Thursday, January 02, 2014

Mayor de Blasio's unconventional inauguration sets tone for administration


Mayor de Blasio's unconventional inauguration sets tone for administration
From the DJ booth to treats from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island, the inauguration ceremony reflected the more liberal and inclusive mayor that de Blasio has vowed to be. 

By Jennifer Fermino , Annie Karni AND Daniel Beekman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 

Published: Wednesday, January 1, 2014, 10:12 PM
Updated: Thursday, January 2, 2014, 11:41 AM



Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News


Mayor de Blasio's inauguration reflected what is to be a more liberal, diverse administration. Here, the new mayor with (from left) son Dante, daughter Chiara and wife Chirlane McCray.


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Bill de Blasio Rockets Toward NYC Democratic Mayoral Nomination


It was a whirlwind of a show for a mayor who’s taken the city by storm.

To set the tone for a more liberal, diverse administration and to establish a party vibe, Mayor de Blasio tapped a globetrotting Brooklyn-based DJ to provide a high-energy soundtrack.

“I think he wanted to do something different,” said DJ M.O.S. “He seems like a very modern guy who wants to shake things up.”

PHOTOS: BILL DE BLASIO INAUGURATION

The 34-year-old record-spinner, whose real name is Masud Semple, mixed oldies, new tracks and New York-themed songs like “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys and Jay Z.



Photos by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images; Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News


“I really just played songs that I love,” DJ M.O.S. said.

l l l

. .



The DJ booth was one of many touches intended to make the ceremony feel intimate, said producer Ronnie Davis.

Bill de Blasio


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bill de Blasio



109th Mayor of New York City
Incumbent

Assumed office
January 1, 2014
Preceded by Michael Bloomberg
3rd New York City Public Advocate
In office
January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2013
Preceded by Betsy Gotbaum
Succeeded by Letitia James
Member of the New York City Council
from the 39th District
In office
January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2009
Preceded by Stephen DiBrienza
Succeeded by Brad Lander
Personal details
Born Warren Wilhelm, Jr.
May 8, 1961 (age 52)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Chirlane McCray (1994–present)
Children Dante
Chiara
Alma mater New York University (BA)
Columbia University (MIA)
Religion Unaffiliated[1]
Signature
Website Government website
Personal website


Bill de Blasio (born Warren Wilhelm, Jr.;[2] May 8, 1961) is the 109th and current Mayor of New York City. From 2010 to 2013, he held the citywide office of New York City Public Advocate, which serves as an ombudsman between the electorate and the city government and is first in line to succeed the mayor. He formerly served as a New York City Council member representing the 39th District in Brooklyn (Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace). He was the Democratic Party nominee in the 2013 election to become Mayor of New York City. On November 5, 2013, de Blasio won the mayoral election by a landslide, receiving over 73% of the vote. He is the first Democratic mayor of the city since 1993.[3]


Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Early career
3 New York City Council (2001–2009)
3.1 Elections
3.2 Tenure
3.3 Committee assignments
4 New York City Public Advocate (2009–2013)
4.1 Election
4.2 Education
4.3 Housing
4.4 Campaign finance
5 Mayor of New York City (2014-present)
5.1 2013 Election
5.2 Tenure
6 Personal life
7 References
8 External links
Early life and education

De Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm, Jr. in Manhattan, New York, the son of Maria (née De Blasio) and Warren Wilhelm.[2] His father had German ancestry, and his maternal grandparents, Giovanni and Anna, were Italian immigrants[4][5] from the city of Sant'Agata de' Goti in the province of Benevento (where his mother's surname is spelled with a capital "D"—De Blasio).[6] He was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[7] De Blasio has stated that he was 7 years old when his father first left home and 8 years old when his parents divorced.[8] In an April 2012 interview, de Blasio described his upbringing: "[My dad] was an officer in the Pacific in the army, [and] in an extraordinary number of very, very difficult, horrible battles, including Okinawa…. And I think honestly, as we now know about veterans who return, [he] was going through physically and mentally a lot…. He was an alcoholic, and my mother and father broke up very early on in the time I came along, and I was brought up by my mother's family—that's the bottom line—the de Blasio family.[9]" In September 2013, de Blasio revealed that his father committed suicide in 1979 while suffering from incurable lung cancer.[10]

In 1983, he legally changed his name to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm, which he described in April 2012: "I started by putting the name into my diploma, and then I hyphenated it legally when I finished NYU, and then, more and more, I realized that was the right identity." By the time he appeared on the public stage in 1990, he was using the name Bill de Blasio as he explained he had been called "Bill" or "Billy" in his personal life.[9] He did not legally change over to this new name until 2002, when the discrepancy was noted during an election.[11]

De Blasio received a B.A. from New York University, majoring in metropolitan studies, a program in urban studies with courses such as Politics of Minority Groups and The Working Class Experience, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.[12] He is a 1981 Harry S. Truman Scholar.[13]
Early career

De Blasio's first job was part of the Urban Fellows Program for the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice in 1984.[14][15] In 1987, shortly after completing graduate school at Columbia University, de Blasio was hired to work as a political organizer by the Quixote Center in Maryland. In 1988, de Blasio traveled with the Quixote Center to Nicaragua for 10 days to help distribute food and medicine during the Nicaraguan Revolution. De Blasio was an ardent supporter of the ruling Sandinista government, which was at that time opposed by the Reagan administration.[15]

After returning from Nicaragua, de Blasio moved to New York City where he worked for a nonprofit organization focused on improving health care in Central America.[15] De Blasio continued to support the Sandinistas in his spare time, joining a group called the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, which held meetings and fundraisers for the Sandinista political party.
[15] De Blasio's introduction to City politics came during David Dinkins' 1989 mayoral campaign, for which he was a volunteer coordinator.[16] Following the campaign, de Blasio served as an aide in City Hall.[17]

In 1997, he was appointed to serve as the Regional Director for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for New York and New Jersey under the administration of President Bill Clinton. As the tri-state region’s highest-ranking HUD official, de Blasio led a small executive staff and took part in outreach to residents of substandard housing.[18][19] In 1999, he was elected a member of Community School Board 15.[20] He was tapped to serve as campaign manager for Hillary Rodham Clinton's successful United States Senate bid in 2000.[20]



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Once a day of rest, Sunday has become Sad Day




Article by: BILL WARD , Star Tribune
Updated: December 9, 2013 - 9:46 AM

Once the day of rest, Sunday has devolved into a day of stress.



For Lara Mueller, it kicks in at the same time every week, like clockwork.

“Sunday just has this sad feeling to it, after about 5 p.m.,” said the St. Louis Park resident. “There is a sort of umbrella hanging over the evening.”

She tries to buoy herself, buying a few “goodies” at the grocery store, making plans for midweek. Still, every Sunday evening, when she thinks about “the stress of the week, the busy-ness of the week,” she feels her mood descend.

What Mueller suffers from isn’t debilitating or particularly new. Austrian psychotherapist Viktor Frankl coined the phrase “Sunday night blues” in 1946. But it is real, and surprisingly widespread — affecting schoolkids, office workers, even recent retirees.

The symptoms, said Golden Valley-based psychologist Jenna Bemis, can include “a sense of dread that the fun of weekend is coming to an end, a sense of anxiety about … the pressure of the workweek that is soon to return and a yearning to prolong the weekend in order to spend time as we wish.”

Whether our nonstop schedules, our embrace of technology or the economy have upped the ante, the growing prevalence of the Sunday blues signals a change of heart about our day of rest.

“We have less time on Sundays dedicated to doing what we want to do now,” said Bemis. “There’s more time devoted to paid work, housework, running errands, child care, and less time devoted to personal care, socializing and free time.”

In fact, Bemis, who has studied the malaise, notes that “positive feelings peaked on Sunday afternoons” in the mid-1980s. But by 2003, “Sunday afternoons were marked by an emotional downturn.”

Her findings are echoed in a recent Monsters.Com poll of 3,619 people, which found that 78 percent of adults around the world experience some degree of late-Sunday doldrums. In the United States, 59 percent of respondents said they have a “really bad” dose.

Bemis attributes the down-grading of Sunday not only to our warp-speed lifestyles: She also lays the blame on loss of connection.

Even just a few decades ago, Sundays represented more family time, family meals and worship,” she said. “Today, there is less time focused on meals and connecting with family members.”

From school to work

Generations of teens have set themselves up for the Sunday doldrums by putting off homework assignments until the last minute. But for today’s students, there’s “a bigger combination of things going on,” said Cheryl Meger, dean of Lakeville North High School.

“We have put together this whole big package we want kids to do: work and volunteer work and activities and athletics,” Meger said. “So they get to Sunday evening and they’ve been to their job and a basketball tournament and everything else. Sometimes you wonder if we’ve overdone it with them.”

Young adults like Mueller, 27, who are entering the workforce after the Great Recession, also face fresh challenges.

“For someone in their 20s trying to find their career path, my jobs have sometimes been less than perfect,” said Mueller, “making Sunday nights that much harder when Monday is around the corner and a job that you are not thrilled about is waiting for you.”

People of any age who have mundane, unchallenging jobs have legitimate reasons to sing the Sunday blues, said Fran Sepler, owner/president of Sepler & Associates, a Minneapolis human-resources firm.

“If you’re in that pure utility relationship with your job — just go to get a paycheck, suck it up and get it done — the contrast with the weekend (when you can sleep in and be with friends) with work (where you have no control) is the most significant and profound.”

Creating support systems

Some companies have taken heed, Sepler said, and refrain from scheduling major meetings on Friday afternoons and Monday mornings. Some take pains to frequently measure their employees’ engagement and, when possible, give workers more control over their hours.

Financial service companies, in particular, “are doing a lot to get people engaged,” Sepler said, and many multinational companies have been strongly committed to enhancing employee engagement.

“Having the flexibility to work from home on Monday morning and come in later, or just spending less time at work seems to improve the way people feel,” Sepler said. “Otherwise they might get to feeling like they’re on a little gerbil wheel.”

While school administrators haven’t altered schedules, some have beefed up support programs for students and their families to address stress and anxiety, said Meger.

Even those who work on Sundays have noticed the phenomenon.

Among them: the Rev. Bill Bohline Hosanna! Lutheran Church, who recently delivered a series of sermons based on his book “It’s Sunday, But Monday’s Comin’,” which addresses the disparity between the day of worship and the rest of the week, when the “good news” message fades.

Many of his 6,000-plus parishioners leave the Lake-ville church Sunday morning “filled up with a sense of connection and a renewal for the coming week,” he said. “But realities set in, and even as people of faith, we can get caught up in circumstances. And quite often that affects our outlook and mood, and it can do that powerfully.”

Light and loss

That sinking feeling might be felt more forcefully by certain types of people and at certain times of year.

Those prone to anxiety “experience a more active dread,” Sepler said. And ultra-organized folks “who want things perfectly arranged might be a little more prone to anxiety,” Meger surmised.

Early darkness could contribute, as well. A poll in Britain, where the winter days are even shorter than here, pegged the onset of Sunday sadness at 4:13 p.m.

Meger, for one, thinks there’s a seasonal spike. “That sunshine means something to all of us,” she said. “We also miss not being able to be in the outdoors, not going out and throwing the football or just going for a walk.”

But just going for a walk isn’t likely to cure the blues. What Bemis recommends is hopping on tasks rather than procrastinating, planning activities early in the week so you have something to look forward to and allowing yourself some unplugged time.

Pastor Bohline calls for an attitude adjustment.

“The reality is that we control very little in our lives,” he said. “I do have choice in the workplace about my attitude, to see myself as a contributor not a victim. I have gifts I can bring. But as soon as I’m focused only on me, the victim mentality, it goes wrong.”

Don’t be counting on a quick cure, however. For most people who have them, the Sunday night blues tend to fade slowly over time.

“I suffered from it for years,” said former teacher Steve Phillipps of Edina. “It took being retired over a year before I would stop feeling depressed Sunday nights.”



Bill Ward • 612-673-7643


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The Family in the 21st Century


Save the date : The Family in the 21st Century

With the European elections on the horizon the Secretariat of COMECE and the Team of the Chapel for Europe cordially invite you to the Series of Conferences

EUROPE - POLITICS – AND BEYOND

to be held in the

Chapel of the Resurrection – Chapel for Europe






4th Conference: "The Family in the 21st Century"


Tuesday 7 January 2014 19:00

There is a wide consensus within Europe that the nuclear family is the basic building block of a healthy and prosperous society. A wide range of social change has challenged this view.

In the light of the changing profile of the family in Europe, Breda O’Brien, Columnist at The Irish Times, will explore the constitutive elements of the family and its relationship to society at large.


On Tuesday 7 January 2014 at 19:00
,

“The Family in the 21st Century” at the Chapel for Europe






More information and registration:http://www.comece.eu/conferences


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Monday, December 30, 2013

Message for Today




Dear brethren, the Lord is coming. Lift up your thoughts and heads and rejoice. Oh, we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory. This is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated! Caviling and contention with believers or unbelievers is not the work God has given us to do.

If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing on Him, I have life forevermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Saviour. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith, that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God’s holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God’s countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance.
Salvation a Union With Christ

Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole.

Well may the question be asked with earnest, anxious heart, “Is envy cherished, is jealousy permitted to find a place in my heart?” If so, Christ is not there. “Do I love the law of God, is the love of Jesus Christ in my heart?” If we love one another as Christ has loved us then we are getting ready for the blessed heaven of peace and rest. There is no struggling there to be first, to have the supremacy; all will love their neighbor as themselves. Oh, that God would open the understanding and speak to the hearts of our churches by arousing the individual members....

Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christlike interest, unselfish—an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.

I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. Fair-weather Christians will not be wanted for this work. The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time. There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God’s people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities. We must know for ourselves, by the evidence of God’s Word, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God’s law. Do we meet its requirements? Are the Lord’s people bringing their property, their time, their talents, and all their influence into the work for this time? Let us arouse. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).—Letter 55, 1886.

Confederacies will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. These confederacies will create opposing influences to the truth, forming new parties of professed believers who will act out their own delusive theories. The apostasy will increase. “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). Men and women have confederated to oppose the Lord God of heaven, and the church is only half awake to the situation. There needs to be much more of prayer, much more of earnest effort, among professed believers.

Satanic agencies in human form will take part in this last great conflict to oppose the building up of the kingdom of God. And heavenly angels in human guise will be on the field of action. The two opposing parties will continue to exist till the closing up of the last great chapter in this world’s history. Satanic agencies are in every city. We cannot afford to be off our guard for one moment. The true, stanch believers will pray more and more, and will talk less of matters of little consequence. More and more decided testimonies will come from their lips to encourage the weak and the needy. This is no time for the people of God to be weaklings, neither one thing nor the other. Let all be diligent students of the Word. We must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We cannot live haphazard lives and be true Christians.—The Review and Herald, August 5, 1909.



Selected Messages Book 2, pp 381- 383
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Local courts reviving 'debtors' prison' for overdue fines, fees




By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

Published December 28, 2013
FoxNews.com




In this May 24, 2011 file photo, inmates make phone calls from their cell at a county jail in Santa Ana, Calif.Reuters


As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States.

Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" -- referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.

Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it's been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it's against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees -- or they just haven't been called on it until now.

Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn't even boost government revenues -- in fact, governments lose money in the process.

"It's a waste of taxpayer resources, and it undermines the integrity of the justice system," Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, told FoxNews.com.

"The problem is it's not actually much of a money-making proposition ... to throw people in jail for fines and fees when they can't afford it. If counties weren't spending the money jailing people for not paying debts, they could be spending the money in other ways."

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law released a "Tool Kit for Action" in 2012 that broke down the cost to municipalities to jail debtors in comparison with the amount of old debt it was collecting. It doesn't look like a bargain. For example, according to the report, Mecklenburg County, N.C., collected $33,476 in debts in 2009, but spent $40,000 jailing 246 debtors -- a loss of $6,524.

Fines are the court-imposed payments linked to a conviction -- whether it be for a minor traffic violation like driving without a license or a small drug offense, all the way up to felony. Fees are all those extras tacked on by the court to fund administrative services. These vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with some courts imposing more than others.

As states and counties grapple with shrinking budgets and yearly shortfalls, new fees are often imposed to make up the difference, though they can be quite overwhelming to individuals passing through the system -- 80 percent of whom qualify as indigent (impoverished and unable to pay), according to the Brennan Center. Florida, for example, has added 20 new fees since 1996, according to the center. North Carolina imposes late fees on debt not paid and surcharges on payment plans.

More and more, courts are dragging people in for fines and fees that have ballooned due to interest imposed on the initial sums. Some owe money to the public defender's office for the representation they received during their time in court. Others incur hundreds of dollars in fees while they're incarcerated -- for everything from toilet paper to the beds inmates sleep on.

The tab for the average offender could be as low as $250 or as high as $4,000. Both the ACLU and Brennan have been targeting big states with multiple jurisdictions they say are flouting U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 1970, 1971 and 1983. Those rulings essentially say courts cannot extend or impose a jail sentence for unpaid fines and fees if individuals do not have the ability to pay.

At the very least, according to the high court, the courts must inquire and assess whether a person is indigent and might benefit from an alternative method of payment, like community service, before sentencing.

"Even though a lot of jurisdictions do have statutes on the books that allow judges to waive fines and fees, it doesn't always happen," explained Lauren Brooke-Eisen, counsel for the Brennan Center's Justice Program.

Much of the time, probation or the conviction itself will hinder individuals from finding employment (Brennan estimates that some 60 percent are still unemployed a year after leaving jail). But another incarceration over debt could either ruin the job they managed to get or make it even harder to find one.

Many jurisdictions have taken to hiring private collection/probation companies to go after debtors, giving them the authority to revoke probation and incarcerate if they can't pay. Research into the practice has found that private companies impose their own additional surcharges. Some 15 private companies have emerged to run these services in the South, including the popular Judicial Correction Services (JCS).

In 2012, Circuit Judge Hub Harrington at Harpersville Municipal Court in Alabama shut down what he called the "debtors' prison" process there, echoing complaints that private companies are only in it for the money. He cited JCS in part for sending indigent people to jail. Calling it a "judicially sanctioned extortion racket," Harrington said many defendants were locked up on bogus failure-to-appear warrants, and slapped with more fines and fees as a result.

Repeated calls to JCS in Alabama and Georgia were not returned.

Defenders of the collection programs say the money is owed to the state and it's the government's right to go after it. "When, and only when, an individual is convicted of a crime, there are required fees and court costs," Pamela Dembe, president of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, which oversees Philadelphia, said in a statement to reporters in May. An earlier review by the courts found an estimated 400,000 residents owed the city money. "If the defendant doesn't pay, law-abiding taxpayers must pay these costs."

Meanwhile, there's evidence that groups like the ACLU are prompting reforms.

For example, the ACLU released "The Outskirts of Hope," on court practices in Ohio. The report told the story of one couple, John Bundren and Samantha Reed, who both had racked up court fines. Bundren's, which traced back to underage drinking and public intoxication convictions from his teenage years, totaled $3,000. They paid her fines before his, and Bundren ended up spending 41 days in jail because he couldn't pay his own.

The ACLU found that seven out of 11 counties they studied were operating de facto debtors' prisons, despite clear "constitutional and legislative prohibitions." Some were worse than others. In the second half of 2012 in Huron County, 20 percent of arrests were for failure to pay fines. The Sandusky Municipal Court in Erie County jailed 75 people in a little more than a month during the summer of 2012. The ACLU says it costs upwards of $400 in Ohio to execute a warrant and $65 a night to jail people.

As a result of the study, the Ohio State Supreme Court has begun educating judges and personnel on the statutes and constitutional restrictions of collecting fines and fees, Bret Crow, spokesman for the state court, told FoxNews.com. It is also developing a "bench card," intended as a reference guide for county judges.

More recently in Colorado, the state ACLU completed a report on "pay or serve" programs throughout the state. In the case of Wheatridge and Northglenn counties, the penalty was one day in the clink for every $50 owed; in Westminster, every offender got an automatic 10 days in jail.

The report also found that one jail racked up more than $70,000 in costs for incarcerating 154 people over a five-month period in 2012 -- and only managed to collect $40,000 in overdue fines and fees in that time.

Mark Silverstein, a staff attorney at the Colorado ACLU, claimed judges in these courts never assess the defendants' ability to pay before sentencing them to jail, which would be unconstitutional.

John Stipech, Municipal Court judge in Westminster, Colo., told FoxNews.com he agreed with the tenets of the ACLU investigation, but added that the practice of the automatic 10-day jail sentence was already scrapped by Westminster in December 2012. "It was because we had jail space problems and beds needed to be limited to actual criminals," he said.

He complained that local coverage of the ACLU report "makes it sound like we're putting everyone in jail." He said he asks everyone who comes before him if they have the ability to pay. He acknowledged, however, that his court is working with the ACLU and will be instituting formal "show cause" hearings to determine indigence.

"Maybe the ACLU did some good, they brought it to my attention. Maybe they just should have done it in a better way," Stipech said.

Brooke-Eisen said the reform movement is proceeding, albeit slowly in tough fiscal times.

"A lot of the jurisdictions are still using fines and fees and passing legislation to add more fees and fines," she said.

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Obamacare Bleeding From Self-Inflicted Wounds



11/16/2013 - 10:32

Douglas Bloomfield


The worst wounds a politician can suffer are usually self-inflicted. Nixon had Watergate, Clinton had Monica Lewinsky, Reagan had Iran-Contra, Bush 41 had "read my lips" and his son, Bush 43, had Katrina.

And now it's Barack Obama and "if you like your insurance plan you can keep it."

House Republicans have passed more than 40 bills, amendments and resolutions and they even shut down the government for 16 days at a cost of $24 billion to the U.S. economy in repeated failed efforts to stop Obamacare. They held funding for the federal government hostage to their demand that Obama agree to kill (defund) his signature legislative achievement.

Instead it was the Republicans who ran up the white flag, but not before doing enormous damage – not to Obama and Obamacare but to themselves. They didn't lay a finger on the President. Public approval for the Congress has dived to single digits; Democrats fare better than Republicans in the public view, but only by comparison.

Republicans compounded their incredibly damaging self-inflicted wounds by deflecting all attention to their shutdown and overshadowing the botched rollout of the Obamacare website and enrollment effort. Obama's approval rating went up in the wake of his tough and successful stand against the Republican shutdown blackmail.

It took a while for most people to notice that the Obamacare rollout was a fiasco.

Republicans are talking about repairing Obamacare, but that's a hoax. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee and author of the so-called "repair" bill that passed the House with 39 Democratic votes, admit that repair is the last thing they want to do.

"There's not a Republican out there who wouldn't want to repeal it," Upton told CNN's Jake Tapper, who asked whether his bill wasn't a "Trojan horse" because he really isn't interested in repairing Obamacare.

But don't blame the Republicans for what went wrong; all their efforts to damage and destroy the Affordable Care Act have failed, sometimes, like the shutdown, with disastrous consequences for them. What has Obamacare bleeding and in the ICU are self-inflicted wounds.

The President faces a slow, painful recovery. He's apologized, taken responsibility ("the buck stops here"), said he's "sorry," promised a quick fix that he can't deliver, asked for help from an unsympathetic insurance industry and pleads ignorance because staff didn't tell him about the problems. There's been a shuffling around of staff to make the website and sign-up work, but so far no one is being held accountable, no one has lost their job.

And Barack Obama is left out there twisting slowly, slowly in the wind, suffering from the damage done to Obamacare with no one to blame but himself for this self-inflicted wound.


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Obama's Speeches 2013




14 January 2013


Final First Term Press Conference

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16 January 2013


On Signing Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence

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20 January 2013


SECOND PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL ADDRESS

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29 January 2013


Comprehensive Immigration Reform Speech

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12 February 2013


Fourth Presidential State of the Union

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15 February 2013


On Strengthening the Economy for the Middle Class

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26 February 2013


Newport News Speech on the Impact of the Sequester

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27 February 2013


Rosa Parks Statue Dedication Speech

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22 March 2013


Jerusalem International Convention Center Speech

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03 April 2013


Gun Violence Reduction Speech in Colorado

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08 April 2013


Gun Violence Reduction Speech in Connecticut

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11 April 2013


U.S. Army Chaplain Emil Kapaun Medal of Honor Award

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15 April 2013


First Statement on Boston Marathon Bombings

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16 April 2013

Second Statement on Boston Marathon Bombings

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17 April 2013


On Senate Vote Against Background Check Gun Amendment

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19 April 2013


Third Statement on Boston Marathon Bombings

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19 April 2013


Boston Interfaith Prayer Service Speech

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25 April 2013


George W. Bush Presidential Library Dedication Speech

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25 April 2013


West Fertilizer Plant Tragedy Memorial Speech

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27 April 2013


White House Correspondents Dinner Speech

mp3




30 April 2013


Press Q&A on Syria and Sundry Topics

mp3




03 May 2013


Speech to the People of Mexico

mp3




15 May 2013


Remarks on IG Audit of the IRS

mp3




19 May 2013


Morehouse College Commencement Address

mp3




23 May 2013


National Defense University Speech on Terrorism

mp3




24 May 2013


U.S. Naval Academy Commencement Address

mp3




07 June 2013


On Affordable Care Act and Government Domestic Surveillance

mp3




11 June 2013


US Senate Call to Comprehensive Immigration Reform

mp3




17 June 2013


Northern Ireland Speech

mp3




19 June 2013


Brandenburg Gate Speech

mp3




30 June 2013


Cape Town University Speech

mp3




19 July 2013


Speech on Trayvon Martin

mp3




24 July 2013


Knox College Speech on the Economy

mp3




09 August 2013


Intelligence Gathering Reform Press Conference

mp3




28 August 2013


'Let Freedom Ring' Ceremony Speech

mp3




31 August 2013


On Syrian Government Use of Chemical Weapons

mp3




10 September 2013


Speech to the Nation on Syria

mp3




22 September 2013


Navy Yard Shooting Memorial Speech

mp3




24 September 2013


United Nations 68th Session General Assembly Speech

mp3




02 October 2013


Government Shutdown Statement

mp3




21 October 2013


Affordable Care Act Website Issues Address

mp3




11 November 2013


Veterans Day Address

mp3




14 November 2013


Affordable Care Act Changes Press Conference

mp3




23 November 2013


Iran Accord Statement

mp3




05 December 2013


On the Passing of Nelson "Madiba" Mandela

mp3




10 December 2013


Address at the Public Memorial for Nelson Mandela

mp3


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How 2013 Became The 'Gayest Year Ever'

 by Ari Shapiro
December 26, 2013 4:34 PM
 
Listen to the Story
All Things Considered
7 min 14 sec


 Utah's surprise decision to legalize same-sex marriage caps a landmark year for gay rights. The last 12 months saw a huge string of victories, from state legislatures, to Congress, to the Supreme Court.


Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

It's the time of year when we look back on the winners and losers of 2013. And for gay rights groups, the last 12 months saw a huge string of victories, from state legislatures to Congress to the Supreme Court. The surprise ruling in Utah legalizing same-sex marriage is just the latest win. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on why some LGBT advocates are calling 2013 the gayest year ever.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: At the start of this year, millions of people watched President Obama deliver his second inaugural address. Gay rights advocates were shocked and delighted to hear him speak forcefully for their cause.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The most evident of truths - that all of us are created equal - is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forbearers through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.

SHAPIRO: With one alliterative phrase, the president connected women's suffrage, civil rights and the LGBT movement into a single fight for equality. And he went on.

OBAMA: Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.

SHAPIRO: The justices of the Supreme Court sat just behind the president and a few months later, they delivered the biggest gay rights ruling in at least a decade. In a 5-4 vote, the court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

EDITH WINDSOR: Today is like a spectacular event for me.

SHAPIRO: Eighty-four-year old Edith Windsor challenged the law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. On the steps of the high court, Windsor remembered her wife and partner of 40 years.
WINDSOR: I mean, it's a lifetime kind of event. And I know that the spirit of my late spouse, Thea Spyer, OK, is right here watching and listening and would be very proud and happy of where we've come to.
SHAPIRO: On the same day, the justices struck down California's same-sex marriage ban. California was one of nine states, including Utah, to legalize marriage this year. That's as many as all the previous years combined. Evan Wolfson runs the group Freedom to Marry. He remembers 30 years ago when he decided to write his law school thesis about same-sex marriage.

EVAN WOLFSON: I had brought it to several professors and asked them to be the adviser to my paper. And many of them turned me down, some of them because it seemed too farfetched. It seemed too unattainable. And some turned it down because they probably thought it was a goal really not worth fighting for and, therefore, not particularly worth analyzing.

SHAPIRO: When Wolfson created Freedom to Marry 10 years ago, not one state allowed gay couples to wed. Today, almost 40 percent of Americans live in states where same-sex marriage is legal. On the other side, more than 30 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage but that trend has been slowing. The last state to pass such a ban was North Carolina in 2012. Chad Griffin runs the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign.

CHAD GRIFFIN: Look, in many ways, we have two Americas today, right. We have the coasts and a couple of dots in the middle where we have nearly achieved full legal equality. But then you have the rest of the country. You have the South and you have the Midwest. And those places, they only saw and read about those victories.

SHAPIRO: But even in the South and the Midwest, people are seeing more gay characters on TV, corporations are becoming more LGBT-friendly, and this year broke new ground in Congress, too. Right now, it's legal in many states to fire people for being gay. In the Senate, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act protecting LGBT workers came up for a vote and passed 64 to 32.

Not one lawmaker spoke on the Senate floor against it and some of ENDA's most vocal supporters were Republicans. And it prompted Mark Kirk of Illinois to give his first Senate floor speech since suffering a major stroke almost two years ago.

SENATOR MARK KIRK: I think it's particularly appropriate for an Illinois Republican to speak on behalf of this measure in the true tradition of Everett McKinley Dirksen and Abraham Lincoln, men who gave us the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

SHAPIRO: Winnie Stachelberg has spent decades in Washington and she says the change here is dramatic. She's now with the liberal Center for American Progress.

WINNIE STACHELBERG: I was around in 1996 when the Senate failed, 49 to 50, to pass ENDA. And so 17 years later, that is a huge, huge step forward for ending discrimination in the workplace against gay and transgendered employees.

SHAPIRO: But Speaker John Boehner kept the bill from a vote in the House, meaning ENDA has not become law. Peter Sprigg is with the Family Research Council, a group that opposes ENDA and same-sex marriage.

PETER SPRIGG: Certainly, there were some victories for the homosexual activist movement this year. But some of the major issues were kind of half-victories.

SHAPIRO: For example, the Prop 8 Supreme Court ruling on California's marriage law was only a partial victory. It did not mandate same-sex marriage across the country. And Sprigg thinks the country could be entering a period of stasis on marriage, where the easy battles on both sides have all been fought.

SPRIGG: So I think we may be headed for sort of a standoff where the real battle will be to see if they can repeal any of the existing constitutional amendments which exist in a majority of states.

SHAPIRO: Beyond politics, gay people had some dramatic breakthroughs in 2013. This was the year Pope Francis reached out to gay Catholics in a way no pope has done before.
POPE FRANCIS: (Foreign language spoken)

SHAPIRO: He said, if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge him? This year, California and New Jersey became the first states to ban conversion therapy for minors; 2013 was the year the country's oldest and largest ex-gay group shutdown. Exodus President Alan Chambers.

ALAN CHAMBERS: I understand why I'm distrusted and why Exodus is hated. I cannot ask you to forgive me. That would be presumptuous. But please know that I'm deeply sorry.

SHAPIRO: On the Oprah Winfrey Network, Chambers apologized for the harm he and his organization caused gay people.

CHAMBERS: I'm sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to him, that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart.

SHAPIRO: So what's responsible for this massive national sea change? Chad Griffin of HRC attributes it to the same thing a San Francisco city supervisor talked about 40 years ago.

GRIFFIN: Harvey Milk said it in 1973. The most important thing we can do is come out - come out at home, come out at school, come out at church. Because when you know us, you don't hate us.

SHAPIRO: 2013 may have been the gayest year yet. But people like Chad Griffin argue that 2012 was also the gayest year to date and so was 2011 before that. For the last several years, the trend in this country has moved in only one direction. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.


Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.


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New Year's Eve 2013: Sonia Sotomayor to drop Times Square ball

 



Sotomayor joins other politicians who have taken part in the New Year’s Eve tradition. | AP Photos



By LUCY MCCALMONT | 12/30/13 6:13 AM EST


Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will help ring in 2014 in New York City on Tuesday by pushing the button to start the famed Times Square ball drop.

Sotomayor — a native New Yorker — will lead the celebratory crowds by pushing the crystal button at 11:59 p.m., kicking off the final countdown, event organizers announced in a news release.
 

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“Justice Sotomayor is an inspiration to many, and it is a privilege to welcome her to our celebration to ring in 2014,” said Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins.

(PHOTOS: Who’s who on the Supreme Court)

Sotomayor joins other politicians who have taken part in the New Year’s Eve tradition. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell led the ball drop in 2004 and Bill and Hillary Clinton assumed the role in 2008.

However, Tompkins said that regular attendee Mayor Michael Bloomberg will not be present at this year’s ball drop, according to Reuters. The outgoing mayor, who led last year’s celebrations with The Rockettes, will instead be celebrating privately with family and friends.

Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009.


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CONFERENCE on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work


Conference on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

CONFRERENCE    CONFERENCE

on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work

Tuesday 21 January 2014 at the EU Parliament (Brussels)





The objective of this conference is to highlight the paramount importance a work-free Sunday and decent working hours for citizens throughout Europe and is not necessarily to be set against economic competitiveness. All people in the European Union should be entitled to benefit from work-free Sundays and decent working hours.
For a couple of years now, the socio-economic crisis has been overshadowing European Union policy making. The situation in many Member States is critical: political instability is increasing and social balances are at risk. Europe is facing many challenges such as demographic change, unemployment especially among young people, poverty and social exclusion. Austerity, further liberalisation and flexibility are very often seen as key solutions for getting out of the crisis. Social protection and social rights seem to be put aside. However, employment and the creation of jobs and economic competitiveness in Europe are the main requirements for overcoming the crisis. But what kind of jobs do we need in Europe? Can competitiveness and decent work and a common weekly rest day go hand in hand, and under what conditions? We believe: Competitiveness needs innovation, innovation needs creativity and creativity needs recreation!

2013 is the European Year of Citizens. Sunday protection strengthens the social cohesion of our societies. It therefore represents a precious achievement which should be recognised as a pillar of the European Social and Economic Model. We believe that today, legislation and practices in place at the EU and Member State levels need to be more protective of the health, safety, dignity of everyone and should more attentively promote the balance between family and private life and work.



The Members of Parliament Evelyn Regner (S&D) and Thomas Mann (EPP)

and

The European Sunday Alliance
 
Invite you to



The Second European Conference on the Protection of a Work-free Sunday and Decent Work


2014-2019: WORK-FREE SUNDAYS AND DECENT WORK IN THE EU

What can the Members of the European Parliament do to promote the idea?



Date: Tuesday 21 January 2013

Time: 9:00 to 17:15

Venue: European Parliament, Brussels, Room PHS 7C050


  1. 1st SESSION: Decent work and work-free Sundays in times of crisis
  2. 2nd SESSION: Balancing family and private life and work - towards a happy and healthy life
  3. 3rd SESSION: How a work-free Sunday enables citizens´ participation and voluntary engagement

PLEASE REGISTER HERE :

Data required for an access badge to the EU Parliament



Conference on Work-free Sundays and Decent Work 21.01.2014,


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Pledge for a work-free Sunday and decent work


Content:


! ACTION !




Pledge for a work-free Sunday and decent work

ahead of the European elections 2014





"A work-free Sunday and decent working hours are of paramount importance for citizens and workers throughout Europe and are not necessarily in conflict with economic competitiveness.

Especially in the present time of socio-economic crisis, the adoption of legislation extending working hours to late evenings, nights, bank holidays and Sundays has direct consequences for the working conditions of employees and for small and medium sized enterprises. Competitiveness needs innovation, innovation needs creativity and creativity needs recreation!



As a current or future Member of the European Parliament I pledge:



 


1. To ensure that all relevant EU-legislation both respects and promotes the protection of a common weekly day of rest for all EU citizens, which shall be in principle on a Sunday, in order to protect workers' health and promote a better balance between family and private life and work;


2. To promote EU-legislation guaranteeing sustainable working time patterns based on the principle of decent work benefiting society as well as the economy as a whole.


Signatures collected:



Download the pledge in your language (PDF):

English - French- German- Bulgarian - Croatian - Czech - Danish - Dutch - Estonian- Finnish - Greek - Hungarian - Italian - Irish - Latvian - Lithuanian - Maltese - Polish - Portuguese -Romanian - Slovak - Slovenian - Spanish - Swedish





Now it's up to YOU !

Contact your MEP and MEP-Candidate and call on her/him to commit her/himself
To ensure that all relevant EU-legislation both respects and promotes the protection of a common weekly day of rest for all EU citizens, which shall in principle be on a Sunday, in order to protect workers' health and promote a better balance between family and private life and work;
To promote EU-legislation guaranteeing sustainable working time patterns based on the principle of decent work benefiting society as well as the economy as a whole.

by signing THE PLEDGE!

--> Please take a PHOTO of the signing and send us the name and the photo:

contact@europeansundayalliance.eu

We will publish it on our website. Photos, that we receive before Wednesday, 15 January 2014 will be included in the presentation of the campaign during our conference at the European Parliament on 21 January 2013. www.europeansundayalliance.eu/site/sundayconference2014


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AH plastered because of Sunday rest




Netherlands Dec26


Posted by Audrey Graanoogst on 14:48 CET, Thursday, 26, December, 2013 in Netherlands

In ‘s-Gravendeel, near Dordrecht, angry churchgoers plastered a branch of Albert Heijn with pamphlets. They call on customers to stop shopping there, because the supermarkets will be open on Sundays from now on.This past Sunday the Albert Heijn was open on Sunday for the first time, much to the annoyance of some church goers, who feel the branch manager should adhere to the Sunday rest.



AH pamphlet
Facebook




People are called upon to do their shopping in stores that do respect the Sunday rest, according to the angry churchgoers. The pamphlets also state that the boycott will only be canceled if the supermarket in ’s-Gravendeel remains closed on Sundays.

The Facebook page of the grocery store shows a response to the plaster campaign: ’Hopefully they are captured nicely by camera images, so we can plaster them in the media without any respect for privacy.’


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Sunday, December 29, 2013

Car Bomb Rips Through Beirut, and More


A Statement from the Society of Jesus on Time Magazine’s Selection of Pope Francis as Person of the Year


Head of U.S. Jesuit Order Congratulates Pope on Honor

For Immediate Release

(Washington, D.C., December 11, 2013) — Pope Francis has been named 2013’s“Person of the Year,” the iconic title given to one individual or group each year since 1927 by the editors of Time magazine. The title goes to the person who has had the greatest impact on the world and news for the past year, and previous recipients include Mahatma Gandhi, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as two popes: Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

According to Father Thomas H. Smolich, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference, “Pope Francis is a man with a deep connection to the poor and marginalized. He knows how to translate what is in his heart into actions — whether it’s washing the feet of Muslim prisoners on Holy Thursday to launching a global campaign to end world hunger to establishing a commission to address the clerical sexual abuse crisis. He desires to lead a Church that unifies rather than divides, and he gives both believers and seekers a reason to be proud.

“The Society of Jesus salutes Pope Francis, our Jesuit brother, on the singular honor of being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year,” said Fr. Smolich.

About the Society of Jesus in the United States

Founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius Loyola, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is the largest order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church. The Jesuits operate 28 colleges and universities, 54 high schools and 67 parishes in the United States and engage in a variety of ministries. As religious, Jesuits commit themselves to observe vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in practicing a faith that promotes justice. For more information on the Society of Jesus in the United States, visit www.jesuits.org.

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The Secret Terrorists - Bill Hughes on Wayward Son Radio



The Secret Terrorists - Bill Hughes on Wayward Son Radio mp4



the jesuits' jungle

Published on May 26, 2013

Author and Pastor Bill Hughes discusses world politics and biblical history with John at Wayward Son Radio on Blogtalk.
Listen part 2 :
http://archive.org/details/BillHugesO...

The Secret Terrorists.
http://www.pacinst.com/terrorists/pre...
http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/secr...
A secret terrorist organization has been working from within for a very long time to destroy the United States, it's Constitution, as well as all other "popular governments". This book will open your eyes to history as they have never been opened before.

The Jesuits of Rome can be very secretive, yet their hand can be felt in the Federal Reserve Bank, the CFR, the sinking of the Titanic, and the destruction at Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Oklahoma Federal building bombing, and the attack we now call "911". The objective is foment terror by causing one emergency after another, as our lawmakers transfer more and more power to the government, eroding our precious civil liberties granted in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. If you would like to know what the Vietnam war was really about, this author will provide you with the motives behind it. If you enjoyed the books Rulers Of Evil, Secret History of the Jesuits, and Unseen Hand, this book will bring everything into sharper focus; so much so, you will want to loan this book to your closest friends and family -- while you still can.
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