There are Apples and Apples and Apples

Never in my living memory have I seen this many apples.

Branches threaten to break under the load.

Although there are many more than ever,

they seem to be smaller than before.

Does this surprise you?

There seems to be no end.

There was Ireland, then Portugal, then came Pennsylvania, then the horrors of Regensburg... one revelation after the other, not necessarily in that order.

Now we have all of Germany.

Here, interestingly enough, the criminals ordered an investigation into their own crimes, paid for it and therefore, of course, controlled it.

In spite of this rigged affair, the investigators found that over the past 70 years thousands upon thousands of children, boys and girls, were assaulted by Roman Catholic Priests

This report revealed that over 3,600 children were sexually attacked by some 1670 members of the Catholic Clergy.

Given the rigged nature of this report, one may assume that the actual numbers are a large multiple of those reported.

There were only about 38 % of the alleged perpetrators actually prosecuted and convicted, with the vast majority of them having faced only minor disciplinary procedures and consequently were given only minor penalties, mostly transfers to other communities, to whom no warning was given regarding their actions.

Most of the victims were boys, aged 13 or younger.

The physical and predominantly psychological damage done to these children is beyond measure.

Most of them will be guilt ridden, certain in the belief that the fault must be theirs.

Three German Universities conducted the research, examining 38,000 documents from 27 German dioceses. The researchers stated that the actual numbers may be far in excess of those found since some records had been destroyed or manipulated.

What will the Catholic Church do about these atrocities?

Bishop Ackermann “regretted” that this report had been leaked to the press, before the Church itself had seen it. Why would he regret this? Likely because having released this report in the order in which it was, deprived the Catholic Church of further manipulation.

He also announced that the Church had planned to provide counseling helplines for the people affected (by these systemic attacks on human dignity) (bracketed italics mine)

This damning revelation of sexual and other attacks by Catholic Priests in Germany upon children is only the latest in a long, world-wide series of such criminal activity.

And now for some wishful thinking:

The one and only way in which to put a stop to these atrocities is to declare the Roman Catholic Church a Crime Syndicate, place any member found guilty of these criminal activities by a secular Court into federal confinement for many years, stop the compulsory “tithing” of its lay members, prevent their financial institution (Vatican Bank) from the laundering of ill-gotten funds, punish this Bank's responsible directors and, very important, unilaterally cancel all Concordats.

Why would, for instance, a Country like Austria, recognize the Vatican as an independent “country”and extend to it all the privileges connected therewith, including huge financial contributions for the upkeep of their churches and for salaries of their staff?

Bertstravels

could go on and on

but only urges you:

do not allow these hoodlums

to continue to pull

the wool over your eyes.

They are not your friends.

Night Shots

Does this Puku not see the Lion? 

It is 8 PM in Kafue National Park in Zambia

A Leopard on the hunt.

It's now 11 PM 

and she does not seem to be  disturbed by the strong searchlight.

Let the little children come to me ...(J:C:)

Catholic Nuns and the children in their care.

There are uncanny similarities between the fate of infants and children in the Irish “Mother and Baby Homes” run by the Catholic Nuns of Ireland and the so-called “Duplessis Orphans”, operated by the Nuns of the “Mount Providence Orphanage”in Montreal, Quebec and the Baie Saint Paul Orphanage” in Quebec City, Quebec.

Similarity #1.)

Most of the Canadian and Irish children were not orphans, but were borne by unmarried women who gave their children to these “Orphanages” since religious, parental and societal pressures on unmarried mothers was so great that a normal relationship between mother and infant child could not develop, and that therefore the unmarried mothers felt that their baby was in better hands with Catholic Nuns.

Similarity #2.) 

Survivors of institutions of both sides of the Ocean told of physical and sexual abuse on an almost daily basis.

During a video conference between both groups of survivors in June of 2017, one of the survivors, Louis-Josef Hebert accused the Nuns of beating him whenever he showed any kind of emotion.

When I cried, the Nuns beat me, so I cried some more and they beat me some more.

The “Brides of Jesus” had evidently never read what Jesus said about children.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

He also said this: “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea...”

For many decades there were rumors about what really happened to the children of the Catholic run Irish “mother and baby homes.”

Finally the Irish Government established a Commission and charged it with the responsibility of investigating these suspicions.

After many months of investigations and excavations, this judge-led commission found on the premises of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, county Galway, twenty (20) underground chambers containing “Significant quantities of children's remains.”

Forensic investigators estimate that these “chambers” which formerly had served as sewage pits for the nunnery, contained the remains of around 800 children's bodies.

A statue of the Virgin Mary is placed at the site of the mass graves for the children dumped there.

Draw your own conclusions!

In the Province of Quebec, (Canada) during the decades of the 40s and 50s there reigned M. Maurice Duplessis, as corrupt a politician as they come, or just a little more so.

He fit beautifully into the very Catholic environment of the time and place.

which considered an unwed mother next to a whore and the newborn child was referred to as an “illegitimate” child and treated like “a bastard”.

The Canadian Federal Government in Ottawa, paid a subsidy to the Province for each child in an orphanage, but double this subsidy was paid for a child in a hospital or psychiatric institution.

It only took three corrupt persons: M. Duplessis, a Mother Superior and a Medical Doctor.

The doctor simply, after a brief examination, declared the children as “mentally deficient."

Mother Superior then requested the change in designation from an “Orphanage” to an “Insane Asylum”

and M. Maurice Duplessis pocketed over twice the amount in Federal Subsidy payments.

One of the victims, the earlier referred to M. Louis-Josef Hebert said:

"We paid the price

We never did nothing wrong to God. I didn't even know Him. 

My eyes weren't even open, I was in the stomach of my mother.”.

In 2006  the Quebec Government announced it would pay a further $26 million in compensation.

To this day the Catholic church has never apologized for these heinous crimes committed by its members, nor have they, to the best of my knowledge, made any compensation payments.

Draw your own conclusions.

Bertstravels

cannot understand why there are still 

members of this Crime Syndicate

Is this the truth?

Man goes walking in the forest, when from behind a thick tree Satan jumps at him with a howl.
Get lost, you jerk says the man and brushes him aside.
Satan spits fire and calls out loudly:
"Are you not afraid of me?"
"Certainly not" says the man.
"But I am Satan, the Devil", calls out the apparition.
"I know" says the man. "Now get out of my way"
Satan growls: "Why are you not afraid of me? Everyone else is"
"I'm not afraid of you" says the man, "because, for 25 years, I've been married to your sister."

Did they really say that?

Judith Hayes  asked:
The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the flood is perhaps the most implausible story and the hardest to explain  by Religionists: Where, for instance, while loading the ark, did Noah find penguins or Polar Bears in Palestine ???

Butch Hancock postulated: Does this make sense?
You may burn in Hell forever, but God loves you. 
Sex is the most evil thing and you must save it for someone you love.


Edward F Halifax said:
Men fighting angrily about Religion is like Men arguing about a Woman, neither of them cares for.

Opening Parade - Wiesenmarkt

Snapshots of the opening day parade of the 625th Wiesenmarkt.

No names will be mentioned: Those who know, know anyway!

Those who do not know are likely not interested in names.

625th Wiesenmarkt in Bleiburg.

Today, the 1st September 2018, is the official start of the 625th Wiesenmarkt!

Today it has been raining in buckets.

The hourly forecast is for the rain to stop at noon

 and for improving weather conditions from here on.

The amusement sector of the Wiesenmarkt started last evening.

I went there to get a few shots before the rains would start.

All night long it rained the proverbial cats and dogs 

and it did not stop until about 10 AM today.

So, here are a few images taken yesterday evening.

I may go back if the rains don't return.