Month: August 2023

By Monica Showalter

It looks like ‘tuck’ swimwear, Satanist textile themes, and rainbow flags stamped all over the cookie-baking kits weren’t quite what consumers were looking for, based on the latest quarterly earnings report from Target.

According to CNN Business:

Target’s quarterly sales fell for the first time in six years as consumers pulled back on discretionary goods and fierce right-wing backlash to Target’s Pride Month collection took a toll on the brand.

Target’s sales at stores open for at least one year dropped 5.4% last quarter, including a 10.5% drop online. The company also cut its annual sales forecast.

Target’s foot traffic dropped 4.8% last quarter, “likely a function of a mix that skews too discretionary, as well as the Pride merchandise issues,” Michael Baker, an analyst at DA Davidson, said in a note to clients.

So things were worse than anyone thought, in the wake of the consumer boycott triggered by its Pride Month caper in June. They didn’t just see earnings come in below target, they had to lower their annual outlook for what they think their earnings will be.

Sure, their stock went up. But that’s because they lowered their bar on earnings. CNN Business noted that earnings are down 27% on the year earlier and that’s not, as the lefties say, sustainable.

Wokester attitudes were poison to making money, as companies have learned and in Target’s case, what with all the examples out there, learned the hard way.

What happened? Quite possibly they went soft during the pandemic.

Remember that during the state-enforced lockdowns, small businesses were forced to shutter while big retailers, the kind which donate to Democrats, were shielded from shutdowns, artificially boosting their profits. The prop-up maybe made Target think they were bullet-proof and with only a need to please Democrats, they could offend as many customers as they liked. 

Turns out Democrats, though, are nobody’s friend in business, not even businesses that engage in crony capitalism, which Target may have been involved in a mild form of (not the Solyndra-type stuff). When the pandemic ended, they had been lulled into a sense of invincibility and let their sales game go soft as wokesters took over.

They should have known this, given the experience of Bud Light, Kohl’s and other wokester retail corporations that learned the hard way that their customers and their wants, not the “change the world” desires of their internal wokesters, came first.

But they didn’t. So they too got to learn the hard way that they are there to sell goods that the broadest possible customer base, not the loudest politically motivated special interest. They’ve been clobbered by the bottom line now for not putting their customers first. They just painted a big target on their Target.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/08/get_woke_go_broke_target_misses_its_target_for_first_time_in_6_years_after_pride_month_caper.html

The 39-year-old man is currently in police custody at Montauban police headquarters and is expected to be brought before the court prosecutor on Sunday. In addition to not following instructions, he is certainly also accused of endangering the lives of several people when he sped across the road at full speed in the afternoon.

According to our information, the man is known to the police and the judiciary in particular because of his radicalisation and has an entry in the S-file. (…)

The two men who were on board the car with him are immediately arrested and questioned. (…) At around 7 p.m., the police succeeded in arresting the man not in his home, but on a public street in Montauban. La Dépêche

(…) The suspect justified his refusal to comply by saying that he had been drinking alcohol and did not want to risk losing his driving licence as he had a job interview the previous evening (Monday, August 14). (…)

The 39-year-old man, who has already spent 17 years of his life in prison, has 19 entries in his record listing his criminal convictions. (…)

(…) Frédéric continued his escape on foot, while the two passengers were quickly arrested by the police. Almost at the same time, the younger of the two men received a call from Frédéric on his mobile phone: “Allah akbar! I’m going to put on my explosive belt and blow them all up.” The tension rises immeasurably (…).

The court finally imposed twelve months in prison without parole, the cancellation of his driving licence with the possibility of retaking it in a year, and the confiscation of the car. La Dépêche

https://www.fdesouche.com/2023/08/16/montauban-82-refus-dobtemperer-suivi-dune-course-poursuite-dangereuse-par-un-radicalise-fiche-s-connu-de-la-police-et-de-la-justice/

Celebrating the joy & power of beauty in Western civilization and why enemies of The West are so keen to destroy what we cherish. A clip from the New Culture Forum’s critically acclaimed six-part documentary series THE WEST. Watch all episodes here: https://www.westerncivilization.co.uk/

Another sign of the deteriorating situation of inter-religious relations in Pakistan is the media and Internet campaign trying to persuade popular Catholic actress and former model Sunita Marshall that she has a “duty” to convert to Islam.

Sunita Marshall married in 2009 fellow actor Hassan Ahmed. The couple decided to have two wedding ceremonies, one Muslim and one Catholic. They have two children, a boy and a girl, and until recently the question of Sunita’s religion was rarely debated in public. Under Sharia law, a Muslim man can marry a Christian woman (while a Christian man cannot marry a Muslim woman).

However, in June Sunita was interviewed by controversial YouTuber Nadir Ali and grilled on her Catholic faith. The interviewer told her in so many words that she should convert to Islam and repeatedly returned to the subject in an increasingly aggressive mood. This is not surprising since Nadir Ali has publicly defended Muslim clerics accused of organizing the kidnapping, forced conversion to Islam, and forced marriage of young Hindu girls.

Sunita handled the aggressive questions with good grace, telling the YouTuber that her faith is a personal matter, and she should be free to take her decisions about it. In other interviews, she stated she has no intention of converting to Islam.

Netizens in Pakistan debated the issue on social media, with many expressing support for how Sunita answered the attack, although others insisted she should convert to Islam. Soon, criticism involved her husband Hassan Ahmed, who was told he should have asked Sunita to convert to Islam before marrying her (in fact, he had no such obligation under the Sharia).

Ahmed was increasingly embarrassed by the criticism and had to tell media that he hopes his wife would convert to Islam and prays for it, but at the same time respects her personal decisions.

As an answer of sort to criticism, on August 9 through social media Sunita publicly endorsed the August 11 Karachi Minority Rights March, which protested the attacks against Christian churches, the kidnapping and forced conversion and marriage of minority religion girls, and the increasing religious intolerance in Pakistan.

Some Pakistani media have been described as “obsessed” by the question of Sunita’s faith, which proves that extremism is much more influential now than a decade ago, when the actress and her husband lived quietly, and the fact that the two popular actors had different religions was rarely perceived as an issue.

https://bitterwinter.org/sunita-marshall-pakistani-media-pressuring-catholic-actress-to-convert-to-islam/

The main purpose of our government is to impose the ideology of our ruling class. Sincere Christians must be eradicated before ideological homogeneity can be achieved. Consequently, they continue to be targeted by the FBI. In deep blue Massachusetts, they are not allowed to adopt:

Mike and Kitty Burke’s application to foster was denied by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) because they “would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA”.

Being Catholic, they would not sexually corrupt children in their care. Therefore, they are unfit.

According to court papers, during the application process the Burkes shared their beliefs “that marriage is between a woman and a man and that sexual relations are to be kept within the bounds of such a marriage”.

This conventional view is now regarded as impermissible thoughtcrime by the Powers That Be.

They also told the assessor representing the DCF, who interviewed them in their own home, that due to their “religious beliefs, they would not assist a medical gender transition for a hypothetical future child”.

No one who would deform a child’s body on behalf of the LGBT agenda should be left alone with a child, let alone given custody. But liberals have turned everything upside down and backward.

William McGurn puts this depraved tyranny in the context of the culturally catastrophic Obergefell decision imposing homosexual marriage:

“It will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy,” [dissenting Samuel Alito] wrote. “In the course of its opinion, the majority compares traditional marriage laws to laws that denied equal treatment for African-Americans and women. . . . The implications of this analogy will be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.”

You couldn’t find more suitable adoptive parents than the Burkes:

Mr. Burke deployed to Iraq as a Marine, while Mrs. Burke is a former paraprofessional for kids with special needs.

In stark contrast to our liberal overlords, they are tolerant:

The Burkes were willing to accept children of any race, culture or ethnicity, as well as some special needs. They would even take siblings.

But this disqualifies them:

In the license study describing the family, the Massachusetts DCF noted that “Kitty and Mike are devoutly Roman Catholic and not only attend church with regular frequency, they both also work for local churches as musicians.”

How are social engineers supposed to create a society modeled on San Francisco bathhouses if children are exposed to dissident viewpoints?

The author of their license study took care to note that the Burkes are “lovely people.” But with regard to LGBT issues, she also said “their faith is not supportive and neither are they.”

The objective is not to place needy children in stable homes, but to advance the leftist agenda. Where government is involved that is always the objective, to the extent that liberals have consolidated control.

Moonbattery Forbidden From Adopting for Being Catholic – Moonbattery

Jesuit Father Thomas Reese has asserted anyone who doubts the climate crisis “is so deep in denial they would not flee a burning house if their clothes were on fire.”

Despite a growing number of prominent scientists who deny the existence of a so-called “climate emergency,” Father Reese suggests a hot July should convince any reasonable person of the truth behind climate alarmism.

“We are like frogs in a pot of water being slowly cooked as the temperature rises,” the priest writes. “We don’t have the sense to get out of the pot, let alone turn off the heat.”

In his article, Father Reese makes the incredible claim that globally, “5 million people a year die from the heat.”

One hopes Father Reese is better at administering the sacraments than doing research, since the study he references to back up that statement makes no such claim.

The 2021 study published in the Lancet medical journal declared that 5,083,173 deaths were associated with “non-optimal temperatures per year,” but then went on to explain that the vast majority of these were “cold-related” rather than “heat-related.”

According to the Lancet, people around the world are 9.4 times more likely to die from the cold than from the heat. It added that over the past 20 years, the death rate from heat has slightly increased due to global warming (+0.21 percent), but that the death rate from the cold decreased more significantly still (-0.51 percent) during the same period.

An unbiased reader could reasonably infer that global warming has actually lowered the overall death rate from “non-optimal temperatures.”

Undeterred, Father Reese goes on to rail against air conditioning before lamenting the “billions of dollars in damage” caused by flooding, which he believes is related to global warming.

What the priest fails to mention is that global deaths from weather-related incidents have been steadily decreasing year by year and are now a tiny fraction of what they were a century ago, in part due to better heating and — yes — air conditioning.

A century ago, nearly half a million people died on average each year from storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme temperatures, whereas in 2020, the number declined to just 14,000 and in 2021 dropped below 10,000 for the first time on record.

“Millions will die in the coming catastrophe, perhaps half the world’s population,” Reese trumpets apocalyptically. “Billions more will suffer privations on an impoverished planet for centuries to come. Governments will collapse into chaos; the whole world will look like Haiti does now.”

Such ridiculous hyperbole is expected from third-world dictators but is unbecoming a man of the cloth.

If in Father Reese’s over-heated imagination we are all becoming boiled frogs, one can only hope that he will spend less time in the sun.

https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2023/08/16/jesuit-priest-humans-are-like-frogs-in-water-boiled-by-global-warming/

In October 2022, the Afghan stabbed his 16-year-old girlfriend and her mother (36) with a knife. With their last ounce of strength, the two victims, whose lives were in danger, managed to flee to safety in the neighbour’s flat. The knifeman fled and was arrested shortly afterwards.

Now the verdict before the Frankenthal Regional Court: Fuwad O. (presumably 29) must serve 10.5 years behind bars for attempted murder (concerning the daughter) and attempted manslaughter (concerning the mother).

The prosecution had suspected jealousy as a motive and demanded twelve years imprisonment. The defence argues for a conviction for dangerous bodily harm.

In her reasoning for the sentence, Judge Mirtha Hütt said: “The accused, who had known the injured party at the end of 2021, developed romantic feelings for Sarah. He gave her gifts and even wanted to start a family with her. Nevertheless, Sarah made it clear to him again and again that he was not her kind of man, even telling him about other love affairs in order to keep him at a distance.”

And further: “This led to increasing dissatisfaction and self-pity in the accused. A feeling of jealousy, lovesickness and mortification built up more and more in the accused. And he also felt offended with regard to her mother and blamed her for his situation.

The chamber assumed that the Afghan man who confessed stabbed both women with intent to kill. When he attacked the mother, he yelled: “I want you and your sh…family to die!”

The judge explained: “The attack on the daughter was insidious. The injured party was helpless and defenceless. It was therefore attempted murder in this case. The mother, on the other hand, was aware that the accused was physically superior to the child. But she wanted to protect her child and therefore accepted consequences.” Which is why the chamber did not legally assume attempted murder in her case, but attempted manslaughter.

The two victims were not in the courtroom when the verdict was pronounced. Their lawyer Katja Kosian told the newspaper BILD: “It was not possible for them to come, because both are suffering too much from the consequences and have to be cared by physiologists to this day”.

The case: From October 20 to 21, 2022, the Afghan had stayed overnight with Bettina A. and her daughter Sarah in Speyer. The mother of two reports: “This was nothing unusual. Friends of my daughter often stayed overnight with us. Fuwad was in Sarah’s clique, visited us often and was always very friendly. We therefore accepted him like a friend in our family.”

But the next morning Fuwad turned from a polite young man into a hateful person.

When Sarah A. came out of the shower, Fuwad O. lunged at her with a knife. Mother Bettina: “We had just got up when I heard screams from my daughter’s room. When I came in, Fuwad was standing there with a kitchen knife and had already stabbed my daughter three times.”

When the former geriatric nurse stood protectively in front of her daughter, the Afghan stabbed her 13 (!) times as well, according to the prosecution’s indictment: “I thought: Now I have to die.”

The knifeman fled, was arrested shortly afterwards and has been in custody since.

In the course of the investigations against him, it came to light that Fuwad O., who came to Germany in 2015 and worked in a pizzeria in Römerberg near Speyer, had always concealed his true identity from Bettina and Sarah A.. The mother: “He told us he was only 20 …”.

The prosecution sees jealousy as the motive for the crime: When he wanted more than friendship from Sarah A., she told him that she was already with someone else.

When Bettina A. saw him again as a witness in court, there was no sign of remorse from him: “He did not even look at me. Even an apology did not cross this man’s lips.”

The mother has been unable to work since the attack, which she only survived through a five-hour emergency operation, and Sarah can no longer attend school – she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety.

https://www.bild.de/regional/frankfurt/frankfurt-aktuell/mutter-und-tochter-fast-getoetet-10-5-jahre-knast-fuer-messerstecher-85037918.bild.html?t_ref=https%3A%2F%2Fm.bild.de%2Fregional%2Ffrankfurt%2Ffrankfurt-aktuell%2Fmutter-und-tochter-fast-getoetet-10-5-jahre-knast-fuer-messerstecher-85037918.bildMobile.html

In frightening but unsurprising development from across the border, the Islamists targeted the Christians in Jaranwala of the Faisalabad district in Pakistan, over blasphemy charges. The majority Muslim community attacked the minority Christian community and vandalised churches in the neighbourhood after a Christian citizen, Saleem Masih, was accused of committing blasphemy against Quran.

President Bishop of Pakistan named Azad Marshall took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his fear and helplessness over the predicament of Christians in Pakistan following the incident. “Words fail me as I write this. We, Bishops, Priests and lay people are deeply pained and distressed at the Jaranwala incident in the Faisalabad District in Pakistan. A church building is being burnt as I type this message,” he tweeted.

He further added, “Bibles have been desecrated and Christians have been tortured and harassed having been falsely accused of violating the Holy Quran. We cry out for justice and action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice and the safety of all citizens to intervene immediately and assure us that our lives are valuable in our own homeland that has just celebrated independence and freedom.”

Words fail me as I write this. We, Bishops, Priests and lay people are deeply pained and distressed at the Jaranwala incident in the Faisalabad District in Pakistan. A church building is being burnt as I type this message. Bibles have been desecrated and Christians have been… pic.twitter.com/xruE83NPXL

— Bishop Azad Marshall (@BishopAzadM) August 16, 2023

A social media user commented, “This is the real face of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a country of extremists and terrorists. A local Christian family in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, Punjab has been accused of blasphemy by local Muslims. Now local Muslims have attacked a church and are destroying it.”

This is the real face of Islamic Republic of #Pakistan, a country of extremists and terrorists.

A local #Christian family in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, Punjab has been accused of #blasphemy by local Muslims. Now local Muslims have attacked a #church and are destroying it. pic.twitter.com/DxEamRiVhC

— Faraz Pervaiz (@FarazPervaiz3) August 16, 2023

Several shocking videos of the occurrence are making the rounds on social media where furious Muslims can be seen assaulting the already marginalised minority. A news media account even claimed that the latter are escaping from their houses in an effort to save their lives from the bloodthirsty crowd. It added that the situation in the neighbourhood continued to be tense.

Just In: A #Muslim mob in #Jaranwala, #Faisalabad district is attacking homes in #ChristianColony after a local was accused of desecrating the Quran. Sources say the situation is very tense in the area and several Christians have fled their homes. pic.twitter.com/bilYzuh6rX

— Kross Konnection (@kkmediapk) August 16, 2023

Fire and smoke can be seen coming out of the oldest church in Jaranwala amid the huge presence of Muslim agitators.

The church has been torched. #Jaranwala #Pakistan #blasphemy pic.twitter.com/TZ6HkHSWhy

— Faraz Pervaiz (@FarazPervaiz3) August 16, 2023

There is a palpable fear of burning Christian residences on the pretext of blasphemy by the enraged Muslim throng. Police are present on the spot, however, the state of affairs is highly volatile. Notably, mosques had made the announcement which ended up infuriating the Muslims.

توہین قرآن پہ مسیحی بستی کو جلانے کا خدشہ

فیصل آباد کی تحصیل جڑانوالہ میں سلیم مسیح پہ قرآن کی توہین کا الزام

مسیحی بستی کو جلائے جانے کا خدشہ
پولیس موقع پہ موجود ،،،حالات سخت خراب ہیں۔

مسلمانوں کو طیش دلوانے کے لیے مساجد سے اعلانات شروع۔
پولیس فوری کارروائی کرے۔ pic.twitter.com/JbMLDk4oJs

— Sabookh Syed | سبوخ سید (@SaboohSyed) August 16, 2023

The Christians, their places of worship, and their properties are all under serious attack from the extremists.

August 16,2023 #Christian are attacked by charged Islamic Mob in.#jaranwala. #blasphemy pic.twitter.com/0zDw2g0Dza

— Faraz Pervaiz (@FarazPervaiz3) August 16, 2023

It is important to note that Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities, particularly Hindus, is already under the scanner and is severely criticised multiple times in different international reports. The extremists in Pakistan are also notorious for using spurious charges and unfounded allegations to whip up communal passions in the name of blasphemy and for targeting minorities, including Hindus and Christians. This oppression, which is masked with the help of allegations of blasphemy, has become a hallmark of Pakistan, where mob attacks against minorities has become a routine affair, often aided and abetted by the legal systems and people in places of power and authority in the country.

https://www.opindia.com/2023/08/pakistan-churches-vandalised-christians-attacked-as-muslim-mobs-rampage-over-blasphemy-charges-in-jaranwala/

Enduring nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule, the survival of the Greek language owes a debt of gratitude to the steadfast efforts of the Greek Orthodox Church. This venerable institution stood as a guardian and educator of the language during times of persecution, safeguarding Greek culture and faith.

The Greek Orthodox Church’s contribution to preserving and teaching the language proved invaluable during these challenging epochs. Historically, the Gospels were initially transcribed in Greek, specifically the variant known as Common Hellenistic. These manuscripts, then translated into various languages, facilitated the global dissemination of the Christian faith. Furthermore, Greek served as the linguistic cornerstone of the Byzantine Empire.

Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, a period of turbulence engulfed the Hellenistic world. To uphold their historical identity and protect their cultural heritage, the Greek people turned to pivotal facets of national unity: religion, language, and tradition. The Church emerged as a multi-dimensional guardian of ancient Greek practices.

Despite the formidable obstacles presented by Ottoman conquerors, the Church managed to establish a Christian enclave with privileges granted by Sultan Mehmet II. This ecclesiastical state was pivotal in the physical and spiritual survival of Orthodoxy.

Bearing the weight of this responsibility, the Church’s decisions held significant sway over Greek affairs, often under the scrutiny of Ottoman rulers. During this era, Orthodoxy encompassed more than a religious doctrine; it constituted the essence of life itself, shaping national consciousness. As Greece grappled with enslavement, the Church stood as a spiritual haven, the sole stable social institution, and the cohesive web uniting Hellenism.

In these trying times, clandestine schools, colloquially known as “το κρυφό σχολειό” (the secret school), became the torchbearers of Greek language education, led by dedicated priests. Hymn books functioned as rudimentary textbooks, nurturing fluency among younger learners. The Gospels served as more advanced study material.

Significantly, the ancient methods persisted despite Ottoman rule, with the populace embracing Orthodox beliefs as a guiding light. This devotion fortified the Greek spirit, preserving linguistic and cultural heritage even as the official language remained Ottoman.

The collective efforts of these secret schools left an indelible mark. Despite limited educational infrastructure, their impact was profound, especially during the 16th century. As Ottoman restrictions eased by 1680, and Greek schools emerged, the foundations for the nation’s spiritual renaissance in the 18th century were laid.

This revival encompassed visionary educators, schools sprouting across Greece, notable literary achievements, and the return of Greek scholars educated in the West. Influential figures like Meletios Pigas, Maximos Margounios, and Cyril Loukaris, along with a burgeoning Greek middle class and the support of affluent merchants, propelled this renaissance.

Mount Athos, a prominent monastic centre, emerged as a bastion of Orthodoxy, transcending Greece’s borders, a legacy that endures today.

Notably, revered figures like St. Cosmas of Aetolia (Κοσμάς ο Αιτωλός) paid the ultimate price in preserving the Greek language. Amidst shifting tides of conversion to Islam, this relentless monk established church schools throughout Western and Northern Greece, staunchly safeguarding Greek heritage.

Cosmas’s resilience resonated deeply, attracting followers and enraging Ottoman authorities who accused him of being a Russian agent. Tragically, his conviction led to martyrdom in 1779.

The Greek Orthodox clergy’s dedication to preserving the language played a pivotal role in rekindling Greek patriotism, empowering them to defy rulers who held sway for nearly four centuries. In the hallowed Agia Lavra Monastery, under the auspices of Orthodox Metropolitan Palaion Patron Germanos, the War of Independence was declared on March 25, 1821. The indomitable spirit of the Greek language, sustained through the ages, remains an enduring testament to the Church’s steadfast commitment.”

https://greekcitytimes.com/2023/08/16/the-resilience-of-the-greek-language-during-ottoman-rule-a-testament-to-the-greek-orthodox-churchs-role/

In a shocking incident in the West Champaran district of Bihar, Muslim youths waved Islamic flags at a school on Independence Day (August 15). In the Majhauliya police station precinct, several Muslim youths arrived waving Islamic flags after the national tricolour was hoisted at a senior secondary school on Tuesday and attempted to hoit the Islamic green flag on the ground. However, the teachers and students chased them away. Later the police arrived at the spot and are still camping there to keep the situation under control.

SHOCKING:

An 11th Std. student Shahid Hasan waved the Islamic flag along with his colleagues in Bihar.

– Case of "Sitaram High School" of village Saraiya, West Champaran, Bihar.

Why so much hate of the Tricolor that too on #IndependenceDay? pic.twitter.com/62lD4439Qk

— The Analyzer (News Updates🗞️) (@Indian_Analyzer) August 15, 2023

In a shocking incident in the West Champaran district of Bihar, Muslim youths waved Islamic flags at a school on Independence Day (August 15). In the Majhauliya police station precinct, several Muslim youths arrived waving Islamic flags after the national tricolour was hoisted at a senior secondary school on Tuesday and attempted to hoit the Islamic green flag on the ground. However, the teachers and students chased them away. Later the police arrived at the spot and are still camping there to keep the situation under control.

Notably, Ashok Kumar, the headmaster of the school in question has been accused of deliberately ignoring the actions of the accused youths and distributing sweets even when they raised objectionable slogans. Kumar has said that the local villagers caught hold of an accused and turned him over to the police. 

Meanwhile, Majhauliya station in-charge Abhay Kumar has said that the arrested accused is being questioned and he has so far revealed the names of other youths involved in the incident. Based on this information, 6 youths have been detained for questioning.

Taking to Twitter, Bihar police informed several youths belonging to the ‘samuday vishesh’ fled after learning that the locals have called the police after they raised the Islamic flag and inflammatory slogans. The police added that a youth has been arrested along with three ‘Moharram’ flags. “The situation is normal,” police stated.

https://www.opindia.com/2023/08/bihar-muslim-youths-attempt-to-raise-islamic-flag-at-a-school-on-15th-august/