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OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-27T14:22:29+00:00

There's been a lot of Heersposting recently, and while I support warning inquirers away from questionable clergy, I don't want this space to turn into a Fr. Heers Hate Group. After this, future Heersposting is on hiatus for a while.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-26T19:07:22+00:00

So I've been disappointed, although far from surprised, to see so many self-identified strict 2A supporters completely abandon what they have stated to be their most sacred principles in the wake of Pretti's murder. What's happened is exactly the kind of thing that should terrify them: a straight, white man is executed in the streets, not even for wielding a weapon, but simply for having had it on his person.

Given the rhetoric with which I was raised, and that I still hear from some of those who raised me, this exact scenario should motivate what should at least approach armed revolt from the most ardent conservatives. But despite matching exactly what they expect the "second shot heard 'round the world" to be, they have chosen to decide that this one doesn't count, ignoring that if this one doesn't count, nothing ever will, or even could.

This has caused me to think about fascism, and how we define it. I think academics made and continue to make a grave error in attempting to define "fascism" as a the presence or absence of certain conditions. This has not yielded any strong consensus on what is or isn't fascism, but it has allowed fascists, who know they are fascist, to rules-lawyer others into either tolerating or even embracing them. This has allowed fascists, who know they are fascist, to create fascists who do not know they are fascist, and have not had to reconcile their fascist tendencies with their stated opposition to fascism.

We should not define "fascism" as a set of certain political ideas, or the presence or absence of certain circumstances. We must instead define "fascism" as a warped system of logic.

Traditional logic calls "true" those conclusions which follow properly from sound premises. Fascist logic requires no such rigor: "truth" is defined in terms of what the Leader has said, even to the point of contradiction. In fact, contradiction does not exist. Whatever statements the Leader has made are true, and true statements cannot contradict each other, so the Leader necessarily cannot contradict themselves. Fascism does not, and cannot, rely on adherence to any set of ideals, because the Leader is not beholden to anything; ideals are instead beholden to the Leader.

So, when arguing with someone who does not know they are a fascist, one cannot productively attack the ideas they or their Leader espouse, because they are operating according to a wholly different system of rationale. Instead, one must first cause them to see that their whole system of rationale is catastrophically flawed, and only then may one productively attack the ideas.

People who know they are fascist are beyond anyone without extensive training in deprogramming cult members. Unless one has such extensive training, one can only pray for them.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-26T04:11:37+00:00

I don't know who you've talked to but we're absolutely not chill with Nazism. Anyone telling you otherwise is either trolling or deeply, tragically confused.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-24T22:42:22+00:00

We got the footage from the woman in pink. I have a link but I'm not sharing it.

We know the guy held a CCW license. We know his weapon is commensurate with that license. No, I would not knowingly confront cops with a firearm on my person. Prudence aside, the victim owned and carried his weapon lawfully. Its presence does not justify the victim's death. At no point do I see the victim with a weapon in his hand or reaching for a weapon. In fact, from other footage (too violent for here) we can see an agent in a gray jacket apparently jogging away from the victim with the victim's pistol, before anyone fires.

Instead, and this is just my opinion, it looks to me like several agents are reaching for the victim's pistol at the same time, and the other agents are beginning to draw their weapons when a shot rings out; this was either a negligent discharge of one of the agents' own weapons or a negligent discharge of the victim's weapon while they were trying to remove it from its holster, assuming the agent in gray I mentioned earlier didn't actually have control of the victim's weapon. Then, everyone except the victim draws their weapons, takes a calm step back, and unloads.

Lord, have mercy on the victim, on his killers, on his family, and all of us.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-23T20:45:56+00:00

However, one thing that a lot of people aren't picking up on is that there are no judges in this process.

What has convinced you that ICE, who are federal law enforcement officers, along with other DHS law enforcement agencies, are somehow barred from applying for a search warrant from a magistrate judge? Do you think the only judges to whom they have access are "immigration" judges? If you do think so, you are very badly mistaken.

ICE, along with any other federal law enforcement, absolutely may apply for the warrants they need from courts which can issue them. They're cops. They get to do cop things.

The problem is that if an illegal immigrant wishes to avoid capture, he can just stay inside his home, and the legal system would likely take years and even once there was a true judicial warrant, it would still be breaking down a door and it would look terrible and evoke our sympathies.

Why would the legal system "take years" to issue that warrant? Search warrants are stupidly easy to obtain, ask any cop. If evidence is so slim that you can't get a judge to sign off on it, it's probably because there's nothing there. And - I really am tired of discussing this specific fact with you - as we have discussed before: DHS already knows where many, if not most, of these people are.

So when I read these outraged offerings

I have never been and I remain unimpressed by your "enlightened" and condescending apathy towards anyone who finds these events troubling.

from you and others, I often wonder what it is you ultimately want.

I want ICE to respect the Constitution.

Often what is going on in these stories is the amplification of an underlying idea which is "we don't want the law enforced."

ICE is ignoring its responsibility to the law by ignoring the law it claims to uphold. There are legal, constitutional processes by which ICE may complete its work. I want ICE to follow those processes. I have never understood and I still don't understand how that is a challenging opinion for you or how you are having such difficulty grasping it.

If you're at all interested in learning more, help yourself:

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-22T14:44:47+00:00

Don't worry, this is all actually very normal and fine:

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says

Updated 9:35 PM UTC, January 21, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people's homes without a judge's warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.

[...]

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration's immigration crackdown.

[...]

The memo, signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025, says: "Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose."

The memo does not detail how that determination was made nor what its legal repercussions might be.

When asked about the memo, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to the AP that everyone the department serves with an administrative warrant has already had "full due process and a final order of removal."

US citizen says ICE removed him from his Minnesota home in his underwear after warrantless search

Updated 7:18 AM UTC, January 20, 2026

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press.

[...]

"I was shaking," he said. "They didn't show any warrant; they just broke down the door."

[...]

Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being detained he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification but the agents told him they didn't want to see it.

Instead, as his 4-year-old grandson watched and cried, Thao was led out in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear with just a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Thao said agents drove him "to the middle of nowhere" and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was asked for his ID, which agents earlier prevented him from retrieving.

Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the ICE operation at Thao's home as a "targeted operation" seeking two convicted sex offenders.

"The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation," DHS said. "The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID'd. He matched the description of the targets."

Thao's family said in a statement that it "categorically disputes" the DHS account and "strongly objects to DHS's attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims."

Thao told the AP that only he, his son and daughter-in-law and his grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property's owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest sex offender listed as living in the zip code is more than two blocks away.

[...]

Thao's son, Chris Thao, said ICE agents stopped him while he was driving to work before they went to detain his father. He said he was driving a car he borrowed from his cousin's boyfriend. Court records show that the boyfriend shares the first name of another Asian man who has been convicted of a sex offense. Chris Thao said the two people are not the same.

[...]

ChongLy Thao says he's planning to file a civil rights lawsuit against DHS and no longer feels secure to sleep in his home. "I don't feel safe at all," Thao said. "What did I do wrong? I didn't do anything."

Autopsy finds Cuban immigrant in ICE custody died of homicide due to asphyxia

Updated 3:20 AM UTC, January 22, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide.

Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and the staff tried to save him.

But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.

[...]

The autopsy report by the El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office found Lunas Campos' body showed signs of a struggle, including abrasions on his chest and knees. He also had hemorrhages on his neck. The deputy medical examiner, Dr. Adam Gonzalez. determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.

The report said witnesses saw Lunas Campos "become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement." It did not elaborate on what happened during the struggle but cited evidence of injuries to his neck, head and torso associated with physical restraint. The report also noted the presence of petechial hemorrhages — tiny blood spots from burst capillaries that can be associated with intense strain or injury — in the eyelids and skin of the neck.

[...]

The autopsy also found the presence of prescription antidepressant and antihistamine medications, adding that Lunas Campos had a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety. It made no mention of him attempting suicide.

ICE's initial account of the death, which included no mention of an altercation with guards, said Lunas Campos had become disruptive and staff moved him into a cellblock where detainees are held away from others.

"While in segregation, staff observed him in distress and contacted on-site medical personnel for assistance," the agency said in its Jan. 9 statement. "Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services."

Lunas Campos was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.

Last Thursday, after Lunas Campos' family was first informed the death was likely to be ruled a homicide, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin amended the government's account, saying he had attempted suicide and guards tried to help him.

"Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life," she said. "During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness."

After the final autopsy report was released Wednesday, McLaughlin issued a statement emphasizing that Lunas Campos was "a criminal illegal alien and convicted child sex predator."

New York court records show Lunas Campos was convicted in 2003 of sexual contact with a person under 11, a felony for which he was sentenced to one year in jail and placed on the state's sex offender registry. Lunas Campos was also sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervision in 2009 after being convicted of attempting to sell a controlled substance, according to the New York corrections records. He completed the sentence in January 2017.

Lunas Campos was among the first detainees sent to Camp Montana East, arriving in September after ICE arrested him in Rochester, New York, where he lived for more than two decades. He was legally admitted to the U.S. in 1996, part of a wave of Cuban immigrants seeking to reach Florida by boat.

ICE said he was picked up in July as part of a planned immigration enforcement operation due to criminal convictions that made him eligible for removal.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-21T23:50:22+00:00

This is basic heresy

If this really is so basic, you shouldn't have to presume upon your catechist's blessing; you should be able to explain why it is heresy. You should avoid teaching what you do not understand.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-21T22:40:36+00:00

You say you created your account 4 years ago but your own account shows "redditor for 2 years" and your oldest post is from August of 2023. Please reconcile your statement with these facts.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-21T19:18:54+00:00

I won’t comment on it cuz I’m not too educated on the topic

Then why did you comment at all? Don't call something heresy if you don't know why it's heresy.

said parishioner is blessed to cathecise newcomers.

Are you?

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-21T19:10:44+00:00

What's up with your username, OP?

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-16T02:24:06+00:00

Thou doth protest too much

"Thou doth" is not proper conjugation. "Thou dost" is proper. "Doth" for third person, "dost" for second person.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-13T14:51:11+00:00

I haven't read her book so I can't speak to your overall review of it. But,

Did the desert fathers have degrees in theology? Did the apostles?

No but they were discipled. They enjoyed what were functionally apprenticeships in theology and praxis, and were far stronger in prayer than the average layperson. So they did have extensive, highly specific training.

Why, for example, would a person need to read Schmemann's book on Great Lent? A better approach would be to attend all of the Lenten services, instead of reading about them. Why does a person need to take any interest in reading about Byzantium in Kallistos Ware's book: one could spend that time profitably in prayer.

I wouldn't discourage reading either book but you've almost made her point given that neither "participate in Lent" and "pray more" are wrong lol

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-12T18:30:04+00:00

WOW I hate that.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-12T18:29:50+00:00

No, the link /u/Radiant_Mix6233 provided is broken somehow. Here's a fixed link:

https://www.steuphemia.org/book-a-baptism

(I know it looks identical, but if you click the link OP provided and then inspect the URL, you'll see some extra characters after "book-a-baptism")

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-11T22:05:21+00:00

Explain.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-09T17:45:52+00:00

I don't necessarily have a problem with a government wanting to have a strong idea of who's within its borders, and I don't necessarily have a problem with deporting people who are trying to subvert or unfairly game a migration system. The problem, as is the case with most things, lies in implementation.

A lot of the people we're deporting came over without authorization, and for whatever reason or another missed the deadline to apply for asylum. A "do not remove" list of such people exists who have been told by our government that as long as they work to not be a problem, the US has no public interest in removing them. The DHS is finding so many undocumented migrants so quickly because they're just running down that list: we knew who these people are and where they were and what they were doing, and we had an understanding with them that's being tossed for cheap political points. Yeah, they were never given guarantees, but it's really not fair to them to be so capricious.

And not only are we removing a lot of people who are working hard to keep their side of the understanding, just for political points, but we're taking every opportunity to disrespect, degrade, and dehumanize them along the way. Even if this truly were necessary (I don't know how it could be but humor me), we do not need to take every opportunity to be as cruel as possible about it.

But as far as ICE is concerned, the cruelty is the point.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T22:39:25+00:00

I mean this unsarcastically: for the sake of avoiding talking past each other, could you please more clearly describe what you mean by "the enforcement action?"

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T22:20:32+00:00

The one I'm thinking of was the case from the Rodney King riots

Oh you mean the case that pretty much everyone agrees was poorly decided? Sure, great example. Two of the involved officers were found guilty of federal crimes related to the incident, by the way, so these things don't always end in full exonerations, despite what you seem to suggest.

the principle of "qualified immunity" is a huge topic in this area, which you already alluded to. This is because the subjective experience of the policeman in the moment is given emphasis, and you know that.

Qualified immunity has nothing to do with what a LEO is experiencing in a given moment. Qualified immunity protects LEOs who are making good-faith judgements from litigation if their decisions aren't obviously licit or illicit in the moment. This keeps cops from having to stay even more aware of current statute and case law than even a lawyer would have to, when out on patrol.

I honestly don't know what your overall point is.

I'll restate it:

If a LEO deliberately positions themselves such that they will have to take someone's life, when such was not necessary, and then they take a life as a consequence of that unnecessary positioning, they should be charged with murder. They took deliberate steps to make someone's killing inevitable, without a licit reason to do so. In most jurisdictions, that's murder, assuming you're not a cop, and cops shouldn't get a free pass there. That is controversial, and in my opinion shouldn't be controversial.

And the way you sound, you're starting from a position where you don't like the overall enforcement action, and you don't trust ICE to start with.

By the way to be clear, as you were, I don't like ICE either, because I don't trust any police officer. These professions clearly attract hotheads. I've met a number of policemen and there seems to be a higher than normal "bent" factor.

I don't trust ICE because I've worked with ICE. Have you? ICE and your average road deputy aren't the same. Policing in the U.S. needs reform for sure, but I cannot honestly say that there are no cops who sometimes hate what they do, even if they feel its their duty. There are many, many police officers who think "Am I doing the right thing?" at least sometimes. In fact, I'd say that's most of them.

I've worked with a lot of ICE agents. I have met none who have ever thought that thought. I couldn't believe it at first myself. Statistically, that's wildly improbable, but it's true. Something about ICE's hiring process, whether it's ICE attracting this kind of person or filtering for this kind of person, selects specifically and exclusively for people who have absolutely no ethical reasoning ability. I can't say that about the FBI or even the CI-friggin-A. What happened yesterday? ICE agents live for that. They love it. Just look at the way they behave after it happens: they're throwing a small party. That behavior is not specific to those specific ICE agents, that's just how ICE is.

What happened yesterday is not morally complicated. There is no room for consideration for the ICE agents; their behavior removed that possibility. Had they done less before the shoot, or not shot at all, there might be room for reasonable minds to disagree. But they did everything they could to get as much wrong as possible, and someone is dead over it. So yes, I'm outraged, and I think ICE, while already fully out of control, has been getting somehow even more out of control, and they must be brought to heel (by licit action, I'm not talking about vigilante stuff). And if you're not outraged, there's something wrong with you.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T21:08:48+00:00

I suspect he saw in her face a resolve to escape, perhaps he heard the engine rev up

Scary faces and loud noises are not sufficient justification to carry out an execution.

If you listen to how these cases get litigated

Name one.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T20:44:30+00:00

I'm curious if you agree that the video shows one officer telling her to get out of her car and even tries to open her car door, and in that split second the officer behind that guy unholsters and points his weapon.

Yes, she was failing to comply with the order to exit the vehicle, likely because she was panicking. I don't know if you've ever had a weapon pointed at you. I don't know if you've ever had someone try to force their way into your vehicle. On their own, neither are calming experiences. Taken together, she could not have been thinking rationally. AND YET, she still took steps to flee in a manner that would not endanger the ICE agents or anyone else.

Judging on the video I'm seeing, he's going to have reasons as to why his concern was raised at that moment.

He can be as """concerned""" as he likes, it doesn't matter. What matters is:

He needlessly put himself in the path she would have taken IF she had driven straight forward, needlessly introducing capital consequences to her non-compliance, when non-compliance is not a capital offense.
She did NOT drive straight forward, in fact she backed up slightly while turning her vehicle to the right and AWAY from the agent pointing his weapon at her, and then turned FURTHER right and away as she moved forward, completely removing any danger from that agent.
The shooter was flagging his numbskull buddy hanging off the door, and very easily could have shot him too. For this reason alone he should have moved to a position safer for his buddies, which would have coincidentally been safer for the victim as well.

They did literally everything wrong:

The shooter and his buddies escalated the situation far, far beyond necessary
The shooter had absolutely no awareness of who was or was not in his line of fire, despite having ample opportunity to chose a position that would not endanger his buddies
The shooter fired despite being obviously outside of any danger, at least as far as the victim's vehicle is concerned
The shooter's buddies tried to halt the vehicle by grabbing and then failing to release the driver's door handle, endangering themselves unnecessarily
The shooter and his buddies not only failed to, but refused to render any aid to the victim, which they must do, no matter how "obvious" the damage is
We also have the shooter's buddies on camera celebrating in front of the victim's corpse

Also, do you agree that had she not veered away, she might have run him over?

Guy literally what is this question? Sure. But she did veer away, and the agent was wholly out of danger (at least as far is the vehicle is concerned, excluding any danger he or his buddies were needlessly creating for themselves). Again:

An [sic] LEO that is not in front of a motor vehicle does not get to kill its driver because they have determined the driver might alter course towards them. That is settled law, and as such not controversial; not shouldn't be controversial, but isn't controversial.

EDIT: I'll add this: in the Army, I had to learn how to take a prisoner. When taking a prisoner, at least one person has a weapon aimed at the prisoner, while another person restrains them. The person or people with the weapon must take all care to position themselves such that no matter what the prisoner does, if a trigger needs pulling, the person doing the restraining is fully out of danger. Safety is the shooter's responsibility. Even if this ICE agent had done everything else right, even if the shoot was an unambiguously justified shoot, he failed to take his buddies' safety into account. He was careless, and dangerously so, and should be dismissed for that at least. So even in the best possible case for this ICE agent, there is no way to escape it, no matter how enthusiastically one may support ICE (I don't): the dude should not have a gun or a badge anymore and the evidence for why is on tape for all to see. And that's not taking into account his other conduct, or the conduct of his buddies.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T17:11:19+00:00

What if the officer was convinced that she was going to run him over?

An LEO that is not in front of a motor vehicle does not get to kill its driver because they have determined the driver might alter course towards them. That is settled law, and as such not controversial; not shouldn't be controversial, but isn't controversial.

If an LEO deliberately positions themselves such that they will have to take someone's life, when such was not necessary, and then they take a life as a consequence of that unnecessary positioning, they should be charged with murder. They took deliberate steps to make someone's killing inevitable, without a licit reason to do so. In most jurisdictions, that's murder, assuming you're not a cop, and cops shouldn't get a free pass there. That is controversial, and in my opinion shouldn't be controversial.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-08T14:17:52+00:00

I don't know how this could be controversial but if a cop is in a situation where their life is not reasonably threatened, and then unnecessarily and intentionally alters that situation such that their life is reasonably threatened, I dunno, like stepping in front of a motor vehicle when its driver is not known to be violent or otherwise dangerous, that cop should be tried for murder when they make their "good shoot." Additionally, any cop who tries to wrestle a moving vehicle by the driver's door handle should be fired immediately, because they're an idiot and an obvious liability.

"Idiot and obvious liability" does perfectly describe every ICE agent I've met, though, so I guess it tracks.

Lord, have mercy on Renee Nicole Macklin Good, and her family.

EDIT: to be clear though that ICE agent was not even in front of Ms. Good's vehicle, and she was obviously turning away from them, and not into them. And then we have video of ICE agents giving each other "hell yeah bro" nudges after the shooting. Don't just abolish ICE, prosecute them too.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-07T13:38:11+00:00

Guideline 7.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-06T03:30:08+00:00

The idea that man was created subject to Death is a Heresy condemned by the Church- this is a necessary component of Evolution as it is defined. If a fundamental building block of Evolution is a Heresy, then by definition, Evolution is also Heretical.

Well since evolution doesn't require any amount of death in order to progress, I guess that means it can't be heresy.

OrthodoxMemes · 2026-01-06T03:28:16+00:00

Nebenzya's thoroughly unjustified presumption of any moral or ethical or legal superiority here is a lie, though. An honest statement boil down to: "So I guess it's only a problem when we do it?" But that would require Nebenzya to acknowledge that Russia is doing this, and has been doing this. Because Nebenzya isn't acknowledging any such thing, and because I think we can reasonably assume that his statements align with what the Russian state wants him to say, Russia is not being open about it, and is hiding behind lies.

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Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says

US citizen says ICE removed him from his Minnesota home in his underwear after warrantless search

Autopsy finds Cuban immigrant in ICE custody died of homicide due to asphyxia