Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was named the 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005, at the age of 78. He was the first German pope in several centuries and chose the name Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict resigned in February 2013 at the age of 85 and the Vatican announced earlier today he died, age 95.

ABC News reports: “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible,” said the Director of the Holy See press office Matteo Bruni’s statement.

The Vatican press office has said that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican for the faithful to pay their respects. No further details have been announced. (more)

It’s very unusual for a pope to die while another is in office.

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Given the background, it doesn’t come as a surprise.  Zelenskyy has previously made political opposition parties illegal and removed all media from Ukraine that is not state authorized.   However, the move to ban a Ukraine orthodox religion is still a considerable escalation into totalitarian extremes; all supported by the U.S. State Dept.

As Carlson notes in the latter part of his monologue, the insufferable propaganda has enmeshed the Ukrainian face of western government, “It’s just a grotesque post-modern psy-op, and anyone still falling for this is brain damaged.”  WATCH:

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Carlson is correct.  The Ukraine narrative has been a western, state department + CIA, designed operation from the outset.  On the backside it’s a political money laundering operation feeding defense contractors, corporations, western politicians, congress, political campaigns and DC think tanks.

Approximately two-thirds of the American electorate bought into the media promoted Ukraine construct, which, again is not surprising, considering that roughly 72% of healthy adult Americans lined up for an untested, experimental and sketchy COVID vaccine, the result of government advocacy and pressure.

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A major win for parents and school choice today in a 6-3 decision from the Supreme Court [pdf Ruling Here].  The high court ruled that Maine violated the Constitution by refusing to make public funds available for students to attend faith-based schools.  The ruling is broad and makes it clear when any state and/or local government choose to subsidize private schools or provide vouchers for school choice, they must allow families pay for religious schools.

Teachers’ unions, left-wing indoctrination institutions and the media are not happy with the Supreme Court decision.  The ruling now makes it possible for state or local school vouchers to be used for private, faith-based schools.  Those schools also have religious exemptions on the types of material and educators they allow in their education programs.

In the bigger picture the court has again affirmed ‘freedom of religion‘ not ‘freedom from religion‘.  Parents who wish their children to receive a moral and virtuous education should not be blocked by state and local politicians who promote sexualization of children, immoral conduct and alternative lifestyles for kids.  SCOTUS BLOG has background details including the dissent:

SCOTUS BLOG: – […] The dispute before the court in Carson v. Makin began as a challenge to the system that Maine uses to provide a free public education to school-aged children. In some of the state’s rural and sparsely populated areas, school districts opt not to run their own secondary schools. Instead, they choose one of two options: sending students to other public or private schools that the district designates, or paying tuition at the public or private school that each student selects. But in the latter case, state law allows government funds to be used only at schools that are nonsectarian – that is, schools that do not provide religious instruction.

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When New York’s original vaccine mandate for healthcare workers was announced, it included an exemption for religious reasons.  However, when the administration changed hands, Governor Hochul removed the religious exemption. A lawsuit was filed.  A federal appeals court loss brought the plaintiffs to the Supreme Court requesting an injunction.

Today, the request from the 20 plaintiffs was rejected by the Supreme Court as referred by Justice Sotomayor who covers the New York region.  Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas dissented and would have provide the injunctive relief.  However, Chief Justice John Roberts, Amy Coney-Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh sided with the liberal wing and denied the request.  [Full pdf Decision Here]

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wrote in their 14-page dissent that Governor Hochul’s record in the case “practically exudes suspicion of those who hold unpopular religious beliefs,” adding, “That alone is sufficient to render the mandate unconstitutional as applied to these applicants.”

Unfortunately, the alignment of Justices Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh with the left wing of the court makes future constitutional appeals around the vaccine mandate look increasingly tenuous.  Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Barrett have been big disappointments.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) employer vaccine mandate. As soon as the unlawful emergency temporary standard (ETS) is published in the Federal Register tomorrow, the lawsuit will be immediately filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. For more information on the court action, click here.  WATCH:

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On page 5: “The ETS protects these workers through the most effective and efficient control available – vaccination – and further protects workers who remain unvaccinated through required regular testing, use of face coverings, and removal of all infected employees from the workplace.”

A recent study from Sweden published in The Lancet found that within 200 days, mRNA vaccines had no ability to prevent transmission whatsoever.

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But wait, it gets worse….  Posted without comment because it is way too creepy. WATCH:

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Next week New York Governor Kathy Hochul will explain, “How God loves abortion.”

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Many people struggle with this issue. However, it is entirely possible to pray for Joe Biden….

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…. Just pray Psalm 109:8

Friend of the Treehouse John Spiropoulos continues highlighting how Critical Race Theory is infecting the public educational system.  In this brief excerpt John highlights the efforts of a teacher in Virginia who was recorded by a student during a distance learning class.

The teacher clearly wants to make race the focus of an innocuous picture and the student doesn’t get why the teacher is so racially focused.  As the student continues to push-back against the manipulative intent, the teacher gets frustrated and accuses the student of being “intentionally coy” about a picture of two young women.

The excerpt shows the way teachers are forcing students to focus on race; essentially bullying the students by demanding they focus on race.  [Rumble Link] and video below:

“What happens when a student doesn’t conform to the teacher’s viewpoint about race? Watch. This is radical Critical Race Theory at work. And it’s in classrooms all across the country. Some students reject the indoctrination.”

Support for John:  www.letsrollamerica.us
GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/let039s-roll-america
GiveSendGo Link: https://givesendgo.com/LetsRollAmerica

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Philadelphia city leadership had previously changed policies forbidding foster-care referrals to faith-based worship groups.  The far-left Philadelphia government officials had expressed their ‘woke’ advocacy by blocking Catholic Social Services (CSS), an organization associated with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and foster parents from providing services due to their outlook on traditional marriage.

Two foster parents and CSS sued the city for discrimination alleging the policy violated their first amendment right to their religious belief.  Two lower courts ruled against Catholic Social Services, reflecting just how politicized the local and state judiciary has become.  However, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with CSS and the parents in a 9-0 ruling [full pdf here], affirming that Philadelphia was factually discriminating against the group based on their religious beliefs.

However, as noted by SCOTUS Blog – […] “the decision fell short of the broad endorsement of religious freedom that the challengers had sought. While the justices unanimously agreed with CSS and the foster parents that the city’s action was unconstitutional, a six-justice majority left intact the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, which held that government actions do not violate the Constitution’s free exercise clause as long as they are neutral and apply to everyone.”

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