Thread by @matthewrafat

Since Santa Clara County is trending, let's talk about the pervasive #Catholic influence & nepotism throughout Santa Clara.

3/5 Supervisors r Catholic, a majority.

#HolySee @SCCgov #Bellarmine #ArchbishopMitty #SantaClara

Cindy Chavez attended Moreau Catholic H.S. She is married to Mike Potter, who attended Archbishop Mitty High School. Mitty's tuition for 2020-2021, including the Registration Fee, is $22,925. For one year.

Chris Rock: "Prices are the new discrimination."

Mike Wasserman attended (Catholic) Bellarmine Prepatory H.S.

Bellarmine tuition for 2019-2020 is $22,230 per student, which includes a $1,600 non-refundable deposit. Again, costs are for each year within a four year program.

Dave Cortese attended Bellarmine College Prep, too.

When the current mayor of San Jose, @sliccardo, first ran for election, he ran against Dave Cortese. Where did Sam Liccardo attend high school? Bellarmine College Prep.

If u are a voter considering Catholic @JoeBiden, ask yourself: why r Catholics so eager to shell out 100K+ for *high school* unless the point is to use influence rather than merit to gain government jobs within a private Catholic network?

Let's continue our education, shall we?

Why r Catholic private high schools so effective at extending Catholic political influence?

First, consider the landscape. Catholics have been in West Coast & South for 200+ years & have had ample time to buy up land & move in adherents.

Most Americans don't know their own history, so they don't understand why West Coast towns have Spanish names (Santa Clara) while East Coast towns have more English ones (Cambridge, MA, etc).

Catholic Spain owned much of South, which was then taken over by anti-Catholic French.

One of the French Revolution's best quotes is from Diderot:

"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last [Catholic] priest."

Napoleon Bonaparte then sold Southern USA to Thomas Jefferson, (correctly) believing Mexico was better.

Mexico has a better climate, better farmland, more gold & silver, etc. If u go to major cities in Mexico today, such as Puebla, you'll see riads that look exactly like the ones in French-occupied Northern Africa. Did the French copy the Arabs? Hard to say. theguadalajarareporter.net/index.php/feat…

What Americans forget is that their founders were NOT Catholics, which is why it's surprising to see USA Supreme Court now majority Catholic; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is Catholic; Biden is Catholic; & so on.

But George Washington was Anglican. Who r the Anglicans?

When the British king at the time decided he didn't want to kowtow to the Catholic Church, he disbanded them & confiscated much of their property. And just like that, the Catholic Church in England became Anglican. Same structure as Catholic Church but no connection to Holy See.

All of America's founders would be surprised at Catholic influence today.

James Madison wanted to disband even the Anglican Church; Thomas Jefferson was a Christian deist who rejected the Trinity; Ben Franklin was Quaker; & Thomas Paine argued vs. institutionalized #religion.

Thomas Paine has one of America's best quotes:

"The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."

In essence, USA is a country of European refugees fleeing Catholic & then anti-Catholic persecution (post-Martin Luther & French Revolution).

Catholic Church in Europe was extremely intolerant--once it co-opted royalty (& thus military or police), it would expel non-Catholics.

Martin Luther was no saint, either. He was virulently anti-Semitic, which may have laid ideological groundwork for later Holocaust, though Hitler was born Catholic.

One of my fav USA interviews is Playboy's w/ Malcolm X, where Malcolm explains exactly what he thinks of Rome.

In any case, Catholic intolerance in Europe eventually backfired, forcing Catholics in Northern Europe & UK to flee to Americas, where they bought or stole land & built churches & voting bloc communities around those churches, whether community square or zocalo.

Now we've discussed time (early mover advantage re: real estate) & reasons for early mover status (intolerance, USA being second land mass for Protestant/Catholic conflicts), let's talk about development.

Colleges, like hospitals, r nonprofits so they have tax-advantaged status.

Why, then, would city councils agree to sell/give land or permits to entities paying less taxes?

1st, voters don't want cities filled w/ shopping malls or car dealerships, despite higher tax base.

2nd, how many malls can a city have? (USA is already "over-malled.")

3rd, no politician gets voted out for approving hospitals, schools, or colleges.

But problem w/ Catholic institutions is that such nonprofit entities r used to move in mostly (not all) loyal Catholic voters en masse, distorting voting patterns.

KKK in some Midwestern states began as Protestant-based, anti-immigrant clubs, meaning anti-Irish & anti-Italian--and thus anti-Catholic. And just like that, Europeans exported their religious conflicts to the United States.

But b/c Catholic Church is an international entity with a centralized base in Rome, it is uniquely positioned to prevail against mostly fragmented Protestant groups. Everyone knows about NYC-Gambino family-Sicily connection, which of course could not occur w/ the Catholic Church.

If police depts r filled w/ Catholics in Italy, Ireland, Sicily, & certain USA ports, then unions, whether dockworker or police, can look the other way when drugs r exported from Europe.

Police can even perpetuate illegal revenue by working both sides using vice squad.

If u think this mafia connection is too outlandish, watch Black Mass (2015); Google "gambino family sicily"; and look up % of Italian stock market owned by Catholic Church.

"Under our federal system, the Church doesn't have to disclose anything."

thestreet.com/opinion/how-ri…

In the end, we have "nonprofits" that can be used to launder intern'l mafia $$$ & also corrupt local voting patterns despite everyone's best intentions. In USA, given founders' suspicion of fed gov, local govs r uniquely positioned to combat nat'l reforms--& maintain corruption.

Motherless Brooklyn (2019) touches on the ability of local USA govs to bypass fed oversight. An unelected NY city planner, #RobertMoses, is able to dictate to elected politicians.

npr.org/2019/11/01/775…

When the Catholic Church was voided in England & kicked out of most of Europe, it could not have dreamed it would discover the perfect landscape for its corruption, money laundering, & secrecy in the United States. #JoeBiden will continue the trend, not b/c he's a bad person...

The Catholic Church, like every large org, has good & bad ppl, idealists & pessimists. Biden is an idealist, but clueless. In short, he's the perfect vehicle to maintain the status quo of power & influence w/i USA, which of course benefits the Holy See.

willworkforjustice.blogspot.com/2020/06/joe-bi…

As such, if u are expecting the 2020 election to produce real reform within USA, u r being exceedingly optimistic--& history & reason are against u. Furthermore, there were good ppl in Germany in 1938, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 & 45.

No one remembers them.

Good night & good luck.

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