Name did so many of you expose your young children to the visual and auditory obscenity on display at the march?  Why did you make your young children wear vagina hats?

6. How is it that you have not figured out that it is precisely this kind of behavior, which is fit only for insane asylums, that helped motivate so many of the rest of us to use our votes to remove your party from power?

*Not addressed to the mercenaries who swelled the crowds in exchange for filthy lucre.

The Drivel Made Me Do It: Some Thoughts on President Trump

Two presidents.

It's time, and past time, to step back and start applying some actual brain power to the anti-Trump hysteria.  People who ordinarily would not acknowledge the existence of devils are making an exception in Trump's case, and it's getting ridiculous.  I have to admit that it's been about a dozen years since I had television in my house -- which cuts down significantly on the amount of drivel I consume -- so that I am not immersed in network coverage about Trump; but based on the quality of the anti-Trump chatter I am hearing on a daily basis, that coverage has to be exceedingly selective, if not downright mendacious.  Some thoughts on the new Prez:

-- Some of the stories circulating out there about the President are just flat-out lies, like the business about the Russian prostitutes being hired to urinate in a bed the Obamas slept in.  Only liberals come up with perverted symbolic gestures of the sort attributed to Trump in this whopper.  Then there is the story that his father gave him $200 million to start the Trump Organization.  Trump has denied this, and in fact, it doesn't make sense in light of the fact that (a) he has several siblings, and (b) $200 million is nearly half of what Fred Trump's estate was worth at the time of his death in 1999.  And then there is the infamous one about him making fun of a reporter because the reporter had a disability.  I am persuaded this did not happen.  Trump has a stock mannerism that he uses to describe cluelessness and groveling, which he appears to have deployed on the occasion in question.  You can dispute whether anyone should ever be made fun of for any reason, but Trump mocked the guy on his merits and not because he has a withered hand.

-- And while we're on the subject of mocking the afflicted: if we turned back the clock 20 or 25 years, would we find today's shocked and saddened liberal luminaries busily making fun of Ronald Reagan for suffering from dementia?   

-- Then there are the lies by omission.  Trump's wall on the Mexican border draws thunderous applause from his supporters and wailing and cries of racism from liberals.  But what never gets talked about is what he always says every time he brings up the wall: that the wall will be full of "big, beautiful doors" to let people in who want to come here legally.  The wall is about illegal immigration: on more than one occasion, Trump has said he wants legal immigrants coming into this country by the tens of thousands.  He has also decried violence against gays -- for instance, at the Republican National Convention, in his speech accepting the nomination.  Yet people run around acting as though any second now, Trump is going to round up all the gays and all the immigrants and all the women and minorities (that he hasn't nominated to cabinet posts) and ship them off to Siberia.

-- There is no excuse for relying exclusively on the mainstream media's carefully selected, heavily edited Trump crumbs to find out what to think of the man, when he has led such a high-profile life for decades and everything he has done and said publicly is out there for the finding, without filters.  Trump's oeuvre is rich pickings for anyone who is determined to find something to dislike about him, since he did not live his life with a view to avoiding the things that could hurt him in case he ran for President.  His speeches are all over YouTube.  He has written about 20 books which do not require a college education to read.  His most recent book outlines his political agenda.  Much of his writing is about his business philosophies and his business life.  And if you read about his business life, it starts to dawn on you that, for a guy who allegedly has so little respect for women, over the years, he has placed a lot of women in positions of trust and heavy responsibility in his Trump Organization.  

-- Even without reading any of his books or listening to any of his speeches, it shouldn't take more than half a minute of thought to realize that Donald Trump cannot be as stupid or as ignorant or as lazy or as lightweight as he is portrayed.  The man is a multi-billionaire.  He has done a lot of gigantic property development and construction projects, which requires him to be informed about construction, architecture, laws, and how to deal with local governing bodies that he has to appeal to for licenses and permits.  Even if it were true that his father gave him a $200 million start, if he was that big an idiot, one would have expected him to just run through it, instead of going on to dwarf the fortune his father made.  Until he put everything in trust for the duration of his presidency, Trump had all sorts of business ventures in various parts of the country and the world.  He has been constantly on the lookout for new opportunities.  This means keeping well-informed about current events, markets, people he wants to make deals with, and the products he sells.  It also means putting in very long work days and wasting as little time as possible.  In his books, he talks about getting up at 5 a.m., spending several hours a day reading, and about the importance of meticulous planning and preparation and attention to details.

-- People fault Trump for being full of himself and lowbrow.  These same characteristics that some argue disqualify Trump to lead the nation would have also disqualified Winston Churchill, who was just as bad, if not worse, on those scores.  Am I saying Trump is the next Churchill?  No.  But Churchill had an exceedingly high opinion of himself, especially in his youth, when he sought out battles for the express purpose of gaining glory and making himself more marketable as a political candidate.  Then there is the story told of Churchill that in early 1945, he crossed the Channel to visit the front and took the occasion to urinate on the Siegfried Line.  Churchill also drank a lot -- Trump is a teetotaler -- and had the Dardanelles catastrophe of World War I on his resume.  History overlooks these items in its overall assessment of Churchill as a great world leader, suggesting that perhaps when it comes to forming judgments, we are not always worried about all the right things.

Perhaps, in connection with Trump's reputation as an alleged prima donna, it is worth noting that the one thing he hardly referred to at all in his inaugural address was -- himself.

Inauguration Day

There are tons of videos up of the oath of office, and the speech (!) and the parade, but this one especially cheered me up: the First and Second Couples' first dance.

Why this cheered me up so much, I can't quite say.  Let's face it: neither Trump nor Pence are very good dancers.  But so what?  We didn't elect them for that.

I am liking the new tone of patriotism and pride in America.    

  

Lists for 2017

Things I would like to see happen in 2017, in no particular order:

-- True love decides to be crazy enough to take a chance on me.

-- A twenty-five thousand per cent raise.

-- A major tax cut, which could be the equivalent of a twenty-five thousand per cent raise.

-- A major weight cut, to the tune of I-don't-want-to-say-how-many dress sizes.

-- I win every case I take to trial.

-- My heel pain resolves.  (There is nothing like pain in your lower extremities to make you feel old and broken down.)

-- The current crisis in the Catholic Church resolves favorably.

-- We get a daily traditional Latin Mass in Boise.

-- Somebody comes up with a low-cal, superfood version of cheese puffs that is just as tasty and comforting as the junk version.

My predictions for 2017, in no particular order:

-- The crisis in the Catholic Church will resolve not only favorably but dramatically.

-- President Trump will reboot the Dakota Access pipeline project, and look into the possibility of rebooting the nuclear energy industry.  

-- The government of the United Kingdom will continue to try to stonewall Brexit.

-- Angela Merkel will fall amid a national clamor to get Germany out of the European Union.

-- President Trump's approval ratings will skyrocket.

-- The city of Boise will be considered to be experiencing drought conditions despite near-record winter snowfalls.

-- Nobody will come up with a low-cal, superfood version of cheese puffs of any quality.

The Passing Scene: 2016

January

 

6: My friend Gary Reedy loses his battle with cancer.
7: A gunman claiming allegiance to ISIS shoots and wounds a Philadelphia police officer.

15: My mother, Judi Moore, dies.
22-24: A Category 5 blizzard pounds the mid-Atlantic and northeast states, killing 55 people in 13 states and the District of Columbia, and doing as much as $3 billion in damage.

28: The World Health Organization announces the zika outbreak.

Deaths: David Bowie; Alan Rickman; Rene Angelil; Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane); Glenn Frey; Abe Vigoda; Florence King; Dan Haggerty; Pat Harrington (One Day at a Time).

February

6: A 6.5 earthquake strikes Taiwan, killing 117 people.
23: Plans are announced to close Guantanamo Bay's detention center in Cuba.
29: A 14-year-old opens fire in a school cafeteria in Madison Township, Ohio, wounding four students.

Deaths: Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire); Antonin Scalia; George Gaynes; Boutros Boutros-Ghali; Umberto Eco; Harper Lee; George Kennedy; Charlie Tuna; Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14 astronaut); Vanity; George Gaynes; Sonny James.

March

1: The first case of zika in the United States is confirmed.
22: ISIS claims responsibility for a series of explosions that kill 34 and wound another 170 at Brussells Airport in Belgium.
23: Denver receives 19.5 inches of snow in a blizzard that leaves 100,000 people without power and forces the closure of the Denver International Airport.

Deaths: Nancy Reagan; Larry Drake; Garry Shandling; Patty Duke; Frank Sinatra, Jr.; Steve Young; Joe Santos; Lester Thurow; Mother Angelica; Toni Grant; Ronnie Corbett; Joey Feek; Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer); Joe Garagiola; Erik Bauersfeld (Star Wars, Admiral Ackbar).

April

1: Beginning of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

3: An Amtrak train derails in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two track workers and injuring 35.
8: The disastrous Amoris Laetitia is published.
14: The first of two major earthquakes strikes Kumamoto City, Japan, killing 50 and doing up to $7.5 billion in damage.
16: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Ecuador, killing 673.
20: It is announced that Harriet Tubman will occupy the place on the American $20 bill formerly held by Andrew Jackson.
21: Queen Elizabeth II turns 90.

Deaths: Merle Haggard; Doris Roberts; Prince.

May

3: Donald Trump is projected the winner of the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

9: Mercury transits the sun; the phenomenon is visible from the Americas.
11: Same-sex "marriage" becomes legal in Italy.
13: The U.S. Department of Education tells school districts to let transgenders use opposite-sex bathrooms.

24: A Pennsylvania court finds probable cause on felony indecent assault charges against Bill Cosby.
26: Archaeologists announce the discovery of a tomb at Stagira, Greece, believed to be that of Aristotle.
28: Cinncinnati Zoo gorilla Harambe is shot to save the life of a little boy who had found his way inside the gorilla's enclosure and was under attack.

Deaths: Madeleine Lebeau ("Yvonne" in Casablanca, last surviving credited cast member); Bob Bennett; John Bradshaw (the "inner child" guy); Morley Safer; Burt Kwouk; Nancy Dow; Jan Crouch (heavily-made-up televangelist); Alan Young (Mr. Ed).

June

6: Hillary Clinton is projected the winner of the Democrat nomination for President of the United States.

9: California's "right to die" law takes effect.
12: Terrorist attack at the Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando, Florida, claims the lives of 49 and wounds 53; the shooter, who claimed allegiance to ISIS, was shot dead by police.

23: Brexit: the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.

Deaths: Theresa Saldana; Ronnie Claire Edwards; Anton Yelchin; Ralph Stanley (the Stanley Brothers); Barbara Goldsmith; Muhammad Ali.

July

5: The FBI "clears" Hillary Clinton regarding Emailgate.
7: Shooter ambushes nine Dallas, Texas police officers, killing five; the shooter himself is killed by an explosive deployed by a police robot.
14: A terrorist deliberately plows a cargo truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 86 and injuring hundreds more.  The perp was killed by police.  ISIL claimed responsibility days later.
15: Donald Trump names Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate on the Republican ticket.
17: Six Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officers are shot, three fatally, by a gunman who is himself killed by SWAT team officers.
22: Hillary Clinton names Tim Kaine as her running mate on the Democrat ticket.
26: Fr. Jacques Hamel, aged 85, is murdered by two Islamist terrorists while celebrating Mass at his parish in Normandy.

Deaths: Elie Wiesel; Noel Neill; Garry Marshall; "Miss Cleo" (fake Jamaican phone psychic).

August

5-21: The Summer Olympics in Rio.  Simone Biles leaves the Games as America's most decorated gymnast, with four gold medals and one bronze medal.

24: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes central Italy, killing hundreds.

Deaths: David Huddleston; Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine); Glenn Yarbrough; Kenny Baker (R2D2); Fyvush Finkel; John McLaughlin; Jack Riley; Steven Hill; Gene Wilder.

September

3: Oklahoma's strongest recorded earthquake strikes the city of Pawnee at a magnitude of 5.8. 

4: Mother Teresa of Calcutta is raised to sainthood.
10: John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate President Reagan in 1981, is released from a psychiatric hospital.
17-19: Three terrorist bombings rock Seaside Park, New Jersey, Manhattan and Elizabeth, New Jersey.  No one is killed, but 35 are injured.
30: Alabama chief justice Roy Moore is suspended for judicial ethics violations for telling other judges to ignore the Obergefehl ruling.

Deaths: Phyllis Schlafly; Arnold Palmer; Shimon Peres; John Hostetter; Hugh O'Brian; Fr. Gabriel Amorth; Edward Albee; Charmian Carr.

October

2: Vin Scully closes out a 66-year career as the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
8: Three Palm Springs, California police officers are shot, two fatally, by a gunman who is later apprehended with body armor and heavy weaponry.
10: Deadly Hurricane Matthew finally dissipates.

13: Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.  Also: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, dies after reigning for 70 years and 126 days.
14: The United States embargo on Cuba is partly lifted.

Deaths: Jacob Neusner; Jack Chick; Tom Hayden; Bobby Vee; Tammy Grimes.

November

2: Police officers in Urbandale and Des Moines, Iowa are ambushed and killed.

8: 2016 election: Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton.  The GOP takes the House, the Senate, the majority of state governorships and many local offices.
21: A school bus carrying 37 children in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overturned and wrapped around a tree, killing six children and injuring 11 more.
22: Terrorists ignite wildfires in Israel, resulting in the evacuation of tens of thousands, especially in the city of Haifa.
24: Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for President, fronts a recount effort in several states where Hillary Clinton lost.
28: A Muslim Somali refugee launches a car-ramming and stabbing attack at Ohio State University, wounding 13 before being taken out by police.  Also: Out-of-control wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park cause the evacuation of downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and result in 14 deaths; two juveniles will be arrested and charged with aggravated arson.
30: Donald Trump enters into a deal with Carrier Corporation to keep in Indiana more than a thousand jobs that were slated to be moved to Mexico.

Deaths: Holly Dunn; Gwen Ifill; Leon Russell; Robert Vaughn; Leonard Cohen; Janet Reno; Florence Henderson; Ron Glass; Fidel Castro; Grant Tinker; Fritz Weaver; Alice Drummond.

December

2: Fire breaks out at a rave party in a converted warehouse in Oakland, California, killing 36.
9: Kirk Douglas celebrates his 100th birthday.
11: St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral is bombed, killing 25 and wounding dozens more.
12: President-elect Donald Trump suggests that the "One China" policy will become a bargaining chip in trade relations with China, causing a bad case of the vapors in liberals.  Also: the EU normalizes relations with Cuba.
19: A Turkish policeman assassinates the Russian ambassador to Turkey during an event at an art gallery.  Also: despite a leftist campaign of harassment, threats and intimidation, the Electoral College votes in Donald Trump per the November 8th election results.  Also: a Muslim terrorist drives a hijacked truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12, including the murdered driver of the truck.  The terrorist is later shot by police in Milan, Italy.
21: In an ominous harbinger of global warming, the Sahara Desert gets its first snowfall in 37 years.
23: The United States abstains in a vote which passed U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, condemning Israel's settlement activities in territories claimed by the Palestinians.
29: In retaliation for the Russians having allegedly hacked the election, Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats.  Putin laughs.

Deaths: Don Calfa; John Glenn; Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer); Zsa Zsa Gabor; Henry Heimlich (inventor of the Heimlich maneuver); Bernard Fox; Alan Thicke; George Michael; Carrie Fisher; Debbie Reynolds; Richard Adams (author, Watership Down); Joseph Mascolo; William Christopher.

Except for the Brexit vote, signaling a thaw in the West's collectivist deep freeze, and the wholesale rejection of the Marxist ideologues that have run the United States for the past eight years, 2016 was a very, very rough year.  May 2017 contain fewer tragedies and more Brexit moments.

REPOST: December 9th: St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin

In 1474, Cuauhtlatoatzin ("Talking Eagle") was born a member of the Chichimeca people and a subject of the Aztecs in what is now part of Mexico City, during an epoch that was destined very soon to end. When he was 18, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. By the time he was 47, Spain had conquered the advanced yet blood-soaked Aztec Empire. However, within a decade, the Indians were laboring under crushing oppression at the hands of corrupt Spanish officials. The first Bishop of Mexico, the Franciscan Juan de Zumárraga, struggled vainly to defend his new spiritual charges, who were close to rebellion. The harried bishop begged the Blessed Mother for her aid.

It was in this turbulent time, less than five years after the conquest of the Aztecs, that the Talking Eagle encountered the religion of the Spaniards. Even as a pagan, he appears to have led a life of penance and contemplation that no doubt laid the groundwork for what was to come to him in later life. The Talking Eagle became one of the earliest indigenous converts to the Catholic faith, accepting Baptism together with his wife and taking the name of Juan Diego in about 1524. Every Saturday and Sunday, a barefoot Juan Diego walked 14 miles to Tenochtitlan to attend Mass and receive religious instruction. After the death of his wife in 1529, Juan Diego moved in with an uncle, Juan Bernardino, which left him with only nine miles to travel to pursue his faith.

It was during one of these journeys in 1531 that the veil between heaven and earth was drawn aside for the humble farmer and mat-weaver. The 16th-century native scholar Antonio Valeriano describes what happened on that day in the Nahuatl-language Nican Mopohua (1556), the oldest and most authoritative account of the Guadalupe apparitions:

On a Saturday just before dawn, he was on his way to pursue divine worship and to engage in his own errands. As he reached the base of the hill known as Tepeyac, came the break of day, and he heard singing atop the hill, resembling singing of varied beautiful birds.

Occasionally the voices of the songsters would cease, and it appeared as if the mount responded. The song, very mellow and delightful, excelled that of the coyoltototl and the tzinizcan and of other pretty singing birds. Juan Diego stopped to look and said to himself: “By fortune, am I worthy of what I hear? Maybe I dream? Am I awakening? Where am I? Perhaps I am now in the terrestrial paradise which our elders had told us about? Perhaps I am now in heaven?” He was looking toward the east, on top of the mound, from whence came the precious celestial chant; and then it suddenly ceased and there was silence. He then heard a voice from above the mount saying to him: “Juanito, Juan Dieguito.” Then he ventured and went to where he was called. He was not frightened in the least; on the contrary, overjoyed.

Then he climbed the hill, to see from were he was being called. When he reached the summit, he saw a Lady, who was standing there and told him to come hither. Approaching her presence, he marveled greatly at her superhuman grandeur; her garments were shining like the sun; the cliff where she rested her feet, pierced with glitter, resembling an anklet of precious stones, and the earth sparkled like the rainbow. The mezquites, nopales, and other different weeds, which grow there, appeared like emeralds, their foliage like turquoise, and their branches and thorns glistened like gold. He bowed before her and herd her word, tender and courteous, like someone who charms and steems you highly.

She said: “Juanito, the most humble of my sons, where are you going?” He replied: “My Lady and Child, I have to reach your church in Mexico, Tlatilolco, to pursue things divine, taught and given to us by our priests, delegates of Our Lord.” She then spoke to him: “Know and understand well, you the most humble of my sons, that I am the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. I wish that a temple be erected here quickly, so I may therein exhibit and give all my love, compassion, help, and protection, because I am your merciful mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants on this land and all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows. And to accomplish what my clemency pretends, go to the palace of the bishop of Mexico, and you will say to him that I manifest my great desire, that here on this plain a temple be built to me; you will accurately relate all you have seen and admired, and what you have heard. Be assured that I will be most grateful and will reward you, because I will make you happy and worthy of recompense for the effort and fatigue in what you will obtain of what I have entrusted. Behold, you have heard my mandate, my humble son; go and put forth all your effort.”

At this point he bowed before her and said: “My Lady, I am going to comply with your mandate; now I must part from you, I, your humble servant.” Then he descended to go to comply with the errand, and went by the avenue which runs directly into Mexico City.

To Juan Diego's great disappointment, Bishop Zumárraga, who had kept him waiting a very long time before granting him an audience, would not believe him. Dejected, he went back to the Lady on Tepeyac Hill and told her how he had been rebuffed. "For which I exceedingly beg, Lady and my Child," he said,

that you entrust the delivery of your message to someone of importance, well known, respected, and esteemed, so that they may believe in him; because I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf, and you, my Child, the least of my children, my Lady, you send me to a place where I never visit nor repose. Please excuse the great unpleasantness and let not fretfulness befall, my Lady and my All.

However, the Lady insisted that this important mission was for Juan Diego alone, and ordered him to go back and try again. He obeyed, and this time the bishop questioned him closely regarding what he had seen and heard, and told him to ask the Lady for a sign. When he returned to Tepeyac Hill after this second interview, the Lady told him to come back the next day, and then he would receive the sign that would convince the bishop to comply with her request.

But in the meantime, Juan Diego's uncle, Bernardino, became so ill that his life was despaired of, and Bernardino sent his nephew to fetch a priest. Knowing that the Lady would be waiting for him on Tepeyac Hill, Juan Diego avoided the place so that he would not be diverted from his urgent errand. But the Lady accosted him and asked him where he was going. When he told her, she said:

Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my embrace? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. Do not be afflicted by the illness of your uncle, who will not die now of it. Be assured that he is now cured.

She then told Juan Diego to climb to the top of the hill, where he found a variety of choice Castillian roses growing out of season and on a barren patch of land. He gathered them and brought them back to the Lady, who arranged them herself in his frail cactus-fiber tilma and told him to present them to the bishop. When, after yet another long wait, he finally saw the bishop, he unfolded the tilma, and the roses fell out; and as the roses scattered on the floor, the image of Our Lady as Juan Diego had seen her on Tepeyac Hill appeared on the tilma. This put an end to Bishop Zumárraga's doubts and convinced him that this was Our Lady's answer to his prayers.

In obedience to the Blessed Mother's request, a shrine was built at the foot of Tepeyac Hill, and the miraculous tilma was housed in the chapel. Juan Diego gave everything he owned to his uncle -- who had indeed been cured and had also seen the Lady at the very moment she told his nephew about his cure -- and moved into a small dwelling at the shrine, devoting himself to prayer, virtue, and the care of the shrine and the pilgrims who came to visit it. He received the then-extraordinary privilege of receiving Holy Communion three times a week, and died in the odor of sanctity on May 30, 1548 at the age of 74. Meanwhile, by means of the miraculous image -- not to mention the humility and obedience of her servant, Juan Diego -- the Blessed Mother won millions of souls for the Church, and averted the bloody rebellion that had loomed on the horizon in Mexico.

A footnote. Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen was a great devotee of the Blessed Mother, and remarked that he prayed for the following intentions regarding his death: (1) that he "drop dead" at the age of 80; (2) that he die on a Saturday in honor of Our Lady, or (3) that he die on one of her feast days. In fact, he died in 1979 at the age of 84; on a Sunday; and not on a feast of Our Lady. He was disappointed on every count.

Or was he? The date of Fulton Sheen's death -- December 9th -- was the anniversary of the first apparition on Tepeyac Hill, and is now the feast of St. Juan Diego, whom Pope John Paul II canonized at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2002.