Consternation Over the Obama Commutation of Chelsea Manning's Sentence

"My vote can't be bought but it can be rented"

As revealed through Wikileaks, transcripts of Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY)'s lucrative speaking engagements to banks had some embarrassing allusions.  

It was telling how Mrs. Clinton echoed former Senator John Breaux on how votes can not be bought but may be rented.  That seems particularly egregious considering the pay-for-play accusations of Clinton Foundation donors getting concierge service while Secretary of State Clinton was at Foggy Bottom.  

And it also calls into question former President Bill Clinton's lucrative speech  in Kazakhstan and Clinton Foundation donations before the State Department approved Russian affiliated company Uranium One taking control of 25% of America's uranium stock

Archbishop Chaput: "In a nation where 'choice' is now the unofficial state religion, the menu for dinner is remarkably small."

Wikileaks has released some batches of John Podesta's emails which reveal that Hillary Clinton confidants have some scathing views of Catholics.  Some had suggested that there should be a "Catholic Spring" to overthrow "a middle ages dictatorship" and impose a democratic cult which honors gender equality (and presumably progressive approaches to hot button social issues).  Other emails mocked how conservative Catholics were pseudo-intellectuals who spouted sophisticated sounding nonsense.

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput responded to these scathing critques stemming from the highest echelons of Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign.

It is quite  a clever turn of phrase of Archbishop Chaput to quip:"In a nation where 'choice' is now the unofficial state religion, the menu for dinner is remarkably small." Chaput pithily impeaches America's obsession with choice (abortion), reflects on dangers to America's tradition of religious liberty while lamenting the paucity of choices to be elected Commander-in-Chief.

Not withstanding the sardonic style of the riposte, Archbishop Chaput has consistently eviscerated both major party Presidential candidates, as seen from his recent speech at Notre Dame University.




We love to label in order to create intellectual order in our minds.  But terms like liberal and conservative do not translate well into Church politics.  Archbishop Chaput can be considered a conservative in Church circles, as he is cautiously embracing implementation of the New Mercy contained in Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.  However, it would be mistaken to automatically assume that Chaput is a political conservative or would ever vote for Donald Trump.

It is a pity that Archbishop Chaput was passed over to be named a Cardinal  by Pope Francis' recent announcement for the November 19th consistory.  Philadelphia, like the large Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is traditionally blessed with a Cardinal.  Pope Francis, however, chose three "red hats" which went to Dallas, Indianapolis and to Archbishop Blase Cupich from the longstanding Cardinal seat of Chicago.

The Hits Keep Coming Via Wikileaks-- John Podesta on Hillary Clinton

In the continued Wikileaks revelations of John Podesta's emails, the Clinton confidant gave an internal analysis of Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY) that was scathing. 

Podesta admitted his candidate's political flaws of having a stiff, tone deaf style that is off-putting. These traits would ordinarily be fatal.  But it seems that the 2016 Democrat primaries were engineered Mrs. Clinton to win.  The Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump has severe character flaws and his unconventional style is ripe for ridicule by a partisan press dedicated to coronating Hillary as the first elected woman President. 

Hillary Clinton on Everyday Americans

During one of Democrat Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's (R-NY) reintroduction to America (after her quarter century in the spotlight) tried to employ the conceit of identifying with Everyday Americans.



This political tact evolved in the General Election campaign to be Stronger Together.

But the Wikileaks release of Clinton confidant John Podesta's emails to the Clinton campaign tells quite a different story.

It is curious how Hillary Clinton has amassed a $250 million fortune since she and her husband former President B.J. Clinton left the White House are identified with everyday Americans yet foster such cynical contempt of the people that they supposedly champion.

Clinton Campaign Mocks Conservative Catholics

In email exchanges with the chief of Hillary Clinton's Campaign chief Jennifer Palmieri and John Podesta, Clinton confidant John Halpin mocked Catholics.




The fellow from the Center for America Progress claimed that no one could understand subsidiarity or Thomistic thought.

It is unsurprising that a progressive fellow like Halpin can not fathom the concept of subsidiarity, which advocates devolving decision-making to the lowest level possible.  Within Catholic circles, subsidiarity is understood as a social doctrine that social bodies exist for the sake of the individual.  Progressives who always opt for big government solutions would think such words are gibberish.

As for Thomism, that refers to philosophy originating from St. Thomas Aquinas the prizes the individual's educated and sincerely formed conscience.  Not that the Clinton campaign would care, but Pope Francis' recent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (2016) employs Thomism to circumvent some impediments for some irregular relationships (e.g. divorced Catholics who civilly remarry).

During the Vice Presidential Debate, Democrat VP pick Tim Kaine tried to laud Hillary's supposedly deep religious roots in Methodism, while playing up his progressive Catholic perspectives.  The Podesta Email leaks from Wikileaks impeaches this conceit and shows the cynicism of the Clinton campaign towards people of faith, especially practical Catholics.

On DNC Incompetence

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was convinced not to gavel the opening of the Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia in the wake of the DNCleaks (via Wikileaks) revelations of rigging the primary system for 2016 Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY).  

So they let the honor of gaveling the convention open to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. (D-Baltimore).

Rawlings-Blake did about as well in that role as she did in crowd control in the wake of the Freddie Gray protests (freedom of speech = freedom to destroy).  Perhaps more poignantly put, Rawlings was about as effective as Baltimore District Attorney Carolyn Mosby's criminal prosecutions of Baltimore Police Officers in the the Freddie Gray case.

Democrats are also ardently opposed to identification checks for voters (which conveniently leads to the very real possibility of voter fraud in some precincts).  Of course to get into the arena, delegates had to show their IDs along with their credentials.

Let's not forget about how the Democrat party is so adamantly opposed stronger border controls for immigration, as epitomized in Republican nominees exhortation to build a wall with Mexico.  Aside from the four mile wide perimeter wall around Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the DNC needed to erect a curtain wall in front of the DNC stage to prevent Bernie Bros from charging the stairs.  Later this was replaced by a plexiglass wall.

Supporters of Sanders were so raucous, particularly on the first night that the DNC might have sought to replace them with paid seat warmers via Craigslists.  For sections in the convention that seemed to be Bernie territory, the DNC conveniently turned the lights out in that section so it would not interfere with the televised perception of Democrat party unity.