Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Churches on the way: overcoming ecumenical challenges
ROME, Italy/GENEVA | 28/6/2021
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge delivers a lecture at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) on Synodality and Christian Unity from a Lutheran perspective. Photo: LWF/A. Danielsson
Lutheran leaders conclude Rome visit which explored ways forward in theological, spiritual and practical cooperation
(LWI) - Leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have concluded a two-day visit to Rome encouraged by Pope Francis’ exhortation to continue “with passion on our journey from conflict to communion.” That passion, said LWF Assistant General Secretary Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, is lived out, both “through our solidarity with those who suffer and through a renewed commitment to deepening our doctrinal dialogues.”
The 25 June papal audience was a high point of the visit by a large LWF delegation, including representatives from the seven regions of the global communion of churches. Earlier in the day, the director of LWF’s World Service and the Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis shared a Common Vision statement, highlighting the theological and spiritual foundations of their humanitarian work and proposing a path forward for increased collaboration with local churches.
The delegation also met with Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity to discuss the next steps of the Lutheran-Catholic theological dialogue. Both sides stressed the urgency of translating the Gospel in ways that remain relevant for all generations, underlining the need for ongoing formation and contextualization for both ordained and lay people. Dr Lange noted the progress represented by the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) process, which brings together five global Christian communions in joint proclamation and service. “The JDDJ continues to unfold its ecumenical potential,” he said, “thus becoming an encouraging sign of what God has done and continues to do in our midst.”
Lecture on ‘synodality from Lutheran perspective’
During a public lecture at the Dominican university of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge explored the concepts of synodality and Christian unity from a Lutheran perspective. Synodality, he noted, is at the heart of Pope Francis’ vision for “a church on the way.” He continued: “It is a question which “challenges each one of us, not only in our spiritual life, but in the life of our ecclesial institutions and the ways in which we define and use authority and power.”
Noting that the concept of synodality “encompasses both the realm of governance and the spiritual realm,” Junge looked back at the way decision-making was practiced in the nascent Christian community. He went on to note that Martin Luther, in his day, grappled with the same issues, writing at length about the early councils and the attempts to “confess and defend the ancient faith” while listening to the Holy Spirit at work in the life of individuals and communities.
As we listen ever more carefully to the instinct of faith, to the priesthood of all believers, and to the yearning for peace and reconciliation among all peoples, our doctrinal dialogue will be transformed.— LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge
Focusing on the connections between Luther’s insistence on the priesthood of all believers and the Catholic understanding of the sensus fidei (instinct of faith in every baptized person), Junge stressed that “every Christian is called to discern the gift of the Sprit in others, leading to unity of faith, as well as growth in communion.” Every Christian, he insisted, “is equipped to walk together on this way, ever deeper into communion, living out and witnessing to God’s act of reconciliation.”
Within a “fragmented, exclusionary, adversarial, isolationist” society, Junge said, the churches are called by God to engage in a “synodal way” in order to model “dialogue and hope in the midst of political and social tension.” But, he continued, this entails “an awareness of one’s own vulnerability” and the need for “a deep reliance on the hospitality of others.”
Welcoming the deepening of collaboration between LWF World Service and the global Catholic Caritas network, Junge noted that through "our commitment to the poor and the marginalized and suffering in this world, as we listen and learn from them, we, as individuals but also churches are transformed in that encounter.” He concluded: “As we listen ever more carefully to the instinct of faith, to the priesthood of all believers, and to the yearning for peace and reconciliation among all peoples, our doctrinal dialogue will be transformed.”
LWF/P. Hitchen
Lutheran leaders conclude Rome visit which explored ways forward in theological, spiritual and practical cooperation
(LWI) - Leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have concluded a two-day visit to Rome encouraged by Pope Francis’ exhortation to continue “with passion on our journey from conflict to communion.” That passion, said LWF Assistant General Secretary Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, is lived out, both “through our solidarity with those who suffer and through a renewed commitment to deepening our doctrinal dialogues.”
The 25 June papal audience was a high point of the visit by a large LWF delegation, including representatives from the seven regions of the global communion of churches. Earlier in the day, the director of LWF’s World Service and the Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis shared a Common Vision statement, highlighting the theological and spiritual foundations of their humanitarian work and proposing a path forward for increased collaboration with local churches.
The delegation also met with Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity to discuss the next steps of the Lutheran-Catholic theological dialogue. Both sides stressed the urgency of translating the Gospel in ways that remain relevant for all generations, underlining the need for ongoing formation and contextualization for both ordained and lay people. Dr Lange noted the progress represented by the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) process, which brings together five global Christian communions in joint proclamation and service. “The JDDJ continues to unfold its ecumenical potential,” he said, “thus becoming an encouraging sign of what God has done and continues to do in our midst.”
Lecture on ‘synodality from Lutheran perspective’
During a public lecture at the Dominican university of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge explored the concepts of synodality and Christian unity from a Lutheran perspective. Synodality, he noted, is at the heart of Pope Francis’ vision for “a church on the way.” He continued: “It is a question which “challenges each one of us, not only in our spiritual life, but in the life of our ecclesial institutions and the ways in which we define and use authority and power.”
Noting that the concept of synodality “encompasses both the realm of governance and the spiritual realm,” Junge looked back at the way decision-making was practiced in the nascent Christian community. He went on to note that Martin Luther, in his day, grappled with the same issues, writing at length about the early councils and the attempts to “confess and defend the ancient faith” while listening to the Holy Spirit at work in the life of individuals and communities.
As we listen ever more carefully to the instinct of faith, to the priesthood of all believers, and to the yearning for peace and reconciliation among all peoples, our doctrinal dialogue will be transformed.— LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge
Focusing on the connections between Luther’s insistence on the priesthood of all believers and the Catholic understanding of the sensus fidei (instinct of faith in every baptized person), Junge stressed that “every Christian is called to discern the gift of the Sprit in others, leading to unity of faith, as well as growth in communion.” Every Christian, he insisted, “is equipped to walk together on this way, ever deeper into communion, living out and witnessing to God’s act of reconciliation.”
Within a “fragmented, exclusionary, adversarial, isolationist” society, Junge said, the churches are called by God to engage in a “synodal way” in order to model “dialogue and hope in the midst of political and social tension.” But, he continued, this entails “an awareness of one’s own vulnerability” and the need for “a deep reliance on the hospitality of others.”
Welcoming the deepening of collaboration between LWF World Service and the global Catholic Caritas network, Junge noted that through "our commitment to the poor and the marginalized and suffering in this world, as we listen and learn from them, we, as individuals but also churches are transformed in that encounter.” He concluded: “As we listen ever more carefully to the instinct of faith, to the priesthood of all believers, and to the yearning for peace and reconciliation among all peoples, our doctrinal dialogue will be transformed.”
LWF/P. Hitchen
'Delta Variant' Scaremongering: Fauci's Last Stand?
June 30th, 2021
Ron Paul Liberty Report
@RonPaul
The media has joined the "public health experts" in hyping the danger of the "Delta variant" of the coronavirus. Fauci warns that it is the most dangerous yet. Yet data from the UK strongly suggest that, like all viruses, it becomes weaker with each mutation. So who's telling the truth and who is pushing a narrative? Also today: Capitol Hill Police hold open door for 69 year "insurrectionist" on Jan 6th, but she is arrested yesterday for entering the building. And...what does New York City's botched mayoral election tell us about elections?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR6bvxdRepU
LBRY URLlbry://@RonPaul#d/'delta-variant'-scaremongering-fauci's#2
Claim ID21c879ce9adeb46e65dc237827d490402328df4e
307.88 MB
New Lockdowns Loom as Fauci Releases Ominous Video
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"NO DOUBT"...
Teflon Fauci is back with more fear mongering.
Pope Francis meets with Secretary of State Antony Blinken...
Pope Francis meets with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss ‘hot button issues’ like the Middle East, the Holy Land and China
Pope Francis exchanges gifts with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during an audience at the Vatican June 28, 2021. Blinken presented a sculpture to the pope of a dove holding an olive branch. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Francis received the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony John Blinken, in a private audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace this morning, June 28, “for around 40 minutes in a cordial climate,” the Vatican stated afterwards.
Before the papal audience, Mr. Blinken had a 45-minute conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states. Informed Vatican sources told America that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.” The time for their meeting was limited because of the tight schedule of all the participants involved, including the pope, a source said.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement on the secretary’s trip to Europe, which ends on June 29, that said he would meet with senior Holy See officials “to underscore our shared commitment to freedom of religion or faith and tackling the climate crisis.”
After the meeting, Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, said that Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Tigray, immigration and refugees were also discussed.
Vatican sources said that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.”
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The Vatican issued a statement after Mr. Blinken’s visit but shared little information about the content of those conversations in the Apostolic Palace, except to say that during the conversation “Pope Francis recalled the visit he made [to the United States] in 2015 and expressed his affection for and attention to the people of the United States of America.”
Mr. Blinken is the second top official of the Biden administration to be received in private audience by Pope Francis this year. The first was the U.S. special envoy for climate, John Kerry, on May 15.
The visits of the two members of the U.S. administration to the pope are seen in Rome as the lead-up to the much-anticipated visit of President Biden, the second Catholic president of the United States, with Pope Francis. That visit is expected at the end of October, when the U.S. president visits Rome for the important meeting of the heads of the G20 states. The G20 summit brings together leaders of the world’s 20 chief economic powers. Mr. Biden and Pope Francis may also meet in Glasgow at the opening session of Cop26, the U.N-sponsored conference on climate change, in early November.
Pope Francis and Mr. Biden have already met three times—in 2013, 2015 and 2016—when Mr. Biden was vice president, and the chemistry between the two appears to be good. The relations between the Holy See and the Biden administration are much more positive and friendlier than with the previous U.S. administration.
The Holy See has welcomed the positive approach of the United States to many of the issues that are close to the pope’s heart, including climate change, concern for peace in the Middle East and in the Holy Land in particular and the need to combat Covid-19 and address the immigration question.
Top Vatican officials (who did not want to be named) have told America they do not share the apparent desire of some members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to consider denying Communion to President Biden and other Catholic politicians over the abortion question, as was evident from the letter sent by Cardinal Luis Ladaria to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S.C.C.B., shortly before the bishops’ virtual meeting this month.
Pope Francis and Mr. Biden have already met three times—in 2013, 2015 and 2016—when Mr. Biden was vice president, and the chemistry between the two appears to be good.
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Before his meeting with the pope, Mr. Blinken was given a private, early morning tour of the Apostolic Palace and the Sistine Chapel, where Francis was elected pope in the conclave of March 13, 2013.
Mr. Blinken came to Rome after visiting France and Germany and before traveling to southern Italy for a meeting with the foreign ministers of the G20 states at Matera and Bari.
The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. This time, however, in the clearest sign of rising geo-political tensions, China and Russia decided not to send their foreign ministers in person to the meeting, but they will participate virtually.
On the previous day in Rome, June 27, Mr. Blinken met the Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid. It was the first top-level meeting between a representative of the new Israeli coalition government and the Biden administration and came at a time when discussions are underway in Vienna over the possibility of the United States rejoining the Iran nuclear treaty.
RELATED STORIES
Pope Francis received the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony John Blinken, in a private audience in the library of the Apostolic Palace this morning, June 28, “for around 40 minutes in a cordial climate,” the Vatican stated afterwards.
Before the papal audience, Mr. Blinken had a 45-minute conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states. Informed Vatican sources told America that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.” The time for their meeting was limited because of the tight schedule of all the participants involved, including the pope, a source said.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement on the secretary’s trip to Europe, which ends on June 29, that said he would meet with senior Holy See officials “to underscore our shared commitment to freedom of religion or faith and tackling the climate crisis.”
After the meeting, Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, said that Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Tigray, immigration and refugees were also discussed.
Vatican sources said that during the meeting they “touched on all the hot button issues, including the situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land and China.”
Tweet this
The Vatican issued a statement after Mr. Blinken’s visit but shared little information about the content of those conversations in the Apostolic Palace, except to say that during the conversation “Pope Francis recalled the visit he made [to the United States] in 2015 and expressed his affection for and attention to the people of the United States of America.”
Mr. Blinken is the second top official of the Biden administration to be received in private audience by Pope Francis this year. The first was the U.S. special envoy for climate, John Kerry, on May 15.
The visits of the two members of the U.S. administration to the pope are seen in Rome as the lead-up to the much-anticipated visit of President Biden, the second Catholic president of the United States, with Pope Francis. That visit is expected at the end of October, when the U.S. president visits Rome for the important meeting of the heads of the G20 states. The G20 summit brings together leaders of the world’s 20 chief economic powers. Mr. Biden and Pope Francis may also meet in Glasgow at the opening session of Cop26, the U.N-sponsored conference on climate change, in early November.
Pope Francis and Mr. Biden have already met three times—in 2013, 2015 and 2016—when Mr. Biden was vice president, and the chemistry between the two appears to be good. The relations between the Holy See and the Biden administration are much more positive and friendlier than with the previous U.S. administration.
The Holy See has welcomed the positive approach of the United States to many of the issues that are close to the pope’s heart, including climate change, concern for peace in the Middle East and in the Holy Land in particular and the need to combat Covid-19 and address the immigration question.
Top Vatican officials (who did not want to be named) have told America they do not share the apparent desire of some members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to consider denying Communion to President Biden and other Catholic politicians over the abortion question, as was evident from the letter sent by Cardinal Luis Ladaria to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S.C.C.B., shortly before the bishops’ virtual meeting this month.
Pope Francis and Mr. Biden have already met three times—in 2013, 2015 and 2016—when Mr. Biden was vice president, and the chemistry between the two appears to be good.
Tweet this
Before his meeting with the pope, Mr. Blinken was given a private, early morning tour of the Apostolic Palace and the Sistine Chapel, where Francis was elected pope in the conclave of March 13, 2013.
Mr. Blinken came to Rome after visiting France and Germany and before traveling to southern Italy for a meeting with the foreign ministers of the G20 states at Matera and Bari.
The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. This time, however, in the clearest sign of rising geo-political tensions, China and Russia decided not to send their foreign ministers in person to the meeting, but they will participate virtually.
On the previous day in Rome, June 27, Mr. Blinken met the Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid. It was the first top-level meeting between a representative of the new Israeli coalition government and the Biden administration and came at a time when discussions are underway in Vienna over the possibility of the United States rejoining the Iran nuclear treaty.
RELATED STORIES
Catholics are talking past each other in the Biden-Communion debate
During his visit in Paris, Mr Blinken had expressed his hope of seeing the emergence of “conditions which may allow the relaunching of a peace process and the establishment of two states, Israel and Palestine.” He said: “I think the conditions are not there. We have to work on it. And that’s what we will do.” At the same time, he emphasized the importance of avoiding provocations in the Holy Land that could revive violence in the coming weeks and months.
After his visit to the Vatican, Mr. Blinken was scheduled to co-chair a meeting of the International Coalition against the Islamic State. The group was created in 2014 and involves over 80 countries, led by the United States. ISIS remains active in Syria and Iraq.
The State Department’s statement said that Mr. Blinken would also participate in a discussion of the crisis in Syria, focusing on humanitarian needs. He will also have bilateral meetings with President Sergio Mattarella of Italy and Foreign Minister Di Maio to underscore the important role of the U.S.-Italy partnership in addressing key global priorities.
In Bari and Matera, the secretary of state will attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting “to reinforce the U.S. commitment to multilateralism and discuss continued cooperation in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, addressing the climate crisis, and building back better with our global partners, with a focus on Africa.”
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
House Republicans Examine COVID-19 Origins
JUNE 29, 2021
House Republicans Examine COVID-19 Origins
House Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hear from scientists regarding the origins of COVID-19 during a forum on Capitol Hill.
Republicans Hold Coronavirus Forum in Washington
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), participates in a forum on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic with Republican members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. The debate over whether the coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China has escalated over the past few weeks. Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), participates in a forum on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic with Republican members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. The debate over whether the coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China has escalated over the past few weeks. Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI
Jim Jordan Attacks Fauci's Actions At Start Of COVID-19 Pandemic
RELATED:
Scalise Calls Out Pelosi For Calling Investigation Into COVID-19 Origin 'A Diversion'
Gas stations are running out of gas ahead of the holiday weekend
By Chris Isidore, CNN Business
Updated 6:27 PM ET, Mon June 28, 2021
OPEC and its allies extend production cuts
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Biden revokes Keystone XL pipeline permit
The Rockefeller Foundation -- founded on oil money -- is dropping fossil fuels
New York (CNN Business)When tens of millions of Americans hit the road this holiday weekend, they're going to find the highest prices for gasoline in nearly seven years. But many will also find stations that don't have any gas at all.
The national average price for a gallon of regular stands at $3.10, the highest since October 2014. The average is up just 2% since Memorial Day, but 42% from a year ago, when pandemic restrictions brought demand to a near halt and sent oil and gas prices plunging.
But stations running dry has nothing to do with the price — or even the supply — of gasoline. It's the shortage of tank truck drivers coupled with rising demand that is causing supply chain bottlenecks and shortages. Experts say a growing number of stations are reporting that they are simply not able to get gas delivered — at any price.
Right now the outages are scattered across the country, said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks prices for AAA. He said there have been outages reported in the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Colorado and Iowa. There are also outages reported in Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, said Patrick DeHaan, spokesperson for GasBuddy.
"It used to be an afterthought for station owners to schedule truck deliveries. Now it's job No. 1," Kloza said. "What I'm worried about for July is the increased demand works out to about 2,500 to 3,000 more deliveries needed every day. There just aren't the drivers to do that."
Current US gasoline demand is virtually the same as it was in the same period of 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But overall demand is up 16% from the end of last year, the last time there were this many travelers on the road during a holiday season.
AAA forecasts that 43.6 million Americans will travel by car this Fourth of July weekend, the most so far this year. And given the pent-up desire for summer getaways, Kloza said it's possible that demand for gas could top the records that were in the late summer of 2019.
He's also concerned that when drivers see the occasional station without gas, they will react by topping off their tanks more often than necessary, which itself can cause a shortage of gasoline. That's what happened this past May, when the hack of the Colonial Pipeline caused widespread outages at stations along the East Coast.
"We have the same advice we had then, this is not the time to fill up every car you have and every container you have," said Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores. "We hate to see shortages and outages caused by drivers panicking and topping off their tanks."
Idle trucks
A shortage of drivers is a problem throughout the trucking industry, but it takes special qualifications to drive a tank truck, which makes the shortage worse than in other sectors. According to the National Tank Truck Carriers, the industry's trade group, somewhere between 20% to 25% of tank trucks nationwide are parked heading into the summer due to a scarcity of qualified drivers. At this point in 2019, only 10% of tankers were sitting idle for that reason.
Coming this summer: Gas stations running out of gas
"We've been dealing with a driver shortage for awhile, but the pandemic took that issue and metastasized it," said Ryan Streblow, executive vice president of the NTTC. "It certainly has grown exponentially."
The pandemic prompted some tank truck drivers to retire, and others to shift to other trucking jobs that were in greater demand last year when gasoline demand fell so sharply.
Finding new drivers won't be a quick fix, said Brian Milne of data research firm DTN, which tracks energy prices and supplies.
"I do know the pandemic did prompt a number of older drivers to retire, and they've been struggling to get new drivers," he said. "I think it's going to keep popping up in different locations."
DeHaan said the current station outages are not as concentrated as they were following the Colonial Pipeline hack. That makes it virtually impossible to get an accurate count on how many stations are running out of gas — but the number is growing.
"It's hard to predict where the challenges are," he said. "It's just randomized pockets in cities both small and large."
DeHaan expects the problem will grow over the next four to six weeks.
"I don't think demand has reached a peak yet," he said.
Source
Updated 6:27 PM ET, Mon June 28, 2021
OPEC and its allies extend production cuts
ERCOT CEO explains how Texas power failure happened
Biden revokes Keystone XL pipeline permit
The Rockefeller Foundation -- founded on oil money -- is dropping fossil fuels
New York (CNN Business)When tens of millions of Americans hit the road this holiday weekend, they're going to find the highest prices for gasoline in nearly seven years. But many will also find stations that don't have any gas at all.
The national average price for a gallon of regular stands at $3.10, the highest since October 2014. The average is up just 2% since Memorial Day, but 42% from a year ago, when pandemic restrictions brought demand to a near halt and sent oil and gas prices plunging.
But stations running dry has nothing to do with the price — or even the supply — of gasoline. It's the shortage of tank truck drivers coupled with rising demand that is causing supply chain bottlenecks and shortages. Experts say a growing number of stations are reporting that they are simply not able to get gas delivered — at any price.
Right now the outages are scattered across the country, said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks prices for AAA. He said there have been outages reported in the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Colorado and Iowa. There are also outages reported in Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, said Patrick DeHaan, spokesperson for GasBuddy.
"It used to be an afterthought for station owners to schedule truck deliveries. Now it's job No. 1," Kloza said. "What I'm worried about for July is the increased demand works out to about 2,500 to 3,000 more deliveries needed every day. There just aren't the drivers to do that."
Current US gasoline demand is virtually the same as it was in the same period of 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But overall demand is up 16% from the end of last year, the last time there were this many travelers on the road during a holiday season.
AAA forecasts that 43.6 million Americans will travel by car this Fourth of July weekend, the most so far this year. And given the pent-up desire for summer getaways, Kloza said it's possible that demand for gas could top the records that were in the late summer of 2019.
He's also concerned that when drivers see the occasional station without gas, they will react by topping off their tanks more often than necessary, which itself can cause a shortage of gasoline. That's what happened this past May, when the hack of the Colonial Pipeline caused widespread outages at stations along the East Coast.
"We have the same advice we had then, this is not the time to fill up every car you have and every container you have," said Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores. "We hate to see shortages and outages caused by drivers panicking and topping off their tanks."
Idle trucks
A shortage of drivers is a problem throughout the trucking industry, but it takes special qualifications to drive a tank truck, which makes the shortage worse than in other sectors. According to the National Tank Truck Carriers, the industry's trade group, somewhere between 20% to 25% of tank trucks nationwide are parked heading into the summer due to a scarcity of qualified drivers. At this point in 2019, only 10% of tankers were sitting idle for that reason.
Coming this summer: Gas stations running out of gas
"We've been dealing with a driver shortage for awhile, but the pandemic took that issue and metastasized it," said Ryan Streblow, executive vice president of the NTTC. "It certainly has grown exponentially."
The pandemic prompted some tank truck drivers to retire, and others to shift to other trucking jobs that were in greater demand last year when gasoline demand fell so sharply.
Finding new drivers won't be a quick fix, said Brian Milne of data research firm DTN, which tracks energy prices and supplies.
"I do know the pandemic did prompt a number of older drivers to retire, and they've been struggling to get new drivers," he said. "I think it's going to keep popping up in different locations."
DeHaan said the current station outages are not as concentrated as they were following the Colonial Pipeline hack. That makes it virtually impossible to get an accurate count on how many stations are running out of gas — but the number is growing.
"It's hard to predict where the challenges are," he said. "It's just randomized pockets in cities both small and large."
DeHaan expects the problem will grow over the next four to six weeks.
"I don't think demand has reached a peak yet," he said.
Source
Monday, June 28, 2021
White House Holds Press Briefing: June 28 | NBC News
Note:
The Operative word of this briefing is 'Convey'
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Pope Sends More Mixed Messages on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
An encouraging note from Pope Francis capped an especially disorienting week on the Vatican’s stance toward gay rights.
Pope Francis last month at the Vatican.Credit...Remo Casilli/Reuters
June 27, 2021Updated 10:50 a.m. ET
VATICAN CITY — A leader in the Roman Catholic Church’s effort to reach out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics revealed on Sunday that Pope Francis had sent him a deeply encouraging note, capping an especially disorienting week on the Vatican’s attitude toward gay rights.
On Tuesday, the Vatican confirmed that it had tried to influence the affairs of the Italian state by expressing grave concerns about legislation currently in Parliament that increases protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people. And days later, the Vatican’s second in command insisted the church had nothing against gay rights, but was protecting itself from leaving the church’s core beliefs open to criminal charges of discrimination.
Nearly eight years after Pope Francis famously responded, “Who am I to judge?” on the issue of gay Catholics, it has become increasingly difficult to discern where he stands on the issue. A growing dissonance has developed between his inclusive language and the church’s actions.
The result is confusion and frustration among some of the pope’s liberal supporters who wonder whether the 84-year-old Argentine remains committed to a more tolerant church and is simply struggling to grasp the rapidly shifting contours of a difficult issue, or is really a social conservative trying to please everyone.
What is clear is that the new note will serve as fresh fodder in a battle within the church between frustrated progressives who hope the pope’s inclusive message will finally lead to change and wary conservatives, who are hoping the church will maintain its traditions. The Vatican’s own news service later reported that the pope had sent the letter.
In the handwritten letter dated June 21 and made public on Sunday, Francis praised and thanked the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit and the author of a book about reaching out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics.
“I see that you are continually seeking to imitate this style of God,” the pope wrote. “You are a priest for all men and women, just as God is a Father for all men and women. I pray for you to continue in this way, being close, compassionate and with great tenderness.”
Those words will almost certainly give succor to Francis’ liberal supporters, many of whom were deeply disheartened by a March response by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s top doctrinal office, to an inquiry about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions.
“Negative,” was the answer, which Francis approved.
Two people who support gay rights and are close to the pope say he told them that he relented under pressure from the congregation, a decision he regretted and hoped to rectify. The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accounts.
But Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whom Francis fired from his position as the chief doctrinal watchdog in 2017, said that idea was absurd.
“The pope is the pope,” he said, adding that Francis was clearly in charge on such matters.
Cardinal Müller and other prelates say that Francis, on a personal level, simply does not like to hurt people’s feelings.
“He wants to be pastoral and he wants to be close to the people. It’s his specialty,” Cardinal Müller said. “It’s easier to be everybody’s darling than to say the truth,” he added. “He doesn’t like direct confrontation.”
The Rev. James Martin in 2018 in Dublin.Credit...Paul Faith/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Father Martin, who is often attacked by church conservatives, made the letter public after revealing it at a virtual conference for pastors and laypeople who administer to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics.
In the letter, Francis said the Jesuit priest echoed Jesus in that his teaching was “open to each and everyone.” He concluded with a promise to pray for Father Martin’s “flock.”
But that flock has been led this way and that by the pope’s mixed signals over the years.
Francis stunned the faithful and a secular audience more accustomed to scolding about homosexuality and gay marriage when asked by reporters about a priest who was said to be gay, he responded, “Who am I to judge?”
His landmark 2016 document on family — titled “The Joy of Love” — rejected same-sex marriage but called on priests to be welcoming to people in nontraditional relationships, like gay people.
More recently, Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions. His comments did not change church doctrine but amounted to a significant break from his predecessors.
Francis had made the remarks in a 2019 interview with the Mexican broadcaster Televisa, but the Vatican censored the report, and the footage emerged only in an October 2020 documentary.
For liberals, all of that seemed to be building momentum to real progress on L.G.B.T.Q. people in the church, which made the Vatican’s March rejection of the blessing of gay unions so much harsher.
Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean sexual abuse survivor and gay person whom the pope befriended, wrote an opinion article in a Chilean newspaper that criticized the doctrinal watchdog’s rejection of blessings as insulting to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics.
The church’s doctrinal office is led by Cardinal Luis Ladaria, who was handpicked by the pope and is seen as in lock step with him.
In an explanatory note, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that while welcoming gay people, who have a right to be blessed, the church will not bless same-sex unions because God “does not and cannot bless sin.” Blessing a same-sex union, it added, could give the impression of putting it on the same level as marriage.
“This would be erroneous and misleading,” the note said.
Vatican officials with knowledge of the document said that the pope did not at any time oppose the decision, and that he was absolutely clear on questions of church doctrine.
The decision prompted widespread disappointment, even disgust, among gay Catholics and their advocates.
A Pride parade this month in Turin, Italy.Credit...Alessandro Di Marco/EPA, via Shutterstock
Liberal Catholics were disappointed again this past week when the Vatican confirmed that the Holy See’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, had hand delivered a letter to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See expressing reservations about the bill that would add L.G.B.T. provisions to an existing law that makes discrimination, violence or incitement based on race or religion a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.
The church intervened early to change the bill because it feared the law might legally oblige it to conduct same-sex marriages or teach more liberal ideas about gender in Catholic schools, according to an official inside the church.
Alessandro Zan, the bill’s sponsor, said such concerns were outlandish and not reflected in the legislation.
But the pope clearly approved the intervention, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper on Thursday.
The reaction was intense and angry from Italians who accused the Vatican of impinging on the state’s democratic process and from frustrated and confused gay Catholics who again saw the pope, despite everything he had said, as acting against them.
In an apparent effort at damage control, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and the second highest-ranking official after the pope, released a statement on Thursday.
He said that the Vatican was not seeking to block the legislation but worried that the vague draft language, and the enormous latitude of Italian judges, could lead to criminal discrimination charges for basic church practices. He insisted that hostility toward gay people did not motivate the Vatican opposition.
“We oppose any behavior or gesture of intolerance or hate toward people because of their sexual orientation,” he said.
Liberal supporters of Francis argue that letters like the one revealed by Father Martin on Sunday give them space to push ahead in their outreach. But Cardinal Müller said nothing of substance had changed since he left, and if anything, Francis had become stronger in his defense of the church’s core beliefs.
“The last signs were a little bit significant" he said.
Saturday, June 26, 2021
Disasters
The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.
The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails.
The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men's hearts with the desire for selfish gain. "Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14. In the great cities there are multitudes living in poverty and wretchedness, well-nigh destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; while in the same cities are those who have more than heart could wish, who live luxuriously, spending their money on richly furnished houses, on personal adornment, or worse still, upon the gratification of sensual appetites, upon liquor, tobacco, and other things that destroy the powers of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by every species of oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes.
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p.11.
Friday, June 25, 2021
Mayor Whaley hosts Dr. Fauci at ‘Mayors Challenge’ conference
Caroline Morse
2 days ago
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Mayors across the country launched their own competition called the “Mayors Challenge” in early June to help increase vaccination rates in cities across America by July 4.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley hosted Tuesday’s Mayor Challenge Conference. She was joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who says he’s pleased with the progress mayors across America have made in vaccination rates, especially here in Ohio.
“Mayor Whaley made the point about the situation, if you don’t get vaccinated you are really at risk,” said Dr. Fauci.
Vax-a-Million coming to end; Ohio vaccine rates up
Mayor Whaley says the city is paving the way encouraging residents to get vaccinated. She says the city is currently targeting low uptick neighborhoods with incentives to get vaccinated and using mobile vaccine units at the Oregon District’s Out on Fifth weekends to encourage younger residents to get vaccinated.
“We know the science is clear, in places where vaccination rates are low, we are seeing a rise in cases and hospitalizations,” said Whaley.
Dr. Fauci says President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching 70 percent of adult Americans vaccinated by 4th of July realistically won’t happen. Even in Ohio, less than half of the state has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“That is an aspirational goal, it’s not the endgame or the goal line,” said Dr. Fauci. “The goal line is well beyond that. After we get into the summer, we want to crush this outbreak.”
Right now the Coronavirus Dashboard shows 45 percent of Montgomery County residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
2 days ago
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Mayors across the country launched their own competition called the “Mayors Challenge” in early June to help increase vaccination rates in cities across America by July 4.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley hosted Tuesday’s Mayor Challenge Conference. She was joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who says he’s pleased with the progress mayors across America have made in vaccination rates, especially here in Ohio.
“Mayor Whaley made the point about the situation, if you don’t get vaccinated you are really at risk,” said Dr. Fauci.
Vax-a-Million coming to end; Ohio vaccine rates up
Mayor Whaley says the city is paving the way encouraging residents to get vaccinated. She says the city is currently targeting low uptick neighborhoods with incentives to get vaccinated and using mobile vaccine units at the Oregon District’s Out on Fifth weekends to encourage younger residents to get vaccinated.
“We know the science is clear, in places where vaccination rates are low, we are seeing a rise in cases and hospitalizations,” said Whaley.
Dr. Fauci says President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching 70 percent of adult Americans vaccinated by 4th of July realistically won’t happen. Even in Ohio, less than half of the state has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“That is an aspirational goal, it’s not the endgame or the goal line,” said Dr. Fauci. “The goal line is well beyond that. After we get into the summer, we want to crush this outbreak.”
Right now the Coronavirus Dashboard shows 45 percent of Montgomery County residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
William J. Walker
William J. Walker is a retired United States Army major general and the 37th Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives. He last served as the 23rd Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard.[1] This responsibility includes command of the District of Columbia Army and Air National Guard units. Walker previously served in the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Special Agent and was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in January 2003, with his final assignment being Deputy Assistant Administrator in Charge of the Office of Strategic Warning Intelligence. Walker is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
William J. Walker
Walker's flag officer photograph
37th Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 26, 2021
Preceded by Timothy Blodgett (Acting)
Personal details
Born Chicago, Illinois
Military service
Allegiance
United States of AmericaBranch/service
United States ArmyYears of service 1985–Present
Rank
Major GeneralCommands
District of Columbia National Guard
DCNG Land Component Command
Joint Task Force-District of Columbia
Multi-Agency Augmentation Command
U.S. Army South, Partnership for the Americas, Brigade Joint Task Force
Company A, 260th Military Intelligence Battalion
Battles/wars Afghanistan
In March of 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her intention to appoint Walker as Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives.[2] He was sworn in on April 26, 2021.[3]
Education
Walker is a native of Chicago, Illinois, where he was born and raised. Walker attended St. Sabina private Catholic grammar school as a youth and graduated from Leo Catholic High School in 1975.[4] Walker attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where he earned a bachelor of arts degree. He then attended Chicago State University, where he earned his master of science degree in Criminal Justice and Corrections.[5] In addition, Walker holds a master of science degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University and also a master of arts degree in International Service from American University. Walker has also attended and completed the National and International Security Program for senior executives at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the National Security Studies Program at George Washington University and the Seminar XXI Foreign Politics, International Relations and the National Interest Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[6]
Walker was raised Catholic.[26]
He is also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
References
Source: Wikipedia
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Spider-Man meets the Pope! Real-life hero holds pontiff’s hand as they meet in the Vatican – .
June 23, 2021
A real-life hero who dresses as Spider-man when visiting sick children in hospital wore his costume as he was greeted by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday.
While Francis is usually the star of Vatican gatherings, Matteo Villardita caught the attention of the audience lined up during the pontiff’s weekly audience.
Mr Villardita, 28, dons the comic book and movie superhero outfit to lift the spirits of hospitalized children, such as those at the Vatican Pediatric Hospital he planned to visit later Wednesday.
Sweaty under his costume during Rome’s heatwave, Villardita said he asked Pope Francis to pray for the children and their families.
Pictured: Pope Francis shaking hands with Matteo Villardita – a man wearing a Spider-Man fantasy character costume – who performs at hospitals for sick children, at the end of the weekly general audience on June 23, 2021
The man told AP TV that he gave Francis a spare mask, “as a sign, to tell him that through those eyes I see the pain of sick children in hospitals on a daily basis.”
Villardita, with a costumed arm, reached out and touched Francis, who was not wearing any COVID-19 mask, in the back on one arm as he greeted the pontiff.
Villardita said: “It was very exciting because Pope Francis immediately understood my mission. ”
Villardita, 28, dons the comic book and movie superhero outfit to lift the spirits of hospitalized children, like those at the Vatican Pediatric Hospital he planned to visit later Wednesday. Pictured: Pope Frances receives a Spider-man mask on Wednesday
Sweaty under his costume during Rome’s heatwave, Villardita said he asked Pope Francis to pray for the children and their families. Pictured: ‘Spider-man’ waves to the Vatican crowd
Villardita, with a costumed arm, reached out and touched Francis, who was not wearing a COVID-19 mask, in the back on one arm as he greeted the pontiff
Villardita took selfies with young people attending the hearing in a Vatican courtyard.
“But the real superheroes are the children who are suffering and their families who are fighting with so much hope,” Villardita told Vatican media outlet, Vatican News.
The Vatican described Villardita as “a really good superhero” and quoted him as saying that during the long months of pandemic containment in Italy he made more than 1,400 video calls because he was unable to make himself. give in person, to help sick children smile.
Villardita, who has a day job at a terminal shipping company in Italy’s northwestern Liguria region, runs an association for other hospital volunteers who dress up as superheroes. Pictured: Villardita awaits the arrival of Pope Francis on Wednesday
The man told AP TV that he gave Francis a spare mask, “as a sign, to tell him that through those eyes I see the pain of sick children in hospitals on a daily basis.”
Villardita, who has a day job at a terminal shipping company in Italy’s northwestern Liguria region, runs an association for other hospital volunteers who dress up as superheroes.
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they continued their work. “I made over 1,400 video calls because I couldn’t go in person,” Villardita told Vatican News.
A former pediatric patient who has undergone several surgeries to treat a congenital disease, Villardita was named an honorary knight in December by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
The superhero first appeared in 1962 in comics published by Marvel Comics and has gone on to become one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes, and one of the most recognizable.
Spider-man has featured in several blockbuster movies, many with him as the main character, and is very popular among children.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
EcoHealth Alliance head Daszak leaves UN-backed COVID origins probe
By Samuel Chamberlain
June 22, 2021 | 12:14am
Peter Daszak (right), Thea Fischer (left) and other members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus, arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on February 3, 2021.AFP via Getty Images
The head of a New York City-based nonprofit that directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is no longer part of a UN-backed commission examining the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak’s profile on the website of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission has been updated to include the parenthetical quote “recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.” The Daily Mail first reported on Daszak’s recusal Monday.
Earlier this month, Vanity Fair reported that Dazsak helped organize a statement signed by 27 leading scientists that appeared in The Lancet — a prestigious British medical journal — in February 2020. The statement condemned what it called “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin” and proclaimed “solidarity with all scientists and health professionals in China.”
“Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours [sic], and prejudice that jeopardise [sic] our global collaboration in the fight against this virus,” the statement added.
The head of a New York City-based nonprofit that directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is no longer part of a UN-backed commission examining the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak’s profile on the website of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission has been updated to include the parenthetical quote “recused from Commission work on the origins of the pandemic.” The Daily Mail first reported on Daszak’s recusal Monday.
Earlier this month, Vanity Fair reported that Dazsak helped organize a statement signed by 27 leading scientists that appeared in The Lancet — a prestigious British medical journal — in February 2020. The statement condemned what it called “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin” and proclaimed “solidarity with all scientists and health professionals in China.”
“Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours [sic], and prejudice that jeopardise [sic] our global collaboration in the fight against this virus,” the statement added.
Peter Daszak speaks to media upon arriving with other WHO members to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.AFP via Getty Images
Though the statement initially claimed that the signatories had “no competing interests,” The Lancet issued a statement Monday saying it had invited all 27 signatories (at least one of whom has walked back his support of the natural, or zoonotic, theory) to “re-evaluate their competing interests.” The statement included an updated disclosure from Daszak attached to the February 2020 statement and two other pieces he co-authored or contributed to.
In his expanded disclosure, Daszak stated that EcoHealth’s work in China — including at the Wuhan lab — was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Daszak also denied that he or EcoHealth received money directly from the Chinese government.
Though the statement initially claimed that the signatories had “no competing interests,” The Lancet issued a statement Monday saying it had invited all 27 signatories (at least one of whom has walked back his support of the natural, or zoonotic, theory) to “re-evaluate their competing interests.” The statement included an updated disclosure from Daszak attached to the February 2020 statement and two other pieces he co-authored or contributed to.
In his expanded disclosure, Daszak stated that EcoHealth’s work in China — including at the Wuhan lab — was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Daszak also denied that he or EcoHealth received money directly from the Chinese government.
Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth AllianceTwitter
“EcoHealth Alliance’s work in China … includes the production of a small number of recombinant bat coronaviruses to analyse [sic] cell entry and other characteristics of bat coronaviruses for which only the genetic sequences are available,” he wrote. “NIH reviewed the planned recombinant virus work and deemed it does not meet the criteria that would warrant further specific review by its Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) committee.”
The belated disclosure from The Lancet comes months after the nonprofit group US Right to Know reported that four of the statement’s co-authors had direct ties to EcoHealth Alliance. The Vanity Fair report stated that six signatories had either worked at EcoHealth Alliance or received funding from it.
Two months after The Lancet statement was published, Daszak emailed National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci thanking him for supporting the theory that the coronavirus naturally jumped from animals to humans and did not leak out of the Wuhan lab.
SEE ALSO
“EcoHealth Alliance’s work in China … includes the production of a small number of recombinant bat coronaviruses to analyse [sic] cell entry and other characteristics of bat coronaviruses for which only the genetic sequences are available,” he wrote. “NIH reviewed the planned recombinant virus work and deemed it does not meet the criteria that would warrant further specific review by its Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) committee.”
The belated disclosure from The Lancet comes months after the nonprofit group US Right to Know reported that four of the statement’s co-authors had direct ties to EcoHealth Alliance. The Vanity Fair report stated that six signatories had either worked at EcoHealth Alliance or received funding from it.
Two months after The Lancet statement was published, Daszak emailed National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci thanking him for supporting the theory that the coronavirus naturally jumped from animals to humans and did not leak out of the Wuhan lab.
SEE ALSO
Who is Peter Daszak, the nonprofit exec who sent taxpayer money to Wuhan lab?
“I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for publicly standing up and stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Daszak wrote on April 18, 2020. “From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’s origins.”
“Many thanks for your kind note,” replied Fauci, who had been told by another email correspondent in late January that the coronavirus may have been “engineered.”
The so-called “lab leak” theory, once dismissed by the mainstream media, has gained traction in recent weeks after a series of revelations — most notably that three researchers at the Wuhan lab were hospitalized with possible COVID symptoms in November 2019, the same period when experts believe the virus was spreading through the 11 million-strong city of Wuhan.
Peter Daszak arrives at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.AFP via Getty Images
Internal NIH emails obtained by the conservative group Judicial Watch earlier this month show that EcoHealth funneled more than $825,000 in grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology over a six-year period ending in fiscal year 2019. In total, the Wuhan lab was to receive $1.5 million between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2025 for its work on bat coronaviruses before the grant was terminated by NIH in April of last year.
Daszak has also been scrutinized over his role as the sole US representative on a World Health Organization fact-finding mission to Wuhan earlier this year. That trip produced a report that said the virus likely emerged from animals and that was panned by governments around the world, as well as the WHO’s own director general.
Despite his position at the center of the scientific response to the pandemic, Daszak has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters or lawmakers about EcoHealth, the initial WHO investigation, his relationship with Fauci, the Wuhan Institute of Virology or other issues.
Internal NIH emails obtained by the conservative group Judicial Watch earlier this month show that EcoHealth funneled more than $825,000 in grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology over a six-year period ending in fiscal year 2019. In total, the Wuhan lab was to receive $1.5 million between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2025 for its work on bat coronaviruses before the grant was terminated by NIH in April of last year.
Daszak has also been scrutinized over his role as the sole US representative on a World Health Organization fact-finding mission to Wuhan earlier this year. That trip produced a report that said the virus likely emerged from animals and that was panned by governments around the world, as well as the WHO’s own director general.
Despite his position at the center of the scientific response to the pandemic, Daszak has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters or lawmakers about EcoHealth, the initial WHO investigation, his relationship with Fauci, the Wuhan Institute of Virology or other issues.
Government Now “Greatest Threat” to U.S., Warns Pastor MacArthur
by Alex Newman
Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church/ YouTube
Despite claims by Joe Biden that alleged man-made global-warming and supposed “systemic racism” are the greatest threats to America, one of America’s best-known evangelical pastors says neither of those even exist. Instead, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church, who influences millions of Christians around the world, argued that “the government” itself is actually now the greatest threat to the nation.
The comments are especially noteworthy because MacArthur for decades has been known for vigorously urging Christians to submit to the government. In fact, his views on the subject were so strict that he has even accused America’s Founding Fathers of being in sin for declaring independence from their colonial rulers in London. He has also chastised Christians for being too attached to their constitutionally protected rights.
In a recent sermon delivered at his Southern California mega-church headlined “When Government Rewards Evil and Punishes Good,” Pastor MacArthur mocked Biden’s claims about the imagined threats facing America. “Our president said in the last month that the greatest threat to America, he said, on one occasion, is systemic racism, which doesn’t exist,” the pastor argued. “He said white supremacy, which doesn’t exist with any power. And then he said global warming, which doesn’t exist either, and if it does, God’s in charge of it.”
The congregation giggled as the pastor summarized Biden’s increasingly unhinged views about the alleged threats facing America. But then MacArthur dropped a bomb shell.
“In reality,” he said, “the greatest threat to this nation is the government.”
Despite claims by Joe Biden that alleged man-made global-warming and supposed “systemic racism” are the greatest threats to America, one of America’s best-known evangelical pastors says neither of those even exist. Instead, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church, who influences millions of Christians around the world, argued that “the government” itself is actually now the greatest threat to the nation.
The comments are especially noteworthy because MacArthur for decades has been known for vigorously urging Christians to submit to the government. In fact, his views on the subject were so strict that he has even accused America’s Founding Fathers of being in sin for declaring independence from their colonial rulers in London. He has also chastised Christians for being too attached to their constitutionally protected rights.
In a recent sermon delivered at his Southern California mega-church headlined “When Government Rewards Evil and Punishes Good,” Pastor MacArthur mocked Biden’s claims about the imagined threats facing America. “Our president said in the last month that the greatest threat to America, he said, on one occasion, is systemic racism, which doesn’t exist,” the pastor argued. “He said white supremacy, which doesn’t exist with any power. And then he said global warming, which doesn’t exist either, and if it does, God’s in charge of it.”
The congregation giggled as the pastor summarized Biden’s increasingly unhinged views about the alleged threats facing America. But then MacArthur dropped a bomb shell.
“In reality,” he said, “the greatest threat to this nation is the government.”
Citing Romans 13, a key chapter in the Bible explaining the purpose of government from a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the fledgling church in Rome, MacArthur shed light on why he believes out-of-control government authorities in the United States now represent the most significant danger to the nation. In short, they are now doing the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing: Instead of punishing evil and protecting good, government in America is increasingly punishing good and rewarding evil.
“The role of the government is to restrain evil, and when it functions to restrain evil, it is fulfilling its God-ordained purpose,” MacArthur explained, citing verses 1 and 2 in Romans 13. “That government is from God, by God, of God. It is designed as a necessary restraint in a world of sinners.”
Because Romans 13 calls on Christians to submit to the government, it has been frequently abused and perverted by totalitarians — including Adolf Hitler’s National Socialists (Nazis) — to promote slavish obedience to any and all evil decrees. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was even caught creating a “Clergy Response Team” that would deploy the chapter in crises to convince Americans to blindly obey.
And yet, as MacArthur explained in his sermon, when government fails to do what God created it to do, “it yields up its authority,” just like a father would forfeit his authority if he began leading his family into evil.
“The man who wrote that, the Apostle Paul, was in violation of the government more often than any other person in the entire new testament,” continued MacArthur. “And when he went to preach the Gospel, he was very often thrown in jail. Ultimately he was executed by the government that he refused to obey when it no longer functioned to protect good behavior and punish evil behavior.”
While MacArthur has always recognized the admonition in Acts 5:29 that it is “better to obey God than men,” he has historically been among the most zealous American preachers of the Christian duty of submission to government — even when it involves brutal dictatorships. In fact, MacArthur has even condemned America’s Founders for resisting the tyranny of King George and the British Parliament, as well as American patriots working to protect their God-given rights enshrined in America’s founding documents.
However, since the start of the liberty-shredding government response to the COVID19 pandemic, the California pastor appears to have taken a somewhat different approach to the issue. After complying initially with Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom’s edicts purporting to shut down churches for “health” reasons, MacArthur eventually became openly defiant, noting that Jesus Christ — not the governor — is and always will be the head of the Christian Church.
In a letter explaining his decision to defy Newsom and his decrees, MacArthur laid out his biblical reasoning. “Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). He is also King of kings — sovereign over every earthly authority (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16),” the letter said, providing plenty of scriptural footnotes. “Grace Community Church has always stood immovably on those biblical principles.”
That means God must be obeyed first and foremost. “As His people, we are subject to His will and commands as revealed in Scripture,” continued MacArthur. “Therefore we cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”
The popular and extremely influential California pastor noted that it is beyond the civil government’s prerogative to ban, modify, or mandate worship. In fact, Caesar gets no say in that question, because God has issued His own decrees in that area, putting it outside the realm of government jurisdiction, MacArthur argued. While everyone is required by God to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, the things that are God’s are outside of that scope, he said.
“The biblical order is clear: Christ is Lord over Caesar, not vice versa. Christ, not Caesar, is head of the church,” added MacArthur in his letter. “Conversely, the church does not in any sense rule the state. Again, these are distinct kingdoms, and Christ is sovereign over both. Neither church nor state has any higher authority than that of Christ Himself, who declared, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’.”
In response to government threats that he would be prosecuted and jailed for opening his church and defying Newsom’s COVID decrees, MacArthur responded by casually noting that he would simply start a jail ministry if imprisoned for his faith. Authorities were not amused, relentlessly terrorizing his church and its members with threats, fines, and even an effort to revoke his authority to use the parking lot.
While MacArthur has always shunned politics, he was becoming more and more outspoken as evil grew in government even before the COVID lockdowns came for his church. For instance, after the Supreme Court issued its unconstitutional opinion purporting to invent a “right” to a homosexual “marriage,” MacArthur vowed: “We will not bow.”
“The two greatest attacks of terror on America were perpetrated by the Supreme Court,” he thundered from his pulpit, pointing to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision purporting to legalize the murder of unborn babies and the 2015 Obergefell decision pretending to establish a “right” to a so-called “same-sex marriage.” “Our country is being terrorized by the people most responsible to protect it.”
In his recent sermon on government punishing the good and protecting evil, MacArthur warned that the recent assault on the Church waged under the pretext of “fighting COVID” was a test. By closing their doors and mindlessly obeying anti-biblical decrees from mayors and governors, many churches “failed” the test, he said. There will be more tests coming, and many churches will fail those tests as well.
Despite escalating social-media censorship, Catholic priests such as Fr. James Altman who have been speaking out against government tyranny and complicit Christian leaders have also been “going viral” online. Clearly, there is a deep hunger among Christians of all denominations for truth on current events — especially amid the dramatic and unprecedented trends that seem to be accelerating.
Despite the shadow banning, over 115,000 people watched MacArthur’s latest sermon on Youtube just in the first few days after its release. Many more undoubtedly heard it on his church’s popular website, and many more will hear it in the weeks to come. Large numbers of those around the world influenced by MacArthur are themselves pastors and leaders in evangelical churches. The significance of that sermon will likely be felt worldwide for years to come.
During the war for America’s Independence, pastors such as those in the Black Robe Regiment led the way. First, they prepared their congregations by preaching what the Bible says about government. Then, in many cases, pastors such as Rev. Peter Muhlenberg and Rev. Jonas Clark literally led the men of their churches in battle.
If liberty and morality are to survive in America, the nation’s pastors and pulpits must be on the front lines.
Nellis Air Force Base Hosts First-Ever Drag Queen Show...
Facebook/Coco Montrese
KRISTINA WONG21 Jun 20217,278
3:00
The Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada recently hosted its first-ever drag queen show at one of its on-base dining and entertainment clubs, according a base spokesperson.
Nellis Air Force Base said in an email statement to Breitbart News:
Nellis Air Force Base and the 99th Air Base Wing hosted its first-ever drag show Thursday, June 17, at the Nellis Club. The event was sponsored by a private organization and provided an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the history and significance of drag performance art within the LGBT+ community.
Ensuring our ranks reflect and are inclusive of the American people is essential to the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the military. Nellis Air Force Base is committed to providing and championing an environment that is characterized by equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion.
The drag queen show came to light after Air Force veteran podcaster “BK” posted a digital flyer for the event that read: “DRAG-U-NELLIS” and “CLASS IS IN SESSION.”
“Discover the significance of Drag in the LGBT+ Community at the Nellis Club,” it said.
It was scheduled for Friday, June 17, at 5 p.m. and “Sponsored by the Nellis Top 3.”
The “Top 3” at Nellis Air Force Base is a social and professional organization established to “enhance the morale, esprit de corps, of all enlisted personnel assigned to the Wing and to facilitate cooperation between members of the top three enlisted grades,” according to its private Facebook page.
“The base Top III will provide a forum for its members to meet, share personal experiences and expertise, and assist one another. It may function as an added channel of communication within the chain of command, between the commander, and the enlisted force on Nellis AFB,” it said.
One person who attended the drag queen show posted on her social media account, “Had a fun night … at a drag Queen show at nellis afb last night.”
The Nellis Club, according to the Nellis Force Support Squadron website, is a consolidated club offering a “versatile dining and entertainment experience for all its members.”
“We now serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight meal from Mon – Fri as well as brunch, dinner, and a midnight meal on Sat, Sun, Holidays, and Family Days. All meals are open to Essential Meal Card Holders! There is something for everyone to enjoy here at your Nellis Club, come give us a try,” it said.
Nellis Air Force Base is home to the service’s Warfare Center where Air Force pilots undergo the most demanding advanced air combat training in the country. “The crews do not come to learn how to fly, but instead how to be the best combat aviators in the world,” the base website said.
KRISTINA WONG21 Jun 20217,278
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The Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada recently hosted its first-ever drag queen show at one of its on-base dining and entertainment clubs, according a base spokesperson.
Nellis Air Force Base said in an email statement to Breitbart News:
Nellis Air Force Base and the 99th Air Base Wing hosted its first-ever drag show Thursday, June 17, at the Nellis Club. The event was sponsored by a private organization and provided an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the history and significance of drag performance art within the LGBT+ community.
Ensuring our ranks reflect and are inclusive of the American people is essential to the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the military. Nellis Air Force Base is committed to providing and championing an environment that is characterized by equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion.
The drag queen show came to light after Air Force veteran podcaster “BK” posted a digital flyer for the event that read: “DRAG-U-NELLIS” and “CLASS IS IN SESSION.”
“Discover the significance of Drag in the LGBT+ Community at the Nellis Club,” it said.
It was scheduled for Friday, June 17, at 5 p.m. and “Sponsored by the Nellis Top 3.”
The “Top 3” at Nellis Air Force Base is a social and professional organization established to “enhance the morale, esprit de corps, of all enlisted personnel assigned to the Wing and to facilitate cooperation between members of the top three enlisted grades,” according to its private Facebook page.
“The base Top III will provide a forum for its members to meet, share personal experiences and expertise, and assist one another. It may function as an added channel of communication within the chain of command, between the commander, and the enlisted force on Nellis AFB,” it said.
One person who attended the drag queen show posted on her social media account, “Had a fun night … at a drag Queen show at nellis afb last night.”
The Nellis Club, according to the Nellis Force Support Squadron website, is a consolidated club offering a “versatile dining and entertainment experience for all its members.”
“We now serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight meal from Mon – Fri as well as brunch, dinner, and a midnight meal on Sat, Sun, Holidays, and Family Days. All meals are open to Essential Meal Card Holders! There is something for everyone to enjoy here at your Nellis Club, come give us a try,” it said.
Nellis Air Force Base is home to the service’s Warfare Center where Air Force pilots undergo the most demanding advanced air combat training in the country. “The crews do not come to learn how to fly, but instead how to be the best combat aviators in the world,” the base website said.
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Monday, June 21, 2021
Iran president-elect takes hard line, refuses to meet Biden
By ISABEL DEBRE and JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias.
The comments by Ebrahim Raisi offered a blunt preview of how Iran might deal with the wider world in the next four years as it enters a new stage in negotiations to resurrect its now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal with global powers.
The news conference in Tehran also marked the first time the judiciary chief found himself confronted on live television about his role in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Raisi offered no specific response to that dark chapter in Iranian history, but appeared confident and defiant as he described himself as a “defender of human rights.”
Behind a sea of microphones, mostly from media in Iran and countries home to Tehran-backed militias, Raisi took questions ranging from his views on the nuclear talks to relations with regional rival Saudi Arabia. He appeared nervous at the start of the hourlong session but grew increasingly at ease as he returned to vague campaign themes of promoting Iran’s economic self-sufficiency and combating corruption.
The 60-year-old cleric, a protégé of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, swept nearly 62% of the 28.9 million votes in Friday’s presidential election, which saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Millions of Iranians stayed home in defiance of a vote they saw as tipped in Raisi’s favor after a panel under Khamenei disqualified prominent reformist candidates and allies of relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Tehran province had a staggeringly low 34% turnout, roughly half of previous years, with many polling stations noticeably deserted.
Concerning the talks over Iran’s nuclear deal, Raisi promised to salvage the accord to secure relief from U.S. sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy. But he ruled out any limits to Iran’s missile capabilities and support for regional militias — among other issues viewed by Washington as shortcomings of the landmark deal that the Biden administration wants addressed.
“It’s nonnegotiable,” Raisi said of Iran’s ballistic missile program, adding that the U.S. “is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran.”
Tehran’s fleet of attack aircraft largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, forcing Iran to instead invest in missiles as a hedge against its regional Arab neighbors, which have bought billions of dollars in American military hardware over the years. Those missiles, with a self-imposed range limit of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), can reach across the Mideast and U.S. military bases in the region.
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Iran also supports militant groups like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to bolster its influence and counter its regional foes.
When asked about a possible meeting with Biden, Raisi curtly answered: “No.” He frowned and stared ahead, without elaborating. His moderate competitor in the election, Abdolnasser Hemmati, had suggested during campaigning that he might be willing to meet Biden.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran “or any plans to meet at the leader level, so it’s unclear that anything has actually changed on that front.”
She added that Biden views Iran’s “decision leader is the supreme leader. That was the case before the election; it’s the case today; it will be the case probably moving forward.”
Raisi will become the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by the U.S. government even before entering office, in part over his time as the head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary — a situation that could complicate state visits and speeches at international forums such as the United Nations.
Raisi’s election vaults hard-liners to top posts across the government as negotiations grind on in Vienna to try to rescue Tehran’s nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its atomic program.
In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the agreement, setting off months of spiraling tensions across the Middle East.
Trump’s decision has, over time, seen Iran abandon every limitation on enrichment. Tehran is now enriching uranium to 60%, its highest level ever, though still short of weapons-grade 90%. Diplomats from parties to the deal returned to their capitals for consultations following the latest round of negotiations Sunday.
With the collapse of the deal, Rouhani and his fellow moderates watched their popularity plummet. Now, the ascendancy of a hard-liner hostile to the West has stoked concerns about the future of the accord and regional stability.
But in his remarks Monday, Raisi emphasized the deal’s importance, describing sanctions relief as “central to our foreign policy” and exhorting the U.S. to “return and implement your commitments.”
On Sunday, months after Iranian officials warned that U.S. sanctions were hampering their ability to procure parts for Iran’s sole nuclear plant at Bushehr, the facility underwent an unexplained emergency shutdown.
Whether Iran and the U.S. will be able to move beyond the deal to discuss further thorny issues remains in question, however.
“No matter the timing, a U.S.-Iran agreement in Vienna leaves unanswered whether the United States can achieve a broader rapprochement with an Iran led by an avowed proponent of the core tenets of Iran’s Islamic Revolution,” the New York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis.
On Saudi Arabia, which has recently started secret talks with Iran in Baghdad over several points of contention, Raisi said that Iran would have “no problem” with a possible reopening of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and that the “restoration of relations faces no barrier.” The embassy shut down in 2016 as relations deteriorated.
Raisi displayed defiance when asked about the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as “death commissions.”
After Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, heavily armed by Saddam Hussein, stormed across the Iranian border from Iraq in a surprise attack. Iran blunted their assault.
The trials began around that time, with defendants asked to identify themselves. Those who responded “mujahedeen” were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to “clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic,” according to a 1990 Amnesty International report. International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed. Raisi served on the commissions.
On Monday, there was no somber tone.
“I am proud of being a defender of human rights and of people’s security and comfort as a prosecutor wherever I was,” Raisi said.
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