Iran to spare 8 women dissenters from execution; DOJ indicts SPLC for funding operatives planning 2017 Charlottesville rally; Judge strikes down Virginia redistricting amendment, voids special election results; Trump signs EO restricting mail-in ballots nationwide; After latest shenanigans, Ilhan Omar and husband may be in trouble; Italian peacemakers replace desecrated Cross of Crucified Jesus in Lebanon; New shrine announced to honor former slave and first US-Born African American priest; Bishop Strickland urges faithful to join Ninevah fast for God’s mercy; Pope Leo returns to Rome, after 11-day, four-nation tour of Africa; Christians, countries and cities today celebrate the Feast of St. George; and more —
Iran to spare 8 women from execution
See @PressSec
DOJ Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center for Funding KKK, Defrauding Donors — Accusations Include Giving Funds to Undercover Operatives Who Helped Plan Notorious 2017 Charlottesville Rally
The Trump Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for 11 counts of fraud, and the indictment reveals a pattern of funding extreme right activities and protesters that some suggest demonstrates that the organization was operating in bad faith for years, smearing and defaming individuals while secretly engaged in promoting some of those same groups and activists behind the scenes.
The DOJ has released and published the full indictment against the SPLC, found here.
The indictment claims SPLC opened accounts in the names of entities like “Center Investigative Agency,” “Fox Photography,” “North West Technologies,” “Tech Writers Group,” and “Rare Books Warehouse,” and used those accounts to move money in ways that concealed the true source and purpose of the funds.
These fake front groups were used as money conduits for the SPLC to raise money from left-wing donors to fund extreme right-wing groups and also fund ‘agent provocateur’ activists who would, it is alleged, urge groups to engage in violent discussions and actions.
Read more at the Gateway Pundit
Flashback: Charlie Kirk called out SPLC as a hate group back in 2023
See @AndrewKolvet
Reaction to SPLC’s ‘front groups’ on social media
See @mazemoore
Trump calls Virginia redistricting election “RIGGED” says blue ballots DROPPED in final minutes
Read @RapidResponse47
Judge Strikes Down Virginia Redistricting Amendment, Voids Special Election Results
A Virginia judge has voided a voter-approved redistricting measure and blocked certification of the election results, finding that the amendment violated multiple provisions of the state constitution and was invalid from the start, according to a final judgment entered April 22 in Tazewell County Circuit Court.
Judge Jack Hurley ruled that the proposed constitutional amendment and the legislative steps used to advance it were “void ab initio” and ordered state officials not to certify the results of the April 21 special election or take any action to implement new congressional district maps.
The term “void ab initio” means a law is treated as if it never existed. Courts apply it when a measure is adopted in a way that violates constitutional requirements, making the entire process legally invalid from the start.
The decision effectively nullifies votes cast in the referendum, despite preliminary results indicating that a narrow majority of voters approved the measure. The ruling also imposes a permanent injunction barring election officials from altering voter records, redrawing precincts, or conducting future elections under the proposed map.
Read more at Law Commentary; see also @scotus_wire
Did VA Republicans stalling on SAVE America Act dissuade voters?
See @FDRLST
Redistricting battle comes down to Florida after Democratic victory in Virginia referendum
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is spearheading an effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts before the midterm elections.
After Virginia Democrats successfully convinced voters to approve a constitutionally questionable redistricting push to seize more U.S. congressional seats in the state, Florida is now in the spotlight.
In the Sunshine State, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is spearheading an effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts before the midterm elections. Earlier this year, he called a special session of the state legislature to consider redrawing the maps.
Now, Republicans see it as an opportunity to cancel out the likely gains that Democrats won in Virginia. Following that vote, allies of President Donald Trump have urged Florida to move forward with its plans before the midterm elections.
Read more at Just the News
Trump signs EO restricting mail-in ballots nationwide
See @Trumpusa1
After latest shenanigans, Ilhan Omar and husband may be in trouble
See @nypost
Making DC beautiful again
See @RapidResponse47
Italian peacemakers replace desecrated Cross of Crucified Jesus
See @CatholicArena
Renewed Push for Father Capodanno Sainthood Enters Crucial Phase
As supporters of Father Vincent Capodanno’s canonization cause marked the 60th anniversary of the late Navy chaplain’s arrival in Vietnam, there was renewed hope that the effort was gaining momentum.
The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is expected to decide whether to recommend to Pope Leo XIV that he declare Father Capodanno venerable in May. In the meantime, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, approved the creation of a novena for Father Capodanno’s cause.
While the novena took place from March 30 to April 7, to coincide with Holy Week, Father Daniel Mode, who wrote the novena, encourages the faithful to continue to pray it.
“It was an honor to do that,” said Father Mode, a Navy chaplain who is part of the historical committee for the canonization cause. “You can pray [the novena] anytime between now and May, or even after May.”
Read more at The Tablet
New Shrine Announced to Honor First US-Born African American Priest
On Venerable Augustus Tolton, former slave-turned-Catholic priest: ‘He carried his crosses in life quietly and heroically,’ says Bishop Thomas Paprocki.
The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois is set to establish a shrine honoring Venerable Father Augustus Tolton — the first African American Catholic priest born in the U.S. — at a former parish church in the priest’s hometown of Quincy, Illinois.
“Father Tolton overcame the odds of slavery, prejudice, and racism, to become a humble priest and someone after whom we should model our lives,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield said in a statement to the Register.
Born into slavery in Missouri in 1854, Father Tolton escaped with his family to the free state of Illinois, where he grew up in Quincy, a city with a present-day population of 40,000 on the banks of the Mississippi River in the west-central part of the state.
After studying for the priesthood in Rome — as no U.S. seminary would accept a black man — Father Tolton was ordained in 1886 and returned to minister in his hometown for several years before being assigned to St. Monica Parish in Chicago, where he later suffered an untimely death from heatstroke in 1897 at age 43.
Read more at the National Catholic Register
Vietnam POW secretly made Rosaries made from prison bread
See @Church_POP
Attention: The Ninevah Fast for God’s Mercy
Read @BishStrick; more information here
Pope Leo visiting the imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea
Watch @EWTNews
Equatorial Guineans bid farewell to Pope Leo
Farewell to Pope Leo from local Civil Authorities at Mengomeyén International Airport in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea
Watch at Vatican News
Today is the Feast Day of St. George
See @Auditeinsulae
Statue of St. George in Jesus’ birthplace
See @benedict_kiely
A medieval folk song to St. George
Read @ClerkofOxford
Today is also William Shakespeare’s birthday
See @TrueBritNews; see also Raymond Arroyo vouching for Shakespeare’s ‘Catholicity’
