News agencies around the world today have picked up the story of Pope Francis and the ‘Ndrangheta. The ‘Ndrangheta is a crime syndicate that was established in Italy but has spread around the world. Earlier today the Pope announced that anyone who is a member of the organization is excommunicated. For those who are not Catholic, this means simply that by their own actions these individuals who are Catholic have removed themselves from “communion” (with a small “c”) with the teachings of the Church. They are not permitted to receive any of the Sacraments until they repent and have the excommunication lifted. The Pope did not excommunicate them — they have excommunicated themselves through the crimes and sins that they have committed. He was merely making a statement as to the fact of their excommunication. Indeed, excommunication of whole groups is not the practice of the Church, but rather a personal choice of each individual.

This story should be important to us in the U.S. for two reasons. First, the Pope has added a target to his back by speaking publicly against the ‘Ndrangheta, just as his two predecessors did during their respective times as Supreme Pontiff. The ‘Ndrangheta are a dangerous group, and they are not isolated in Italy. On the contrary, they are very much present here in the U.S., as evidenced by the fact that several members were arrested in New York a few months ago, along with members of the Bonanno and Gambino crime families. Second, it shows that a leader who has gonads can influence actions by not being afraid to denounce wrongdoing, even though he risks his own well-being in doing so. We do not see that occur very often with people in positions of power in this country these days.

Having said that, we actually saw an example of similar intestinal fortitude in South Dakota yesterday (Saturday). The Republican party held its GOP convention and voted to impeach Obama. The vote is purely symbolic since the party wields no power, but it still reflects a group of truth-seekers who are willing to testify to the truth. They (and all Republicans) will now have a target on their backs, and will no doubt be labeled “Racists” by liberals who stand behind Obama no matter what he does.

This weekend we enter Summer, and no doubt many of us are looking to relax and enjoy some down time with family and friends around the grill or the pool or the baseball diamond. But we need only look back as far as the start of Spring three months ago to see that the downward spiral that our country has been on for the last 5 years has escalated at alarming speed. I need only mention a few headlines for us to see that the smoke and mirrors that this administration has manufactured and attempted to hide behind has reached the breaking point. Here is my short list of Obama’s “Spring 2014 Scandals and Crimes,” and I am sure that others will come to mind for you as you peruse my short list.

• Putin and the Ukraine crisis;
• Benghazi and the fruitless search for the truth;
• Obama’s scandalous negotiation with terrorists for the release of traitor Bergdahl and exchange of 5 Taliban murderers;
• Iraq in disarray because Obama announced our withdrawal and pulled out our troops without an adequate government in place;
• Healthcare.gov continuing operational fiasco, Obama postponing deadlines without authority, and Obama kicking Sebellius to the curb;
• The Veterans Affairs scandal over service providers lying about services to veterans, and Obama kicking Shinseki to the curb;
• IRS emails “lost” in a computer crash, and the White House hiding the fact from Congress for months;
• Humanitarian disaster at our Southern border due to the Administration’s intentional non-enforcement of immigration laws, resulting in reports of hundreds of dead illegal aliens being buried in mass graves in Texas since Obama stopped enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.

How many more can you add to the list?

I think it’s time for the target to find a home on every lying, deceiving, manipulative member of the Obama regime. And the weapon shall be exactly what South Dakota’s GOP voted for — impeachment of the Scandal in Chief himself.