Trump meets fellow NATO leaders in Turkey, allies push defense boost; Democratic Socialists boast they have more members than any socialist organization in US history; Home Owners of America demand CA residents remove Old Glory; ‘Young Washington’ movie’s message about strength and endurance resonating with Americans; New documentary explores remarkable life of Sr. Deidre Burne – soldier, surgeon, nun; Trump’s 4th of July pardons show how TYRANNICAL Biden’s EPA really was; Tim Walz pardons child rapist to protect him from deportation; Nicaraguans demand proof of life for 80-yr-old missing bishop a week after his arrest; Pope prays at ‘Gateway to Europe’ on Italy’s Lampedusa Island; Catholics venerate Blessed Ulma Family killed by Nazis during WWII for assisting Jews; and more —
Trump Meets NATO as Allies Push Defense Boost
President Donald Trump meets fellow NATO leaders at a summit on Tuesday as the alliance tries to persuade him that their countries are actively increasing their military capabilities even as the American focus shifts away from its defense of Europe toward Asia.
Trump has been critical of NATO’s abilities to function without American leadership and power, moved to withdraw U.S. troops from Europe, and cast doubt on whether the U.S. would come to the aid of a NATO ally under attack. He also remains disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.
The two-day summit in Ankara, Turkey, will showcase a series of military projects worth billions of dollars in an attempt to persuade Trump they are making a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO.
Read more are NEWSMAX
Trump at NATO: Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and [NATO allies] are not there for us?
Watch @RapidResponse47
DSA Boasts It Has More Members Than Any Socialist Organization in US History
See @DailySignal
Home Owners of America demand CA residents remove Old Glory
Watch @CollinRugg; read more at FOX NEWS
ABC’s [Sunny] Hostin: American Flags All Over the Community Make Me Feel Unsafe
Monday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin said she felt “unsafe” when a community has American flags “all over.”
Hostin said, “You know, I think unfortunately in this country, people have different lived experiences. So while some may have a lived experience like this, it is the best country in the world. And while there’s some stuff that goes on, you know, other things are OK. That, for me, was a defining image of modern America for black Americans, defining. Patriot Front is a white nationalist organization founded in 2017 after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. You know what, they promote an ultra nationalist ideology that focuses on creating a white ethno-state in the United States with the ultimate goal of reshaping American society to align with their vision of racial and cultural homogeneity. As a black woman, I’m sitting there in my country, and that’s the type of fear I have to experience.”
She added, “When I walk into a community and I see American flags all over the community and I suddenly feel unsafe because there is a section of this country that has co-opted the American flag and they equate being an American or an American flag with white supremacy. And that should never be ever the symbol of white supremacy.”
Read more at Breitbart
Young Washington Gives Gen Z An Aspirational Hero For The Ages
The movie’s message about the value of strength and endurance has clearly resonated with Americans in an age of despair.
In the wake of celebrating our nation’s founding, it is harder to imagine a better time to reflect on the life of one preeminent Founding Father. Angel Studio’s Young Washington walks audiences through the lesser-known period of George Washington’s life, focusing on his pre-Revolutionary War experiences.
The movie’s message about the value of strength and endurance has clearly resonated with Americans. Young Washington opened domestically to an exceptional $20.8 million, blowing past its $15 million projections, and grossing more than $7.6 million on July 4 alone. The film was produced for just $20 million, meaning it’s on track to be a hit.
In comparison, DC’s summer blockbuster Supergirl also opened this past weekend, but only raked in $37 million. Compared to its $275 million production budget and years of fanbase development, Supergirl is not the smashing success Warner Bros was hoping for.
The disparity between Young Washington and Supergirl is not a coincidence, but indicative of a broader cultural divide. The main characters of superhero films have been trending snarky and morally grey. …
Young Washington gives audiences a very different message. In his own way, Washington is a superhero. His power is not rooted in super-strength or the ability to fly. His strength comes from his virtue, respect for brothers in arms, noble humility, and pursuit of a higher calling. Part of the beauty of Young Washington is seeing one of our Founding Fathers not as an infallible god, but as a courageous progenitor of excellence.
Read more at The Federalist
A new mini-documentary about an American Heroine
See @CatholicVote (free, 14 minutes)
Trump signs 11 pardons for individuals ‘persecuted’ by Biden admin: ‘I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE’
President Trump signed 11 pardons Friday, including one for the convicted former business partner of infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a White House official told The Post.
Adam Kidan was sentenced to 70 months in prison in 2006 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges related to his attempt, along with Abramoff, to purchase SunCruz Casinos for $147.5 million with a counterfeit wire transfer document.
Kidan, an entrepreneur, has since gone on to start multiple staffing companies and has become a major Republican donor.
The bulk of the pardons are for individuals convicted of tampering with emission control systems on cars and trucks, including by selling “defeat devices” and “tuners” to maximize the engine power, in violation of the Clean Air Act.
Trump had teased issuing six pardons to people convicted during the Biden administration for “fixing their car,” earlier Friday on Truth Social.
Read more at the New York Post
Trump’s 4th Of July Pardons Show How TYRANNICAL Biden’s EPA Really Was
Watch at Glenn Beck
Tim Walz pardons child rapist, Minnesota state senator responds
Watch @QuantumGuard17
Catholic resurgence among young Americans reshapes GOP politics by Alicia Stitz
Catholicism is seeing renewed interest among some members of Gen Z, many of whom are embracing traditional values and searching for deeper meaning and purpose. The trend has also become part of a broader conversation about how faith and traditional values are influencing American politics, particularly among conservatives seeking to reshape the Republican Party.
“There are so many things out there that cheapen life, and they’re looking for some meaning,” said the Rev. Jim Lisante of Our Lady of the Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park, New York. He spoke with NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on Monday, saying he thinks the church provides that to the younger generation.
“I think for many, many young people today, they are saying, ‘Everything I’ve been promised that would give my life meaning has not given my life meaning, and maybe there is a deeper spiritual reality I should explore.’”
In Washington, D.C., Catholics hold a significant number of influential positions. Catholics make up a majority of the Supreme Court, and more than a third of President Donald Trump’s second-term Cabinet. Vice President J.D. Vance is among the most prominent Catholic figures in the administration and recently released a book about his faith journey titled “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”
Lisante believes many Catholic Democrats are turning away from the party because their values no longer align with the party’s political views.
Read more at NewsNation
Nicaraguans Demand Proof of Life for Missing Bishop a Week After His Arrest
Nicaraguan human rights activists demanded on Monday that the communist regime show proof of life for 80-year-old Bishop Emeritus Juan Abelardo Mata, who was allegedly “released” recently after spending a week unjustly detained by the regime’s police.
The bishop’s purported release has been questioned by Nicaraguan activists, who reportedly affirmed to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa that the priest remains missing as of Monday morning and fear his potential forced banishment from Nicaraguan territory.
Mata, who turned 80 years old in late June, is the bishop emeritus of Estelí. ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language division of the Catholic News Agency, reported that Bishop Mata was detained by Nicaraguan police officers on Monday, June 29.
The arrest occurred just one day after Mata held a Mass and asked the faithful gathered to pray for the persecuted Nicaraguan Catholic Church and for the priests who have been banished by the ruling communists from their own country, such as Monsignor Rolando Álvarez — one of the most emblematic cases in the years-long persecution campaign led by husband-and-wife dictator couple Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against Christianity in Nicaragua.
Read more at Breitbart
US Department of State’s Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs demands “the immediate and unconditional release of Nicaraguan Bishop Abelardo Mata‘
Read @WHAAsstSecty
The Christian Slaughter the World Ignores by James H. McGee
As Islamist violence spreads across sub-Saharan Africa, thousands of Christians are being murdered while the West looks away.
Africa has a way of disappearing from our radar screens. It’s scarcely surprising, then, that the ongoing slaughter of African Christians fails to capture the attention it deserves. Partly this reflects a simple unfamiliarity — most Americans, even “African” Americans just don’t know much about Africa. Moreover, the narrative is, to say the least, “inconvenient.” Despite the many thousands of black lives snuffed out across Africa, “Black Lives Matter” has never seemed to care. The fact that the victims are overwhelmingly Christian and the perpetrators overwhelmingly Muslim represents another “inconvenient truth.”
Nigeria continues to be the epicenter of this rolling holocaust. On June 22, Fulani “herdsmen” — in fact, Islamist terrorists — raided a Christian village in Nigeria’s Plateau State, murdering 28 people, including the village’s pastor. As has become common, the Fulani raiders arrived in the middle of the night, shooting anyone who came out of their houses and then shooting their way into targeted homes.
One survivor noted that the attackers called out the names of local Christian leaders, clearly being guided by Fulani from neighboring villages. For example, the community’s spiritual leader, the Reverend Markus Nyam, appears to have been specifically targeted. As if this poor community hadn’t suffered enough, just one week later, on June 29th, gunmen stormed a high school where students were taking final exams, kidnapping 36 students and three teachers in an attack attributed to either the Islamist group Boko Haram or one of its affiliates.
Read more at The American Spectator
Pope prays at ‘Gateway to Europe’ on Italy’s Lampedusa Island in the Mediterranean (July 4, 2026)
Watch @hgpolicy
The Pope in Naples and Lampedusa by Alexander Lucie-Smith
… [T]he Pope went to Lampedusa, the small island that has been overwhelmed by migrants crossing the sea to enter the European Union. The homily at Mass was on the Good Samaritan …
[But] what the [homily did] not say that is interesting. There is no reference to organised crime, except in passing, when [the pope] mentions “the criminal calculations of those who profit from the suffering of others.” Yes, people are being brought over the Mediterranean with no regard to their safety by criminals who are organised. This is a fact. …
[W]hile the Pope acknowledges the kind welcome to migrants given by many in Lampedusa, he must be aware that this is not a universal approach. He references Pope Francis who made his first pastoral visit to the island. The mayor who greeted him then, Giusy Nicolini, failed to be re-elected. The Pope realises that quite a few islanders are cheesed off, because he says: “Let us not be overcome by fear, but rather look upon daily hardships as a time of opportunity and witness. May your faith, dear friends, be strengthened by these years of trial and generous commitment.” But this raises the question: what exactly is going to be done about the situation? Is it just going to continue? Is the suffering evenly spread, or does it fall on some people, such as the islanders, disproportionately?
Finally, does the Pope believe in open borders? I really would like to know the answer to this question. I reckon Pope Francis may well have done so, though he never said so, which was characteristic of his doctrinal approach. For this is a doctrinal question: does the state have the right to refuse entry to people who attempt to enter illegally, in order to protect those already present inside the borders of the state?
Read more at The Chemist of Catania; read also ‘British Deacon Slams Pope Leo for Prioritising Migrants’ at The European Conservative
Today is the Feast Day of the Blessed Ulma Family
See @benedict_kiely; read more about the Ulma family @father_rmv
The Catholic Church beatified an Entire Family at once: Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and Their 7 Children
Meet the courageous Ulma family, beatified together for their heroism during WWII, sheltering and assisting Jews in the face of Nazi persecution. The entire family was murdered by the Nazis. The mother was expecting her 7th child when she was killed. On September 10th, 2023, history was made as the entire family wasbeatified together.
Watch at EWTN
