Dodgers' Community Hero Award for The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Only in America. 

 

A major league baseball team, Los Angeles Dodgers reversed their decision to cancel a San Francisco drag queen group to their annual Pride Night event. They not only offered The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (left) an apology – but they proceeded to re-invite them. 

 

The said LGBTQ+ advocacy group made up of queer and trans performers who dress as nuns and mock religious imagery like the crucifixion, had been conferred the Community Hero Award from the team during the Dodgers’ June 16 game against the San Francisco Giants. 

 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence had been specially singled out for this honor. And a week earlier, they were also honored by the California state legislature. 

 

That’s not all. Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken too invited the pretend-nuns to join the Pride Night organized by the Los Angeles Angels, the area’s other MLB team on June 07, 2023. 

 

Predictably, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops were justly upset and they issued an official statement: "Catholic Christians traditionally recognize June as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this time, we call to mind Christ's love for us, which is visible in a special way in the image of His pierced heart, and we pray that our own hearts might be conformed to His, calling us to love and respect all His people. 

 

This year, on June 16 – the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a professional baseball team (have) shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated. This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy". 

 

As Brian Burch, the president of CatholicVote, a political advocacy group, describes the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Fox News: "This is an anti-Catholic hate group of homosexual men that dress up as Catholic nuns and engage in blasphemous and sacrilegious activities such as blessing themselves with sex toys, pole dancing on a cross, and inverting the words of Christ saying ‘go and sin some more’". 

 

Burch added that it was "very shocking" that the team chose to award a group whose advocacy goals are not in line with those of their fan base. Over 30% of adults living in the Los Angeles metro area identify as Catholic, according to Pew Research Center. 

 

The Dodgers are just one of many corporate entities – others include Budweiser, Disney, Target, and Ford to name a few – that willfully embraced pro-LGBTQ+ marketing or product decisions and their staunch woke positions are alienating their mainstream customers.

Vending Machine Offers Free Druggie Items

Only in America. 

 

New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan had in 2022 admitted: “Every three hours, we’re losing a New Yorker [to drugs]”. 

 

And to “help” it along, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration health officials had a vending machine installed in Brownsville, Brooklyn, earlier this month that offers free druggie items, including paraphernalia to smoke drugs, strips to test if drugs contain potentially deadly fentanyl and NARCAN to try to revive people if they overdose. 

 

At least three more such vending machines are set to be put in other drug-infested neighborhoods. 

 

Vasan even had the cheek to say they will help New Yorkers stay safer!

 

On Sunday, former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton (right) told WABC 770 AM’s “The Cats Roundtable” host John Catsimatidis: “The world has turned upside down”! 

 

Correction: He actually means the United States. And it doesn't represent the world.

 

Bratton fumed. “Instead of trying to get people away from drugs, we have policies now where we have vending machines to encourage them to stay on drugs. We’re going to make it safer for you to use drugs so you can spend the rest of your life not trying to get off drugs but to stay on drugs. 

 

What happens when you stay on drugs? You want the next high. …You graduate from marijuana… to heroin. …That’s the problem with addiction. There’s never enough drugs. There’s never enough high. That’s effectively what we as a government are starting to support. 

 

City after city. State after state: this idea that we will sustain your drug habit rather than try to get you off your drug habit”. 

 

He was right when he said: “They have created a climate where anything goes”. 

 

Celtic have confirmed Brendan Rodgers (left) as their manager. G-R-O-A-N! 

 

He is making a dramatic return, four years after walking out on the Glasgow giants to join Leicester. 

 

Rodgers agreed a three-year contract with the Scottish champions, who were searching for a new boss after Ange Postecoglou left to take charge of Tottenham. 

 

The former Liverpool boss had been out of work since being sacked in April by Leicester, who went on to be relegated from the Premier League.

Ukraine Sustains Massive Single-day Losses

During the last 24 hours, Ukraine sustained massive single-day losses across the frontlines. At least, according to the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday. 

 

The Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions have seen the most intense fighting, with Kiev's forces losing over 1,000 soldiers and 20 tanks. And at least four infantry fighting vehicles, 15 armored fighting vehicles, two US-made M777 howitzers and an indeterminate number of Soviet-made artillery systems. As well as two major ammunition stockpiles. 

 

Thus far, the Ukrainian military has failed to make any major gains, sustaining heavy casualties in the process and losing large amounts of Western-supplied hardware. According to the estimates of Moscow’s military, some 7,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded amid this particular counteroffensive. 

 

The US and NATO sure sold the suckered Ukrainians a big fat lemon with this whole counteroffensive idea – and now they have to live with it. 

 

Or should I say die with it.

Lady Gaga Raises Eyebrows Over Partnership with Pfizer Migraine Drug

The question is asked if Lady Gaga's pockets are in the shallow? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Gaga announced her new partnership with Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT migraine treatment in an Instagram carousel post featuring the singer performing onstage with the drug branding overlaid. 

 

“Ever since childhood, I’ve dealt with migraine pain. When I tried Nurtec® ODT (rimegepant) 75 mg for the first time, I’ll never forget wishing I had found it sooner. That’s why I’m proud to partner with Nurtec ODT. 💜 We’re in this together. If you’re ready to speak to a doctor, ask about Nurtec ODT today. #MHAM”, she captioned the Instagram post on June 13. 

 

Migraines are a type of headache with recurrent attacks of moderate to severe throbbing and pulsating pain on one side of the head, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

 

Khloé Kardashian, featured in a couple of Nurtec ODT commercials, was the former famous face associated with the pharmaceutical brand. 

 

Gaga, the latest celebrity to join the campaign, revealed she was diagnosed with migraines at fourteen. On Pfizer’s website, she states:  

 

“My experience with migraines was debilitating. I would be in bed for days with tremendous pain in my head, behind my eyes, and all throughout my face. I couldn’t read or have any lights on, and I needed to be alone in a quiet room for hours that could lead to days until the pain subsided”. 

 

The paid ad included two slides with safety information about the drug, which is “already the #1 prescribed migraine medicine in its class in the United States”, according to Nick Lagunowich, the global president of emerging markets at Pfizer. 

 

However, the pharmaceutical giant recalled more than 4.2 million units of the Nurtec 75-milligram tablets on March 16, 2023, which includes expiration dates through June 2026, because the packaging wasn’t child-resistant and posed a poison risk. 

 

The 13-time Grammy-winner also narrated a Nurtec ODT commercial where she performs onstage during her 2022 “Chromatica Ball” world tour. 

 

“I know what it’s like to perform through pain. If you’re like me, one of the millions suffering from pain caused by migraine, Nurtec ODT might help. It’s the only medication that can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks”, she said in the ad. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many fans were stunned to see the “Shallow” singer promoting the pharmaceutical giant on Instagram. 

 

“Gaga is doing paid promo for Nurtec. The recession touches all”, one fan quipped on Twitter. 

 

Slammed another on Instagram, “Keep pushin’ big pharma… keep killing your fans”. 

 

“Wtf is wrong with this account? Where is Gaga? Who’s doing this? How come our Mother Monster would do a sponsor for… medicine?” questioned one concerned Little Monster. 

 

Other Little Monsters – members of Lady Gaga’s fandom – came to her defense on Twitter. 

 

“Crazy how hypocritical this fandom is after recognizing the chronic pains Gaga suffers from the narrative of Chromatica and crucifying her for a migraine pill in the absence of their concert film 😭”, tweeted a fan. 

 

“I actually think Lady Gaga partnering with Pfizer Nurtec® ODT is a good thing. Migraines are a big issue affecting millions”, tweeted another. 

 

Angela Lukin, global primary care and US president of Pfizer, seconds that sentiment in a statement. 

 

“We believe that this collaboration will help raise awareness of this often ‘silent’ disease and inspire those living with migraine to have conversations with their health-care providers about the best way to manage their condition”.

Uganda School Attack

Nearly 40 pupils have been killed at a school in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, by rebels linked to the Islamic State. 

 

Five militants attacked the Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe at around 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Friday. They entered dormitories, setting fire and using machetes to kill and maim the pupils, officials said. 

 

The Allied Democratic Forces – based in the Democratic Republic of Congo – have been blamed and a manhunt is under way. 

 

Uganda's information minister said 37 students were confirmed to have been killed, but did not give their ages. Twenty of them were attacked with machetes and 17 of them burned to death, Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC. 

 

Survivors said the rebels threw a bomb into the dormitory after the machete attack. It is not clear if this resulted in a fire in the building which was reported earlier. 

 

Major General Dick Olum, the army commander for western Uganda and in charge of a military deployment in DR Congo, said the attackers had stayed in the town two days before the attack, marking their target. He said an unidentified youth had gone to the school to check its layout before the attack. 

 

“That is how the attackers came and locked the boys’ door. The boys really tried to fight back, but they were overpowered. The attackers had lit mattresses”, Olum told reporters from Mpondwe, according to a video posted on Twitter by the Daily Monitor newspaper. “In the girls dorm, they found their door open, hence killing them and cutting them”. 

 

Privately-owned NTV Uganda television said on Twitter that the death toll stood at 41, while state-run New Vision newspaper said it was 42. New Vision said 39 of the dead were students, and that some of those killed died when the attackers set off a bomb as they fled. 

 

Police reported eight other people were in hospital with critical injuries. Additionally, six students were abducted to carry food that the rebels stole from the school's stores. The militants then fled towards Virunga National Park in DR Congo. 

 

The attack on the school, which is co-educational and privately owned, and located in the Ugandan district of Kasese, about 1.2 miles from the DR Congo border, is the first such attack on a Ugandan school in 25 years. 

 

In June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DRC. More than 100 students were kidnapped.

Ukraine's Counteroffensive Will Surely Fail

Ukraine finally launched their long-awaited counteroffensive when they sent in mechanized brigades, including heavy battle tanks, along with conventional troops to assault Russian locations in the southern Donetsk region reportedly on June 04. However, things are not going their way. 

 

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that ten Ukrainian assaults were repelled in one single day. As a result, Kiev lost more than 415 service members, five tanks, ten armored personnel vehicles, and other hardware, according to officials in Moscow. 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself made the claim that Kiev’s forces are “taking heavy casualties” which outnumber Russia’s by a factor of ten. 

 

The MoD even revealed that more than 10,000 Russian troops have received bonuses for destroying or capturing major enemy weapon systems during the special military operation against Ukraine. Russian soldiers have been paid between 50,000 and 300,000 rubles ($600 and $3,600) for personally taking out a tank, an artillery gun, a fighter jet, or other piece of military equipment, according to the statistics. 

 

In 2022, 7,064 servicemen merited such remuneration for destroying a total of 11,586 pieces of Ukrainian military equipment. In the first five months of this year, the figures were 3,193 and 4,415, respectively, the ministry said. 

 

The biggest payoffs went to airmen and air defense operators for shooting down enemy jets and helicopters, and to soldiers for destroying Tochka-U and HIMARS rocket launchers. Ukrainian naval drones, which have been used for attacks on Crimea, were valued by the military leadership at $2,400 apiece. 

 

According to RT, some private Russian citizens have also offered bounties to frontline troops. In one recent example, entertainer Grigory Leps said he and other like-minded people had pooled resources to pay out 1 million rubles ($13,000) for each Western tank destroyed by Russian soldiers.

 

Россия (Rossiya) will be victorious!

Open Season on Russians

The above was shared on Thursday, June 15, 2023. 

 

Back in May, Mikhail Podoliak had proclaimed that his country hates Russia and those who represent it and vowed to “persecute” Russians “always and everywhere”. 

 

That followed comments by Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, who boasted that his agents had murdered Russian public figures and pledged that Kiev will “keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world”. 

 

Russians are left with no choice – they have to decisively defeat Ukraine. Until that happens, no Russian is safe.

A Cheetah and an Emotional Support Dog

Zoos across the US have adopted the practice of pairing cheetahs, which are nervous and skittish by nature, with an emotional support dog companion to keep the cheetahs calm. 

 

Per the Isaac Schultz piece “An Emotional Support Dog Is the Only Thing That Chills Out a Cheetah” (Atlas Obscura, August 19, 2019): 

 

In 1976, research scientist and conservation biologist Laurie Marker was living in Winston, a town of about 3,000 people. As the curator of a cheetah-breeding program at Wildlife Safari, she found herself hand-rearing a lonely cheetah cub named Khayam.

 

Cheetahs are companionable litter-mates, but Marker had no other cats to put with Khayam. So, she decided to try pairing the fastest land mammal on the planet with the animal typically thought of as a human's best friend. 

 

And it worked: Khayam and a Lab-mix named Shesho became fast friends. 

 

Raising Khayam with a dog "provided friendship, security, and [helped keep the cheetah] calm", Marker says in an email. "Companion dogs act as a surrogate for cheetah siblings… It is the friendship between the two individuals that creates a strong bond, and this is what makes for a successful pairing". 

 

In other words, it chills the cheetah out. Now, when a cub that’s abandoned or orphaned ends up in human care, many zoos pair the cat with a dog as a substitute sibling. 

 

Also: 

 

In the wild, male cheetahs often form “coalitions” – tight-knit groups – to get this companionship. But female cheetahs are solitary and rear cubs on their own. Even in captivity they’ve been known to occasionally forsake single cubs. 

 

And: 

 

“The cheetah would rather flee than fight”, says Suzi Rapp, vice president of animal programs at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, which have 16 cheetahs and four companion dogs. “Even though the cheetah has this [incredible] speed, there are predators that are bigger and badder than they are”. 

 

All of which makes the animals nervous, even in captivity. 

 

The canine-feline relationship has become a benchmark in captive-cheetah care. 

 

As per my post “Three Cheetah Cubs Born in India Die in Heatwave” published May 28, 2023, maybe the last surviving cub can use a surrogate best friend. 

 

It is noteworthy to mention too that relaxing the cats is also key to helping repopulate the species. After all, a relaxed cheetah is an eager cheetah.

WSC's Seventeenth Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seventeenth meeting of World Speakers’ Coalition Kuala Lumpur returned to another familiar haunt – Jarrod & Rawlins in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur – and new member, Kathleen Poon organized and hosted this monthly event. 

 

The theme she chose was “The Comforting Power of Silence” – and nine of us were present, seven members and two guests. The topic aside, we didn’t stay silent, that's for sure – and which goes to show that we do love speaking! 

 

It means that we all recognize the power in our words – but at the same time, there are times when we ought not ignore the power of our silence. 

 

Silence is the absence of willful sound or purposeful quiet – and for many of us, it can be unsettling. That’s because we’re so used to omnipresent noise. And being in a world filled with constant babble and chatter, and ringtones and bells, we may intentionally or unintentionally ostracize silence. 

 

But we know silence can mean different things to different people. And in yesterday’s meeting, we shared our understanding of what silence means to us personally. 

 

Nonetheless, I would like to retell this story I’ve read – of how a simple act of merely being with another person and not speaking a word can itself be a source of comfort. 

 

It’s about a young girl who went to visit the home of a neighbor where her little friend had died. When she returned, her father asked her why she went. 

 

“To comfort her mother”, she told him. 

 

The father was incredulous and asked her what she could have done to console a woman who had suffered a terrible loss. 

 

“I climbed onto her lap and cried with her”, she said. 

 

Rational appeals, sympathetic words or clichés could not have done as much as this simple act. Whereas many adults think that they have to say the right word or try to distract the bereaved from thoughts of the departed, the girl knew that there was nothing that could be said. 

 

But that didn’t mean that nothing could be done. Sitting on the mother’s lap didn’t lessen the pain; it may have added to it. But it was an expression of caring and concern, a reaching out from the heart, a gesture of hope. It symbolized the continuation of life but did not diminish the anguish. The girl was right: grief genuinely shared is an important means of healing. 

 

Truly, in this narrative, we see the comforting power of silence. 

 

Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton shared this: “Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything”. So true. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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