UPDATE: Reports this morning, 2/15/2016,  say that Justice Scalia was found with a pillow over his head and shows no evidence of having had a heart attack.  “County Judge Cinderela Guevara pronounced Scalia dead of natural causes without seeing the body — which is permissible under Texas law.”

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In a world where millions of infants are murdered and people are now being openly euthanized, is it absurd to think that good Justice Antonin Scalia may have died on purpose?  I’m not saying it’s likely or unlikely.  But is it ridiculous?  We will certainly hear that now.  Whatever the coroner rules will be the case of course, when that happens.

When Al Gore tried to steal the 2000 election, they threw it to the Court.  Is 2016 heading there too?  Matt Drudge said recently that the supremes are getting ready to move decisively against the free press.  There are many important cases pending and the Republicans don’t actually reassure about delaying an appointment.  Instead they sound, to me, very weak, like a bunch of babies confined to a daycare and helpless.

When Benedict abdicated the papacy three years ago this week, was it really just because he wasn’t feeling vigorous?  That certainly worked out.  Francis is apparently much more vigorous, but Benedict was never that way.  Benedict never expressed anything that wasn’t carefully prepared, scholarly, powerful, and very clear.  He was extremely vigorous about communicating the truth, but he was never vigorous like Francis.

Francis is also a very effective communicator.  He blasts out words and images in a mesmerizing way that permits him to inject a potent drop of poison into his victims while they are befuddled.  He has an army of first-rate spinners creating the FrancisShow for all the world and he just needs to put his two feet on the spot blocked-out on stage, then blurt.

He travels the world and its worst tyrants, politicians, and bishops flock to meet him.  The media faux-reports the roaring crowds, but the cities are always locked-down and the merchants disillusioned.  Every now and then when this happens, one figure in his triumphant joy will tell the truth about Francis.  We remember people like Bolivia’s Morales, Raul Castro, and particularly, Barack Obama.  The fact that men like these praise Francis so profusely is quite the condemnation really.  Is it for his Christian witness?

Yesterday the left-wing mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, announced he will travel to frightening Juarez, Mexico to participate in Francis’ Border Stunt.  He also said some very revealing things.

The Dallas Morning News reports:

“I am not a big person to go meet famous people, but the Pope isn’t famous,” Rawlings said with a small laugh. “He’s the pope. And this being a bi-national, cross-border event is a very cool idea. To participate in that is an exciting thing.”

The event is being portrayed as a restoration party for a city long seen as a blood-drenched, drug-fueled murder capital. Media reports in recent weeks have noted its steep drop in homicides, and a wholesale clean-up effort that has taken place since the pope’s visit was announced last fall.

“Ciudad Juárez is not just safer, it’s booming: new restaurants, car showrooms and other businesses are sprouting,” reported the Guardian earlier this week. “Streets once deserted after dark now have shoppers and diners. Theatrical productions, including the Vagina Monologues, have revived.”

Not only did the FrancisEffect make Juarez a completely different place overnight, but now they even find Mexican women to perform that miserable lesbian love story!

“The whole border issue continues to be a fractious thing, and if the pope can build some bridges across that border,” Rawlings said, “I think that’s a very important step.”

Rawlings, who attends First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dallas, until recently served on the Board of Trustees of Jesuit College Preparatory, from which his son Gunnar graduated in 2007. Gunnar then embarked on a series of teaching jobs at Catholic schools in Denver and Dallas, including Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep.

He’s a Democrat who wants more illegal aliens, he’s a Presbyterian on the board of a local Jesuit college, and the Archdiocese gives his son jobs.  This is a Pope Francis pillar of the Catholic community!  But Rawlings has been dealing with the ‘church’ for a long time.

Rawlings spoke Friday night about being taught by Jesuits at Boston College, of being steeped in the liberation theology that, simply put, says it’s necessary to commingle religion and politics to end poverty.

Pope Francis “is living that in the contemporary way,” Rawlings said. “We’re big fans of his. We were thrilled when he was announced, and he’s lived up to those expectations. Even though he can’t be in Dallas, at least he’s doing this Mass for both sides.”

“Doing this Mass?”  What is a FrancisMass anyway?

Why not just come right out and say it?  Francis is showing us that ‘new way of living’ they taught us at Boston College, where a ‘commingled political religion’ ends poverty once and for all.

“We were thrilled when he was announced and he’s lived up to those expectations.”  Is the Mayor talking about this current trip to Mexico or the entire FrancisPapacy?

Why was Liberation Theology condemned as blatant heresy until 2013?  Perhaps because it has nothing to do with Christianity, justice, or charity, and everything to do with power.

I have no way of knowing why Pope Benedict stepped down.  I do know it was not helpful to the Church, nor was it in character.  It was, historically speaking, a very singular event.  The death of 79-year-old Justice Scalia while he was a guest on a remote ranch doesn’t suggest foul play, except for the fact that it’s a staggering defeat for the planet.  Scalia was no Roberts.  He was a man of God who couldn’t be bought.  I can’t help thinking it seems odd and at the same time unsurprising in these cruel times.  And I won’t be surprised either when Scalia’s replacement turns out to be much more ‘vigorous’ than he ever was.