The prayer following “Our Father” in the Latin Mass begins: Libera nos quæsumus Domine ab omnibus malis, preteritis, presentibus, et fuituris. . (Deliver us, we beseech Thee , O lord, from all evils, past, present, and to come.) The word “past” is difficult to comprehend; one can be afflicted by evils now or in the … Read more
For years, I have studied and written about the various manifestations of what one can call “transgenderism.” The discussion was based on the premise that some fundamental aspects of the subject are obvious and can be taken for granted. The evolution of events, particularly the debates in the Texas Legislature in 2023 showed that a … Read more
For more than a year, the US Catholic Bishops have been arguing about how to handle the presence in the White House of an abortion advocate registered as a Catholic. As justification, Mr. Biden has stated that he is personally opposed to abortion, but doesn’t think he has a right to impose his view on … Read more
Immigration is one of the most debated subjects in contemporary America. Lately, it has evolved (or degenerated) into the movement across the border of very large numbers of people. This mass migration deserves to be examined, and contrasted with orderly immigration, There are some basic fallacies on the subject, which have endured because they have … Read more
On April 14, 2021, I attended public hearings in the Committee on Public Health of the Texas House of Representatives. The hearings lasted from 8AM to 10 AM, then from 2 PM to midnight. Between the two sessions, the members went to take care of some bills on the The order in which the bills … Read more
Legislating marriage is one of the hottest topics of these days. The content of the discussion, however, suggests a lack of understanding of what marriage is and what is possible and permissible for the government in legislating it. The basic principles have been understood and elaborated long ago. It might be that they were forgotten … Read more
Some years ago, a debate took place about the sacraments of penance and marriage administered by priests in the filiation of the late Archbishop Lefebvre. As it was stated in a magazine[1] and a blog[2]dedicated to Catholic apologetics, both sacraments are valid when received from an Eastern Orthodox (E.O.) priest,[3] but not from a priest … Read more
Previous generations knew of the legendary Swiss hero Wilhelm Tell. His story was read and plays about him were staged in high schools, particularly because in him one could find traits of the American character, as it used to be. To the people of today, he needs an introduction.[1] In 1300, what is now Switzerland … Read more
A central element of quantum mechanics is the uncertainty principle. To formulate it in a crude, qualitative way, the principle expresses the limitation of the precision with which physical properties of particles can be determined. The physicist who formulated (discovered) it, Werner Heisenberg, noted that a particle can be described by its position and its … Read more
Earth’s energy budget consists of energy received from the sun and energy emitted by earth into space. Part of the latter occurs by reflection, part by absorption and re-emission. The re-emitted light being of lower frequency than the incident light, a fraction of it is absorbed by some of the atmospheric gasses transparent to the … Read more