Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Sheila Jackson Lee tops colleagues in House floor speaking days over past decade
December 30, 2019 - 06:19 PM EST
STEFANI REYNOLDS
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) spoke on the House floor more days than any other lawmaker this past decade, according to C-SPAN data released Monday.
Jackson Lee, who has served in Congress since 1995, routinely speaks on the House floor about national issues of the day, including those related to the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees on which she serves.
C-SPAN data found that Jackson Lee delivered House floor speeches on 1,013 days over the past decade. She was followed by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) at 959 days, former Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) at 877 and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) at 639.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), who is known for delivering lengthy floor speeches at the end of most congressional workweeks, came in sixth at 612 days.
In one memorable appearance in 2017, Jackson Lee kneeled on the House floor to show solidarity with NFL players who faced attacks from President Trump for kneeling during the national anthem at games to draw attention to police brutality against African Americans.
Monday, December 30, 2019
Bernie Sanders warns against religious bigotry hours after Hasidic Jews are stabbed in N.Y.
Robert Costa, The Washington Post
Published 4:51 am CST, Monday, December 30, 2019
Photo: David McNew, Stringer / Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had relatives killed by Nazis during the Holocaust, responded Sunday to the latest incident of anti-Semitic terror.
DES MOINES, Iowa - Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had relatives killed by Nazis during the Holocaust, responded Sunday to the latest incident of anti-Semitic terror by wearing a kippah and lifting a blowtorch to light a public menorah on the final night of Hanukkah.
And less than 24 hours after an intruder stabbed five Hasidic Jews at a rabbi's home in New York, the Democratic presidential candidate delivered an urgent speech on a frigid evening in Des Moines, decrying recent attacks against Jews and other minorities.
"We're seeing people being stabbed yesterday in New York City because they were Jewish," Sanders said, calling the assault part of an alarming rise in anti-Semitism, both in the United States and globally.
Sanders added, "If there was ever a time in American history where we say no to religious bigotry, this is the time. If there was ever a time when we say no to divisiveness, this is that moment."
The bundled-up crowd, gathered around a menorah at Brenton Skating Plaza, listened intently as the 78-year-old son of a Jewish immigrant spoke and cheered when he called for unity.
The latest attack in New York, which officials said began after 10 p.m. Saturday in the suburb of Monsey, was called an act of "domestic terrorism" by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who linked it to the spate of violence against Jewish people.
Photo: David McNew, Stringer / Getty Images
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had relatives killed by Nazis during the Holocaust, responded Sunday to the latest incident of anti-Semitic terror.
DES MOINES, Iowa - Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had relatives killed by Nazis during the Holocaust, responded Sunday to the latest incident of anti-Semitic terror by wearing a kippah and lifting a blowtorch to light a public menorah on the final night of Hanukkah.
And less than 24 hours after an intruder stabbed five Hasidic Jews at a rabbi's home in New York, the Democratic presidential candidate delivered an urgent speech on a frigid evening in Des Moines, decrying recent attacks against Jews and other minorities.
"We're seeing people being stabbed yesterday in New York City because they were Jewish," Sanders said, calling the assault part of an alarming rise in anti-Semitism, both in the United States and globally.
Sanders added, "If there was ever a time in American history where we say no to religious bigotry, this is the time. If there was ever a time when we say no to divisiveness, this is that moment."
The bundled-up crowd, gathered around a menorah at Brenton Skating Plaza, listened intently as the 78-year-old son of a Jewish immigrant spoke and cheered when he called for unity.
The latest attack in New York, which officials said began after 10 p.m. Saturday in the suburb of Monsey, was called an act of "domestic terrorism" by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who linked it to the spate of violence against Jewish people.
Where Is The Outrage In Latin America Over Cuba?
Where Is The Outrage In Latin America Over Cuba?: The island nation hasn't had a free election for more than 70 years. And yet, as millions take to the streets across the region, the Cuban regime keeps getting a pass.
Pope Francis: It's good to talk, but not on mobiles
29 December 2019
Europe
REUTERS
Pope Francis boasts more than 18 million Twitter followers
Pope Francis has called for people to put away their mobile phones at the dinner table and get talking, citing Jesus, Mary and Joseph as examples.
They "prayed, worked and communicated with each other", the pope told a packed St Peter's Square on Sunday.
"We have to get back to communicating in our families," Pope Francis said in his unscripted remarks.
The Pope is an avid user of social media and often allows himself to be snapped with pilgrims for selfies.
Pope Francis: Mass is for prayers not mobile phones
"I ask myself if you, in your family, know how to communicate or are you like those kids at meal tables where everyone is chatting on their mobile phone ... where there is silence like at a Mass but they don't communicate," the Pope said.
"Fathers, parents, children, grandparents, brothers and sisters, this is a task to undertake today, on the day of the Holy Family," he added.
This is not the first time the Pope - who boasts more than 18 million Twitter followers - has chided his followers for spending too much time glued to their devices, especially during Mass.
"At a certain point the priest leading the ceremony says 'lift up our hearts'. He doesn't say 'lift up our mobile phones to take photographs' - it's a very ugly thing," he said in 2017.
"It's so sad when I'm celebrating mass here or inside the basilica and I see lots of phones held up - not just by the faithful, but also by priests and bishops! Please!"
US conducts airstrikes in Iraq, Syria after contractor killed, American troops injured in rocket attack
MIDDLE EAST
Published December 29, 2019
Last Update 12 hrs ago
The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday — days after a U.S. defense contractor was killed at a military compound in a rocket attack.
Military jet fighters conducted "precision defensive strikes" on five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, Jonathan Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Pentagon told Fox News. Two defense officials added that Air Force F-15 jet fighters carried out the strikes.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien traveled Sunday to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with President Trump and discuss the strikes, a senior administration official told Fox News.
RELATED: U.S. TROOPS INJURED IN IRAQ ROCKET ATTACK THAT KILLED US CONTRACTOR, OFFICIALS SAY
U.S. officials have blamed the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. defense contractor, wounded four U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Gunman kills 1 at Texas church before 'heroic' parishioners fatally shoot him
A gunman walked into a North Texas church and opened fire Sunday morning, killing one person before being fatally shot by parishioners, authorities said.
The "heroic actions" abruptly ended the shootout at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, about 10 miles west of Fort Worth, Police Chief J.P. Bevering said. He provided no information on the motive for the attack.
MedStar Mobile Healthcare spokeswoman Macara Trusty said one person died at the scene, one died on the way to to the hospital and one was in critical condition. She said all the victims were male.
"It’s tragic and it’s a terrible situation, especially during the holiday season,” said Jeoff Williams, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety. “We have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of just anything that you can even imagine, saved countless lives."
Licensed handgun owners can legally carry loaded weapons into Texas churches that do not have posted signs banning weapons. Church security became a major issue in the state after a gunman walked into a church in Sutherland Springs two years ago and fatally shot 26 people and wounded 20 others.
Authorities provided few details on the shooting. A witness told CBS11 News the gunman walked up to a server during Communion with a shotgun and began firing until another church member shot the suspect.
“It was the most scariest thing," Isabel Arreola told the TV station. "You feel like your life is flashing before you."
Mike Tinius, a church elder, told The New York Times that one of those killed was a security guard and friend who responded to the shooter. Tinius said that he didn’t know the gunman and that the shooting appeared to be random.
The security guard “was trying to do what he needed to do to protect the rest of us,” Tinius said. “It’s extremely upsetting to see anyone committing violence."
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement of condemnation for the "evil act of violence" at a place of worship.
"I am grateful for the church members who acted quickly to take down the shooter and help prevent further loss of life," Abbott said. "Cecilia and I ask all Texans to join us in praying for the White Settlement community and for all those affected by this horrible tragedy."
White Settlement is a city of about 17,000 people in Tarrant County. Mike Drivdahl, spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said his fire department was assisting city and county authorities in the investigation. Bomb-sniffing dogs were on the scene as a precaution, he said.
Drivdahl said he did not know how many people were attending the service when the shooting started.
"It's a very tragic day whenever anyone in our community suffers," he said. "It not only affects people who were here today, it affects first responders as well."
The shooting took place hours after a knife-wielding attacker stabbed five people during a Hanukkah celebration in a rabbi's home outside New York City. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the attack "an act of domestic terrorism" and directed the state police hate crimes task force to investigate.
Contributing: The Associated Press
IDs give parishioners way to say, ‘I belong,’ regardless of legal status
Oct 13, 2019
SPECIAL TO CRUX
Police Chief Jose Luengo of Pharr, Texas, expresses his department's willingness to accept parish-issued identification cards as valid ID during a meeting introducing the program in Las Milpas Sept. 24, 2019. Nearly 500 people from Valley Interfaith and parishes all over the Rio Grande Valley attended. (Credit: CNS photo/Paul Binz, The Valley Catholic.)
PHARR, Texas - The Diocese of Brownsville and a group of interfaith leaders in the Rio Grande Valley have introduced a “parish identification strategy” to provided members of parishes in the diocese a way to identify themselves to local law enforcement regardless of their legal status.
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville joined Valley Interfaith leaders to announce the program to a packed room of nearly 500 people at the Pharr Research and Development Center in Las Milpas in late September.
The bishop said the need for identification has a profound significance in people’s lives - and more so for the marginalized immigrant.
“I would like to emphasize that the ID means something more than simply its implication that you have an identification, an address, a picture or something to show perhaps if you’re stopped at a red light or for some other reason,” Flores said. “It means something much deeper: ‘I belong to a parish, and so in this community, I am not living in the shadows.'”
Several local officials joined in the effort, including police chiefs and officials from Pharr, Edinburg and McAllen. Emceeing the event, Oblate Father Kevin Collins, pastor of St. Eugene de Mazenod Parish in Brownsville, asked them to respond to three questions.
“While we know there is no substitute for a government-issued ID, could an officer in their discretion accept a photo ID - for example, of a school or a church ID - in order to identify themselves? That’s first,” the priest said. “Second, will you train your police officers to recognize multiple forms of ID?”
“Third, will you continue to work with us to build trust and to address crime together?” he asked.
In turn, Edinburg Police Chief Cesar Torres, Pharr Police Chief Jose Luengo and McAllen Police Capt. Irene Luna all agreed, affirming broad governmental support at the local level.
The parish ID program originated about a year and a half ago in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas. "They noticed that very few people were going to Mass,” said Joe Hinojosa of Valley Interfaith and a parishioner at Holy Spirit Parish in McAllen, recounting the origins of the program. “They asked the people why, and they said they were afraid to leave their homes.”
Illegal? 50 U.S. Leftists Get Political with Communists in Cuba
December 3, 2019, 7:47 pm by Trevor Loudon
New Zeal
View of the 685 Neptuno street taken on November 12, 2019 in Havana. (Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP) (Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP via Getty Images)
In early November, 50 U.S. leftists traveled to Cuba for meetings with communist organizations on the island.
The delegation, which included known members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and its satellite group LeftRoots, met with officials of a major international communist front organization, an auxiliary of the Cuban government, and several “non-governmental organizations.”
There should be major questions raised over the legality of this visit.
In June, the Trump administration announced new restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba. Until then, Americans could travel to the island only under specific categories, which included organized group travel known as “group people-to-people travel.” That loophole—long exploited by U.S. communist groups—is now technically closed.
According to CNN:
“Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement that the restrictions are a result of Cuba continuing ‘to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up US adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes.’
“The State Department announced that ‘going forward, the United States will prohibit US travelers from going to Cuba under the previous ‘group people-to-people educational’ travel authorization.’”
The 50 U.S. delegates arrived in Cuba on Oct. 30 to attend the “Anti-imperialist Meeting of Solidarity, for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism,” which took place in Havana from Nov. 1 to 3.
The conference was organized by the government-controlled Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, the Central Organization of Cuban Trade Unions, the Cuban Chapter of Social Movements, and the Continental Convergence for Democracy and against Neoliberalism.
According to the communist-controlled World Peace Council, the event was designed to build international opposition to the U.S. government’s attempts to isolate the Cuban communist regime:
“The meeting in Havana expresses the Cuban Revolution’s decision to respond to the demand of the political, social left-wing and the Solidarity Movement with Cuba that our country continues to be a meeting point of the people’s struggles in our continent.
“We have proposed the event to be a real contribution to confronting the current counterrevolutionary offensive of US imperialism, to the search for the widest possible unity of the leftist forces in the region and to strengthening militant solidarity with the just causes defended by the peoples. In the current political situation, marked by the aggressiveness of the Trump administration, new ways will be sought to reinforce solidarity with these causes in the world, mainly in our region. …
Self-Checkout in France Sets Off Battle Over a Day of Rest
Besieged by online rivals, retailers are staying open Sunday afternoons with automated cashiers. Critics see an invasion of American-style consumerism.
Self-checkout machines at a mostly automated Casino store in the center of Paris.
Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
By Liz Alderman
Dec. 26, 2019
ANGERS, France — On a Sunday afternoon, customers at a Géant Casino supermarket browsed the aisles and lined up to buy meat, fish and other groceries. It was a typical shopping experience except for one thing: All the cashiers had gone home. Customers scanned items at automated checkout stations as security guards hovered nearby.
That the store was even open was unusual. French labor rules prohibit most shops from employing workers past 1 p.m. on Sundays. But as e-commerce and online giants like Amazon usher in an era of round-the-clock spending, retailers are amping up the use of automated cashiers to help them compete.
The move has caused an outcry in France, where Sundays are traditionally a rest day for workers and families. While self-checkout machines are often used alongside cashiers, labor unions say that tilting toward fully cashierless operations threatens the French way of life by encouraging American-style consumerism and automation, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
“Sundays are sacred,” said Patrice Auvinet, the head of the General Confederation of Labor union in Angers, a midsize city in western France. “If they change that, it will change French society. And if automated cashiers become normalized, it will have a catastrophic impact on workers.”
Groupe Casino, the country’s biggest supermarket operator, began testing Sunday-afternoon openings in August using only automated machines at the warehouse-size supermarket in Angers. It has expanded the experiment to at least 20 other megastores around the country, igniting raucous protests.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Christianity Today and the problem with 'Christian elitism'
Editorial
Dec 23, 2019
President Donald J. Trump addresses his remarks Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, at Turning Point USA’s 5th annual Student Action Summit at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. | Official White House Photo/Shealah Craighead
Christianity Today editor Mark Galli’s “lofty” op-ed last week calling for President Trump’s removal from office touched off a firestorm of criticism and dissent from scores of evangelical leaders, and the backlash and debate have reached “critical mass” since its publication. Meanwhile, secular media immediately seized upon the CT editorial to argue that evangelical support for the president was finally crumbling under the weight of impeachment by the House of Representatives.
After all, when Christianity Today, the “flagship” magazine of evangelicals, founded by Billy Graham himself, turns against the president, then the long hoped for evangelical exodus from Trump must surely have finally commenced.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, as made clear by the Graham family itself. The great evangelist’s son, Franklin, divulged that his father “knew Donald Trump, believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump.” He then went on to say that his father “believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation.”
Additionally, almost 200 evangelical leaders signed a joint letter opposing the CT editorial and asserting that CT itself is a shell of its former self and that CT speaks to, and for, fewer evangelicals with each passing year.
What was the spirit animating CT editor Galli’s “thunderbolt” from on high? The answer is likely found in the self-appointed Mount Olympus from which Mr. Galli made his “moral” pronouncement. After Trump’s election, Mr. Galli bluntly confessed:
The 2020s Will Bring Massive Change. Why Society Might Not Be Ready.
By
Leslie P. Norton Updated Dec. 27, 2019 11:00 am ET / Original Dec. 27, 2019 10:25 am ET
Haim Israel
Photograph by Amy Lombard
We haven’t seen anything yet. That’s the message from Haim Israel, who has spent the past six years imagining the future for Bank of America and divining its investment implications. The Jerusalem-based strategist recently unveiled his outlook for the 2020s. The coming decade, he says, is likely to produce greater change than any previous one, because technology is causing trends to unfold at an accelerating pace.
Israel, 47, draws on the work of 1,800 BofA securities analysts as well as four other thematic research analysts at the firm. At home, he has another four-person team, namely his children, ranging from 8 years old to 17. “They are the No. 1 resources,” Israel says. “They think very differently.” Israel asks them about trends like e-sports or social-media app TikTok, and what they think about the job market, education, banking, and the world. We sat down with Israel recently to talk about his team’s latest outlook.
Barron’s: How long have you been a futurist?
Haim Israel: We created this framework at Bank of America in 2013, with the idea that underlying forces need to be considered when you look at investment opportunities. We identified 28 of them in three categories. The first is innovation: Big Data, artificial intelligence, robotics, cybersecurity, privacy, genomics, all that stuff. Second is people: aging, silver economy, Gen Z, Gen Y, millennials, education, inequality, everything that has to do with demographics. Third is Earth—everything having to do with our planet: climate change, food security, water, waste, renewable energy, energy storage. These are the megatrends that will impact our lives. Forget about the short term. Even the long term is not that long term anymore. It’s happening way faster.
What is long term now?
These megatrends are five to 10 years down the line. One of the words we keep using is “techceleration”—accelerated growth rates led by technology. It took 64 years for 50 million people to use airplanes. For cars, 62 years. For Pokémon Go, 19 days. These things are actually happening here now. We thought that peak oil would come much later. Now, everybody thinks the point of no return on global warming is around 2030, way earlier than expected. There will be demographic implications—100 million people will fall below the poverty line because of climate change and the change in food security. Also, renewable energy is actually cheaper to produce in some places than fossil fuel. We see a hockey-stick ramp-up in terms of demand and supply. There will be electrification of transportation, which today consumes 50% of global oil demand—cars, ships, airplanes, railroads. By the end of the 2020s, one third of all new cars sold will be electric vehicles. That’s a massive impact on carbon emission.
What are the other nine themes for 2020?
One is the rise of the state and peak of globalization. Countries will start [pulling] back, rather than talking about the world. If we had this discussion after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were 15 physical barriers around the world. Today, there are 77. A lot of our projected megatrends, like aging and climate change, are forcing governments to take care of themselves, understanding there are going to be massive challenges. As a result, we’re starting to see the peak of globalization, meaning limits to the movement of free capital, goods, money, services, and knowledge.
Friday, December 27, 2019
Ganoun Diop: The Truth About Inter-Church/Interfaith Relations
Commentary
December 19, 2019
The Truth About Inter-Church/Interfaith Relations
By: Ganoune Diop, director of General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty
This article addresses some concerns that have been expressed regarding the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s engagement with other Christians.
Though most Adventists, since the establishment of a department of Public Affairs and Religious liberty in 1901, understand the necessity to mingle with other Christians, the questions are still asked: “Why mingle with other Christians? Is this not a betrayal of Adventist identity, message, and mission?” To these, our unequivocal answer is no, it is not. The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church cannot be fulfilled without mingling as Jesus did. Fears and objections are part of human experience, but they have to be addressed rationally.
First, a clarification. Inter-church and interfaith relations do not mean ecumenism in the sense of union with other churches, doctrinal alliances, obliteration of differences, or the loss of distinctive emphasis on biblical truths.
A misunderstanding of this basic fact has prompted a few at the fringes of the church to accuse Adventist leaders of betraying the church’s position, which they assume demands there be no interaction with other Christians at all. This radical rejection of mingling with others is, at times, expressed through violent and angry rhetoric.
Both in the Bible and in the writings of Ellen White, we have a clear picture that antagonism and hostility toward other Christians should have no place in a heart in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Love of even enemies is at the heart of the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus. Ellen White admonishes Adventists to present ourselves in a favorable light before all the world. The gospel, the good news of God, should never be sidelined. The gospel of the kingdom must be proclaimed, and then the end shall come, said Jesus. But this gospel of the kingdom cannot be separated from the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the first of which is love. After all, a distinctive mark of discipleship is love of God and love of one’s neighbor.
Change and reform: Unpacking Pope Francis Christmas address to the curia
December 25, 2019
Pope Francis speaks during his annual audience to give Christmas greetings to members of the Roman Curia at the Vatican Dec. 21, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
On Saturday, Pope Francis gave his annual Christmas speech to the Roman curia, which in past years has been the time that the pope speaks very clearly about where he thinks the curia needs improvement. In 2014, Pope Francis used his Christmas address to lead the curia through an examination of conscience, pointing out what he called the “curial diseases” of careerism, gossip, rivalries, and so on. In years since, he has spoken on the need for ongoing reforms and updated his collaborators on his restructuring of the Vatican bureaucracy.
RELATED STORIES
On Saturday, Pope Francis gave his annual Christmas speech to the Roman curia, which in past years has been the time that the pope speaks very clearly about where he thinks the curia needs improvement. In 2014, Pope Francis used his Christmas address to lead the curia through an examination of conscience, pointing out what he called the “curial diseases” of careerism, gossip, rivalries, and so on. In years since, he has spoken on the need for ongoing reforms and updated his collaborators on his restructuring of the Vatican bureaucracy.
RELATED STORIES
Pope Francis tells Roman Curia: Do not fear change, it is in the nature of the missionary church
This year, the pope’s talk focused on the need to fight rigidity and be open to change. He quoted St. John Henry Newman, canonized this year, who famously wrote about the way that doctrine develops and how change is natural and important both in human life and for the church. Francis also warned against rigidity which comes from a fear of change.
On this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and I talk about why the pope chose this theme for his speech, who he spoke to, and how these Christmas addresses fit into the pope’s larger effort to reform the Roman curia.
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Oregon woman accused of telling Mexican food cart operator 'go back to Mexico'
Published December 24, 2019
Last Update a day ago
An Oregon woman was arrested Sunday and charged with using racist language after harassing a Mexican food truck operator and telling her to “go back to Mexico,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Sierra Lavonne McDonald, 30, was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 17 with several charges, including bias crime, harassment and the unlawful use of a weapon, Fox 12 reported.
Court documents cited by the station say McDonald twice visited a food cart in southeast Portland. On her first visit on Sept. 21, McDonald allegedly told the operator to “go back to Mexico,” before opening a can of soda and pouring it over some chicken and the victim’s head, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said.
Sierra Lavonne McDonald told officers she thought the food cart operators were racist because “they served white people faster than they served her.” (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
The victim reportedly called police, who then tried to contact McDonald, but she hung up on them, according to the district attorney.
Court documents say McDonald returned the next day and again used racial hate speech toward the operator and another employee. She allegedly grabbed a wooden stake and made stabbing motions toward the employee, according to court documents.
Pope Francis Offers Triple Shout-Out to Migrants in Christmas Blessing
25 Dec 20196960
4:03
ROME — Pope Francis made migrants the centerpiece of his Christmas blessing Wednesday, addressing the topic of immigration a remarkable three times in an 865-word message.
“May the newborn Lord bring light to the people of Africa, where persistent social and political situations often force individuals to migrate, depriving them of a home and family,” the pontiff said to the estimated 55,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.
Next, the pope declared that modern migration is the product of injustice and that migrants often find their efforts impeded by “walls of indifference.”
May the Son of God protect and sustain all those who, due to injustices “are forced to emigrate in the hope of a secure life,” he said in his Urbi et Orbi blessing.
“It is injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries,” he said, adding:
It is injustice that forces them to ensure unspeakable forms of abuse, enslavement of every kind and torture in inhumane detention camps. It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference.
Finally, in his closing invocation of the blessings of the Christ Child upon “all the suffering members of our human family,” Francis once again brought up migrants.
“Through our friendship, such as it is, may he draw close to the elderly and the lonely, to migrants and the marginalized,” he said.
4:03
ROME — Pope Francis made migrants the centerpiece of his Christmas blessing Wednesday, addressing the topic of immigration a remarkable three times in an 865-word message.
“May the newborn Lord bring light to the people of Africa, where persistent social and political situations often force individuals to migrate, depriving them of a home and family,” the pontiff said to the estimated 55,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.
Next, the pope declared that modern migration is the product of injustice and that migrants often find their efforts impeded by “walls of indifference.”
May the Son of God protect and sustain all those who, due to injustices “are forced to emigrate in the hope of a secure life,” he said in his Urbi et Orbi blessing.
“It is injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries,” he said, adding:
It is injustice that forces them to ensure unspeakable forms of abuse, enslavement of every kind and torture in inhumane detention camps. It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference.
Finally, in his closing invocation of the blessings of the Christ Child upon “all the suffering members of our human family,” Francis once again brought up migrants.
“Through our friendship, such as it is, may he draw close to the elderly and the lonely, to migrants and the marginalized,” he said.
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Learn not the way of the heathen
Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jeremiah 10:2-4.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
G.O.P. Lawmaker Had Visions of a Christian Alternative Government
A Washington State legislator was accused of participating in the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge. Behind the scenes, he and right-wing activists were preparing for civil strife.
State Representative Matt Shea of Washington was accused of engaging in domestic terrorism in a report his colleagues commissioned.Credit...Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
By Mike Baker
Dec. 23, 2019
SPOKANE, Wash. — Matt Shea was 34 years old when he ran for the State Legislature in eastern Washington, but he had already established credentials that made him a promising Republican candidate.
A lawyer trained at Gonzaga University who had served a tour in Iraq with Washington’s Army National Guard, Mr. Shea pitched voters in 2008 on a platform of limiting taxes and punishing criminals, opposing same-sex marriage and supporting gun rights. He went on to win with nearly 60 percent of the vote, then moved up the ranks in the Legislature, reaching the powerful position of chair of his party’s caucus in 2017.
But back in his home district, Mr. Shea also began attracting the attention of law enforcement for his growing embrace of fringe ideologies and conspiracy theories. He networked with local militia groups, talked about plans to create a 51st state called Liberty and distributed to his closest followers a “Biblical Basis for War” document that calls for the “surrender” of those who favor abortion rights, same-sex marriage, “idolatry” and communism. “If they do not yield — kill all males,” it said.
Last week, a report commissioned by the State Legislature asserted that Mr. Shea had engaged in domestic terrorism in his support of the armed takeover of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by militant ranchers and their supporters in 2016 — part of a protest over federal ownership of public lands in the West.
The scrubby pines and sparsely settled hills of the inland Northwest have long been seen as a potential homeland by fringe white supremacists and armed loners who are militantly suspicious of government power. But for the sheriff here in Spokane County, Ozzie Knezovich, Mr. Shea’s activities are part of a troubling trend: Far-right organizers have begun plying their message of civil conflict in mainstream political circles, building new networks that include elected politicians and voters who would never consider themselves part of an extremist group.
“I think a lot of people underestimate the size and the growth of what’s going on,” said Sheriff Knezovich, a longtime Republican who supports President Trump.
Investigation Into Washington State Representative Matt Shea
A state-sanctioned report accused Matt Shea of participating in domestic terrorism.
By Mike Baker
Dec. 23, 2019
SPOKANE, Wash. — Matt Shea was 34 years old when he ran for the State Legislature in eastern Washington, but he had already established credentials that made him a promising Republican candidate.
A lawyer trained at Gonzaga University who had served a tour in Iraq with Washington’s Army National Guard, Mr. Shea pitched voters in 2008 on a platform of limiting taxes and punishing criminals, opposing same-sex marriage and supporting gun rights. He went on to win with nearly 60 percent of the vote, then moved up the ranks in the Legislature, reaching the powerful position of chair of his party’s caucus in 2017.
But back in his home district, Mr. Shea also began attracting the attention of law enforcement for his growing embrace of fringe ideologies and conspiracy theories. He networked with local militia groups, talked about plans to create a 51st state called Liberty and distributed to his closest followers a “Biblical Basis for War” document that calls for the “surrender” of those who favor abortion rights, same-sex marriage, “idolatry” and communism. “If they do not yield — kill all males,” it said.
Last week, a report commissioned by the State Legislature asserted that Mr. Shea had engaged in domestic terrorism in his support of the armed takeover of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by militant ranchers and their supporters in 2016 — part of a protest over federal ownership of public lands in the West.
The scrubby pines and sparsely settled hills of the inland Northwest have long been seen as a potential homeland by fringe white supremacists and armed loners who are militantly suspicious of government power. But for the sheriff here in Spokane County, Ozzie Knezovich, Mr. Shea’s activities are part of a troubling trend: Far-right organizers have begun plying their message of civil conflict in mainstream political circles, building new networks that include elected politicians and voters who would never consider themselves part of an extremist group.
“I think a lot of people underestimate the size and the growth of what’s going on,” said Sheriff Knezovich, a longtime Republican who supports President Trump.
Investigation Into Washington State Representative Matt Shea
A state-sanctioned report accused Matt Shea of participating in domestic terrorism.
Monday, December 23, 2019
How Dramatically The U.S. Has Changed As We Approach 2020
This Is America: 10 Examples That Show How Dramatically The U.S. Has Changed As We Approach 2020
December 22, 2019
One thing that you can count on in life is that things are going to change. And these days the pace of change in America is absolutely breathtaking. Our culture is in the process of being radically transformed, and the direction of that change has not altered very much at all no matter which political party has been in power in Washington. Many of the values that are now embraced by a solid majority of the population run directly counter to the values that once dominated our society, but only a small minority of Americans seem alarmed by that fact. It appears to be exceedingly unlikely that there will be any deviating from the path that our nation has chosen, because at this point the American people seem quite satisfied with the dramatic “progress” that is taking place.
So what do you think?
Are we on the right track as a nation?
As you ponder that question, here are 10 examples for you to consider that show how dramatically the U.S. has changed as we approach 2020…
#1 The ACLU has started a campaign to make tampons available in all men’s restrooms across America…
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling for men’s restrooms to include tampons in order to prevent discrimination against “every person who menstruates.”
“While free menstrual products are not uniformly provided in women’s restrooms, they are almost never available in men’s restrooms, even for pay,” the group said in a statement Tuesday.
#2 Senseless violence is on the rise all over the country. On Sunday, we witnessed the worst mass shooting in the city of Chicago “since at least 2013”…
Chicago police are questioning a person of interest after 13 people were wounded, four of them critically, during a shooting inside a memorial gathering early Sunday in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, authorities said.
More people were wounded in the shooting than at any other in the city since at least 2013, when 13 people were shot in Back of the Yards, according to data gathered by the Tribune.
Pope Francis, in Christmas Message, Says Church Must Adapt to Post-Christian West
The pope’s remarks echoed those of his predecessors who spoke of a “new evangelization” to revive the faith in historically Christian lands
Pope Francis greets Cardinal Angelo Sodano on Saturday. He said the secularization of the West “necessarily entails changes.” PHOTO: POOL/REUTERS
By
Francis X. Rocca
By
Francis X. Rocca
Dec. 21, 2019 7:10 am ET
ROME—The Catholic Church must adopt new approaches to evangelization in a post-Christian West, Pope Francis said in a Christmas message to Vatican officials.
“We need other maps, other paradigms that might help us change our ways of thinking. We are not in Christianity, not anymore!” the pope said Saturday.
“We are no longer under a Christian regime because the faith—especially in Europe, but also in much of the West—no longer constitutes an obvious premise of common life. On the contrary, it is even often denied, derided, marginalized and ridiculed,” the pope said.
The pope’s remarks echoed those of his predecessors St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke of a “new evangelization” to revive the faith in historically Christian lands. Pope Benedict established an office explicitly dedicated to the task.
Those popes stressed a need to clarify and reaffirm traditional teachings in response to liberalizing tendencies within the church and wider society. By contrast, Pope Francis has tended to play down such teachings and focus on social causes such as economic equality, the rights of migrants and efforts to counteract global warming.
ROME—The Catholic Church must adopt new approaches to evangelization in a post-Christian West, Pope Francis said in a Christmas message to Vatican officials.
“We need other maps, other paradigms that might help us change our ways of thinking. We are not in Christianity, not anymore!” the pope said Saturday.
“We are no longer under a Christian regime because the faith—especially in Europe, but also in much of the West—no longer constitutes an obvious premise of common life. On the contrary, it is even often denied, derided, marginalized and ridiculed,” the pope said.
The pope’s remarks echoed those of his predecessors St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke of a “new evangelization” to revive the faith in historically Christian lands. Pope Benedict established an office explicitly dedicated to the task.
Those popes stressed a need to clarify and reaffirm traditional teachings in response to liberalizing tendencies within the church and wider society. By contrast, Pope Francis has tended to play down such teachings and focus on social causes such as economic equality, the rights of migrants and efforts to counteract global warming.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Nearly 200 evangelical leaders slam Christianity Today for questioning their Christian witness
Nearly 200 evangelical leaders slam Christianity Today for questioning their Christian witness
By Melissa Barnhart ,CP Reporter
Dec 22, 2019
President Donald J. Trump addresses his remarks Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, at Turning Point USA’s 5th annual Student Action Summit at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. | Official White House Photo/Shealah Craighead
In a letter sent to Timothy Dalrymple, the president of Christianity Today, on Sunday, nearly 200 evangelical faith leaders condemned both its editorial calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office and its editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, for dismissing evangelicals who oppose his views on the matter as being “far right.”
The faith leaders said in the letter, which can be read in full below, that the editorial “offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations."
The signatories also decried Galli who they say “offensively dismissed” their point of view in comments he made in an interview with CNN Friday, where he said that evangelicals who are upset or outraged by his Christianity Today editorial do not read the magazine because they are “Christians on the far right, evangelicals on the far right, so they’re going to be as dismissive of the magazine as President Trump has shown to be.”
“We are, in fact, not ‘far-right’ evangelicals as characterized by the author," the letter states. "Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our president has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel.
It continues, "We are not theocrats and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike.
“We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's — our public service."
They also denounced assertions Galli made in an essay published last year in the book Still Evangelical?, in which he derided the 76% of white self-identified evangelical voters who helped elect Trump in 2016. He described those individuals as "evangelicals [who] often haven’t finished college, and if they have jobs (and apparently most of them don’t), they are blue collar jobs or entry level work.” In the same piece, Galli referred to himself as belonging to a different group of evangelicals, the “elite” evangelicals.
The letter also assumes that Christianity Today will support a Democrat in the 2020 presidential election, and issues a challenge to publicly declare which Democrat they will support.
In a letter sent to Timothy Dalrymple, the president of Christianity Today, on Sunday, nearly 200 evangelical faith leaders condemned both its editorial calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office and its editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, for dismissing evangelicals who oppose his views on the matter as being “far right.”
The faith leaders said in the letter, which can be read in full below, that the editorial “offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations."
The signatories also decried Galli who they say “offensively dismissed” their point of view in comments he made in an interview with CNN Friday, where he said that evangelicals who are upset or outraged by his Christianity Today editorial do not read the magazine because they are “Christians on the far right, evangelicals on the far right, so they’re going to be as dismissive of the magazine as President Trump has shown to be.”
“We are, in fact, not ‘far-right’ evangelicals as characterized by the author," the letter states. "Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our president has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel.
It continues, "We are not theocrats and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike.
“We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's — our public service."
They also denounced assertions Galli made in an essay published last year in the book Still Evangelical?, in which he derided the 76% of white self-identified evangelical voters who helped elect Trump in 2016. He described those individuals as "evangelicals [who] often haven’t finished college, and if they have jobs (and apparently most of them don’t), they are blue collar jobs or entry level work.” In the same piece, Galli referred to himself as belonging to a different group of evangelicals, the “elite” evangelicals.
The letter also assumes that Christianity Today will support a Democrat in the 2020 presidential election, and issues a challenge to publicly declare which Democrat they will support.
Pope Francis Tells Christians Not to Try to Convert Nonbelievers
Ben White/Unsplash
THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D. 22 Dec 2019
ROME — Pope Francis told Christian high school students this weekend they should respect people of other faiths and not attempt to convert them to Christianity, insisting “we are not living in the times of the crusades.”
Asked by one of the students Friday how a Christian should treat people of other faiths or no faith, the pope said that “we are all the same, all children of God” and that true disciples of Jesus do not proselytize.
Francis said that his experience growing up in Argentina with its waves of immigration was a great help in learning to respect other people.
“There is a mixture of blood, a strong miscegenation in Argentina — I am the son of a migrant — and this made for a culture of coexistence,” he said. “I went to public school and we always had companions from other religions. We were educated to coexistence.”
“This taught me a lot, that we are all the same, all children of God and this purifies your gaze, it humanizes it,” he said. “In Argentina, there is a small group of narrow-minded Catholics who do not want Jews, do not want Muslims but this group, I never liked it, it is a fringe group, they have a cultural magazine but they do not have impact in society and when I used to teach I saw them for what they were, this is the secret.”
The pope went on to say that a Christian should never try to convince others of the truth of Christianity, but should simply give a testimony of consistency and wait for others to ask about the faith.
“You must be consistent with your faith,” he said. “It never occurred to me (and nor should it) to say to a boy or a girl: ‘You are Jewish, you are Muslim: come, be converted!’ You be consistent with your faith and that consistency is what will make you mature. We are not living in the times of the crusades.”
“The last thing I should do is to try to convince an unbeliever. Never,” he said. “The last thing I should do is speak. I should live my faith with consistency. And it will be my witness that will awaken the curiosity of the other who may then ask: ‘But why do you do this?’ And yes, then I can speak.”
“But listen, the gospel is never, ever advanced through proselytism,” he continued. “If someone says he is a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, he is not a disciple of Jesus. Proselytism is not the way; the Church does not grow by proselytism.”
The Church grows by attraction, by witness, he said. “Soccer teams can do proselytism, this can be done, political parties can do it, but there should be no proselytism with the faith. And if someone asks me: ‘But why do you do this?’ Read, read, read the Gospel, this is my faith. But without pressure.”
As he did last month, the pope then went on to cite the 11th-century French fictional epic poem La Chanson de Roland as an example of how Christians have tried to convert Muslims by the sword.
Molly Burhans on how to reduce the separation of church and Earth
8 October 2019
Sandra Cordon
Molly Burhans, founder of GoodLands and 2019 Young Champion of the Earth. Courtesy of Molly Burhans
Religious organizations are not quite at the forefront of digital technology – but one Catholic environmentalist and cartographer is working to change that. Molly Burhans is founder of the U.S.–based NGO GoodLands, which aims to leverage the Catholic Church’s landholdings to address conservation issues. By mapping the Church’s properties worldwide using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, GoodLands aims to identify Church-owned areas with the potential for large-scale land restoration.
Burhans was recently named UN Environment’s 2019 Young Champion of the Earth for North America for her work with GoodLands. Landscape News spoke with her shortly before she traveled to New York to receive her award at Climate Week on 26 September.
What drew you to this massive project of mapping the holdings of the Catholic Church? How did this all begin?
Sometimes people have a ‘eureka!’ moment, and I’ve had some in my life where I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a really good idea.’ This was not one. This was more like a systemic tidal wave with all of my interests and passions coming together.
In my early 20s, I became interested in the work of [20th-century Catholic social activist] Dorothy Day, who had founded the Catholic Worker Movement, and that helped me to connect back with my faith. I was also really interested in community and very active in service work.
I co-founded my first company around that time – Grooperative, a worker-owned food cooperative in Buffalo, New York – and around the same time started to explore religious life and the idea of becoming a nun. I met some really cool nuns through discernment [of a Catholic vocation],and they further inspired me to explore vocations with a spiritual director. But when I visited their convent, I noticed that the land management could have used a lot of improvement. I thought, ‘They have all of these forested areas, but all of these invasive species and erosion issues, and acres and acres of mowed lawns that could be meadows and pollinator habitat.’
When I founded GoodLands, I realized that the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental network of education and humanitarian aid and oversees 26 percent of healthcare facilities [globally]. I thought that it must also have the largest conservation network. but what I found was that there was actually no one actively working on it.
Not only that, I found that almost no dioceses or religious orders had GIS maps of their properties, and many did not even have an Excel spreadsheet listing their property in one place. I thought, ‘Well, somebody has got to do this’. I had also learned that the Catholic Church was one of the largest landowners globally – some speculate it has over 177 million acres [71.6 million hectares] in holdings worldwide – but had rarely done land inventories.
How did the Catholic Church respond to your project?
End of the world: Why Pope Francis' plan for 2020 is ‘straight out Book of Revelations’
The Pope could mark the end of the world, according to claims (Image: GETTY)
THE END OF THE WORLD is upon us, as the Pope’s 2020 plan to tackle climate change is “straight out the Book of Revelations”, according to the outrageous claims of a Biblical preacher online.
By CALLUM HOARE
PUBLISHED: 16:32, Sat, Dec 21, 2019UPDATED: 16:53, Sat, Dec 21, 2019
On September 12 this year, Pope Francis announced his plan to launch a global education pack to “unite efforts” to combat climate change. The leader of the Vatican called on world leaders to come together on May 14, 2020, to discuss his “Laudato Si” proposal to reduce global warming. He said: “Never before has there been such need to unite our efforts in a broad educational alliance, to form mature individuals capable of overcoming division and antagonism, and to restore the fabric of relationships for the sake of more fraternal humanity.
“An alliance is needed between the Earth’s inhabitants and our common home, which we are bound to care for and respect.
“I invite everyone to work for this alliance and to be committed, individually and within our communities, to nurturing the dream of a humanism rooted in solidarity and responsive both to humanity’s aspirations and to God’s plan.
“The most significant personalities in the world are invited to take part in the proposed initiative, political, cultural and religious, and in particular the young people to whom the future belongs.
“The goal is to arouse an awareness and a wave of responsibility for the common good of humanity, starting from the young and reaching all people of goodwill.”
“I invite everyone to work for this alliance and to be committed, individually and within our communities, to nurturing the dream of a humanism rooted in solidarity and responsive both to humanity’s aspirations and to God’s plan.
“The most significant personalities in the world are invited to take part in the proposed initiative, political, cultural and religious, and in particular the young people to whom the future belongs.
“The goal is to arouse an awareness and a wave of responsibility for the common good of humanity, starting from the young and reaching all people of goodwill.”
The Pope made his address in September (Image: YOUTUBE)
However, by ignoring God’s instructions to rest on the seventh day.
However, by ignoring God’s instructions to rest on the seventh day.
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Friday, December 20, 2019
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Vatican’s investment funds were vehicles for Italian bank fraud
Ed Condon and Matthew O'Brien/CNA
18 December, 2019
(Getty)
Two investment funds used by Vatican dicasteries were also used by a major Italian bank to conceal illegal investments for which the bank was eventually closed.
On Friday, Maltese media reported that the IOR, or Vatican Bank, is being sued in turn by Optimum for breach of contract; the firm claims the Vatican’s bank owes an additional 24 million euros as an already agreed-upon investment in one of its funds. The IOR has itself sued Optimum Asset Management; trying to recover millions it invested in an Optimum fund alleged to have lost 230 million euros.
Optimum was in 2015 identified by Italian authorities as a fund manager through which Banca Popolare di Vicenza fraudulently funnelled money meant for outside investments back into investment in the bank itself.
While the bank was required by European law to maintain a diversified investment portfolio as a hedge against risk, it was found to have used Optimum to fraudulently invest in itself instead, leaving the accounts and investments of customers at a high degree of risk.
The bank also used the same tactic, channelling investment funds back into itself, through the Athena Global Fund, run by Raffaele Mincione.
Italian media have estimated that the fraud involved hundreds of millions of euros in bank funds.
(Getty)
Two investment funds used by Vatican dicasteries were also used by a major Italian bank to conceal illegal investments for which the bank was eventually closed.
On Friday, Maltese media reported that the IOR, or Vatican Bank, is being sued in turn by Optimum for breach of contract; the firm claims the Vatican’s bank owes an additional 24 million euros as an already agreed-upon investment in one of its funds. The IOR has itself sued Optimum Asset Management; trying to recover millions it invested in an Optimum fund alleged to have lost 230 million euros.
Optimum was in 2015 identified by Italian authorities as a fund manager through which Banca Popolare di Vicenza fraudulently funnelled money meant for outside investments back into investment in the bank itself.
While the bank was required by European law to maintain a diversified investment portfolio as a hedge against risk, it was found to have used Optimum to fraudulently invest in itself instead, leaving the accounts and investments of customers at a high degree of risk.
The bank also used the same tactic, channelling investment funds back into itself, through the Athena Global Fund, run by Raffaele Mincione.
Italian media have estimated that the fraud involved hundreds of millions of euros in bank funds.
Supreme Court to look again at whether teachers at religious schools are ‘ministerial’
(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
By Robert Barnes
By Robert Barnes
December 18, 2019 at 5:26 PM EST
The Supreme Court will consider how much leeway religious organizations have in firing their employees in two cases from California filed by teachers who lost their jobs at Catholic schools.
The court said Wednesday that it will combine the cases, in which panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco said teachers could proceed with their lawsuits against the schools. One teacher alleged age discrimination, and another, now deceased and represented by her husband, said she was fired after informing the school that she had breast cancer.
The cases ask the court for further guidance on when an employee should be considered secular and, thus, able to take advantage of anti-discrimination laws — or religious, and thus unable to do so.
Supreme Court rules that Maryland ‘Peace Cross’ honoring military dead may remain on public land
Religious organizations — and dissenting conservative judges on the 9th Circuit — said the decisions in the two California cases did not follow precedent set by the Supreme Court in 2012. In the unanimous decision, the court said the “ministerial exception” meant that a former teacher at a Michigan Lutheran school could not sue her employer.
The decision said, in part, that the First Amendment protects religious organizations in deciding whom to employ to espouse religious training. It added that courts should look not just at an employee’s title, but also duties, in deciding whether religious instruction was an important function of the job.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Permanent Record: A Book Anyone Who Uses the Internet MUST Read
December 16, 2019
by Daisy Luther
Most of us recall the day in 2013 when the outrageous invasions into our privacy by the NSA were suddenly brought to light. Soon it was discovered that a young man named Edward Snowden was the person who had blown the whistle on the things he’d seen while working in the Intelligence Community for the National Security Agency.
The articles, while thorough, don’t show the entire gamut of just how deeply invasive the NSA actually is. Nor do they fully convey Snowden’s decision to go public.
In his recently released book, Permanent Record, he gives you insight that is too deep to be covered in newspapers.
It’s an excellent read.
The book is very well-written in a conversational style. Snowden digs deep and discusses his despair to discover how some of the programs he created were being used. He paints such a vivid picture of his angst, I felt discomfort for him. Who among us would really be able to give up everything in the attempt to right an egregious wrong?
Snowden’s job put him in a unique position to see the abuses of which most of us were blissfully unaware. Even the most paranoid among us probably didn’t fathom exactly how much information was being stored about us.
His personality shines through on the page. He was in his late 20s, in a relationship with a woman he truly loved. He was on the fast-track to success, and he was making money hand over fist. And still, the things he saw during the dark hours of his work shift in “The Tunnel” preyed on his conscience until eventually, he felt that he had to act.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
China Responds Slowly, and a Pig Disease Becomes a Lethal Epidemic
The bungled effort to contain African swine fever could result in higher Chinese food costs for years and shows the limits of Beijing’s top-down approach to problems.
Buyers and sellers at a pork wholesale market in Beijing.Credit...Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times
By Keith Bradsher and Ailin Tang
Dec. 17, 2019
Updated 2:24 p.m. ET
WULONGQIAO, China — A devastating disease spreading from China has wiped out roughly one-quarter of the world’s pigs, reshaping farming and hitting the diets and pocketbooks of consumers around the globe.
China’s unsuccessful efforts to stop the disease may have hastened the spread — creating problems that could bedevil Beijing and global agriculture for years to come.
To halt African swine fever, as the disease is called, the authorities must persuade farmers to kill infected pigs and dispose of them properly. But in China, officials have been frugal to the point of stingy, requiring farmers to jump through hoops to seek compensation from often cash-poor local governments.
As a result, Chinese officials are not reaching farmers like Peng Weita. When one of his pigs suddenly died three months ago from swine fever, he said, he quickly slaughtered his other four dozen before they could fall sick as well. But he buried them and took a big loss rather than reporting the deaths to the government for compensation.
“Three years of costs were all for nothing,” Mr. Peng said.
His loss was the government’s as well. Because he did not report the episode, local officials could not make sure he followed all the steps necessary to halt the spread, like burying carcasses a considerable distance from the farm. Mr. Peng said he probably buried them too close to his farm but declined to discuss details of the disposal.
The epidemic shows the limits of China’s emphasis on government-driven, top-down solutions to major problems, sometimes at the expense of the practical. It has also laid bare the struggle of a country of 1.4 billion people to feed itself.
China has long viewed food security as tantamount to national security. It had become essentially self-reliant in pork as well as in rice and wheat thanks to subsidies and aggressive farmland management. The swine fever epidemic will test that commitment to its increasingly affluent people, who more often expect meat at the dinner table.
WULONGQIAO, China — A devastating disease spreading from China has wiped out roughly one-quarter of the world’s pigs, reshaping farming and hitting the diets and pocketbooks of consumers around the globe.
China’s unsuccessful efforts to stop the disease may have hastened the spread — creating problems that could bedevil Beijing and global agriculture for years to come.
To halt African swine fever, as the disease is called, the authorities must persuade farmers to kill infected pigs and dispose of them properly. But in China, officials have been frugal to the point of stingy, requiring farmers to jump through hoops to seek compensation from often cash-poor local governments.
As a result, Chinese officials are not reaching farmers like Peng Weita. When one of his pigs suddenly died three months ago from swine fever, he said, he quickly slaughtered his other four dozen before they could fall sick as well. But he buried them and took a big loss rather than reporting the deaths to the government for compensation.
“Three years of costs were all for nothing,” Mr. Peng said.
His loss was the government’s as well. Because he did not report the episode, local officials could not make sure he followed all the steps necessary to halt the spread, like burying carcasses a considerable distance from the farm. Mr. Peng said he probably buried them too close to his farm but declined to discuss details of the disposal.
The epidemic shows the limits of China’s emphasis on government-driven, top-down solutions to major problems, sometimes at the expense of the practical. It has also laid bare the struggle of a country of 1.4 billion people to feed itself.
China has long viewed food security as tantamount to national security. It had become essentially self-reliant in pork as well as in rice and wheat thanks to subsidies and aggressive farmland management. The swine fever epidemic will test that commitment to its increasingly affluent people, who more often expect meat at the dinner table.
Pope Francis wants the world to know about his Jesuit spiritual director
Gerard O’Connell
December 16, 2019
Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates a marking the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 12, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Pope Francis concluded his quiet celebration of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination by visiting the Jesuit Curia in Rome to present the writings of Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, the Argentine Jesuit known as “Maestro Fiorito,” who so influenced his life and ministry as a priest, bishop and pope.
Some 250 people, many of them Jesuits, together with a small number of cardinals and bishops and several lay people, applauded when Francis arrived, accompanied by the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa, and by the pope’s nephew, José Luis Narvaja S.J., who has brought together Father Fiorito’s writings in five volumes.
Francis smiled broadly, with evident joy, when Father Sosa welcomed him once again “to your home” and thanked him for visiting on the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest in the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit leader recalled how over the past half-century as priest, bishop and now pope, Francis acquired “the style of listening” to the People of God and learned “to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit in human history.”
He thanked him for coming to present Father Fiorito’s writings, which show how God continues to give so many good things through the creative use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that are still today “an inexhaustible well of spiritual freshness to which we continue to draw on.”
Then after listening to brief talks from his nephew, Father Narvaja, and the editor-in-chief of La Civilta’ Cattolica, Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who explained that Father Fiorito’s writings can be found on-line as well as in print, the first Jesuit pope took the microphone.
Pope Francis concluded his quiet celebration of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination by visiting the Jesuit Curia in Rome to present the writings of Father Miguel Angel Fiorito, the Argentine Jesuit known as “Maestro Fiorito,” who so influenced his life and ministry as a priest, bishop and pope.
Some 250 people, many of them Jesuits, together with a small number of cardinals and bishops and several lay people, applauded when Francis arrived, accompanied by the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa, and by the pope’s nephew, José Luis Narvaja S.J., who has brought together Father Fiorito’s writings in five volumes.
Francis smiled broadly, with evident joy, when Father Sosa welcomed him once again “to your home” and thanked him for visiting on the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest in the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit leader recalled how over the past half-century as priest, bishop and now pope, Francis acquired “the style of listening” to the People of God and learned “to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit in human history.”
He thanked him for coming to present Father Fiorito’s writings, which show how God continues to give so many good things through the creative use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that are still today “an inexhaustible well of spiritual freshness to which we continue to draw on.”
Then after listening to brief talks from his nephew, Father Narvaja, and the editor-in-chief of La Civilta’ Cattolica, Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who explained that Father Fiorito’s writings can be found on-line as well as in print, the first Jesuit pope took the microphone.
Monday, December 16, 2019
Increasing Importance of the Three Angels' Messages
74. Increasing Importance of the Three Angels' Messages
Third Angel's Message a Life-and-Death Question .-We know that now everything is at stake. The third angel's message is to be at this time regarded as of the highest importance. It is a life-and-death question.
The eighteenth chapter of Revelation reveals the importance of presenting the truth in no measured terms, but with boldness and power. There must be no toning down of the truth, no muffling of the message for this time. Satan has devised a state of things whereby the proclamation of the third angel's message shall be bound about. We must beware of his plans and methods. The third angel's message is to be strengthened and confirmed. . . .
Satan will so mingle his deceptions with truth that side issues will be created to turn the attention of the people from the great issue, the test to be brought upon the people of God in these last days.-- Letter 28, 1900, pp. 2-4. (To W. W. Prescott and wife, February 17, 1900.)
A Worldwide Message .--The message of the angel following the third is now to be given to all parts of the world. It is to be the harvest message, and the whole earth will be lighted with the glory of God. The Lord has this one more call of mercy to the world, but the perversity of men diverts the work from its true bearing, and the light has to struggle amid the darkness of men who feel themselves competent to do a work that God has not appointed them to do.-- Letter 86, 1900, pp. 8, 9. (To A. G. Daniells, June 18, 1900.)
Increasing Importance of the Three Angels' Messages .--The truth for this time, the third angel's message, is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, meaning with increasing power, as we approach the great final test. . . . The present truth for this time comprises the messages, the third angel's message succeeding the first and the second. The presentation of this message with all it embraces is our work. We stand as the remnant people in these last days to promulgate the truth and swell the cry of the third angel's wonderful distinct message, giving the trumpet a certain sound. Eternal truth, which we have adhered to from the beginning, is to be maintained in all its increasing importance to the close of probation. The trumpet is to give no uncertain sound. . . .
Greenwald blasts U.S. media over perpetuation of the ‘Spygate’ hoax...
Glenn Greenwald blasts U.S. media over perpetuation of the ‘Spygate’ hoax, calling it ‘scandal of historic magnitude’
Posted on December 15, 2019 in Conspiracy, corruption, Deep State, Espionage, Media
(TNS) Journalist Glenn Greenwald is a liberal who is no particular fan of President Donald Trump or Republicans, but he does not allow that to cloud his judgment when it comes to fair and unbiased reporting.
In fact, since Trump won office, Greenwald has steadfastly refused to join the stampede of other journalists seeking to promote one lie after another about the president, personally, and his administration.
In particular, Greenwald has been highly critical of the ‘reporting’ regarding “Spygate” — the hoax Trump-Russia collusion narrative that began before the president even took office and ramped up after the firing of the very corrupt former FBI Director James Comey.
Comey’s firing for cause led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose ‘investigation’ of the hoax led to several indictments of Trump-tied figures — all for crimes totally unrelated to Mueller’s original mandate — and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
In the end, even Mueller’s Democrat-donor prosecutors had to admit there was no “collusion” — but that hasn’t stopped the Garbage Party’s lame stream media from continuing to pretend as though the collusion was real.
In a recent piece, Greenwald — founder of The Intercept — blasted his colleagues in the American media for the perpetuation of a massive lie that he believes constitutes a “scandal of historic magnitude” for the damage these hacks have done to their reputations and to the field of journalism in general:
Just as was true when the Mueller investigation closed without a single American being charged with criminally conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election, Wednesday’s issuance of the long-waited report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General reveals that years of major claims and narratives from the U.S. media were utter frauds. …
…[T]he revelations of the IG Report are not merely a massive FBI scandal. They are also a massive media scandal, because they reveal that so much of what the U.S. media has authoritatively claimed about all of these matters for more than two years is completely false.
Celebrate the Holidays with a Feast of Lights at Saddleback College
Celebrate the Holidays with a Feast of Lights at Saddleback College
Posted on November 15th, 2017
The Saddleback College Music Department is pleased to present A Feast of Lights on December 1st through the 3rd in the McKinney Theatre. The choral ensembles, under the direction of Dr. Scott Farthing, and the symphony orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Yorgos Kouritas, come together for this special holiday program of vocal and orchestral music for all ages to enjoy.
A Feast of Lights has been a holiday tradition for over 25 years–perhaps one of the oldest traditions at Saddleback College. This year’s festive program will highlight both old and new holiday favorites for chorus and orchestra. Get the holiday season started off with this sparkling concert for all ages! Light refreshments will be served after each performance.
The Saddleback College Music Department is pleased to present A Feast of Lights on December 1st through the 3rd in the McKinney Theatre. The choral ensembles, under the direction of Dr. Scott Farthing, and the symphony orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Yorgos Kouritas, come together for this special holiday program of vocal and orchestral music for all ages to enjoy.
A Feast of Lights has been a holiday tradition for over 25 years–perhaps one of the oldest traditions at Saddleback College. This year’s festive program will highlight both old and new holiday favorites for chorus and orchestra. Get the holiday season started off with this sparkling concert for all ages! Light refreshments will be served after each performance.
Dates for A Feast of Lights: Friday, December 1 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, December 2 at 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 3 at 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Saddleback College ticket office, Tuesday-Friday, noon to 4 p.m. or online at www.saddleback.edu/arts. If you are needing assistance, you may call the ticket office at (949)-582-4656 during the hours listed.
The Music Department has established a comprehensive program which is considered to be one of the finest in California: a complete lower-division curriculum for transferring music majors, numerous performance groups, private and group lessons, a full concert series with faculty and guest artists, and general music courses. The nationally-recognized faculty is dedicated to performance and to teaching in all areas such as vocal, instrumental, jazz, guitar, and piano. Other music classes include harmony, musicianship, composition, history, and appreciation of western art music, rock, jazz, and world. The new Popular Music program offers classes in Songwriting, Multi-Track Recording, Intro to the Music Industry, and Commercial Music Ensemble.
Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Pkwy in Mission Viejo, just east of Interstate 5 at the Avery Parkway exit. Free parking is available in Lot 12. Take Avery Parkway to Marguerite Parkway and turn left. Turn right into the first campus entrance and take the second left to Theatre Circle. Parking Lot 12 is on the right.
Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community. Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers more than 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals. For more information, please visit www.saddleback.edu. For Fine Arts events, visit www.saddleback.edu/arts.
Photo credit: Saddleback College
The Music Department has established a comprehensive program which is considered to be one of the finest in California: a complete lower-division curriculum for transferring music majors, numerous performance groups, private and group lessons, a full concert series with faculty and guest artists, and general music courses. The nationally-recognized faculty is dedicated to performance and to teaching in all areas such as vocal, instrumental, jazz, guitar, and piano. Other music classes include harmony, musicianship, composition, history, and appreciation of western art music, rock, jazz, and world. The new Popular Music program offers classes in Songwriting, Multi-Track Recording, Intro to the Music Industry, and Commercial Music Ensemble.
Saddleback College is located at 28000 Marguerite Pkwy in Mission Viejo, just east of Interstate 5 at the Avery Parkway exit. Free parking is available in Lot 12. Take Avery Parkway to Marguerite Parkway and turn left. Turn right into the first campus entrance and take the second left to Theatre Circle. Parking Lot 12 is on the right.
Located in Mission Viejo, Saddleback College provides quality higher education and training to the greater south Orange County community. Having served more than 500,000 students since 1968, Saddleback College offers more than 300 degree and certificate programs to help students reach their personal, career, and educational goals. For more information, please visit www.saddleback.edu. For Fine Arts events, visit www.saddleback.edu/arts.
Photo credit: Saddleback College
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