Sunday, November 17, 2013

Vatican plays down mafia threat to Pope


1:54am November 16, 2013


Pope Francis delivers a speech during a meeting of the world's cardinals. (AAP)


The Vatican has downplayed a warning that Pope Francis could be targeted by the mafia because of his reforms to Holy See financial bodies.

"There is no reason for concern, and there is no need to feed alarmism," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

He added that the Vatican - and, by extension, the Pope - was "extremely calm" regarding the alleged threat.

The warning was voiced by Nicola Gratteri, a respected state prosecutor in the southern Calabria region, who said the vicious local mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, is "nervous" the Pope is threatening its interests.

"Those who up to now have fed off the power and wealth coming directly from the Church are nervous, upset," he said in an interview published by the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano this week.

The Pope, Gratteri said, "is dismantling the Vatican's economic centres. If the mafia bosses can trip him up, they won't hesitate."

Gratteri didn't substantiate his warning. But his words reverberated through the Italian and foreign media, sparking fears for the pontiff's safety.

Initially the Vatican tried to dismiss the allegation. But from Thursday it started saying it was simply taking the warning in its stride.

Implied in Gratteri's comments is that Italy's mafia has its tentacles in the Vatican's obscure financial dealings and agencies, some of which have been marred by scandal.

Since taking the papacy in March, Pope Francis has set about cleaning up the Holy See's vast holdings and making them more transparent.

One of his first steps was to install a special commission tasked with investigating the Vatican's bank and another to probe Vatican finances in general.

The Pope has also called in a US consultancy, Promontory Financial Group, to conduct an external review of the Vatican bank's money-laundering rules and, more recently, to look into the internal agency handling its many real estate holdings.

The Vatican's bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, was notably the main shareholder of the Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in 1982 amid accusations of laundering money for the mafia.

Banco Ambrosiano's chairman Roberto Calvi - dubbed "God's Banker" - was found hanging from a London bridge that year in a suspected murder by mobsters.

The Vatican's agency handling its real estate assets, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, came under scrutiny when a prelate, Nunzio Scarano, was arrested in June on suspicion of acting as a front for dubious international payments made through the Vatican bank.

Scarano wrote to the Pope to defend himself, accusing cardinals of covering up irregular financial activities carried out by his superiors.

Italy's various crime syndicates have been held responsible for several high-profile assassinations and abductions.

Although the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra is perhaps the best-known, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, whose name comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty, is considered by many as more dangerous and difficult to predict.

It has a tight clan structure which has made it famously difficult to penetrate, and specialises in drug and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal construction.

The 'Ndrangheta runs an international crime network from its base in Calabria and has been linked to operations across western and northern Europe and as far afield as the Americas and Australia.


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Activist Who Taught Obama To Be Community Organizer Is Retiring


June 3, 2013 6:57 AM



Related tags Community Organizer, Gamaliel Foundation, Greg Galluzzo, President Barack Obama, Retiring, United Neighborhood Organization



CHICAGO (STMW) – The man who taught a young Barack Obama how to be a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago recalls his ability to talk to anyone, from the very poor to the very rich.

At 69, Greg Galluzzo is weeks from retiring — or at least not getting paid — from the Gamaliel Foundation, the training and consulting organization he has directed since 1986. Galluzzo, also the creator of the United Neighborhood Organization, managed to stay behind the scenes during his 41-year community-organizing career, which he says is the sign of a good organizer.

“We’re not supposed to be in the spotlight,” he said, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re suppposed to create the scenario so the indigenous people of the community are our leaders.”

But there are those in the community-organizing world who take a different and very public path. Galluzo met Obama in 1985, and remembers him at age 21 as “a hardworking man, very willing to learn, a man with incredible integrity and a man who was comfortable no matter who he was talking to.”

“He really embraced the community, and the community embraced him,” Galluzzo said. “I think it was one of the more formative moments in his life where he became proud of his own ancestry because the people made him proud.”

Galluzzo met with Obama weekly for a year, teaching him how to raise money for his community organization and how to design community strategies.

“He’s very young, very articulate, but he’s well-educated and so he’s not intimidated talking to anybody,” Galluzzo said. “And yet at the same time, I saw him on many occasions just talk to very low-income people and they would feel wonderful talking to him. They never felt put down. They felt affirmed.”

From his early organizing days in the ’70s until today, Galluzzo has seen the effects of community organizing, based on who is leading the city. He describes Mayor Richard M. Daley as a man who listened to the community, his base, and says the day Mayor Harold Washington died was the saddest day of his life. Washington, he says, “was a hero to this city.”

Galluzzo travels around the world, organizing and inviting people into the political process. But the beginning of his career focused largely on rebuilding schools in Pilsen, a community he calls home. The first thing he accomplished as an organizer was kicking out a “bad principal,” he says, which took 9 months. Since then, he has led community efforts that have helped build nine new grade schools, a high school and a community college.

In the mid 1970s, Galluzzo was front and center when the Pilsen community called on owners of factories near Cermak and Ashland to shut their doors in order for Benito Juarez Community Academy to be built. But it wasn’t an easy fight.

Galluzzo and his organization, the Pilsen Neighborhood Community Council, forced a meeting with Mayor Richard J. Daley, but left angry after Daley told the crowd the decision was out of his control, in the hands of an eminent-domain judge and the Board of Education.

Days later, a judge walked into a Pilsen community group office and asked for details on the fight against the factory owners: “He says, ‘Maybe I can be helfpul,’ ” Galluzzo said. “Two days later, there’s inspectors crawling all over those buildings.”

Building owners were hauled into court and “harassed by city government.”

During the eminent-domain hearing, the judge who had visited Pilsen welcomed about 50 community members into his courtroom. Minutes later, he came out of chambers with owners of the buildings and lawyers and said, “‘A wonderful thing has happened. The owners have agreed to sell,’” Galluzzo recalled.

“That’s the way Daley worked,” Galluzzo said. “He was in some ways a great community organizer. His hands were not on any one thing. His hands were on everything.”

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)





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Saturday, November 16, 2013

The Holy Spirit

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Mighty Third Person of The Heavenly Trio


The Signs of the Times

May 27, 1897

Temptation--What is it ?

With such a general to lead us on to victory, we may indeed have joy and courage. He came as our champion. He takes cognizance of the battle that all who are at enmity with Satan must fight. He lays before his followers a plan of the battle, pointing out its peculiarities and severity, and warning them not to join his army without first counting the cost. He tells them that the vast confederacy of evil is arrayed against them, and shows them that they are fighting for an invisible world, and that his army is not composed merely of human agencies. His soldiers are coworkers with heavenly intelligences, and One higher than angels is in the ranks; for the Holy Spirit, Christ's representative, is there.

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Manuscript Releases Volume Twelve

PG- 145

When God's people search the Scriptures with a desire to know what is truth, Jesus is present in the person of His representative, the Holy Spirit, reviving the hearts of the humble and contrite ones. (John 15:23, 10-11 quoted.)--Ms. 158, 1898.

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Have we humbled ourselves before God, that the Holy Spirit may work through us with transforming power? As children of God, it is our privilege to be worked by his Spirit. When self is crucified, the Holy Spirit takes the broken hearted ones, and makes them vessels unto honor. They are in his hands as clay in the hands of the potter.

The Southern Review, December 5, 1899

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Reflecting Christ

The Holy Spirit, Representative of Christ

PG- 129

The promise of the Comforter presented a rich truth to them. It assured them that they should not lose their faith under the most trying circumstances. The Holy Spirit, sent in the name of Christ, was to teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance. The Holy Spirit was to be the representative of Christ, the Advocate who is constantly pleading for the fallen race. He pleads that spiritual power may be given to them, that by the power of One mightier than all the enemies of God and man, they may be able to overcome their spiritual foes.


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“See Something Say Something” Campaign Could Allow People to Label ANY AMERICAN a Suspected “Terrorist”

By Washington's Blog
Global Research, February 12, 2012
Washington's Blog 12 February 2012



List of Actions or Beliefs Which May Get You Labeled a Terrorist Grows Daily

Every American could – literally – be labeled a suspected terrorist under current governmental criteria.

Specifically, the following actions may get a U.S. citizen labeled as a suspected terrorist today:
Speaking out against government policies
Protesting anything
Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this)
Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this)
Asking questions about pollution (even at a public Congressional hearing?)
Paying cash at an Internet cafe
Asking questions about Wall Street shenanigans
Holding gold
Creating alternative currencies
Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most Hawaiians store up on extra food)

Investigating factory farming
Infringing a copyright
Taking pictures

Holding the following beliefs may also be considered grounds for suspected terrorism:
Valuing online privacy
Supporting Ron Paul or being a libertarian
Liking the Founding Fathers
Being a Christian (?)
Being anti-tax, anti-regulation or for the gold standard
Being “reverent of individual liberty”
Being “anti-nuclear”
“Believe in conspiracy theories”
“A belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack”
“Impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)”
“Insert religion into the political sphere”
“Those who seek to politicize religion”
“Supported political movements for autonomy”
Being “anti-abortion”
Being “anti-Catholic”
Being “anti-global”
“Suspicious of centralized federal authority”
“Fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”
“A belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in … survivalism”
See Something, Act Like a Snitch in Nazi Germany, Stasi East Germany or Iraq

I initially thought that  was overreacting when he claimed that a Homeland Security video paints the following activities as signs of potential terrorism:
Opposing surveillance
Talking to police officers
Wearing a hoodie
Driving a van
Writing on a piece of paper

But Watson makes a brilliant point about Homeland Security’s “See Something Say Something” campaign, and how accusations of terrorism actually spread:


As Robert Gellately of Florida State University has highlighted, Germans under Hitler denounced their neighbors and friends not because they genuinely believed them to be a security threat, but because they expected to selfishly benefit from doing so, both financially, socially and psychologically via a pavlovian need to be rewarded by their masters for their obedience.

At the height of its influence around one in seven of the East German population was an informant for the Stasi. As in Nazi Germany, the creation of an informant system was wholly centered around identifying political dissidents and those with grievances against the state, and had little or nothing to do with genuine security concerns. [Indeed, the American government has been using anti-terror laws to crush dissent and to help the too big to fail businesses compete against smaller businesses (and see this. And the Department of Homeland Security has been distracted by activities which have very little to do with terrorism.)]

This is the kind of society the Department of Homeland Security is, whether deliberately or inadvertently, recreating in 21st century America.

Gellately’s website notes:


“I started to read these files about all the victims in just one region of Germany that the Gestapo had processed,” Gellately says. “It would have taken a large force of secret police to collect information on so many people. I needed to know just how many secret police there really were. So I asked an elderly gentleman who would’ve lived through those times, and he replied, ‘They were everywhere!’”

That was the prevailing myth.

“But I had evidence right there in my hands that supported a different story,” Gellately explains. “There were relatively few secret police, and most were just processing the information coming in. I had found a shocking fact. It wasn’t the secret police who were doing this wide-scale surveillance and hiding on every street corner. It was the ordinary German people who were informing on their neighbors.”

***

As he was uncovering who was acting as the Gestapo’s unsolicited agents, he also began to discern what motivated neighbor to inform on neighbor. The surviving myth told the story of informers who were motivated either by a commitment to the Third Reich or by a fear of authority.

But the motives Gellately found were banal—greed, jealousy, and petty differences.

He found cases of partners in business turning in associates to gain full ownership; jealous boyfriends informing on rival suitors; neighbors betraying entire families who chronically left shared bathrooms unclean or who occupied desirable apartments.

And then there were those who informed because for the first time in their lives someone in authority would listen to them and value what they said.

***

Backing Hitler also challenges conventional views on the nature of modern dictatorships. Perhaps as a way for us to believe that “it couldn’t happen here,” we have viewed the Holocaust as an atrocity that was the work of a handful of evil men. Gellately, however, presents persuasive evidence that Hitler and the Third Reich were able to build a consensus for their policies.

“They began with small violations of the rights of Jews and other minorities, and then ratcheted up their racism and persecution only when they saw implied consent from the German people.” Gellately says. “Many Germans disapproved of Hitler’s fascism and brutality, at first. But after the long economic depression following the First World War, the German people allowed the thriving economy and return to law and order under Hitler to mute their concerns. People had jobs and the streets were safe. Hitler was managing a fine balance of consent and coercion.”

The same dynamic played out in Iraq. People turned their neighbors in to the American military pretending they were Al Qaeda, based on petty jealousies or just wanting to get a reward. Specifically, neutral observers say that most of the Iraqis tortured in Iraq were innocent farmers, villagers, or those against whom neighbors held a grudge. Iraqis received a cash reward from the U.S. military for turning people in as “suspected terrorists”. See this movie.

The number two man at the State Department under Colin Powell (Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson), the commander of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and official U.S. military records all confirm that virtually all of the people turned in and subsequently tortured were innocent.


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Iran-Vatican Detente?

President Hassan Rohani meeting with Archbishop Leo Boccardi




Signs Of the Times
November 25, 2013From CNS, Staff and other sources


Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has informally begun a dialogue between the Islamic and Christian worlds. He expressed hope for an alliance between Iran and the Holy See regarding major issues that shake humanity, like the fight against radicalism, injustice and poverty. Rohani’s appeal was launched on the occasion of his meeting with Archbishop Leo Boccardi, the new apostolic nuncio, on Nov. 2 in Tehran. Rohani published a photo of the meeting on his Twitter account, writing, “Islam and Christianity need to dialogue more than ever today, as the basis of conflicts between religions is mainly ignorance and the lack of mutual understanding.” Rohani remarked that the Vatican and Iran have “common enemies,” like terrorism and extremism, and “similar goals,” like the defeat of injustice and poverty in the world. Archbishop Boccardi called for “closer bilateral relations between the Holy See and the Islamic Republic,” expressing the wish that the two countries can work together to resolve regional crises in the Middle East, particularly the current one in Syria.


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Christians Face 'Extinction', Baroness Warsi Warns



The Huffington Post UK | Posted: 15/11/2013 00:02 GMT | Updated: 15/11/2013 00:04 GMT





Christians face becoming "extinct" in large parts of the world, Baroness Warsi will warn on Friday.

In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC, the senior Foreign Office minister will call for unity in confronting the intolerance and sectarianism that leads to minority communities being persecuted around the world, including a "mass exodus" of Christians.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph previewing her speech, Baroness Warsi, Britain's most senior Muslim politician, said the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is a "global crisis".

"There are parts of the world today where to be a Christian is to put your life in danger. From continent to continent, Christians are facing discrimination, ostracism, torture, even murder, simply for the faith they follow," she said.

"Christian populations are plummeting and the religion is being driven out of some of its historic heartlands. There is even talk of Christianity becoming extinct in places where it has existed for generations – where the faith was born."

Baroness Warsi will argue for a "spirit of unity" to "stir the world" against the persecution of religious minorities. "From Apartheid to gay rights, intolerance and inequality have only been defeated when the mainstream has got behind the cause," she said. The speech will follow an event on religious freedom hosted at the Council on Foreign Relations. The discussion will be moderated by Katherine Marshall, visiting professor at Berkley Centre for Religion at Georgetown University.


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Related


Minister Baroness Warsi warns persecution threatens the Christian way of life

CHRISTIANITY is in danger of extinction in many parts of the world because of growing persecution, a Tory minister warned yesterday.

By: Macer Hall Published: Sat, November 16, 2013


Lady Warsi advocates for Christian's rights [GETTY]

Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, said Christians were being driven out of countries such as Syria and Iraq where the religion first took root.

The peer, Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister, raised her concerns in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Earlier, she said countries such as Pakistan should do more to “set the tone” for tolerance of minorities.

Lady Warsi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m concerned that the birthplace of Christianity, the parts of the world where Christianity first spread, is now seeing large sections of the community leaving and those remaining feeling persecuted.


We all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities feel belong says Warsi [GETTY]


The birthplace of Christianity is now seeing large sections of the community leaving and those remaining feeling persecuted
Baroness Warsi

There are huge advantages to having pluralistic societies – everything from the economy to the way people develop educationally, and therefore we all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities do continue to feel that they belong and are not persecuted.”

She said she had already had “very frank conversations” with ministers in Pakistan, telling them that senior politicians have a “duty” to speak out against persecution.

EXTINCTION: Christians should not feel persecuted [GETTY]

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The Jesuit Web by Jim Arrabito



Jim Arrabito Babylon is Fallen 5 of 7 The Jesuit Web



TheMedien

Uploaded on Jan 9, 2011

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Origin of the Aquarian Age By Jim Arrabito



Aquarian Age - James Arrabito - Documentary



JesusTVSermons

Published on Jul 15, 2012

James Arrabito gives a sermon on the Aquarian Age. This a great documentary.
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Friday, November 15, 2013

Statement of Amazing Discoveries Germany regarding the accusations of anti-semitism in Germany



In October 2012, Prof. Walter Veith presented a series entitled “Sturm aus dem Norden” [English series: “Repairing the Breach”] in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Marienberg in Nürnberg. Amazing Discoveries Germany (AD) streamed the event live on its internet channel AD TV so that as many Adventists, guests and friends as possible would be able to participate in the presentations. Our office received a lot of positive feedback.

Only a few days after, an aggressive publication appeared by the private news agency European Adventist News Network [EANN]. Under the heading “Veiths gefährliches Spiel mit der Judenfrage” [Veith’s Dangerous Game with the Jewish Question – a disturbing fact-check] author Dietmar Päschel, a journalist for the EANN, suggested by means of a so-called “reality check” that a major part of the presentation was actually made up out of thin air. Päschel claimed Veith’s message based on the Khazar theory, which has only recently been further backed up by new genetic research [here in English: Science Daily and AFP], to be “scientifically disproven”. Above all, he accused the evangelist of “anti-Semitic views” and even “downplaying the [Jewish] Holocaust”.
Some facts will help put the matter into perspective. Already in November 2011 EANN had published „Die Weltverschwörung. Ein Einblick in die dunkle Ideenwelt des Walter Veith“ [English article: The Dark Fantasy World of Walter Veith], an extremely polemic, faulty and simply insulting article that styled Veith as a “religious businessman” being caught in an irrational fantasy world and assailing his audience with a crude sequence of suggestive slides. EANN then further discussed the very diverging responses of its readers under the heading “Walter Veith polarisiert EANN-Leser” [Walter Veith polarizing EANN readers], as if Veith and not their own article were the cause of the polarization. In June 2012, Päschel in a 20-page paper “Veiths Lehre bei NS-Anhängern” [Veith’s teachings among Nazi adherents] endeavored to prove that Veith was no “authentic preacher of Adventist beliefs”. Though his artificial arguments are far from valid, they reveal all the more the author’s negative attitude towards the speaker and a subtle attempt to tie Veith’s message to right-wing extremism.

Against this backdrop, Päschel’s latest attack appears as part of a planned crusade. Shortly afterwards, Amazing Discoveries Germany received word that a press organ had triggered off a preliminary investigation of the presentations at the Prosecuting Attorney’s office in Nürnberg for the potential offense of sedition and Holocaust denial. EANN editor Martin Haase commented to Norbert Zens, Treasurer of the Intereuropean Division EUD, that EANN neither filed a charge at the prosecution office nor asked the police for inspection. The Attorney’s office in Nürnberg however, after having closed the proceedings, confirmed to us that the critical impetus had indeed originated with an EANN journalist. In an email dated from November 11, 2012 to the Prosecuting Attorney in Nürnberg, the journalist intimates on grounds of EANN reader comments and the public dissociation by SDA Church leadership that Veith’s presentation had called forth great agitation and was obviously “criminally relevant”. He then asks four suggestive questions conveying the impression this was a quite serious instance that certainly would bring about a complaint and criminal investigation. His letter does not contain a direct request to launch a preliminary investigation; instead it casts the speaker and its presentation in a light so negative that the Office’s reaction was predictable.

We are sad and concerned that contrary to Bible principles, legal proceedings have been induced against a fellow believer and that this course of action has not even been acknowledged when it was addressed.

Moreover, even one day before his article “Veiths gefährliches Spiel mit der Judenfrage”, EANN journalist Dietmar Päschel had, in an urgent appeal written to the two German union conferences, demanded consequences against Veith. Under the pressure of EANN and some Adventist lawyers, the church leaders hastily drew up a public statement condemning in strong terms Veith’s alleged anti-Semitic utterances. Here is an excerpt: (translated from the German):

We dissociate from such statements and conspiracy. . . Here is a speculative worldview, there is no basis in the Bible and it distracts from the real purpose of the gospel. Moreover, that the manner of the presentation is not an ethically justifiable way of dealing with other religions. The Adventist departments and communities are encouraged to ensure that such events take place neither in our name nor in our premises.

It is quite surprising that the concerned leaders of the German-speaking territory (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) issued a declaration on a presentation that at this time had been live-aired once only without any public recordings being available. This begs the question to what extent an objective assessment of the contents was then at all possible.

Early in January 2013, the united board of the two German unions (FiD, „Freikirche in Deutschland“) renewed an earlier speaking ban without previously talking to Walter Veith or Amazing Discoveries Germany, despite the fact that Bro. Veith was (and remains) a properly ordained evangelist of the SDA Church and is therefore according to current policy legitimized as a speaker world-wide.

While the German administration repeatedly presented their point of view in the Church magazine Adventisten heute [Adventists Today] (last time in March 2013), the publication of a reply of Walter Veith and Amazing Discoveries Germany was being strictly denied. Except for a letter to the editor by AD Germany that was put on the website (!) of the Adventverlag [German SDA publishing house], not a single letter of readers was published even though whole churches sent letters of protest to the administration (SDA Church Müllheim, members of the SDA Churches Würzburg, Schweinfurt, Bad Kissingen, SDA Church Bendorf I). [In addition, many people world-wide sent letters addressed directly to Bruno Vertallier, division president of the Euro-African Division, outlining their disappointment in the way the church dealt with this issue and requesting them to rescind their ban on Walter Veith. ]

In May 2013, a motion to annul the speaking ban was supported by a great majority of the general assembly of the SDA Church Nürnberg-Marienberg and sent to the FiD. Furthermore, the obvious grievance of the German administration deviating from the universally applicable SDA Working Policy when it comes to the invitation of external speakers was being addressed. Both motions were not allowed to be heard but returned with a note that no local church but FiD members only were entitled to bring up a motion.

In contrast to the procedure of our church administration, the approach of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is remarkable: After receiving EANN’s inquiry concerning sedition and minimization of the Holocaust, the Head Elder of the organizing church Nürnberg-Marienberg was interrogated as a witness. Then they asked for legal copies of the presentations and took time to thoroughly look into them.

After six months, the Attorney’s Office has now communicated that the speaker “neither committed the criminal offence of sedition according to §130 par. 1,2 StGB, nor of Holocaust denial according to §130 par. 3 StGB. In particular the persecution of the Jews during the Third Reich is not being negated, instead only unusual views about it are being advocated … Overall, after reviewing the contents of the presentation no criminal investigation proceedings will be initiated.”

Although EANN reported in an article about the Prosecuting Attorney’s final assessment, Päschel in no wise revoked his misjudgment that Veith had downplayed the Holocaust and thereby committed a form of Holocaust denial. He even affirmed the old charge of anti-Semitism which, in light of the Attorney’s conclusion, must be counted as deliberate defamation.

Connected to this public piece of information by Amazing Discovery Germany is the request to the EUD and the German Unions to correct their condemning attitude towards Walter Veith; also to generally examine the procedure concerning the invitation of guest speakers and conform it to the worldwide conventions of the SDA Working Policy.

In consideration of the above occurrences, we appeal to our Unions and Conferences to review their relations to EANN and their members including a critical evaluation of their public name since the abbreviation EANN is borrowed from ANN (Adventist News Network) and conveys the misleading impression of an official SDA press organ (European Adventist News Network, as the EANN vice chief editor confirmed [his statement has disappeared from his website meanwhile]). A misguidance of the reading public is to be prevented by all means. The same applies to the website “Adventist Leadership” that is adorning itself with the name “Adventist” but really is privately issued by Martin Haase. We are observing an increasing confusion through private organizations looking official to all appearances and entertaining noticeably good ties to leading SDA circles. We reject any attempt of covertly influencing our churches or the public and call upon each leader to express their views openly and by means of the official channels.

We want to emphasize that it is the intention of this document to clarify the issue and that it has been written out of concern for our Church that we love. Our brothers and sisters must not, through biased information, be led to wrong conclusions. They should be able to form their own opinions and to express their sentiments on current events. A partial gag order as in the case of Walter Veith is a virtual denial of their right to think for themselves. When confidence has thus been damaged it cannot be redeemed by just more emphatically insistence of administrative authority. We need to return to our Biblical concept of spiritual authority, and to deal with one another as humble-minded according to the word of Jesus: “You are all brothers.” (Matthew 23:8)

Nürnberg (Germany), August 15, 2013
amazing discoveries e. V.


Jesuit superior general commemorates 200th anniversary of Society’s restoration

The Church of the Gesu, Rome


CWN - November 15, 2013



The superior general of the Society of Jesus, the Church’s largest male religious institute, has issued a letter commemorating the upcoming bicentennial of the institute’s restoration by Pope Pius VII.

Founded in 1534, the Church’s largest male religious institute was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 under political pressure.

Father Adolfo Nicolás, the superior, proposed five themes for the 2014 bicentennial year: “creative fidelity,” “love for our Institute,” “fraternal companionship,” “universal mission,” and “faith in Providence.”


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Superior general arrested for alleged kidnap of confreres


Latest News


By Cindy Wooden on Friday, 8 November 2013


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Italian police officers pictured in Milan (Photo: PA)

Italian police have arrested the superior general of the Camillian Fathers and Brothers on suspicion of kidnapping after he allegedly tried to prevent two Camillian Fathers opposed to his election from attending the order’s general chapter.

Fr Renato Salvatore, who was re-elected at a chapter meeting in May, and five other men were arrested by Italy’s finance police this week.

“It was with great surprise and deep pain that we heard the news that our superior general had been arrested by the Guardia di Finanza to answer questions relating to facts attributed to him,” said Fr Paolo Guarise, the order’s vicar general, in a statement.

“We are living this moment in prayer, confident that full light can be thrown upon this event,” Fr Guarise said.

According to Italian news reports, Fr Salvatore is accused of arranging for impersonators posing as members of the finance police to detain and question two Camillian fathers in order to prevent them from participating in the general chapter and voting against his re-election.

The real finance police have alleged that Fr Salvatore was working with an Italian financier – who has been investigated repeatedly but never convicted of shady financial dealings – to protect contracts at a Camillian hospital near Naples.


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Pope Francis cancels audiences due to illness



Friday, November 15, 2013


 Photo (Courtesy)

Pope Francis leaves after meeting the Italian president at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome



Pope Francis canceled several audiences today due to flu, the first time his health has affected his role as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The 76-year-old's wellbeing is under close scrutiny because of the shock February resignation of his predecessor Benedict, who said his health was declining and a stronger man could do the job better.A Vatican spokesman said Francis had canceled several meetings with cardinals and bishops on Friday morning, but would still take part in the ordination of a bishop in the afternoon.

"There is no reason for worry," Father Federico Lombardi said.


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Billy Graham’s legacy and the thin line between church and state

She The People


By Mary C. Curtis



November 11 at 12:38 pm



The Rev. Billy Graham arrives at his birthday party, pushed by his grandson, Edward Graham. (Reuters)

CHARLOTTE — Visitors to Charlotte often travel from the airport to the city center via the Billy Graham Parkway. It can startle the first time, seeing a public roadway named for a major religious figure. But you get used to it once you’ve lived here awhile. You realize how much the region takes pride in its native son, though the life and history of the man called “America’s Pastor” illustrates — in even his own judgment – how tough it can be to maintain a separation of church and state. Should America have a pastor at all?

America is ambivalent about that line, as recent Supreme Court arguments over the issue of prayer before public meetings made clear. Those who check non-Christian or none of the above are usually not favored in these civic exhortations and end up in court to be heard.

Religion inevitably becomes mired in the political debate, with every side turning to the word of God for validation for particular policies – from abortion to aid to the poor.

In his long career, Graham has survived controversy over political alliances. He distrusted Catholic John F. Kennedy and was a Richard Nixon supporter, though a photo of Graham with JFK in the Billy Graham Library – just off the parkway – shows the handsome young evangelist giving the charismatic president a run for his money. President Richard Nixon embarrassed him over profanities on the Watergate tapes, and Graham apologized for his own caught-on-tape statements judged anti-Semitic.

But he never lost his prominence and has been honored across the globe. Coverage of his 95th birthday last Thursday in Asheville, N.C., respectfully reflected this tendency to hold him above the fray, despite a speech by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and prominent appearances by occasional “birther” Donald Trump and North Carolina’s Republican governor Pat McCrory, no doubt happy to take a break from criticism for policies such as refusing federal Medicaid funds that could benefit many of the state’s uninsured.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, now led by his son, Franklin Graham, is back to openly leaning Republican these days. The words of criticism of the increasing politicization of his ministry are generally aimed at Franklin Graham, whose touch is not quite as deft as his dad’s. He heartily endorsed Mitt Romney, and, over the issue of same-sex marriage, said President Obama had “shaken his fist” at God. That negated the symbolic meeting the elder Graham had with the president in the reverend’s Montreat, N.C. home.

At the Thursday celebration, Franklin Graham – with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp. listening – praised Fox News. For the “greatest news in the world,” he said in a Washington Post report, “God is using the greatest news channel.” The cable channel aired a video “The Cross,” that featured Billy Graham’s speeches and message. When any money-making enterprise is given a heavenly imprimatur, it can make even a Christian uncomfortable. The opening of the library in 2007, with a bipartisan tableau of past presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (invited but not in attendance last week) seems a long time ago.

It was Billy Graham’s name on full-page newspaper ads that supported an amendment to North Carolina’s constitution – passed in May 2012 — that asserted marriage between one man and one woman as the only valid domestic legal union. Though it was an overwhelming victory overall, the state’s big cities, including Charlotte, rejected the amendment, signaling change in Graham’s Southern base. Young people, like their counterparts across the country, care less than their elders about social issues.

In North Carolina, same-sex couples are pushing for recognition of their unions, and Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat and McCrory’s probable 2016 opponent, is on record as supporting marriage equality even as he vows to defend the ban. Cooper spoke on Saturday at the 2013 Equality North Carolina Foundation Gala in Greensboro, N.C., which has some conservative state organizations howling.

When I walked with Franklin Graham through the cross-shaped door into the library soon after it opened, he said those from other religions and non-believers were welcome; he said he hoped they would be inspired to accept Jesus Christ after a visit and reflection.

“My Hope America” is going nationwide with this evangelistic effort. “Christians across America will open their homes to share the Gospel message with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors using one of several new evangelistic programs featuring life-changing testimonies and powerful messages from Billy Graham,” according to the campaign’s plan.

The religious and culture warrior is using new tools in an increasingly diverse America, one that has changed in his 95 years. It’s sure to have Graham and his familial and spiritual inheritors as well as those who disagree choosing sides and continuing the fight.




Mary C. Curtis is an award-winning multimedia journalist in Charlotte, N.C. She has worked at The New York Times, Charlotte Observer and as national correspondent for Politics Daily. Follow her on Twitter: @mcurtisnc3



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Ecumenical organization releases first statement on evangelism in decades





Korean and overseas Assembly delegates and participants mingle onstage at the end of Korean presentation at the Opening Plenary of the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, October 30, 2013. [photo: Peter Williams/WCC]


‘Holy Spirit moves much wider than the Christian community,’ theologian says



November 07, 2013 | Busan, South Korea | Author: Mark A. Kellner, Adventist Review


More than 4,000 delegates to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches met in Busan last week to determine how best to proclaim a Christian message in a world of stark contrasts and competing ideologies.

The ecumenical organization, which values Christian unity and cooperation in mission, unveiled its first statement on evangelism in more than 30 years. The document, called “Together Toward Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes,” emphasizes what speakers called “holistic” evangelism. Seemingly absent was any direct reference to the “Great Commission” of Matthew 28, to “go and make disciples” of all nations.

Jooseop Keum, secretary for the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, asserted that he read Matthew 28 “from a contextual context” of what was customary in the Roman Empire, and not as an “imperial” command to go forth and disciple others.

The document states that “God’s Spirit … can be found in all cultures that affirm life.” For some evangelicals, this statement implies universalism—the belief that God will ultimately save all human beings who practice some kind of life-giving spirituality.

Kirsteen Kim, professor of Theology and World Christianity at Leeds Trinity University in the United Kingdom, responded by saying that the “[Holy] Spirit moves much wider than the Christian community.”

In the northern hemisphere, by and large, Christianity is challenged by other world religions and the rise of the “nones,” or people who declare no religious affiliation at all. In the “global south,” on the other hand, Christianity is burgeoning in places such as Africa, South America and parts of Asia, despite increased tensions and persecution.

The World Council of Churches is an inter-faith organization that counts membership among most mainstream Christian denominations. Christian unity is a linchpin of the organization, and a top priority for many of its key members.

While the Seventh-day Adventist Church regularly sends observers and journalists to WCC assemblies, the denomination has not joined the ecumenical movement, about which Adventists have long had concerns related to their understanding of biblical prophecy.

The leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, told reporters that he hopes for global Christian unity, but as a move of the Holy Spirit, and not through human efforts.

“Unity is a gift of God,” he said.

At a packed news conference on October 31, two WCC executives pressed for an understanding of the global ecumenical organization as a facilitator of interchurch and interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

Asked about addressing the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, Africa and other areas—often at the hands of non-Christians—the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, said that while the group has as its purpose the expression of “Christian solidarity” with the persecuted, “we have had to address this in different ways.”

Tveit said this 10th Assembly of the WCC is expected to produce statements on the politicization of religion and one on the status of Christians in the Middle East. However, he said, “words are quite powerful,” and some Christians in the region “do not want to be described as being under conflict” or under persecution.

But in a stinging address to the assembly the next day, a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church slammed what he saw as a tendency to skirt controversial issues at the assembly.

“While we continue to discuss our differences in the comfortable atmosphere of conferences and theological dialogues, the question resounds ever more resolutely: will Christian civilization survive at all?” said Hilarion Alfeyev, the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and chairman of the department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Alfeyev cited “militant secularism” and “radical Islamism,” which he said was a philosophy distinct from traditional Islam, as continuing threats to Christianity.

The assembly also drew criticism from outside the Busan Exposition Center, where protesters gathered and some decried the group as the “anti-Christ.”

WCC Moderator Rev. Dr. Walter Altmann addressed their concerns, asserting that protests against the group often stem from a “misunderstanding” of its purpose and intentions. “We are not replacing any church—the WCC is a place for collaboration and cooperation" among denominations, Altmann added. “We are committed by our Lord to unity, but there is not a structured program of melting the churches to have a ‘super church.’


Source: Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

 
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Happy Sabbath


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Fla. Supreme Court settles lesbian custody battle




Florida Supreme Court circa 2012 Photo (Courtesy) http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/justices/index.shtml





COURTS


Related Content
Read the ruling at Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida


By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press


TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman who donated an egg to her lesbian partner has parental rights to the child and ordered a lower court to work out custody, child support and visitation arrangements.

The case involves two women, identified only by their initials, who had a child together. One donated an egg that was fertilized and implanted in the other, who gave birth in 2004.

But two years later the Brevard County couple split up, and the birth mother took the girl and left the country. The other woman, who identifies herself as the biological mother, used a private detective to find her former partner in Australia, and a custody fight ensued.

The birth mother tried to use a Florida law that prevents sperm or egg donors from claiming parental rights to children born to other couples. Her lawyer also cited a standard form donors are required to sign relinquishing parental rights. The court rejected both arguments, saying the law doesn’t apply in this case because the couple clearly planned to parent the child together.

The court wrote that the case didn’t have to be an "all-or-nothing decision" on which parent had rights to the child.

"The couple’s actions before and after the child’s birth — including their use of funds from their joint bank account, their statements to the reproductive doctor that they intended to raise the child as a couple, the counseling they underwent to prepare themselves for parenthood, the use of a hyphenated last name for the child, and the joint birth announcement — reveal that the couple’s agreement in actuality was to both parent the child," the court wrote.

The decision doesn’t throw out the Florida law and it can still be applied in cases where anonymous donors provide sperm or eggs to couples.

"If you were a sperm donor, would this help you get parental rights? No, it wouldn’t," said Elizabeth Schwartz, a Miami Beach attorney who specializes in family law and who advocates for gay and lesbian issues. "They really looked at what was intended ... The law wasn’t thrown out, it was just thoughtfully applied."

The biological mother cried when she heard the news, said lawyer Robert Segal, who represents the woman. She has not seen her daughter in six years. The girl will be 10 in January and now is in Florida, but the birth mother has not been cooperative in providing details about her life, Segal said.

"The case represents a recognition of the fundamental right a parent has to parent their child, regardless of that parent’s sexual orientation or the manner by which the child is conceived," said Christopher Carlyle, a lawyer who assisted on the biological mother’s appeal. "You had a unique situation where there was no intent of our client to donate this biological material and then be out of the picture. They obviously intended to raise the child together."

The lawyer for the birth mother didn’t immediately return a phone message left at his office.

A trial judge ruled for the birth mother and said the biological mother has no parental rights under state law, adding that he hoped his decision would be overturned.

The 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach sided with the biological mother and said both women have parental rights.

"It would indeed be anomalous if, under Florida law, an unwed biological father would have more constitutionally protected rights to parent a child after a one night stand than an unwed biological mother who, with a committed partner and as part of a loving relationship, planned for the birth of a child and remains committed to supporting and raising her own daughter," the court wrote.

Schwartz said that if not for the fact that the biological mother donated her egg, the case might have turned out differently. If the birth mother had one of her own eggs fertilized, her partner might not have won parental rights.

"What would be great is if a case like this could then lead to the next case, which would be respecting the intentions to co-parent of a couple even when there is not that biological connection and gestational connection," Schwartz said. "I think there’s lots of language here that gets us closer to it."



Follow Brendan Farrington on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bsfarrington


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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/07/3737584/fla-supreme-court-settles-lesbian.html#storylink=cpy

Two Navy admirals suspended amid mushrooming bribery, prostitution scandal




VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (July 02, 2012) Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, addresses the public regarding the results of its Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) investigation of the F/A-18D Hornet that crashed into an apartment complex in Virginia Beach on April 6. The aircraft, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106 and based at Naval Air Station Oceana, was conducting a scheduled training exercise when it suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure shortly after takeoff and crashed into the Mayfair Mews Apartment Complex. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernest R. Scott/Released)


By Kristina Wong



The Washington Times

Sunday, November 10, 2013


The Navy has suspended two admirals in a broadening bribery scandal that already has ensnared three senior naval officials.

Involving charges of prostitution and payoffs, the scandal is the U.S. military’s highest-profile case of officer misconduct this year — part of a trend that has caused deep concern among Pentagon officials. The number of substantiated cases of misconduct has increased steadily since 2008, according to statistics by the Defense Department’s inspector general.

The Navy is investigating Vice Adm. Ted Branch, director of naval intelligence, and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, director of intelligence operations, on accusations of “illegal and improper relations” with a defense contractor who scammed the Navy of millions of dollars and bribed naval officials with hookers and gifts over several years.

Neither admiral has been charged with a crime or violation, but the Navy said the accusations against them involve “inappropriate conduct prior to their current assignments and flag officer rank.”

So far, three Navy officials have been arrested and charged with giving classified information to Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis in exchange for concert tickets, prostitutes and other illicit gifts.

The contractor’s company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., serviced naval ships in Southeast Asia, and the classified information helped him win Navy contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The information included ship movements and scheduled port visits, and data about internal Navy investigations of the company.

The three Navy officials are Cmdrs. Jose Luis Sanchez and Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, and naval criminal investigator John Bertrand Beliveau II. Mr. Francis also has been arrested, along with company executive Alex Wisidagama, of Singapore.

Cmdr. Misiewicz, Mr. Francis and Mr. Beliveau’s attorney appeared for a routine hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Southern California. The next court date is scheduled for Feb. 28.

The bribery scandal is unfolding amid a Pentagon effort to instill and enforce high standards of conduct among senior officers — and to hold them accountable for violating those standards. The effort’s success is debatable.

According to the Pentagon inspector general, 294 cases of officer misconduct were investigated and 40 were verified in 2008 — a substantiation rate of 14 percent. In 2012, 83 of 321 investigated cases were verified — a substantiation rate of 26 percent.

So far this year, 277 cases have been investigated and 95 verified — a substantiation rate of 34 percent.

Criminal convictions under the military justice system increased from 615 in 2008 to 731 in 2011, and dipped to 656 in 2012. The statistics do not include convictions in civilian courts or cases in which non-judicial punishment was administered.

The military’s handling of misconduct has been under fire amid an increase in reports of sexual assaults in the ranks. Reports of sexual assaults rose by 46 percent last fiscal year, the Pentagon announced last week.

Restoring the military’s ethics and professionalism has been a top goal of Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But no major initiatives have been announced since a review of ethics training for senior officers last November that found such training should begin earlier in an officer’s career.

“It remains a priority for the chairman, and we’ll continue to work this issue very hard,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said. “We’re troubled by the allegations surrounding what’s been reported with respect to Navy officers, and we need to continue to grapple with this issue [of misconduct].”

Martin L. Cook, professor of leadership and ethics at the Naval War College, said he thinks the growing number of ethical violations stems from Bathsheba syndrome, in which senior officers begin to abuse the privileges that come with their success.

“Senior officers have been successful for so long, they take it for granted and develop inflated senses of ego,” he said.

Steven Olson, an ethics professor at Georgia State University and co-founder of the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility, said the type of unethical behavior exhibited in the bribery case usually happens when spending goes unchecked.

“In big buildups, the audit function tends to weaken and there becomes more tendency to engage in those [initial] behaviors that eventually end up in major fraud,” said Mr. Olson, who leads business executives through a military ethics class at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va.

“You see this in business when things are really booming,” he said. “When there’s a lot of money flowing through, it’s hard to keep track of it all, and that’s when people typically engage in fraud. They know the level that will be checked, and they do things just below that level.”

Mr. Cook said the problem could worsen as the military curtails training because of budget cuts.

A course that includes ethics training for new one-star generals has been canceled or curtailed twice this year because of budget cuts and the partial government shutdown in October. The Joint Chiefs’ capstone course, which requires senior officers from across the country to spend five consecutive weeks training together, is mandated by the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, but the shutdown forced all of those who were traveling to return home.

“You need to constantly re-prime the importance of ethics, of standards, and the brain will remember what’s been most recently taught,” Mr. Olson said.



Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/10/two-navy-admirals-suspended-as-military-cracks-dow/#ixzz2ke4YXwhv
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Two Secret Service agents cut from Obama’s detail after alleged misconduct



By Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura, Published: November 13



A call from the Hay-Adams hotel this past spring reporting that a Secret Service agent was trying to force his way into a woman’s room set in motion an internal investigation that has sent tremors through an agency still trying to restore its elite reputation.

The incident came a year after the agency was roiled by a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, prompting vows from senior officials to curb a male-dominated culture of hard partying and other excesses.

The service named its first female director, Julia Pierson, seven months ago, and an extensive inspector general report on the agency’s culture launched in the wake of the Car­tagena scandal is expected to be released in coming weeks.

The disruption at the Hay-
Adams in May involved Ignacio Zamora Jr., a senior supervisor who oversaw about two dozen agents in the Secret Service’s most elite assignment — the president’s security detail. Zamora was allegedly discovered attempting to reenter a woman’s room after accidentally leaving behind a bullet from his service weapon. The incident has not been previously reported.

In a follow-up investigation, agency officials also found that Zamora and another supervisor, Timothy Barraclough, had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to a female subordinate, according to those with knowledge of the case. Officials have removed Zamora from his position and moved Barraclough off the detail to a separate part of the division, people familiar with the case said.

Details about the Hay-Adams episode and related findings were provided by four people who have been briefed on the case, including two who have viewed summaries of the internal Secret Service review.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan declined to comment on the internal review of the Hay-
Adams incident or the supervisors’ alleged behavior. He said that no employees — including Zamora and Barraclough — wished to comment.

An attorney for Zamora and Barraclough also declined to comment on the allegations or the Secret Service’s internal inquiry. Messages left for Zamora on his home phone were not returned; efforts to reach Barraclough through home and fax numbers were unsuccessful. An attorney for the female agent in the protective division declined to comment.

“We have always maintained that the Secret Service has a professional and dedicated workforce,” Donovan said in a statement, referring to the Hay-Adams incident. “Periodically we have isolated incidents of misconduct, just like every organization does.”

Donovan added that “we work diligently with our Office of Professional Responsibility and Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General” to resolve such cases “appropriately and quickly.”

But the inspector general’s office was unaware of the hotel incident or the related findings until The Washington Post began making inquiries about the case last month, according to people briefed on the matter.

The Secret Service did not refer the case to the inspector general until the week of Oct. 28. In a preliminary look, the office concluded that the Secret Service had handled the case administratively and that the alleged misconduct did not require independent review, according to a person familiar with the referral.


Bill Hillburg, a spokesman for the DHS Office of Inspector General, said the upcoming report on Secret Service culture seeks to answer whether the antics of agents in Cartagena were atypical or the result of a broader culture that included excessive partying and womanizing. Hillburg declined to say whether the Hay-Adams case was part of the review.

“At each stage, as we conducted interviews, we were made aware of other incidents and potential misconduct that we are now pursuing,” Hillburg said.

The Hay-Adams, which overlooks the White House and served as the Obama family’s temporary home before the president’s first inauguration, is accustomed to seeing Secret Service agents on and off duty. One night in May, hotel staff alerted the White House about odd behavior by an agent demanding access to one of their guest rooms.

Colette Marquez, the Hay-Adams’s general manager, declined to comment when asked about the incident.

According to the Secret Service’s internal findings, Zamora was off duty when he met a woman at the hotel’s Off the Record bar and later joined her in her room.

The review found that Zamora had removed ammunition from the chamber of his government-issued handgun during his stay in the room and then left behind a single bullet. He returned to the room when he realized his mistake. The guest refused to let him back in. Zamora identified himself to hotel security as a Secret Service agent.

The incident led to an investigation that included a routine search of Zamora’s government-issued BlackBerry, which contained sexually charged messages to the female agent, according to the people briefed on the findings.

The review of the communications revealed that Barraclough also had sent inappropriate and suggestive messages to the female agent, according to people familiar with the case.

The Post is not disclosing the woman’s name because, according to the people briefed on the findings, she has not been disciplined.

All Secret Service employees must maintain top-secret security clearances to be employed. An inspector general’s report this year that dealt with events in Cartagena said employees’ sexual behavior should be considered in granting or revoking security clearances “when the behavior may subject the individual to coercion, exploitation, or duress, or reflects lack of judgment or discretion.”

Zamora, a veteran agent who had risen to become a shift commander at the top rungs of Obama’s protective detail, previously headed first lady Laura Bush’s protective detail. Barraclough joined the presidential protective detail four years ago.

Zamora is described by those who have worked with him as a professional, sometimes brash agent who formerly led the agency’s Mexico City office. In Bush’s memoir, she called Zamora one of a handful of agents she relied on to keep her safe just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Zamora was promoted to the president’s protective division several years ago, most recently serving as a shift supervisor overseeing the rotating assignments of about two dozen agents, according to two people who have worked with him.

The new incidents echo some of the elements of the most damaging scandal in the service’s history, in which male agents brought prostitutes back to their rooms in Cartagena after a night of heavy drinking in April 2012. An agency that had a reputation as the creme de la creme of law enforcement was suddenly the subject of congressional hearings, multiple investigations and questions about whether it had fostered a male-dominated culture of sexism and partying.

Then-Director Mark Sullivan apologized for the scandal but called it an anomaly in an agency of 3,500 agents and 1,400 uniformed officers. In the wake of that incident, the agency adopted new policies banning the consumption of alcohol 10 hours before employees report to work and limiting consumption to “moderate amounts” during off-duty hours. Agents and officers cannot drink alcohol when stationed at the hotel of the public official they are assigned to protect.

Sullivan stepped down this year, giving Obama an opening to pick a woman to head the agency for the first time. People familiar with the agency said Pierson has been focused largely on budget issues, as the agency deals with government-wide spending cuts.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.


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