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I spent much of this week reading and trying to absorb the new and devastating book by one Frédéric Martel on the gayness of the hierarchy at the top of the Catholic Church, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. It’s a bewildering and vast piece of reporting — Martel interviewed no fewer than “41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignori, 45 apostolic nuncios, secretaries of nunciatures or foreign ambassadors, 11 Swiss Guards and over 200 Catholic priests and seminarians.” He conducted more than 1,500 interviews over four years, is quite clear about his sources, and helps the reader...

On this date, in AD732, Charles Martel led the Franks against Muslim invaders near the city of Tours and turned back the tide of Islamic advance at the Battle of Tours (sometimes called the Battle of Poitiers).

October 10, 732: Moslem forces attack Christian Europe from the West October 7, 1571: Moslem forces attack Christian Europe from the East. Early 19th Century: Moslem forces attack Christian America's shipping off the coast of North Africa (The Barbary Wars) April 24, 1915: Moslem forces of the Ottoman Empire slaughter Christians in the Armenian Genocide. September 11, 2011: Moslem radicals attack the World Trade Center. Current Time: Moslem Radicals of ISIS, the New Caliphate, rape, behead, and burn alive Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. 14 Centuries of jihad against Christianity - it has been one continuous war...

In 1565, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent dominated the Mediterranean, with intentions of not only taking Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca, and southern Spain, but Rome itself. The only thing standing in his way was the small rocky island of Malta just south of Sicily, defended by the Knights of Malta. In March of 1565, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sent Algerian Admiral Dragut to Malta with 200 ships and 40,000 Muslim soldiers, including 6,500 elite Janissary troops. .... Queen Elizabeth I of England is said to have remarked: "If the Turks should prevail against the Isle of Malta, it is uncertain what further...

The son of Boston Red Sox announcer and former player Jerry Remy is accused of brutally stabbing to death his girlfriend just a day after the hulking former security guard was released without bail for assaulting her. Jared Remy, 34, was arraigned today on murder and domestic assault charges in the gruesome slaying of his partner of seven years, Jennifer Martel, which took place at their Waltham, Massachusetts home in the presence of their four-year-old daughter. Police arrived at the residence in the Windsor Village apartment complex at around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday following multiple 911 calls. They found Martel,...

Is the right responsible for inspiring murder, such as that of late-term abortionist George Tiller by Kansas native Scott Roeder?  Some certainly seem to think so.  For instance, the Friday before last Bill O'Reilly had as a guest on his show Joan Walsh, the editor of leftist news site Salon.com.  She appeared because she had criticized O'Reilly for engaging in what she called a "jihad" against Tiller.  Her thesis is that O'Reilly and, presumably, the rest of us who are passionately pro-life are culpable Tiller's death. Of course, this isn't a novel idea among the left.  If there is any...

The Battle of Tours Charles de Steuben's Battaile de Poitiers en Octobre 732 depicts a triumphant Charles Martel (mounted) facing Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi (right) at the Battle of Tours. Date: October 10, 732 Location: near Tours, France Result: Decisive Frankish victory CombatantsCarolingian Franks v. Umayyad Caliphate Commanders Charles Martel v.Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi Abd er Rahman Strength 15,000-75,000 v. 60,000-400,000 Casualtiesabout 1500 reported in western history, but probably far heavier unknown, but reported massive, notably Emir Abd er Rahman. The Battle of Tours (October 10, 732), often called Battle of Poitiers and also called in Arabic بلاط الشهداء...

IN PARIS A FAR-right French politician launched his 2007 presidential campaign yesterday by declaring Islam incompatible with France's secular values. Philippe de Villiers, head of the anti-immigrant Movement for France (MPF) party, also charged that Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was endangered by Islamist radicals, who he claimed had infiltrated the ground staff. Mr Villiers has stirred up controversy in recent weeks with increasingly tough statements about Muslims, which critics call racist and officials describe as exaggerated. France's five million Muslims make up the largest such minority in Europe. "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth...

The Battle of ToursOctober 10, 732 AD marks the conclusion of the Battle of Tours, arguably one of the most decisive battles in all of history. A Moslem army, in a crusading search for land and the end of Christianity, after the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, began to invade Western Europe under the leadership of Abd-er Rahman, governor of Spain. Abd-er Rahman led an infantry of 60,000 to 400,000 soldiers across the Western Pyrenees and toward the Loire River, but they were met just outside the city of Tours by Charles Martel, known as the Hammer, and...

1,273 years ago today.

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only six years old, fell the burdensome inheritance of the French monarchy. Charles, who was then twenty-six, was not excluded from the succession on account of his birth, Theodoald himself being the son of a concubine, but through the influence of Plectrude, Theodoald's grandmother, who wished...

N A SUSTAINED, century-long rampage that would have wowed Rommel, the Prophet Mohammed and his successors beginning in A.D. 629 conquered not only Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, but also branded the crescent of Islam on lands formerly within the fold of a Christian Roman Empire then in ruins. In 709, Arab horsemen and their allies crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Four short years later, Spain belonged to the Empire of the Prophet. In the summer of 732, the centennial of Mohammed's death, this veteran Islamic juggernaut, at least 80,000 strong with the skilled and popular general Abd...