This small Pennsylvania city packed with hundreds of cameras is like a mini-surveillance state

TECH INSIDER


Paul Szoldra

Dec. 12, 2016, 6:12 PM

One of the most heavily-surveilled cities in America is right in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country, where the Amish shun technology and drive around in horse and buggies instead of cars.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a city just shy of 60,000 people, has nearly 170 cameras watching day-in and day-out.

On the latest episode of Codebreaker, the podcast we produce with Marketplace, host Ben Johnson discusses whether or not the Lancaster cameras have changed behavior or reduced crime over the years. Johnson also tries to figure out whether such surveillance is a savior of modern society.

"It is abundantly clear that you are supposed to know that you’re being watched," Johnson says. "What isn’t clear what the effect has been."

Lancaster is not a dramatically crime-ridden city. The majority of crimes committed involve larceny or burglary. The city usually has fewer than 10 murders each year. But a spike in some crimes in early 2000 led a special commission to recommend the installation of a camera system in 2001, according to The Guardian.

"It's a good witness," Charlie Smithgall, the city's former mayor, says of the cameras on the podcast.

Interestingly, the cameras are not monitored by the city's police force. Instead, they are watched by a non-profit group called the Lancaster Safety Commission, which monitors and then alerts police if suspicious activity is witnessed. And with the cameras being used each day by police, the force has now come to rely on it to solve crimes.

"I can't imagine us not having it now," says Lt. Todd Umstead.

But some worry about privacy implications amid such mass surveillance. The cameras are located everywhere — not just in high-crime areas. And as social scientists point out, people act differently when they know they are being watched, even when the behavior they may engage in is not illegal.

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The US elections – a rude awakening in Europe

Europe Infos - christian perspectives on the EU

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#199 - December 2016

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The US elections – a rude awakening in Europe


The election of Donald Trump as the future 45th US President took place on 9 November, 27 years to the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Does it herald a comparable cataclysm in world politics?

Like the British referendum in June, the US election came as a rude awakening to many in Europe. There was much talk in the corridors of Brussels of 2016 as an “annus horribilis”. As with Brexit, the US election was an expression of rejection of the political establishment and the ruling elites resulting from deep divisions in society and political polarisation – pitting Republicans against Democrats, whites against blacks, Hispanics against Anglos, urban versus rural communities, the young versus the old, dividing Americans with and without higher education, and even pitting men against women. Polarisation occurred on issues relating to immigration, taxes, the minimum wage, free trade agreements, climate change and abortion.

Trump used these hot topics in his election rhetoric to seize on associated anti-establishment feelings, and the political, social and economic marginalisation of many voters formed the keystone of his campaign. Although the USA’s economic power and the number of jobs had grown during the years of Obama’s presidency, the distribution of wealth remained unequal and the numbers of the “working poor” had increased. Trump promoted a protectionist trade policy, a xenophobic migration policy extending to active deportation and an isolationist climate policy that even promised to pull America out of treaties already concluded. It remains to be seen how far he will implement these ideas once he is President.

Europe’s right-wing populists celebrated the election result. Marine Le Pen was enthusiastic in her congratulations to Trump and saw his victory as a good omen for her own ambitions for the French presidency. Nigel Farage talked of 2016 as the year of “two major political revolutions”. Geert Wilders tweeted: “The [American] people are taking their country back”, which begs the question: who from?

Fear is spreading among Muslims, Latinos and undocumented immigrants – if Trump is serious about the statements made during his election campaign, they risk being deported. Despite all the fears associated with Trump’s election, today’s America cannot be compared to the Weimar Republic of the 1930s, but we have to wait and see how far the checks-and-balances system is able to place limits on President Trump’s ambitions.

The voting behaviour of the Catholics made a substantial contribution to Trump's victory: 52% voted for him, while only 45% voted for Hillary Clinton. A crucial factor behind these figures seems to have been the issue of abortion. Among white evangelicals, who make up 26% of the electorate, as many as 81% had voted for Trump.

When it comes to the Catholic Church, one can wonder whether she did enough to counter Trump’s scapegoat rhetoric, and if she could not have done more to step forward to speak on behalf of the people who had been marginalised by globalisation. Shortly after the elections, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio, remarked at the autumn plenary assembly of the US Bishops’ Conference on 12 November: “The Pope is more prophetic than the Catholic bishops here today.”

At the very least, the Catholic Church could play an important role in the essential post-election reconciliation process. As the largest individual religious community in the US, it represents around a quarter of the whole US population, and is made up of roughly the same numbers of Republicans, Democrats, Hispanics, blacks, whites and people from all levels of education and social classes. True to Pope Francis’ metaphor of the Church as a field hospital after a battle, she could make a valuable contribution towards healing the country’s wounds.

Martin Maier SJ

JESC

Translated from the original text in German


The views expressed in europeinfos are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of COMECE and the Jesuit European Office.

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With whom the Kings of the Earth Committed Fornication -2

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The United States Causes the World to Worship under Roman Authority!

How The Sabbath Was Changed

Today I want to answer the question which so many listeners have been concerned about since our first broadcast on the Sabbath question. How did the change take place, substituting Sunday for Saturday as the day of worship? This is possibly one of the most disturbing religious questions among thinking Christians today. Unfortunately, the issue is not examined publicly very often for reasons that we’ll consider today. But multitudes have wondered when, how and why the change came about. We have established in previous broadcasts that the Bible itself speaks with absolute consistency on this subject.

No Change Documented in the Bible
In both Old and New Testament there is not a shadow of variation in the doctrine of the Sabbath. The seventh day, Saturday, is the only day ever designated by the term Sabbath in the entire Bible. Not only was Jesus a perfect example in observing the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, but all His disciples followed the same pattern after Jesus had gone back to heaven. Yet no intimation of any change of the day is made. The apostle Paul, who wrote pages of counsel about lesser issues of Jewish and Gentile conflicts, had not one word to say about any controversy over the day of worship. Circumcision, foods offered to idols, and other Jewish customs were readily challenged by early Gentile Christians in the church, but the weightier matter of weekly worship never was an issue. Why? For the simple reason that no change was made from the historic seventh day of Old Testament times, and from creation itself. Had there been a switch from the Sabbath to the first day of the week, you can be sure the controversy would have been more explosive than any other to those Jewish Christians.

He is no longer in a manger or on the cross!

Andrew Garfield Joins the Best Actor Race – But for Which Performance?

December 7, 2016

Sasha Stone

Posted in

BEST ACTORfeatured



It’s been a rough year for lead actors in films: none of them have emerged unscathed. Even Ryan Gosling as the jazz musician following his dream in La La Land realizes all too late that he took the best things in life for granted. But that’s nothing when you consider Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea who wishes his worst regret was taking his wife and kids for granted. What he suffers in this film is something he can’t ever get over. He’ll never be over it. It will haunt him until the day he dies. This much is abundantly clear in Manchester by the Sea. He lives for his nephew and barely so. Affleck led the race early in the year because the Kenneth Lonergan work is among the most highly acclaimed films of the year.

Affleck, indeed, has been earning acclaim since Sundance. But Nate Parker was the person who led the very early part of the race back then. Once he was taken out of the race because of a 17 year-old case, Affleck really rose to prominence. Which is somewhat ironic since Manchester by the Sea really is about someone trying to get over something terrible that happened in the past – something he can’t wrestle free from. The film makes the case that mistakes in one’s past, deliberate or careless, can be and should be forgiven. The internet clearly doesn’t agree, with regard to Parker anyway.

Nigerian church collapses, killing 160 worshippers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, December 11, 2016, 5:36 AM

People stand near the remains of a church which collapsed during a service in the southern city of Uyo. (NTA VIA REUTERS TV )

LAGOS, Nigeria — Metal girders and the roof of a crowded church collapsed onto worshippers in southern Nigeria, killing at least 160 people with the toll likely to rise, a hospital director said Sunday.

Mortuaries in the city of Uyo are overflowing from Saturday's tragedy, medical director Etete Peters of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital told The Associated Press.

The Reigners Bible Church International was still under construction and workers had been rushing to finish it in time for Saturday's ceremony to ordain founder Akan Weeks as a bishop, congregants said.


Hundreds of people, including Akwa Ibom state Gov. Udom Emmanuel, were inside when metal girders crashed onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in, they said. Emmanuel and Weeks, who preached that God will make his followers rich, escaped unhurt.

Many uncounted victims are in private mortuaries scattered across Uyo, youth leader Edikan Peters said. He said some people are secretly taking the bodies of relatives to their homes because mortuaries are overcrowded and some do not have refrigeration.

A crane is being used to lift debris believed to be hiding the bodies of more victims, said Peters.

He tallied 90 bodies before he was told to stop counting on Saturday night, Peters said.

People carry a body on a stretcher after a church collapsed during a service in the southern city of Uyo. (NTA VIA REUTERS TV)

Journalists at the scene charge that church officials are trying to prevent them from documenting the tragedy, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area.

The governor's spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will hold an inquiry to investigate if anyone compromised building standards. Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.

In 2014, 116 people died when a multi-story guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. Most victims were visiting South African followers of the megachurch's influential founder T. B. Joshua.

Two structural engineers, Joshua and church trustees have been accused of criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter after a coroner found the building collapsed from structural failures caused by design and detailing errors.

But Lagos state government efforts to bring them to court have been foiled by repeated legal challenges that have delayed a trial.

Source

Catholic Church: New Priests Will be Expected to Preach Global Warming

Watts Up With That?
The world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change

Catholic Church: New Priests Will be Expected to Preach Global Warming


Posted by Eric Worrall




Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Catholic Online reports that new priests will be expected to be familiar with and promote efforts to reduce carbon emissions.


New priests to learn about global warming as part of formation

…

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) — The Catholic Church is intimately concerned about climate change. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the world’s oldest, longest running scientific mission. That body, which advises the pope on matters of science, has concluded that global climate change is real and is caused, at least in significant part, by human activity.

This is important to the Church because creation care is part of our mission. We are called to be stewards of creation. It’s also important because climate change can exacerbate the ills of poverty. Poor people in much of the world are the most vulnerable to changes.

…

Unfortunately, the issue is politicized. In the late 1970s, when the issue threatened the financial interests of the fossil fuel industry, the political lobbies, chiefly in the United States, financed a massive political disinformation campaign to manufacture the illusion of dissent within the scientific community.

We know because this manipulation of public opinion has been caught and documented. The fossil fuel industry funds nearly all of the climate change skeptics, going so far as to commission questionable studies, to financing think tanks, and even paying individual bloggers. The deception continues today.

…

But what does this have to do with the Church?

The Church has a responsibility to care for people, and the environment. And care for one is also care for the other.


Now updated guidelines for the formation of clergy says new priests should understand this as well:

“Protecting the environment and caring for our common home — the Earth, belong fully to the Christian outlook on man and reality. Priests should be “promoters of an appropriate care for everything connected to the protection of creation.”

The new guidelines suggest that in the future, priests will also have a good grasp of the global climate change problem and will share this with their congregation.

…

Read more: http://www.catholic.org/news/green/story.php?id=72433

Whats next? Excommunication of scientists whose theories aren’t approved by the Pope?



Source

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An Eternal Priesthood - HEBREWS 5 - Bill Hughes

Catholic Church leads 'reconciliation' talks in deadlocked DRC

AFP

December 8, 2016

DR Congo has been going through a prolonged political crisis which deepened in October after the presidential election, which had been due before the year's end, was postponed until April 2018 (AFP Photo/Eduardo Soteras)


Kinshasa (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo's Catholic Church launched "reconciliation" talks on Thursday aimed at ending a political stalemate threatening to push the country back into civil war.

President Joseph Kabila triggered a political crisis in October by agreeing a deal with a fringe opposition group that effectively lets him extend his hold on power for at least another year. He would otherwise have been due to step down in two weeks' time.


The crisis has led to outbreaks of violence, but the Catholic Church says it hopes to broker a deal to resolve the political standoff.

"We are here for inaugural political discussions on a wider consensus to the electoral process," Archbishop Marcel Utembi said as he welcomed 30 participants to DR Congo's national episcopal conference, which brings together negotiators for Kabila's ruling party and the main opposition group.

Utembi said the discussions, which could last until Tuesday, would lead the country to "peace, reconciliation, the holding of peaceful elections aimed at obtaining a transfer of political power, as prescribed by the constitution".

The prelate reiterated a call from Pope Francis to "build bridges not walls" in the mineral-rich DRC.

He also warned that the current "stalemate" could provoke "incalculable consequences".

However, he took a positive tone claiming that Kabila had given "strong and very encouraging signals" matched by the main opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

Kabila has been in power since his late father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001.

The younger Kabila has won two elections since then but is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term of office.

Violence flared following the last election in 2011, with Tshisekedi never accepting the official results which he branded as rigged.

He has called himself the president-elect ever since.

But the DR Congo, which was ravaged by two wars from 1996 to 2003, has seen an upsurge in violence over the last few months.

Anti-Kabila protests in September claimed 53 lives, according to the UN.

Pygmy-Bantu clashes over a caterpillar collection tax -- the insects are a common food staple for the hunter-gatherer Pygmy people -- left 20 dead in October while 34 civilians were killed in ethnic violence in the country's restive east last month.

And last week another 31 people died in clashes, sparked by a tribal rivalry, between soldiers and police on one side and militia fighters on the other.

Kabila's term as president is supposed to end on December 20 but he now looks set to remain in power until at least the end of next year.

Source

Churches Vow to Offer Sanctuary to People in US Illegally

By DENISE LAVOIE, AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITERBROCKTON, Mass. — Dec 9, 2016, 3:26 PM ET

The Associated Press

WATCH Dreamers March From Trump Tower to Washington, DC


Hundreds of houses of worship are offering sanctuary to people who could face deportation if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his campaign pledge to remove millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.

To some churches, sanctuary means spiritual support or legal assistance to fight deportation. Others promise or already are extending physical sanctuary by housing immigrants.


In Brockton, a poor city of about 95,000 people south of Boston, four churches have pledged to take in immigrants fearful of being deported.

"If you need a safe place, once you enter the doors of this building, you are safe," said the Rev. Abraham Waya, pastor of Central United Methodist Church, who said his church can shelter as many as 100 people. "We will host you and take care of you for as long as it takes."

During the campaign, Trump pledged to "immediately terminate" President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, including the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has extended work permits and temporary deportation relief to more than 700,000 immigrants brought here illegally as youths.

In an interview with Time magazine published this week, Trump adopted a more sympathetic tone toward young immigrants, saying, "We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud."

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency follows a 2011 policy to generally avoid entering "sensitive locations" such as schools, places of worship and hospitals to take custody of immigrants in the country illegally. The policy says enforcement actions can be conducted in those locations in cases of terrorism or when there are "exigent circumstances."


About 450 houses of worship of various denominations nationwide have offered to provide some form of sanctuary, including living space, financial assistance or rides for schoolchildren, said Alison Harrington, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona.

Immigrants have been fearful for decades, particularly as deportations increased during the Obama administration, said Harrington, who is involved in the sanctuary movement on a national scale. But Trump's campaign promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, to bar Muslims from entering the country and to deport millions "has really galvanized people," she said.

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, with more than 140 congregations, has adopted a resolution calling for "holy resistance" to Trump's immigration proposals and declaring itself a "sanctuary diocese."

In Philadelphia, a coalition of 17 churches and two synagogues said it has seen a huge uptick in the number of volunteers for a program offering support to immigrants when ICE raids their homes. The program had 65 volunteers in May. In the two weeks following Trump's win, more than 1,000 new volunteers signed up, said Peter Pedemonti, executive director of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia.

"We know that we're in a different historical moment right now and that our faith compels us to take increasingly bold actions," Harrington said.

Some churches have already made good on their promises.

In Philadelphia, a 40-year-old man from Mexico has been living in the Arch Street United Methodist Church for three weeks.

Javier Flores entered the U.S. illegally in 1997 and has been deported and re-entered several times since then. After being held in an ICE detention center for over a year, the agency released him for 90 days so he could prepare for deportation. He did not want to be separated from his wife and three children, so he sought refuge, said the Rev. Robin Hynicka, senior pastor.

"For us, we feel it's a moral obligation to keep families together," Hynicka said.

Ingrid Encalada Latorre, an immigrant from Peru, took sanctuary last week with her year-old son, Anibal, at a Quaker meeting house in Denver.

Latorre, 32, has exhausted appeals of a deportation order and is awaiting a decision on a final, discretional appeal to immigration officials in Washington.

She left her native Cusco, Peru, in 2000 to join an aunt in Colorado, where she found work as a dishwasher, cared for kids, cleaned homes and worked at assisted living centers, she said. In 2002, she bought fake papers from an unscrupulous street seller.

She was arrested in 2010 and pleaded guilty to a felony ID theft charge. She paid $11,500 in back taxes and successfully completed parole, but her guilty felony plea brought her to ICE's attention. Advocates arranged for LaTorre and Anibal to stay in the meeting house.

Anibal, a U.S. citizen, is being treated at Denver's Childrens Hospital for a congenital twisted neck condition; her other son, 8-year-old Bryant, is also a U.S. citizen and attends a bilingual school in suburban Westminster.

"I have lived half of my life here," she said. "Don't be afraid. Just fight and keep going."

———

Associated Press writer Jim Anderson in Denver contributed to this report.

———

This story has been corrected to show the immigrant's name is Ingrid Encalada Latorre, not Ingrid Encalata Latorre

Source

Bill H.R. 6393 to censor ‘Russian propaganda’ news websites passes House...

Bill H.R. 6393 to censor ‘Russian propaganda’ news websites passes House...

The False "Religious Liberty" trap - Babylon Uniting - Prophecy Fulfilling

Hillary Clinton issues stark warning over fake news 'epidemic'

Pope says stop spreading fake news

7.8 Quake Strikes Solomon Islands

An earthquake with magnitude 7.8 occurred 68km WSW of Kirakira, Solomon Islands at 4.18am local time.



A tsunami warning has since been issued for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru. The USGS initially reported the quake as 8.0, but later downgraded it to 7.8.

"Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within the next three hours along some coasts of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and Kosrae," stated the warning issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

The centre called on the government agencies responsible for dealing with emergency situations to “take action to inform and instruct any coastal populations at risk in accordance with their own evaluation.”

The epicentre of the quake was registered at a depth of 48.7km, according to USGS.

There are no immediate reports of damages to homes in the capital, Honiara. Tsunami warnings with ETA just hours after the quake struck was issued by the USGS for Kirakira, Auki, Honiara and parts of the Central and Isabel Provinces, but has since passed.

No evacuation is planned for the national referral hospital, sources say, which is located on the coast of Honiara.

Preliminary reports from Kirakira states that while the quake was perhaps the biggest they have felt in recent times, there are no damages to homes and no immediate reports of casualties.

Source: RT

The epicentre of the quake was registered at a depth of 48.7km, according to USGS.


Source

Appeal against corruption and in favour of human rights,

07.12.2016

Following today’s catechesis, the Holy Father recalled that two important days promoted by the United Nations will take place shortly: one against corruption, on 9 December, and the other for human rights, on 10 December. “They are two closely linked issues”, he explained. “Corruption is the negative aspect to be combated, starting from personal conscience and keeping watch over the areas of public life, especially those most at risk; human rights are the positive aspect, to be promoted with ever greater decisiveness, so that no-one is excluded from the effective recognition of the fundamental rights of the human person. May the Lord support us in this dual commitment”.

Source

Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors’ Meeting

Lael Caesar
is an associate editor of Adventist Review.

Organizers forced to change ministerial training program at Oakwood University

POSTED DECEMBER 8, 2016

“A God opportunity that I have hungered after for 40 years,” said Ben Jones, president of the South Central Conference, and chair of the Tuesday morning, December 6, devotional session where Pastor Tricia Wynn-Payne of Indiana had challenged her congregation to “Wait for It.”

As many as 1,000 attendees heard Pastor Wynn-Payne speak from Acts 1:4, where the resurrected Jesus commanded His disciples to “wait for the promise of the Father.” “Powerful,” said Anthony Medley, pastor of the Emmanuel Brinklow congregation in Ashton, Maryland. And Pastor Lola Moore said, “It was obvious that spiritual warfare took place before. We become overwhelmed by the enormity of the assignment and turn inward to focus on our skills set. But it was evident to me that the preacher took her own words seriously: she waited for it. She waited for the Holy Spirit to do His work in her.” Her ministry gave “unmistakable” evidence of “God’s handiwork,” said Jesse Wilson, director of the Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Council [PELC], a ministerial training program that meets annually at Oakwood University.

“The Holy Spirit showed up and took us by surprise.”

The results were spiritually stunning. “Pastor Tricia disrupted everything,” one attendee said; “The Holy Spirit showed up and took us by surprise.” Pastor Wynne-Payne herself, a trained physical therapist who left her nets in response to God’s call to pastoral ministry, says that she is still processing what happened yesterday. The message and worship experience so disrupted the proceedings that organizers spontaneously invited those who were interested to gather in one of the meeting rooms to pray. The next meeting scheduled for that room was long delayed as the prayer session continued for more than an hour. One after another, with no pause between prayers, pastors, administrators, and lay people lifted their voices and hearts to God in confession of sin, surrender to the Spirit’s will, and pleas for His anointing in their lives as well as His church’s program here on earth at the end of time.

As Elder Jones made final remarks and the solemn yet thrilling spiritual experience drew to its close, someone offered a comment that was pregnant with allusion to the historical experience that inspired Pastor Wynn-Payne’s sermon [see Acts 1:15]: he had counted the number of people in the room—not a straightforward task, since people were crowded in against the walls and squeezed into corners. Nevertheless, he wanted it to be known that about 120 individuals had been praying in the room.


Source


http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story-holy-spirit-disrupts-adventist-pastors’-meeting