Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds

  1. Site: AsiaNews.it
    1 day 3 hours ago
    Today's news: new deaths in Israel and Lebanon in the war front with Hezbollah. The Singapore ship that caused the Baltimore disaster had passed two overhauls last year. Mumbai overtakes Beijing in number of billionaires. Russian dissident Kara-Murza's wife: prisoner exchanges with Moscow political prisoners to save their lives.
  2. Site: Crisis Magazine
    1 day 4 hours ago
    Author: Janet E. Smith

    A group named “Trad Recovery” is holding a conference this summer to minister to people who have been harmed by their involvement in traditionalist communities. Some traditionalist Catholics have taken offense to the project, but it is certainly possible that there are some people who have had bad experiences and who might therefore benefit from some “ministering.” The proposal itself, though…

    Source

  3. Site: Crisis Magazine
    1 day 4 hours ago
    Author: Casey Chalk

    “How Christian is Christian Nationalism?” asked a New Yorker piece last year. Many Christians would argue “not at all”—believing that Christians should not even engage in public service, as the faithful are called to be a people set apart. Other Christian traditions—among them Anabaptists such as the Mennonites and the Bruderhof Communities, Holiness Pacifists, Seventh-day Adventists…

    Source

  4. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 4 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Telegram Scam Exposed Enabling Migrants To Pay For German-Language Test Answers To Obtain Citizenship

    Authored by Thomas Brooke via ReMix News,

    For €250, migrants can have the test results to the upcoming B1 German-language exam sent to them ahead of time, fradulently obtaining a key requirement for citizenship

    A German public broadcaster has uncovered a “cash for test results” scam in which migrants can pay for the answers to a German-language test required to obtain citizenship in the country.

    An undercover operation by an employee of the WDR broadcaster exposed the scheme in which those seeking to pass the B1 German-language exam could join a group on the end-to-end encrypted messaging app Telegram and obtain the test results just days before they sit the exam.

    The broadcaster was initially tipped off about the scam by a woman who recently sat the exam and noticed that many of the other entrants were overly confident and finished the test unnaturally quickly. When she asked how they had finished so fast, she was told by one woman that their husband had purchased the test results for her in the lead-up to the exam.

    “She told me that you can get the questions for the test in a Telegram group for money,” the woman, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told WDR.

    With the assistance of an Arabic-speaking colleague, journalists at the broadcaster conducted their own investigations into the allegation and soon found a group on the messaging app advertising test results for the bi-weekly integration exam.

    Upon paying €250, the WDR employee received the test results for the exam to be held two days later.

    “Some questions only state which answer is correct. Others have additional explanations in Arabic,” the broadcaster reported.

    The exam is regulated by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and is currently taken by around 20,000 people every two weeks. When questioned by the broadcaster as to how test results could be leaked to then be sold on the black market, BAMF’s head of the integration courses department, Benjamin Beckmann, suggested that someone at the test facility must be responsible.

    “The most obvious thing is that a person at an exam center — probably with at least several people in the know — got the security envelope, in which the examination documents were sent, opened them improperly, and took photos of these documents,” he said.

    Such an act would inevitably lead to an employee’s termination and the bringing of criminal charges, he added.

    The small issue in ascertaining the leak, however, is the fact that the test questions are distributed to 1,467 course providers and then delivered to 4,000 test centers across the country.

    Jörn Weingärtner, managing director of GAST eV which is commissioned by BAMF to conduct the tests in Bochum, told WDR that it was inevitable there would be weakness in the chain of delivery.

    “Every other weekend, a lot of paper is sent through the Republic, which goes through a lot of hands. And it’s in the nature of things that there can be a weak point somewhere,” he said.

    With 360,000 migrants passing the exam last year alone, questions are now being raised as to how many paid for the answers ahead of time and fraudulently achieved a false language grade that facilitated their naturalization in Germany.

    Read more here...

    Tyler Durden Wed, 03/27/2024 - 05:00
  5. Site: The Remnant Newspaper - Remnant Articles
    1 day 4 hours ago
    Author: robert.t.morrison@gmail.com (Robert Morrison | Remnant Columnist)
    “And the governor answering, said to them: Whether will you of the two to be released unto you? But they said, Barabbas. Pilate saith to them: What shall I do then with Jesus that is called Christ? They say all: Let Him be crucified.” (Matthew 27:21-22)
  6. Site: Mundabor's blog
    1 day 4 hours ago
    Author: Mundabor
    I don’t know if you have noticed, but Francis’ photographs appear to be carefully selected to make him appear in a more favourable – let’s say, less unfavourable – light. The man is often photographed from sufficiently close that only his face and part of his chest appear, and pretty much from the front. Pictures […]
  7. Site: AsiaNews.it
    1 day 4 hours ago
    The Isis cell in the region between Afghanistan and Central Asia sees Russia as the main support for its two worst enemies, the regimes in Kabul and Tehran. While in Tajikistan, President Rakhmon stigmatises the high number of Tajiks among the militia, but according to his opponents their radicalisation is the effect of his twenty years of repression.
  8. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 5 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Down The Drain: Wastewater With The Most Cocaine

    Cocaine use tends to be higher in western and southern European cities, according to the database of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

    As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, researchers analyzed the wastewater of 88 cities in 23 EU countries and Turkey for levels of a number of illicit drugs, including cocaine, MDMA and ketamine, in order to explore the drug-taking habits of their inhabitants.

    They found that cities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain had the highest levels of cocaine in their water, while lower levels were found in most eastern European cities.

     Wastewater with the Most Cocaine | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The Flemish city of Antwerp had 1,722 milligrams detected per 1,000 people flowing through its drains per day in 2023, making it the city with the highest levels of cocaine in their wastewater of the sites included in the study.

    Other cities with notably high concentrations were the port cities of Tarragona, Spain (1,464mg) and the Netherlands' Amsterdam (1,210), Leeuwarden (1,192mg) and Rotterdam (1,088mg).

    According to the report, when looking at a number of cities outside of Europe, Brazil and the United States showed similar levels of cocaine use to the worst offending cities in Europe.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 03/27/2024 - 04:15
  9. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 5 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Police Scotland To Stop Investigating Crimes While Enforcing New Anti-Free Speech Law

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

    As it prepares to investigate every report it receives under the new Hate Crime Act, Police Scotland admits that a separate plan to stop investigating crimes like theft and criminal damage will help criminals.

    A Police Scotland pilot in Aberdeen which was deemed a “success” means “more than 24,000 offences a year will no longer be allocated to a front-line officer.”

    The body refused to tell the Telegraph which offences would not be investigated, asserting that it would provide criminals with a “tactical advantage”.

    “Police Scotland refused to release the data, claiming that admitting which crimes the policy could apply to would risk handing “those with criminal intent” the opportunity to “plan and orchestrate their criminal activities with the aim to avoid detection,” reports the newspaper.

    However, Chief Constable Jo Farrell told a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority that some forms of theft and criminal damage would not be investigated.

    The new policy is designed to free up time for officers to focus on other crimes.

    The absurdity of this plan is heightened by the fact that from April 1st, hate crime legislation comes into force in Scotland that will require additional resources to assess every single report.

    Farrell admitted that the new law this could create “additional demand”and create a “resource implication” for police.

    As we highlight in the video above, the bill is so broad that any speech whatsoever deemed to have caused offense could be reported and investigated.

    During their training program on enforcing the new law, police officers were taught that even the content of plays and comedy gigs should be considered as potential hate crimes.

    Many have asserted that merely retweeting a Ricky Gervais joke about transgender people could amount to a hate crime in Scotland.

    Meanwhile, all the real criminals must be licking their lips in anticipation at being left alone to run rampant.

    *  *  *

    Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 03/27/2024 - 03:30
  10. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 6 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Rolex Still Dominates The Swiss Watch Market

    Swiss watches are renowned for their precision, craftsmanship, and quality.

    In this visualization, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu ranks the top Swiss watch brands based on their estimated 2023 market share, which comes from data provided by LuxeConsult and Morgan Stanley.

    Rolex Dominates the Swiss Watch Market

    Sales of Rolex watches are believed to have surpassed 10 billion Swiss francs ($11.2 billion) for the first time in 2023, significantly outpacing rivals like Cartier CHF 3.1 billion ($3.5 billion) and Omega CHF 2.6 billion ($2.9 billion).

    Additionally, Rolex has strengthened its dominant position in the market, capturing a remarkable 30.3% retail market share.

    In 2023, the Swiss watch industry achieved record sales totaling CHF 26.7 billion ($30 billion). The “Big Four” watch brands—Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Richard Mille—achieved a combined 43.9% market share last year, compared to a pre-Covid 2019 market share of 36.9%.

    Also noteworthy is that Vacheron Constantin joined the billionaires’ club as the 8th brand to surpass CHF 1 billion in sales, reaching CHF 1.097 billion ($1.23 billion).

    In conclusion, premium watches priced over CHF 25,000 ($28,000) drove 69% of the market’s growth in 2023, and constituted 44% of the total value of Swiss watch exports. Despite this significant value contribution, this segment represents only 2.5% of the total volume in terms of units sold.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 03/27/2024 - 02:45
  11. Site: Mises Institute
    1 day 7 hours ago
    Author: Ryan McMaken, Zachary Yost
    Ryan and Zach talk about the signs that the West is slowly abandoning its goal of total victory over Russia in Ukraine.
  12. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 7 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Escobar: The Nuland/Budanov/Tajik/Crocus Connection

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    Let’s start with the possible chain of events that may have led to the Crocus terror attack.

    This is as explosive as it gets. Intel sources in Moscow discreetly confirm this is one of the FSB’s prime lines of investigation.

    December 4, 2023. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mark Milley, only 3 months after his retirement, tells CIA mouthpiece The Washington Post: “There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night (…) You gotta get back there and create a campaign behind the lines.”

    January 4, 2024: In an interview with ABC News, “spy chief” Kyrylo Budanov lays down the road map: strikes “deeper and deeper” into Russia.

    January 31: Victoria Nuland travels to Kiev and meets Budanov. Then, in a dodgy press conference at night in the middle of an empty street, she promises “nasty surprises” to Putin: code for asymmetric war.

    February 22: Nuland shows up at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event and doubles down on the “nasty surprises” and asymmetric war. That may be interpreted as the definitive signal for Budanov to start deploying dirty ops.

    February 25: The New York Times publishes a story about CIA cells in Ukraine: nothing that Russian intel does not already know.

    Then, a lull until March 5 – when crucial shadow play may have been in effect. Privileged scenario: Nuland was a key dirty ops plotter alongside the CIA and the Ukrainian GUR (Budanov). Rival Deep State factions got hold of it and maneuvered to “terminate” her one way or another – because Russian intel would have inevitably connected the dots.

    Yet Nuland, in fact, is not “retired” yet; she’s still presented as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and showed up recently in Rome for a G7-related meeting, although her new job, in theory, seems to be at Columbia University (a Hillary Clinton maneuver).

    Meanwhile, the assets for a major “nasty surprise” are already in place, in the dark, and totally off radar. The op cannot be called off.

    March 5: Little Blinken formally announces Nuland’s “retirement”.

    March 7: At least one Tajik among the four-member terror commando visits the Crocus venue and has his photo taken.

    March 7-8 at night: U.S. and British embassies simultaneously announce a possible terror attack on Moscow, telling their nationals to avoid “concerts” and gatherings within the next two days.

    March 9: Massively popular Russian patriotic singer Shaman performs at Crocus. That may have been the carefully chosen occasion targeted for the “nasty surprise” – as it falls only a few days before the presidential elections, from March 15 to 17. But security at Crocus was massive, so the op is postponed.

    March 22: The Crocus City Hall terror attack.

    ISIS-K: the ultimate can of worms

    The Budanov connection is betrayed by the modus operandi – similar to previous Ukraine intel terror attacks against Daria Dugina and Vladimir Tatarsky: close reconnaissance for days, even weeks; the hit; and then a dash for the border.

    And that brings us to the Tajik connection.

    There seem to be holes aplenty in the narrative concocted by the ragged bunch turned mass killers: following an Islamist preacher on Telegram; offered what was later established as a puny 500 thousand rubles (roughly $4,500) for the four of them to shoot random people in a concert hall; sent half of the funds via Telegram; directed to a weapons cache where they find AK-12s and hand grenades.

    The videos show that they used the machine guns like pros; shots were accurate, short bursts or single fire; no panic whatsoever; effective use of hand grenades; fleeing the scene in a flash, just melting away, almost in time to catch the “window” that would take them across the border to Ukraine.

    All that takes training. And that also applies to facing nasty counter-interrogation. Still, the FSB seems to have broken them all – quite literally.

    A potential handler has surfaced, named Abdullo Buriyev. Turkish intel had earlier identified him as a handler for ISIS-K, or Wilayat Khorasan in Afghanistan. One of the members of the Crocus commando told the FSB their “acquaintance” Abdullo helped them to buy the car for the op.

    And that leads us to the massive can of worms to end them all: ISIS-K.

    The alleged emir of ISIS-K, since 2020, is an Afghan Tajik, Sanaullah Ghafari. He was not killed in Afghanistan in June 2023, as the Americans were spinning: he may be currently holed up in Balochistan in Pakistan.

    Yet the real person of interest here is not Tajik Ghafari but Chechen Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, the former leader of the jihadi outfit Ajnad al-Kavkaz (“Soldiers of the Caucasus”), who was fighting against the government in Damascus in Idlib and then escaped to Ukraine because of a crackdown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – in another one of those classic inter-jihadi squabbles.

    Shishani was spotted on the border near Belgorod during the recent attack concocted by Ukrainian intel inside Russia. Call it another vector of the “nasty surprises”.

    Shishani had been in Ukraine for over two years and has acquired citizenship. He is in fact the sterling connection between the nasty motley crue Idlib gangs in Syria and GUR in Kiev – as his Chechens worked closely with Jabhat al-Nusra, which was virtually indistinguishable from ISIS.

    Shishani, fiercely anti-Assad, anti-Putin and anti-Kadyrov, is the classic “moderate rebel” advertised for years as a “freedom fighter” by the CIA and the Pentagon.

    Some of the four hapless Tajiks seem to have followed ideological/religious indoctrination on the internet dispensed by Wilayat Khorasan, or ISIS-K, in a chat room called Rahnamo ba Khuroson.

    The indoctrination game happened to be supervised by a Tajik, Salmon Khurosoni. He’s the guy who made the first move to recruit the commando. Khurosoni is arguably a messenger between ISIS-K and the CIA.

    The problem is the ISIS-K modus operandi for any attack never features a fistful of dollars: the promise is Paradise via martyrdom. Yet in this case it seems it’s Khurosoni himself who has approved the 500 thousand ruble reward.

    After handler Buriyev relayed the instructions, the commando sent the bayat – the ISIS pledge of allegiance – to Khurosoni. Ukraine may not have been their final destination. Another foreign intel connection – not identified by FSB sources – would have sent them to Turkey, and then Afghanistan.

    That’s exactly where Khurosoni is to be found. Khurosoni may have been the ideological mastermind of Crocus. But, crucially, he’s not the client.

    The Ukrainian love affair with terror gangs

    Ukrainian intel, SBU and GUR, have been using the “Islamic” terror galaxy as they please since the first Chechnya war in the mid-1990s. Milley and Nuland of course knew it, as there were serious rifts in the past, for instance, between GUR and the CIA.

    Following the symbiosis of any Ukrainian government post-1991 with assorted terror/jihadi outfits, Kiev post-Maidan turbo-charged these connections especially with Idlib gangs, as well as north Caucasus outfits, from the Chechen Shishani to ISIS in Syria and then ISIS-K. GUR routinely aims to recruit ISIS and ISIS-K denizens via online chat rooms. Exactly the modus operandi that led to Crocus.

    One “Azan” association, founded in 2017 by Anvar Derkach, a member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir, actually facilitates terrorist life in Ukraine, Tatars from Crimea included – from lodging to juridical assistance.

    The FSB investigation is establishing a trail: Crocus was planned by pros – and certainly not by a bunch of low-IQ Tajik dregs. Not by ISIS-K, but by GUR. A classic false flag, with the clueless Tajiks under the impression that they were working for ISIS-K.

    The FSB investigation is also unveiling the standard modus operandi of online terror, everywhere. A recruiter focuses on a specific profile; adapts himself to the candidate, especially his – low – IQ; provides him with the minimum necessary for a job; then the candidate/executor become disposable.

    Everyone in Russia remembers that during the first attack on the Crimea bridge, the driver of the kamikaze truck was blissfully unaware of what he was carrying,

    As for ISIS, everyone seriously following West Asia knows that’s a gigantic diversionist scam, complete with the Americans transferring ISIS operatives from the Al-Tanf base to the eastern Euphrates, and then to Afghanistan after the Hegemon’s humiliating “withdrawal”. Project ISIS-K actually started in 2021, after it became pointless to use ISIS goons imported from Syria to block the relentless progress of the Taliban.

    Ace Russian war correspondent Marat Khairullin has added another juicy morsel to this funky salad: he convincingly unveils the MI6 angle in the Crocus City Hall terror attack (in English here, in two parts, posted by “S”).

    The FSB is right in the middle of the painstaking process of cracking most, if not all ISIS-K-CIA/MI6 connections. Once it’s all established, there will be hell to pay.

    But that won’t be the end of the story. Countless terror networks are not controlled by Western intel – although they will work with Western intel via middlemen, usually Salafist “preachers” who deal with Saudi/Gulf intel agencies.

    The case of the CIA flying “black” helicopters to extract jihadists from Syria and drop them in Afghanistan is more like an exception – in terms of direct contact – than the norm. So the FSB and the Kremlin will be very careful when it comes to directly accusing the CIA and MI6 of managing these networks.

    But even with plausible deniability, the Crocus investigation seems to be leading exactly to where Moscow wants it: uncovering the crucial middleman. And everything seems to be pointing to Budanov and his goons.

    Ramzan Kadyrov dropped an extra clue. He said the Crocus “curators” chose on purpose to instrumentalize elements of an ethnic minority – Tajiks – who barely speak Russian to open up new wounds in a multinational nation where dozens of ethnicities live side by side for centuries.

    In the end, it didn’t work. The Russian population has handed to the Kremlin total carte blanche to exercise brutal, maximum punishment – whatever and wherever it takes.

    Tyler Durden Wed, 03/27/2024 - 02:00
  13. Site: Novus Ordo Watch
    1 day 8 hours ago
    Author: admin

    Some extra Lenten penance, anyone?

    Mortification for the Eyes:
    The ‘Jubilee Church’ in Rome

    (image: Wikimedia Commons [Simona poncia] / License: CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)

    If you can’t identify the object in the photo above as a Roman Catholic Church, that’s because it isn’t one. Rather, it’s a worship center by and for the Vatican II Church, a Modernist sect which illegitimately calls itself the Roman Catholic Church and has occupied many Catholic structures for roughly six decades now.

    The official name of this hideous ‘Catholic’ edifice is Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso (“Church of God the Merciful Father”), although it is also known as the ‘Jubilee Church’.… READ MORE

  14. Site: Novus Ordo Wire – Novus Ordo Watch
    1 day 8 hours ago
    Author: admin

    Some extra Lenten penance, anyone?

    Mortification for the Eyes:
    The ‘Jubilee Church’ in Rome

    (image: Wikimedia Commons [Simona poncia] / License: CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)

    If you can’t identify the object in the photo above as a Roman Catholic Church, that’s because it isn’t one. Rather, it’s a worship center by and for the Vatican II Church, a Modernist sect which illegitimately calls itself the Roman Catholic Church and has occupied many Catholic structures for roughly six decades now.

    The official name of this hideous ‘Catholic’ edifice is Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso (“Church of God the Merciful Father”), although it is also known as the ‘Jubilee Church’.… READ MORE

  15. Site: The Unz Review
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Chris Hedges
    British courts for five years have dragged out Julian Assange's show trial. He continues to be denied due process as his physical and mental health deteriorates. This is the point. Prosecutors representing the United States, whether by design or incompetence, refused — in the two-day hearing I attended in London in February — to provide...
  16. Site: 4Christum
    1 day 9 hours ago

     The Traditional Mass Prohibited in the Cathedral of La Serena, Chile while transvestites are given permission to desecrate it.



    René Rebolledo, Archbishop of La Serena, after giving permission to take photographs, washes his hands.


    Make no mistake. The transgender movement is targeting the Catholic Church.







    Galatians 1:9
    As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

  17. Site: The Unz Review
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Gregory Conte
    The August 11, 2017 tiki-torch procession was a total humiliation for the University of Virginia (UVA). Three hundred men conducted a fair and legal protest of Jewish power on their precious campus, and their Antifa goons weren’t able to break it up. So, UVA—a feeder-school for the FBI and the Department of Justice—decided to get...
  18. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Karen Popp

    On the fifth anniversary of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus vivit and remembering his first Apostolic visit to World Youth Day in Brazil, the pope writes to young people: “I urged you to make your voices heard! Hagan lio! Make a mess! Today, once again, I ask you: make your voices heard!”
     

     

    The post Pope to youth (again): “Make a mess!” appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  19. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Karen Popp

    Ukraine’s chief Catholic leader says his nation is the “party seeking dialogue” in the war with Russia, but claims “Russia does not consider Ukraine a subject of dialogue, and even more so, denies Ukraine’s right to exist.” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church issued his statement on the 110th week of the war, saying as long as Russia, as the aggressor, denies the foundations of international law, a peace agreement will be impossible.
     

     

    The post Ukraine’s Catholic leader says peace agreement is ‘impossible’ appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  20. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Karen Popp

    Hamas terrorists raped and murdered women in Gaza and captured their crimes on video. Not even those celebratory videos have been enough to draw condemnation from the Left. The same young, progressive college women who need trigger warnings for a rape scene in Ovid’s Metamorphoses now find themselves unable to denounce one of the greatest instances of mass rape in recent history.

     

    The post Why the Left is silent on Hamas atrocities appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  21. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Karen Popp

    If He had come for some other purpose than Redemption from sin, it would not be the crucifix but a picture of Christ on the Mount as the Teacher that would be held in honor. If the Cross was not eventually to be a glory and a triumph, men would have drawn a veil over that ignominious hour to which He was pointing. If He had died in a bed, He might have been honored, but never as a Savior. The Cross alone could show that God is all holy, and therefore hates sin; the Cross also showed that God is all love and therefore dies for sinners, as if He were guilty.

    At this point the crowd asked Him a queer question:

    We have been told, out of the law,
    That Christ is to remain undisturbed for ever;
    What dost thou mean by saying that the Son of Man Must be lifted up? What Son of Man is this?
    JOHN 12:34

    It was strange that they who were acquainted with the Old Testament should have been scandalized by the fact that their Messias must die, for certainly they had read that in Isaias; they had also read in Daniel that the Son of Man was to be violently cut off. Their objection was that Christ, when He came, would be One Who would endure eternally; how therefore could He die? It was very clear to them that being lifted up meant dying on the Cross; it was also clear that He claimed to be the Christ or the Messias. But that on which they stumbled was His death. They could not reconcile a glorious Messias with a suffering One, as Peter could not reconcile a Divine Christ with a crucified Christ. They were right in saying that the Messias would be eternal, for Gabriel announced to the Blessed Mother that He would reign over the House of Jacob “forever.” But on the other hand, throughout the Old Testament ran the idea that He was to be a sacrifice for sin and a Lamb led to the slaughter.

    Our Lord met their taunt by drawing aside the veil of His Divinity and reminding them to avail themselves of His ransom. Some teachers might kindle lights in souls; others might be flickering candles; but everyone has caught illumination from Him, as He called Himself again the Light of the World. This Light would not be among them much longer. There is only one sun to light a world; if they put out the unique Light of the World, then
    darkness would overwhelm them. Spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness. As the light of reason is the perfection of the light of the senses, so He called Himself the Light by which reason itself is illumined and perfected. Those who would walk in faith with Him, He called children of light.

    The light is among you still, But only for a short time.
    Finish your journey while you still have the light, For fear darkness should overtake you;
    He who journeys in darkness
    Cannot tell which way he is going
    While you still have the light, Have faith in the light,
    That so you may become children of the light.
    JOHN 12:35, 36

    The reason Our Lord did not spend more time in correcting their stumbling at His sacrifice was because they had already stumbled at the prophecies of the Old Testament, at His miracles, and their obedience to His Word. For the moment, He took their eyes off Calvary and bade them look into their own consciences. With pity and tenderness, He invited them to avail themselves of His Light while He walked among them. This was His last and farewell utterance to the public, namely, the warning about going into darkness and the invitation to accept not a truth but the Truth.

    So much Jesus told them And then went away
    And was lost to their view.
    JOHN 12:36
    On that Tuesday evening of Holy Week He left the temple. The following day:
    All the people waited for Him
    At early morning in the Temple.
    LUKE 21:38

    but He did not appear. The sun was going into eclipse; it was as night. The Hour was nigh.
    – from Life of Christ (1958)

    The post Jesus came for our redemption appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  22. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Karen Popp

    Only St. Mark records the fact that Jesus refused wine mixed with myrrh before his crucifixion. This drink was a rudimentary painkiller, and so the fact it was offered to Jesus implies an act of mercy to one about to undergo horrific pain. So why did Jesus refuse it? The reason has to do with the final cup of Passover wine.
     

     

    The post Why Jesus said no to a crucifixion painkiller appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  23. Site: The Catholic Thing
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Francis X. Maier

    Today in Holy Week is traditionally known as “Spy Wednesday.”  It recalls the day on which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin.  The Gospel of John on Monday was especially harsh in its judgment of Judas.  The scene is the house of Lazarus, where Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfumed oil.  Judas is outraged:

    Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples and the one who would betray him, said, “Why has this oil not been sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?”  He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.

    The Gospel reading for today, from Matthew, paints an equally venal portrait of the man from Kerioth (thus his label “Iscariot”):

    One of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”  They paid him 30 pieces of silver, and from that time on, he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

    Later in the same reading, Jesus says “woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.  It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”  Judas piously asks, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”  Jesus answers, with exquisite irony, “You have said so.”

    What to make of Judas?

    The Church, like any human institution, is comprised of people.  And each of those people, including ourselves, is a sinner, from plumber to pope, with the sin of greed high on the popularity list. The Vatican financial scandals of the last few decades are ugly and damaging, but they’re hardly new to Church history.

    Nor are they peculiar to Rome.  In 2011, the chief financial officer of a major U.S. archdiocese was fired, indicted, and convicted for the theft of nearly $1 million in Church funds.

    Similar examples, of various scale, abound because money is magnetic.  Money means comfort.  Money means power to do and get what we want.  Thus it’s quite reasonable to see Judas as just another miserable thief; a pathetic, deceitful – and in this case, disastrously misguided – crook.  It would also be very unwise to ignore the guilty verdict of two Apostles with direct experience of the man and the Gospel events they describe.

    Yet ordinary greed doesn’t seem to satisfy as the main, or at least the only, motive for Judas’s actions.  In Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 film for television, Jesus of Nazareth, Judas – played with superb complexity by the actor Ian MacShane – is portrayed as a fellow traveler of the extremist Zealot party. The Zealots seek to expel the Romans from Israel and restore Jewish liberty. Judas sincerely admires Jesus and his mission.  He disagrees with the Zealots’ appetite for violence, but he shares their assumption that a Messiah will restore Israel as an independent kingdom.

    The Hanging of Judas by an unknown Alsatian or Southern German artist, c. 1520 [Art Institute of Chicago]. The devil removes the traitor’s soul.

    Judas joins Christ’s disciples with genuine devotion.  But his understanding of the Messiah’s purpose is rebuffed by Jesus.  Disillusioned and confused, he becomes an easy victim of Zerah (Ian Holm), the satanically shrewd counselor to the Sanhedrin, who convinces him to hand over Jesus to the authorities so that Jesus can prove who He is to the “fair-minded” Jewish leadership.  When Judas realizes Zerah’s treachery and its consequences, he commits suicide in a fit of hopeless self-loathing.

    Mel Gibson takes a similar approach in his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.  Whatever his other motives, Judas (Luca Lionello) becomes the naive pawn of a jealous and vindictive Sanhedrin.  Horrified by what he’s done, and contemptuously dismissed by his manipulators when he tries to undo the damage, he’s hounded by demons of despair and hangs himself.  As with Zeffirelli, Gibson presents Judas not as a greedy, self-aware cynic but rather as a weak and deluded loser, a disposable tool of evil in a much larger game.

    So the lessons of this and every Spy Wednesday are several, and worth considering.

    First, humanity’s perennial, go-to Golden Calf is power in this world, here and now.  So it was for the Jewish Zealots.  So it is for us.  It’s true that Christians should engage the civic order as an obligation of the Word of God.  Human law and public authority are important because they teach and form, as well as regulate.  And politics involves getting and using the power to do so – which means that politics has moral implications that the Christian can’t ignore and still remain faithful to his vocation as a light to the world. (Matthew 5:14-16)

    But power is an addictive drug.  We have our own Zealots today who are adroit at using religious faith for political ends.  This is especially (and ironically) true on the otherwise secular Left.  Much of today’s “progressive” politics is a kind of Biblical messianism without the irritating baggage of a personal God.

    Second, we’re never smarter than Jesus Christ – a lesson learned bitterly by Judas.  When Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world,” he meant it.  Christianity needs to guide our everyday behavior in the world with love and justice.  But it’s not finally about power, and it’s worthless without its next-worldly, transcendent horizon.  Either it’s salvific in the light of eternity, or it’s a waste of time.  It can never be reduced to a system of wholesome ethics or social action.  We can get that elsewhere.

    Third, despair is a disguised sin of pride. Both Peter and Judas betrayed Jesus; Peter by his words, Judas by his actions.  The abyss that separated the two men is what they did next.  Peter loved Jesus more than himself and his damaged vanity, which led to his repentance and forgiveness.  Judas abandoned himself to the evil of what he did, imagined himself unforgivable, and in doing that, repudiated God’s very nature.

    In our own lives, we all choose between ourselves and God.  On the brink of the Triduum, Judas is simply a reminder.

    The post Notes on the Man from Kerioth appeared first on The Catholic Thing.

  24. Site: The Unz Review
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Paul Craig Roberts
    The most extraordinary thing about Julian Assange is that he is being treated as if he were an American citizen. “Treason” was the original cry, now converted to “espionage.” There was no espionage. Wikileaks published, and made available to the New York Times, The Guardian, and other media organizations leaked information. The media organizations published...
  25. Site: The Unz Review
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Andrew Anglin
    So, apparently they are just enforcing hate crimes laws in America now. It’s never been explained how this is possible, other than by claiming it is “harassment,” which is obviously unconstitutional. They have just started ignoring the First Amendment, and pretending this is Europe. AP: The defendants, all 13, are students at Plum Point Middle...
  26. Site: The Unz Review
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Andrew Anglin
    This is hardly a big win. The UK just keeps trying to kick this can, while Julian continues to rot in prison. Reuters: That is indeed utterly bizarre. I assume it’s unprecedented as well. It’s clearly ridiculous to assert that the US would hold to any assurances they provide. The US lies about absolu
  27. Site: AntiWar.com
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Rick Sterling

    The book Gaza Writes Back is a collection of short stories from twenty young Gazans. Although published in 2013, the book is highly relevant today.  The stories reveal how the last five months is the culmination of a process which has been going on for decades. The title is curious: “Gaza Writes Back”.  Perhaps it … Continue reading "Gazans Tell What Its Like To Live Under the Israeli Siege"

    The post Gazans Tell What Its Like To Live Under the Israeli Siege appeared first on Antiwar.com.

  28. Site: AntiWar.com
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Ariel Gold

    According to legend, the organization I lead, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, was founded in August 1914 when a British Quaker and a German Lutheran shook hands at a railway station in Cologne. With England on the cusp of joining World War I, they pledged, “We are one in Christ and can never be at war.” … Continue reading "Israel’s Conscientious Objectors Stand on the Shoulders of Giants"

    The post Israel’s Conscientious Objectors Stand on the Shoulders of Giants appeared first on Antiwar.com.

  29. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    China's 'Unrestricted Warfare': Is It Here Already?

    Authored by Pete Hoekstra via The Gatestone Institute,

    • China-linked hackers appear to be looking to attack U.S. infrastructure, especially key components such as the electrical grid, water reservoirs and treatment plants, pipelines, and transportation and communications systems, among other targets.

    • The goal is seemingly to disrupt the U.S. everything critical to life – if you have no electricity, your cellphone will not work; no water will come out of the tap; gas pumps will not pump gas; flights and trains will stop, and disease from disabled sewage treatment plants will spread. There will be havoc and panic. The government and military will be unable to protect the nation. That is what is meant by "unrestricted warfare." Not a bullet was fired. It did not have to be. According to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, it is perfect.

    • What are some of the steps that should be taken?

    • The West has correctly identified the CCP as the malign threat that it is; now we have a responsibility to put into place the measures and deterrents to prevent it from attacking us through cyberspace or any other way. Let us not wait until we experience a 9/11-scale cyberattack that could be far more damaging to the U.S. than what took place on that dark day more than 20 years ago.

    The West has correctly identified the Chinese Communist Party as the malign threat that it is; now we have a responsibility to put into place the measures and deterrents to prevent it from attacking us through cyberspace or any other way. Let us not wait until we experience a 9/11-scale cyberattack that could be far more damaging to the U.S. than what took place on that dark day more than 20 years ago. (Image source: iStock)

    If there is one thing FBI Director Christopher Wray has been consistent on, it is the threat of Communist China across a wide range of fronts. At an unprecedented event on July 6, 2022, Wray and his British counterpart, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum, held a joint public appearance – the first ever -- to discuss the growing security challenge posed by China. Evidently, they saw the matter as urgent.

    In this joint appearance, the two men highlighted the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the CCP's civil-military fusion state -- specifically, that the CCP is intent on acquiring and stealing technology and business secrets from the West. Targeted areas include advanced materials, data and artificial intelligence (AI). China's President Xi Jinping has made it clear that he intends China to not only catch-up to, but surpass, the West.

    More recently, Wray highlighted how the CCP and those affiliated with it apparently plan to use its technological capabilities to target the West.

    China-linked hackers appear to be looking to attack U.S. infrastructure, especially key components such as the electrical grid, water reservoirs and treatment plants, pipelines, and transportation and communications systems, among other targets.

    The goal is seemingly to disrupt the U.S. everything critical to life – if you have no electricity, your cellphone will not work; no water will come out of the tap; gas pumps will not pump gas; flights and trains will stop, and disease from disabled sewage treatment plants will spread. There will be havoc and panic. The government and military will be unable to protect the nation. That is what is meant by "unrestricted warfare." Not a bullet was fired. It did not have to be. According to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, it is perfect.

    Jen Easterly, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), testified before the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party that the threats posed by China are not imaginary: they are real. Her agency already has discovered CCP penetrations into the telecommunications industry, aviation, energy and water infrastructure. As the threat from China continues to grow, the global security environment requires the U.S. and our allies to act now to harden our infrastructure and systems to mitigate the threat.

    The problem is one of supreme urgency.

    No one knows who will win the U.S. presidential election on November 5. If I were head of the Chinese Communist Party, I would probably be saying to myself, "I am stuck with a weak economy, more than a billion people who will not be happy with that, and just more seven months with an American president who calls me a 'competitor,' as if the US-Chinese relationship were about EV car dealerships -- although that, too. What are my choices? a) Use this opportunity, which will soon be closing, to choke off Taiwan and take over the world's supply of semiconductor chips. If the U.S. tries to stop us, we could threaten them with mayhem or simply go ahead and make some. b) Instead of Taiwan, why not just go straight for the U.S. while it is bogged down in Ukraine, the Middle East and its election? Or c) We can wait and see who wins (with our help) and if it is the wrong person, we still have two-and-a-half months until the new president is inaugurated."

    What are some of the steps that should be taken?

    First, stop all investments in China and reroute essentials, such as the manufacture of medicines, to other nations. Any investment, even in paper cocktail umbrellas, goes toward strengthening the People's Liberation Army against us. We can hear the screeching of Wall Street and their Augustinian cry: "But not yet!" The threat, however, should be viewed in terms of national security. No one will ring a bell when the lights go out.

    The U.S. will also need to impose secondary sanctions, so that any country preferring to do business with China is prohibited from doing business with the U.S.

    In addition, China -- for poisoning to death roughly 100,000 Americans each year with fentanyl and other opiates, a mass-murder equivalent to one large plane crash every day -- should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. China should also be barred from using the international banking system, or SWIFT, "a secure network that allows more than 10,000 financial institutions in 212 different countries to send and receive information about financial transactions to each other."

    Second, companies and universities also need to get serious about their security systems to make the theft of intellectual property more difficult to perpetrate but easier to detect. We cannot allow our enemies to short-circuit the difficult and expensive process of technological innovation by simply walking out the door with the plans.

    This precaution, sadly, would do well to include a moratorium, at least for the time being, on students from Communist China attending U.S. universities. Again, there will be more screeching from academic institutions that are fond of holding out their tin cups, but are we really interested in educating our "competitors" to take us over or kill us?

    Third, the U.S. needs to cooperate with its allies to protect the intellectual property and technological advances of our countries' respective corporations as a national security priority. One excellent example where this cooperation has been successful is between the U.S. and the Netherlands. The governments of the two countries have worked together closely to protect against technology transfer to the CCP. While each country has the decision as to its own trade policies, sharing intelligence and threat assessments enables both countries to make better decisions regarding joint security concerns.

    Fourth, companies must be willing to notify the government if their systems have been attacked or compromised by outside entities. Under current law, publicly-traded companies have four days to report a cyber incident to regulators. Businesses sometimes have been understandably reluctant to acknowledge that their systems have been compromised: there is the risk of reputational damage and unpleasant repercussions. Organizations, however, need to be confident that sharing this information with the government will only be used to help address the specific incident. Tragically, our government has not quite been doing all it can to inspire trust. There might be some extremely unpleasant repercussions from that.

    Finally, there must be a coordinated strategy between our national, state and local governments on the CCP threat, including prime examples of where this system has failed, as in the production of EV batteries in the U.S. by CCP firms; the CCP buying up American farmland, especially near military bases, and the government's failure to hold the CCP to account for its lies about COVID's human-to-human transmissibility, which caused the unnecessary deaths of more than a million Americans, and the CCP's mass-poisoning of Americans with fentanyl, which in itself is an act of war.

    While the federal government has warned "that Chinese EVs could collect your data and send it back to China," states and local governments are welcoming Chinese EV battery manufacturing plants into their communities, frequently with massive government subsidies. This lack of coordination is a serious vulnerability in our national security posture.

    Wray and McCallum were correct in highlighting the threat from the CCP in 2022. Wray has reemphasized the growing threat.

    The evidence is clear, and the time has come for our elected leaders and public servants — at all levels of government — to respond in a coordinated fashion to this threat.

    The West has correctly identified the CCP as the malign threat that it is; now we have a responsibility to put into place the measures and deterrents to prevent it from attacking us through cyberspace or any other way. Let us not wait until we experience a 9/11-scale cyberattack that could be far more damaging to the U.S. than what took place on that dark day more than 20 years ago.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 23:40
  30. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 9 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Which Countries Are Really The Richest?

    Ranking countries by the size of their economies and their overall net wealth, the U.S. is usually at the top of the list, followed by countries like China, Japan or Germany.

    But, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz details below, sorting countries for their per-capita average wealth – or even for their median per-capita wealth – other countries come out on top.

    Using the two metrics, Switzerland was the richest country in the world with the highest average per-capita wealth of around US$685,000 per adult.

    Looking at median per-capita wealth - the wealth of the person that shares their country with an equal number of richer and poorer people - Iceland tops the ranking with around $413,000 in wealth being held by this (imaginary) person.

     Which Countries Are Really the Richest? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Per-capita assets arguably show a more balanced picture of a country’s wealth by acknowledging that smaller countries with less citizens will of course accumulate less wealth in total.

    Yet, calculating averages does not take into account how wealth is distributed in a society.

    Median wealth, on the other hand, increases the more equal a country’s assets are allocated. Iceland and other Scandinavian countries are known for their more equal wealth distribution and data by Credit Suisse reflects this to a degree. Denmark comes in rank 7 and Norway in rank 10 for per-capita median wealth.

    The U.S. is the third-wealthiest country on a per-capita average basis, yet Americans are only in rank 15 for median wealth.

    The situation in Belgium is the other way round: It is listed 13th for average wealth, but third for median wealth, showing that it is a more egalitarian country in terms of wealth distribution.

    Looking at the size of the gap between mean and median wealth, the U.S. comes in rank 7 with an average wealth more than five times or 512% as high as the median wealth. This is exceeded by no major country in the world except Brazil, where this number stands at 517%.

    Some of the smallest relative gaps between mean and median wealth were registered in the countries topping the median wealth list: Iceland, Luxembourg and Belgium. Other countries which might not have the highest mean wealth rates but do have some of the smallest gaps are Eastern European nations Slovakia and Slovenia. Poorer countries which nevertheless have big gaps between average and median wealth include the aforementioned Brazil as well as South Africa, Russia and Nigeria.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 23:20
  31. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 10 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    New Details Emerge In Death Of Sen. McConnell's Sister-In-Law

    Authored by Steve Ispas and Lear Zhou via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), died on Feb. 11 after backing her vehicle into a pond.

    Angela Chao, CEO and chair of her family's shipping business, the Foremost Group, in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Foremost Group via AP)

    More details have since emerged, including that Ms. Chao was on the phone with a friend for eight minutes after her car hit the pond and was sinking, according to the Blanco County Sheriff’s incident report obtained by The Epoch Times.

    The report also revealed Ms. Chao had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.233 percent, almost three times higher than the legal threshold of 0.08 percent for driving in Texas.

    Ms. Chao, 50, was CEO of the U.S.-based family business, Foremost Group, and a previous top executive for a Chinese shipping giant and board member of China’s World Bank.

    On February 10, Ms. Chao and seven female friends—many with home addresses in New York—had gathered for dinner and drinks at the guest lodge located on Ms. Chao’s private ranch, JW Ranch, in Blanco County, Texas.

    “They had good conversation throughout the night and all were in good spirits,” the incident report states, according to statements from those present.

    As the evening wrapped up, Ms. Chao decided to drive to the main lodge rather than take the short walk from the guest house.

    Security cameras on the exterior of the lodge captured the moment Ms. Chao drove her car into the pond, according to two videos from different angles that were provided to investigators by the property manager.

    The video from the south side camera shows Ms. Chao come into view alone at 11:37:02 p.m. as she “continues to walk unsteadily to her vehicle while continuing to hold her cellular phone in her right hand,” the police report states.

    At 11:38:06 p.m. the vehicle lurches forward toward a wooden barrier, then reverses to the left and over the top of a limestone block wall, entering the water at 11:38:15 p.m.

    The video from the west side camera showed the vehicle floating and spinning after entering water, at 11:41:52 pm the headlight disappears and reappears at 11:42:37 pm.

    The report says at approximately 11:42 pm, Ms. Chao’s friend Amber Landeau-Keinan received a telephone call from Ms. Chao, who told her “in a calm voice” that she was in the “lake,” which was a stock tank, or pond, near the guest house.

    Ms. Chao said she had put the car, a 2020 Tesla model X SUV, in reverse instead of drive while making a three-point turn.

    A Tesla Model X is displayed during an event in Indian Wells, Calif., on March 5, 2018. (Rich Fury/Getty Images for AYS Sports Marketing)

    At the time, Ms. Landeau-Keinan was in bed, and as she remained on the phone with Ms. Chao, she got dressed, and knocked on Heela Tsuzuki’s door who was in the next room, to inform her that Ms. Chao was in the pond, the report states.

    The west side camera captures Ms. Landeau-Keinan rushing outside to look for the vehicle at 11:43:21 p.m., while on the phone with Ms. Chao.

    She told Ms. Chao to get out of the vehicle after Ms. Chao said her feet were under water.

    Ms. Chao informs Ms. Landeau-Keinan she’s not able to get out of the vehicle, the report states. Ms. Chao told Landeau-Keinan the water was rising and she was going to die and said “I love you” prior to the vehicle submerging, the report states.

    Another friend, Victoria Garcia, got into the water and swam to the vehicle, while Ms. Landeau-Keinan got into a kayak and paddled toward the vehicle.

    Ms. Tsuzuki notified others about the incident. She tried multiple times to find the ranch manager, Michael Galster and his wife Hill, for assistance, and called 911 but she couldn’t provide the exact location due to a poor carrier signal.

    Call records from AT&T per a subpoena recorded the time of the first 911 call at 11:47:59 p.m., the police report notes.

    The next 911 call, that provided the location, was made at 11:52:53 pm, and by this time Mr. Galster had been located.

    Dispatch called a rescue team at 11:53.04 p.m., and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene at 12:10 a.m.

    When Blanco County Sheriff’s deputy Ryan Bible arrived, he saw the manager standing on top of the “fully submerged vehicle located in the [stock] tank about 25 yards from the north bank,” and “a female in a red dress on a kayak paddling toward the shore,” according to his statement.

    When the medic team arrived at 12:12 a.m., Mr. Bible and deputy Randall Mathew entered the water trying to locate the entrapped Ms. Chao.

    Mr. Galster told them the back passenger door of the vehicle was open, and the two deputies attempted multiple times to get to Ms. Chao through that door but were unable to.

    During our time in the water there were several females screaming at us frantically on the bank.” Mr. Bible wrote in his statement.

    Mr. Bible swam back to shore to retrieve a breaker bar and tried to break the windshield but failed. With the help of two medics, he eventually broke the driver’s side window.

    Once the window was busted I swam down and felt a hand.” Mr. Bible said.

    “Medic Ben Collie then was able to pull the hand out from the vehicle and we were then able to extract the female from the vehicle,” he wrote.

    Ms. Chao was out of the water at 12:56 a.m., 1 hour and 8 minutes after the car plunged into the pond. She was pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m.

    Lt. Adam Acosta, an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office, telephoned Ms. Chao’s husband, Jim Breyer, about the incident.

    Jim Breyer and Angela Chao attend an awards luncheon in Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2024. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

    “Breyer informed me for religious reasons they didn’t want an autopsy conducted.” Mr. Acosta wrote.

    “This is not an uncommon request from family.”

    Texas Rangers and FBI agents met with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office on February 15, according to the report.

    After viewing everything they [Texas Rangers and the FBI] felt this incident was nothing more than an unfortunate accident.” the report concluded.

    However, the case remained open until the toxicology report and telephone records for Keinan and Tsuzuki were obtained, stated the report, which was released on March 20.

    The vehicle was pulled from the pond the night of the accident and released back to the ranch manager later the same day.

    About Angela Chao

    Ms. Chao has five sisters, one of whom, Elaine Chao, is married to Mr. McConnell. Ms. Elaine Chao was Secretary of Transportation in the Trump administration.

    Ms. Chao and her husband, who were married in 2012, both have extensive ties to China. Both are Harvard alumni and Mr. Breyer also attended Stanford.

    Mr. Breyer is a venture capitalist and longtime investor in China via his company Breyer Capital and as the former co-chair of Beijing-based IDG Capital.

    Ms. Chao was one of six independent board members of the Bank of China from Jan. 4, 2017, to June 30, 2022.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, stand in the Old Senate Chambers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 3, 2021. (Samuel Corum/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    “The re-election of Chao as an independent non-executive board member of the bank will help the board to improve its ability to analyze and judge the international situation,” states a document from the bank’s 2018 shareholders meeting.

    The Bank of China has 14 board members; Four executive members, four non-executive members, and six independent members, according to an official document.

    The Bank of China is managed and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with most members on the board also members of the CCP. During her tenure, Ms. Chao was the only board member outside of China.

    From May 2009 to June 2011, Ms. Chao was also a board member of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which builds ships for the People’s Liberation Army and Navy.

    The United Steelworkers Union and several other unions filed a petition on March 12 with the United States Trade Representative to investigate China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sector, including CSSC.

    Mr. Breyer has invested heavily in China for many years.

    As co-chair of IDG Capital from 2005 to January 2019, Mr. Breyer helped expand the company and invest in significant Chinese companies.

    IDG touts itself as “the first global investment firm to enter China” on LinkedIn. “IDG Capital has funded more than half of all Chinese unicorns in early rounds.”

    A pedestrian walks past the People's Bank of China, also known as China's Central Bank, in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2007. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP via Getty Images)

    A report from the U.S. China Commission calls IDG’s investment track record in China “legendary.”

    According to the report, IDG’s China investments include Qihoo 360, which has been flagged by the U.S. Department of Commerce for “activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”

    Other companies, such as ASR Microelectronics contribute to military-civil fusion programs in China.

    According to the U.S. State Department, military-civil fusion is an aggressive strategy that the CCP uses to develop a first-class military by removing barriers between civilian and commercial sectors and its military. The State Department says the CCP gains ground in this strategy by also “acquiring and diverting the world’s cutting-edge technologies—including through theft—in order to achieve military dominance.”

    Mr. Breyer also sits as a member of an independent task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank.

    The task force is assembled to “assess issues of critical importance to U.S. foreign policy,” according to the website.

    “Task Force members aim to reach a meaningful consensus on policy.”

    In a 2022 interview with Techcrunch, Mr. Breyer said he has been very happy to invest in China over the past 16 years, “and I fully am passionate about continuing that for many years.”

    Mr. Breyer was chairman of the advisory committee of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management until 2021.

    “I’m involved with the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management Advisory Board, which is really a wonderful who’s-who list of American executives. I was the chair until a year ago, and Tim Cook is now the chair,” he told Techcrunch.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 23:00
  32. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 10 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Gov. Al Smith And The Anti-Trump Republicans: Gingrich

    Authored by Newt Gingrich via RealClear Politics,

    As I’ve watched some of President Donald Trump’s former appointees and allies say they can’t support him in 2024, I was reminded of a similar scenario in American history. 

    In 1936, Former New York Gov. Al Smith decided that he could not support President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s re-election.

    Smith was a popular reform Democrat who had been elected Governor of New York four times. In 1928, he became the first Catholic ever nominated for President by a major party. To strengthen his campaign, Smith convinced Roosevelt, who was then recovering from polio at Warm Springs, Georgia, to come back and run for governor. Smith lost the presidential race to Herbert Hoover, but Roosevelt became Governor of New York.

    When Roosevelt’s New Deal embraced government activism, powerful measures of intervening in the economy, and creating government programs for the poor and unemployed, Smith was alienated. He had been part of the eastern conservative wing of the Democratic Party, which had fought against William Jennings Bryan and his western populism.

    Gov. Smith was closer to the business establishment than to radical college professors.

    Finally, Smith could no longer support the man he had previously recruited. On Jan. 26, 1936, Smith said at the American Liberty League Dinner:

    I must make a confession. It is not easy for me to stand up here tonight and talk to the American people against the Democratic administration. This is not easy. It hurts me. But I can call upon innumerable witnesses to testify to the fact that during my whole public life I put patriotism above partisanship. And when I see danger – I say ‘danger,’ that is, the ‘Stop, look, and listen’ to the fundamental principles upon which this government of ours was organized – it is difficult for me to refrain from speaking up.”

    Despite Smith’s defection, the Roosevelt New Deal coalition was massive (Roosevelt defeated Republican Kansas Gov. Alf Landon by 523 electoral votes and received 60.8 percent of the vote). Landon carried only Maine and Vermont.

    I tell that story to say this: The anti-Trump Republicans resemble the anti-Roosevelt Democrats of 1936. They yearn for a party which has disappeared. They advocate policies which are no longer realistic or viable. They are repelled by President Trump’s aggressive style and his dramatic shifts in policy.

    They are rapidly becoming a fossilized reminder of a party which no longer exists – and wants to operate in a world which no longer exists.

    Some have begun to harken back to the President Ronald Reagan years as a golden time. They wish the GOP could return to them. It is impossible to return to the 1980s, because the world has changed. The problems have changed. The politics have changed. And the institutions are sicker and more destructive than they were under Reagan.

    I first spent time with then Gov. Reagan in 1974. I worked to create the first Capitol Steps event – and really the first Contract with America – for candidate Reagan in 1980. For eight years, I served in the House as an active ally of President Reagan on nearly every issue. President Reagan was bold in his visionary approach but careful and cautious in taking risks. While he said the ultimate outcome of the Cold War would be “we win they lose,” he did not risk military confrontation with the Soviet Union.

    Reagan would have been appalled at a 22-year war in Afghanistan, which the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs admitted this week was a strategic defeat.

    Reagan warned in his farewell address that we were losing ground to a cultural effort to undermine our history, destroy the spirit of patriotism and eliminate learning what it meant to be an American. He would be much bolder and more radical today – faced with collapsing inner-city schools and radical anti-Americanism on college campuses. The Gov. Reagan who took on the counterculture at Berkeley was a much tougher and more intense opponent than the Morning in America Reagan from the 1984 campaign.

    People who object to President Trump’s aggressiveness and hide behind a sanitized, phony memory of Reagan forget that it was Governor Reagan who said of the Berkeley protests, “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with, no more appeasement.”

    As Matthew Continetti recently wrote for the National Review, “If Donald Trump is elected president in November, he will have assembled a coalition unlike any Republican nominee in my lifetime.”

    Citing research from the American Enterprise Institute, Continetti pointed out that President Trump’s favorability is growing. His popularity is now at the highest points since he left office, and he is making steady gains with white and black Americans – and big gains with Hispanic Americans.

    Continetti captured the current challenge for the anti-Trump Republicans: “We aren't used to a politics where the party of the ‘Left’ represents the establishment, and the party of the ‘Right’ represents an insurgent movement against the settled way of doing things.”

    In short, traditional Republicans who wanted to be part of the establishment are being alienated by new Republicans who want to change that establishment.

    The traditional Republican leadership (largely the Bush wing of the party) came from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and had similar pedigrees. They see themselves as governing within the right wing of the old order. They are naturally repelled by the boisterous, noisy emergence of a working-class Republican movement which includes Latinos, African Americans, and blue collar whites. It doesn’t help that the new Republicans want to shatter the old order – not join it.

    Think of the anti-Trump Republicans as the Al Smith branch of the GOP. Their complaints will tell you more about them than President Trump – and they will also lose.

    For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 22:20
  33. Site: 4Christum
    1 day 10 hours ago
  34. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 12 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Chicago Board Of Elections 'Mistakenly' Left Out Over 9,000 Mail-In Ballots In Primary Election

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A Chicago Board of Elections official said Sunday that he had “mistakenly” left out over 9,000 mail-in ballots from one of the races in last week’s Illinois state primary election, sparking renewed scrutiny around voting by mail in the run-up to the November presidential election.

    “In adding up the total number of Vote By Mail ballots the Board had received back so far, I mistakenly left out additional ballots” that came in by mail on the evening of March 18, a day prior to Election Day, according to a March 23 statement by Max Bever, Director of Public Information at the Chicago Board of Elections.

    The race in which the apparent tabulation error took place is between two Democrat candidates for state’s attorney in Chicago’s Cook County, Eileen O’Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III.

    A voter at a voting location at the Humboldt Park Branch of the Chicago Public Library in Chicago, Illinois, on March 19, 2024 (Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times).

    Ms. O'Neill Burke, a former appellate judge who trails by roughly 14,000 votes, is widely seen as the more tough-on-crime candidate of the two.

    We should be booming, and we’re not because of crime,” Ms. O’Neill Burke told The Associated Press. “This is something we can fix.”

    Mr. Harris, a professor and former prosecutor who’s the more progressive candidate of the two, has said punishments should consider racial disparities.

    The Chicago race is open because the current State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who faced criticism for being soft on crime, declined to run a third time.

    ‘I Traded Speed for Accuracy’

    One of the campaign issues in the Cook County state’s attorney race has been the future of Ms. Foxx’s controversial policy not to prosecute retail theft as a felony if the value of the stolen goods is below $1,000.

    Ms. O'Neill Burke has been critical of the policy.

    It doesn’t deter crime, it promotes it,” she said.

    By contrast, Mr. Harris has vowed to keep it in place, if elected.

    “If someone came and took my cellphone, is that cellphone worth a felony on your record? I do not think so,” he told AP. “We look at recidivism. We charge everyone appropriately.”

    The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is the second largest in the country, after Los Angeles.

    Mr. Bever said in a March 24 update that the attorneys for both candidates met earlier that day and agreed that ballot counting and ballot signature verification would continue through Sunday, with poll watchers present.

    He said that election judges would be processing and counting roughly 13,086 mail-in ballots that had already been reviewed for timeliness, signature verification, and voter histories, with the vast majority of these received back via drop box on Election Day (March 19).

    Around 9,000 of these hadn’t been counted in the initial tally, with Mr. Bever providing an update on the fate of the initially missing ballots.

    “I made an error in reporting the number of Vote By Mail ballots received back on Monday, March 18 before Election Day that should have been included in the ‘received by Election Day’ numbers,” Mr. Bever said in the March 24 update.

    Approximately 9,143 Vote By Mail additional ballots received back on Monday should have been included in this ‘received by Election Day’ number that would be processed and counted after Election Day, March 19,” he continued.

    The elections official said that the missing ballots had been secured in a receiving cage until they could be processed by scanning machines for signature verification and to rule out possible double-voting.

    He added that the missing ballots were inspected, processed, and counted by election judges between March 22 and March 23, and are already reflected in the unofficial results.

    Preliminary results, as of 6 p.m. on March 24, show Mr. Harris in the lead with 164,371 votes (52.14 percent) and Ms. O'Neill Burke trailing with 150,900 votes (47.86 percent).

    The final tally could still change as the counting period lasts through April 2, with official results to be announced on April 9.

    ‘Sounds Fishy’

    The incident drew scrutiny and criticism on social media, where a report about it was shared by the End Wokeness account, which pointed out that many of the ballots were from dropboxes, where postmarks aren’t required.

    “Sounds fishy,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the post.

    Mail in dropbox elections are a joke,” the KanekoaTheGreat account, which has over 750,000 followers, posted.

    “Chicago keeps having more problems. There’s no way to have confidence in election results when ballots are ‘found’ later,” internet personality and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Paul Szypula, said in a post on X.

    “Drop boxes also are sketchy and just invite cheating and mistakes. Democrat-run elections are rife with fraud and we see it happening more and more,” he added.

    Voting by mail has been the subject of increased scrutiny and criticism following the 2020 presidential election, which former President Donald Trump claims was marred by irregularities and fraud that he says cost him a win.

    A recent study exploring the likely impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots had in the 2020 election found that the outcome would “almost certainly” have been different without the massive expansion of absentee ballots.

    The study was based on data obtained from a Heartland/Rasmussen survey conducted in December 2023, which revealed that roughly one in five mail-in voters, or 20 percent, admitted to actions that could be potentially fraudulent in the presidential election.

    After the researchers carried out additional analyses of the raw data, they concluded that there was a higher percentage of fraudulent mail-in ballots. They now believe that 28.2 percent of people who voted by mail in 2020 committed at least one type of behavior that is, “under most circumstances, illegal,” and so potentially amounts to voter fraud.

    A Heartland Institute research editor and research fellow who was involved in the study explained to The Epoch Times that there are narrow exceptions where a surveyed behavior may be legal, like filling out a mail-in ballot on behalf of another voter if that person is blind, illiterate, or disabled, and needs assistance.

    However, research fellow Jack McPherrin said such cases were within the margin of error and not statistically significant.

    The new study found that, absent the huge expansion of mail-in ballots during the pandemic, President Trump would most likely have won.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 21:00
  35. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 12 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Home-Flipping Plummets As Profits Slump

    By Michael Tucker of the Mortgage Bankers Association

    Home flipping fell nearly 30% in 2023 compared to the year before, according to ATTOM.

    The ATTOM year-end 2023 U.S. Home Flipping Report said 308,922 single-family homes and condos in the United States were flipped last year, down 29.3% from 436,807 in 2022 and the largest annual drop since 2008.

    “In 2023, the landscape for home flipping across the U.S. became increasingly challenging,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said. “Whether the overall market has soared or seen just modest gains in recent years, investors have missed out on the action.”

    Barber added that the sharp decline in the number of home flips likely reflected a combination of a tight supply of homes for sale as well as dwindling returns. “Either way, it will take some significant reworking of the financials for home flipping fortunes to turn back around,” he said.

    The report also revealed that as the number of homes flipped by investors declined, so did flips as a portion of all home sales, from 8.6% in 2022 to 8.1 percent last year.

    In another sign of down times for the home-flipping industry, profits and profit margins also sank on quick “buy-renovate-and-resell” projects. Gross profits on typical home flips in 2023 dropped to $66,000 nationwide (the difference between the median sales price and the median amount originally paid by investors). That was down from $70,100 in 2022 and translated into just a 27.5 percent return on investment compared to the original acquisition price.

    The latest nationwide ROI (before accounting for mortgage interest, property taxes, renovation expenses and other holding costs) was down from 28.1 percent in 2022 and 35.7 percent in 2021, ATTOM said; the worst level since 2007.

    Investors saw their profit margins decrease for the sixth time in the past seven years as the median price of the homes they flipped dipped slightly faster than the median price they had paid to purchase properties – 4.4 percent versus 4 percent.

    Nationally, the percentage of flipped homes originally purchased by investors with financing increased in 2023 to 36.5%, up from 35.7% in 2022 and from 36.2% in 2021, ATTOM said. Meanwhile, 63.5 percent of homes flipped in 2023 were originally bought with cash only, down from 64.3 percent in 2022 and from 63.8 percent two years earlier.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 20:20
  36. Site: Public Discourse
    1 day 13 hours ago
    Author: John F. Doherty

    In its Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, the Catholic Church gave its answer to the question whether the force of civil law may make baptized Christians, or anyone, conform to Catholic teaching.

    In the Middle Ages, many bishops endorsed such means, including the execution of heretics and bloody religious warfare. More recently, and in keeping with the more ancient view of the Church, popes have taught forcefully that, although temporal government must acknowledge God’s supreme authority over human affairs, it is not its place to enforce prohibitions of sins beyond murder, theft, and other crimes against the natural law.

    Dignitatis Humanae took the latter position. It reaffirmed that the “unique true Religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church,” and that every person and society is bound to seek truth “and once it is known, to embrace and keep it.” Nevertheless, it pointed out that “the truth does not impose itself otherwise [than] by the force of the truth itself” on “the conscience of men.” Therefore, “for a public authority, through force or fear or other means to impose on citizens the profession or rejection of any religion, or to impede anyone from entering or leaving a religious community” is, in the original Latin, nefas or “absolutely forbidden,” as the official English translation of canon law translates the word. (Canon law applies the word nefas to certain especially grave sins, such as a priest’s divulging publicly a penitent’s confession or his consecrating the Eucharist outside the Mass.)

    Much ink has been spilled over the Declaration’s philosophical argument. But perhaps more interesting, and compelling, is its argument from the deeds and words of the founder of Christianity himself. Anyone who has studied the Gospels—or read any of the many popular commentaries on them—cannot but conclude that Jesus intended to build his kingdom only, as Dignitatis Humanae says, “by witnessing to the truth” and “by the love whereby [he], lifted up on the cross, draws all men to Himself.”

    Few instances in Jesus’ life exemplify his rejection of the use of force, even against those who break faith, than his treatment of the greatest apostate from Christianity, Judas, whose betrayal Christians traditionally remember today. That pivotal drama of the Gospels has much to teach us about the Christian understanding of religious freedom.

    The Suffering Servant

    Throughout his life, Jesus refused to present his Church as a kingdom like those of the earth. He distinguished the “things of God” from the “things of Caesar.” At his trial he told the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” When the people tried to proclaim him king after he miraculously multiplied bread and fish, he fled and hid himself.

    He let himself be publicly called “king” only as he hung dying on the Cross, under a sign that read, “The King of the Jews.” The model of kingship he gave his Church on earth—in the age before his Second Coming—was not of glory and triumph, but of the prophet Isaiah’s Suffering Servant. Jesus, seeking to fulfill Israel’s calling to redeem the world through suffering, said he came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

    That Christians throughout history have found it difficult to accept their master’s rejection of earthly kingship is no surprise. It was a struggle even for those with whom he lived.

    At the time of Jesus’ public ministry, his own Jewish people had been living for seventy-five years under Roman rule—the latest in a long history of humiliating foreign occupations. Many were eager to throw off pagan rule for good. The Galilean rabbi’s miracles, teaching, and power over the minds and hearts of the masses, suggested he might be the promised Messiah, the one to lead Israel’s armies to victory over the kingdoms of the world.

    His own chosen Apostles shared this hope. During their journey to Jerusalem before his death, James and John urged their teacher to destroy by fire the heretical Samaritans who refused to receive him—and he rebuked them. At the Last Supper the Apostles fought over which of them would be greatest in the coming kingdom, and their leader reminded them that true power is shown in humble service.

    The Traitor

    Most of the Apostles loved their master more than their dreams of earthly glory; they never thought of abandoning him for the more politically ambitious parties of Israel. But Judas was different. Perhaps more savvy than the others, he became disillusioned with Jesus’ non-political message and decided he wanted out. Probably wanting recompense for the years he had given to the Nazarene’s cause, apparently to no use, he made a deal with the authorities who feared Jesus’ influence over the people: for a price, Judas would show them where to find their quarry, apart from the crowds who would have fought off his arrest.

    Christians believe that the man they call Christ, being the omniscient God, could tell the moment when Judas had begun to turn down the road to sin; but Jesus did not expel him then, or publicly single him out. He warned Judas by declaring to the Apostles, “Have I not chosen you all, and yet one of you is a devil?”—a statement too general to raise suspicions against any particular person, but enough to prick the guilty man’s conscience. Even when Judas was about to leave the Last Supper to round up the guards for the arrest, Jesus simply said, “What you are going to do, do quickly,” and none of the Apostles suspected anything. The approach of the creator of the Christian faith to this man, who eventually became the greatest of infidels, was not to threaten him, but to draw him away from evil through the power of truth over his heart, and by appeal to their friendship. Although he had power over this small-minded man’s very being, he left him free, to win him through love.

    At the fatal moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Master and his Apostle met for the last time, in front of the other Apostles and the soldiers who had come for the arrest. Jesus tried to get Judas to reconsider, saying ambiguously “For what have you come?” to offer a way out of the sin his disciple was about to commit. Even at that late stage Judas could have gone back on his agreement with the authorities, returned to his teacher, and escaped the certain vengeance of the accompanying mob. After all, Israel’s most talented preacher in centuries had already shown his ability to get himself and his friends out of such difficult situations. Once before he had pacified guards sent to arrest him in the Temple, speaking words so profound that those men, rough as they were, said, “No man has spoken that way before.”

    But Judas did not change course. And when his betrayal was done—by kissing the man he once called “Rabbi” to point him out in the dark—Jesus finally spoke plainly. Even then he did not condemn, but still appealed to Judas’s conscience, now calling him to repent, by drawing attention to the profound evil of what he had done: “Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

    Alas, a few hours later Judas took the path from which Jesus wanted to save him. Crushed by unimaginable guilt, he hanged himself, and his name became a synonym for “traitor” to this day. Had he not despaired of God’s love for him—had he waited until Jesus’ Resurrection and begged his pardon—his master would have forgiven him, and Judas might instead have become known as the Apostle of the Mercy of God, history’s greatest witness to the truth that God can absolve even the greatest sins.

    The Scandal of the Sword

    Judas was not the only Apostle through whom the Church’s founder, on that dark night, was to teach the world the nature of his rule.

    Simon Peter was one of the most enthusiastic and loyal Apostles. Repeatedly and sincerely he professed his love for his Lord, with a fidelity so strong that Jesus named him “rock.” He chose Peter as the foundation of his Church, praying that his faith would never fail.

    Doubtless driven by his enthusiasm, and taken by surprise at Judas’s desertion, Peter tried to fight off Jesus’ arrest. He took out a sword and began to swing furiously in the dark, cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant.

    But now, the man who once said, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM,” having allowed those he claimed as his creatures to do with him as they wished, uncharacteristically began to assert visible control over them. By a mere word he stopped the incipient mêlée and rebuked Peter: “Turn your sword back into its place; for all that take up the sword shall be destroyed in the sword.” And to remind Peter that he knew what he was doing, and that he had means stronger than man’s weapons of war, he added, “Or do you not think that I can call upon my Father, and he will give me right now more than twelve legions of angels?”

    Then he reattached the wounded servant’s ear. This act, too, was uncharacteristic, even unprecedented: it was the first time he healed someone who ostensibly had no faith in him—who indeed was bent on undoing him. It was also the last recorded healing miracle of his earthly life.

    Jesus was taking extraordinary measures to demonstrate how scandalous Peter’s behavior was. He had to make sure, for the sake of all future generations, to condemn the action of the man whom he had entrusted with tending his flock. It was a reprise of the chastisement he had spoken long before (after Peter had himself chastised his master for predicting his crucifixion): “Get behind me Satan, for you are an obstacle to me: you are thinking about things not as God does but as men do.”

    Peter and the other Apostles learned the lesson. After Jesus departed this world, they too eschewed the sword and all other political means to the Church’s spiritual ends. Like their master, they spread the Gospel by their example of charity and their preaching. They evaded the wrath of their persecutors for as long as they could, but eventually their opponents got hold of them. Then, when death was inevitable, rather than fight back they accepted martyrdom as their Lord had. It was their blood freely shed, and the blood of the martyrs who followed them—not political power—that sowed the seeds of faith in the world and, over time, converted millions to Christianity. 

    The early Church that the Apostles oversaw knew apostates and sinners in her midst; yet she did not seek to punish them by means of the state. The Church expelled them from membership if their offenses were especially grave and public, but in the hope that they would come around freely to repentance.

    Sadly, many of the Apostles’ successors in the Middle Ages forgot the lesson of the ancient Church’s experience. Like Peter in Gethsemane, they called upon the state’s sword to punish those who, like Judas, had betrayed their faith in their Lord. The consequence of their policies was the same as of Peter’s rashness: the least culpable among the opponents of the Church, like the lowly servant, suffered most. And they, like the servant, suffered by losing their hearing––not the power to hear sound, but to hear the Word of God: they could not trust the preachers of that Word who sanctioned violence against them in God’s name. Thankfully, God’s grace can make up for his ministers’ sins, as Jesus healed the servant’s ear; but nevertheless, woe to them through whom such scandal comes.

    God’s kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. It is a kingdom of the heart, whose law is the perfect law: the law of freedom.

     

    To Conquer by Dying

    Today, the man whom Christians call king would have us be convinced that God seeks not power over us, which he always has, but our love, which we ourselves must freely give. He will not force us to come to him, nor force us to stay. Once we have let him into our hearts, he prefers to leave himself helpless in our hands, even if he runs the risk of being hurt by our infidelity. Indeed, precisely when they suffer evil against themselves do Jesus and his followers conquer it, passing through death to an eternal, triumphant Resurrection.

    This has been the message of the Gospel from the beginning. If we cast God out of our souls, as Judas did, God does not demand to be let back in whether we want him or not. He will indeed pursue us, out of his boundless love, but not with armies, police, or fines. He seeks us through the call of conscience and his Holy Spirit; through the natural suffering that sin causes the sinner; through the supernatural suffering of the withdrawal of grace; and, if the sinner is especially stubborn, and if the protection of other souls demands it, through spiritual (not political) sanctions like excommunication, or temporal punishments proper to the Church (not the state), like removal from Church office. And if such punishments do not bring men to repent in this life, there remain afterward the eternal pains of damnation—freely chosen by sinners—to make up for their selfish choices. But God will give to sinners, as he gave to Judas, every chance to reconsider before that agonizing end.

    Let Caesar punish offenses against earthly society by his sword; but let the God who is love—infinitely just and infinitely merciful—deal with men’s offenses against the spiritual society he himself established, which will be consummated only in heaven. God’s kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. It is a kingdom of the heart, whose law is the perfect law: the law of freedom.

    Image by stuart and licensed via Adobe Stock.

  37. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 13 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Florida Bans Social Media For Minors Under 14

    Florida has just passed a new law prohibiting children under 14-years-old from having social media accounts regardless of parental consent.

    Governor DeSantis was at the Cornerstone Classical Academy in Jacksonville, FL Monday, March 25, 2024, along with local and state leaders to sign into law Florida House Bill 3. Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

    Under the law which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, social media companies must close accounts they believe to be used by minors under 14 - and must cancel accounts at the request of parents or minors. All information from the accounts must then be deleted, the Wall Street Journal reports.

    Minors who are 14 or 15 will be able to obtain a social media account with parental consent. If a parent does not consent, accounts already belonging to teens within that age range must be deleted.

    "Being buried in those devices all day is not the best way to grow up—it’s not the best way to get a good education," Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said on Monday during an event to celebrate the signing of the bill.

    The new law doesn't name which platforms it applies to, however social media sites which rely on features such as notification alerts and autoplay videos are subject to it.

    Supporters of the law have pointed to recent studies linking social-media use among young adults to a higher risk of depression and mental-health challenges. It can also make them vulnerable to online bullying and predators. -WSJ

    "A child, in their brain development, doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies, and to see the harm and step away from it," said Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) at the same event. "And because of that, we have to step in for them."

    In response to the law, TikTok says it has policies to protect teens, and will continue to work to keep the platform safe. Snapchat and X didn't respond to a WSJ request for comment.

    Other states have seen similar legislation proposed, however the bills all stop short of Florida's total ban. In Arkansas, a federal judge blocked an age verification law for social media users and parental consent for minors' accounts.

    In response to the Arkansas law, social media trade association NetChoice, of which Facebook parent Meta, TikTok and Snap, sued the state to halt the law. It has brought similar legal challenges in California and Ohio.

    According to NetChoice VP and general counsel Carl Szabo, the Florida law "forces Floridians to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to critical information channels," adding "his infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights to share and access speech online."

    "There are better ways to keep Floridians, their families and their data safe and secure online without violating their freedoms," he added.

    Florida expects to be sued over the new law, however Speaker Renner says he's confident it will withstand legal scrutiny.

    "We’re gonna beat them, and we’re never, ever gonna stop," he said.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 20:00
  38. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 13 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Gen Z Males Are Rejecting Feminist-Friendly Ideologies

    Authored by John Mac Ghlionn via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    In “All the Rebel Women: The Rise of the Fourth Wave of Feminism,“ the author, Kira Cochrane, suggested that this particular wave of feminism ”isn’t about making everyone around the table feel comfortable.”

    Feminist activists take part in a choreographed performance on Dec. 7, 2019. (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)

    It’s about being disruptive, challenging, and changing the terms of the debate,” Ms. Cochrane said.

    What debate is she referencing? One that largely revolves around men. More specifically, how toxic they have become. Not surprisingly, many men (and women) haven’t taken too kindly to this particular narrative. Young men are especially repulsed, and so they should be.

    Last year, a report titled “The State of American Men 2023: From Confusion and Crisis to Hope” found that more than half of young males believe that men have it harder today than women. The report further unveiled significant levels of contempt for modern-day feminism, especially among male members of Generation Z. Yes, some in the “wokest” generation in the history of mankind are actively rejecting a core ingredient of wokeness. And who can blame them? Feminism, in its most current form, specializes in the demonization of masculinity. It regularly equates men with trash.

    Some feminists would have us believe that men, especially straight, white men, are a danger to society, one that must be addressed and, in some cases, attacked.

    Common sense (remember when it was a little more common?) tells us that if you keep bashing, berating, and belittling an entire group of individuals—or, in this case, half the country’s population—a response is inevitable.

    A recent survey out of King’s College London clearly demonstrates this fact. On both sides of the Atlantic, it seems, millions of Gen Z men have had enough of feminist-friendly narratives.

    Interestingly, however, the survey revealed that older males, when compared to younger generations, have a greater inclination toward progressive and feminist perspectives. In short, Gen Z males are more inclined than older baby boomers to believe that feminism has had a negative impact on broader society. In the UK, for example, one out of every four males aged 16 to 29 believes that being a man is more challenging than being a woman.

    This data sharply contrast with the prevailing perception of men today in comparison to their “pale, stale, and male” predecessors. The research indicates that the general public tends to assume that it would be the oldest group of men who believe that women have already achieved sufficient equality. However, this assumption is clearly incorrect. Approximately 20 percent of Gen Z males believe that being a man will be significantly more difficult than being a woman in the next two decades, echoing the sentiments of young men in the United States. In contrast, this sentiment drops to only 9 percent for males older than the age of 60.

    As the survey points out, when considering the age group of 16 to 29, 46 percent of women in this category believe that feminism has had a more beneficial impact on society than harm. This percentage is 10 points higher than the proportion of young men who share the same perspective (36 percent). Moreover, the survey notes that “among this age group, one in six (16%) men say feminism has done more harm than good, compared with one in 11 (9%) women.”

    What is going on here? Why are so many Gen Z males—again, on both sides of the pond—rejecting feminist-friendly ideologies?

    According to the academics responsible for the surprising survey, it may have something to do with the rise of Andrew Tate, a controversial, American British influencer who, in recent times, has become popular. A fifth of the Gen Z men surveyed hold a favorable view of Mr. Tate, who has a huge following in both the UK and the United States.

    On a recent episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” social psychologist Jean Twenge discussed Mr. Tate, suggesting that his influence has had—and continues to have—an impact on young men. In particular, Ms. Twenge suggested that Mr. Tate’s influence has contributed to Gen Z males’ rejection of left-wing politics.

    However, CNN’s Van Jones was quick to push back, arguing that this particular form of rejection has less to do with the pull of Mr. Tate and considerably more to do with the push of the left; to be more specific, the left’s effort, be it conscious or otherwise, to push young men away. Mr. Maher agreed with Mr. Jones, saying that just being a man today is considered “a little suspect.”

    It’s important to note that being a man, in both the UK and the United States, was considered “a little suspect” long before Mr. Tate shot to fame. Sure, he was the most Googled man in the world in 2022, but prior to this, most people were not familiar with his philosophies and overall mindset. Even The Guardian, no fan of Mr. Tate, conceded that he should be viewed as a “symptom” of a much broader problem.

    Commenting on the abovementioned survey, professor Rosie Campbell, director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, said:

    “This data shows it’s not just young men’s attitudes that stand out. For example, young women are much more likely than any other group to think ‘toxic masculinity’ is a helpful term, and are most pessimistic about the prospect of future progress on gender equality.

    Let that percolate for a minute: Young women are “most pessimistic” about the future of gender equality and consider “toxic masculinity”—a truly heinous term—to be helpful.

    From Birmingham, Alabama, to Birmingham, England, name one thing men are allowed to do that women are not. If you find yourself scratching your head, struggling to think of an answer, that’s because there’s nothing to name. Gender equality already exists, but young women, many of whom are blinded by illogical ideologies, can’t separate the facts from fictitious narratives.

    Moreover, the term “toxic masculinity,” which was around a long time before Mr. Tate took the world by storm, is in no way constructive. On the contrary, it only serves to demonize an inescapable part of being a man. There was a time, not that long ago, when being a man and exhibiting masculine traits was something worth celebrating. However, in both the UK and the United States, those days appear to be long gone. To compound matters, the ideological divide between Gen Z men and women is fast becoming a gaping chasm.

    Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 19:40
  39. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 13 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Israel Unleashes Major Airstrikes On Syria & Deep Inside Lebanon

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Tuesday another rare strike conducted deep into Lebanese territory. The strikes targeted "a military compound used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit" in the Baalbek District which is in the northeast of the country.

    This marks the deepest Israeli strike inside Lebanon since the war began in the wake of the Oct.7 Hamas terror attack, at more than 110km from Israel's border.

    Illustrative IAF file image: Flash90

    The extent of casualties or damage remains unclear, but it follows a similar February strike on the Bekaa Valley some 100km from the Israeli border, which killed at least two people. There are growing fears that if such strikes become more regular, it will signify a bigger regional war could be opening up.

    Hezbollah has lobbed several missiles against northern Israeli communities as well as the IDF base atop Mount Meron over the past days. The Mount Meron surveillance base is about 8km from the Lebanese border and has come under repeat attack over several months.

    In the overnight and early morning hours there were also large-scale strikes against areas of eastern Syria. While Israel frequently attacks Syria, some Syrian government-affiliated sources laid blame on the United States. According to regional outlet The Cradle

    Airstrikes targeted a number of areas in Syria’s eastern city of Deir Ezzor and its countryside on 26 March, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. "At 1:49 AM, American aircraft carried out several simultaneous air strikes targeting a number of areas in the governorate and its countryside," Syria’s government-affiliated National Defense Forces (NDF) said, according to Sputnik.

    The strikes targeted the Salhiya area in Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border and residential areas in the Al-Mayadin and Al-Qusour areas in Deir Ezzor. 

    But Israeli media has identified the IDF air force as behind the eastern Syria attack, reportedly targeting 'pro-Iran' assets. According to details in The Times of Israel:

    The Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning in eastern Syria, targeting Iranian assets and operatives involved in a recent plot to smuggle advanced arms to West Bank terrorists, The Times of Israel has learned.

    More than 15 people were reportedly killed in the strikes in the Deir Ezzor and al-Bukamal areas, close to Syria’s border with Iraq.

    The strikes targeted assets belonging to Iran’s Unit 4000, the Special Operations Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Intelligence Organization, and the special operations unit of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria, known as Unit 18840, according to Israeli defense sources.

    Various international reports have cited different casualty figures, but what is clear is that there were a series of large airstrikes. Iranian media said a Revolutionary Guard member was killed in Syria overnight.

    Below: Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon...

    غارة عنيفة على بوداي في #بعلبك pic.twitter.com/FM7WQptCze

    — kataeb.org (@kataeb_Ar) March 26, 2024

    According to The Associated Press, civilians were among the dead, including women, children, and a World Health Organization (WHO) official

    Dama Post, a pro-government media outlet in Syria, said the strikes targeted the provincial capital of Deir el-Zour that carries the same name, and the towns of Mayadeen and Boukamal. It said 20 people, including women and children, were among the dead.

    The World Health Organization said one of its team members, engineer Emad Shehab, was killed in one of the strikes that hit his building. It said Shehab, 42, served as a WHO focal point for water, sanitation, and hygiene in the province since 2022.

    Iran-linked insurgent attacks against US bases in Iraq and Syria have mostly quieted down of late, compared to their frequency and weekly occurrence last year in the wake of Oct.7.

    In the meantime, any potential scenario where Israel were to move ground troops into southern Lebanon would likely spark a bigger war with Hezbollah, which could engulf all of Lebanon.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 19:20
  40. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 14 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    'Serious Concerns' Raised About NY Judge's Trump Judgment

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    After a New York court reduced former President Donald Trump’s bond to appeal his civil fraud case, several legal analysts weighed in on the decision.

    On Monday, a state appeals court agreed to hold off collection of the former president’s more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s assets while he appeals.

    Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said that President Trump may have a strong case to challenge Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February that he must pay $455 million in his civil fraud case.

    I think the $175 million reduction ... shows that the appellate division has serious concerns about the validity of Judge Engoron’s decision,” Mr. Germain told Newsweek.

    While he believes the judgment was “seriously flawed,” the professor said that President Trump will have a difficult time overturning the judge’s “findings that his financial statement was grossly overstated.”

    The standard for the appeals court to review factual findings is ‘clearly erroneous,’ which means that there was no evidence in the record to support the judge’s findings. Engoron was very careful to cite to the record for his factual findings, which were very solid,” Mr. Germain said.

    But the judge, he added, “made no attempt to determine what portion of the profit was solely due to the financial statement as opposed to other factors” before handing down his ruling.

    The former president “has some strong legal arguments to make on appeal,” Mr. Germain added. “Unfortunately for him, I think he’s so focused on denying that he did anything wrong that the strong legal arguments may be lost in his unwinnable arguments on the facts.”

    The former president has said he did nothing wrong, adding that he actually undervalued his net worth when communicating with banks and insurers at the center of the civil fraud lawsuit. He said that the case is politically motivated, and that both the New York attorney general and Judge Engoron are biased against him.

    Meanwhile, a constitutional scholar said that the bond for an appeal should be been reduced to basically nothing.

    “The Court of Appeals may have felt that they can’t prejudge the evidence, and so to reduce the bond further would have been heavy-handed,” George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Monday. “I actually think they could have reduced this bond to virtually nothing, because the amount set by [Judge Arthur] Engoron was absurd.

    In a post on social media, Mr. Turley wrote that the New York appellate court may “restore a degree of objectivity and restraint missing on the trial level,” referring to the Engoron decision. “Both Engoron and [New York Attorney General Letitia] James would have gained greater credibility if they recognized the obvious unreasonableness of the original demand,” he continued.

    A former federal prosecutor now in private practice said that “judgments of this size are rare,” referring to the penalties imposed against President Trump. “What makes this one unusual is someone who is subject to an enormous amount of money and has to come up with it himself,” Joshua Naftalis said.

    President Trump hailed the ruling and said he would post a bond, securities, or cash to cover the $175 million sum in the civil case. Ms. James’s office, meanwhile, noted that the judgment still stands, even if collection is paused.

    Previously, the former president’s lawyers pleaded for a state appeals court to halt collection, claiming it was “a practical impossibility” to get an underwriter to sign off on a bond for such a large sum, which grows daily because of interest. The Trump attorneys had earlier proposed a $100 million bond, but an appellate judge had said no late last month.

    Monday’s ruling came from a five-judge panel in the state’s intermediate appeals court, called the Appellate Division, where President Trump is fighting to overturn Judge Engoron’s Feb. 16 decision. Trump attorneys Alina Habba and Christopher Kise characterized Monday’s ruling as a key first step.

    “We won,” Ms. Habba told Fox News on Monday. “You know, no ... we didn’t win. You know when we’ll win? When we get this all reversed, which is what’s gonna happen.”

    The Trump attorney added that she was “so proud” of the appeals court’s decision because it gave her “a little bit of faith” in the U.S. justice system.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 19:00
  41. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 14 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Taiwan Conducts Drills Deploying US Patriot Systems In Face Of Chinese Intrusions

    The Taiwanese armed forces on Tuesday conducted highly provocative anti-aircraft defense exercises in the face of Chinese military "intrusions" which have been occurring on a weekly basis. 

    Importantly, the drills centered on deploying and operating US-made Patriot missiles and anti-aircraft artillery systems provided by Washington

    Image via Asia Times

    A military statement said the drills are a response to "incursions by Chinese Communist Party aircraft and ships into the sea and airspace around Taiwan" and added that "the air force will continue to increase the intensity of drills."

    "The aim was to verify the command and control of joint air defense operations among the three branches of the military," the armed forces described.

    Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has meanwhile ramped up defense spending, and attended a ceremony Tuesday for the handover of two domestically made warships at Suao port.

    "Over the past few years, we have steadily implemented defense autonomy with Taiwan-made warships being named, launched, and commissioned one after another at an increasingly rapid pace," Tsai announced at the event.

    "These achievements repeatedly demonstrate Taiwan's capacity for domestic shipbuilding and proves our determination to safeguard our democracy and freedom," she added.

    In the United States, lawmakers are taking steps to prepare for a potential future invasion by China's military of the self-ruled island backed by the US.

    "Fears of possible conflict across the Taiwan Strait are spurring state-level legislation aimed to identify and mitigate the potential local impact of hostilities," Politico reported last weekend.

    "Since the beginning of the year, lawmakers in Arizona, Nebraska and Illinois have introduced versions of the Pacific Conflict Stress Test Act — bills that impose checklists of potential local vulnerabilities in supply chains and infrastructure security if Beijing eventually uses force to 'reunify' with Taiwan," the report said.

    #Taiwan, M109A7 155 mm tracked self-propelled howitzers on the move and Patriot battery stations being set up. pic.twitter.com/KaovVd6m3X

    — Globe Sentinel (@GlobeSentinels) March 18, 2024

    The Chinese government, for its part, has long maintained that it desires the island to be reunited through peaceful, political means; however, at the same time frequent PLA military drills have projected the threat of force in regional waters.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 18:40
  42. Site: LifeNews
    1 day 14 hours ago
    Author: Right to Life UK

    An MP has tabled an amendment that would bring an end to the current situation where abortion is available between 24 weeks and birth for babies with Down’s syndrome.

    Sir Liam Fox, former GP, cabinet minister and defence secretary, announced his amendment to the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill last week and tabled it earlier today. The amendment has been signed by 40 MPs, and intends to bring the abortion time limit for babies with Down’s syndrome in line with the time limit for babies that do not have disabilities.

    Under the Abortion Act 1967, the current abortion limit is 24 weeks, but for cases in which a baby is diagnosed with a disability, including Down’s syndrome, abortion is currently available up to birth.

    The amendment has cross-party support from MPs from the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. This includes former shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell, former health minister Maggie Throup, former Conservative Party leader and cabinet minister, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, and former cabinet minister Sir David Davis.

    Fox’s amendment will likely be debated and voted on as part of the Criminal Justice Bill, which is expected to return to the Commons for Report Stage following the Easter recess.

    On announcing his Bill, Sir Liam Fox said “There is considerable cross-party support to remove an anomaly in UK law which allows those with Down’s syndrome to be aborted up until 40 weeks. Many of us believe this is utterly against the purpose of our equality legislation and treats those with Down’s syndrome as second-class citizens when it comes to their rights”.

    REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.

    “My amendment would remove an anomaly which many were not aware even existed and send a signal about the values that we share across the political system in our country”.

    Spokesperson for Don’t Screen Us Out Lynn Murray, whose daughter, Rachel, has Down’s syndrome, said “This is an important change to the law and it’s fantastic to see so many MPs are getting behind this change. Very few people are aware of this discriminatory part of our law that singles out babies with disabilities including Down’s syndrome allowing them to be screened out by abortion up to birth”.

    “As a mother of a 24-year-old daughter who has Down’s syndrome, I see every day the unique value she brings to our family and the positive impact she has on others around her”.

    “By having a different time limit for babies with disabilities including Down’s syndrome, section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act, promotes inequality and perpetuates negative stereotypes. This law sends a message that people with Down’s syndrome are less worthy of life and protection than others”.

    “The provision in the Abortion Act harks back to a time when we thought it was better for people with disabilities not to be part of our society. We live in a far more inclusive and progressive society now, where we celebrate diversity, and all of our laws should reflect that”.

    The amendment will be debated alongside a vote on Caroline Ansell’s landmark amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to lower the abortion limit to 22 weeks.

    Scotland may end discriminatory Down’s syndrome abortion

    Ministers in Scotland are also considering reforming abortion law in Scotland, which could involve changing the abortion law in relation to Down’s syndrome abortion.

    As part of a review of abortion law to be carried out before the end of the current parliament in 2026, a ministerial working group is being set up to examine the issue.

    A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said “We have committed to taking forward a review of the law on abortion and will consider options for reform to ensure that it is first and foremost a healthcare matter”.

    “That review will include consideration of whether or not there should be any changes to the current law in Scotland in relation to abortions where a fetal anomaly has been diagnosed. We would need to wait for the outcomes of that review before considering any changes to abortion law”.

    869 abortions for Down’s syndrome in 2021

    The latest available full-year abortion statistics, for the year ending 31 December 2021, show there were 859 abortions where a baby had Down’s syndrome in 2021, an increase of 24% from 2020.

    However, there is evidence that the actual numbers are higher than reported due to underreporting of disability abortion statistics. A review in 2013 showed there were 886 abortions for Down’s syndrome in England and Wales in 2010 but only 482 were reported in abortion statistics from the Department of Health and Social Care. The underreporting was confirmed by a 2014 Department of Health and Social Care review.

    There has been growing momentum for a change in the law in this area after Heidi Crowter, a 28-year-old woman from Coventry who has Down’s syndrome, took a landmark case against the UK Government over the disability clause in the current law. Her case has been heard in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

    Heidi has been joined in her fight for a change in the law by Máire Lea-Wilson from Brentford, West London, whose four-year-old son, Aidan, has Down’s syndrome. Máire Lea-Wilson was placed under pressure to have an abortion when a 34-week scan revealed her son had Down’s syndrome. There has been widespread coverage of Heidi and Máire’s case across major media outlets.

    The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has consistently criticised countries that provide for abortion in a way that distinguishes between foetuses on the basis of disability.

    The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ concluding observations on the initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland made a key recommendation that the UK change its abortion law so that it does not single out babies with disabilities. The Government has decided to ignore this recommendation.

    The 2013 Parliamentary Inquiry into Abortion for Disability found the vast majority of those who gave evidence believed allowing abortion up to birth on the grounds of disability is discriminatory, contrary to the spirit of the Equality Act 2010 and that it affects wider public attitudes towards discrimination. The Inquiry recommended Parliament review the question of allowing abortion on the grounds of disability and should consider repealing section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act which allows for it.

    Polling has shown that the majority of people in England, Wales and Scotland feel that disability should not be grounds for abortion at all, with only one in three people thinking it is acceptable to ban abortion for gender or race but allow it for disability.

    Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The law clearly discriminates against people with Down’s syndrome and does not provide the same protections for babies with Down’s syndrome that other unborn babies have”.

    “Heidi Crowter’s landmark case against the UK Government over the disability clause in the current law has put this issue on the national stage. MPs are now moving to ensure that babies with Down’s syndrome cannot have their lives deliberately ended between 24 weeks and birth”.

    LifeNews Note: Republished with permission from Right to Life UK.

    The post British MP Files Bill to Stop Abortions Up to Birth on babies With Down Syndrome appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  43. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 14 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    The State Of The Media's Double Standard

    Authored by Frank Miele via RealClear Politics,

    I’m sure everyone has heard enough about President Biden’s recent State of the Union address, certainly enough to know that the mainstream media thought it was admirable of Biden to scream at the top of his lungs that Republicans are detestable worms.

    You also probably heard enough from the media to be certain that Sen. Katie Britt, who delivered the response to Biden, is a lying, detestable Republican worm. But as humorist Will Rogers noted, if all you know is what you read in the newspapers (or in updated form, what you see on cable news), then you are woefully misinformed.

    Take the media’s coverage of Biden’s extemporaneous remarks about the murder of Laken Riley that were prompted by a challenge from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

    First of all, Biden got Riley’s name wrong, twice calling her “Lincoln” Riley. That was embarrassing and drew attention to the cognitive issues Biden has exhibited throughout his first term. But somehow, the mainstream media glossed over that and quickly focused on an entirely manufactured “news” story that seemed intended to reassure Democrats that Biden wasn’t channeling Trump’s border rhetoric.

    As everyone knows by now, Biden referred to the man arrested for Riley’s murder as an “illegal,” which angered members of the radical left “Squad,” who insisted that Jose Antonio Ibarra should properly be referred to as “undocumented.” This was just a silly moment of political correctness, as both words mean the same thing: Ibarra had no immigration documents because he was in the country illegally.

    Yet the mainstream media went to great trouble to explain that Biden “regretted” using the word illegal. Chances are most of the Democrat-leaning reporters who cover the White House sympathized with the Squad and were happy to see Biden essentially apologizing for the word he used to describe the alleged murderer.

    Much more importantly, the media’s attention on the linguistic sideshow meant that virtually no news outlet covered Biden’s truly offensive reference to Laken Riley’s murder in the State of the Union. Here’s exactly what he said.

    BIDEN: Lincoln – Lincoln  Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed.

    GREENE: By an illegal!

    BIDEN: By an illegal. That’s right. But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals?

    Do you see what he did there in that last line? He minimizes and devalues the murder of Riley by suggesting that her life is not important when compared to the “many… thousands” of murders committed by legal immigrants or other Americans. This is the latest, albeit incredibly awkward, manifestation of a Democratic Party talking point: The immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans. The social science on this is sketchy, and in any event, it begs the question of how many more violent crime victims exist because of the Democrats’ lenient criminal justice “reforms.”

    Leaving that aside, Biden’s rejoinder was offensive for another reason. We simply don’t dismiss the brutal murder of one person by proclaiming that it is statistically irrelevant. Each precious human life has untold value to God, as it should to presidents, and Laken Riley, a vibrant nursing student beloved by her family and friends, would still be alive if Biden and his political party had not made it easy for Ibarra to be in the country illegally.

    It was another story about the human toll of illegal immigration that caused outrage in the media about Britt’s response to the State of the Union.

    If you were to listen to the talking heads, Britt’s speech was the worst act of political suicide since Alexander Hamilton agreed to a duel with Aaron Burr. It was certainly one in a long line of responses that brought humiliation on a well-intended speaker. Britt’s performance was cringeworthy as she tried to emote rather than orate her response, and she was effectively reduced to a caricature in a brilliant performance by Scarlett Johansson on “Saturday Night Live.”

    If the media hacks had simply gone after Britt because of her awkward delivery of a speech that reads fine on paper, they would have met no opposition from me. But with their usual overreach and partisan slant, the finest minds in journalism instead attacked Britt for what they called her “misleading” anecdote of sexual abuse suffered by women who depend on the Mexican cartels to get them across the border.

    The story itself is quite short:

    “When I first took office… I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas, where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me. She had been sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12. She told me not just that she was raped every day, but how many times a day she was raped. The cartels put her on a mattress in a shoebox of a room, and they sent men through that door, over and over again, for hours and hours on end. We wouldn’t be OK with this happening in a third-world country. This is the United States of America, and it’s past time we start acting like it.”

    When the media discovered the identity of the victim who spoke to Britt, they claimed that Britt had tried to make it seem like President Biden’s policies were responsible for the woman’s abuse. But if any reporter could pass a simple reading comprehension test, he or she would see that Britt talked to a full-grown woman who revealed what had happened to her when she was 12. Since Britt talked to her sometime after her own election in 2023, and assuming that the woman was of the bare minimum adult age of 18, that would mean her abuse would have occurred no later than 2017, four years before Joe Biden took office.

    In other words, there was no attempt by Britt to blame Biden for this woman’s plight. Instead, she was hoping to elicit heart-felt sympathy from her audience for the plight of young women who fall victim to sex trafficking as they make their way to the U.S. border.

    Who could disagree with her? Only Democrats and media personalities who hate Republicans and Donald Trump. The fact that Trump was supposedly eyeing Britt as a potential vice presidential pick probably made her an irresistible target.

    Now, to be clear, there was one implicit error in the story Britt told. The abuse that Britt recounted actually took place in Mexico, and Britt’s reference to a “third-world country” suggests she didn’t know that. If so, that’s on her. It should have been obvious that most, but not all, of the sex trafficking of women making their way north from Colombia takes place before they arrive in the United States. But that is no reason to try to deflect attention away from the truth of what Britt was saying about the dangers facing women who are enticed north by Biden’s open-border policy.

    Instead of condemning the cartels, however, the legacy media went after Britt. When she responded by explaining that her anecdote was accurate, and that the timeline proved she never intended to claim Biden was responsible for the woman’s rapes, the media was ready with its all-purpose continuation of the smear. As NBC reported it, “Sen. Katie Britt attempts to clean up her misleading State of the Union response.” But it wasn’t misleading at all, and she wasn’t attempting to “clean up” anything; she was attempting to educate the Fake News Media. An impossible task.

    So, if you want to know what the State of the Union is, you don’t have to look any further than the double standard the media used in reporting the speeches by Biden and Britt. As we enter the 2024 election season, we citizens must pledge to look beyond the biased headlines and treat the national media with the distrust they have richly earned. Remember, if all you know is what you read in the newspapers or saw on cable news, you are being played for a fool. Get the facts for yourself, and then make up your own mind.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 18:20
  44. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 15 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Pump-Prices To Hit $4 A Gallon As "Real Sleeper Risk" For Oil Market Looms

    US oil prices have recently jumped above the $80 a barrel mark - the highest level since late 2023, sending worrying signals to the Federal Reserve and overly anxious White House. 

    The surge in WTI has pushed wholesales gasoline prices up...

    And worse, pump prices are set to accelerate even higher in the coming months to an average of $4 a gallon, which would be the highest level since the summer of 2022, according to Bloomberg, citing new data from AAA Automobile Club. 

    A combination of issues is pressuring futures and pump prices higher, including the transition to summer-grade gasoline and strained domestic refineries, as well as concerns about shrinking global crude product supplies while Ukraine attacks Russian refineries. 

    As we explained in the note titled "Dominoes Falling As Biden Admin Deals With Twin Energy Crisis In Russia, Middle East," traders have been spooked by refinery outages across Russia due to Ukranian drone attacks. In the Middle East, traders are increasingly worried that Iran-backed Houthis could be several steps away from targeting Saudi refineries.

    And now it should make a whole lot of sense why the Biden administration pleaded with Ukrainians to stop drone attacks, along with the White House pushing Vice President Kamala Harris out on ABC News on Sunday to warn Israel publicly not to launch a counteroffensive against Hamas in Rafah - because increased chaos on that side of the world would stoke higher crude prices - and bad timing for the administration, just ahead of the US presidential election in November. 

    Devin Gladden, a spokesperson for AAA, which tracks gasoline prices, warned higher pump prices will force the working poor to make "lifestyle changes and be a focus in November's presidential election." Higher pump prices will also make Americans realize how much Bidenomics has failed. 

    Higher pump prices will also complicate the Fed's fight against the inflation monster and likely delay rate cuts this summer, which would undoubtedly upset markets. 

    This comes as the administration is trying to refill the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserves after releasing a record amount to control last year's summertime gasoline price surge. 

    Since the administration is busy refilling reserves, it has exhausted some of its war chest to control price spikes this spring and summer. 

    "If pump prices keep rising, SPR refills will stop automatically. While one cannot rule out another SPR release, the real sleeper risk is the Biden administration would revive threats to restrain US gasoline and diesel exports, especially if a storm disrupted refining capacity. The market, policy, and geopolitical implications of restricting product exports would dwarf those of the LNG pause. Supersize it and add fries," Scott Modell, CEO at Rapidan Energy Advisors, wrote in a statement. 

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 18:00
  45. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 15 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    "The Squad" Earmarked $224 Million Since 2023 – Led By AOC, It's Pork Barrel Spending By The Democratic Socialists

    Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via OpenTheBooks substack,

    “The Squad’ is a group of ultra-left wing Congressional socialists which has been the toast of so-called “progressives” for the last several years.

    Its members might promise a worker’s paradise, in which government “withers away,” in the words of Vladimir Lenin, but for now they are only too happy to direct government largesse to the folks back home.

    In fact, The Squad members have earmarked $224 million and many absurd pet projects since 2023. 

    Download the full database of The Squad’s 2023 and 2024 earmarks here.

    Our figures include the earmarks in the most recent $1.2 trillion spending bill from last week.

    It’s a stunning display of logrolling – deep inside the status quo – they say they hate as a tool of capitalist oppression.

    The Squad maxed out their pork in 2023 and 2024. Their 215 earmarked projects cost the rest of us (overwhelmingly non-socialist) U.S. taxpayers $224.1 million. Every dime was borrowed against our national debt.

    New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), AKA, “AOC,” who last week did not know that “RICO” names a crime, is The Squad’s most prominent voice. She is celebrated as a “socialist superstar” by the Democratic Socialists of America.

    Representative Ocasio-Cortez earmarked $1.2 million for a new building for the International Muslim Women’s Empowerment Project. Its founder teaches a “hijab grab” self-defense move involving a “kick to the groin.”

    And then there’s the $500,000 for the Billion Oyster project in her district. Rich people eat oysters. However, the law prohibits anyone from either fishing or eating oysters in the Hudson River. So, this is only an engineering project for eco-marginalized people in Queens.

    Other Squad members are Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Greg Casar (D-TX), Summer Lee (D-PA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

    The Squad Practices Race-based Earmarking

    Squad members shoveled some pretty stinky stuff into spending bills. It appears race-based legislating is OK if a progressive does it:

    • $850,000 to create jobs for the Black community near George Floyd Square, whose death in 2020 “added to the stress faced by the community and increased the need for support and stability in housing and commerce.” Patron: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

    • $1.7 million to help the Environmental Leaders of Color build a “green tech park.” The group’s goal is to “assist marginalized communities in preparing for climate change’s adverse effects … so that they can thrive like healthy plants in their natural ecosystem.” Patron: Congressman Jamaal Bowman.

    • $1 million for the Immigrant Opportunity Center expansion. It’s run by CAPI USA, a nonprofit that “guides refugees and immigrants in their journey toward self-determination and social equality.” Patron: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

    • $1.35 million to New Immigrant Community Empowerment, a nonprofit that advocates for citizenship for all illegal immigrants. Patron: Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez ($500,000). The group received another $850,000 this year from Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY).

    • $1.5 million to build special grocery stores and education facilities for Black farmers in the community of St. Louis. Patron: Congresswoman Cori Bush.

    • $1 million for the San Antonio College Empowerment Center, which runs an Undocumented Student Support Program to help immigrants enroll in the school. Patron: Congressman Greg Casar.

    The Squad’s Green Earmarks

    Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez introduced her Green New Deal, in 2019. It’s the focus of 21 earmarks to build green infrastructure, move away from fossil fuels, and involve minority communities in climate policy. She and her colleagues find ways to get us to pay for their policy preference, such as:

    • $1 million to build “a network of intergenerational, trauma-informed waterfront green spaces.” The project already received $792,000 in 2022 earmark funding. Patron: Congresswoman Ayanna Presley

    • $466,000 to improve the energy efficiency of a St. Louis homeless shelter. Patron: Congresswoman Cori Bush.

    • $4 million to build an “industrial green beltway” in Dearborn, Michigan. Patron: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

    • $500,000 from Ocasio-Cortez will build an oyster reef to “address longstanding environmental justice inequities facing underrepresented communities in Queens.” Oyster habitats in New York have been damaged by pollution and harvesting them for food is illegal.

    • $850,000 to repair a bridge that “connects minority environmental justice communities” in Pennsylvania. Patron: Congresswoman Summer Lee.

    • $2 million for Everett, Mass. to build a park for “low-income BIPOC residents” to “stay cool during increasingly hot summers.” (“BIPOC” is an acronym for “Black, indigenous and other people of color.”) Patron: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.

    Stopping Insane Earmarks. Or Not.

    In 2024, when it got too insane, Republican members of the House finally got serious and cut a few of the whacky earmarks.

    For example, Rep. Pressley’s earmark to build affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors did not make it into the final House bill.

    However, in the second minibus bill, Pressley was able to add back $850,000 for LGBTQ “The Pryde” senior housing by moving the earmark to the U.S. Senate. Pressley called Republicans homophobic for attempting to eliminate her LGBTQ earmarks.

    Background

    From time immemorial, politicians of every stripe have used their positions to benefit those who sent them to D.C., while sticking taxpayers with the tab.

    Congresspeople all play together in the sandbox, promising not to rat each other out for some strikingly goofy – or downright weird – local spending. Things got so out of hand 15 years ago, that a bi-partisan coalition led by former U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and President Barack Obama actually banned earmarking for ten years.

    It didn’t last.

    Regardless of what you may have heard about GOP hate for former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), three years ago, the House Republican caucus, in a secret vote, joined Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to reinstate earmarks.

    That moment of fiscal fealty was replaced by the naked need for pork, and in the instance, a new alliance with the Speaker.

    And so, we have more tabs to face than a diet soda aisle at a big Costco.

    In 2024, the so-called “minibus measures” contained 8,051 earmarks totaling $15.7 BILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS. In 2023, the year-end omnibus was stuffed with 7,510 earmarks worth just over $16 BILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS.

    Congress must disclose earmarks online. However, it posts them in hard-to-review PDF files. (Our team at OpenTheBooks.com converts those files into Excel spreadsheets to more effectively parse what they are hiding.)

    When Congress knows what it is doing is wrong, it always makes it a bit harder to find.

    In all too many ways, earmarks – from both Democrats and Republicans -- are no exception.

    Next week – “The Freedom Caucus Decides It Is Free to Earmark”

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 17:40
  46. Site: LifeNews
    1 day 15 hours ago
    Author: Dave Andrusko

    It should come as no surprise that the race between pro-life former President Donald Trump and pro-abortion President Joe Biden has ebbs and flows. Before moving into some of the details, it’s worth remembering that the public is deeply skeptical that the President is up to leading the country for four more years and that on the major issues Mr. Biden trails Mr. Trump, in some cases by huge margins [immigration and leadership].

    Mr. Trump leads Mr. Biden “by 5 points (41%-36%) over a five-candidate field in the poll, and his presidential approval rating tops that of Biden right now: 55% say they approve of the job Trump did as president, a figure that is 10 points higher than Biden’s current approval rating of 45%,” Newsmax reports. The headline for Eric Mack’s story is “Harvard Poll: Trump Leads by 5; 63% Say Biden Too Old.”

    On the other hand, Trump led by “just 2 points over Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head, with roughly 9 percent of voters undecided.”

    Mack offers several other important topline findings:

    • A 58% majority said the U.S. is on the wrong track under the Biden administration, compared to 34% who said it is on the right track.
    • 56% said the U.S. economy is weak under Biden.
    • A plurality of 47% said their personal finances are getting worse under Biden.
    • Biden’s State of the Union speech provided no increase on his 45% approval rating since the last poll.
    • A majority of 52% had an unfavorable opinion of Biden’s State of the Union speech, with majorities saying he did not address the issues their family cares most about (54%) and “failed” to present solutions of their family’s issues (55%).
    • 56% said the Democrats are using “lawfare” to take out their chief political opponent.

    REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.

    But “President Biden has narrowed the gap against former President Trump in six out of seven key battleground states over the past month, according to a poll that hints at a likely close general election race between the two men in November,” Brett Samuels reported. “A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll published Tuesday found Biden still trailing Trump overall among all voters in the seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the election.”

    Byron York interviewed Mr. Trump and came away with some telling comments. “At any given moment, there are lots of subjects in the news one could ask Trump about, but I decided to focus on a longer-term story — how he managed to come back from the disastrous end of his presidency in early 2021 to become the 2024 Republican Party presidential nominee. “It’s really a story about the intensity gap between Trump’s supporters and everybody else,” York wrote.

    “At any given moment, there are lots of subjects in the news one could ask Trump about, but I decided to focus on a longer-term story — how he managed to come back from the disastrous end of his presidency in early 2021 to become the 2024 Republican Party presidential nominee. It’s really a story about the intensity gap between Trump’s supporters and everybody else.”

    Remember that after Trump left office on Jan. 20, 2021, he was still awaiting a Senate impeachment trial (his second), Washington was reeling after a series of failed election challenges and Jan. 6, he was facing all sorts of investigations, and much of the political world had written him off for dead, “rebuked by many in his own party and exiled at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago,” in the words of a recent New York Times story. 

    But Trump saw, and felt, something completely different. Here’s the short version of what he told me during our conversation in Florida: He never felt politically dead. He knew he could run again. He was already planning it when he returned to Mar-a-Lago. He knew he had the support to do it because he could feel the emotional engagement of his voters.

    “I feel the crowd, and I feel a love,” Trump said. “I never felt that [I was finished politically]. Just never felt it.” …

    What Trump was feeling was an intensity gap. In the Republican primary race, more GOP voters were emotionally committed to him than to any GOP challenger. And now, in a general election matchup, those same Republican voters are more enthusiastic about supporting his candidacy than Democrats are about supporting his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden.

    You can read the full interview at The Washington Examiner.

    LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.

    The post Poll Shows Republicans More Excited About Voting for Trump Than Democrats About Voting for Biden appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  47. Site: LifeNews
    1 day 15 hours ago
    Author: Maria Gallagher

    It has probably happened to you at some point in your life’s journey—you have to excuse yourself from a meeting, a party, or some other event because of a family crisis. There really is no need to explain, because virtually everyone can relate. An incident comes up that is dire, that requires immediate attention in order to be resolved.

    Merriam-Webster offers a definition of the word “crisis” which I feel is particularly instructive: “a situation that has reached a critical phase.”

    If 2,400 people are dying each day from a preventable cause, would not that constitute a crisis? If thousands of women everyday are left to grieve children lost to death, is that not a crisis? If boys and girls are losing brothers and sisters, friends and companions, without having an opportunity to mourn, is that not a crisis?

    Pro-lifers believe in education, in changing hearts and minds. How do we reach those who seemingly are unable—or unwilling– to grasp the scope of this tragedy?

    It depends on where they are on the spectrum.

    For example, there are people in this world who, sadly, do not recognize the humanity of the unborn child, who are so removed from what is happening to unborn children and their mothers they actually celebrate abortion.

    Please follow LifeNews.com on Gab for the latest pro-life news and info, free from social media censorship.

    We must work diligently to educate them so that they can see with their mind’s eye what abortion really is: the taking of an innocent, unrepeatable life.

    Others do not go this far. They seem to recognize abortion as something negative and undesirable. Yet, by their words and actions, they fail to recognize abortion as the crisis it is.

    Yes, it is regrettable, they seem to say, but so are a variety of other social ills. They appear reluctant to take the immediate, life-affirming action that is necessary to combat it. They are the lukewarm.

    So how do we reach the lukewarm? I believe we need to be consistently sharing stories—stories of women and men who survived botched abortions…women who have undergone abortions, but now regret them…women who were saved from abortion by the intervention of love.

    Here is another category. Those who may believe that legal abortion in this country has gone on for so long, it no longer constitutes a crisis or is beyond remedy. But I disagree.

    Whenever someone’s life hangs in the balance, it is a crisis—a critical moment in history that demands loving, peaceful action.

    Speaking for myself, I go through each day behaving as if abortion was just legalized yesterday. For 2,400 little ones, today is their death date.

    Yet because there is an army of pro-life volunteers working unceasingly, I look forward with hope to the day when a far greater number of government officials, community leaders, and clergy will see the abortion crisis for what it is: a massive tragedy that demands immediate attention and a concrete compassionate response.

    LifeNews.com Note: Maria Gallagher is the Legislative Director and Political Action Committee Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and she has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.

    The post 2,400 Babies are Killed in Abortions Every Day. We Must End Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  48. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 15 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    State Farm Insurance Drops 72,000 California Properties

    State Farm will not renew approximately 72,000 property and commercial apartment policies, of which approximately 30,000 will be for 'homeowner, rental, rental, residential community and business owner insurance,' and the remainder of which are for commercial apartment policies, the Sacramento Bee reports.

    Last May the company announced that it would stop accepting applications for property and business properties due to higher construction costs, growing risks from wildfires and other catastrophic events, and challenges related to how it insures its own business.

    Last week, the company cited those challenges in an announcement, along with "the limitations of working within decades-old insurance regulations."

    California says it's fixing the issues, with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announcing upcoming regulatory changes that his office says "will improve conditions for the overall market."

    According to spokesman Michael Stoller, State Farm's decision "raises serious questions about its financial situation — questions the company must answer to regulators."

    The action was taken by State Farm General Insurance Company, which sells homeowners insurance in California. The company acknowledged the department’s proposed changes and vowed to continue to work with the agency to “establish an environment in which insurance rates are better aligned with risk.”

    In December, the department approved a 20% average rate hike for the company’s homeowner insurance policies. -Sacramento Bee

    The insurer says it will begin canceling policies in July for homeowners, and August for commercial properties, which will occur on a rolling basis over the next year. 

    The move comes two years after AIG pulled out of the Golden State over wildfire risk.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 17:20
  49. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 day 16 hours ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    The Predictable 2024 Biden Non-Campaign

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

    Joe Biden reportedly is weirdly asking the Ukrainians not to strike Russian oil facilities, despite the military utility of such attacks.

    Why?

    Not because he fears a wider war since he sent no such request in the prior two years of fighting.

    Apparently, it is the same reason why on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, Biden began draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (down to 360,000 million barrels, from a high of 631,000 at his inauguration) to get cheaper gas prices right before the voting.

    Biden further campaigned in 2020 blasting Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” nation. But by early 2022, he was courting the Saudis, the Venezuelans, the Iranians, and by default the Russians to pump more oil.

    The message?

    In non-election years, Biden & Co. blast fossil fuels as doomed and dirty. In election years they beg others to pump the icky goo to surfeit.

    So at least until November 2024, expect surreal petroleum-fueled restraint as Iranian surrogates freely hit more U.S. targets.

    Venezuela without worry will threaten its neighbors.

    “Pariah” Saudis for a while longer stay our new old “strategic” partner.

    The “murderer” Putin’s oil is off-limits.

    Secondly, the “ultra-MAGA” and “semi-fascist” Trump becomes “broke Don” who is foreclosed upon and who planned an “insurrection” and “civil war” on January 6, after “praising” racists in Charlottesville, and damning dead GIs as “suckers”.

    Thirdly, Biden will give lots of free stuff to win votes.

    So despite a $35 trillion national debt, expect massive new student loan debt cancellations and amnesties before November.

    After 10 million illegal entries, anticipate sudden tough but otherwise empty Biden gibberish, about “securing the border.”

    There will be louder cries for Israel to stand down and essentially resuscitate Hamas.

    So here again are the Biden’s talking points in 2024:

    • Gloat that Trump is broke and a crook and headed to jail—at least according to legal geniuses like Alvin Bragg, E. Jean Carroll, Letitia James, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis.

    • Blame Trump for all the things Biden did that wrecked the country in 2021-4.

    • Hand out amnesties, pardons, free stuff, and windfalls to the electorate in “you get it now, they pay later” fashion.

    • Assure wavering blacks, Latinos, and Jews that Trump is a racist and an anti-Semite.

    • Do not mention soaring food and gas prices, a destroyed border and a stampede of illegal aliens, high interest rates and mortgages, an epidemic of homelessness and violent crime, and the world turned upside down in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Red Sea, the Philippines, Haiti, and Taiwan.

    • Claim a “feisty” and “supercharged” Joe is “raring to go” and “can’t wait” to hit the campaign trail to “take on” Trump because he has never been more “in charge,” more “dynamic”, and more “cocky”.

    Tyler Durden Tue, 03/26/2024 - 17:00
  50. Site: Community in Mission
    1 day 16 hours ago
    Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

    Two momentous days have passed: On Monday there was the cleansing of the Temple and the laments over Jerusalem’s lack of faith; Tuesday featured exhaustive teachings by Jesus and interrogations by His opponents.

    Today, Wednesday, it would seem that Jesus stays in Bethany. According to Matthew’s Gospel, the day begins with an ominous warning:

    When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” (Matthew 26:1-2).

    The scene then shifts across the Kidron valley, where we “overhear” this conversation:

    Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people” (Matthew 26:3-5).

    It is interesting that they say, “not during the festival,” because according to the Synoptic Gospels that is exactly when it ended up happening. This serves as a reminder that things unfold according to the Lord’s authority. Nothing is out of His control. No one takes the Jesus’ life; He lays it down freely. Even if one considers the Johannine tradition, which uses a different Jewish calendar to date the Passover (one day later), this all takes place right in the thick of the Passover. Why? Because the Lord is fulfilling Passover. The priests and elders can plan all they want, but God is in control.

    The Lord Jesus and the Twelve likely spent a quiet sort of day and it is now later in the afternoon. Matthew’s Gospel places Jesus in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper (Matthew 26:6-7). According to Luke (7:36), Simon was a Pharisee. His leprosy was in remission and he had been readmitted to the community. Could he have been one of the lepers Jesus cured? We do not know. The story here is complex; there are significant differences among the various Gospel accounts. Matthew records it as follows:

    A woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Matthew 26:7-13).

    The act of anointing Jesus may have happened more than once; in the four accounts of it there are differences in both the details and the timeframes.

    Luke presents this story (or a similar one) much earlier in his Gospel (Chapter 7). In his account it is Jesus’ feet not His head that are anointed. Further, Luke portrays Simon in a bad light.

    Mark and Matthew place the incident on Wednesday of Holy Week, but report that it is those at the dinner (likely the apostles) who take offense at the anointing.

    John’s Gospel places this event six days before Passover, but at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. In John’s account it is Mary who anoints the Lord (His feet, not His head) and Judas alone who takes offense.

    For our purposes on this Wednesday of Holy Week, it is enough to note that Jesus sets the meaning of this woman’s action as anointing His body for burial. Jesus is clearly moved by her act of devotion and insight.

    Jesus does not slight the poor in His response, but He teaches that the worship of God and obedience to His truth are higher goods than even the care of the poor. Serving the poor is not to be set in opposition to serving God. They are related, but God always comes first. For example, one cannot skip sacred worship on Sunday simply to serve the poor (except in a grave and urgent situation); serving the poor is not a substitute for worship. The worship of God comes first and is meant to fuel our charitable and just works. Further, set in the light of the looming passion, the dying One takes precedence over the poor ones.

    One of the Twelve, Judas, has become increasingly disaffected. He has not been featured prominently among the Twelve; mention of him in the Gospels is minimal. Now he emerges, as if from the shadows, to betray Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all seem to place Judas’ plans to betray Jesus as set into motion at some point on this day. The Gospel of Matthew recounts,

    Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over (Matt 26:14-16).

    Why did he do it? There were storm clouds gathering for Judas, by which he may have opened the door to Satan. Scripture reveals that he was a thief, stealing from the common money bag (Jn 12:6). Jesus also hints that Judas was grieved by the Bread of Life discourse, which led many to abandon Jesus when He insisted that they must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Jesus said, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot … (Jn 6:70-71).

    We can only guess at Judas’ motivations. The most likely explanation is that he was disillusion when Jesus did not measure up to the common Jewish conception of the Messiah as a revolutionary warrior who would overthrow Roman power and reestablish the Kingdom of David. Judas may have been a member of the Zealot Party or at least influenced by them in this regard. Zealots are seldom interested in hearing of their own need for personal healing and repentance, let alone the call to love their enemies. This is obviously only speculative; Judas’ motivations remain to a large degree shrouded in the mystery of iniquity.

    Yes, Judas betrayed Jesus for money—a significant amount—but compared to his salvation and his soul, it was but “a mess of pottage for his birthright” (see Gen 25:34). What will it profit a man that he should gain the whole world and lose his soul? (Mk 8:36)

    The widespread belief that Judas might be in Heaven may be just a tad optimistic. The Church does not declare that any particular person is in Hell, however Jesus said the following about Judas: The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born. (Matt 26:24). It is hard to imagine Jesus saying this of any human person who ultimately makes it to Heaven.

    The more likely biblical judgment on Judas is that he died in sin, despairing of God’s mercy on His terms. One is free to hope for a different outcome for Judas, but while the story of Judas and his possible repentance does generate some sympathy in many people today, the judgment belongs to God.

    It is the saddest story never told: The repentance of Judas and his restoration by Jesus. Think of all the churches that were never built: “The Church of St. Judas, Penitent.” Think of the feast day never celebrated: “The Repentance of Judas.”

    Judas goes his way, freely. God did not force him to play this role. He only knew what Judas would do beforehand and based His plans on Judas’ free choice.

    Thus ends this Wednesday of Holy Week. It was a calmer day, a day spent among friends, yet a day on which Satan entered one man, who set a betrayal in motion. The storm clouds gather.

    The post What Was the Lord Doing on Wednesday of Holy Week? appeared first on Community in Mission.

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