Sunday, April 30, 2017
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Friday, April 28, 2017
Pope Francis arrives in Cairo seeking to mend ties with Islam
Pope Francis arrives in Cairo seeking to mend ties with Islam
Friday, April 28, 2017 2:22 a.m. CDT
Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican, April 19, 2017. REUTERS/Tony
By Lin Noueihed and Eric Knecht
CAIRO (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.
In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.
But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings.
Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.
Islamic State attacks and sectarian wars in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere are devastating Christian populations and jeopardizing their future in the Middle East, the birthplace of Jesus and home to the earliest churches.
By Lin Noueihed and Eric Knecht
CAIRO (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.
In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.
But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings.
Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.
Islamic State attacks and sectarian wars in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere are devastating Christian populations and jeopardizing their future in the Middle East, the birthplace of Jesus and home to the earliest churches.
Pope faces criticism for seeking to mend ties with Islam in Egypt
By CBRU
-April 26, 2017
Images credit jpost.com
Pope Francis greets Christian children in the Middle East. A main reason for the trip is to try to strengthen relations with the 1,000-year-old Azhar center that were cut by the Muslim side in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults of Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict. Tayeb, widely seen as one of the most moderate senior clerics in Egypt, has repeatedly condemned Islamic State and its practice of declaring others as apostates and infidels as a pretext for waging violent jihad. Read More…
University rejects atheists’ claim that Vatican trip is unconstitutional
Tré Goins-Phillips Apr 27, 2017 4:58 pm
The University of Michigan football team visited the Vatican Wednesday despite complaints from the leaders of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who claimed the event was unconstitutional because the college receives taxpayer funding. The team is in Italy practicing football and sightseeing. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)
The University of Michigan’s football team took a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis Wednesday, defying complaints from the United State’s largest atheist organization, which claimed the meeting was unconstitutional.
The Vatican pit stop came as the Wolverines were practicing football and sightseeing in Rome this week. Students were given the option of whether or not they wanted to participate in the papal visit.
Rick Fitzgerald, the publicly funded university’s director of public affairs, said the decision to visit the Vatican was left up to the students because they are adults who “are able to make informed decisions on their own.”
The University of Michigan’s football team took a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis Wednesday, defying complaints from the United State’s largest atheist organization, which claimed the meeting was unconstitutional.
The Vatican pit stop came as the Wolverines were practicing football and sightseeing in Rome this week. Students were given the option of whether or not they wanted to participate in the papal visit.
Rick Fitzgerald, the publicly funded university’s director of public affairs, said the decision to visit the Vatican was left up to the students because they are adults who “are able to make informed decisions on their own.”
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Obama scores another $400K speaking fee amid criticism
By Claire Atkinson
April 27, 2017 | 5:42pm | Updated
Getty Images
Even as President Obama faced criticism for getting $400,000 for a speech to a Wall Street bank, he pocketed the same amount of money for a second speech, The Post has learned.
Obama made another $400,000 on Thursday when he appeared at the A&E Networks advertising upfront at The Pierre Hotel. He was interviewed over 90 minutes at the Midtown Manhattan event by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in front of the cable network’s advertisers.
Out of office just 98 days, Obama caught some flack earlier this week when it was learned that he had agreed to speak in September at a health care event sponsored by Wall Street bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she was “troubled” by the big-ticket talk.
At the A&E event, Obama, who got a standing ovation when he entered the room, asked about what he missed most about the White House, said it was sitting on the Truman balcony on summer nights and gazing at the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, a source in attendance said.
SEE ALSO
Elizabeth Warren 'troubled' by Obama's massive speaking fees
Obama also told the crowd that in his three months out of office he has not yet been behind the wheel of a car and he’s learning how to use the coffee machine in the Obamas’ new home in Washington DC.
The event, called a History Makers lunch and put together by A&E’s History Channel, was hosted by A&E chief Nancy Dubuc.
Goodwin asked Obama how, while president, he handled frustrating moments. She mentioned Lincoln would write angry letters and then put them in a desk and not mail them.
Obama responded: “For starters, by not having a Twitter account.”
Among the luminaries were; Harvey Weinstein; Anna Wintour; Bob Sauerberg; Janice Min and Penske Media CEO, Jay Penske.
A Look Back: Blue Laws in Millburn
MILLBURN SHORT HILLS
A Look Back: Blue Laws in Millburn
Let's go to the movies...Wait! It's Sunday!
courtesy of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society
9:06 p.m. ET April 26, 2017
This 1928 article from The Film Daily was just one of a regular parade of articles in the publication about New Jersey's Blue Laws. According to Wikipedia, "Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, are laws designed to restrict or ban some or all Sunday activities for religious reasons, particularly to promote the observance of a day of worship or rest. Blue laws may also restrict shopping or ban sale of certain items on specific days, most often on Sundays in the western world."
As can be seen in this article, Millburn finally responded to threats against the town for the apparent arbitrary application of the laws. Protesters noted that if the theaters could not be opened, then trolleys, buses and trains should not run either. After the many businesses that were allowed to operate on Sundays were noted, the town relented and allowed the theater to be open as well.
The Macroeconomics of De-Cashing
IMF WORKING PAPERS
Author/Editor:
Alexei P Kireyev
Publication Date:
March 27, 2017
Electronic Access:
Free Full text (PDF file size is 896 KB).Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
Summary:
The paper presents a simple framework for the analysis of the macroeconomic implications of de-cashing. Defined as replacing paper currency with convertible deposits, de-cashing would affect all key macroeconomic sectors. The overall macreconomic impact of de-cashing would depend on the balance of growth-enhancing and growth-constraining factors. Starting from a traditional saving-investment balance, the paper develops a four-sector macroeconomic framework. It is purely illustrative and is designed to provide a roadmap for a systematic evaluation of de-cashing. The framework is disaggregated into the real, fiscal, monetary, and external sectors and potential implications of de-cashing are then identified in each sector. Finally, the paper draws a balance on possible positive and negative macroeconomic implications of de-cashing, and proposes policies capable of augmenting its economic and social benefits, while reducing potential costs.
Series:
Working Paper No. 17/71
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
American Minute for April 26th
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Ten years before William Shakespeare died, English settlers landed in the Colony of Virginia, named for the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I.
Virginia's First Charter stated, April 10, 1606:
"Greatly commending ... their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty,
in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God."
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
"The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church,
and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws 'should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England.'"
On APRIL 26, 1607, English settlers landed at the site of Cape Henry, named for Prince Henry of Wales.
Their first act was to erect a wooden cross and commence a prayer meeting.
They ascended the James River, named for King James I, and settled Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Second Charter of Virginia, May 23, 1609, stated:
"The principal Effect which we can expect or desire of this Action is the Conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian Religion ...
It shall be necessary for all such our loving Subjects ... to live together, in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and civil Quietness, with each other."
The Third Charter of Virginia, March 12, 1611, stated:
"Our loving Subjects ... for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have ... granted unto them ... the first Colony in Virginia."
The Church of England was established as the official denomination in Virginia from 1606 till 1786.
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defined "establishment" of religion as:
"The episcopal form of religion, so called in England."
In 1699, the Virginia Assembly adopted the statutes of Monarchs William and Mary allowing for the toleration of some Protestant dissenters.
James Madison wrote to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819:
"The English Church was originally the established religion ...
Of other sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated on the west side of the Blue Mountains ..."
Madison continued:
"A little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle, the Baptists sprang up, and made very rapid progress ...
At present the population is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and the Methodists."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black wrote in Engel v. Vitale, 1962:
"As late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established Churches in at least eight of the thirteen former colonies ...
The successful Revolution against English political domination was shortly followed by intense opposition ... in Virginia where the minority religious groups such as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quakers and Baptists had gained such strength ..."
Justice Hugo Black continued:
"In 1785-1786, those opposed to the established Church ... obtained the enactment of the famous 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty' by which all religious groups were placed on an equal footing."
The 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty', drafted by Jefferson, prevented the government from infringing on the rights of conscience, January 16, 1786:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments ... are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone ..."
Jefferson continued:
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical ...
that ... laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust ... unless he ... renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges ... to which ... he has a natural right ...
that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion ... is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others ...
that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself ..."
Jefferson concluded:
"that no man shall be ... molested ... on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."
Jefferson's view, that no man should be molested "on account of his religious opinions" would have pitted him against current "hate crime" and "sharia" laws.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article 16, ratified June 12, 1776, stated:
"That Religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;
and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,
and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other."
During the colonial times, only a small number of Catholics settled in the Anglican Colony of Virginia.
After the Revolution, the first Catholic Church in Virginia was erected in 1795, St. Mary Church in Alexandria.
The first permanent Jewish synagogue in Virginia was built in Richmond in 1820.
Named 'Kehilah ha Kadosh Beth Shalome', it is considered one of oldest colonial Jewish congregations in America, along with others in New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston.
Virginian George Washington wrote November 27, 1783:
"Acknowledge ... our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our country from the brink of destruction;
I cannot fail...to ascribe all the honor of our late success to the same glorious Being...
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field ...
It now remains to be my earnest ... prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings, placed before them."
Show Endnotes
(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)
Source
Ten years before William Shakespeare died, English settlers landed in the Colony of Virginia, named for the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I.
Virginia's First Charter stated, April 10, 1606:
"Greatly commending ... their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty,
in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God."
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
"The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church,
and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws 'should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England.'"
On APRIL 26, 1607, English settlers landed at the site of Cape Henry, named for Prince Henry of Wales.
Their first act was to erect a wooden cross and commence a prayer meeting.
They ascended the James River, named for King James I, and settled Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Second Charter of Virginia, May 23, 1609, stated:
"The principal Effect which we can expect or desire of this Action is the Conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian Religion ...
It shall be necessary for all such our loving Subjects ... to live together, in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and civil Quietness, with each other."
The Third Charter of Virginia, March 12, 1611, stated:
"Our loving Subjects ... for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have ... granted unto them ... the first Colony in Virginia."
The Church of England was established as the official denomination in Virginia from 1606 till 1786.
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defined "establishment" of religion as:
"The episcopal form of religion, so called in England."
In 1699, the Virginia Assembly adopted the statutes of Monarchs William and Mary allowing for the toleration of some Protestant dissenters.
James Madison wrote to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819:
"The English Church was originally the established religion ...
Of other sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated on the west side of the Blue Mountains ..."
Madison continued:
"A little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle, the Baptists sprang up, and made very rapid progress ...
At present the population is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and the Methodists."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black wrote in Engel v. Vitale, 1962:
"As late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established Churches in at least eight of the thirteen former colonies ...
The successful Revolution against English political domination was shortly followed by intense opposition ... in Virginia where the minority religious groups such as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quakers and Baptists had gained such strength ..."
Justice Hugo Black continued:
"In 1785-1786, those opposed to the established Church ... obtained the enactment of the famous 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty' by which all religious groups were placed on an equal footing."
The 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty', drafted by Jefferson, prevented the government from infringing on the rights of conscience, January 16, 1786:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments ... are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone ..."
Jefferson continued:
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical ...
that ... laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust ... unless he ... renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges ... to which ... he has a natural right ...
that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion ... is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others ...
that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself ..."
Jefferson concluded:
"that no man shall be ... molested ... on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."
Jefferson's view, that no man should be molested "on account of his religious opinions" would have pitted him against current "hate crime" and "sharia" laws.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article 16, ratified June 12, 1776, stated:
"That Religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;
and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,
and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other."
During the colonial times, only a small number of Catholics settled in the Anglican Colony of Virginia.
After the Revolution, the first Catholic Church in Virginia was erected in 1795, St. Mary Church in Alexandria.
The first permanent Jewish synagogue in Virginia was built in Richmond in 1820.
Named 'Kehilah ha Kadosh Beth Shalome', it is considered one of oldest colonial Jewish congregations in America, along with others in New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston.
Virginian George Washington wrote November 27, 1783:
"Acknowledge ... our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our country from the brink of destruction;
I cannot fail...to ascribe all the honor of our late success to the same glorious Being...
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field ...
It now remains to be my earnest ... prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings, placed before them."
Show Endnotes
(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)
Source
Pope Francis Video Message to Egypt April 25th - 2017
Dear People of Egypt,
As-salamu alaykum!
Peace be with you!
With a heart full of joy and gratitude I will soon visit your beloved country, the cradle of civilization, the gift of the Nile, the land of sun and hospitality, the land where Patriarchs and Prophets lived, and where God, Benevolent and Merciful, the Almighty and One God, made his voice heard.
I am truly happy to be coming as a friend, as a messenger of peace, and a pilgrim to the country that, over two thousand years ago, gave refuge and hospitality to the Holy Family as they fled the threats of King Herod (cf. Mt 2:10-16). I am honoured to visit the land visited by the Holy Family!
I greet all of you warmly and I thank you for your invitation to visit Egypt, which you call ‘Umm il Dugna – Mother of the universe!
I offer heartfelt thanks to the President of the Republic, to His Holiness Patriarch Tawadros II, to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, and to the Coptic-Catholic Patriarch, all of whom invited me. I also thank each of you for opening your hearts to me, and in particular all those who worked so hard to make this journey possible.
I would like this visit to be a witness of my affection, comfort and encouragement for all the Christians of the Middle East, a message of friendship and respect for all the inhabitants of Egypt and the region, and a message of brotherhood and reconciliation with all the children of Abraham, particularly the Muslim world, in which Egypt holds so important a place. I would also hope that my visit will make a fruitful contribution to interreligious dialogue with the followers of Islam and to ecumenical dialogue with the venerable and beloved Coptic Orthodox Church.
Our world is torn by blind violence, a violence that has also struck the heart of your beloved land. Our world needs peace, love and mercy. It needs peacemakers, people who are free and who set others free, men and women of courage who can learn from the past in order to build the future, free of every form of prejudice. Our world needs people who can build bridges of peace, dialogue, fraternity, justice and humanity.
Dear Egyptian brothers and sisters, young and old, women and men, Muslims and Christians, rich and poor… I embrace you warmly and I ask Almighty God to bless you and protect your country from every evil.
Please pray for me! Shukran wa Tahiaì Misr! (Thank you and may Egypt flourish!).
Pope: Why the only future worth building includes everyone
His Holiness Pope Francis:
Why the only future worth building includes everyone
TED2017 · 17:52 · Filmed Apr 2017
View interactive transcript
A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you, says His Holiness Pope Francis in this searing TED Talk delivered directly from Vatican City. In a hopeful message to people of all faiths, to those who have power as well as those who don't, the spiritual leader provides illuminating commentary on the world as we currently find it and calls for equality, solidarity and tenderness to prevail. "Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the 'other' is not a statistic, or a number," he says. "We all need each other."
Source
Full Senate heads to rare classified meeting at the White House on North Korea
FOREIGN POLICY
By Edmund DeMarche
Published April 26, 2017
Fox News
Trump administration on same page over North Korea?
In an unusual move, all 100 senators were invited to attend a classified meeting later Wednesday at the White House to discuss the North Korea and its growing bellicosity.
Congressional aides told Reuters that the meeting was originally scheduled to take place at a secured room at the Capitol, but President Trump asked to move the meeting to the White House.
Salon reported that the meeting will occur in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building auditorium. It will reportedly be made into a “sensitive compartmented information facility”—which means top secret information can be shared. The briefing will take place at 3 p.m. ET.
Some aides on the Hill have expressed confusion about the circumstances of the meeting. Salon wrote, “this could be a preparation for war—or just a forced attempt at a pre-100 days photo op.”
The meeting will be attended by some of Trump’s top cabinet members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson—who will chair the meeting-- and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
Tillerson was interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation” earlier this month and was asked about Trump’s interaction with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi. Tillerson said he thinks that Xi agrees that the situation “has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken.”
The situation has appeared to only intensify over the past 24 hours. Pyongyang conducted a huge live-fire drill that involved up to 400 artillery pieces, according to Reuters. A nuclear-powered Ohio class submarine, the USS Michigan, pulled into the South Korean port of Busan for a “routine” hull check.
Japan has warned that Pyongyang has made technological advancements, and may be capable of launching a missile tipped with sarin nerve gas. Japan estimated that its people would have about 10 minutes to prepare once a missile is launched from the country. Tokyo has been practicing evacuation drills.
Local governments in the Washington, D.C., are planning a “full-scale” terror attack drill for Wednesday. The drill prepares for an attack involving multiple locations and “teams of perpetrators” – and will be staged at six sites across the District of Columbia and the Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters that he hopes to hear the administration’s next steps.
“It’s (the location of the meeting) their choice,” he said. “I hope that we hear their policy as to what their objectives are, and how we can accomplish that hopefully without dropping bombs.”
Edmund DeMarche is a news editor for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EDeMarche.
Source
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Trump Announces He Wants to Meet Pope Francis Next Month
24 Apr 2017 
Posted by Elisa Meyer 
Trump wants to meet with the Pope after all.
President Donald J. Trump of the United States has signaled his intention to have a personal interaction with Pope Francis. The president is due to travel to Italy in May. Interestingly, the two have clashed in the not-so-distant past. This was confirmed by Sean Spicer, the Press Secretary of the White House during his April 19 press briefing.
Trump Announces He Wants to Meet Pope Francis Next Month.
The Vatican, in response, made an announcement of its own. Archbishop Angelo Becciu told media persons the pontiff is always willing to accommodate heads of state wanting to have an audience.
President Trump is a participant in the G7 summit to be held at Taormina, Sicily. The event will be held over two days, May 26 to May 27. Although it is a custom for American Presidents to ask for an audience with the pope if they are on a trip to Italy, previous reports have indicated that the 45th US President was not much interested in meeting with the pontiff. This was confirmed by Vatican and U.S. diplomats who said the diplomatic corps were surprised when the usual detour was missing in the president's schedule.
Sean Spicer later admitted that the meeting between President Trump and Pope Francis have not yet been confirmed. There is a chance that the meeting may not be held at all and it will look like a snub from the pontiff's part.
Even if they meet, the two may have a tense meeting as they clashed only a year ago after Pope Francis made a remark which many believe were targeted towards Trump. The president returned the salvo. The feud between the two started in February 2016, the time Pope Francis made a plan to undertake a trip so that he can pray with the migrants who amass every day to cross the United States-Mexico border. Trump, at that time, the presidential candidate, asserted the pontiff was being used by Mexico as a pawn. Pope Francis replied in his own inimitable style a few days later. In his response to a reporter's question aboard his papal jet, the pontiff said that an individual who thinks exclusively about constructing walls and not bridges cannot be considered a Christian. When the reporter told him about Trump's view of him as a political person, the pontiff replied that Aristotle described a human person as an “animal politicus,” and thus he is a human.
North Korea stages large-scale artillery drill as U.S. submarine docks in South
Tue Apr 25, 2017 | 4:03am EDT
North Korean soldiers salute bronze statues (not pictured) of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung and late leader Kim Jong Il at Mansudae in Pyongyang, in this photo released by Kyodo April 25, 2017, to mark the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
By Ju-min Park | SEOUL
SEOUL North Korea conducted a big live-fire exercise on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid growing concern over the North's nuclear and missile programs.
The port call by the USS Michigan came as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed toward Korean waters and as top envoys for North Korea policy from South Korea, Japan and the United States met in Tokyo.
Fears have risen in recent weeks that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch in defiance of U.N. sanctions, perhaps on the Tuesday anniversary of the founding of its military.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Lesbian Methodist bishop faces challenge to her election
In this Wednesday, April 19, 2017, photo, Bishop Karen Oliveto poses for a photo in the sanctuary of a United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The top court in the United Methodist Church on Tuesday, April 25, will consider ... more >
By RACHEL ZOLL - Associated Press - Monday, April 24, 2017
NEW YORK (AP) - Karen Oliveto clutched a friend’s hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination’s first openly gay bishop.
Within minutes, a formal complaint was filed challenging her election as contrary to the church ban on clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” - a petition that the highest Methodist judicial authorities agreed to consider. On Tuesday, the court will take up the closely watched case, the latest flashpoint over LGBT rights in a denomination splintering over the Bible and homosexuality.
“It highlights very greatly that we are two different churches and that the real difference is whether or not we’re going to live by the covenant that we each have agreed to,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, who leads Good News, a caucus of evangelical Methodists that has lobbied to uphold current teaching. Said Oliveto, “I’m in deep prayer, reminding myself of what God has called me to do.”
Oliveto, who is based in the Denver area, will attend the hearing in Newark, New Jersey, accompanied by fellow bishops from the church’s Western Jurisdiction, her wife, mother and childhood pastor. LGBT clergy and their supporters plan to pray outside and wear T-shirts listing the first names only of gay clergy who would risk losing their ministerial credentials by coming out.
The goal is to underscore the human cost of church policy, said the Rev. Lea Matthews of the LGBT advocacy group Methodists in New Directions. Prayer vigils are planned in the Methodist Mountain Sky Area region, which Oliveto leads, while others will join a prayer vigil online.
The court, or Judicial Council, is expected to issue a ruling a few days later.
By RACHEL ZOLL - Associated Press - Monday, April 24, 2017
NEW YORK (AP) - Karen Oliveto clutched a friend’s hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination’s first openly gay bishop.
Within minutes, a formal complaint was filed challenging her election as contrary to the church ban on clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” - a petition that the highest Methodist judicial authorities agreed to consider. On Tuesday, the court will take up the closely watched case, the latest flashpoint over LGBT rights in a denomination splintering over the Bible and homosexuality.
“It highlights very greatly that we are two different churches and that the real difference is whether or not we’re going to live by the covenant that we each have agreed to,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, who leads Good News, a caucus of evangelical Methodists that has lobbied to uphold current teaching. Said Oliveto, “I’m in deep prayer, reminding myself of what God has called me to do.”
Oliveto, who is based in the Denver area, will attend the hearing in Newark, New Jersey, accompanied by fellow bishops from the church’s Western Jurisdiction, her wife, mother and childhood pastor. LGBT clergy and their supporters plan to pray outside and wear T-shirts listing the first names only of gay clergy who would risk losing their ministerial credentials by coming out.
The goal is to underscore the human cost of church policy, said the Rev. Lea Matthews of the LGBT advocacy group Methodists in New Directions. Prayer vigils are planned in the Methodist Mountain Sky Area region, which Oliveto leads, while others will join a prayer vigil online.
The court, or Judicial Council, is expected to issue a ruling a few days later.
Adventist Pastor Alicia Johnston Comes Out as Bi, Announces Resignation
22 April 2017 | Jared Wright
Instead of preaching a sermon today at the Foothills Community Church of Seventh-day Adventists in the Arizona Conference, Pastor Alicia Johnston released a video discussing her resignation after coming out as bisexual.
“It’s wonderful to finally be able to say ‘This is who I am,’ and that’s something I love about myself,” Johnston said in the message.
Johnston served as the sole pastor of the Foothills Community Church in Chandler, Arizona, since January, 2016, succeeding Stuart Harrison who was the founding pastor of the church in October 2001. Johnston completed her Master of Divinity degree in 2012 from Andrews University and served as a church-planting pastor for the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists prior to coming to the Arizona Conference. She shared her coming out and resignation with her congregation and the leaders of the Arizona Conference this week.
Instead of preaching a sermon today at the Foothills Community Church of Seventh-day Adventists in the Arizona Conference, Pastor Alicia Johnston released a video discussing her resignation after coming out as bisexual.
“It’s wonderful to finally be able to say ‘This is who I am,’ and that’s something I love about myself,” Johnston said in the message.
Johnston served as the sole pastor of the Foothills Community Church in Chandler, Arizona, since January, 2016, succeeding Stuart Harrison who was the founding pastor of the church in October 2001. Johnston completed her Master of Divinity degree in 2012 from Andrews University and served as a church-planting pastor for the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists prior to coming to the Arizona Conference. She shared her coming out and resignation with her congregation and the leaders of the Arizona Conference this week.
Adventist Pastor Alicia Johnston Comes Out as Bi, Announces Resignation
Read more
What is the Gotham Shield? Nuclear bomb drill in NJ this week
by Dan Alexander
April 24, 2017 6:59 AM
MetLife Stadium(Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images)
NEW YORK — An emergency response drill that has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists begins in New Jersey on Monday night.
“Gotham Shield” is the name given to a multi-agency, real-time drill that starts Monday night and runs all week, involving a number of law enforcement and rescue agencies from New Jersey and the Northeast, according to NJ.com.
The “notional” drill will be based on the explosion of a nuclear device in West New York. A response center will be set up at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, according to the report, in which rescue teams and equipment will be set up to respond to respond to casualties, but will not involve actual “actors” playing victims.
FEMA spokeswoman Lauren Lefebvre told NJ.com on Sunday the purpose of the exercise is “to expand the ability at local and national levels to coordinate in effect a large-scale response and recovery to an event like this.”
According to the website snopes.com, which researches internet rumors, the drill first became known to the public last week with on a number of websites which believed the plan was in response to heightened tensions with North Korea, and could actually lead to a real disaster.
Many of those sites directed people to a post on the Health Care Association of New Jersey Facebook page that has since been removed because of “inappropriate comments.”
“(Wednesday) we posted information for our members regarding an emergency exercise. Unfortunately, since that time, individuals not associated with our membership or profession have posted comments that are inappropriate for this Facebook page and could have the ability to impact the success of this exercise,” a new Facebook post read. “Our apologies to our membership, other care providers, and those individuals and agencies who look to us to keep them informed about information affecting the long-term care profession.”
Source: What is the Gotham Shield? Nuclear bomb drill in NJ this week |
NEW YORK — An emergency response drill that has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists begins in New Jersey on Monday night.
“Gotham Shield” is the name given to a multi-agency, real-time drill that starts Monday night and runs all week, involving a number of law enforcement and rescue agencies from New Jersey and the Northeast, according to NJ.com.
The “notional” drill will be based on the explosion of a nuclear device in West New York. A response center will be set up at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday, according to the report, in which rescue teams and equipment will be set up to respond to respond to casualties, but will not involve actual “actors” playing victims.
FEMA spokeswoman Lauren Lefebvre told NJ.com on Sunday the purpose of the exercise is “to expand the ability at local and national levels to coordinate in effect a large-scale response and recovery to an event like this.”
According to the website snopes.com, which researches internet rumors, the drill first became known to the public last week with on a number of websites which believed the plan was in response to heightened tensions with North Korea, and could actually lead to a real disaster.
Many of those sites directed people to a post on the Health Care Association of New Jersey Facebook page that has since been removed because of “inappropriate comments.”
“(Wednesday) we posted information for our members regarding an emergency exercise. Unfortunately, since that time, individuals not associated with our membership or profession have posted comments that are inappropriate for this Facebook page and could have the ability to impact the success of this exercise,” a new Facebook post read. “Our apologies to our membership, other care providers, and those individuals and agencies who look to us to keep them informed about information affecting the long-term care profession.”
Source: What is the Gotham Shield? Nuclear bomb drill in NJ this week |
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Canon lawyer: Evidence likely sufficient for Vatican to decide on Apuron by late July
Canon lawyer: Evidence likely sufficient for Vatican to decide on Apuron
Walter Denton, right, tries to comfort Doris Concepcion, mother of Joseph Quinata, as she recalls the last words from ...more
Rick Cruz/PDN
Haidee V Eugenio | heugenio@guampdn.com6:25 p.m. ChT April 23, 2017
Minnesota-based canon lawyer and former priest Patrick J. Wall said there appears to be more than sufficient evidence for a Vatican tribunal to come to a decision on Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s canonical penal trial, after two accusers provided testimony in March.
“In short, the Roman Pontiff can step in and make a decision since he is the supervisor of Apuron,” said Wall, who since 2002 has advocated for hundreds of clergy abuse survivors.
Pope Francis suspended Apuron in June 2016, weeks after former altar boys came forward and publicly accused the archbishop of raping and sexually abusing them as children in Agat in the 1970s.
“If Rome is going to act, they generally do so prior to July 31, when most Romans go on summer vacanza, until mid-September,” said Wall, co-author of “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes,” a leading book on the 2,000-year history of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Pope says some refugee centres 'concentration camps'
Angus MACKINNON
AFPApril 22, 2017
Pope Francis blesses the crowd as he leaves the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island after the Liturgy of the Word with the Community of Sant’Egidio in memory of the "New Martyrs" of the 20th and 21th century, on April 22, 2017 in Rome (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)More
Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday described some of Europe's refugee centres as "concentration camps" as he paid tribute to an unknown Christian woman slain for her faith in front of her Muslim husband.
"These refugee camps -- so many are concentration camps, crowded with people... because international accords seem more important than human rights," Francis said in impromptu remarks at a ceremony in memory of modern day Christian martyrs.
Departing from his prepared script and appearing unusually emotional as he spoke, the 80-year-old pontiff said he wanted the woman to be remembered along with all the other martyrs commemorated in Rome's Basilica of St Bartholomew.
How the Coming Church-State Showdown Could be Avoided
The Supreme Court has ample reason to avoid deciding a case that could erode the Establishment Clause.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
GARRETT EPPS
APR 22, 2017
During argument in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer last week before the Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan mused that the case poses “a hard issue. It's an issue in which states have their own very longstanding law. It's an issue on which I guess I'm going to say nobody is completely sure that they have it right.”
The court did not pay much attention to a question that logically flows from Kagan’s concern: Is this trip really necessary?
GARRETT EPPS
APR 22, 2017
During argument in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer last week before the Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan mused that the case poses “a hard issue. It's an issue in which states have their own very longstanding law. It's an issue on which I guess I'm going to say nobody is completely sure that they have it right.”
The court did not pay much attention to a question that logically flows from Kagan’s concern: Is this trip really necessary?
LATEST FROM POLITICS
Why Is Jeff Sessions Attacking the Police?
Does the court really need to jump into this dispute between a church and a state government—or is it a case where the two parties basically have already kissed and made up?
Missouri’s Constitution, as written in 1875 and readopted in 1945, contains a provision that “no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion.” The Missouri courts over the years have interpreted this provision quite literally. As a result, a church named Trinity Lutheran in Columbia, Missouri, was denied a state grant to resurface their daycare playground with recycled rubber tires. (The daycare would have been eligible if it had been run by a separate church-affiliated non-profit; but because in this case the money would have gone directly to the church, the provision applied.) The church sued, and the case has wended its way to the Supreme Court.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
What Happens After the U.S. Dollar Collapse? with John B. Wells
John B. Wells
Published on Apr 21, 2017
Caravan to Midnight full long-form interview Episode 728 - Dan Johnson & Joseph Meyer
(Please note that https:caravantomidnight.com Server is down - all updates are posted on our Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/CaravanToMid...)
Friday April 21st 2017
In this edition we welcome Dan Johnson and Joseph Meyer. John and Dan discuss what becomes of tax money; as Johnson explains in detail how tax dollars work and where they go; the good and bad outcomes of dependency on government and more. We then bring Joseph Meyer back on board to speak of the Financial realm and world events; terror attacks and the financial outcome, the trends of the S&P 500 and how it effects us, as well as some handy advice on your spending.
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Executive producer
John B. Wells
Noua Ordine Mondială Deciziile care vor schimba lumea -7
Prophetic Secrets of the New World Order - Part 7: Pastor Hal Mayer / w Romanian subtitles
Friday, April 21, 2017
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Pope to make Fatima child shepherds saints
Latest update : 20/04/2017
© AFP/File / by Angus MacKinnon with Brigitte Hagemann in Lisbon | The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during Pope Francis' visit to Fatima Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year
VATICAN CITY (AFP) -
Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal a century ago will be declared saints on May 13, Pope Francis announced Thursday.
The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentine pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year.
The trip has been timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the first reported appearances of the Virgin who, according to a much-debated tradition, shared three major prophesies with the impoverished, barely-literate children.
Jacinta was seven at the time, her brother Francisco was nine and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, was 10.
Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that swept through Europe at the end of World War I.
VATICAN CITY (AFP) -
Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal a century ago will be declared saints on May 13, Pope Francis announced Thursday.
The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentine pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year.
The trip has been timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the first reported appearances of the Virgin who, according to a much-debated tradition, shared three major prophesies with the impoverished, barely-literate children.
Jacinta was seven at the time, her brother Francisco was nine and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, was 10.
Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that swept through Europe at the end of World War I.
Fatima is the solution to the mayhem in the Vatican today
OPINION
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Wed Apr 19, 2017 - 7:38 pm EST
John-Henry Westen
Follow John-Henry
(Editor's note: The following is a slightly edited version of the editorial of the April issue of LifeSite's Faithful Insight magazine. Those interested in subscribing to the monthly Catholic news magazine may do so here.)
April 19, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Mayhem. That’s the only word to describe what is taking place in the Church today. Remember the archbishop who released a scandalous Vatican sex-ed program at World Youth Day in Krakow? He was appointed as the new head of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Rome’s John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Both institutions have now been stripped bare – the Academy of all its members and the Institute of its most conservative faculty.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia recently gushed praise for one of Italy's leading proponents of abortion, same-sex “marriage” and restriction on religious freedom. More than that, prior to his Vatican post he commissioned a homoerotic mural in his cathedral church in which he had included an image of himself.
Another Vatican bishop in charge of two Pontifical Academies is responsible for bringing into the Vatican, to speak at his conferences, some of the most anti-life, anti-family people in the world. Those supporting forced abortion and forced sterilization are finding themselves at home in a new Vatican where the lovers of life and family are increasingly alienated and ostracized. A Vatican where fear among the orthodox rules and in the words of retiring Archbishop Luigi Negri – the only Italian bishop to go to the Rome March for Life – those who are normally papal critics, “for a time have become hyper papists for their own ends.”
(Editor's note: The following is a slightly edited version of the editorial of the April issue of LifeSite's Faithful Insight magazine. Those interested in subscribing to the monthly Catholic news magazine may do so here.)
April 19, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Mayhem. That’s the only word to describe what is taking place in the Church today. Remember the archbishop who released a scandalous Vatican sex-ed program at World Youth Day in Krakow? He was appointed as the new head of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Rome’s John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Both institutions have now been stripped bare – the Academy of all its members and the Institute of its most conservative faculty.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia recently gushed praise for one of Italy's leading proponents of abortion, same-sex “marriage” and restriction on religious freedom. More than that, prior to his Vatican post he commissioned a homoerotic mural in his cathedral church in which he had included an image of himself.
Another Vatican bishop in charge of two Pontifical Academies is responsible for bringing into the Vatican, to speak at his conferences, some of the most anti-life, anti-family people in the world. Those supporting forced abortion and forced sterilization are finding themselves at home in a new Vatican where the lovers of life and family are increasingly alienated and ostracized. A Vatican where fear among the orthodox rules and in the words of retiring Archbishop Luigi Negri – the only Italian bishop to go to the Rome March for Life – those who are normally papal critics, “for a time have become hyper papists for their own ends.”
The Red Line and the Rat Line
17 APRIL 2014
Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels
In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress. Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.[*] Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous.
Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff. The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Bill O'Reilly greeted by pope hours before Fox News announces ouster
WORLD
Josephine McKenna | Religion News ServiceUpdated 6 hours ago
VATICAN CITY — Hours before Fox News announced Bill O’Reilly’s ouster, the cable TV personality was greeted by Pope Francis on Wednesday during the pontiff’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square.
O’Reilly, a Catholic, who last year challenged the pope’s views on immigration and promised to convince Francis of the need for reform, shook hands briefly with the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics at the Vatican.
Pope Francis shakes hands with TV host Bill O'Reilly, second from right, during his weekly general ...more
L'Osservatore Romano via AP
But it’s unclear if Francis knew who O’Reilly was, and they appeared to exchange no conversation as O’Reilly joined VIPs in a suit and tie to greet the 80-year-old pontiff in the spring sunshine.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Fox and O’Reilly paid five women, including former staffers and guests on his program, a total of $13 million to settle harassment claims.
O’Reilly’s picture was taken in the VIP line by a photographer from the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The TV personality has been on vacation in Italy.
L'Osservatore Romano via AP
But it’s unclear if Francis knew who O’Reilly was, and they appeared to exchange no conversation as O’Reilly joined VIPs in a suit and tie to greet the 80-year-old pontiff in the spring sunshine.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Fox and O’Reilly paid five women, including former staffers and guests on his program, a total of $13 million to settle harassment claims.
O’Reilly’s picture was taken in the VIP line by a photographer from the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The TV personality has been on vacation in Italy.
Beware of Man-Made Tests
Beware ... of evil workers.... For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3:2, 3.
There are those who need in their hearts the touch of the divine Spirit. Then the message for this time will be their burden. They will not search for human tests, for something new and strange. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the test for this time.
The commandment of God that has been almost universally made void, is the testing truth for this time.... The time is coming when all those who worship God will be distinguished by this sign. They will be known as the servants of God, by this mark of their allegiance to Heaven. But all man-made tests will divert the mind from the great and important doctrines that constitute the present truth.
It is the desire and plan of Satan to bring in among us those who will go to great extremes—people of narrow minds, who are critical and sharp, and very tenacious in holding their own conceptions of what the truth means. They will be exacting, and will seek to enforce rigorous duties, and go to great lengths in matters of minor importance, while they neglect the weightier matters of the law—judgment and mercy and the love of God. Through the work of a few of this class of persons, the whole body of Sabbathkeepers will be designated as bigoted ... and fanatical....
God has a special work for the men of experience to do. They are to guard the cause of God. They are to see that the work of God is not committed to men who feel it their privilege to move out on their own independent judgment, to preach whatever they please, and to be responsible to no one for their instructions or work. Let this spirit of self-sufficiency once rule in our midst, and there will be no harmony of action, no unity of spirit, no safety for the work, and no healthful growth in the cause....Christ prayed that His followers might be one as He and the Father were one. Those who desire to see this prayer answered, should seek to discourage the slightest tendency to division, and try to keep the spirit of unity and love among brethren.
Maranatha, p.147.
UNITE, UNITE EUROPE! A PROTEST IN FAVOR OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
By Sally McGrane 12:05 A.M.
The grassroots group Pulse of Europe aims to show politicians and right-wing Europeans that the silent majority favors the E.U.PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREAS ARNOLD / PICTURE-ALLIANCE / DPA / AP
On the Sunday before Easter, the sun was shining on Berlin’s charming Gendarmenmarkt. At 1:30 p.m., the first blue-and-yellow flags—symbols of the European Union—appeared on the square, held aloft or worn like capes. The P.A. system was up and running. A pop-y German New Wave classic came on: “Visit Europe, while it’s still standing.” From the broad, shady steps of the concert house, Alexander Knigge’s aviator sunglasses reflected the light. “This song’s about nuclear war,” he said. “But, actually, it fits today’s situation pretty well.”
Knigge is a German real-estate lawyer and one of the organizers of the Berlin chapter of Pulse of Europe, a grassroots movement dreamed up by a Frankfurt-based lawyer in response to the feelings of intense dismay brought on by watching Donald Trump’s victory on television. Pulse of Europe events feature an hour-long program that includes live music and an open mike, and have been taking place on city squares across Europe almost every Sunday afternoon since the beginning of the year. Their mission is simple: to show support for the European Union.
Today, the theme was France—a country where four of the five major Presidential candidates in the upcoming elections have taken “Euroskeptic” positions. Knigge, who had never been involved in a protest movement before getting involved with Pulse of Europe, fielded organizational questions from other volunteers and reflected on his reasons for helping out. “It’s a matter of freedom, and peace,” he said, as the playlist bounced to “Frankreich, Frankreich,” another eighties hit, in which the singer wakes up to a shock: overnight, he has lost his baguette, his cigarette, Jeanette and Claudette. “If France decides to leave the E.U., the E.U. is gone,” said Knigge. “My grandparents fought in World War II, and we all know that the European Union is the best guarantee against war. I don’t really trust Germany—I’m happy it’s completely bound up in a bigger union.”
On the Sunday before Easter, the sun was shining on Berlin’s charming Gendarmenmarkt. At 1:30 p.m., the first blue-and-yellow flags—symbols of the European Union—appeared on the square, held aloft or worn like capes. The P.A. system was up and running. A pop-y German New Wave classic came on: “Visit Europe, while it’s still standing.” From the broad, shady steps of the concert house, Alexander Knigge’s aviator sunglasses reflected the light. “This song’s about nuclear war,” he said. “But, actually, it fits today’s situation pretty well.”
Knigge is a German real-estate lawyer and one of the organizers of the Berlin chapter of Pulse of Europe, a grassroots movement dreamed up by a Frankfurt-based lawyer in response to the feelings of intense dismay brought on by watching Donald Trump’s victory on television. Pulse of Europe events feature an hour-long program that includes live music and an open mike, and have been taking place on city squares across Europe almost every Sunday afternoon since the beginning of the year. Their mission is simple: to show support for the European Union.
Today, the theme was France—a country where four of the five major Presidential candidates in the upcoming elections have taken “Euroskeptic” positions. Knigge, who had never been involved in a protest movement before getting involved with Pulse of Europe, fielded organizational questions from other volunteers and reflected on his reasons for helping out. “It’s a matter of freedom, and peace,” he said, as the playlist bounced to “Frankreich, Frankreich,” another eighties hit, in which the singer wakes up to a shock: overnight, he has lost his baguette, his cigarette, Jeanette and Claudette. “If France decides to leave the E.U., the E.U. is gone,” said Knigge. “My grandparents fought in World War II, and we all know that the European Union is the best guarantee against war. I don’t really trust Germany—I’m happy it’s completely bound up in a bigger union.”
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
US F-22s intercept Russian bombers off Alaska coast
By Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne
Updated 3:22 PM ET, Tue April 18, 2017
Story highlights
Two TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted off the coast of Alaska
The interaction was "nothing out of the ordinary," the US military said
Washington (CNN)Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Alaska by two US F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft on Monday, the Pentagon confirmed to CNN.
The intercept, which was described by a US military official as safe and professional, took place about 100 miles from Kodiak Island after the Russian aircraft flew into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.
There was no cockpit-to-cockpit radio communication between the US and Russian pilots, the US official told CNN.
Fox News first reported the intercept.
US military officials downplayed the mid-air interaction as "nothing out of the ordinary" and "not dissimilar from what we've seen in the past with respect to Russian long-range aviation."
But Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the Russians were "trying to show their teeth" by flying so close to the US coastline amid tensions between the two nations.
"This was a show of force by the Russians to show us that they are still here," Kinzinger said. It was "an attempt to come up as close as they could to our international borders to see what our reaction would be."
President Donald Trump has recently adopted a more skeptical view on the possibility of improving relations with the Kremlin, a position he once advanced as a candidate.
"Right now we are not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with Russia," Trump said at a White House news conference last week.
The U.S. Air Force's high-speed stealth fighter 01:09
The US NORAD jets that conducted the intercept were stealthy F-22s -- a fighter that became operational in 2005 but only saw its first combat in attacks on ISIS positions in Syria in late 2014.
"The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft," said the Air Force's fact sheet for the Raptor, each of which costs about $143 million.
US jets also intercepted of Russian aircraft off the coast of California in July 2015.
That episode involved Russian long-range bombers and included cockpit-to-cockpit communication in which the Russian pilots relayed a message to the Americans: "Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day."
Monday's intercept is the latest of several recent encounters involving the Russian military. The Viktor Leonov, a Russian spy ship, has been spotted near the US coastline twice in recent months.
In February, the USS Porter was sailing in the Black Sea when it had three encounters with Russian aircraft.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
US Vice President Pence arrives in Seoul
Published: 2017-04-16 16:47
Updated: 2017-04-16 16:47
US Vice President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a high-stakes three-day visit to reaffirm the robust security alliance and warn against North Korea's possible provocations, Seoul officials said.
After touching down at a US air base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, Pence headed to a Seoul national cemetery in a symbolic gesture to highlight the alliance forged during the 1950-53 Korean War.
His visit to South Korea, his first Asian trip since his inauguration in Jaunary, came amid rising tensions here. Pyongyang has been seen preparing for another nuclear test while Washington has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to waters off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the wayward regime.
(Yonhap)
Before his arrival, the communist state further ramped up its saber-rattling by displaying three intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade Saturday and launching a missile early Sunday, which ended in failure.
On Monday, Pence, the highest-ranking official of the Donald Trump administration to visit Seoul, was scheduled to meet South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun.
During his meeting with Hwang, the two sides are expected to discuss bilateral cooperation in pressuring Pyongyang into changing tack toward denuclearization through sanctions and diplomacy, observers said.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
GC of SDA Present at Ecumenical Meeting With the Pope
The Watchman
5 months ago
4 min read
The annual conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions took place in Rome on October 11–13, 2016. This unformal ecumenical forum that goes back to 1957 sees itself as “communions of Churches belonging to the same tradition and held together by this common heritage, conscious of living in the same universal fellowship and giving to this consciousness at least some structured visible expression” (Study Encounter, IV, 1, 1968, p. 46).
On Wednesday, before the general audience Pope Francis received in audience the participants in the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions, which sadly included representation from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The international ecumenical association meets annually in October, each year in a different country, to improve mutual awareness.
The picture below taken from the Adventist News Network on the church’s official website proves that the gentlemen furthest to the right pictured above with Pope Francis is Ganoune Diop, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Listed below are three separate articles covering the event, of which one is from the official Vatican website.
Zenit: The World Seen From Rome
Ecumenical Patriarchate Permanent Delegation to the World Council of Churches
The Holy See Press Office
Although, it is sad that leading men from inside of our denomination are helping to heal the deadly wound of the papacy, it is not surprising because we have a more sure word of prophecy. Pope Francis just recently signed a document in Sweden declaring that the protestant reformation is over. This is largely in part because our church has stopped its protest in official capacity.
A brother in the faith recently shared with me that is high time to “Study your bibles and the spirit of prophecy, put your trust in Christ! The abominations are getting greater and greater.” I am in agreeance with my brother and if I might add, it is imperative that we cut out the “middle man”. We mustn’t allow fallible man to interpret the scriptures and spirit of prophecy for us in sermons and in books like the sabbath school lesson, church manual, sop compilations, bible “per”versions, policy books, devotionals, textbooks, and etc. Our only safety is in going straight to the source of the Water of Life and be like the Bereans who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11
In Syria, Franciscan superior sees devastation, but also signs of hope
Father Michael Perry, minister general of the Franciscans, walks past the rubble of a bombarded building in Aleppo, Syria, during an early April visit to Franciscan friars there.CNS photo/courtesy of the Franciscan Generalate
In Syria, Franciscan superior sees devastation, but also signs of hope
In Syria, Franciscan superior sees devastation, but also signs of hope
BY CINDY WOODEN, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
April 12, 2017
ROME – Fifteen Franciscan friars continue to live and work in Syria; two of the friars minister in towns controlled by Islamic State forces.
Father Michael Perry, minister general of the Franciscans, visited most of the friars the first week of April, but he could not enter areas controlled by Islamic State or by forces opposed to the government of President Bashar Assad.
He drove to Homs April 7, just hours after U.S. bombers attacked the nearby Shayrat air base in retaliation for the Syrian government's suspected use of chemical weapons.
"We didn't see anything, but we certainly sensed the tension," he told Catholic News Service in Rome April 12.
April 12, 2017
ROME – Fifteen Franciscan friars continue to live and work in Syria; two of the friars minister in towns controlled by Islamic State forces.
Father Michael Perry, minister general of the Franciscans, visited most of the friars the first week of April, but he could not enter areas controlled by Islamic State or by forces opposed to the government of President Bashar Assad.
He drove to Homs April 7, just hours after U.S. bombers attacked the nearby Shayrat air base in retaliation for the Syrian government's suspected use of chemical weapons.
"We didn't see anything, but we certainly sensed the tension," he told Catholic News Service in Rome April 12.
Chicago Archdiocese pays $3.15 million to settle abuse suits
Daniel McCormack arrives at court in 2007 to plead guilty to the sexual abuse of five boys. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Tribune
The Archdiocese of Chicago will pay $3.15 million to settle lawsuits brought by three men who allege they were sexually abused by a notorious former pastor of a West Side Catholic church more than a decade ago, the plaintiffs' attorney said Wednesday.
The accusers, all identified in court papers as John Doe, said former priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack sexually abused them more than once during their participation in an after-school program called S.A.F.E. at Our Lady of the Westside Catholic School.
The Archdiocese of Chicago will pay $3.15 million to settle lawsuits brought by three men who allege they were sexually abused by a notorious former pastor of a West Side Catholic church more than a decade ago, the plaintiffs' attorney said Wednesday.
The accusers, all identified in court papers as John Doe, said former priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack sexually abused them more than once during their participation in an after-school program called S.A.F.E. at Our Lady of the Westside Catholic School.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Pence aims to reassure allies amid North Korea threat | WTOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has labeled North Korea a “problem” country and says it will be dealt with through a broad — and vague — set of options. It may be up to his vice president, Mike Pence, to fill in the details when he arrives in Asia.
Pence aims to reassure allies amid North Korea threat | WTOP
How many American atheists are there really?
“There’s a lot of atheists in the closet” — why most polls on religious belief are probably wrong.
Apr 13, 2017, 2:00pm EDT
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A study suggests many non-believers may uncomfortable telling a pollster they don’t believe in God. elenabsl / Shutterstock
Here’s a simple question: How many Americans don’t believe in God?
Pew and Gallup — two of the most reputable polling firms in America — both come to a similar figure. About 10 percent of Americans say they do not believe in God, and this figure has been slowly creeping up over the decades.
But maybe this isn’t the whole story. University of Kentucky psychologists Will Gervais and Maxine Najle have long suspected that a lot of atheists aren’t showing up in these polls. The reason: Even in our increasingly secular society, there’s still a lot of stigma around not believing in God. So when a stranger conducting a poll calls and asks the question, it may be uncomfortable for many to answer truthfully.
Gervais and Najle recently conducted a new analysis on the prevalence of atheists in America. And they conclude the number of people who do not believe in God may be even double that counted by these polling firms.
“There’s a lot of atheists in the closet,” Gervais says. “And ... if they knew there are lots of people just like them out there, that could potentially promote more tolerance.”
People are embarrassed to tell strangers they don’t believe in God
Here’s a simple question: How many Americans don’t believe in God?
Pew and Gallup — two of the most reputable polling firms in America — both come to a similar figure. About 10 percent of Americans say they do not believe in God, and this figure has been slowly creeping up over the decades.
But maybe this isn’t the whole story. University of Kentucky psychologists Will Gervais and Maxine Najle have long suspected that a lot of atheists aren’t showing up in these polls. The reason: Even in our increasingly secular society, there’s still a lot of stigma around not believing in God. So when a stranger conducting a poll calls and asks the question, it may be uncomfortable for many to answer truthfully.
Gervais and Najle recently conducted a new analysis on the prevalence of atheists in America. And they conclude the number of people who do not believe in God may be even double that counted by these polling firms.
“There’s a lot of atheists in the closet,” Gervais says. “And ... if they knew there are lots of people just like them out there, that could potentially promote more tolerance.”
People are embarrassed to tell strangers they don’t believe in God
Why April 15th is the speculated date of North Korea’s next nuclear test
By VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
Star
Franck Robichon/EPAWomen wearing traditional costumes arrive pay respect to former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 15, 2016. North Korea is marking the 'Day of the Sun', celebrating the day of birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-sung. more
So far this year, North Korea has conducted four missile launches, including as recently as last Tuesday when North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.
The missile launches have led to heightened tension on the Korean peninsula and strained relations between the U.S. and North Korea.
Now, U.S. officials are speculating that North Korea will conduct its sixth nuclear test on the country’s most important holiday - April 15th or “Day of the Sun” as it’s known in North Korea. The country has previously used holidays and anniversaries as a showcase for its arsenal of weapons.
So far this year, North Korea has conducted four missile launches, including as recently as last Tuesday when North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.
The missile launches have led to heightened tension on the Korean peninsula and strained relations between the U.S. and North Korea.
Now, U.S. officials are speculating that North Korea will conduct its sixth nuclear test on the country’s most important holiday - April 15th or “Day of the Sun” as it’s known in North Korea. The country has previously used holidays and anniversaries as a showcase for its arsenal of weapons.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Cardinal Dolan's Praise for Trump Interrupts USCCB Pattern of Criticism
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, watches as Air Force ROTC members march on 5th Avenue during the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, March 17, 2017, in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
By Deal Hudson
Thursday, 13 Apr 2017 11:41 AM
Thursday, 13 Apr 2017 11:41 AM
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has issued a statement that "welcomed the State Department's April 4 announcement that it will withhold federal funding from the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) because UNFPA monies go to Chinese agencies that perform forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations." Cardinal Dolan goes on to praise the Trump administration, but without a specific mention of President Trump who is primarily responsible for the defunding.
"This is a victory for women and children across the globe, as well as for U.S. taxpayers," Cardinal Dolan said. "We are so grateful to the Trump administration for taking this important action to end U.S. support for UNFPA so long as it remains committed to China's coercive abortion and sterilization programs."
Why mention the lack of President Trump’s name? In the month of January alone, during President Trump’s first 11 days in office, the USCCB issued five public statements critical of the president, by name, on the issue of immigration: January 25, January 26, January 27, January 30, January 31. However, Cardinal Dolan did praise President Trump for restoring the Mexico City Policy:
"We applaud President Trump's action today to restore the Mexico City Policy, which withholds taxpayer funds from foreign non-governmental organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas (often in violation of the host country's own laws)."
In the month of February, the USCCB issued two more statements critical of President Trump or his "administration" on immigration, February 17, February 23, while on February 10 praising the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for overthrowing President Trump’s Executive Order for a 90-day moratorium on issuing visas from seven nations on the Middle East.
On February 16, the USCCB issued a statement complaining, "The President has not yet signed the executive order on religious freedom." On February 16, the USCCB praised the "Message from Modesto," which specially called for the "disruption" of administration policies, and on February 17, the USCCB urged the "Trump administration" to "Care for Creation."
In March the basic pattern continues: On March 6, a statement from the USCCB says President Trump’s latest Executive Order still puts vulnerable populations around the world at risk. A "pastoral reflection" on March 22, reiterates the bishop’s concern about immigration policy. And on March 29, the USCCB states, "President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order on March 28, 2017 that rescinds and weakens numerous environmental protections, and effectively dismantles the Clean Power Plan (CPP)…"
Press statements are always carefully worded. The avoidance of addressing the president by name, or the substitution of "administration" or "Trump administration" signifies the unwillingness of the USCCB to treat the new president fairly. The attitude seems to be: use "President Donald J. Trump" when criticizing, but avoid the same when something positive has to be officially recognized. Among all the USCCB statements, only Cardinal Dolan has given the president the respect he deserves.
Dr. Deal W. Hudson took over Crisis Magazine in 1995, leaving in 2010 to become president of Catholic Advocate. While at Crisis, Hudson led the Catholic voter outreach for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and later advised the campaigns of both John McCain and Donald Trump on Catholic outreach. In 2014, he began his weekly two-hour radio show, "Church and Culture," on the Ave Maria Radio Network, and launched www.thechristianreview.com in 2015. His books include "Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction" and "Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States." To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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