Civil Commotion

The Associated Press reports that Catholic dioceses took in at least $1.4-billion in PPP loans, and perhaps as much as $3.5-billion.

The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.

The church’s haul may have reached — or even exceeded — $3.5 billion, making a global religious institution with more than a billion followers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts, an Associated Press analysis of federal data released this week found.

Since these loans are forgivable if they’re used to meet salaries, this means that taxpayers may end-up footing the bill for the church’s many sexual abuse settlements.

Not to mention that all of us — all of us — subsidize religion to the tune of about $200/year via church’s privileged tax status. Churches should never have been eligible for PPP loans, and it’s time past for them to start paying taxes on their income.

You must follow the link and look for churches in your area; you’ll probably be surprised to learn how many of them lined-up for this program. Look for how many jobs they claim to have saved, too. I don’t believe for an instant, for example, that a certain local Southern Baptist church has 72-employees. You’re probably in for some similar surprises.

Honestly, the inexhaustible malice of the Trump administration, and its defenders, is downright blinding at times.

With a great deal of the country’s 4,298 colleges and universities expected to go online in the fall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Monday that students in the United States on visas are required to leave the country for the fall semester unless they are taking classes in person.

“The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States,” the guidelines read, severely restricting access for students on F-1 and M-1 visas, the endorsements granted to academic and vocational students.

The people imposing this policy must have had awfully straitened college experiences if they think learning goes on in only the classroom. There are meetings with faculty, conversations with grad students, time spent alone in laboratories, study groups, perusing the shelves in the library; it’s an immersive experience, of which the classroom is probably no more than one-third or –quarter. With luck, The Donald will be a bad memory before they can be rounded-up and shipped out.

Here’s a good example of the reason that churches should pay taxes.

“When I go to vote … I’m going to go in there and represent Jesus,” he continued. “I’ve not heard presidents prior to him ever mentioned God like this president. I’ve never seen a president fighting for the church as great as what this president is. The proof is look at the Johnson Amendment, that’s why I can say what I’m saying today. If the party of the non-religious comes, that will be taken. So I’m gonna go and say, ‘Well Jesus, he sounds like a friend of yours even though he may not know you—I don’t know if he does, that’s between him and you— but it sounds like he sure trying to help you.’”

“We’ve got a president that’s trying to help the church … and yet we’ve got Christians that aren’t helping him,” Kunneman fumed. “What’s wrong with us? When I go to the voting booth, I’m gonna say, ‘Jesus, I’m voting for Donald J. Trump, and every person that will fight for my religious freedom.’ Does Jesus, who is the king of our kingdom, does he wants you to put a checkmark next to somebody who is an atheist?

Don’t be fooled by this pious hypocrisy. If this clown authentically believed in religious freedom, he wouldn’t presume to expect me to indirectly subsidize his politicking via his privileged tax status.

The Holy Men, and the pious fools who listen to them, are the most intellectually corrupt and inauthentic class of people in society; their entire lives are about maintaining fictions.