Border Patrol apprehends 'largest group' of illegal immigrants near US border yet

Published 4 hours ago

By Frank Miles | Fox News




Video

President Trump introduces tougher asylum rules amid border crisis

Migrants from India and Africa now traveling to the U.S.; Griff Jenkins reports from Tapachula, Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday morning apprehended its largest group of illegal immigrants caught at once, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported.

CBP said 424 illegal aliens were apprehended just after midnight in Sunland Park, New Mexico; an additional 230 illegal aliens were apprehended in Antelope Wells, N.M., around 2 a.m.

“This is an ongoing situation that U.S Border Patrol agents are facing in southern New Mexico: hundreds of parents and children being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous journey in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers,” CBP said in a statement. “Criminal organizations continue to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life. In most cases these smugglers never cross the border themselves in order to avoid apprehension.”

Teen’s $1B suit claims Apple’s facial recognition software led to false arrest

By Andrew Denney

April 22, 2019 | 9:24pm | Updated

Getty Images/iStockphoto



He’s trying to save face.

A New York man filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Apple, claiming the tech giant’s facial-recognition software wrongly blamed him for stealing from Apple stores.

Ousmane Bah, 18, claims someone used a stolen ID to pass themselves off as him when they were busted stealing $1,200 worth of merchandise from an Apple store in Boston on May 31, 2018, according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

The ID listed his name, address and other personal information — but did not include a photo. Bah believes Apple took the perp at his word, and then programmed its security systems to recognize the man’s face as Bah’s.

The thief then ripped off Apple stores in New Jersey, Delaware and Manhattan — incidents Bah was blamed for, the suit claims.

He only learned about the mix-up after receiving a Boston municipal court summons in the mail in June, according to court papers.

The NYPD arrested him on Nov. 29, but a detective working the case viewed surveillance footage from the Manhattan store and concluded that the suspect “looked nothing like” Bah, his lawsuit states.

Trump hailed for defending religious liberty at Catholic prayer breakfast

Christopher White

Apr 23, 2019

NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT




The stage of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is seen in Washington May 24. (Credit: CNS.)



NEW YORK - President Donald Trump’s Acting Chief of Staff says the principles of faith are “alive and well and well-respected” within the White House and “are driving many of our policies.”

In his address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, Mick Mulvaney said people of all denominations and faiths in the administration are “very vocal” and are encouraged to “work it into our policies.”

The presence of faith “makes us a better administration and makes us a better country,” Mulvaney told the crowd of 1,400 people at the 15th annual gathering in the nation’s capital.

Mulvaney was followed on the dais by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona, Abby Johnson, formerly a Planned Parenthood employee who has become a pro-life champion, and Curtis Martin, CEO and founder of FOCUS, a missionary organization on nearly 200 college campuses across the United States.

The almost two-hour gathering brought about repeated calls for greater attention to the persecution of Christians at home and abroad, along with the defense of traditional marriage and greater protections for the unborn. The event is billed as a nonpartisan gathering, but has long been identified with its conservative headliners.

Among the honored guests were the parents of 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann of Covington Catholic High School who found himself in the center of a national controversy in January after attending the March for Life in Washington where his encounter with an indigenous man while wearing a Make America Great Again hat sparked a national controversy over free speech, racism, religious freedom, and media bias.

JetBlue expands use of facial recognition software at airports via Homeland Security database

Jonathan Ng

PUBLISHED: April 27, 2019 at 9:57 pm | UPDATED: April 28, 2019 at 5:51 am

BOSTON, MA. - APRIL 1: JetBlue planes at Logan Airport on April 1, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts . (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

A JetBlue passenger was shocked when she was directed to have her face scanned through recognition software in place of a boarding pass.

Sharing her experience on Twitter, MacKenzie Fegan said, “Instead of scanning my boarding pass or handing over my passport, I looked into a camera before being allowed down the jet bridge. Did facial recognition replace boarding passes, unbeknownst to me? Did I consent to this?”

According to the airline operator, the device used facial recognition software to identify Fegan and allowed her to board the plane in lieu of a boarding pass. JetBlue said Fegan could have opted out of using the facial recognition software. Fegan asked the company how it matches the photo to a person’s identity, to which JetBlue responded, “The information is provided by the United States Department of Homeland Security from existing holdings.”

JetBlue explained: “These photos aren’t provided to us, but are securely transmitted to the Customs and Border Protection database. JetBlue does not have direct access to the photos and doesn’t store them.”

Last year, JetBlue hailed itself as an industry leader as “the first domestic airline to launch a fully-integrated biometric self-boarding gate for international flights.”

North Carolina shooting: at least two killed at university

Several people wounded at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which has nearly 30,000 students
A suspect has been taken into custody


Guardian staff and agencies

Tue 30 Apr 2019 19.05 EDT Last modified on Tue 30 Apr 2019 19.56 EDT

The school said on its website the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should ‘remain in a safe location’. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

A suspect opened fire at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding several others before being taken into custody.

Local WBTV in Charlotte reported that two people were slain and several others struck in the gunfire that erupted at about 5.45pm near the university’s Kennedy Hall administrative building, and that one person had been taken into custody.

Two of the wounded victims sustained life-threatening injuries, according to the Mecklenburg emergency management services agency.

The suspect was not immediately identified by police, which set up a media staging area near the school. Police said no other shooters were involved.

“Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately,” the university said on Twitter shortly before 6pm.

The school said on its website the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should “remain in a safe location”.

 

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Students and faculty wait near the entrance of the University of North Carolina Charlotte campus on 30 April 2019. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

Video footage posted to social media showed students evacuating campus buildings with their hands raised as police officers ran past them toward the scene of the shooting.

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus was to host a concert at the school’s football stadium on Tuesday evening.

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Film on Catholic priests using nuns as 'sex slaves' pulled

AFP

•April 30, 2019

The unidentified priest claimed he could be recognised in the documentary through an interview given by a nun (AFP Photo/VINCENZO PINTO)

Paris (AFP) - A hit documentary about how some Catholic priests allegedly abused nuns in different parts of the world has been pulled from the Franco-German television channel Arte after a priest complained to a German court.

The big-budget media investigation, "Sex Slaves in the Catholic Church", was broadcast in March and has been sold widely internationally since.

Its broadcast came weeks after Pope Francis admitted that some rogue priests had used nuns as "sexual slaves" and that the Vatican had to dissolve a French order because its founder was preying on its sisters.

The Vatican's women's magazine, Women Church World, also reported that some nuns had been forced into having abortions.

Arte told AFP Tuesday that it was forced to pull the documentary from its replay site earlier this month after a press tribunal in Hamburg slapped a temporary injunction on the film following a complaint from a priest.

The tribunal told AFP the priest complained that, while he was not shown in the documentary, he was "recognisable" from an interview given by a nun.

In the interview, the nun "gave the impression that the priest had forced a nun into sex against her will".

The priest was not identified in publication of the complaint.

The channel said it was challenging the decision.

The film has been the most-watched documentary of the year so far on the French arm of the channel, seen by 1.5 million people live and a further 1.7 million on replay.

The film was made over three years by French director Marie-Pierre Raimbault and investigative journalist Eric Quintin, who collected the testimony of nuns whose allegations had been ignored or hidden by the hierarchy across four continents.

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Amid rising attacks on places of worship, how religious leaders are resp...

Will the Real SDA Stand Up/¿Se levantará la verdadera IASD?

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Pope Francis warns hair stylists: Thou shall not gossip

The pope told some 230 Italian Catholic hair cutters, stylists and beauticians on a group pilgrimage to Rome to avoid the temptation of gossip.

Pope Francis looks on during the weekly general audience on Feb. 6, 2019 at Paul-VI hall in the Vatican.Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images file


April 29, 2019, 6:49 PM ET
By Reuters

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has often warned against gossiping among friends and neighbors, but now he says it should also be avoided in those modern temples of cheap talk: beauty parlors and hair salons.

The pope exhorted some 230 Italian Catholic hair cutters, stylists and beauticians — on a group pilgrimage to Rome — to "avoid falling into the temptation of gossip that is easily associated with your work."

Instead, they should pursue their profession "with Christian style, treating clients with gentleness and courtesy, offering them always a good word and encouragement," he said.

Francis noted their patron saint is Saint Martin de Porres: a 16th century barber-surgeon who joined the Dominican order in Peru and spent much of his life helping the poor and sick.

Italian barbers and beauty parlors are traditionally closed on Mondays, which is why the group chose their day off to visit the Vatican.

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THE SATANIC TEMPLE HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A RELIGION BY THE U.S.

thesatanictemple.com

LAURYN SCHAFFNER

April 29, 2019


Don't be surprised if you start seeing Satanic Temple events around the United States - it has now officially been recognized as a religion by the government. The church posted a statement sharing the news on their website.

We are pleased to announce for the very first time in history, a satanic organization has been recognized by the United States federal government as being a church.

The Satanic Temple recently received notice from the IRS affirming our status.

This acknowledgment will help make sure The Satanic Temple has the same access to public spaces as other religious organizations, affirm our standing in court when battling religious discrimination, and enable us to apply for faith-based government grants.

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JULIAN ASSANGE WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Secrets from inside the embassy | 60 Min...

Immigration is a problem for the entire Western Hemisphere: Will Hurd

Pope sends aid to migrants stranded at the US border

Migrants in Tijuana encamped by the wall marking the border with the United States (ANSA)

Thousands of Central American migrants in Mexico are in need of assistance.



By Vatican News

Pope Francis has donated 500,000 dollars to assist migrants in Mexico. The funds, from the Peter’s Pence collections, will be distributed among 27 projects promoted by sixteen Mexican dioceses and religious congregations, which requested assistance in continuing to provide food, lodging, and basic necessities to the migrants.

US border closed

According to a statement from Peter’s Pence, “In recent months, thousands of migrants have arrived in Mexico, having travelled more than 4,000 kilometres on foot and with makeshift vehicles from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Men and women, often with young children, flee poverty and violence, hoping for a better future in the United States. However, the US border remains closed to them.”

Diminished aid and media coverage

In particular, the aid is intended to assist the more than 75,000 people who arrived in Mexico in 2018, in six migrant caravans. “All these people were stranded, unable to enter the United States, without a home or livelihood”, the statement reads. “The Catholic Church hosts thousands of them in hotels within the dioceses or religious congregations, providing basic necessities, from housing to clothing”.

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Lou Dobbs Tonight 4/27/19 [FULL| Lou Dobbs Tonight Fox News Today April ...

Religious Objections to the Measles Vaccine? Get the Shots, Faith Leaders Say

Devout parents who are worried about vaccines often object to ingredients from pigs or fetuses. But the leaders of major faiths have examined these fears and still vigorously endorse vaccination.

A demonstrator in Rockland County, N.Y., after officials banned unvaccinated children from public spaces. The Anti-Defamation League has strongly objected to the appropriation of Holocaust symbols by vaccine critics.

Mike Segar/Reuters

By Donald G. McNeil Jr.
April 26, 2019


The measles outbreak in the United States is now the largest since the disease was declared eliminated here 19 years ago. The return of this scourge has been driven by one factor in particular: misinformation, spread by vaccine critics, that scares parents into not immunizing their children.

Along with rumors that vaccines cause autism or that the trace amounts of mercury and aluminum in them are dangerous — falsehoods that were long ago debunked — have come innuendos aimed at deeply religious parents.

Vaccines, the activists say, contain ingredients made from pigs, dogs, monkeys and aborted fetuses. Indeed, most of those assertions are based in fact. Ingredient lists published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins show that vaccines may contain these elements (although any residual DNA is present only at the parts-per-million level).

Nonetheless, vaccination is endorsed by top Jewish and Islamic scholars, and by the Vatican. Religious authorities have meticulously studied how vaccines are made and what is in them, and still have ruled that they do not violate Jewish, Islamic or Catholic law.

Although no vaccine is without side effects, immunization is one of the greatest advances in medicine. The World Health Organization estimates that vaccines have saved more than 10 million lives in just the last decade.

A policeman guarded health workers as they administered polio vaccine in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2016.

Shahzaib Akber/European Pressphoto Agency

“Since it is proven that vaccines are effective to prevent the spread of disease, it is an obligation upon every father to vaccinate his children,” Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, vice president of the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, recently wrote in an open letter to the dean of a major Orthodox yeshiva in the United States.

Vaccines are highly purified, but they still may contain isolated cells or traces of DNA from the human or animal cells they were grown in. Those “growth media” include cell lines originally derived — often decades ago — from monkey or dog kidneys, moth caterpillars, calf blood, or the immature tissues of aborted human fetuses. (The widely circulated assertion that vaccines contain rat DNA is untrue.)

Some vaccines grown in eggs or using dairy products contain residual egg or casein proteins. And in some vaccines, the manufacturers add small doses of gelatin made from pig skin to prevent damage from heat or freeze-drying.

Suspect in deadly synagogue shooting near San Diego wrote anti-Semitic manifesto

By Kristina Davis, Sarah Parvini and J. Harry Jones
Apr 27, 2019 | 4:35 PM
| Poway, Calif.


A man is being held for questioning in connection with the shooting Saturday at the Chabad of Poway.

A gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle walked into a suburban San Diego County synagogue and opened fire on the congregation Saturday, killing one person and injuring three in an attack that authorities believe was motivated by hate.

A 19-year-old was arrested in connection with the shooting, authorities said. The gunman, who is white, entered Chabad of Poway on Chabad Way about 11:20 a.m. and started firing.

He was identified as John T. Earnest, a Rancho Penasquitos resident. He was arrested and is being questioned by homicide detectives.



(Los Angeles Times)


Earnest appears to have written a letter posted on the Internet filled anti-Semitic screeds. In the letter, he also talked about the planning the attack.

“How long did it take you to plan the attack? Four weeks. Four weeks ago, I decided I was doing this. Four weeks later, I did it.”

He wrote he was willing to sacrifice his future “for the sake of my people.”

Poway Mayor Steve Vaus called it a “hate crime,” based on statements the shooter was heard making as he entered the synagogue.

RELATED: Rabbi gives sermon of strength after being shot at Poway synagogue

A large group of congregants had gathered behind the temple after the shooting, sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Meleen said. It was not immediately clear how many people were attending services.


Some children were initially reported missing, he said, but they have been found.

No stranger to the Vatican, Biden has a rocky past with US church

Elise Harris

Apr 27, 2019

SENIOR CORRESPONDENT




U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, are greeted by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in 2013. (Credit: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS.)



ROME - Now that Joseph Biden has officially tossed his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination as President of the United States, he’s quickly become his party’s presumptive front-runner despite the fact that he’s tried twice before without notable success.

Although the nineteen months between now and November 2020 represent several lifetimes in American politics, meaning anything could happen - and then unhappen, happen again, and metamorphosize into something else entirely by the time all is said and done - should Biden actually succeed in unseating Donald Trump, he would bring to the job a wealth of experience in engaging the world’s preeminent “soft power,” i.e., the Vatican and Pope Francis.

Biden and his wife are both Roman Catholics and regularly attend Mass at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware. He wears a rosary on his left wrist, a gift his younger son, Hunter, gave to his older son, the late Beau Biden, after a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Biden’s experience of the Vatican while holding political office dates to at least June 2011, when he traveled to Rome for an unannounced private visit to then-Pope Benedict XVI. President Barack Obama had met Benedict in 2009.

As the Vice President from 2009-2017 under Obama, Biden was the highest-ranking Roman Catholic in America at the time. He was in Rome to mark the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.

Details of Biden’s encounter with Benedict, which was not included on the list of the pope’s regular scheduled events that day, were never provided. However, it is believed part of the discussion focused on the U.S. role in the Middle East since both Biden and Benedict had met with other political officials the same day to discuss the issue.

Two years later, Biden returned to the Vatican for the inauguration of Pope Francis’ papacy in March 2019, leading a delegation that included House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Republican Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico.

The Jesuits Building Their Primitive Neo Pagan Dark Age - The Jesuit Vatican Shadow Empire 28A

NY Archdiocese releases list of 120 ‘credibly accused’ clergy

By Joshua Rhett Miller

April 26, 2019 | 3:14pm

St. Patrick's Cathedral

AP

The Archdiocese of New York on Friday released a list of 120 clergy who it said have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a minor, possessing child pornography or whose actions led to related paid compensation claims.

In a letter accompanying the list, New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he decided to publish the names after hearing from “many victim-survivors” and priests alike.

“I write today as someone who himself realizes the shame that has come upon our Church due to the sexual abuse of minors,” Dolan wrote. “I write to ask forgiveness again for the failings of those clergy and bishops who should have provided for the safety of our young people but instead betrayed the trust placed in them by God and by the faithful.”

The list, which was posted on the archdiocese’s website, contains the clergy’s names, as well as their dates of ordination and current status.

It does not include where they served. The list comes on the heels of some other large archdioceses releasing their own names.

“Please be assured there is not a single priest or deacon of the Archdiocese of New York whom there has been a credible and substantiated claim of abuse against a minor currently in ministry,” Dolan’s letter continued.

Most of the accused clergy were ordained during the 1950s and 1960s, while the bulk of the alleged abuse took place in the 1970s and 1980s, the archdiocese said.

Of the 120 clergy, roughly half were removed from ministry and defrocked, while the others have since passed away. The overwhelming majority were priests, although the list also includes two bishops — John Jenik and James F. McCarthy — and five deacons.

Tokyo, Copenhagen, San Diego and Peña Station NEXT Rank Among Deloitte’s Smart Renewable Cities

Tokyo, Copenhagen, San Diego and Peña Station NEXT Rank Among Deloitte’s Biggest, Purest and Newest Smart Renewable Cities

By Andrew Burger - Mar 18, 2019



Smart renewable cities (SRCs) are emerging around the world as governments, utilities, corporations and communities create innovative models that leverage and capitalize on the falling costs and improving performance of solar, wind, and other digitally networked renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart grid technology in bids to create healthy, vital and sustainable economies and environments amid an ongoing, global wave of urbanization.

Global management consultancy Deloitte defines the concept of a smart renewable city in “Renewables (em)power smart cities,” then proceeds to identify and delve into the renewable energy strategies that are being implemented in 26 SRCs around the world. Six are in the U.S.— Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Denton and Georgetown, Texas, and Peña Station NEXT, Colorado.



Cities cover just 2 percent of the world’s landmass, but they’re home to most of the world’s people, as well as economic activity and energy use, the report authors point out. “As cities expand, so does their energy use. And as cities strive to become ‘smart,’ renewable solar and wind power can play a crucial role in helping them achieve their goals ,” they state.
Smart cities, energy and people-centered development

More than half the world’s human population lives in cities, and that’s forecast to swell by another 2.5 billion people by 2050, according to the U.N. That poses tremendous challenges for everyone — from governments, businesses and non-profit organizations to every individual resident. Furthermore, rapid urbanization is making people more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to an April 2017 report from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“The frequency of torrential rain and storm surges is on the rise in big, densely populated cities like New York, Mumbai and Jakarta, hitting those living in marginalized, informal settlements like slums the hardest. Desertification swallows arable land needed to feed swelling urban populations. And sea level rise threatens everyone living in coastal areas, delta regions, and small-island countries,” the report authors state.

Dealing with all this requires strategic planning and close cooperation among stakeholders throughout the economy and society. “Through initiatives such as 100 Resilient Cities and the Global Covenant of Mayors, leaders of cities have shown commitment to work together to address climate change and its impacts. Support from global organizations such as the World Bank, ICLEI, UN-Habitat, have also made various resources available to policy-makers, practitioners and even individuals willing to take action,” the UNFCCC report authors highlight.

Solar, wind and other environmentally friendly renewable and smart energy technologies play a key role.

Cities and renewable electricity have, respectively, become the habitat and energy of choice globally. The two are increasingly inseparable. As cities vie to attract growing businesses, talent, and innovation in an increasingly global competition, solar and wind power have become key for many in achieving their smart city goals.

— according to the Deloitte report’s authors.

E. coli outbreak grows with 177 people now reported sick from ground beef

Kelly Tyko, USA TODAY

 Published 10:06 p.m. ET April 26, 2019 | Updated 10:07 p.m. ET April 26, 2019

The CDC determined ground beef responsible for over 100 cases of illnesses. Time, Time


An outbreak of E. coli from tainted ground beef has sickened 177 people in 10 states, the CDC reported Friday – 21 more people than was reported earlier this week.

Since the beginning of March, 21 of the 177 people infected with the strain of Escherichia coli O103 have been hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. No deaths have been reported.

"Two companies have recalled ground beef products that were sold to restaurants and institutions because they may be contaminated with E. coli O103," the CDC said Friday. "Investigators continue to trace other sources for ground beef, and more product contaminated with E. coli O103 may be recalled."

This week, K2D Foods recalled about 113,424 pounds of raw ground beef products and Grant Park Packing recalled about 53,200 pounds of ground beef for concerns it may be contaminated with E. coli O103, according to the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

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Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia have seen the highest number of cases, with 65, 52 and 41, respectively. Tennessee added 11 more cases since the Tuesday numbers and Georgia added eight more cases.

Other affected states have had fewer cases, with Ohio reporting 10; Florida three; Virginia two; and Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Mississippi each reporting one case.

"States are investigating additional illnesses that might be a part of this outbreak," the CDC said.

Those sickened have reported eating ground beef at home and in restaurants. At this point, the CDC is not recommending that consumers avoid eating ground beef. But the agency is stressing that consumers and restaurants handle ground beef safely and cook it thoroughly to avoid passing on any illness.

E. coli infections typically occur three to four days after consuming the germ, the CDC says. Severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody) and vomiting can result after five to seven days.


In severe cases, patients may get hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. However, no cases of kidney failure have been reported in connection with this outbreak, officials say.

More on the outbreak:

April 24: More than 56 tons of ground beef recalled in E. coli outbreak, now spanning 10 states

April 25: Woman claims E. coli caused kidney failure, seizures in first suit over 56-ton meat recall

Contributing: Mike Snider

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Chasten Buttigieg emerges as Mayor Pete's secret weapon

Alex Gangitano
5 hrs ago

© The Hill Chasten Buttigieg emerges as Mayor Pete's secret weapon 

Chasten Buttigieg has emerged as a star in the Democratic primary, becoming a key part of his husband Pete Buttigieg's campaign and helping the South Bend, Ind., mayor stand out in a crowded field.


The 29-year-old school humanities and drama junior high teacher from Michigan not only functions as a much sought-after campaign spokesman and adviser, but he is also helping humanize the first gay major presidential candidate in a country that only legalized same-sex marriage four years ago.

But as Pete Buttigieg, 37, becomes a major contender for the nomination, questions are emerging about whether the gay couple will have the same appeal in more conservative parts of the country as they do with Democratic primary voters.

"The bigger question is: if he were to win the nomination how voters in key states who might not know any married gay couples and be uncomfortable with their relationship may react, and I think that remains to be seen," Tim Miller, former communications director to Jeb Bush and GOP strategist.

For now, as Pete Buttigieg, also widely known as Mayor Pete, has surged in the Democratic polls, so has the attention lavished on Chasten Buttigieg, who took a leave from the Montessori Academy to join him on the campaign trail.

Though Pete Buttigieg is not the first gay candidate to seek a party's presidential nomination -- Fred Karger ran in the Republican primary in 2012 -- he is widely seen as the first with a genuine shot at winning.

And he has done so by making his biography as a gay Christian millennial, Rhodes Scholar and Afghanistan war veteran a key part of his campaign, including his love for Chasten Buttigieg.

The couple speak openly about their relationship, including how they met through a dating app, their first date, and their marriage in 2018. They also own two dogs, Buddy and Truman, and Pete Buttigieg has talked about eventually having kids.

Chasten Buttigieg now introduces his husband at some stops and also branches out on his own, including addressing the Human Rights Campaign in Houston and visiting the Ali Forney Center, a shelter for homeless LGBTQ young people, in New York.

Pete Buttigieg's husband has also seen his social media following surge, and now counts over 100,000 followers on Instagram and around 300,000 followers on Twitter -- more than some of the 2020 candidates in the race like Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) or Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

That visibility is unusual for a spouse or partner at such an early stage in the primary process, let alone a gay couple that remains one of the youngest in the Democratic field of over 20 candidates.

"Its still very odd for me to see what the most normal looking couple, or the least fretful," said Mark Rom, associate professor at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy, "is the gay couple in the race."

No other Democratic contenders has seen their partner or spouse have such a visible part of the campaign, though they have made brief cameos, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) husband in an Instagram video. Meanwhile, actress Rosario Dawson has talked about dating Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

Authorities search for arsonist who set fire outside of National Archives in Washington

The National Archives houses beloved historical documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.


April 27, 2019, 10:30 AM ‎EDT

By Safia Samee Ali

Authorities are searching for a suspect who intentionally started a fire outside the National Archives, the building that houses beloved historical documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, officials said on Friday.

The incident occurred around 8 p.m. on Thursday night when an "arsonist placed a gas container on the left side of the building on Pennsylvania Avenue and lit it on fire," said the Archives in a statement. "Security officers discovered the blaze and unsuccessfully attempted to put it out, but a fire department responded and was able to extinguish the flames."

There were no injuries, but the side exterior wall of the building did sustain damages, officials said.

National Archives security tried to put out the fire but it was too hot. D.C. Fire and EMS responded and extinguished the fire by about 8 p.m. on April 25, 2019.National Archives

Nearby surveillance footage captured the arsonist, an individual wearing dark pants and dark jacket over a light-colored hooded shirt with the hood up, walking up to the building, performing the act and quickly running away, according to the Archives.

The incident is under investigation by multiple agencies, including the National Archives Records Administration's Office of the Inspector General.
Safia Samee Ali

Safia Samee Ali writes for NBC News, based in Chicago.

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The Jesuit Vatican Shadow Empire 22 (A-D) Jesuit Strategies

• The Jesuit Strategies: Odysseus And Trojan Horse Infiltration
• Jesuit Strategies: Coercion & Co-option
• The Jesuit strategies: Propaganda, Pred Progr & Psy-Ops
• The Jesuit Strategies: Odysseus And Trojan Horse Infiltration

‘Hannity’ Exclusive: Trump says tables have turned in Russia probe

Prosecutor: St Patrick’s suspect booked hotel near Vatican

Associated Press
Apr 24, 2019



Marc Lamparello, 37, center, is escorted out of a police precinct in New York, Thursday, April 18, 2019. Police say Lamparello was arrested after entering St. Patrick's Cathedral last week in New York with two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighters. Lamparello made his initial court appearance from a hospital. The judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. (Credit: Seth Wenig/AP.)


NEW YORK - The college philosophy teacher accused of entering St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan with gasoline cans, lighter fluid and butane lighters had also booked a hotel just 20 minutes from the Vatican, a New York prosecutor said Wednesday.

Police previously said that Marc Lamparello had booked a flight to Rome for the next day.

Assistant District Attorney David Stuart said during a brief court hearing that Lamparello was “planning to burn down St. Patrick’s Cathedral” when he was arrested last week.

The prosecutor made no further remarks about the Rome plans but referred to Lamparello as a flight risk. He said Lamparello had spent “considerable time planning and surveilling” St. Patrick’s before his arrest.

Lamparello told police his vehicle had run out of gas and that he was “taking a short cut through the church,” according to a charging document made public Wednesday.

The document says Lamparello was stopped by a church employee upon entering the cathedral. The employee told police that he saw gasoline spill out of one of the canisters Lamparello was holding.

An email was sent to Lamparello’s defense attorney seeking comment.

Lamparello, 37, of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, made his initial court appearance from a hospital. The judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The New York incident happened just days after flames ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a blaze investigators believe was most likely caused by an electrical short circuit.

Stuart noted during the brief hearing that Lamparello faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of attempted arson and reckless endangerment.

He indicated that prosecutors will seek to have Lamparello held on $500,000 bond pending trial.

Lamparello has worked part time at New York City’s Lehman College and as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Police in Newark arrested Lamparello two nights before the St. Patrick’s incident after he allegedly refused to leave the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart at closing time after a late Mass.

Source

Franklin Graham slams presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for claiming to be a ‘gay Christian’

Franklin Graham

Doug Mainwaring

Thu Apr 25, 2019 - 1:13 pm EST


April 25, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Protestant evangelist Franklin Graham took to Twitter to point out the incongruity of presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s claim that he is a “gay Christian.”

The president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association rebuked Buttigieg’s declaration, informing the South Bend Mayor that homosexuality is a “sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted.”

Buttigieg has consistently attempted to assert that his brand of Christianity is superior to that of Evangelicals and Catholics who see engaging in homosexuality as an arrogant rejection of God’s will in defiance of natural law.

Earlier this month Buttigieig claimed that his “marriage” to another man had deepened his faith, while simultaneously taking aim at Vice President Mike Pence, saying, “If you’ve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”

Buttigieg had previously implied to an interviewer that conservative religious beliefs are used to “harm other people.” Then on Monday, Buttigieg said during a CNN town hall meeting that “God doesn’t have a political party.”

US measles outbreak is largest since disease was declared eliminated in 2000

By Jacqueline Howard and Debra Goldschmidt, CNN

Updated at 7:40 PM ET, Wed April 24, 2019


(CNN) — Measles cases in the United States have surpassed the highest number on record since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000.
Overall, there have been 681 measles cases across 22 states this year, according to CNN's analysis of data from state and local health departments.

Previously, the highest number of reported cases since elimination was 667 in 2014.
The states reporting measles cases are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

As of Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 626 individual cases of measles confirmed in those 22 states. This includes illnesses reported by state health departments to the CDC through April 19 and therefore does not include cases reported since then.
Wednesday evening, the CDC confirmed the milestone. In a statement the agency said that as of 3 p.m. Wednesday it counted 695 cases of the illness this year.

This is a break from the CDC practice of updating measles numbers weekly on Mondays. The CDC said it will not update its website with this new number until Monday, as scheduled.

As the number of measles cases has soared this year federal health officials have remained mostly silent.

Recap: 15th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast - ENN 2019-04-23

Vatican Bank ex-chief: I feared Curia could order my assassination while I cleaned up corruption

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi Video frame

Dorothy Cummings McLean

Fri Apr 5, 2019 - 2:10 pm EST



ROME, Italy, April 5, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The former president of the Vatican Bank says that he almost lost his faith and feared he could be assassinated at the instigation of some members of the Roman Curia, the Church’s administrative body, as he attempted to tackle corruption within the banking organization.

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, a banker, economist, and theologian, headed the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), popularly known as the Vatican Bank, from 2009 until he was forced out by its board in 2012. He gave an interview to the Le Iene news company in March in which he said that he believed members of the Roman Curia, the governing body of the Vatican, were capable of murdering him.

When asked whether the curia could commission an assassination, Tedeschi laughed and replied:

“There were people inside about whom I wouldn’t be surprised at anything they would do,” he said. “Things that one couldn’t imagine are perpetrated within the Church.”

A CRISIS TOO CLOSE TO HOME

3/22/2019


By Andrew Fowler


KNIGHTS FROM COUNCIL 7950 MAKE SUPPLY DELIVERIES TO HELP MIGRANT CARAVAN IN TIJUANA, MEXICO.




Council 7950 members and other volunteers.


Knights of Columbus Holy Family of the Mountains Council 7950 in Crestline, Calif., is over 130 miles north from Tijuana, Mexico. But Knights, including Chuck Abajian and Jim Brunetti, travel every 4 to 6 weeks to the city to deliver food, hygienic products and even education funds to the area.

Council 7950, which encompasses three parishes, sends supplies to St. Eugene de Mazenod Parish in La Morita, just outside of Tijuana, in conjunction with the outreach service group, Mother Cabrini Mission Circle of St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Crestline.

But late last year, when a caravan of over 5,000 Central Americans seeking asylum arrived in Tijuana, the Knights made a concerted effort to complete an unscheduled supply run to help the migrant caravan in spite of the potential danger.
“This was a humanitarian crisis that was too close to our home that we didn’t want to ignore,” said Abajian. “These people basically just had the clothes on their back and they’re living in a donated tent. …They had nothing.”

In December, the Knights and other volunteers drove five trucks loaded with supplies down to Tijuana. On past trips, they had been turned back by Mexican customs agents because certain items were prohibited at the time, including clothes, sheets and shoes. The Knights expected to be turned away again this trip, but the Mexican customs agents were lenient.
“They didn’t even look at the load,” said Abajian. “Normally, they look at the load and charge us a tax, but we told them where it was going and they just let us right through.”

'Perversion Files' Reveal Thousands of Accused Sexual Abusers in Boy Scouts

Attorney Jeff Anderson holds a list of names, during a press conference, of more than 130 Boy Scout leaders who worked in New York and were named in Boy Scouts of America (BSA) "Perversion Files" as having allegations of sexually abusing minors in New York. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)


By Jason Devaney | Tuesday, 23 April 2019 06:07 PM





Nearly 8,000 adults are suspected of sexually abusing more than 12,000 children in the Boy Scouts over the years, according to a new report.

NBC New York reported Tuesday that thousands of people are facing allegations of sexual abuse against minors.

"For many, many years there's been an excavation of what are called the 'perversion files' — those are files held and hoarded at the Boy Scouts of America headquarters," victims' rights attorney Jeff Anderson said.

"Those 'perversion files' that they've had reflect that they have removed thousands of offenders of childhood sexual abuse over the years and they've kept that in files secretly."

Anderson, reported NBC, claimed that 7,819 suspected abusers and 12,254 potential victims have been uncovered.

"That is a number not known before today or ever revealed by the Boy Scouts of America," Anderson said.

The accusations date back to the 1940s, and it is not known how many of the accused are still alive.

The Boy Scouts of America told Fox News, "We care deeply about all victims of child abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. … At no time have we ever knowingly allowed a perpetrator to work with youth, and we mandate that all leaders, volunteers and staff members nationwide immediately report any abuse allegation to law enforcement."

In February, it was revealed that the organization changed its name to Scouts BSA and made themselves open to boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 17.

Source

NEWS ALERT - Sunday's Coming - The National Sunday Law (2015)

Vatican Secret Societies Jesuits and the New World Order

Note:

I do not agree with all the information provided on this video, especially with the statements of Eric Jon Phelps. 

Update 2019:

Current Jesuit leadership in high office at the Vatican

Jorge Mario Bergogolio S.J., Bishop of Rome, AKA Pope Francis I.
(Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus, abdicated in 2013.)

Arturo Sosa Abascal S.J., Superior General, AKA Black Pope.
(Adolfo Nicolas Pachon S.J., resigned in Oct. 2016.)

Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer S.J., Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously, Office of the Holy Inquisition), AKA Grand Inquisitor.

Half of Americans back stronger role of religion in society

AFP News

22 April 2019, 8:34 PM AST

US presidents are traditionally sworn into office with their left hand placed on a copy of the Bible


Around half of Americans favor religion playing a greater role in US society, while 18 percent oppose that idea, according to a Pew Research Center study published Monday.

Despite there being a separation of church and state, religion plays a significant part in daily US life: the president traditionally is sworn in using a Bible, while "In God We Trust" is printed on bank notes.

France, Sweden and the Netherlands, meanwhile, posted almost opposite results: 47 percent, 51 percent and 45 percent respectively were opposed to religion playing a key role in society.

Among the 27 countries surveyed in 2018, France (20 percent) and Japan (15 percent) were the countries with the lowest proportion of citizens favoring strengthening religion's role in society.

Indonesia (85 percent), Kenya (74 percent) and Tunisia (69 percent) came out as the countries most in favor of a bigger place for religion.

The study did not make a distinction between different religions.

In the US, the proportion rose to 61 percent among people aged 50 and over, but dropped to 39 percent among 18 to 29-year-olds.

The study was carried out with a representative sample of at least 1,000 people in each country.

Source

The Jesuit Vatican Shadow Empire 26 - The Jesuits And Their Masonic Worl...

New Vatican document to put evangelization ahead of doctrine

Inés San Martín

Apr 22, 2019

ROME BUREAU CHIEF




Cover of Vida Nueva's April 27 edition, on the upcoming Vatican constitution. (Credit: courtesy of Vida Nueva.)



ROME - A new “super dicastery” on evangelization might be one of the most significant reforms of the governing structures of the Vatican, according to a new report.

Spanish journalist Dario Menor Torres, writing for the weekly Vida Nueva, reveals several elements of the new Vatican constitution that has been in development for years.

The biggest novelty in the document, called Praedicate Evangelium [“Preach the Gospel”], will be the creation of the “super dicastery” for evangelization, which will potentially be more important than the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), often called “The Supreme Congregation.”

Having its roots in the Roman Inquisition, the doctrinal office is the oldest among the congregations of the Roman curia, and insiders still call it the Holy Office, as it’s tasked with promulgating and defending Catholic doctrine and defending the Church from heresy.

Today, in addition to defending doctrine, it is also tasked with judging priests who’ve been accused of sexually abusing minors, with 17 officials dedicated almost exclusively to this task.

Ben Carson To Kick Illegal Immigrants Out Of HUD Housing, Will Give Aid ...

The Coming National Sunday Law

NOVA | Vaccines –– Calling the Shots | PBS (2015)

US warships arrive in Sri Lanka

US warships arrive in Sri Lanka

Staff Writer
2 days ago


Colombo (News 1st) – US Naval ships USS ‘Spruance’ and USNS ‘Millinocket’ have arrived at the port of Hambanthota to take part in the annual naval exercise “ Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training Exercise (CARAT)-2019.

103m long USNS ‘Millinocket’ has a displacement of 2362 tons while the 155.3m long USS ‘Spruance’ has a displacement capacity of 9580 tons.

This exercise will be conducted in two phases as inshore and offshore exercises, along with Sri Lanka Navy’s SLNS Sayurala and SLNS Samudura.

Source

Blasts rock 3 churches, 3 hotels in Sri Lanka; multiple fatalities reported

Published April 21, 2019

Last Update 7 minutes ago

By Louis Casiano | Fox News

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. (Associated Press)



Six nearly simultaneous explosions struck three churches and three high-end hotels frequented by tourists on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, killing nearly 200 people and injuring many more, according to police and hospital sources.

Multiple fatalities -- including 11 foreigners -- resulted among worshipers and hotel guests, a police official said, adding that at least two of the church blasts were believed to have been a coordinated attack carried out by suicide bombers.

The first explosions occurred around 8:45 a.m., with the deadliest appearing to be at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a city about 20 miles north of Colombo, the capital. Other attacks occurred at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa. The three hotels -- the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury Hotel -- all in Colombo, are frequented by foreign tourists.

Photos posted to social media showed blood and debris inside the targeted churches.

Dr. Samiddhi Samarakoon, a deputy director of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, told the New York Times the death toll had risen to 189 by Sunday afternoon.

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz offered her condolences over Twitter early Sunday

"Deeply saddened by the senseless attacks in Sri Lanka today. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand with Sri Lanka’s people at this terrible moment," she tweeted.

Mexican troops detain American soldiers at gunpoint on U.S. side of border

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg meets Pope Francis

Climate, Unions and Strikes... And the Sunday Law Solution

Prepare for the Coming Conflict

Satan is marshaling his hosts; and are we individually prepared for the fearful conflict that is just before us? Are we preparing our children for the great crisis? Are we preparing ourselves and our households to understand the position of our adversaries and their modes of warfare? Are our children forming habits of decision, that they may be firm and unyielding in every matter of principle and duty? I pray that we all may understand the signs of the times, and that we may so prepare ourselves and our children that in the time of conflict God may be our refuge and defense. 

Adventist Home, p. 186.

The Holy Spirit Blows Where He/She Wishes and Calls Whom He/She Calls

Written by:

Edward Reifsnyder

Published:

April 17, 2019


Recently, I attended the commissioning service for a woman pastor I know. The service was enormously inspiring, yet, on another dimension, it was sadly disheartening as well. Actually, it was more deeply troubling than disheartening.

Some things were crystal clear. It was clear that the congregation was enthusiastically in full support of this woman as their pastor. Her congregation expressed genuine respect and even affection for her. She and her congregation are united in uplifting Jesus and making him known to their community. It is apparent that her church is moving forward with vigor.

I have talked with her privately and am inspired by her humility, vision, and ability to rally her congregants to participation in the life and mission of their church. She has an active strategy of encouraging and supporting her members in developing their spiritual gifts. She is focused strongly on the primacy of developing their walk with Jesus.

It was also clear that the woman has been granted spiritual gifts which she is using to serve Jesus. You can sense that her spiritual influence is deep but humble. I have no doubt the Holy Spirit continues to gift her for ministry.

It is also clear from our conversation that she is deeply convicted that she has been called by God to ministry. Her congregation is convinced, too. So is the local Conference. So is the Union Conference. (Who else should express an opinion?) While she was interim pastor, her congregation was going through a lengthy search process to find just the right pastor when the light dawned that they already had just the right pastor in her. Her selection was unanimous and the Conference and Union heartily supported their decision.

During the commissioning service, the Conference President explained the difference between ordination and commissioning. It was obvious he thinks the differentiation is ridiculous — as did the Union Ministerial Director. The few pastoral prerogatives that commissioned women cannot perform are, in actual practice, quite inconsequential.

These few technicalities are mostly about maintaining some contrast between ordination and commissioning while simultaneously flimflamming the IRS into believing that commissioning and ordination are essentially equivalent — which is required by the IRS in order to gain favorable tax treatment of pastoral compensation. But we know the truth. It is all just a ruse to keep women subordinate in their service to God while maintaining favorable tax treatment — which saves the Church money.

As the service unfolded, I became agitated at the state of affairs in our Church regarding treatment of women in ministry and I feel compelled to write with some rawness and candor.

Lil Dicky - Earth (Official Music Video)

Ecuador President Lenin Moreno on revoking Julian Assange's asylum

At approx. 1:40 Mins. President of Ecuador LENIN Moreno mentions Julian Assange's last violation (while at his nation's Embassy in London) was when Wikileaks released Vatican Documents.  That was the last straw...

AT1 Speaker Chris Oberg Answers the Question, “How Does Christ Challenge Culture?”

We can’t wait to hear from Chris Oberg, Lead Pastor at La Sierra University Church, who will be speaking for our October 4-6 AT1 gathering taking place in Portland, Oregon.

We asked Chris, along with the rest of our presenters, to answer the question “How Does Christ Challenge Culture?” in 80 words or less. Here are her thoughts:

I’m a girl raised in the Church. Sabbath School, church, potluck or meals with Adventist family and friends and Saturday night socials were for the implied purpose of escaping culture. Adventism created a sub-culture that encouraged us to stand strong against worldly winds. Grateful for my upbringing, I am still recovering from the instinct to escape the world and hunker down for the next one. When I watch Jesus standing inside his culture for the sake of loving God’s world, I see my/our assignment.

Good Friday: Pope Francis leads prayers for migrants and human trafficki...

LIVE: ‘Yellow Vests’ march in Paris for 23rd straight week

Century of Enslavement: The History of The Federal Reserve

Man Who Took Gas, Lighters to NYC Cathedral Had Booked One-Way Flight to Rome

By Zachary Stieber April 19, 2019

Marc Lamparello, 37, center, is escorted out of a police precinct in New York on, April 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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The man who took two full gas cans, lighter fluid, and lighters into a cathedral in New York City just days after the Notre Dame cathedral in France was partially consumed by an inferno had booked a one-way flight to Rome, authorities said.

Marc Lamparello, 37, was set to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport outside of the city to Italy on April 18.

He was arrested at St. Patrick’s Cathedral with the gas and other items on Wednesday night, approximately 24 hours before his flight was scheduled to depart.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said that Lamparello booked a one-way flight to Europe for approximately $2,800. It wasn’t clear if he told officers what his plans were. Asked if Lamparello indicated what he planned to do in Rome, reported the Associated Press, Miller said, “I’m not going to get into that right now.”

Marc Lamparello, 37, center, is escorted out of a police precinct in New York on, April 18, 2019. Police say Lamparello was arrested after entering St. Patrick’s Cathedral Wednesday night in New York with two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid, and butane lighters. Lamparello is facing charges including attempted arson and reckless endangerment. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dueling Popes? Maybe. Dueling Views in a Divided Church? Definitely.

Pope Francis, left, during a visit to Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI at his residence in the Vatican on Monday.

Vatican Media

By Jason Horowitz
April 18, 2019


ROME — Pope Francis dropped in again this week on his predecessor, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, wishing him happy birthday “with particular affection” in a now familiar showing of white-cloaked cordiality.

But behind the friendly visit, the talk of conspiracies and competing power centers is swirling inside the Vatican and far beyond. Just last week, Benedict, who turned 92 on Tuesday, released a 6,000-word letter holding forth on his views on the origins of the Roman Catholic Church’s clerical sex abuse crisis — effectively undercutting Francis on acontentious issue that has roiled his papacy.

For many church experts, the letter marked the most recent, and egregious, example of why having two popes — whose homes are separated by a few hundred meters but whose style, substance and visions of the church are vastly apart — can be so confusing to the faithful.

To be clear, Francis is the pope and is in charge. He is the one who can promulgate dogma and whose papal pronouncements when speaking “ex cathedra” — with the authority of the office — on questions of faith and morals are considered infallible. Benedict gave all that up — including the infallibility — when he stepped down.

“What is happening is what many of us hoped would not happen,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, who is supportive of Francis. “The idea of a double papacy is really, really disruptive.”

Indeed, instead of creating concrete remedies for the scourge of sex abuse in the church, the letter has once again made the Vatican, always a gossipy royal court given to intrigues, rife with fresh rumor of rivalry.

Prayer wins: Federal appeals court rules House chaplain can reject secular invocation

by Melissa Quinn
| April 19, 2019 01:55 PM



A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia on Friday upheld the House of Representatives’ requirement that it start each day it is in session with a religious prayer.


The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia came in a case filed by Daniel Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and a former Christian minister who is now an atheist, who argued the House violated the First Amendment when it denied his request to deliver a secular invocation.

Rev. Patrick Conroy, the House chaplain, rejected Barker’s application in 2015 to serve as a guest chaplain because he was “ordained in a denomination in which he no longer practices.” But over the course of litigation challenging that denial, Conroy said Barker could not serve as a guest chaplain because he wanted to deliver a secular prayer. The House also specified that its rules require a religious invocation to be delivered.

“[T]he House does not violate the Establishment Clause by limiting its opening prayer to religious prayer,” the court said.

The D.C. Circuit upheld the lower court’s ruling dismissing Barker's claim that his First Amendment rights were violated, giving a victory to Conroy.

“Even though we accept as true Barker’s allegation that Conroy rejected him ‘because he is an atheist,’ the House’s requirement that prayers must be religious nonetheless precludes Barker from doing the very thing he asks us to order Conroy to allow him to do: deliver a secular prayer,” the court said. “In other words, even if, as Barker alleges, he was actually excluded simply for being an atheist, he is entitled to none of the relief he seeks. We could not order Conroy to allow Barker to deliver a secular invocation because the House permissibly limits the opening prayer to religious prayer.”

Measles Mania In Context with Dr. Tim Perenich

Ireland’s Church Homes Gave Children’s Bodies to Medical Schools for Dissection

The names of victims are read out at a vigil at the site of a mass grave containing the remains of 796 babies in Tuam, Ireland.
Charles Mcquillan/Getty Images


By Ed O’Loughlin
April 17, 2019


DUBLIN — For decades, some of Ireland’s church-run “mother and baby homes” gave the bodies of many of the children who died in their care to medical schools for dissection, a government inquiry reported on Wednesday, indicating that the scale of the abuses at the homes for single mothers was greater than previously known.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, created in 2015 by the Irish government, revealed that in Dublin alone, several of the homes run by the Roman Catholic Church had sent the bodies of 950 children, almost all born to single mothers, to medical schools as anatomical subjects. The practice continued until 1977.

Some other homes also kept few, if any, records of what had been done with the bodies of the children who died in their care, the report found.

At just one of the 13 homes examined, the Bessborough Home in Cork, the inquiry said it could find no information about the burial places of more than 800 children who had died there. It also said that it had received limited cooperation from the religious orders who had run the home.

Full Article

Lou Dobbs Tonight 4/18/19 | THE MUELLER REPORT | Fox News Today April 18...

Read the text of the Mueller report

The Mueller report, with some redactions, was released on Thursday.

The Mueller Report.NBC News / Getty Images

April 18, 2019, 11:05 AM ‎EDT / Updated April 18, 2019, 11:41 AM ‎EDT
By NBC News

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into Russian election interference was released publicly Thursday, with some redactions.

Read the report here and download the NBC News app for full coverage.


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One dead in Listeria outbreak caused by deli-sliced meats, cheeses

By News Desk on April 18, 2019


Deli-sliced meats and cheeses are to blame for a multistate outbreak of Listeria infections involving eight people, one of whom has died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Wednesday announced a state and federal investigation into the Listeria outbreak is underway.

Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service( FSIS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have joined the effort.

Listeria specimens from ill people were collected from Nov. 13, 2016, through March 4, 2019. People confirmed with Listeria monocytogenes infections range in age from 40 to 88 years, with a median age of 57. Thirty-eight percent are female. All eight confirmed patients were hospitalized. Michigan officials reported one patient in their state died.

Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence indicates that deli-sliced meats and cheeses might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and could make people sick, according to the CDC.

In interviews, ill people answered questions about the foods they ate and other exposures in the four weeks before they became ill. Of six patients who have been interviewed by public health officials, five reported eating products sliced at a deli counter, including meats and cheeses. Delis where ill people shopped served many different brands of products and there is limited information available about the brands’ ill people bought.

FSIS and FDA evaluated records state inspectors collected from delis where the ill people ate to determine whether a common meat or cheese product was served at the delis. The analysis of the available documentation could not identify a common product. The FSIS and FDA will continue to assist with the investigation should additional information become available. 

Student fell to her death from Fordham University's clock tower

Student, 22, who tripped and fell 40ft to her death from Fordham University's clock tower at 3am after she 'wanted a better view of NYC for Instagram', will receive a posthumous degree, says college

Sydney Paige Monfries was rushed to local Bronx hospital in serious condition
Fordham University confirmed her death in a letter to students on Sunday night
Police said she went to Keating Hall clock tower with friends around 3am Sunday
Monfries, 22, fell 40 feet while trying to get better view of skyline, police said
Students said Monfries may have been participating in a 'rite of passage' event
The back of her head was smashed in and her vitals flat-lined at the scene
Paramedics were able to revive her and rushed her to St Barnabas Hospital

By Valerie Edwards For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:50 EDT, 14 April 2019 | Updated: 11:50 EDT, 15 April 2019


A 22-year-old student who fell 40 feet from Fordham University's clock tower early Sunday morning has died.

The school confirmed Sydney Paige Monfries, from Portland, Oregon, had died in a letter to students Sunday, just weeks before she was due to graduate.

School President Joseph McShane wrote: 'It is with great sadness that I report that Sydney Monfries, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, died today after sustaining a fall inside the Keating Clock tower in the early hours of the morning.

'Our hearts go out to Sydney’s parents, and her family and friends—theirs is an unimaginable loss, and we share their grief.

'There are no words sufficient to describe the loss of someone so young and full of promise — and mere weeks from graduation. Fordham will confer a bachelor’s degree upon Sydney posthumously, which we will present to her parents at the appropriate time.' 

Sydney Paige Monfries (pictured), 22, fell 40 feet from Fordham University's Keating Hall clock tower early Sunday morning

Noise of Thunder Radio: The Fires of Notre Dame and the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Jerusalem: Fire breaks out at Al-Aqsa mosque around the same time as Notre Dame Cathedral blaze

Apr 16, 2019 · 01:37 pm

Scroll Staff

International News 

The mosque is considered the third holiest site in Islam. 

 

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. | Andrew Shiva/Wikipedia

A fire broke out at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday around the same time as a blaze ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, Newsweek reported.

The Palestine News Agency, which is the official outlet of the Palestine National Authority, said the fire broke out in a guard’s room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room. The fire was doused by Islamic Waqf’s fire brigade, according to Russia Today.

Video clips posted on social media showed smoke rising from the top of the Marwani Prayer Room which is also known as Solomon’s Stables. The mosque is located on top of the Temple Mount and is considered the third holiest site in Islam. It has been at the centre of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

The cause of the fire is not known yet. Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, suggested that the fire could have been started by children who were seen playing in the area.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned against targeting the holy site. He called for preserving the compound’s “great religious and humanitarian value.”

A massive fire engulfed the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, on Monday. The cathedral’s spire collapsed under the fire, which raged for hours. The blaze also spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers. The fire was brought under control on Tuesday morning. 

The mosque compound is located in the Old City section of East Jerusalem, which Israel seized from Jordan in 1967. Israel annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move, but Jordan’s monarchy was granted custodial rights over the Islamic holy sites, according to Newsweek.

In 2017, United States President Donald Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, calling it “a long overdue step to advance the peace process”. Israel called the decision “historic”, even as several countries and the United Nations, the European Union and the Vatican, criticised the move.

The United Nations Security Council later voted against the United States’ decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Source