Sunday, September 20, 2020
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Marked for Death
September 18
The letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day.
Esther 3:13.
The decree that will finally go forth against the remnant people of God will be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews.54Prophets and Kings, 605.
When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof.55The Great Controversy, 635.
The decree will go forth that they must disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and honor the first day, or lose their lives; but they will not yield, and trample under their feet the Sabbath of the Lord, and honor an institution of papacy. Satan's host and wicked men will surround them, and exult over them, because there will seem to be no way of escape for them.56Testimonies for the Church 1:353, 354.
When this time of trouble comes, every case is decided; there is no longer probation, no longer mercy for the impenitent. The seal of the living God is upon His people. This small remnant, unable to defend themselves in the deadly conflict with the powers of earth that are marshaled by the dragon host, make God their defense. The decree has been passed by the highest earthly authority that they shall worship the beast and receive his mark under pain of persecution and death.57Testimonies for the Church 5:213.
The decree that will finally go forth against the remnant people of God will be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews.54Prophets and Kings, 605.
When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof.55The Great Controversy, 635.
The decree will go forth that they must disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and honor the first day, or lose their lives; but they will not yield, and trample under their feet the Sabbath of the Lord, and honor an institution of papacy. Satan's host and wicked men will surround them, and exult over them, because there will seem to be no way of escape for them.56Testimonies for the Church 1:353, 354.
When this time of trouble comes, every case is decided; there is no longer probation, no longer mercy for the impenitent. The seal of the living God is upon His people. This small remnant, unable to defend themselves in the deadly conflict with the powers of earth that are marshaled by the dragon host, make God their defense. The decree has been passed by the highest earthly authority that they shall worship the beast and receive his mark under pain of persecution and death.57Testimonies for the Church 5:213.
I saw the saints suffering great mental anguish. They seemed to be surrounded by the wicked inhabitants of the earth. Every appearance was against them. Some began to fear that God had at last left them to perish by the hand of the wicked....
It was an hour of fearful, terrible agony to the saints. Day and night they cried unto God for deliverance. To outward appearance, there was no possibility of their escape. The wicked had already begun to triumph, crying out, “Why doesn't your God deliver you out of our hands? Why don't you go up and save your lives?” But the saints heeded them not.58Early Writings, 283.
Maranatha, p. 269.
Friday, September 18, 2020
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
SEPT. 18, 2020 / 7:51 PM
By
Nicholas Sakelaris & Danielle Haynes
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died two months after announcing her liver cancer had returned. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday of cancer, the Supreme Court announced. She was 87.
The liberal justice's death comes two months after she announced her liver cancer had returned after receiving treatment for the disease in 2019.
"Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said. "We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice."
Ginsburg constantly broke through glass ceilings, challenging social norms and using her intellect to win consensus among her peers--even when her peers were fellow Supreme Court justices.
She was the first tenured female professor at Columbia University, the first woman to join the Harvard Law Review and the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Her passion for advocacy continued in her 25-plus years on the U.S. Supreme Court.
From gay marriage to Obamacare, Ginsburg tackled some of the biggest social issues of the 21st Century.
She was born Ruth Joan Bader on March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York to Nathan and Cecelia Bader. She went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn where she excelled in her studies. Her mother battled cancer for several years and died the day before Ginsburg graduated from high school.
Ginsburg attended Cornell University where she finished first in her class in 1954. She married Martin Ginsburg that same year.
They had a daughter, Jane, who was born shortly before Martin Ginsburg was drafted into the military in 1954, leaving Ruth Bader Ginsburg to raise their daughter alone. Martin Ginsburg served two years before he was discharged.
Then, the couple enrolled in Harvard University's law school, a male-dominated enviroment where there were eight women out of 500 students.
In 1956, her husband got testicular cancer, which required treatment and rehabilitation that forced him to miss class. Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended classes for both of them, taking notes and typing papers. When Martin recovered, he graduated from law school, in large part because of his wife's help. The story is depicted in the new film On the Basis of Sex.
After law school, she clerked for U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri and taught at the Rutgers University Law School and at Columbia.
The discrimination that Ruth Bader Ginsburg experienced in her early years drove her to push boundaries and take on gender discrimination. In the 1970s, she was the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. There, she argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court decades before she would sit on that bench.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served there until 1993 when President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace the seat vacated by Justice Byron White.
She was confirmed by the Senate 96-3.
On the Supreme Court, Ginsburg continued to advocate for gender equality, the rights of workers and separation of church and state. She wrote the Supreme Court's landmark decision in United States v. Virginia that said the Virginia Military Institute couldn't refuse women.
In 1999, she won the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights.
She also famously objected to the majority opinion in Bush v. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. She said "I dissent," noticeably leaving out the word "respectfully."
In 2015, Ginsburg sided with the majority in the King v. Burwell case that allowed the federal government to offer subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. The next day, she cast the deciding vote in the Obergefell v. Hodges case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
Her granddaughter Clara Spera was inspired by her "Bubbie's" determination and was taught from a young age that she could get any job she wanted. She celebrated her 3rd birthday at the Supreme Court in 1993, shortly after Ginsburg had been confirmed. In May 2018, Spera became a lawyer in New York.
In her mid-80s, Ginsburg said she intended to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another five years even as fellow liberal Justice Anthony Kennedy retired. In a show of defiance in 2018, she hired law clerks through 2020.
"I'm now 85," Ginsburg told CNN in August 2018. "My senior colleague, Justice Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years."
She's a three-time cancer survivor and dealt with a number of other health problems over the years--but never let that slow her down.
She had surgery for colon cancer in 1999 and underwent chemotherapy treatment. In 2009, she had treatment for pancreatic cancer and went through chemotherapy treatments again. In 2014, she had a stent placed in her right coronary artery.
In November 2018, Ginsburg fractured three ribs when she fell in her office. She left the hospital the next day. A few weeks later, Ginsburg greeted 31 new U.S. citizens at the National Archives. She gave a stirring speech about her own father who moved to the United States from Russia at age 13.
She was hospitalized again in December to remove cancerous lung nodules that were found while doctors were treating her for the fall the previous month. She continued to work from her hospital bed just days after the treatment. The cancer was contained and didn't spread, doctors said.
Ginsburg is the second Supreme Court justice to die in office since 2016 -- the other being Antonin Scalia. The death leaves a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the third since President Donald Trump took office.
Trump will likely nominate a conservative replacement for Ginsburg.
Her husband Martin Ginsburg died of cancer in 2010. Ruth Bader Ginsburg described her husband of 56 years as her biggest booster and "the only young man I dated who cared that I had a brain."
She is survived by children: attorney Jane Carol, 63, and music producer James Steven, 53.
She ranked in the top 10 Most Admired Women of 2018 on a Gallup Survey.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died two months after announcing her liver cancer had returned. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday of cancer, the Supreme Court announced. She was 87.
The liberal justice's death comes two months after she announced her liver cancer had returned after receiving treatment for the disease in 2019.
"Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said. "We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice."
Ginsburg constantly broke through glass ceilings, challenging social norms and using her intellect to win consensus among her peers--even when her peers were fellow Supreme Court justices.
She was the first tenured female professor at Columbia University, the first woman to join the Harvard Law Review and the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Her passion for advocacy continued in her 25-plus years on the U.S. Supreme Court.
From gay marriage to Obamacare, Ginsburg tackled some of the biggest social issues of the 21st Century.
She was born Ruth Joan Bader on March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York to Nathan and Cecelia Bader. She went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn where she excelled in her studies. Her mother battled cancer for several years and died the day before Ginsburg graduated from high school.
Ginsburg attended Cornell University where she finished first in her class in 1954. She married Martin Ginsburg that same year.
They had a daughter, Jane, who was born shortly before Martin Ginsburg was drafted into the military in 1954, leaving Ruth Bader Ginsburg to raise their daughter alone. Martin Ginsburg served two years before he was discharged.
Then, the couple enrolled in Harvard University's law school, a male-dominated enviroment where there were eight women out of 500 students.
In 1956, her husband got testicular cancer, which required treatment and rehabilitation that forced him to miss class. Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended classes for both of them, taking notes and typing papers. When Martin recovered, he graduated from law school, in large part because of his wife's help. The story is depicted in the new film On the Basis of Sex.
After law school, she clerked for U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri and taught at the Rutgers University Law School and at Columbia.
The discrimination that Ruth Bader Ginsburg experienced in her early years drove her to push boundaries and take on gender discrimination. In the 1970s, she was the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. There, she argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court decades before she would sit on that bench.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served there until 1993 when President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace the seat vacated by Justice Byron White.
She was confirmed by the Senate 96-3.
On the Supreme Court, Ginsburg continued to advocate for gender equality, the rights of workers and separation of church and state. She wrote the Supreme Court's landmark decision in United States v. Virginia that said the Virginia Military Institute couldn't refuse women.
In 1999, she won the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights.
She also famously objected to the majority opinion in Bush v. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. She said "I dissent," noticeably leaving out the word "respectfully."
In 2015, Ginsburg sided with the majority in the King v. Burwell case that allowed the federal government to offer subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. The next day, she cast the deciding vote in the Obergefell v. Hodges case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
Her granddaughter Clara Spera was inspired by her "Bubbie's" determination and was taught from a young age that she could get any job she wanted. She celebrated her 3rd birthday at the Supreme Court in 1993, shortly after Ginsburg had been confirmed. In May 2018, Spera became a lawyer in New York.
In her mid-80s, Ginsburg said she intended to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another five years even as fellow liberal Justice Anthony Kennedy retired. In a show of defiance in 2018, she hired law clerks through 2020.
"I'm now 85," Ginsburg told CNN in August 2018. "My senior colleague, Justice Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years."
She's a three-time cancer survivor and dealt with a number of other health problems over the years--but never let that slow her down.
She had surgery for colon cancer in 1999 and underwent chemotherapy treatment. In 2009, she had treatment for pancreatic cancer and went through chemotherapy treatments again. In 2014, she had a stent placed in her right coronary artery.
In November 2018, Ginsburg fractured three ribs when she fell in her office. She left the hospital the next day. A few weeks later, Ginsburg greeted 31 new U.S. citizens at the National Archives. She gave a stirring speech about her own father who moved to the United States from Russia at age 13.
She was hospitalized again in December to remove cancerous lung nodules that were found while doctors were treating her for the fall the previous month. She continued to work from her hospital bed just days after the treatment. The cancer was contained and didn't spread, doctors said.
Ginsburg is the second Supreme Court justice to die in office since 2016 -- the other being Antonin Scalia. The death leaves a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the third since President Donald Trump took office.
Trump will likely nominate a conservative replacement for Ginsburg.
Her husband Martin Ginsburg died of cancer in 2010. Ruth Bader Ginsburg described her husband of 56 years as her biggest booster and "the only young man I dated who cared that I had a brain."
She is survived by children: attorney Jane Carol, 63, and music producer James Steven, 53.
She ranked in the top 10 Most Admired Women of 2018 on a Gallup Survey.
Barr says calls for coronavirus lockdown are the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties'...
Barr says calls for coronavirus lockdown are the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' other than slavery in US history
By Katelyn Polantz and Christina Carrega, CNN
Updated 11:35 PM ET, Wed September 16, 2020
(CNN) Attorney General William Barr suggested on Wednesday that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" in history "other than slavery."
The comments came minutes after he slammed the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him, equating them to preschoolers, in a defense of his own politically tuned decision making in the Trump administration.
Addressing a Constitution Day celebration hosted by Hillsdale College, the event's host asked Barr to explain the "constitutional hurdles for forbidding a church from meeting during Covid-19."
The question lead Barr into a four-minute response where he said state governors were using their executive powers to stifle citizens and businesses from going back to work.
"You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history," Barr said as a round of applause came from the crowd.
Covid-19 has taken a measurable toll on minorities, including Black people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In recent weeks, Barr has taken a much more aggressive stance defending Trump administration policies, including suggesting voting by mail is not safe, attacking the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and criticizing governors for their coronavirus response.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Stripe is paying employees $20,000 if they leave big cities ...
Stripe is paying employees $20,000 if they leave big cities — but they'll also get a pay cut
By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business
Updated 8:17 AM ET, Thu September 17, 2020
New York (CNN)Stripe is paying employees $20,000 if they relocate from expensive cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and New York, where the company has offices. But workers who make the move will have to take a 10% pay cut.
"We want our employees to be able to make whatever life choices they feel are best for them without barriers," a spokesperson for the financial services and software company told CNN Business.
Leaving big cities has become increasingly popular since the pandemic hit. Signed contracts for sales of condos and co-ops in Manhattan, for example, plunged nearly 60% in July, while contracts for single-family homes in areas outside of New York City have skyrocketed, according to a recent report from real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.
Some commuting Americans are already saving money during the pandemic. Americans traveled nearly 37 billion fewer miles on the road in June, compared to the same month last year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Fewer miles translates into money saved. Employees who once commuted by car but now work from home are saving a total of $758 million per day, according to research from freelancing platform Upwork. Over the months since the pandemic hit the US, that figure amounts to more than $90 billion.
By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business
Updated 8:17 AM ET, Thu September 17, 2020
New York (CNN)Stripe is paying employees $20,000 if they relocate from expensive cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and New York, where the company has offices. But workers who make the move will have to take a 10% pay cut.
"We want our employees to be able to make whatever life choices they feel are best for them without barriers," a spokesperson for the financial services and software company told CNN Business.
Leaving big cities has become increasingly popular since the pandemic hit. Signed contracts for sales of condos and co-ops in Manhattan, for example, plunged nearly 60% in July, while contracts for single-family homes in areas outside of New York City have skyrocketed, according to a recent report from real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.
Some commuting Americans are already saving money during the pandemic. Americans traveled nearly 37 billion fewer miles on the road in June, compared to the same month last year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Fewer miles translates into money saved. Employees who once commuted by car but now work from home are saving a total of $758 million per day, according to research from freelancing platform Upwork. Over the months since the pandemic hit the US, that figure amounts to more than $90 billion.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Christian worship leader brings controversial prayer rallies to cities roiled by protests
By Marisa Iati and Sarah Pulliam Bailey
September 16, 2020 at 5:55 PM EDT
A conservative Christian musician who has been staging worship concerts across the country is performing in Kenosha, Wis., and Chicago on Wednesday as part of a controversial movement he says is intended to bring healing to cities upended by racial unrest.
Sean Feucht, a California-based worship leader, opened a promotional video from Kenosha by pointing to a parking lot of burned cars that he claimed were destroyed in recent protests of the shooting of Jacob Blake by a city police officer.
“We are believing in this place of devastation, God is releasing a sound of hope and healing and peace and unity,” Feucht said in the video. “And that’s what we’re coming to bring today.”
The concerts have drawn criticism for bringing together hundreds or thousands of people, most without masks, during the coronavirus pandemic. Some fellow Christians have also expressed frustration at what they see as Feucht trying to overshadow people protesting systemic racism and the use of force by police.
Feucht began hosting open-air concerts after government leaders implemented restrictions on religious gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, he told Religion News Service. The concerts started as a way of pushing back on those guidelines, Feucht said, but expanded to focus on cities experiencing protests and riots in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“We just feel this call to really target cities that are under extreme turmoil and despair and brokenness,” Feucht said this month on a podcast with health-supplement entrepreneur David James Harris Jr. “That’s why we’ve gone into places like Portland, downtown Portland a block from the riots; we’ve gone into Seattle, into the former CHOP zone. … God’s really writing a different story there.”
Socialism Was Once America's Political Taboo...
Socialism Was Once America's Political Taboo. Now, Democratic Socialism Is a Viable Platform. Here's What to Know
The Socialist Feminists of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) protesting Trump's health care plan on Jul. 5, 2017, in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket—Getty Images
OCTOBER 24, 2018 6:00 PM EDT
As the 2018 midterm elections approach, the campaign season has come with its fair share of surprises. Among them is the phenomenon of primary-election success for members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — a situation that would have been extremely unlikely relatively recently, as socialism has long been considered a “dirty word” in American politics. In the post-World War II era, for example, only 15% of Americans wanted to see the country “go more in the direction of socialism,” according to a 1949 Gallup poll.
But that phenomenon is a lot less surprising now than it was just a few months ago, thanks to political newcomers with DSA ties. The DSA has endorsed 62 candidates for local, state and federal office, most famously Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old who defeated a 10-term incumbent in the Democratic primary to represent the Bronx and Queens, and Julia Salazar, 27, who won a New York State Senate Democratic primary. And even though Sex and the City actor and activist Cynthia Nixon lost the Democratic primary for Governor of New York to Andrew Cuomo, she too succeeded in raising awareness for democratic socialism. If candidates like Ocasio-Cortez and Salazar prove victorious in November, that trend is likely to continue.
But what exactly is democratic socialism?
Here’s what to know about the DSA and how it got that way, as explained by two experts on its history: Maurice Isserman is a professor of History at Hamilton College and author of The Other American: The Life Of Michael Harrington, a biography of the founder of the Democratic Socialists of America; Michael Kazin is a professor of History at Georgetown University and editor of Dissent magazine as well as a former member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a group associated with democratic socialism during the 1960s.
What does it mean to be a democratic socialist in America?
While the idea of equalizing the distribution of wealth is an old one, the way of doing so dubbed “socialism” dates to the 19th century. The term generally refers to collectively-owned businesses and forms of government, in which workers and government entities have more control over the means of production and distribution of goods, versus the private ownership and free market that drives capitalism.
American politicians today who are associated with democratic socialism generally favor New Deal-style programs, believing that government is a force for good in people’s lives and that a large European-style welfare state can exist in a capitalist society. They generally support ideas such as labor reform and pro-union policies, tuition-free public universities and trade schools, universal healthcare, federal jobs programs, fair taxation that closes loopholes that the wealthiest citizens have found, and using taxes on the rich and corporations to pay for social welfare programs. (Of course the Democratic Socialists of America website has a whole page on this very question, as do the campaign websites for Ocasio-Cortez and Salazar, as well as that of Senator Bernie Sanders, another prominent democratic socialist.)
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
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