Sunday, June 30, 2019
How free is ‘free college’?
To make college more accessible, states are jumping in with ‘free college’ plans, but the concept is still evolving – generating debates about who benefits, who should pay for it, and what strings should be attached.
Ann Hermes/Staff
Tufayel Ahmed (r.), a freshman computer science major at City College of New York, studies in the library with classmates Sakil Khan and Emma Athow in May. Mr. Ahmed received the state's Excelsior Scholarship, which helps cover his tuition. Currently 24 states pay for tuition – and sometimes more – for a subset of students.
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo Staff writer @StacyTKhadaroo
Brenden Bixby chose college over working full time on the apple orchard that his dad manages in Poughkeepsie, New York. He receives the state’s Excelsior Scholarship and other grants to cover his tuition.
But he’s taking out loans for room and board at SUNY Cobleskill, which averages about $13,000 a year. Halfway through college, Mr. Bixby doesn’t know exactly how much he’s borrowed. “I try not to think about it too much just because I don’t want it to bring me down,” he says.
“Free college” scholarships have been proliferating in the United States. Currently, 24 states offer “college promises,” as they are often called, though their eligibility and scope vary widely. Some Democratic presidential contenders also champion the idea as a national solution.
Tufayel Ahmed (r.), a freshman computer science major at City College of New York, studies in the library with classmates Sakil Khan and Emma Athow in May. Mr. Ahmed received the state's Excelsior Scholarship, which helps cover his tuition. Currently 24 states pay for tuition – and sometimes more – for a subset of students.
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo Staff writer @StacyTKhadaroo
Brenden Bixby chose college over working full time on the apple orchard that his dad manages in Poughkeepsie, New York. He receives the state’s Excelsior Scholarship and other grants to cover his tuition.
But he’s taking out loans for room and board at SUNY Cobleskill, which averages about $13,000 a year. Halfway through college, Mr. Bixby doesn’t know exactly how much he’s borrowed. “I try not to think about it too much just because I don’t want it to bring me down,” he says.
“Free college” scholarships have been proliferating in the United States. Currently, 24 states offer “college promises,” as they are often called, though their eligibility and scope vary widely. Some Democratic presidential contenders also champion the idea as a national solution.
FACEBOOK’S LIBRA CRYPTOCURRENCY BETRAYS THE COMPANY’S TRUE AMBITIONS
FRANCOIS MORI/AP
SO, IMAGINE THERE’S this place. You hang out there all the time. Your friends and family are there. It’s got neighborhoods, both big and small. There are businesses there, you get most of your mail there in the form of digital messages.
It’s not perfect: Sometimesthere’s crime, or that one neighbor who keeps pushing the conspiracy theories about vaccines or politics. You feel like the security teams are getting a little better at handling those kinds of disruptions, and after all, every place has potholes, right? Or maybe you’re just getting used to it. But lately it seems like if people step too far out of line, they just sort of … disappear.
Molly Wood (@mollywood) is an Ideas contributor at WIRED and the host and senior editor of Marketplace Tech, a daily national radio broadcast covering the business of technology. She has covered the tech industry at CNET, The New York Times, and in various print, television, digital, and audio formats for nearly 20 years. (Ouch.)
And as the place has gotten bigger, it’s matured. Now you can move yourself into more of a gated community to avoid the bad neighborhoods and the undesirable encounters. And that’s nice, because every day it seems like there’s a new infrastructure project designed to get more people into the place.
You know the leadership of the place isn’t perfect, and it’s not like you trust everything they’re doing, but you’re comfortable here, and so you stay. And you have to admit, the shopping has gotten a lotbetter. So many more stores and places to visit, it’s almost like you never have to go anywhere else.
SO, IMAGINE THERE’S this place. You hang out there all the time. Your friends and family are there. It’s got neighborhoods, both big and small. There are businesses there, you get most of your mail there in the form of digital messages.
It’s not perfect: Sometimesthere’s crime, or that one neighbor who keeps pushing the conspiracy theories about vaccines or politics. You feel like the security teams are getting a little better at handling those kinds of disruptions, and after all, every place has potholes, right? Or maybe you’re just getting used to it. But lately it seems like if people step too far out of line, they just sort of … disappear.
Molly Wood (@mollywood) is an Ideas contributor at WIRED and the host and senior editor of Marketplace Tech, a daily national radio broadcast covering the business of technology. She has covered the tech industry at CNET, The New York Times, and in various print, television, digital, and audio formats for nearly 20 years. (Ouch.)
And as the place has gotten bigger, it’s matured. Now you can move yourself into more of a gated community to avoid the bad neighborhoods and the undesirable encounters. And that’s nice, because every day it seems like there’s a new infrastructure project designed to get more people into the place.
You know the leadership of the place isn’t perfect, and it’s not like you trust everything they’re doing, but you’re comfortable here, and so you stay. And you have to admit, the shopping has gotten a lotbetter. So many more stores and places to visit, it’s almost like you never have to go anywhere else.
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Kamala Harris’ Big ‘I Was That Little Girl’..
Kamala Harris’ Big ‘I Was That Little Girl’ Moment Attacking Joe Biden Was Far From True
During Part II of the first 2020 Democratic Primary Debate, Kamala Harris went after former Vice President Joe Biden, slamming him on his record on segregation.
Harris, in a planned jab at Biden, said she didn’t think Biden was a racist, but that she had a fundamental problem with him praising two senators who were segregationists. She accused Biden of working with the segregationists to oppose busing in schools.
She then went on to say, “There was a little girl in California who was bused to school…. That little girl was me.” She went on to claim that she was a part of the second integrated class in Berkeley, California.
Biden responded by saying that he wasn’t against segregation per se, he was against the federal government’s department of education doing segregation, and then blamed her local school district for decisions made about busing.
Harris then went into tyrant mode, saying, “There are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.” She went on to say that at times when states don’t do what the federal government wants, it’s the duty of the federal government to come down on states and force them to comply.
The audience went nuts, and her campaign almost immediately tweeted out a photo of Harris in pigtails as a little girl, meaning, it was a planned attack. There was nothing natural about it. It was pre-planned.
“Prepare to Meet Thy God”
February 3, 1903
“Prepare to Meet Thy God”
“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.... Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
We are here warned not to defraud our souls of the privileges that the Lord has provided in order that we may be rich in faith, and heirs according to the promise. We are to watch vigilantly for the coming of the Lord. The first symptoms of spiritual slumber are to be sternly overcome. The first inclinations to spiritual indolence are to be firmly resisted. “Be sober, be vigilant,” is the apostle's exhortation. Every moment is to be faithfully employed. “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” We are told to work out our own salvation, and the way in which we are to do this is plainly stated: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Those who would be ready to meet their Lord must keep their lamps filled with the oil of grace. It was a neglect to do this that distinguished the foolish virgins from the wise. They had lamps, but no oil; their characters could not stand the test. The wise virgins had not only an intelligent knowledge of the truth, but through the grace of Christ their faith and patience and love constantly increased. Their lamps were replenished by their vital connection with the Light of the world. And while the foolish virgins awoke to find their lamps burning dimly or going out in the darkness, the wise virgins, their lamps burning brightly, entered the festal hall, and the doors were shut.
The oil with which the wise virgins filled their lamps represents the Holy Spirit. “The angel that talked with me,” writes Zechariah, “came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.... Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
By the holy beings surrounding his throne, the Lord keeps up a constant communication with the inhabitants of the earth. The golden oil represents the grace with which God keeps the lamps of believers supplied. Were it not that this holy oil is poured from heaven in the messages of God's Spirit, the agencies of evil would have entire control over men.
Only by knowing God here can we prepare to meet him at his coming. “This is life eternal,” said Christ, “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” But many of those who profess to believe in Christ do not know God. They have only a surface religion. They do not love God; they do not study his character; therefore they do not know how to trust, how to look and live. They do not know what restful love is, or what it means to walk by faith. Opportunities to hear and receive the messages of God's love are unappreciated and unimproved. They fail of understanding that it is their duty to receive, in order that they may enrich others.
The world by wisdom knows not God. Many have talked eloquently about him, but their reasoning brings men no nearer to him, because they themselves are not in vital connection with him. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. Their knowledge of God is imperfect. They are not conformed to him.
Christ is a perfect revelation of God. “No man hath seen God at any time,” he says; “the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Only by knowing Christ can we know God. And as we behold him, we shall be changed into his image, prepared to meet him at his coming.
So fully did Christ reveal the Father, that the messengers sent by the Pharisees to take him were charmed by his presence. As they heard the gracious words that fell from his lips, they forgot their commission. And when, returning without him, they were asked by the Pharisees, “Why have ye not brought him?” they answered, “Never man spake like this man.”
Now is the time to prepare for the coming of our Lord. Readiness to meet him cannot be attained in a moment's time. Preparatory to that solemn scene there must be vigilant waiting and watching, combined with earnest work. So God's children glorify him. Amid the busy scenes of life their voices will be heard speaking words of encouragement, hope, and faith. All they have and are is consecrated to the Master's service. Thus they prepare to meet their Lord; and when he comes, they will say, with joy, “This is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.... We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
Review and Herald, February 3, 1903.
'The Church is Under Attack': CA Lawmakers Pass Measure Forcing Pastors to Embrace LGBT Ideology
The California State Assembly has passed a resolution telling pastors to affirm homosexuality in violation of their biblical beliefs.
Assemblyman Evan Low and three dozen other lawmakers pushed the resolution in the state Assembly Judiciary Committee that's aimed at telling religious leaders in California what they should preach from their pulpits.
The measure passed this week, thanks in part to the help of Dr. Kevin Mannoia, Azusa Pacific University chaplain and the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Liberty Counsel says Mannoia "has become a prop for the LGBT agenda by directing pastors and counselors to reject biblical views of sexuality and deny counseling for those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion."
Liberty Counsel states, "Mannoia recently testified before the judiciary committee in favor of ACR 99 and directed pastors and counselors to affirm LGBT behaviors. In a letter submitted to legislators, Mannoia wrote, 'On behalf of some Christian pastors and church leaders, I write to express various levels of support for the Resolution ACR 99 dealing with Conversion Therapy and LGBTQ persons'."
"It's really disappointing that he would put aside the truth of the matter just to gain some favor, perhaps a seat at the table of this discussion," said Roger Gannam, vice president of legal affairs for Liberty Counsel. "Everyone deserves respect in this discussion and dialogue about what kind of counseling should be allowed in California. But to join in a document as Dr. Mannoia has done, that really slanders the church and slanders good counselors and good patients. It's unexplainable and it's really inexcusable.
The resolution also condemns counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion, known as conversion therapy.
More than two dozen doctors, counselors, former homosexuals, and other Christian leaders signed a letter condemning the resolution, which they said violates religious freedom.
"We have a track record," said Gannam. "We have actual patients and clients who have benefitted from therapy to help them with their unwanted attractions. We've helped them change their lives. We've helped them to live heterosexual lifestyles with strong and healthy marriages and so it's really a slander against them to say that this practice is somehow unethical and harmful."
Gannam explained how this resolution is bad all the way around.
"It blames the church and religious leaders for the high rates of suicide among those who identify as LGBT," he said. "That's simply a false claim. It cannot be backed up empirically and yet this resolution states it as if it's a fact."
"It's a foreshadowing of worse things to come," Gannam noted.
"This resolution is perhaps an incremental approach to getting to the same goal, which is to make it illegal to have a conversation in a counseling room that tells a person that if you want to change, that it's possible," he said. And that's what's so dangerous about it. Putting aside the blatant violation of the First Amendment. It just shows the church is under attack."
The measure now heads to the state senate.
Source
“Behold, What Manner of Love”
June 29
God's Amazing Grace
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. 1 John 3:1.
It is from the Father's heart that the streams of divine compassion, manifest in Christ, flow out to the children of men.... God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted with sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse. He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death.... It was the burden of sin, the sense of its terrible enormity, of its separation of the soul from God—it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God....
God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption.... Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the Father's love to lost humanity....
The price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted conceptions of what we may become through Christ. As the inspired apostle John beheld the height, the depth, the breadth of the Father's love toward the perishing race, he was filled with adoration and reverence; and, failing to find suitable language in which to express the greatness and tenderness of this love, he called upon the world to behold it.... What a value this places upon man! Through transgression, the sons of man become subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the sons of Adam may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name, “sons of God.”
Such love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Precious promise! Theme of the most profound meditation! The matchless love of God for a world that did not love Him!
God's Amazing Grace, p.188.
Victims question Kamala Harris’ record on clergy abuse
June 26, 2019
5 Min Read
By: Michael Rezendes
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at the Poor People's Moral Action Congress presidential forum in Washington, Monday, June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Joey Piscitelli was angry when Kamala Harris emerged as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. It brought back the frustration he felt in the 2000s, when he was a newly minted spokesman for clergy sex abuse victims and Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney.
Piscitelli says Harris never responded to him when he wrote to tell her that a priest who had molested him was still in ministry at a local Catholic cathedral. And, he says, she didn’t reply five years later when he wrote again, urging her to release records on accused clergy to help other alleged victims who were filing lawsuits.
“She did nothing,” said Piscitelli, today the Northern California spokesman for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Survivors of clergy abuse and their attorneys say that Harris’ record on fighting sex abuse within the Catholic Church is relevant as the U.S. senator from California campaigns for the presidency as a tough-on-crime ex-prosecutor who got her start prosecuting child sexual abuse cases. They complain that Harris was consistently silent on the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal — first as district attorney in San Francisco and later as California’s attorney general.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the Harris campaign underscored her record of supporting child sex abuse victims but did not address her silence regarding victims abused by Catholic clerics.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Joey Piscitelli was angry when Kamala Harris emerged as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. It brought back the frustration he felt in the 2000s, when he was a newly minted spokesman for clergy sex abuse victims and Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney.
Piscitelli says Harris never responded to him when he wrote to tell her that a priest who had molested him was still in ministry at a local Catholic cathedral. And, he says, she didn’t reply five years later when he wrote again, urging her to release records on accused clergy to help other alleged victims who were filing lawsuits.
“She did nothing,” said Piscitelli, today the Northern California spokesman for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Survivors of clergy abuse and their attorneys say that Harris’ record on fighting sex abuse within the Catholic Church is relevant as the U.S. senator from California campaigns for the presidency as a tough-on-crime ex-prosecutor who got her start prosecuting child sexual abuse cases. They complain that Harris was consistently silent on the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal — first as district attorney in San Francisco and later as California’s attorney general.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the Harris campaign underscored her record of supporting child sex abuse victims but did not address her silence regarding victims abused by Catholic clerics.
Catholic Bishop Escorts Migrants over Border to Protest U.S. Immigration Policy
By JACK CROWE
El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz walks beside Honduran migrant Cesia and her parents at Paso del Norte international border crossing bridge to help them to ask for asylum, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, June 27, 2019. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
A Catholic bishop escorted migrants across a bridge spanning the U.S.–Mexico border on Friday in an act of protest against U.S. immigration policy.
El Paso bishop Mark Seitz escorted groups of migrants back and forth across the Lerdo International Bridge as part of his “Faith Action” protest against the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, which require that certain asylum-seekers remain in Mexico while their claims are being adjudicated.
Some 15,000 asylum-seekers are now waiting in crowded conditions along the border in Mexico for their claims to be adjudicated, according to El Paso’s KVIA-TV. “There is a critical lack of access to shelter, food, legal aid, and basic services” in Ciudad Juarez, where many of the migrants are waiting to enter the U.S., Seitz said.
Seitz, 65, condemned U.S. authorities for treating migrants as “worse than animals” and for viewing “fleeing children and families as threats” and demanded that they be allowed to remain in the U.S. while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications.
“Standing here at the U.S.–Mexico border, how do we begin to diagnose the soul of our country?” Seitz asked reporters in both Spanish and English.
Seitz was joined by Reverend Javier Calvillo, director of Casa del Migrante, the diocesan migrant shelter. Together, the two clergymen escorted a group of migrants back across the border to Mexico after they were turned away by Border Patrol.
Some 144,000 migrants arrived at the border seeking asylum in May. The record numbers have overwhelmed federal resources and led to unhygienic and, in some cases, inhumane conditions in Border Patrol and Department of Health and Human Services detention facilities.
Congress on Thursday passed a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill to alleviate the humanity crisis.
A Catholic bishop escorted migrants across a bridge spanning the U.S.–Mexico border on Friday in an act of protest against U.S. immigration policy.
El Paso bishop Mark Seitz escorted groups of migrants back and forth across the Lerdo International Bridge as part of his “Faith Action” protest against the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, which require that certain asylum-seekers remain in Mexico while their claims are being adjudicated.
Some 15,000 asylum-seekers are now waiting in crowded conditions along the border in Mexico for their claims to be adjudicated, according to El Paso’s KVIA-TV. “There is a critical lack of access to shelter, food, legal aid, and basic services” in Ciudad Juarez, where many of the migrants are waiting to enter the U.S., Seitz said.
Seitz, 65, condemned U.S. authorities for treating migrants as “worse than animals” and for viewing “fleeing children and families as threats” and demanded that they be allowed to remain in the U.S. while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications.
“Standing here at the U.S.–Mexico border, how do we begin to diagnose the soul of our country?” Seitz asked reporters in both Spanish and English.
Seitz was joined by Reverend Javier Calvillo, director of Casa del Migrante, the diocesan migrant shelter. Together, the two clergymen escorted a group of migrants back across the border to Mexico after they were turned away by Border Patrol.
Some 144,000 migrants arrived at the border seeking asylum in May. The record numbers have overwhelmed federal resources and led to unhygienic and, in some cases, inhumane conditions in Border Patrol and Department of Health and Human Services detention facilities.
Congress on Thursday passed a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill to alleviate the humanity crisis.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Minnesota pastor faces unprecedented defrocking because of LGBT stance
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , STAR TRIBUNE
June 26, 2019 - 10:30 AM
The Rev. Dan Collison is the lead pastor at a historic downtown Minneapolis church that houses a homeless shelter, child care center and several social justice projects. But this week, national leaders of his Evangelical Covenant Churchdenomination are voting whether to evict him, and his entire church, because of disagreements over support of the LGBT community.
If evicted, it would be the first time in the denomination’s more than 130-year history that a minister, much less a minister and his entire church, have been forced out, church leaders said.
“We just want to have the freedom to disagree,” Collison said. “This is a denomination that has always given one another freedom to disagree, even on stated positions. We’re asking for equal treatment.”
But some ECC national leaders view Collison and First Covenant as pushing the boundaries on its position of no same-sex marriage.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
NSA Improperly Collected U.S. Phone Records a Second Time
Documents show the agency gathered metadata about calls and text messages last October in error
The National Security Agency again collected metadata about phone calls and text messages it wasn’t authorized to obtain last October, government documents show.PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
By
Dustin Volz
June 26, 2019 5:32 am ET
The National Security Agency collected records about U.S. calls and text messages that it wasn’t authorized to obtain last year, in a second such incident, renewing privacy concerns surrounding the agency’s maligned phone-surveillance program, according to government documents and people familiar with the matter.
The previously undisclosed error, which took place last October, occurred several months after the NSA said it had purged hundreds of millions of metadata records it had amassed since 2015 due to a separate overcollection episode. Metadata include the numbers and time stamps of a call or text message but not the contents of the conversation.
The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the documents, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit involving the surveillance program. They are heavily redacted internal NSA memos that discuss oversight of intelligence-collection activities.
Related Content
NSA Recommends Dropping Phone-Surveillance Program (April 24)
NSA Weighs Ending Phone Surveillance Program Exposed by Snowden (March 5)
The National Security Agency collected records about U.S. calls and text messages that it wasn’t authorized to obtain last year, in a second such incident, renewing privacy concerns surrounding the agency’s maligned phone-surveillance program, according to government documents and people familiar with the matter.
The previously undisclosed error, which took place last October, occurred several months after the NSA said it had purged hundreds of millions of metadata records it had amassed since 2015 due to a separate overcollection episode. Metadata include the numbers and time stamps of a call or text message but not the contents of the conversation.
The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the documents, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit involving the surveillance program. They are heavily redacted internal NSA memos that discuss oversight of intelligence-collection activities.
Related Content
NSA Recommends Dropping Phone-Surveillance Program (April 24)
NSA Weighs Ending Phone Surveillance Program Exposed by Snowden (March 5)
“These documents only confirm that this surveillance program is beyond redemption and should be shut down for good,” Patrick Toomey, an ACLU staff attorney, said in a statement. “The NSA’s collection of Americans’ call records is too sweeping, the compliance problems too many, and evidence of the program’s value all but nonexistent. There is no justification for leaving this surveillance power in the NSA’s hands.”
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Ecological Turn at the Vatican
Posted by Father Raymond J. de Souza on Monday Jun 24th, 2019 at 12:08 PM
COMMENTARY: The working document for the Pan-Amazonian synod, and two other recently released documents, suggest that environmental policies will be treated as magisterial matters.
Three recent documents indicate that the publication of Laudato Si in 2015, the environmental encyclical of Pope Francis, marks a new shift in Vatican pronouncements on the environment.
This departure from previous practice has become most pronounced on environmental matters, with the Holy See employing its teaching and diplomacy to advocate for specific policy outcomes that are usually left to the prudential judgment of the lay faithful engaged in politics.
Laudato Si dealt broadly with how man should care for his “common home,” the natural world of creation in light of the Gospel. But it also took positions on disputed scientific theories and entered the U.N.-driven climate-change policy process. Most famously, the Holy Father himself said that he wanted the encyclical published in 2015 so that it could influence the December 2015 climate-change conference in Paris.
Four years on, that shift toward particular policy options is working its way through the Holy See’s pronouncements on environmental matters.
In a May 24 message to the “scientific community” for the fourth anniversary of Laudato Si, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, wrote very specificallyabout climate change — very specifically, indeed, citing the goal of keeping average global temperatures below an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Three recent documents indicate that the publication of Laudato Si in 2015, the environmental encyclical of Pope Francis, marks a new shift in Vatican pronouncements on the environment.
This departure from previous practice has become most pronounced on environmental matters, with the Holy See employing its teaching and diplomacy to advocate for specific policy outcomes that are usually left to the prudential judgment of the lay faithful engaged in politics.
Laudato Si dealt broadly with how man should care for his “common home,” the natural world of creation in light of the Gospel. But it also took positions on disputed scientific theories and entered the U.N.-driven climate-change policy process. Most famously, the Holy Father himself said that he wanted the encyclical published in 2015 so that it could influence the December 2015 climate-change conference in Paris.
Four years on, that shift toward particular policy options is working its way through the Holy See’s pronouncements on environmental matters.
In a May 24 message to the “scientific community” for the fourth anniversary of Laudato Si, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, wrote very specificallyabout climate change — very specifically, indeed, citing the goal of keeping average global temperatures below an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Elizabeth Warren Demands Reparations For Gay And Lesbian Couples
by Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/23/2019 - 20:00
Democratic Presidential nominees appear to be in a race to the bottom, or lowest common identity-politics denominator as their virtue-signaling knows no bounds.
After a week of discussions aboutreparations for slavery - soundly dismissed by numerous African American speakers - Senator Elizabeth Warren has tried to outdo her opponents by seeking reparations for another group of repressed and long-suffering individuals.
Warren reintroduced the Refund Equality Act, a bill that would allow same-sex couples to amend past tax returns and receive refunds from the IRS.
Elizabeth Warren Climbs in 2020 Race as Policy Focus Gets Attention
“The federal government forced legally married same-sex couples in Massachusetts to file as individuals and pay more in taxes for almost a decade,” Warren said in a statement.
‘A leftward shift’: Communist party USA sees chance as progressives surge
In Chicago, an American party derided and feared for 100 years looked eagerly to a brighter future
Eric Lutz in Chicago
Sun 23 Jun 2019 08.30 EDTLast modified on Sun 23 Jun 2019 08.31 EDT
As the Communist party USA kicked off its 100th anniversary celebration, Jarvis Tyner called for delegates and guests at the national convention in Chicago to “set the record straight” about one of American politics biggest historical bogeymen.
“The truth is the communist party isn’t out to hurt you,” Tyner, vice-chair of CPUSA and its candidate for vice-president in 1972 and 1976, told a large and diverse crowd. “It will set you free.”
The remarks, met with applause, came on the first day of CPUSA’s 31st national convention – and at a moment in American politics in which democratic socialism and progressive ideas are increasingly finding a home in the mainstream of the Democratic party.
Communists from across the US, along with international delegates from Germany, Canada, Venezuela and elsewhere, sought to send the message that their party has been the most consistent champion of those ideas, has been on the right side of some of the most consequential ideological battles of the last hundred years, and is ready to continue the fight into its second century.
The story of our Communist party is inextricably intertwined with the development of the American working classes
Pepe Lozano
Constitutional expert on 'separation of church and state': Framers said nothing wrong with religion in culture
By Charles Creitz | Fox News
Video
Mark Levin and Michael McConnell on the separation of church and state
Mark Levin and Michael McConnell on the separation of church and state
The phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers saw nothing wrong with having religion in American culture, according to an expert.
While Congress is prohibited from enacting a state religion, the founding document says nothing about banishing religion from the public square, Professor Michael McConnell told Mark Levin on "Life, Liberty & Levin."
"The words 'separation of church and state' are not in the Constitution... I think this is a shorthand version of what the establishment clause means," he added, noting the passage in the Constitution that reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
SUPREME COURT RULES PEACE CROSS WAR MEMORIAL CAN STAND
"It does have a deep history because there were, in the 18th century, prominent writers who openly advocated for a union between church and state. There's actually a famous essay by one of the Bishops in the Church of England by that very title.
Mark Levin and Michael McConnell on the separation of church and state
Mark Levin and Michael McConnell on the separation of church and state
The phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers saw nothing wrong with having religion in American culture, according to an expert.
While Congress is prohibited from enacting a state religion, the founding document says nothing about banishing religion from the public square, Professor Michael McConnell told Mark Levin on "Life, Liberty & Levin."
"The words 'separation of church and state' are not in the Constitution... I think this is a shorthand version of what the establishment clause means," he added, noting the passage in the Constitution that reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
SUPREME COURT RULES PEACE CROSS WAR MEMORIAL CAN STAND
"It does have a deep history because there were, in the 18th century, prominent writers who openly advocated for a union between church and state. There's actually a famous essay by one of the Bishops in the Church of England by that very title.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch.
Technology
Review: Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch.
By Washington Post | wapo@dfmdev.com |
PUBLISHED: June 21, 2019 at 11:56 am | UPDATED: June 22, 2019 at 9:14 am
By Geoffrey A. Fowler | The Washington Post Columnist
You open your browser to look at the web. Do you know who is looking back at you?
Over a recent week of web surfing, I peered under the hood of Google Chrome and found it brought along a few thousand friends. Shopping, news and even government sites quietly tagged my browser to let ad and data companies ride shotgun while I clicked around the web.
This was made possible by the web’s biggest snoop of all: Google. Seen from the inside, its Chrome browser looks a lot like surveillance software.
Lately I’ve been investigating the secret life of my data, running experiments to see what technology really is up to under the cover of privacy policies that nobody reads. It turns out, having the world’s biggest advertising company make the most-popular web browser was about as smart as letting kids run a candy shop.
It made me decide to ditch Chrome for a new version of nonprofit Mozilla’s Firefox, which has default privacy protections. Switching involved less inconvenience than you might imagine.
My tests of Chrome versus Firefox unearthed a personal data caper of absurd proportions. In a week of web surfing on my desktop, I discovered 11,189 requests for tracker “cookies” that Chrome would have ushered right onto my computer, but were automatically blocked by Firefox. These little files are the hooks that data firms, including Google itself, use to follow what websites you visit so they can build profiles of your interests, income and personality.
Chrome welcomed trackers even at websites you’d think would be private. I watched Aetna and the Federal Student Aid website set cookies for Facebook and Google. They surreptitiously told the data giants every time I pulled up the insurance and loan service’s log-in pages.
And that’s not the half of it.
Look in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser. See a picture or a name in the circle? If so, you’re logged in to the browser, and Google might be tapping into your web activity to target ads. Don’t recall signing in? I didn’t, either. Chrome recently started doing that automatically when you use Gmail.
My Sunday: Reverend Perema Leasi
Sarah Catherall
05:00, Jun 23 2019
ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF
Sixty-year-old Reverend Perema Leasi came to New Zealand from Samoa when he was 19.
Reverend Perema Leasi is the solo minister at Christ the King Pacific Islands Presbyterian Church in Porirua. Last year, the 60-year-old received a Queen's Service Medal for his services to the Pacific community. He lives with his wife, Faaolataga, and four children in Cannons Creek.
When I was a boy living in the village of Saipai, on Savai'i, in Samoa, we weren't allowed to swim on a Sunday. It was our religious belief that Sunday was a rest day and a day for prayer. It would be really, really hot and we weren't allowed to swim in the sea because we had to rest.
I was the oldest of seven children. Four of us are still alive. My mother was a Sunday school teacher. I went to Sunday school every morning in Saipai and then to church.
ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF
Porirua Reverend Perema Leasi with his wife Faaolataga Leasi.
I came to New Zealand when I was 19. My uncle in Australia sent me a working permit and I moved to Auckland to work in the Zip factory for four years. I joined the Pacific Island church in Avondale, and I began as a Sunday school teacher and a lay preacher. I eventually trained as a minister at Knox Presbyterian College in Dunedin and I also did a bachelor of theology.
It's a bit of a story why I went down this path. My mother told the story [one] Sunday, when the whole church came here for my birthday lunch. The day I was born there were two missionaries who visited our village from Apia. They were palangi. One missionary's name was Mr Primer. That was where my name Perema came from, because my parents translated his name to the Samoan equivalent.
In the very low moments of my life, it's when the call comes to me. I was really down at one stage in my life. The whole thing that encouraged me was that there must be a reason why I was called my name by my parents.
Porirua Reverend Perema Leasi with his wife Faaolataga Leasi.
I came to New Zealand when I was 19. My uncle in Australia sent me a working permit and I moved to Auckland to work in the Zip factory for four years. I joined the Pacific Island church in Avondale, and I began as a Sunday school teacher and a lay preacher. I eventually trained as a minister at Knox Presbyterian College in Dunedin and I also did a bachelor of theology.
It's a bit of a story why I went down this path. My mother told the story [one] Sunday, when the whole church came here for my birthday lunch. The day I was born there were two missionaries who visited our village from Apia. They were palangi. One missionary's name was Mr Primer. That was where my name Perema came from, because my parents translated his name to the Samoan equivalent.
In the very low moments of my life, it's when the call comes to me. I was really down at one stage in my life. The whole thing that encouraged me was that there must be a reason why I was called my name by my parents.
Jesuits defy order from Indianapolis archbishop to fire a veteran teacher in same-sex marriage
The archdiocese said it would no longer recognize Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School as a Catholic institution because it refused to fire the teacher.
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis is defying a demand by the local archbishop that they fire a veteran teacher who is gay.
Sean824 / Getty Images
June 20, 2019, 5:01 PM ET
By Corky Siemaszko
A Jesuit-run prep school in Indianapolis is defying a demand by the local archbishop that it fire a veteran teacher who is in a same-sex marriage, prompting the archdiocese to revoke recognition for the school as a Catholic institution.
In a letter to parents, the leaders of the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School said Archbishop Charles Thompson’s “direct insertion into an employment matter of a school governed by a religious order is unprecedented.”
“After long and prayerful consideration, we determined that following the Archdiocese’s directive would not only violate our informed conscience on this particular matter, but also set a concerning precedent for future interference in the school’s operations,” school officials said.
The letter was signed by the school president, the Rev. William Verbryke, and the heads of the board of trustees, W. Patrick Bruen and Daniel M. Lechleiter.
They wrote that for 57 years, school leaders have decided who gets hired.
“Brebeuf Jesuit has respectfully declined the Archdiocese’s insistence and directive that we dismiss a highly capable and qualified teacher due to the teacher being a spouse within a civilly-recognized same-sex marriage,” they said in the letter.
June 20, 2019, 5:01 PM ET
By Corky Siemaszko
A Jesuit-run prep school in Indianapolis is defying a demand by the local archbishop that it fire a veteran teacher who is in a same-sex marriage, prompting the archdiocese to revoke recognition for the school as a Catholic institution.
In a letter to parents, the leaders of the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School said Archbishop Charles Thompson’s “direct insertion into an employment matter of a school governed by a religious order is unprecedented.”
“After long and prayerful consideration, we determined that following the Archdiocese’s directive would not only violate our informed conscience on this particular matter, but also set a concerning precedent for future interference in the school’s operations,” school officials said.
The letter was signed by the school president, the Rev. William Verbryke, and the heads of the board of trustees, W. Patrick Bruen and Daniel M. Lechleiter.
They wrote that for 57 years, school leaders have decided who gets hired.
“Brebeuf Jesuit has respectfully declined the Archdiocese’s insistence and directive that we dismiss a highly capable and qualified teacher due to the teacher being a spouse within a civilly-recognized same-sex marriage,” they said in the letter.
As Pope Francis Champions Migrants, Some Cardinals Court the Far Right
Cardinal Raymond Burke, center, and his fellow ultraconservative prelates are working to extend ecclesiastical cover to nationalist politicians.
Franco Origlia/Getty Images
By Jason Horowitz
June 22, 2019
VATICAN CITY — When the far-right Italian politician Matteo Salvini rose to testify that he hoped to be a better Christian despite being a divorced and first-class “sinner,” one of the ultraconservative cardinals most critical of the pope smiled and clapped on the dais behind him.
“In my own little way, with my professional activity, I try to do my best to help the 60 million Italians with what doesn’t depend on us alone,” Mr. Salvini, Italy’s anti-migrant, nationalist interior minister, said in October at a pontifical university next to the Vatican.
But even as Cardinal Raymond Burke, the de facto leader of the conservative opposition to Pope Francis in the Roman Catholic Church, warmly applauded for Mr. Salvini, the pope himself has been less impressed with Mr. Salvini’s “professional activities.”
Those actions have included blocking ships full of desperate migrants from entering Italy and working to destabilize the European Union by flouting its rules and potentially undercutting its currency. On the day after Mr. Salvini’s thumping victory in elections for the European Parliament, Francis warned, as he had for months, that fearmongers had made people “intolerant, closed and perhaps even, without realizing it, racist.”
While the pope has emerged as a leading champion for refugees and migrants around the world, anti-immigration politicians with a populist appeal have found increasing support among once-powerful conservative Catholic figures who have been sidelined within the church by Francis.
Cardinal Burke and his fellow ultraconservative prelates are working to extend ecclesiastical cover to nationalist politicians by hailing them as champions for Western Christianity and traditional values in the face of what they suggest is a Muslim migrant invasion. In the process, the cardinals’ support has helped inoculate the populists from criticism by the pope’s allies and has facilitated their political appeal to conservative Catholic voters.
Catholic bishops in sync with Francis’ inclusive vision of the church have criticized nationalist leaders in Poland, Hungary and the United States for their hard-line views on migration, but those politicians have also enjoyed the support of a small but vocal group of conservative clerics. Perhaps nowhere is that dynamic as stark as in the pope’s own backyard.
By Jason Horowitz
June 22, 2019
VATICAN CITY — When the far-right Italian politician Matteo Salvini rose to testify that he hoped to be a better Christian despite being a divorced and first-class “sinner,” one of the ultraconservative cardinals most critical of the pope smiled and clapped on the dais behind him.
“In my own little way, with my professional activity, I try to do my best to help the 60 million Italians with what doesn’t depend on us alone,” Mr. Salvini, Italy’s anti-migrant, nationalist interior minister, said in October at a pontifical university next to the Vatican.
But even as Cardinal Raymond Burke, the de facto leader of the conservative opposition to Pope Francis in the Roman Catholic Church, warmly applauded for Mr. Salvini, the pope himself has been less impressed with Mr. Salvini’s “professional activities.”
Those actions have included blocking ships full of desperate migrants from entering Italy and working to destabilize the European Union by flouting its rules and potentially undercutting its currency. On the day after Mr. Salvini’s thumping victory in elections for the European Parliament, Francis warned, as he had for months, that fearmongers had made people “intolerant, closed and perhaps even, without realizing it, racist.”
While the pope has emerged as a leading champion for refugees and migrants around the world, anti-immigration politicians with a populist appeal have found increasing support among once-powerful conservative Catholic figures who have been sidelined within the church by Francis.
Cardinal Burke and his fellow ultraconservative prelates are working to extend ecclesiastical cover to nationalist politicians by hailing them as champions for Western Christianity and traditional values in the face of what they suggest is a Muslim migrant invasion. In the process, the cardinals’ support has helped inoculate the populists from criticism by the pope’s allies and has facilitated their political appeal to conservative Catholic voters.
Catholic bishops in sync with Francis’ inclusive vision of the church have criticized nationalist leaders in Poland, Hungary and the United States for their hard-line views on migration, but those politicians have also enjoyed the support of a small but vocal group of conservative clerics. Perhaps nowhere is that dynamic as stark as in the pope’s own backyard.
Pastors From Around the World Come to Meet Israel’s ‘Living Stones’ in Jerusalem Encounter
06-21-2019
Chris Mitchell
It's called the Jerusalem Encounter and it's a ministry of FIRM, the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries.
Pastor Wayne Hilsden, Founder of FIRM, said the Jerusalem Encounter is a conference held each June.
"We invite the world to come and meet the Body of believers here in this land. They come not just to see the ancient stones but to meet the living stones,” Hilsden told CBN News.
Related
'Jerusalem Encounter' Puts Youth, Pastors in Touch with Spiritual Roots
Hundreds of Pastors, Youth Gather for Second 'Jerusalem Encounter'
“This temple that's being built -- a spiritual temple of believers, Jews and Arabs together in a remarkable unity and peace building up the Kingdom of God here in the Land of Israel,” Hilsden said.
Local leaders appreciate the opportunity.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Ex Sheila Jackson Lee intern gets prison time for 'doxing'
CONGRESSWOMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE'S FORMER INTERN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR 'DOXING' REPUBLICAN SENATORS
Thursday, June 20, 2019 11:42AM CT
Investigators say Cosko posted the senators' home addresses and personal cell phone numbers online.
Cosko shared that private information on the day Kavanagh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"This is a sad, unfortunate act, and it is a criminal act and it shouldn't be condoned," said Jackson Lee.
The congresswoman says her office is popular with interns and its doors will stay open as long as they obey the law.
Cosko was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to five felony counts. Following his time in jail, he will have three years of supervised release.
ORIGINAL STORY: Intern for Sheila Jackson Lee arrested, accused of 'doxing'
Thursday, June 20, 2019 11:42AM CT
WASHINGTON (KTRK) -- A former intern for Houston-based Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has been sentenced to four years in prison for posting the private information of several Republican U.S. senators on Wikipedia.
Jackson Cosko pleaded guilty to the act, which is also known as "doxing."
Authorities say the information was published last year during the controversial hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Cosko released the personal information of Senators Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell.
The sentence is also for committing a series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft at the office of Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) and obstruction of justice, where he tried to silence a witness by threatening to release the private information of a senator's children.
Jackson Lee said last October when the allegations surfaced that Cosko, who worked in her D.C. office, was fired as soon as she found out he was facing charges.
"Our office, our permanent staff, had nothing to do with this behavior and we condemn it," said the congresswoman at the time.
Jackson Cosko pleaded guilty to the act, which is also known as "doxing."
Authorities say the information was published last year during the controversial hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Cosko released the personal information of Senators Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell.
The sentence is also for committing a series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft at the office of Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) and obstruction of justice, where he tried to silence a witness by threatening to release the private information of a senator's children.
Jackson Lee said last October when the allegations surfaced that Cosko, who worked in her D.C. office, was fired as soon as she found out he was facing charges.
"Our office, our permanent staff, had nothing to do with this behavior and we condemn it," said the congresswoman at the time.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee holds news conference to talk about intern arrested for doxing.
Investigators say Cosko posted the senators' home addresses and personal cell phone numbers online.
Cosko shared that private information on the day Kavanagh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"This is a sad, unfortunate act, and it is a criminal act and it shouldn't be condoned," said Jackson Lee.
The congresswoman says her office is popular with interns and its doors will stay open as long as they obey the law.
Cosko was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to five felony counts. Following his time in jail, he will have three years of supervised release.
ORIGINAL STORY: Intern for Sheila Jackson Lee arrested, accused of 'doxing'
Government meeting opens with 'Hail Satan' prayer
The Satanic Temple unveils its statue of Baphomet, a winged-goat creature, at a rally for the first amendment in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. The Satanic Temple wants to install the statue on Capitol grounds as a symbol ... more >
By - Associated Press - Thursday, June 20, 2019
SOLDOTNA, Alaska — A Satanic Temple member who won the right to open a regional Alaska government meeting declared “Hail Satan” during her first invocation, prompting about a dozen officials and attendees to walk out.
Tuesday’s invocation that started the meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Boroughalso spurred a protest outside the southern Alaska borough’s administration building that drew 40 people, The Peninsula Clarion newspaper reported .
Protesters held signs saying “reject Satan and his works” and “know Jesus and his love.”
During her invocation, Satanic Temple member Iris Fontana said, “That which will not bend, must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared as demise. It is done, hail Satan,” Kenai radio station KSRM reported .
She was among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit litigated by the ACLU of Alaska against the borough after it approved a 2016 policy saying that people who wanted to give the invocations at the government body’s meetings had to belong to official organizations with an established presence on the Kenai Peninsula, which lies 75 miles (121 kilometers) south of Anchorage. Other plaintiffs who had been denied permission to give the invocations included an atheist and a Jewish woman.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Trump says 'Iran made a very big mistake' in shooting down US military drone
By Luis Martinez,Elizabeth McLaughlin,Meridith McGrawJun 20, 2019, 12:32 PM ET
WATCH: Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official told ABC News.
President Donald Trump met with his top national security advisers Thursday after Iran, in a major provocation, shot down what the U.S. military said was an unarmed and unmanned U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk drone flying in international airspace over the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz.
Shortly before, Trump tweeted that "Iran made a very big mistake" after a top Iranian commander warned Iran was "ready for war."
In this file photo, President Donald Trump walks towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on May 16, 2019, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base.
After the president left the meeting to greet visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when asked if he will strike back against Iran and take military action, he told reporters: “We’ll soon find out.”
After the president left the meeting to greet visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when asked if he will strike back against Iran and take military action, he told reporters: “We’ll soon find out.”
Pope Francis and the climate change confusion
OPINION
by Kevin Roberts
| June 20, 2019 12:00 AM
On Friday, Pope Francis met with a group of energy and investment executives to make an appeal for carbon pricing and a “radical energy transition” to renewable energy to address the “undeniable reality of the climate crisis.” The meeting is part of a multiyear dialogue organized by the University of Notre Dame and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
“For too long we have collectively failed to listen to the fruits of scientific analysis,” Francis said on Friday. "Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations.”
Unfortunately, the Holy Father disregards the fruits of scientific analysis that demonstrate how the use of more renewable energy and policies like carbon taxes actually raise energy prices and run counter to his goal of reducing poverty in the developing world.
Guarding the noblest acre in America
Instead, he has chosen to believe the popular myth that renewable energy is the only viable option for reversing the harm being inflicted on nature and humanity. In reality, fossil fuels have been the most effective at addressing these concerns.
The movement over the past 200 years away from diffuse and unreliable wind, solar, water, and bioenergy and toward abundant and energy-dense fossil fuels has enabled the greatest reduction in poverty in human history. But there are still nearly a billion people worldwide who lack access to electricity and billions more who face some form of energy poverty. The policies endorsed by the Pope would restrict access to the energy resources that have brought so much prosperity.
The impact of energy prices on the poor is felt even in wealthy countries like the United States. The shale revolution, which has cut the price of oil and natural gas by more than half, has been found to have averted about 11,000 winter deaths annually through lower heating costs. Americans spent nearly $300 billion less on energy in 2017 than they did in 2008, and the poor benefit the most from these savings.
Gov. Herbert meets with Pope Francis at Vatican
Gov. Gary Herbert, Twitter
By Carter Williams, KSL.com | Updated - Jun 19th, 2019 @ 11:57am | Posted - Jun 19th, 2019 @ 10:25am
5PM: Gov. Herbert meets with Pope Francis at Vatican
KSL TV
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife, Jeanette, met briefly with Pope Francis at Vatican City Wednesday as part of Herbert's 11-day European trade mission to improve trade relations between the state and Europe.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, Herbert said he was "humbled" by the experience.
"The First Lady of Utah and I were humbled by the once in a lifetime experience to have a brief exchange with His Holiness, Pope Francis I. As the worldwide leader of 1.2 billion Christians, arguably one of the most recognizable figures in the world, it was an awesome experience to be acknowledged by him. He was also aware of our state and our unique religious history," Herbert said in the statement.
He also posted a photo of himself and his wife with Pope Francis on Twitter. He wrote in the tweet that the meeting happened aside from economic development meetings in Rome, adding: “Grateful for his strong moral leadership.”
"We expressed our gratitude to him for the great service he renders to the peoples of the world, and thanked him for his strong moral leadership," Herbert said. "On behalf of the people of Utah, we shared a piece of hand-painted Native American pottery with him. He was most appreciative. It has been said that all roads lead to Rome. We took one and had the choice opportunity to meet with the Pope.”
Madonna Wants Meeting With Pope Francis To Tell Him Jesus Would Support Abortion.
Here's Her Pitch.
by Amanda Prestigiacomo
June 19, 2019
Madonna wants a meeting with Pope Francis to discuss abortion, the 60-year-old revealed during an interview with Australian journalist Andrew Denton. According to the pop icon, Jesus would be completely on board with abortion, viewing it as a “woman’s right to choose,” not the ending of an innocent human life.
“Let’s talk about Jesus' point of view about women. Let's talk about it,” Madonna said of a hypothetical meeting with the pope on an episode of “Andrew Denton's Interview,” The Daily Mail reported.
The two leading questions Madonna said she would pose to Pope Francis were, “What do you really think he thought of women? And don't you think Jesus would agree that a woman has the right to choose what to do with her body?”
The “Material Girl” singer seemed optimistic about a potential meeting, telling Denton, “One day he might invite me. I think this one might ... I think he would be open to having that conversation with me.”
Her optimism seems unwarranted, however. Pope Francis has been extremely vocal about the evil of abortion. Last month, for example, the Holy Father likened abortion to “hiring a hitman.”
“Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem? Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?” he asked during a Vatican-sponsored "Yes to Life!" conference, as previously highlighted by The Daily Wire.
"This is the point. Do not blame religion for something that concerns the human. It is not lawful. Never, ever eliminate a human life or hire a hitman to solve a problem,” the pope added, underscoring that opposition to abortion is not merely rooted in religion.
In January of 2017, the vocal anti-Trump activist spoke about her fantasy of blowing up the White House. “Yes I’m angry, yes I’m outraged, yes I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House," Madonna told Women’s March attendees in Washington, D.C., “but I know that this won’t change anything.”
In an unsuccessful attempt to stop Trump from occupying the Oval Office, Madonna tried to bride folks with an offer of "good" oral sex in exchange for a vote for then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"One more thing before I introduce this genius of comedy, If you vote for Hillary Clinton, I will give you a b***job—and I am good," she told a crowd at Madison Square Garden.
Months later, Madonna said she was “ashamed” to be an American. “It just really makes me feel ashamed, ashamed to be an American, ashamed to be a human being, really," the singer whined, after lamented the "plight of Native Americans," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Madonna wants a meeting with Pope Francis to discuss abortion, the 60-year-old revealed during an interview with Australian journalist Andrew Denton. According to the pop icon, Jesus would be completely on board with abortion, viewing it as a “woman’s right to choose,” not the ending of an innocent human life.
“Let’s talk about Jesus' point of view about women. Let's talk about it,” Madonna said of a hypothetical meeting with the pope on an episode of “Andrew Denton's Interview,” The Daily Mail reported.
The two leading questions Madonna said she would pose to Pope Francis were, “What do you really think he thought of women? And don't you think Jesus would agree that a woman has the right to choose what to do with her body?”
The “Material Girl” singer seemed optimistic about a potential meeting, telling Denton, “One day he might invite me. I think this one might ... I think he would be open to having that conversation with me.”
Her optimism seems unwarranted, however. Pope Francis has been extremely vocal about the evil of abortion. Last month, for example, the Holy Father likened abortion to “hiring a hitman.”
“Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem? Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?” he asked during a Vatican-sponsored "Yes to Life!" conference, as previously highlighted by The Daily Wire.
"This is the point. Do not blame religion for something that concerns the human. It is not lawful. Never, ever eliminate a human life or hire a hitman to solve a problem,” the pope added, underscoring that opposition to abortion is not merely rooted in religion.
In January of 2017, the vocal anti-Trump activist spoke about her fantasy of blowing up the White House. “Yes I’m angry, yes I’m outraged, yes I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House," Madonna told Women’s March attendees in Washington, D.C., “but I know that this won’t change anything.”
In an unsuccessful attempt to stop Trump from occupying the Oval Office, Madonna tried to bride folks with an offer of "good" oral sex in exchange for a vote for then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"One more thing before I introduce this genius of comedy, If you vote for Hillary Clinton, I will give you a b***job—and I am good," she told a crowd at Madison Square Garden.
Months later, Madonna said she was “ashamed” to be an American. “It just really makes me feel ashamed, ashamed to be an American, ashamed to be a human being, really," the singer whined, after lamented the "plight of Native Americans," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
On Juneteenth, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee makes case for reparations for descendants of slaves
On Juneteenth, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee makes case for reparations for descendants of slaves
June 19, 2019
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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, right, speaks during a hearing about reparation for the descendants of slaves before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2019. Looking on is Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, STF / Associated Press
Legislation to create a commission to examine the possibility of reparations for American slavery had its first hearing ever in the U.S. Congress with U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee playing a lead role.
“H.R. 40 is, in fact, the response of the United States of America long overdue,” the Houston Democrat said of the bill she is sponsoring. “Slavery is the original sin. Slavery has never received an apology.”
Watch the video: Jackson Lee makes her case for the legislation here via C-SPAN
Under Jackson Lee’s bill, a 13-member commission would be created to study the role of slavery in the U.S. and the “lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery” in America. The bill calls on the commission to consider reparations and how any compensation to descendants of enslaved Africans would be calculated.
“The role of the federal government supporting the institution of slavery and subsequent discrimination directed against blacks is an injustice that must be formally acknowledged and addressed,” Jackson Lee said during a 10-minute introduction of the legislation.
Jackson Lee noted the hearing was happening on Juneteenth, a day that commemorates a day 154 years ago when it was announced in Galveston that Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves. The news got to Texas two years after the president’s signing.
During the hearing, Jackson Lee said it’s time for the government to fully address the impact of slavery on America.
“I just simply ask: Why not and why not now?” she said.
While support is growing in the U.S. House for H.R. 40, the legislation faces a tougher battle in the Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week that he opposes reparations because “none of us currently living are responsible” for slavery.
Democrats vying for the 2020 presidential nomination have also taken up reparations, with former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke supporting further study of the matter. Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Cory Booker of New Jersey have also signed on in one way or another.
Source
‘Religious liberty is human rights’
Jarrod Stackelroth reflects on freedom and how the quest for religious freedom turned his forebears into immigrants, seeking the right to worship in peace.
Jun 17, 2019 | Sydney, Australia | Jarrod Stackelroth
“These people had been falsely labelled religious bigots and mystics.”
Sound familiar. There has been lots of talk about religious freedom in Australia and the Church lately. Many Christians may feel they’ve been falsely labelled.
The independent commentator continues.
“I could not admire [enough] their steadfastness in remaining true to their faith after eight years of daily persecution, even when they couldn’t meet together as a congregation, after their preachers had been driven away from them. If they were discovered, they were penalized with heavy fines.”
Those people were my ancestors, who came to Australia to escape religious persecution in Europe.
Now, as an Adventist, it is easy to resonate with the story of these humble people who only wanted to worship as they felt convicted. This is why we advocate for freedom of religion throughout the world. As a Church, we believe our unique doctrines and practices will bring life-threatening persecution down upon us.
This is why at the end of May, at the 17th Annual Religious Liberty Dinner in Washington, DC, religious liberty advocates told attendees that the “fight for freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all people is not an option”.
Ganoune Diop, who heads the Adventist Church’s Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department, said this: “[Religious freedom] is a divine attribute reflected in humans. Freedom of conscience is connected in fact to what it means to be human because love cannot be forced; love needs freedom.”
Love needs freedom. Religious freedom is painted as a conservative concern alone, while the Church is accused of bigotry and discrimination. Religious freedom is seen as competing with other “human rights”. Some, even Christians, have accused the Church of sacrificing compassion on the altar of protecting the organization. But to do this falsely paints religious freedom as the opposite of compassion.
Green light in NY for immigrants in U.S. illegally to get driver's licenses
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) allowed a vote on the licenses despite having no support from the Long Island delegation on Monday. Photo Credit: AP / Tim Roske
Updated June 18, 2019 6:35 AM
ALBANY — The State Senate approved legislation Monday night to make New York the 13th state to allow people in the country illegally to obtain driver’s licenses, despite opposition from a bloc of key Long Island Democrats.
The narrow vote, 33-29, came after a nearly four-hour debate that included accusations of xenophobia, “descending into demonization,” “endorsing lawlessness” and “watering down citizenship.” The harsh words followed Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’s decision to hold the vote without any Island support, knowing there were still enough Democrats to win passage. And they came after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo raised the possibility of a veto early in the day, but then signed it into law shortly before 10 p.m.
The bill takes effect immediately.
ALBANY — The State Senate approved legislation Monday night to make New York the 13th state to allow people in the country illegally to obtain driver’s licenses, despite opposition from a bloc of key Long Island Democrats.
The narrow vote, 33-29, came after a nearly four-hour debate that included accusations of xenophobia, “descending into demonization,” “endorsing lawlessness” and “watering down citizenship.” The harsh words followed Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’s decision to hold the vote without any Island support, knowing there were still enough Democrats to win passage. And they came after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo raised the possibility of a veto early in the day, but then signed it into law shortly before 10 p.m.
The bill takes effect immediately.
Democratic legislators supporting the bill said permitting undocumented immigrants to get licenses was the “right thing to do.” The law reverses a ban imposed after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Today, we passed legislation restoring the right for all qualified drivers to obtain driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status,” said Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). “By passing this needed legislation, we are growing our economy while at the same time making our roads safer. This is the right step forward for New York State as we continue to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform on the federal level.”
All 22 Republicans voted against the bill. Some of them blamed Democratic senators from Long Island and upstate for allowing the measure to even get to the floor for a vote — a clear sign the GOP will use it in the 2020 elections.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Obama And Former Italian PM Renzi Are Holding Secret Meeting
Obama And Former Italian PM Renzi Are Holding Secret Meeting Today – Experts Including Papadopoulos Suspect Meeting Linked To Spygate Scandal
(Gateway Pundit) – Much has happened since our post May 25th – “Rumors Swirling that Fired Italian Spies Were Connected in Plot to Eliminate Trump”.
The Gateway Pundit reported on rumors swirling that the recent firings of top Italian spies were related to Obama and a plot to set up candidate and President Trump during the 2016 election.
As reported on May 25th==>>
Earlier this month Italian Prime Minister Conte asked for the resignations of four top intelligence officials after his call with President Donald Trump.
And now another Internet Sleuth has uncovered some shocking news related to the recent removal of these top Italian intelligence ministers from their positions as top spies in the government.
The story begins in January 2017 when Computer World wrote about alleged crimes committed by Italian Giulio Occhionero:
The Tuesday arrest of Giulio Occhionero and his sister, Francesca Maria, has brought to light what appears to be the biggest, and highest-profile, hacking of institutional and corporate accounts ever reported in Italy.
The siblings have been planting the Pyramid Eye remote access Trojan on computers using a spear-phishing technique over several years, according to the arrest order.
They attacked at least 18,000 high-profile targets, including former Prime Ministers Matteo Renzi and Mario Monti, President of European Central Bank Mario Draghi, as well as employees and heads of various ministries including Internal Affairs, Treasury, Finance and Education.
But Giulio Occhionero claimed that he and his sister, Francesca Maria, were set up. A piece reported by Frederico Punzi, writing in The Atlantico, notes their denials and more:
Occhionero complained to the Prosecutor of the Republic of Perugia and wrote to the U.S. Congress and the FBI. In fact, there are a number of contradictions and suspicious circumstances in the case.
Occhionero claims and it was reported that:
Members of Italian intelligence were approached by Hillary Clinton, the Obama Administration, and the Deep State in order to frame Trump by PLANTING EVIDENCE on American servers to force Trump to step down from office.
In other words, members of Italian intelligence found a target in Occhionero, a Republican-sympathizer who had two servers for his company, Westland Securities, located in America. One was in Washington State, and the other in West Virginia.
The plan was for Italian Intelligence to hack into these servers, plant classified emails from Hillary’s servers inside these servers on American soil, and then alert the FBI.
The FBI would then raid these locations, “discover” these e-mails, investigate, link these servers to Trump…
And then force Trump to resign.
Occhionero believes that Obama and the former leader of Italy, Matteo Renzi, worked together on this plan and he provides reports of their meetings in Italy before the 2016 election and in early 2017.
Why Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is Dining With Obama
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is joining Barack Obama for the last formal dinner of his presidency. Why?
The Jesuits’ Five-Step Program For Destroying A Country
June 8, 2015
The following is from the papers of William Garner, author of Who Really Owns Your Gold.
Demoralizing a public with depressing news in the mainstream media, plunging the nation into serious debt using controlled and manipulated recessions and depressions, low-income jobs and high unemployment, evermore controlling new laws and regulations that are increasingly intrusive to all citizens. Dark movies and tv shows. Sexually explicit shows and videos.
Destabilizing a population by pitting groups against each other, i.e. Democrats vs. Republicans or pro-choice vs. anti-abortion or gun owners vs. anti-gun citizens, in pitched battle. And when they can’t corral those elusive holdouts who subscribe to no party or religion or group, The Jesuits create even further “false and controlled opposition,” i.e. those people and groups who purport to be friends and representatives of We The People and who allegedly oppose the Jesuits, echoing their pro-We The People sentiments in high public places. The grim reality is that those final holdouts among We The People are cleverly being pulled into a black hole of false security by all the false and controlled opposition. Examples: Alex Jones, Jesse Ventura, Glenn Beck, the Tea Party. False and controlled opposition all have a national audience, slick shows and presentations, and good funding. They reach a much larger audience than members of the true opposition movement.
Orchestrating crisis after crisis, e.g. false-flag attacks, internecine wars, regional wars, global wars, the Great Depression, the “War on Terror,” 9/11 attacks, illegal attacks on nations like Afghanistan and Iraq, culminating in forced military occupation of those nations. False-flag attacks on American soil, targeting innocent civilians.
Forcing legislation that removes basic Constitutional rights. An excellent and unfortunate example: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change effectively destroys the entire US Constitution. Read it for yourself. The sweeping language is in English and it’s easy to read. And don’t forget the Patriot Act and NDAA. Coming soon: gun/weapons/ammunition confiscation.
Normalizing a population, allowing those in power to bring the American public under its sphere of influence, bringing to a screeching halt all protests against the regime, eliminating all challengers, and thus fully subjugating We The People. Since 9/11, the Jesuits have accelerated their program, which normally ran over 50-100 years. Clearly the end game is near.
The Pope, big oil and bankers are talking carbon taxes
Pope Francis held a closed door meeting at the Academy of Sciences with the CEOs of oil firms and investment firms to address climate change, with a group committing to support an “economically meaningful” carbon price.
JUNE 17, 2019 JOHN WEAVER
Revision Energy install for Damariscotta Baptist Church in Damariscotta Maine
Pope Francis held a closed door meeting with oil executives, investment managers, and others to discuss carbon pricing, science-based decisions and the need to embrace the oncoming “radical energy transition”. This is the second time Pope Francis has called a meeting with the world’s oil majors for talks of this nature.
In comments released on the theme of the Energy Transition & Care of our Common Home, by the Vatican on the meeting, Pope Francis stated:
Your meeting has focused on three interrelated points: first, a just transition; second, carbon pricing; and third, transparency in reporting climate risk. These are three immensely complex issues and I commend you for taking them up and at your level, a serious and scientific level.
At the end of the meeting, a statement was released by 31 of the groups regarding carbon pricing. The statement, on meeting organizer University of Notre Dame’s website (.pdf), notes specifically that “We, the undersigned, agree that:
Revision Energy install for Damariscotta Baptist Church in Damariscotta Maine
Pope Francis held a closed door meeting with oil executives, investment managers, and others to discuss carbon pricing, science-based decisions and the need to embrace the oncoming “radical energy transition”. This is the second time Pope Francis has called a meeting with the world’s oil majors for talks of this nature.
In comments released on the theme of the Energy Transition & Care of our Common Home, by the Vatican on the meeting, Pope Francis stated:
Your meeting has focused on three interrelated points: first, a just transition; second, carbon pricing; and third, transparency in reporting climate risk. These are three immensely complex issues and I commend you for taking them up and at your level, a serious and scientific level.
At the end of the meeting, a statement was released by 31 of the groups regarding carbon pricing. The statement, on meeting organizer University of Notre Dame’s website (.pdf), notes specifically that “We, the undersigned, agree that:
Monday, June 17, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Climate Change Could Trigger Global Financial Crisis
By Nick Cunningham - Jun 12, 2019, 5:00 PM CDT
A top U.S. financial regulator is worried that climate change could threaten global financial markets.
Rostin Behnam, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said that the financial system was at risk from the growing frequency and severity of storms. “The impacts of climate change affect every aspect of the American economy – from production agriculture to commercial manufacturing and the financing of every step in each process,” Behnam said at the meeting of the CFTC’s market risk advisory committee on Wednesday. “As most of the world’s markets and market regulators are taking steps towards assessing and mitigating the current and potential threats of climate change, we in the U.S. must also demand action from all segments of the public and private sectors, including this agency.”
He added: “Our commodity markets and the financial markets that support them will suffer if we do not take action to mitigate the risk of contagion.”
The message is not necessarily a new one, but it is significant since it comes from the CFTC, which is not exactly a hippy enclave. Also of significance is the fact that Behnam was appointed to the CFTC by President Trump, although by law the vacancy that he filled had to be a Democrat.
Behnam will help setup a panel of experts to study the risks to the financial system from climate change.
“If climate change causes more volatile frequent and extreme weather events, you’re going to have a scenario where these large providers of financial products — mortgages, home insurance, pensions — cannot shift risk away from their portfolios,” Benham said in an NYT interview. “It’s abundantly clear that climate change poses financial risk to the stability of the financial system.” Related: OPEC’s Struggle To Avoid $40 Oil
Benham said that the world saw $160 billion in economic costs last year from natural disasters. More recently, the U.S. Midwest is facing a crisis with biblical levels of flooding that have decimated American farms – the type of disaster that is expected to become more frequent.
Financial regulators have begun to pay greater attention to the risk of climate change. A global network of roughly 40 central banks have formed the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), an initiative intended to “manage risks and to mobilize capital for green and low-carbon investments.” If climate change presents threats to the global financial system, then it is imperative that central banks prepare for such dangers. “The NGFS recognises that there is a strong risk that climate-related financial risks are not fully reflected in asset valuations,” the NGFS said in an April 2019 report.
“A transition to a green and low-carbon economy is not a niche nor is it a ‘nice to have’ for the happy few. It is crucial for our own survival,” Frank Elderson, Chair of the NGFS, said in the report. “There is no alternative.”
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