It is sad that there are what you might call professional Catholics who make a living on their Catholicism, but in whom the spring of faith flows only faintly, in a few scattered drops. We must really make an effort to change this.
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentS Paul loved his fellow Jews, his 'kinsmen' and believed "the gifts and call of God are irrevocable". He believed that at the End, those among them who had rejected Christ would be brought in to the chosen people. He believed that they were like olive branches which had been cut off so that the Gentiles, wild olive branches, could be grafted in. But, when the fulness of the Gentiles had entered Fr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com3
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentLex orandi lex credendi. I have been examining the Two Covenant Dogma: the fashionable error that God's First Covenant, with the Jews, is still fully and salvifically valid, so that the call to saving faith in Christ Jesus is not made to them. The 'New' Covenant, it is claimed, is now only for Gentiles. I want to draw attention at this point to the witness of the post-Conciliar Magisterium of theFr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com13
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentWe have seen that the Two Covenant Theory, the idea that Jewry alone is guaranteed Salvation without any need to convert to Christ, is repugnant to Scripture, to the Fathers, even to the post-Conciliar liturgy of the Catholic Church. It is also subversive of the basic grammar of the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments. Throughout two millennia, in Scripture, in Liturgy, in her Fr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com7
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentThe sort of people who would violently reject the points I am making are the sort of people who would not be impressed by the the Council of Florence. So I am going to confine myself to the Magisterium from the time of Pius XII ... since it is increasingly coming to be realised that the continuum of processes which we associate with the Conciliar and post-Conciliar period was already in operationFr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentIn 1980, addressing a Jewish gathering in Germany, B John Paul II said (I extract this from a long sentence): " ... dialogue; that is, the meeting between the people of the Old Covenant (never revoked by God, cf Romans 11:29) and that of the New Covenant, is at the same time ..." In 2013, Pope Francis, in the course of his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, also referred to the Old Fr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com10
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Site: Fr Hunwicke's Mutual EnrichmentSince the Council, an idea has been spreading that Judaism is not superseded by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ; that Jews still have available to them the Covenant of the old Law, by which they can be saved. It is therefore unnecessary for them to turn to Christ; unnecessary for anybody to convert them to faith in Christ. Indeed, attempting to do so is an act of aggression not dissimilar to theFr John Hunwickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766211573399409633noreply@blogger.com11
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Site: Henrymakow.com
During a trip to Hong Kong, the billionaire duo decided to grab lunch at McDonald's. To Gates' amusement, when Buffett offered to pay, he pulled out a handful of coupons.Warren Buffett is a billionaire. He gets his meaning from making or saving a dime. Most of the super-rich suffer from spiritual poverty.Whether we are poor or rich, money holds us prisoner. The rich feel poor because of GREED. No matter how much they have, their identity ("feeling good, important, secure") was forged by a society dedicated to making and spending more money.
Money is supposed to free us from material concerns. Paradoxically it does the opposite. We become its prisoners."Enough is a little more than one has." Samuel ButlerUpdated from May 4, 2022 and Oct. 6 2023by Henry Makow PhDFew people take a rational approach to money.This would involve calculating how much money they need in relation to how much money they have, and how much money they make.Rather, people tend to focus on their last 2%. Did their "net worth" increase or derease on a given day?Depending on their tax bracket, this may involve their last $100, $1000, $10,000, $10 million or $10 billion. They ignore their big bank balance or stock portfolio. They always feel poor.Money is supposed to free us from material concerns. Paradoxically it does the opposite. We become its prisoners.We are satanically possessed. This means we identify with money rather than our Divine soul. We are money rather than God's personal representative on earth. The more money we have, the bigger and better we feel. These values are inculcated by our satanist-controlled mass media.I am addressing the roughly 50% of my readers who, according to my Gab poll, have enough or more money than they need. I don't fault the other 50% who don't have enough or are broke for feeling oppressed.
Paradoxically the rich suffer from a spiritual impoverishment.The more they identify with their money, the smaller they are. The more money they have, the smaller they are.In the case of the Illuminati bankers, this inner poverty is toxic. They are a cancer that threatens to destroy mankind.They want to "absorb" (their word) all the world's wealth leaving nothing to support humanity. They want it all!We're indoctrinated to seek money. Within limits, money is a great motivator and measure.I know someone who doesn't have to work. He works because he has nothing else to do, and it makes him feel productive and rewarded.Another friend is independently wealthy from investments. He retired a couple of years ago but is returning to his old profession out of sheer boredom.PERSONALI am as satanically possessed as anyone. I have had a lifelong struggle with greed. At age 74, I am just starting to master this demon.Recently I did the calculation above and realized that I have more money than I'll ever spend.My spending habits were formed during eight years as a graduate student living on roughly $10,000 per year. I really don't need or care about material things.Paradoxically, this lack of concern for money did NOT stop me from developing a gambling addiction. When I didn't have much money, I didn't care about it. When I sold Scruples to Hasbro in 1986, I became a money manager and thought my game smarts would extend to the stock market. MISTAKE.Scruples had been a labor of love. I did it because It was a workshop on everyday morality.After my windfall, I became satanically possessed (i.e. GREED.) If someone asked how I was, I said, "I'll ask my broker."We have to be on guard constantly because the voice in our head often is the devil!Then another voice arises from our soul and says, "Cool it, you greedy moron."You gamble with money you'll never spend. More or Less. What is the point? You don't even know your balance.We have a Mexican cleaning woman who supports an extended family. I have never met a woman whose smile exudes such warmth.Surely, these human qualities represent our true riches.Money is the lowest common denominator. People today are consumed by money. They are charmless.YouTube is packed full of "how I got rich" stories.While the world descends into Communist tyranny or faces a nuclear catastrophe, they act like money will save them.For people who have enough, freedom lies in eschewing money. Just not caring about it.Can you do that? -
Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
In the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) was known for his progressive views, while Ron Paul (R-TX) was known for his libertarian views. There were many times when the two representatives disagreed about American policy and legislation. But, there was also much overlap in their views in regard to United States foreign policy and liberty in America.
In this area of overlap, the two men worked together many times in the House, advocating for the US seeking peace abroad and protecting liberty at home. This collaboration has continued since both men left the House in 2013, with Dennis Kucinich serving as an Advisory Board member for the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity that Paul founded soon thereafter.
Interviewed last week by Glenn Greenwald at System Update, Kucinich addressed a possibility he had floated back in 2007 when on the presidential campaign trail. Greenwald queried Kucinich about Kucinich, then participating in the Democratic presidential primary, having offered Paul, who at the same time was seeking the Republican presidential nomination, as someone Kucinich would consider asking to join his ticket as his choice for vice president. Responding to Greenwald, Kucinich spoke of how he “worked closely together” with Paul, who Kucinich referred to as “a straight shooter” and “a good man” and with whom Kucinich “saw a point of coalition on the issues that related to war and the folly of the United States going into one war after another.” “When I mentioned Ron Paul as a possible running mate in 2007, despite the fact that I gave some of my colleagues then the vapors, I felt it was really important to be able to show that my view is not dichotomized; I don’t think in terms of polarity,” Kucinich further stated.
What an interesting campaign that would have been. As Paul likes to say, “Freedom brings people together.” A joint campaign of Paul and Kucinich, focused on the areas where they agree could have helped break down the artificial dichotomy and polarity in American politics that Kucinich critiques. Instead of the example that we keep seeing in Washington, DC of the exercise of “bipartisan compromise” almost always leading to intervention abroad and the diminishing of liberty in America, Kucinich and Paul could have demonstrated how principled cross-parties and cross-ideologies action can advance peace and liberty. And, taking the hypothetical a step further, consider the effort the two men could have undertaken together from the White House to roll back the US government’s many foreign interventionist and liberty suppressing activities.
In their separate campaigns, Kucinich and Paul did much work educating and inspiring people in regard to matters of peace and liberty. Those efforts continue today to yield fruit. But, what if they had combined forces instead? A Kucinich/Paul — or Paul/Kucinich — ticket is an interesting alternative history to ponder.
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Site: non veni pacem
Judicial Watch has the receipts… and yes, the vaxx was being developed right along with the weapon. Turns out neither worked very well, but I’ll bet they do better next time. -nvp
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 5 pages of records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that show an April 2020 email exchange with several officials in the bureau’s Newark Field Office referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China as including “gain-of-function research” which “would leave no signature of purposeful human manipulation.”
Judicial Watch obtained the records in response to a May 17, 2023, FOIA request for: emails and text messages of the Newark Field Office, including to Special Agent David A. Miller, containing the terms “gain of function,” “GoF,” “R01A|110964,” and/or “EcoHealth.” Judicial Watch sent the FOIA request to follow up on uncovering the FBI Newark Field Office’s investigation of the Fauci agency’s gain-of-function grants after the Covid-19 pandemic began.
On April 23, 2020, an email exchange with the subject “Follow up call” takes place between several unnamed Newark Field Office FBI officials. A person whose name is redacted writes:
Details of the current NIAID [Fauci’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases] grant for WIV [Wuhan Institute of Virology] bat coronavirus surveillance and WIV bat coronavirus gain-of-function research are available at: https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=9819304&icde=49645421&ddparam=&ddvalue=&ddsub=&cr=1&csb=default&cs=ASC&pball= [summary of NIH grant to EcoHealth Alliance for Project 2R01AI110964-06]. The key activity for bat coronavirus surveillance is ‘Aim 1 … We will sequence receptor binding domains (spike proteins) to identify viruses with the highest potential for spillover which we will include in our experimental investigations. (Aim 3).’
The key activity for bat coronavirus gain of function is “Aim 3 … We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that 0/0 divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential.” Translated into lay language, this equates to: “In Aim 3, we will use de novo synthesis to construct novel viruses encoding different spike proteins in an otherwise-constant genomic context, and we will test the ability of the resulting novel viruses to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals. We hypothesize that there is a direct correlation between the receptor binding affinity of the spike protein and the abilities to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals. We will test this hypothesis by asking whether novel viruses encoding spike proteins with the highest receptor-binding affinity have the highest abilities to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals.”
The reason I am writing is that the experimental strategy proposed in Aim 3 (“infectious clone technology”), if performed using commercial or in-house gene synthesis to prepare the infectious clones, *** would leave no signatures of purposeful human manipulation***.
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Site: LifeNews
Today Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), the state’s oldest and largest pro-life organization, launched a 7-figure TV and digital ad buy in a campaign to defeat the proposed so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” that would enshrine unlimited abortion in the Minnesota Constitution. MCCL’s efforts also include print, radio, and social media advertising. MCCL will hold a press conference on Thursday morning about the amendment and the campaign to defeat it.
“MCCL is going to make Minnesotans very aware of what some groups and lawmakers are trying to do,” said MCCL Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser. “This proposed amendment is just too extreme for our state. Abortion-up-to-birth isn’t a Minnesota value, whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice. Minnesotans are compassionate. We want to protect women and babies.”
MCCL first TV and digital ad, titled “Way Out There,” begins airing today. It features a conversation between two women about Minnesota’s current abortion policy and the effort to pass a constitutional amendment—and then calls on viewers to contact their legislators. A second MCCL ad is expected in early May.
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Minnesota law already allows abortion without limits, but the version of the ERA proposed by groups like Gender Justice and ERA Minnesota would enshrine it into the Constitution and prevent future lawmakers from enacting even commonsense abortion policies. The proposal also excludes language safeguarding conscience and religious rights, removing protection for “creed” that was included in a previous version.
Lawmakers in Maine and New Hampshire have recently rejected similar sweeping abortion amendments.
The post Minnesota Pro-Life Group Launches Campaign Against Amendment for Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
Adam Fadel is a licensed clinical therapist and, after many years of practice, he’s concluded what we know to be true: abortion trauma is real. The founder of the Charlotte clinic “The Corner: Institute for Transformation” explained what he had learned about the trauma that so often goes undiagnosed in a column written for The Fayetteville Observer.
He writes, “As state lawmakers consider the issue of abortion, they need to keep people like Sarah [a pseudonym] in mind — women who aren’t shouting their abortion, but instead are silently grieving.”
In one powerful paragraph Fadel explains
But traumas associated with abortion aren’t ended by the procedure. In fact, many of them begin there. A study conducted by Support After Abortion found that 34% of women suffer “adverse impacts” like anger, shame and regret from medication abortions. Most of these women said they had nobody to talk to afterwards, and had no idea where to go to understand and address their complicated grief. [Underlining added.]
This study results contrast sharply with the endlessly lauded “Turnaway Study.” Fadel explains, “The Turnaway Study is regularly cited by major media outlets as a rebuttal against the idea that abortion harms mothers who terminate their pregnancies.”
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According to the study, women who were able to have an abortion were compared to women who were turned away — thus the name. It “found that just 5% of women regret their abortions.”
Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon, NRLC’s Director of Education & Research, has demolished the study in multiple stories written for NRL News Today. As he pointed out in the conclusion to his five-part critique of the “Turnaway” study,
“Within a week after their ‘denial,’ even before the baby was actually born, 35% of those women were no longer willing to say that having the abortion would have been the right decision. After the birth, we know that 86% were living with the baby; 59% perceived their relationships as good or very good; and nearly half (48%) had full-time jobs.”
But even if we grant, for purposes of argument, that “only” 5% of women regret their abortions, it’s “a huge number,” Fadel writes. “Guttmacher estimates that 23.7% of women have abortions, which using the Turnaway Study’s numbers means that nearly two million women regret their abortion. Leaving these women to suffer in silence is a disservice to them, their families, and their communities.”
Sarah “was also hesitant to approach me because like most women who want to seek healing after abortion, she preferred anonymity out of fear of rejection and judgment.” Fadel concludes
Sarah deserved better than to suffer years of silent regret and shame. I was grateful to be able to help her learn how to address the traumas she had endured, and to heal. As abortion continues to be debated across the state, therapists, lawmakers, abortion advocates, and abortion opponents must put aside differences and make people like Sarah a priority.
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 Women Who Regret Their Abortions are Suffering Years of Regret and Shame appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new rule on Monday cracking down on prosecutors’ ability to obtain abortion records.
The rule strengthens a 1996 privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), by providing protections for those seeking an abortion, as well as those who perform the procedure, according to a HHS press release. The new provision takes aim at the various red states that have imposed abortion restrictions since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Many Americans are scared their private medical information will be being shared, misused, and disclosed without permission,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “This has a chilling effect on women visiting a doctor, picking up a prescription from a pharmacy, or taking other necessary actions to support their health.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration is providing stronger protections to people seeking lawful reproductive health care regardless of whether the care is in their home state or if they must cross state lines to get it. With reproductive health under attack by some lawmakers, these protections are more important than ever,” Becerra added.
The Biden administration first announced its plans in April 2023 to help protect women who are traveling out of state for an abortion from investigation. HIPAA had allowed for the disclosure of some health information to law enforcement officials.
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Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, said that following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, health care providers have voiced concerns over whether the records of their patients who travel to see them will be requested.
“Patients and providers are scared, and it impedes their ability to get and to provide accurate information and access safe and legal health care,” Fontes Rainer said in a statement. “Today’s rule prohibits the use of protected health information for seeking or providing lawful reproductive health care and helps maintain and improve patient-provider trust that will lead to improved health outcomes and protect patient privacy.”
The rule follows an Arizona Supreme Court decision allowing an 1864 law to take effect that prohibits abortion in all cases except for when the life of the mother is at risk. Abortion will likely be on the ballot in the battleground state this fall, potentially joining Florida, New York and Maryland.
LifeNews Note: Mary Lou Masters writes for Daily Caller. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience.
The post Biden Issues New Rule to Shield Abortionists Who Kill Babies in Illegal Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
Joe Biden took his presidential campaign to Florida today and promoted abortions – because apparently killing one million babies a year in abortions is not enough.
He told the handful of pro-abortion voters gathered for the small event that they should hold Donald trump accountable for overturning Roe so states could set their own policies on protecting babies from abortions.
“Donald Trump is worried voters are going to hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he’s created,” Biden said. “The bad news for Trump is that we are going to hold him accountable. He should be held accountable.”
Biden also urged those in attendance to support a statewide amendment that would legalize abortions up to birth.
However, polling data in the Sunshine State shows voters support Trump over Biden.
A Florida Atlantic University PolCom Lab/Mainstreet Research poll released last week found Trump leading Biden by 10 points, while an Emerson College poll earlier this month had Trump leading by 15.
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Students for Life of America told LifeNews that Biden has little to campaign on other than promoting more abortions. And it chided him for keeping the details of the event low key to avoid pro-life advocates protesting the event.
“As always, with the Biden-Harris Administration, they will talk a big game of their love for abortion, while keeping event details secret,” said Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins.
“Florida’s importance as a swing state explains in part the get-out-the-vote effort radical abortion extremists are engaging with a ballot initiative that would strip away legal protections for a baby with the universal sign of life – a heartbeat – to open the door to intentional abortion through a pregnancy. With a strong pro-life presence in Florida, SFLAction will rally and feature our brand-new video billboard truck to send Biden a special message,” she said.
“Biden may hide his location from us, but he can’t hide plans for abortion from the young voter generation, and he must answer for the abortion pollution ignored by his FDA’s negligently reduced standards for distributing the deadly drugs,” stated Hawkins. “Nine in 10 Gen Z and Gen Y voters reject the No Test, Online Distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills pushed by the Biden Administration. The youth vote is waking up.”
The post Joe Biden Campaigns in Florida for More Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusPhillip Campbell, author of the blog Unam Sanctam Catholicam, and of a lot of books, is putting together a book project about young people and their love for the traditional Latin Mass. We are glad to share his post about it, and encourage our readers to consider participating.Photo by Allison Girone“I am working on compiling a series of essays from young people on the subject of what the Latin Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: LifeNews
Campaigners are calling on MPs to reject a new amendment tabled by Labour MP, Stella Creasy, to the Criminal Justice Bill that would make extreme changes to abortion laws.
The amendment (NC40) proposes making the biggest changes to abortion laws since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.
The proposed change to the law would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth, by removing key deterrents against performing an abortion at any point right through to birth.
The amendment would remove the possibility of custodial sentences for abortions after 24 weeks and by not suggesting any meaningful alternative sanctions, the amendment would remove a key deterrent against late-term abortions.
The amendment would also require the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) personally to approve prosecutions of women or abortion providers who perform abortions after the legal limit up to birth. This would introduce an extra hurdle before prosecutions can take place, which may deter police investigations, making abortions up to birth more likely. It would also likely lead to unreasonable pressure being placed on the DPP.
These changes to the law would likely lead to a significant increase in the number of women performing late-term abortions at home, endangering the lives of many more women.
They would also likely lead to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.
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Making it easier to cover up infanticides
Stella Creasy’s amendment would remove key deterrents against hiding the body of a dead baby included in Section 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Section 60 makes it an offence to conceal the birth of a child by hiding the dead body of a child after its birth, including in circumstances when the baby has been killed through infanticide. This law change could make it easier to cover up infanticides.
Removing a series of key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act
The amendment would also remove a series of key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act through to 24 weeks.
It proposes making this law change by removing offences for women and doctors committed under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act (ILPA) through to 24 weeks.
As the Abortion Act was passed to create exemptions to sections 58 and 59 of the OAPA and the ILPA, removing such offences committed under sections 58 and 59 of the OAPA and the ILPA would make key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act 1967 redundant through to 24 weeks.
This means abortion would be available on demand, for any reason up to 24 weeks.
If the proposal becomes law, sex-selective abortion would become legal in England and Wales. Sex-selective abortion usually targets baby girls due to a preference among certain parents and some cultures for having sons. The Government maintains that, under our current legislation, abortion on the grounds of the sex of the baby is illegal because it is “not one of the lawful grounds for termination of pregnancy” set out in the Abortion Act, which stipulates that abortion can only be performed under specific grounds.
Under the proposed law change, the Abortion Act and the grounds under which abortion is permitted would effectively be made redundant up to 24 weeks, allowing abortion on demand, for any reason, including sex-selective abortion.
Section 1(3) of the Abortion Act restricts abortion to hospitals or places approved by the Secretary of State. Without this safeguard, there would be no legal restrictions on places where abortions could be performed up to 24 weeks.
The amendment would also result in there being no legal requirement that abortions take place under the care of a qualified doctor. Currently, the Abortion Act requires that an abortion takes place under the care of a registered medical practitioner (qualified doctor) who leads or directs the abortion process.
Under the proposed law change, there would also be no legal requirement that two qualified doctors certify an abortion. Section 1(1) of the Abortion Act requires two registered medical practitioners (doctors) to certify that an abortion is legal and is being performed under one of the grounds set out in the Abortion Act. Without this safeguard, there would be no legal requirement that two doctors certify an abortion up to 24 weeks.
Strong opposition from the public and medical professionals
Polling undertaken by ComRes, shows that only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth and 70% of women would support a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below. The same polling showed that 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law.
Polling published by the Daily Telegraph shows that more than half of the general public agree that it should remain the case that a woman is breaking the law if she has an abortion of a healthy baby after the current 24-week legal time limit up until birth. Only 16% disagreed.
Over 750 medical professionals have now signed an open letter to MPs opposing making extreme changes to abortion legislation part of the Criminal Justice Bill.
A number of high-profile commentators in the media, some of whom take a pro-choice position on abortion, have come out against making extreme changes to abortion legislation, saying the proposals go “too far”.
Major campaign launched to oppose abortion up to birth
Following the tabling of Stella Creasy’s extreme abortion amendment, pro-life organisation Right To Life UK, has launched a major nationwide No To Abortion Up To Birth campaign focused on defeating attempts to hijack the Criminal Justice Bill that would introduce extreme changes to our abortion laws.
Right To Life UK is encouraging members of the public around the country to urgently contact their MP using the tool at www.righttolife.org.uk/uptobirth to ask their MP to oppose the introduction of extreme abortion laws.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said:
“These extreme changes to the law would remove key deterrents against performing an abortion at any point right through to birth. This would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, right up to and during birth”.
“It would likely lead to a tragic increase in the number of viable babies’ lives being ended through late-term abortions performed at home well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit, as well as the lives of many more women being endangered”.
“These extreme and radical abortion amendments have no place in the UK. Recent polling clearly shows that the public does not support these changes to the law. We are calling on MPs to reject these amendments and instead support Caroline Ansell’s amendment to lower the time limit, for which polling shows widespread public support”.
“We are calling on members of the public around the country to urgently contact their MP using the tool at www.righttolife.org.uk/uptobirth to ask them to oppose the introduction of extreme abortion laws”.
The post Pro-Life Groups Ask British Parliament to Defeat Measure Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: southern orders
Cardinal Grech says ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ release won’t affect future synod session
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the ongoing Synod on Synodality, recently expressed his surprise over the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's document “Fiducia Supplicans,” which permits non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples. He disclosed to OSV News that he was uninformed about its release and content until its publication. Cardinal Grech also shared that document has “nothing to do with” the upcoming fall session of the synod.
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Site: LifeNews
Xavier University’s health insurance plan not only appears to cover abortion – it looks like the school specifically added it into the coverage.
But the Catholic Cincinatti university denies its student health insurance plan covers abortion.
A “policy endorsement” on the plan appeared to delete an “exclusion” of abortion.
The plan lists abortion as a “Non-EHB [Essential Health Benefit] benefits added to plan via additional endorsement.” It includes, like other covered benefits, the amount the plan pays for in-network and out-of-network providers.
The following page shows the “policy endorsement” appears to be signed by university President Colleen Hanycz.
“Benefits will be paid at the benefits levels indicated in the schedule of benefits,” the endorsement states.
The Jesuit university’s public relations specialist said “no” when asked if the plan covers abortion. He said “nothing has changed regarding this policy from previous years.” He said there are few enrollees in the plan.
The College Fix asked for clarification since the language appears to indicate abortion is coverage. The Fix said there was possibly confusion on its end due to the double-negatives of deleting exclusions.
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“The confusion regarding the wording is definitely understandable — but again, the answer to your question is, no, elective abortions are not a covered benefit under the policy,” spokesman David Hamilton said in late March.
He did not respond to another inquiry sent two weeks ago that asked why the plan includes deductible amounts for a non-covered benefit.
United Healthcare has not responded to multiple email and phone contacts in the past weeks that sought clarify on what the policy says.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has also not responded to multiple requests for comment on the policy.
The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a serious evil.
“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
Pro-life group American Life League criticized the plan’s apparent endorsement of abortion.
“Catholic teaching is explicitly clear that abortion is never ok…The Catholic Church never allows for any exceptions for abortion,” Director of Communications Katie Brown told The Fix via a media statement. “Abortion is the intentional killing of a child, every single time.”
When asked what the university should do to reconcile this apparent coverage, Brown said “Xavier should swiftly redact this policy. We encourage the Bishops in Ohio to hold the college accountable for promoting this evil.”
She called it “discouraging,” as a Catholic to see the university “make policies that directly contradict our faith.”
“However it’s a great opportunity for our Bishops and Church leaders to remind the laity why abortion is always evil, and what incredible life affirming options exist,” Brown said.
Other Catholic universities cover abortion in their health plans, including St. Xavier University in Chicago and the University of San Diego, as previously reported by The Fix.
LifeNews Note: College Fix contributor William Hurley is a student at Hope College where he studies political science and theology. He is active in many clubs including Hope Republicans, Hope Catholics, and Students Cherishing Life. He has written for the Hope College student newspaper, The Anchor. This column originally appeared at The College Fix.
The post Catholic Xavier University Puts Abortion in Its Health Insurance Plan appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
Donald Trump is an anomalous political figure, a force of nature who is truly one of one.
He doesn’t, to put it mildly, march in lockstep with establishment positions of either the left or the right. In a time of increased political despair, it makes sense that so many Americans gravitate towards him.
As with so many other issues, Trump has the finger on the pulse of everyday Americans when it comes to abortion, more so than the political left or right.
In a recent statement, Trump said that abortion extremists “support abortions up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in later months and even execution after birth . . . is unacceptable and almost everyone agrees with that.”
He’s correct!
A new national McLaughlin/Priests for Life poll proves exactly that.
A clear majority of respondents — 61% — would vote for a political candidate who is pro-life but favors certain exceptions.
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
On the other hand, only 24% of respondents would cast their vote for a candidate who supports abortion with no restrictions whatsoever up to the moment of birth, as well as taxpayer funded abortion.
According to the survey, nearly half of voters (46%) would support a candidate who wants to protect babies as soon as their heartbeat is detected.
Only 27% would support a candidate who is in favor of unrestricted abortions up to the moment of birth.
About three-quarters of voters say they favor abortion — but only with restrictions.
Even a plurality of anti-abortion voters wants to see time limits in place (31% versus 21% who support abortion at any time).
Of Democrats, 40% believe abortion should be banned no later than the first trimester.
Abortion will be a highly significant and charged issue in the upcoming general election. It is the first Presidential election since the historic 2022 Dobbs decision, (Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organizaton, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), which marked a pivotal turn from the era of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
Dobbs returned the issue of abortion back to where it belongs: We the People, rather than an unelected judiciary.
Trump’s recent statement was consonant with the ruling, “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state.”
Though there remains a federal role for abortion policy, most people in our poll prefer it be dealt with at the local level.
The survey demonstrates that there is widespread antipathy not only toward late term abortions, but taxpayer funded abortions, lack of parental notification, abortion on demand, and forcing medical professionals who oppose abortion for moral and religious reasons to support or perform abortions, as well.
That is because, as the survey also makes evident, there is a prodigious culture of life in the United States. There is a deeply rooted, bedrock desire for policies that are life-affirming in the widest sense: ones that are pro-parent, pro-woman, pro-baby, pro-child, pro-family, and pro-community.
This is where Trump gets it right and where others get it wrong.
The majority of survey respondents said it is good when a woman with an unplanned pregnancy decides to keep her baby; 85% support financial, medical, and
emotional assistance for women with unplanned pregnancies and young mothers; 82% support reduced legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care; and 77% support faith-based organizations providing social services to pregnant women and young mothers.
This widespread support of a culture of life — in the broadest sense — is paired with profound dejection about our country’s current political landscape.
The polling found that voters across the political spectrum are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the direction of the United States and its leadership.
A whopping 71% of American voters believe the country is on the wrong track.
Predictably, during a Democratic administration, Republican and pro-life voters feel this way, to the tune of 90% and 80%, respectively.
But what may be surprising is that even 52% of Democrats and 66% of pro-abortion voters feel similarly.
More than three-quarters (77%) of independent, pro-abortion women believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Tapping into a culture of life would go a long way to addressing the existential angst and aimless ennui that too many Americans are experiencing.
The abortion debate is a clash of absolutes and is nowhere close to being resolved.
But a good start may be to realize that nearly two-thirds of Americans are more anti-abortion than the mainstream position of the Democratic Party’s leadership.
It has come to embrace abortion on demand.
Donald Trump, who is in tune with everyday Americans, understands this reality.
He is not only perceptive; he is correct.
Americans want less abortion, not more.
And this election will bring one or the other.
LifeNews.com Note: Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.
The post Americans Want Less Abortions Not More appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Crisis Magazine
Catholics Answers just announced the release of the “Father Justin” interactive AI app, which will “provide users with faithful and educational answers to questions about Catholicism.” I have to admit, I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this. As a former tech geek, I still get excited by advances in technology. On just that basis, it’s amazing what these apps can do. I took “Father…
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Site: PeakProsperityThere is not one single historical example of collectivist/communist/authoritarian states that didn’t end up with mass atrocities, reduced prosperity and generally awful living conditions for the masses. We're on that road again...
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Site: LifeNews
Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, two consolidated cases questioning whether the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) supersedes Idaho’s near-total abortion ban and can force physicians to perform abortions in emergency situations.
Idaho’s “Defense of Life Act” was enacted in 2020 and took effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The law makes it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion unless it’s necessary to save the life of the mother. Soon after Roe’s overturning, the Biden administration sued the State of Idaho arguing EMTALA trumps the state’s abortion law and requires doctors to perform abortions under a broader set of exceptions than just to preserve the life of the mother. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill agreed and prevented Idaho from enforcing the law where it conflicted with EMTALA. A three-judge panel at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals briefly overturned that decision stating even if EMTALA does preempt Idaho’s law, its exemption for the life of the mother was sufficient to keep the laws out of conflict. However, the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and quickly reversed that ruling forcing the State and Idaho Speaker of the House Mike Moyle to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
In January 2024, the High Court agreed to hear the case and granted Idaho’s emergency request to enforce the ban in hospital emergency rooms while it decides the issue, which temporarily denies a Biden administration effort to force hospitals to perform abortions in the state.
Under EMTALA, Medicare-funded hospitals are required to provide necessary emergency care to pregnant women without discrimination, including if they cannot pay for the treatment. Even though the scope of EMTALA only deals with discrimination and does not even mention abortion, Secretary Xavier Becerra of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has interpreted the law differently. He issued policy guidance in July 2022 to hospitals stating that EMTALA preempts state abortion laws and requires hospitals receiving Medicare funding to perform emergency abortions.
The guidance set forth an interpretation that state abortion laws with more narrow exceptions than EMTALA are “preempted,” and that physicians “must” perform an abortion if they feel abortion is “the stabilizing treatment necessary” to resolve an emergency medical condition. Under the guidance, hospitals could lose federal funding for failing to comply.
While the Biden administration argues that the HHS “guidance” is just clarifying existing federal law, the Idaho legislature and state officials called the disputed HHS guidance an “unauthorized power grab” and stated it would have been “odd” for Congress to negate “state abortion laws” in a provision that “does not even mention abortion.”
Now that SCOTUS has allowed Idaho’s protections for unborn babies to remain in effect for the time being, doctors who perform abortions are subject to penalties ranging from two to five years in jail, fines, and suspension or revocation of their medical licenses.
The outcome of this case will likely affect a nearly identical dispute in Texas. In January 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Biden administration cannot use EMTALA to override Texas’ near-total abortion ban and force Texas doctors to perform abortions. In Texas v. Becerra, a three-judge appeals court panel called the guidance “unlawful” and unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that struck down the guidance.
Authoring the ruling, Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt determined that EMTALA does not discard the unborn child during a life-threatening medical emergency, and he noted that the law requires hospitals to “stabilize both the pregnant woman and her unborn child.”
“The question before the Court is whether EMTALA, according to HHS’s Guidance, mandates physicians to provide abortions when that is the necessary stabilizing treatment for an emergency medical condition. It does not,” wrote Judge Engelhardt. “EMTALA does not mandate medical treatments, let alone abortion care, nor does it preempt [state] law.”
Dr. William Lile, who is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and who has delivered thousands of babies, told Liberty Counsel that the goal in treating a pregnant woman is always to preserve the lives of both the mother and her unborn baby when possible.
Dr. Lile stated, “It’s the delivery of the baby that cures the mother’s condition, it’s not the stoppage of baby’s heart and the killing of the baby that helps the mother.”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act does not preempt state abortion laws, nor does it require the killing of an innocent life. Emergency rooms are only required to stabilize patients, which includes the unborn patient. This so-called ‘guidance’ by the Secretary of Health and Human Services is another lawless act of the Biden administration that will be struck down.”
The post Supreme Court Should Shut Down Joe Biden’s Attempt to Force ERs to Do Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: AsiaNews.itAccording to a survey by Save the Children, 250,000 children are not in school. About 99 per cent of repatriated families face a food crisis, 40 per cent have had to borrow money, one in six lives in tents. Many were born across the border, and Afghanistan "is not the place they call home.'
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Site: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network
Recently, a colleague sent me a new report published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, which is the professional journal of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. The report is a retrospective cohort study on all assisted reproductive technology cycles reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology via their Clinic Outcome Reporting Systems. Data was gathered on embryo transfers done to U.S. gestational surrogates from 2014 to 2020 and compared surrogacy between surrogates and commissioning parents in both domestic and international arrangements.
First, it struck me as strange, that the report referred to the patients who were in fact the intended parents. Seems to me the surrogate mother and by extension, the baby(s) she carried would be the patient. But this is just another example of diminishing the mother-child dyad and centering the moneyed interests as the focus of the report.
The actual results were striking too, in reporting not only the rise in international purchasing parents using American women, but also who these people are who are hiring American women.Of 40,177 embryos transferred during 2014 to 2020, 32% of these arrangements were foreign contracts. In 2014, the figure was 22%. In 2019, it was 39.8%. And then in 2020, the figure decreased to 31.8%, which was probably due, in part, to the Covid travel bans. The profile of the international intended parent(s):
- More likely to be a male (41.3%)
Largely from China (41.7%) then France (9.2%) and Spain (8.5%) - U.S. gestational carriers for international arrangements were younger than 30 years (42.8%)
- Cycles for international arrangements more often used donor eggs (67.1%)
- More often used introcytoplasmic sperm injection (67.1%)
- Preimplantation genetic testing used (79.0%)
As many countries prohibit surrogacy, these restrictive (and good) laws only encourage the explosion in Big Fertility here in the U.S. I can see all sorts of ethical and legal risks in the role the U.S. plays in the international reproductive tourism landscape. First, it should be a red flag that many of these arrangements are with single men. My pedophile, baby trafficking radar is on high alert. Second, the high percentage of Chinese nationals hiring women to buy a baby that has the bonus of U.S. citizenship, what is commonly referred to as “anchor babies.” As we fight for the abolition of the baby trade, we would do well, to close our borders to these international nefarious arrangements that exploit women at home. What a big dent we could make in the multi-billion-dollar baby markets if we just closed our borders. Seems like something our State Department should investigate.
The post The Rise of International Gestational Surrogacy in the U.S. appeared first on The Center for Bioethics & Culture Network.
- More likely to be a male (41.3%)
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Site: AsiaNews.itThai Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin, who cancelled a visit to the border town, announced the creation of an ad hoc committee to manage the situation. Over the weekend, more Myanmar refugees continue to pour in their thousands across the border as fighting raged in the area. To avoid another humiliating defeat, Myanmar's military intensified aerial bombing.
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Site: Mises Institute
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Site: LifeNews
A pro-life woman who is running a campaign for the Democrat nomination for president for the express purpose of airing graphic abortion ads is set to launch ads shortly.
Tomorrow, the Terrisa Bukovinac for President Campaign announced it will begin airing explicit anti-abortion ads in the New York City market-the largest media market in the world reaching more than 7 million people. Bukovinac is on the ballot in New Jersey for the Democratic Primary as President Joe Biden’s only challenger.
The advertisement will air during The Today Show on NBC in NYC.
Last year, Bukovinac ran ads in the Boston and New Hampshire markets. The ads ran during Jimmy Fallon’s show on NBC in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where she was on the ballot for the Democratic primary
The 30-second TV ad shows in gruesome detail the gut-wrenching remains of five babies killed by later abortion, featuring footage captured by Bukovinac when she recovered the remains last year outside an all term abortion business in Washington DC. This effort is part of the campaign’s strategy to engage voters on the atrocity of later abortion during the 2024 presidential election by embracing the power of visual storytelling to expose the brutality of abortion. The ad condemns the Biden administration and the Democratic party’s extreme, out-of-touch abortion platform, which stands at odds with 30% of Democrats.
Here is the commercial. WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.
Although this strategy has generated controversy, the Bukovinac Campaign remains steadfast in exposing the violence of abortion.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
Bukovinac stated that her aim with this advertisement is to “disrupt the consciences of the American people, particularly leftists who are complicit in abortion by supporting pro-abortion candidates.”
Bukovinac also states: “pretending like millions of pro-life Democrats like myself don’t exist isn’t a winning strategy. The right to life must be protected at every age, everywhere, and that is why I am on the ballot as a presidential candidate—to be a voice for the innocent and oppressed and rekindle the debate inside the Democratic Party. ”
FCC regulations stipulate that news stations “have no power of censorship over the material” in campaign ads. The campaign aims to communicate the gravity and urgency of the abortion issue to American voters through impactful visuals. As the 2023 presidential race intensifies, the Bukovinac Campaign remains dedicated to educating voters about the violence associated with abortion.
The post Pro-Life Candidate Will Run Graphic Ads on Television Exposing Horror of Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: non veni pacem
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Site: Zero HedgeIsrael Prepares Rafah Evacuation With Help From US, Egypt - New Tent City ErectedTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 11:50
The Israeli army is closing in on completing its plans for an assault on the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday.
WSJ cites Egyptian officials as saying that Israel’s plan to evacuate civilians from the city will take two to three weeks and will be carried out in cooperation with Washington, Cairo, and other Arab states, including the UAE.
Image: AFP
The officials say Israel is planning on gradual deployments of troops to Rafah. The troops will concentrate on specific areas where Tel Aviv believes Hamas leaders are holed up.
The entire operation – including the evacuations – is expected to take at least six weeks, according to WSJ. The attack on Rafah will have a "very tight operational plan because it’s very complex there," an Israeli security official told the outlet. "There’s a humanitarian response that’s happening at the same time."
Israel’s evacuation plan involves moving Rafah’s civilian population upwards towards the southern city of Khan Yunis, as well as other areas of the strip, the report states, adding that shelters with tents, food supplies, and medical facilities will be set up.
Egypt has been briefed on the details of the plan. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported last week, citing Egyptian sources, that Egyptian forces and agencies are "at full readiness" in northern Sinai and along the Egyptian border with Gaza. The increased readiness came after "contacts from the Israeli side" relating to preparations for the operation in the southern city.
The Al-Araby Al-Jadeed report adds that the Egyptian Red Crescent has been readying camps in Khan Yunis over the past few months in preparation for the displacement of Palestinians from Rafah. Satellite images obtained by AP this week reportedly show a new tent compound near Khan Yunis.
In February, it was reported that Egypt built a security zone in the Sinai near the border with Rafah. Many speculated at the time that the security zone would aid Israeli plans to push Rafah’s population into the Sinai desert. Egypt's State Information Service said on February 17 that the zone is a logistics hub on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border, which will be used to deliver aid into Gaza.
Israeli army radio reported on Monday that Tel Aviv is now expanding a designated "humanitarian zone" that will "accommodate around one million people." It said field hospitals have also been set up in the area. Army radio added that the zone will extend from Al-Mawasi on Gaza’s southern coast towards Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive on the city of Rafah.https://t.co/5bkOW5ShyF
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) April 23, 2024Israel believes Rafah is Hamas’ final stronghold and is dead set on attacking the city. Washington has repeatedly said it would not accept an operation there without a plan to properly and safely evacuate civilians and move them out of harm's way.
The UN and several countries have warned that attacking Rafah would have catastrophic consequences and that there is no safe way to evacuate the desperately overcrowded city.
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Site: Zero Hedge"Let Me Go Home, Okay?": Mistrial Declared For Arizona Rancher Accused Of Killing Illegal Immigrant On His PropertyTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 11:30
A mistrial was declared in the case of an Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting an illegal immigrant on his property near the US-Mexico border, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision following two full days of deliberation.
George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023 shooting of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who was in the United States illegally.
"Based upon the jury's inability to reach a verdict on any count," said Arizona Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink, adding "This case is in mistrial."
According to one of Kelly's defense attorneys, Kathy Lowthorp, just one juror was voting 'guilty,' which is why their legal team pushed for deliberations to continue.
"There was one hold out for guilt, the rest were not guilty. So seven not guilty, one guilty," said Lowthorp. "We believe in our gut that there was no way the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt."
George Alan Kelly’s defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp says the mistrial was caused by one holdout juror who believed Kelly to be guilty. She says the other 7 wanted to vote for acquittal. pic.twitter.com/BvS88AupcX
— Adam Klepp (@AdamKleppAZ) April 23, 2024The Santa Cruz County Attorney's office can still retry Kelly for any charge, or drop the case.
Prosecutors accused Kelly of recklessly firing nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men who were trespassing on his cattle ranch after running from Border Patrol agents, roughly 115 yeards away. He was also accused of providing inconsistent statements throughout the investigation - initially failing to tell officials that he had fired his weapon, and then allegedly claiming that the illegal immigrants were part of a group of 10-15 people armed with AR-style rifles - and that he'd heard gunshots.
Kelly's attorney said that he had fired "warning shots."
"He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death," she said at the time. "All the shooting that Mr. Kelly did on the date of the incident was in self-defense and justified.
After Monday's ruling, Consul General Marcos Moreno Baez of the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona, said he would wait with Cuen-Buitimea's two adult daughters on Monday evening to meet with prosecutors from Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office to learn about the implications of a mistrial.
"Mexico will continue to follow the case and continue to accompany the family, which wants justice." said Moreno. "We hope for a very fair outcome."
Kelly's defense attorney Brenna Larkin did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after the ruling was issued. Larkin had asked Fink to have jurors keep deliberating another day. -CBS News
Following the mistrial, Kelly said: "Let me go home, okay? That alright with y’all? It is what it is and it will be what it will be. I will keep fighting forever. I won’t stop."
“Let me go home,” George Alan Kelly speaks after the mistrial was declared. The Mexican Consulate said they hope the state will re-try the case and justice will be served. pic.twitter.com/IDYpaM806C
— Adam Klepp (@AdamKleppAZ) April 23, 2024 -
Site: AsiaNews.itThe Botika sa Kapilya (Chapel Pharmacy) programme provides drugs and medical consultations to poor people in the region, thanks to the Jesuit missionary, with the help of Catholic health workers, who are also catechists. About 102 people have benefitted from the initiative that reaches out to people struggling with hunger and the effects of El Niño.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionAlex SchadenbergExecutive Director,Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Professor David JonesGeorgia Edkins, the Scottish Political Editor for the Daily Mail reported on April 20, 2024 that 16 year-olds with Anorexia could be approved for assisted suicide under Scotland's assisted dying bill. Edkins reports:
Teenagers with anorexia could apply for state-backed ‘suicide’ under ‘extremely dubious’ laws proposed in Scotland, experts warned last night.
Newly published Holyrood legislation would allow NHS patients to request prescriptions for a life-ending cocktail of drugs that induce a coma, shut down the lungs and eventually stop the heart.Edkins reporting on comments by ethicist David Jones writes:
David Jones, professor of bioethics at St Mary’s University in London and director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, said: ‘It is extremely, extremely dubious.
We’re talking about “assisted dying” as a euphemism, and it’s always assisted suicide.
‘Suicide is something that we should try to seek to prevent and provide alternatives to, whether it’s for an old person or a young person, whether they have progressive disease or disability.’
‘Terminal in the Scottish Bill is defined as someone having a progressive incurable disease from which you could die. It could cover anorexia.Jones also warned that the assisted suicide bill that is sponsored by Liam McArthur would:- Let people as young as 16 die before their lives had properly begun;
- Not require someone to be close to death to be eligible for ‘assisted dying’;
- Not make a psychiatric assessment mandatory ahead of the life-ending procedure.
It is called the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, so that proclaims itself as being restricted to people who are terminally ill, but it defines people that are terminally ill only as people who have a progressive incurable disease, which is at an advanced stage. It doesn’t mean that you’re dying.’
Jones referenced the fact that in Scotland, a person is deemed an adult at 16, whereas in Oregon the age is 18. Based on the definition of terminal illness in the bill, someone with Anorexia could be approved for assisted suicide at the age of 16. Jones states:
‘There have been cases of people with anorexia having assisted dying in Oregon.’Edkins ends her article by stating:
Perhaps most troubling is Professor Jones’ suggestion that the embattled NHS in Scotland could resort to suggesting death as a viable replacement for treatment.
He said: ‘What you’re starting to see in Canada is that doctors will suggest to patients, “Have you thought of assisted dying”, including people who, for example, have had difficulty getting support for social services to live at home.
‘There’s nothing in the Scottish legislation that prevents that.’ -
Site: LifeNews
Every member of the Idaho Congressional delegation has released a joint statement urging the Supreme Court to stop Joe Biden from forcing Idaho to turn its ERs into abortion centers.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the case to stop Biden.
As LifeNews.com reported previously, the Supreme Court ruled in January that Joe Biden can’t force Idaho to turn its emergency rooms into abortion centers. The nation’s highest court ruled that Joe Biden can’t exploit a federal law to try to weaken Idaho’s abortion ban by allowing emergency room doctors to do abortions.
But that decision was a temporary victory and Idaho officials are fighting in court to win the entire case, Idaho v United States. This is the first case to be heard by the Supreme Court directly relating to the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Below are quotes from Idaho’s congressional delegation asking the nation’s highest court to stop Biden’s radical abortion agenda.
“The Biden Administration’s attempt to preempt Idaho’s pro-life laws with a false interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTLA) would set a precedence that is harmful to America’s women and children. EMTLA was deliberately created to protect women and children in active labor. Every American has the fundamental right to life, including the unborn, and Idaho has strong laws in place to ensure innocent lives are protected. I have faith our justice system will stop this blatant use of federal overreach and put an end to Biden’s harmful abortion agenda.” — Senator Crapo
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“Idahoans have passed a strong law to protect the lives of mothers and the unborn, yet the Biden administration is seeking every opportunity to expand abortion. This administration cherry-picked pieces of existing statute and wrongfully reinterpreted it to fit their agenda. Their manipulation of federal law cannot usurp state law, and there is no federal right to an abortion. I submitted an amicus brief that demonstrates how the administration’s substantial federal overreach is aimed at undermining pro-life protections not only in Idaho but around the nation. I hope the Court stands with us in our fight to protect Idaho’s law and life itself.” — Senator Risch
“The Biden administration’s overreaching efforts to expand abortion nationwide is an attempt to take power away from the American people. The Supreme Court rightfully ruled that states have the right to protect life, yet this administration continues to undermine that decision. I strongly support the right of all states to protect the unborn, and I reaffirm this priority by joining this amicus brief.” — Congressman Simpson
“The Biden Administration’s attempt to preempt Idaho’s pro-life laws with a false interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTLA) would set a precedence that is harmful to America’s women and children. EMTLA was deliberately created to protect women and children in active labor. Every American has the fundamental right to life, including the unborn, and Idaho has strong laws in place to ensure innocent lives are protected. I have faith our justice system will stop this blatant use of federal overreach and put an end to Biden’s harmful abortion agenda.” — Congressman Fulcher
Last year, the Justice Department filed suit Aug. 2 against the state of Idaho, hoping to undermine its new law prohibiting most abortions by claiming that the state law conflicts with EMTALA and medical treatment for pregnant women in emergency rooms.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit that challenges Idaho’s protective law — arguing that it would prevent supposedly medically necessary abortions. Despite false reports that abortion bans would prevent doctors from treating pregnant women for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, pro-life doctors confirm that is not the case. Some 35 states have laws making it clear that miscarriage is not abortion and every state with an abortion ban allows treatment for both.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill found that Idaho’s law conflicts with the federal law because it bans abortions in nearly all circumstances. But the state argued the any emergency abortion is allowed under its abortion ban on elective abortions.
The nation’s highest court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday.
Brandi Swindell, Founder and CEO of Stanton Healthcare, which provides medical care and provides support for pregnant women in need, told LifeNews that the Supreme Court should side with her state.
“It is deeply troubling to see President Biden ignore and disrespect the voices of Idaho’s women as he attempts to advance a radical abortion agenda through federal regulations,” she said. “The Dobbs decision made it clear there is no federal or constitutional right to abortion. Our hope and prayer is the Supreme Court will respect the rights of Idaho’s voters and not allow our emergency rooms to be turned into abortion clinics by the federal government.”
The case involves the Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to use a law that ensures indigent patients receive emergency room care to force doctors to perform abortions that are illegal under Idaho law.
Idaho’s pro-life law imposes penalties on physicians who perform prohibited abortions unless doing so is necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman or other exceptions apply. The federal government claims—and the lower court ruled—that EMTALA requires abortions in violation of this law if an emergency room doctor thinks it is appropriate.
“Hospitals—especially emergency rooms—are centers for preserving life. The government has no business transforming them into abortion clinics,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the Center for Life and regulatory practice. “Emergency room physicians can, and do, treat ectopic pregnancies and other life-threatening conditions. But elective abortion is not life-saving care—it ends the life of the unborn child—and the government has no authority to override Idaho’s law barring these procedures. We urge the Supreme Court to halt the lower court’s injunction and allow Idaho emergency rooms to fulfill their primary function—saving lives.”
After the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion to the states in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the federal government sued the state of Idaho, claiming that EMTALA, an ancillary provision of the Medicare statute, preempts Idaho’s pro-life law. But as explained in the emergency application, “EMTALA is silent on abortion and actually requires stabilizing treatment for the unborn children of pregnant women.”
“The United States’ position conflicts with the universal agreement of federal courts of appeal that EMTALA does not dictate a federal standard of care or displace state medical standards. The district court accepted the United States’ revisionist, post-Dobbs reading of EMTALA and enjoined Idaho’s Defense of Life Act in emergency rooms. The district court’s injunction effectively turns EMTALA’s protection for the uninsured into a federal super-statute on the issue of abortion, one that strips Idaho of its sovereign interest in protecting innocent, human life and turns emergency rooms into a federal enclave where state standards of care do not apply,” Hawley notes.
Idaho’s abortion ban permits a physician who does an abortion to raise the affirmative defense that the abortion was necessary to save the mother’s life or that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest that was reported. In both cases, the physician must choose a procedure that is most likely to save the life of the baby and protect the mother. The law explicitly excludes contraception from the definition of abortion, and women upon whom abortions are performed may not be prosecuted.
The pro-life laws in Idaho and other states include clearly defined exceptions that allow abortions in the cases when a mother’s life is at risk. Because the pro-life movement cares about the lives of both mother and child and there are rare cases in which only the mother’s life can be saved, it supports such exceptions.
But these exceptions mean the Biden administration’s guidance is unnecessary. Undermining Idaho’s life-saving efforts and expanding abortions appear to be the administration’s real goal.
The post Pro-Life Congressmen Ask Supreme Court to Stop Biden Form Turning ERs Into Abortion Centers appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has denounced the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for violating religious freedom and forcing all employers to provide accommodations for employees to have an abortion.
CatholicVote previously reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a new rule on April 15 that requires employers “to provide reasonable accommodations,” such as leave time, to employees if they wish to have an abortion. The rule falls under the implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).
Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, said in a news release that “No employer should be forced to participate in an employee’s decision to end the life of their child.”
REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.
“The bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as written, is a pro-life law that protects the security and physical health of pregnant mothers and their preborn children,” he added. “It is indefensible for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to twist the law in a way that violates the consciences of pro-life employers by making them facilitate abortions.”
CatholicVote reported in August 2023 that in addition to being supported by pro-life organizations, the PWFA was approved by pro-abortion groups, as the language left room for facilitating abortion access.
“The original act required employers to reasonably accommodate a worker’s pregnancy, childbirth, and ‘related medical conditions,’ but left the interpretation of those terms to the Biden administration’s EEOC, the federal agency responsible for regulating workplace discrimination laws,” CatholicVote reported at the time.
LifeNews Note: Hannah Hiester writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Catholic Bishops Slam Biden for Trying to Force Christian Employers to Fund Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeUS PMIs Scream Stagflation As Manufacturing 'Contracts', Prices Rise, Heaviest Job Cuts Since GFCTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 10:08
After a mixed bag from preliminary April European PMIs (Services strong-er, Manufacturing weaker-er, surging prices)...
“Accelerated increases in input costs, likely driven not only by higher oil prices but also, more concerningly, by higher wages, are a cause for scrutiny Concurrently service-sector companies have raised their prices at a faster rate than in March, fueling expectations that services inflation will persist. ”
and after March US PMIs exposed the end of the disinflation narrative...
"Most notable was an especially steep rise in prices charged for consumer goods, which rose at a pace not seen for 16 months, underscoring the likely bumpy path in bringing inflation down to the Fed's 2% target. ”
...S&P Global's preliminary US f°r April just dropped and they were ugly with both Manufacturing and Services disappointingly dropping further as the former dropped back into contraction:
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• Flash US Services Business Activity Index at 50.9 (Exp: 52.0; March: 51.7) - 5-month low.
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• Flash US Manufacturing PMI at 49.9 (Exp 52.0; March: 51.9) - 4-month low.
Source: Bloomberg
Commenting on the data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said:
“The US economic upturn lost momentum at the start of the second quarter, with the flash PMI survey respondents reporting below-trend business activity growth in April. Further pace may be lost in the coming months, as April saw inflows of new business fall for the first time in six months and firms’ future output expectations slipped to a five-month low amid heightened concern about the outlook.
“The more challenging business environment prompted companies to cut payroll numbers at a rate not seen since the global financial crisis if the early pandemic lockdown months are excluded.
After March showed accelerating prices, flash April data confirmed the trend
“Notably, the drivers of inflation have changed.
"Manufacturing has now registered the steeper rate of price increases in three of the past four months, with factory cost pressures intensifying in April amid higher raw material and fuel prices, contrasting with the wagerelated services-led price pressures seen throughout much of 2023.”
So slower growth and much faster inflation - that does not sound like a recipe for rate-cuts... in fact quite the opposite.
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Site: Zero HedgeUS PMIs Scream Stagflation As Manufacturing 'Contracts', Prices Rise, Heaviest Job Cuts Since GFCTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 10:08
After a mixed bag from preliminary April European PMIs (Services strong-er, Manufacturing weaker-er, surging prices)...
“Accelerated increases in input costs, likely driven not only by higher oil prices but also, more concerningly, by higher wages, are a cause for scrutiny Concurrently service-sector companies have raised their prices at a faster rate than in March, fueling expectations that services inflation will persist. ”
and after March US PMIs exposed the end of the disinflation narrative...
"Most notable was an especially steep rise in prices charged for consumer goods, which rose at a pace not seen for 16 months, underscoring the likely bumpy path in bringing inflation down to the Fed's 2% target. ”
...S&P Global's preliminary US f°r April just dropped and they were ugly with both Manufacturing and Services disappointingly dropping further as the former dropped back into contraction:
-
• Flash US Services Business Activity Index at 50.9 (Exp: 52.0; March: 51.7) - 5-month low.
-
• Flash US Manufacturing PMI at 49.9 (Exp 52.0; March: 51.9) - 4-month low.
Source: Bloomberg
Commenting on the data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said:
“The US economic upturn lost momentum at the start of the second quarter, with the flash PMI survey respondents reporting below-trend business activity growth in April. Further pace may be lost in the coming months, as April saw inflows of new business fall for the first time in six months and firms’ future output expectations slipped to a five-month low amid heightened concern about the outlook.
“The more challenging business environment prompted companies to cut payroll numbers at a rate not seen since the global financial crisis if the early pandemic lockdown months are excluded.
After March showed accelerating prices, flash April data confirmed the trend
“Notably, the drivers of inflation have changed.
"Manufacturing has now registered the steeper rate of price increases in three of the past four months, with factory cost pressures intensifying in April amid higher raw material and fuel prices, contrasting with the wagerelated services-led price pressures seen throughout much of 2023.”
So slower growth and much faster inflation - that does not sound like a recipe for rate-cuts... in fact quite the opposite.
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Site: Mises InstituteRobert Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia turns fifty this year, and this libertarian classic has stood the test of time.
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Site: Steyn OnlineWhen upscale white trustiefundies go hardcore...
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Site: Steyn OnlineProgramming note: Tomorrow, Wednesday, I'll be presenting another Clubland Q&A taking questions from Steyn Club members live around the planet. But please take notice that, for various logistical reasons, we're an hour earlier than usual: 2pm North
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
(This paper is the basis of a talk to be given at the 25th Yasin (April) International Academic Event on Economic and Social Development, HSE University, Moscow, April 2024)
In the summer following Israel’s 2006 (unsuccessful) war on Hizbullah, Dick Cheney sat in his office loudly bemoaning Hizbullah’s continuing strength; and worse still, that it seemed to him that Iran had been the primary beneficiary from the US 2003 Iraq war.
Cheney’s guest – the then Saudi Intelligence Chief, Prince Bandar – vigorously concurred (as chronicled by John Hannah, who participated in the meeting) and, to general surprise, Prince Bandar proclaimed that Iran yet could be cut to size: Syria was the “weak” link between Iran and Hizbullah that could be collapsed via an Islamist insurgency, Bandar proposed. Cheney’s initial scepticism turned to elation as Bandar said that US involvement would be unnecessary: He, Prince Bandar, would orchestrate and manage the project. “Leave it to me,” he said.
Bandar separately told John Hannah: “The King knows that other than the collapse of the Islamic Republic itself, nothing would weaken Iran more than losing Syria.”
Thus began a new phase of attrition on Iran. The regional balance of power was to be decisively shifted towards Sunni Islam – and the region’s monarchies.
That old balance from the Shah’s time in which Persia enjoyed regional primacy was to be ended: conclusively, the US, Israel and the Saudi King hoped.
Iran – already badly bruised by the “imposed” Iran-Iraq war – resolved never again to be so vulnerable. Iran aimed to find a path to strategic deterrence in the context of a region dominated by the overwhelming air dominance enjoyed by its adversaries.
What occurred this Saturday 14 April – some 18 years later – therefore was of utmost importance.
Despite the bruhaha and distraction following Iran’s attack, Israel and the US know the truth: Iran’s missiles were able to penetrate directly into Israel’s two most sensitive and highly defended air bases and sites. Behind the whooping western rhetoric lies Israeli shock and fear. Their bases are no longer “untouchable.”
Israel also knows – but cannot admit – that the so-called “assault” was no assault but an Iranian message to assert the new strategic equation: That any Israeli attack on Iran or its personnel will result in retribution from Iran into Israel.
This act of setting the new “balance of power equation” unites the diverse Fronts against the US’ “connivance with Israeli actions in the Middle East, that are at the core of Washington’s policy – and in many ways the root-cause of new tragedies” – in the words of Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov.
The equation represents a key “Front” – together with Russia’s war against NATO in Ukraine – for persuading the West that its exceptionalist and redemptive myth has proved to be a fatal conceit; that it must be discarded; and that deep cultural change in the West needs to happen.
The roots to this wider cultural conflict are deep – but finally have been made explicit.
Prince Bandar’s post-2006 playing of the Sunni “card” was a flop (in no small part thanks to Russia’s intervention in Syria). AndIran, has come in from the cold and is firmly anchored as a primary regional power. It is the strategic partner to Russia and China. And Gulf States today have switched focus instead to money, “business” and Tech, rather than Salafist jurisprudence.
Syria, then targeted by the West and ostracised, has not only survived all that the West could “throw at it” but has been warmly embraced by the Arab League and rehabilitated. And Syria is now slowly finding its way to being itself again.
Yet even during the Syrian crisis, unforeseen dynamics to Prince Bandar’s playing of Islamist identity versus Arab socialist secular identity were playing out:
I wrote then in 2012:
“Over recent years we have heard the Israelis emphasise their demand for recognition of a specifically Jewish nation-state, rather than for an Israeli State, per se”;
– a state that would enshrine Jewish political, legal, and military exceptional rights.
“[At that time] … Muslim nations [were] seeking the “undoing” of the last remnants of the colonial era. Will we see the struggle increasingly epitomised as a primordial struggle between Jewish and Islamic religious symbols – between al-Aqsa and the Temple Mount?”
To be plain, what was apparent even then – in 2012 – was “that both Israel and its surrounding terrain are marching in step toward language which takes them far away from the underlying, largely secular concepts by which this conflict traditionally has been conceptualised. What [would] be the consequence – as the conflict, by its own logic, becomes a clash of religious poles?”
If, twelve years ago, the protagonists were explicitly moving away from the underlying secular concepts by which the West conceptualised the conflict, we, by contrast, are still trying to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of secular, rationalist concepts – even as Israel quite evidently is seized by an increasingly Apocalyptic frenzy.
And by extension, we are stuck in trying to address the conflict through our habitual utilitarian, rationalist policy tool-set. And we wonder why it is not working. It is not working because all parties have moved beyond mechanical rationalism to a different plane.
The Conflict Becomes Eschatalogical
Last year’s election in Israel saw a revolutionary change: The Mizrahim walked into the Prime Minister’s office. These Jews coming from the Arab and North African sphere – now possibly the majority – and, with their political allies on the right, embraced a radical agenda: To complete the founding of Israel on the Land of Israel (i.e. no Palestinian State); to build the Third Temple (in place of Al-Aqsa); and to institute Halachic Law (in place of secular law).
None of this is what might be termed “secular” or liberal. It was intended as the revolutionary overthrow of the Ashkenazi élite. It was Begin who tied the Mizrahi firstly to the Irgun and then to Likud. The Mizrahim now in power have a vision of themselves as the true representatives of Judaism, with the Old Testament as their blueprint. And condescend to the European Ashkenazi liberals.
If we think we can put Biblical myths and injunctions behind us in our secular age – where much of contemporary western thinking makes a point of ignoring such dimensions, dismissing them as either confused, or irrelevant – we would be mistaken.
As one commentator writes:
At every turn, political figures in Israel now soak their proclamations in Biblical reference and allegory. The foremost of which [is] Netanyahu … You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible, and we do remember – and we are fighting…’Here [Netanyahu] not only invokes the prophecy of Isaiah, but frames the conflict as that of “light” versus “darkness’ and good versus evil, painting the Palestinians as the Children of Darkness to be vanquished by the Chosen Ones: The Lord ordered King Saul to destroy the enemy and all his people: ‘Now go and defeat Amalek and destroy all that he has; and give him no mercy; but put to death both husband and wife; from youth to infant; from ox to sheep; from camel to donkey’ (15:3).
We might term this “hot eschatology” – a mode that is running wild amongst the young Israeli military cadres, to the point that the Israeli high command is losing control on the ground (lacking any mid-layer NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) class).
On the other hand –
The uprising launched from Gaza is not called Al-Aqsa Flood for nothing. Al-Aqsa is both a symbol of a storied Islamic civlisation, and it is also the bulwark against the building of the Third Temple, for which preparations are underway. The point here is that Al-Aqsa represents Islam in aggregate — neither Shi’i, nor Sunni, nor ideological Islam.
Then, at another level, we have, as it were, “dispassionate eschatology”: When Yahyah Sinwar writes of “Victory or Martyrdom”for his people in Gaza; when Hizbullah speaks of sacrifice; and when the Iranian Supreme Leader speaks of Hussain bin Ali (the grandson of the Prophet) and some 70 companions in 680 CE, standing before inexorable slaughter against an 1,000 strong army, in the name of Justice, these sentiments simply are beyond the reach of western Utilitarian comprehension.
We cannot easily rationalise the latter “way of being” in western modes of thought. However, as Hubert Védrine, France’s former Foreign Minister, observes – though titularly secular – the West nonetheless is “consumed by the spirit of proselytism.” That Saint Paul’s “go and evangelize all nations” has become “go and spread human rights to all the world”… And that this proselytism is extremely deep in [western DNA]: “Even the very least religious, totally atheists, they still have this in mind, [even though] they don’t know where it comes from.”
We might term this secular eschatology, as it were. It is certainly consequential.
A Military Revolution: We’re Ready Now
Iran, through all the West’s attrition, has pursued its astute strategy of “strategic patience” – keeping conflicts away from its borders. A strategy that focused heavily on diplomacy and trade; and soft power to engage positively with near and far neighbors alike.
Behind this quietist front of stage, however, lay the evolution to “active deterrence” which required long military preparation and the nurturing of allies.
Our understanding of the world became antiquated
Just occasionally, very occasionally, a military revolution can upend the prevailing strategic paradigm. This was Qasem Suleimani’s key insight. This is what “active deterrence” implies. The switch to a strategy that could upend prevailing paradigms.
Both Israel and the US have armies that are conventionally far more powerful than their adversaries which are mostly composed of small non-state rebels or revolutionaries. The latter are treated more as mutineers within the traditionalist colonial framing, and for whom a whiff of firepower generally is considered sufficient.
The West, however, has not fully assimilated the military revolutions now underway. There has been a radical shift in the balance of power between low-tech improvisation and expensive complex (and less robust) weapons platforms.
The Additional Ingredients
What makes Iran’s new military approach truly transformative have been two additional factors: One was the appearance of an outstanding military strategist (now assassinated); and secondly, his ability to mix and apply these new tools in a wholly novel matrix. The fusion of these two factors – together with low-tech drones and cruise missiles – completed the revolution.
The philosophy driving this military strategy is clear: the West is over-invested in air dominance and in its carpet fire power. It prioritises “shock and awe” thrusts, but quickly exhausts itself early in the encounter. This rarely can be sustained for long. The Resistance aim is to exhaust the enemy.
The second key principle driving this new military approach concerns the careful calibration of the intensity of conflict, upping and lowering the flames as appropriate; and, at the same time, keeping escalatory dominance within the Resistance’s control.
In Lebanon, in 2006, Hizbullah remained deep underground whilst the Israeli air assault swept across overhead. The physical surface damage was huge, yet their forces were unaffected and emerged from deep tunnels – only afterwards. Then came the 33 days of Hizbullah’s missile barrage – until Israel called it quits.
So, is there any strategic point to an Israeli military response to Iran?
Israelis widely believe that without deterrence – without the world fearing them – they cannot survive. October 7 set this existential fear burning through Israeli society. Hezbollah’s very presence only exacerbates it – and now Iran has rained missiles down into Israel directly.
The opening of the Iranian front, in a certain way, initially may have benefited Netanyahu: the IDF defeat in the Gaza war; the hostage release impasse; the continuing displacement of Israelis from the north; and even the murder of the World Kitchen aid workers – all are temporarily forgotten. The West has grouped at Israel’s – and Netanyahu’s – side again. Arab states are again co-operating. And attention has moved from Gaza to Iran.
So far, so good (from Netanyahu’s perspective, no doubt). Netanyahu has been angling to draw the US into war with Israel against Iran for two decades (albeit with successive US Presidents declining the dangerous prospect).
But to cut Iran down to size would require US military assistance.
Netanyahu senses Biden’s weakness and has the tools and knowhow by which he can manipulate US politics: Indeed, worked in this way, Netanyahu might force Biden to continue to arm Israel, and even to embrace his widening of the war to Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Conclusion
Israel’s strategy from past decades will continue with its hope of achieving some Chimeric transformative “de-radicalisation” of Palestinians that will make “Israel safe.”
A former Israeli Ambassador to the US argues that Israel can have no peace without such “transformative de-radicalisation.” “If we do it right,” Ron Dermer insists, “it will make Israel stronger – and the US too.” It is in this context that the War Cabinet’s insistence on retaliation against Iran should be understood.
Rational argument advocating moderation is read as inviting defeat.
All of which is to say that Israelis are psychologically very far from being able to reconsider the content to the Zionist project of Jewish special rights. For now, they are on a completely different path, trusting to a Biblical reading that many Israelis have come to view as mandatory injunctions under Halachic Law.
Hubert Védrine asks us the supplementary question: “Can we imagine a West that manages to preserve the societies it has birthed – and yet “is not proselytizing, not-interventionist? In other words, a West that can accept alterity, that can live with others – and accept them for who they are.”
Védrine says this “is not a problem of the diplomatic machines: it’s a question of profound soul-searching, a deep cultural change that needs to happen in western society.”
A “trial of strength” between Israel and the Resistance Fronts ranged against it likely cannot be avoided.
The die has been deliberately cast this way.
Netanyahu is gambling big with Israel’s – and America’s – future. And he may lose.
If there is a regional war, and Israel suffers defeat, then what?
When exhaustion (and defeat) finally settles in, and the parties “scrabble in the drawer” for new solutions to their strategic distress, the truly transformative solution would be for an Israeli leader to think the “unthinkable” – to think of one state between the River and the Sea.
And, for Israel – tasting the bitter herbs of “things fallen apart” – to talk directly with Iran.
Reprinted with permission from Strategic Culture Foundation.
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Site: Mises Institute
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Site: Zero HedgeBiden's America: 40% Of Renters Think They'll Never Own A Home, Up From 27% Last YearTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:40
Bidenomics 101: the American dream of owning a home has become the American nightmare for almost half the US population.
As housing specialist Redfin reports, rising home prices and mortgage rates "are making it harder to believe in the American dream of homeownership. Lack of affordability is the most commonly cited reason renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home."
The details are dire: Nearly two in five (38%) U.S. renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home, up from roughly one-quarter (27%) less than a year ago.
This is according to a Redfin-commissioned survey of roughly 3,000 U.S. residents conducted by Qualtrics in February 2024. This report focuses on the 1,000 respondents who indicated they are renters. The relevant questions were: “Do you believe that you will ever own your own home in the future?” and “Which of the following are reasons you aren’t likely to purchase a home in the near future?” The 27% comparison is from a Redfin survey conducted in May and June 2023.
Lack of affordability is the prevailing reason renters believe they’re unlikely to become homeowners. Nearly half (44%) of renters who don’t believe they’ll buy a home in the near future said it’s because available homes are too expensive. The next most common obstacles: Ability to save for a down payment (35%), ability to afford mortgage payments (33%) and high mortgage rates (32%). Roughly one in eight (14%) simply aren’t interested in owning a home.
Buying a home has become increasingly out of reach for many Americans due to the one-two punch of high home prices and high mortgage rates. First-time homebuyers must earn roughly $76,000 to afford the typical U.S. starter home, up 8% from a year ago and up nearly 100% from before the pandemic, according to a recent Redfin analysis. Home prices have skyrocketed more than 40% since 2019, due to the pandemic homebuying frenzy and a shortage of homes for sale. And the current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.82%. While that’s below the 23-year-high of nearly 8% hit in October, it’s still more than double the record low rates dropped to in 2020.
Home prices have risen 7% in the last year alone, and monthly mortgage payments have risen more than 10%, which helps explain why renters today are more likely than they were last year to say they don’t see themselves owning a home anytime soon.
Many renters can’t fathom homeownership because they’re already struggling to afford their monthly housing costs. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of renters say they regularly struggle to afford their housing payments, and an additional 45% say they sometimes struggle to do so.
Rents have soared over the last few years because so many people moved during the pandemic, upping demand for rentals. The median U.S. asking rent is roughly $2,000, near the record high hit in 2022–but the good news for renters is that prices aren’t growing nearly as fast as they were during the pandemic, partly because an influx of apartment supply is taking some of the heat off prices.
“Housing costs are high across the board, but renting is a more affordable and realistic option for many Americans right now–especially those who have never owned a home and aren’t able to tap into equity from a previous sale,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “While owning a home is usually a sound longterm investment, the barriers to entry and upfront costs of buying are higher than renting. Buying typically requires a sizable down payment and approval for a mortgage–things that are difficult for many people today, when the typical down payment is near $60,000 and mortgage payments are sky-high. The sheer expense of purchasing a home is causing the American Dream of homeownership to lose some of its shine.”
Gen Z renters are most likely to believe they’ll own a home
Broken down by generation, Gen Z renters are by far the most likely to believe they will become homeowners (maybe it's because they are also the dumbest). Just 8% of Gen Z renters believe they’ll never own a home, compared to 22% of millennials, 40% of Gen Xers and 81% of baby boomers.
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Site: Zero HedgeBiden's America: 40% Of Renters Think They'll Never Own A Home, Up From 27% Last YearTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:40
Bidenomics 101: the American dream of owning a home has become the American nightmare for almost half the US population.
As housing specialist Redfin reports, rising home prices and mortgage rates "are making it harder to believe in the American dream of homeownership. Lack of affordability is the most commonly cited reason renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home."
The details are dire: Nearly two in five (38%) U.S. renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home, up from roughly one-quarter (27%) less than a year ago.
This is according to a Redfin-commissioned survey of roughly 3,000 U.S. residents conducted by Qualtrics in February 2024. This report focuses on the 1,000 respondents who indicated they are renters. The relevant questions were: “Do you believe that you will ever own your own home in the future?” and “Which of the following are reasons you aren’t likely to purchase a home in the near future?” The 27% comparison is from a Redfin survey conducted in May and June 2023.
Lack of affordability is the prevailing reason renters believe they’re unlikely to become homeowners. Nearly half (44%) of renters who don’t believe they’ll buy a home in the near future said it’s because available homes are too expensive. The next most common obstacles: Ability to save for a down payment (35%), ability to afford mortgage payments (33%) and high mortgage rates (32%). Roughly one in eight (14%) simply aren’t interested in owning a home.
Buying a home has become increasingly out of reach for many Americans due to the one-two punch of high home prices and high mortgage rates. First-time homebuyers must earn roughly $76,000 to afford the typical U.S. starter home, up 8% from a year ago and up nearly 100% from before the pandemic, according to a recent Redfin analysis. Home prices have skyrocketed more than 40% since 2019, due to the pandemic homebuying frenzy and a shortage of homes for sale. And the current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.82%. While that’s below the 23-year-high of nearly 8% hit in October, it’s still more than double the record low rates dropped to in 2020.
Home prices have risen 7% in the last year alone, and monthly mortgage payments have risen more than 10%, which helps explain why renters today are more likely than they were last year to say they don’t see themselves owning a home anytime soon.
Many renters can’t fathom homeownership because they’re already struggling to afford their monthly housing costs. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of renters say they regularly struggle to afford their housing payments, and an additional 45% say they sometimes struggle to do so.
Rents have soared over the last few years because so many people moved during the pandemic, upping demand for rentals. The median U.S. asking rent is roughly $2,000, near the record high hit in 2022–but the good news for renters is that prices aren’t growing nearly as fast as they were during the pandemic, partly because an influx of apartment supply is taking some of the heat off prices.
“Housing costs are high across the board, but renting is a more affordable and realistic option for many Americans right now–especially those who have never owned a home and aren’t able to tap into equity from a previous sale,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “While owning a home is usually a sound longterm investment, the barriers to entry and upfront costs of buying are higher than renting. Buying typically requires a sizable down payment and approval for a mortgage–things that are difficult for many people today, when the typical down payment is near $60,000 and mortgage payments are sky-high. The sheer expense of purchasing a home is causing the American Dream of homeownership to lose some of its shine.”
Gen Z renters are most likely to believe they’ll own a home
Broken down by generation, Gen Z renters are by far the most likely to believe they will become homeowners (maybe it's because they are also the dumbest). Just 8% of Gen Z renters believe they’ll never own a home, compared to 22% of millennials, 40% of Gen Xers and 81% of baby boomers.
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Site: LifeNews
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just released a new policy platform on abortion titled, “More Choices, More Life.”
“Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics,” states Kennedy’s official campaign webpage on abortion. “We’ve been offered two positions — pro-life and pro-choice — with hardly any room between or outside them.”
Kennedy’s campaign claims that his proposed abortion policy “will dramatically reduce abortion in this country, and it will do so by offering more choices for women and families, not less.”
The policy clarifies that a Kennedy administration would seek to “make it easier for women to choose life.”
In order to accomplish this goal, the policy seeks to “make our society as welcoming as possible to children and to motherhood.”
“The centerpiece of More Choices, More Life is a massive subsidized daycare initiative,” the policy continues:
We will safeguard women’s reproductive rights while redirecting the funds being spent on the war in Ukraine to subsidize community- and home-based daycares, along with stay-at-home parents. Instead of padding the pockets of our weapons manufacturers, we will pay 100% of care for the three million children under five who live beneath our poverty line. And we will cap the cost at 10% of family income for everyone else.
“[W]e will also strengthen our adoption infrastructure to make it the best in the world,” the policy platform goes on to state. “We will increase the child tax credit, and we will fund sanctuaries for women in need to have babies, places like Angie’s House where they get support not just in pregnancy and birth but also in those precious months afterwards.”
REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.
“That way, [women’s] only ‘choice’ isn’t abortion,” the policy indicates. “They have another choice, a viable choice to give birth.”
Kennedy’s campaign adds that the proposed policy “won’t end the debate, but it offers a way forward that most Americans can support.”
CatholicVote President Brian Burch issued a statement in reaction to the announced platform.
“RFK Jr.’s abortion policy offers a stark contrast to the ‘shout your abortion’ extremism coming from the Biden campaign,” Burch said.
“While RFK Jr. is wrong for pledging to continue to protect the ‘right’ to destroy innocent lives, he deserves credit for not ducking the need to help women choose life,” he continued.
“Abortion is not simply a state’s rights issue,” the CatholicVote president pointed out. “The federal government does indeed have a role in helping to reduce abortion by empowering pregnant mothers to keep their children.”
“[Kennedy] also deserves credit for recognizing the unique role of stay at home parents by proposing that any day-care subsidies equally apply to mothers or fathers who choose to stay home to raise their children,” Burch outlined.
“Kennedy’s position, while problematic in principle, aims in the right direction,” he concluded. “Abortion is always a tragic choice, and we must do everything we can to help as many women as possible choose life.”
Kennedy is a self-professed Catholic.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Robert Kennedy Jr Releases New Abortion Policy Supporting Abortions Up to Birth appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeEuro Area PMI Activity Hits 11 Month High On Service Expansion As Manufacturing Recession Gets WorseEuro Area PMI Activity Hits 11 Month High On Service Expansion As Manufacturing Recession Gets WorseTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:30
Europe's study in paradoxical contrasts continues. On the same day, ECB's de Guindos said a June rate cut looks like a set deal (unless there are surprises) with the end of inflation fight is in sight, the Euro-area's private-sector activity advanced to the highest level since May 2023, driven by a buoyant services sector and Germany's return to growth; UK firms also reported the strongest growth in almost a year
Here are the details:
France
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 50.5 vs. Exp. 49.0 (Prev. 48.3);
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 44.9 vs. Exp. 47.0 (Prev. 46.2);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 49.9 vs. Exp. 48.8 (Prev. 48.3);
- "Overall, our HCOB nowcast model for the second quarter points to a recovery of the French economy, driven by the services sector".
Germany
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 42.2 vs. Exp. 42.9 (Prev. 41.9);
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 53.3 vs. Exp. 50.5 (Prev. 50.1);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 50.5 vs. Exp. 48.6 (Prev. 47.7);
- "Factoring in the PMI numbers into our GDP Nowcast, we estimate that GDP may expand by 0.2%".
UK
- Services PMI (Apr) 54.9 vs. Exp. 53.0 (Prev. 53.1);
- Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 48.7 vs. Exp. 50.4 (Prev. 50.3);
- Flash Composite PMI (Apr) 54.0 vs. Exp. 52.7 (Prev. 52.8)
Euro-Area
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 52.9 vs. Exp. 51.8 (Prev. 51.5);
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 45.6 vs. Exp. 46.6 (Prev. 46.1);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 51.4 vs. Exp. 50.8 (Prev. 50.3);
- "Considering various factors including the HCOB PMIs, our GDP forecast suggests a 0.3% expansion in the second quarter".
Putting it all together, the Euro area composite flash PMI increased by 1pt to 51.4 in April, above the 50.7 consensus estimate, in expansion (>50) for the second straight month and the highest since May 2023. As shown in the chart below, the improvement in the composite index was skewed heavily towards the services sector, where the index rose (by 1.4pt) to 52.9, while the manufacturing PMI continued to sink.
Across countries, the improvement in the area-wide index was driven by Germany - which was above that key 50 expansion mark for the first time in 10 months driven by services (even as manufacturing continued to shrink, though at a slower pace than the month before) defying analysts who had expected another sub-par reading - and France, partially offset by a slight deceleration in the periphery.
In the UK, the composite flash PMI improved notably to 54.0, above consensus expectations of a decline, on the back of a pick-up in services activity, where the index grew by 1.8pt to 54.9, which was partly offset by a slowdown in manufacturing activity.
Commenting on the results, Goldman saw three main takeaways from today's data.
- First, there are continued improvement in the Euro area headline numbers, coupled with continued, but moderating, optimism for the upcoming year.
- Second, the PMI price components ticked up in April, driven by both sectors, with the risks to cost inflation coming from higher wages and oil prices.
- Lastly, the UK saw another month of expanding activity, also driven by the services sector, which should support growth momentum going forward.
While output prices ticked up only marginally in both the Euro area and the UK, it is important that firms' pricing behavior remains supportive for the disinflationary process, Goldman's economists noted.
The positive figures suggest that the euro area will probably expand by 0.3% in the second quarter, matching the rate of growth in the January-March period, said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. That’s a more upbeat prediction than the Bloomberg consensus, which sees just 0.1% growth at the start of the year, with data due on April 30.
“It appears that the recession was predominantly concentrated within the manufacturing sector, while the broader economy may have narrowly skirted such a downturn,” de la Rubia said. “The service sector may serve as a catalyst for the overall economy.”
After contracting in the final quarter of last year, Germany was long expected to have had a shallow recession over the winter. But the Bundesbank last week said output may have grown slightly in the first three months of the year because of a pickup in industrial production, exports and construction — meaning the country would avoid such a scenario.
De la Rubia agreed, saying a Nowcast model points to economic expansion of 0.1% in the first quarter followed by 0.2% in the second. German bonds fell across the curve and money markets reduced wagers on the scope for interest-rate cuts after data for the country were published. The two-year maturity, which is sensitive to changes in monetary policy, rose as much as three basis points to 2.99%.
The overall performance was also better in France, where activity remained broadly stable after contracting for 10 months. That development was also driven by services, where rising demand resulted in the first expansion in almost a year. New orders placed with factories fell at the steepest pace since January, increasing the wedge between manufacturers and services firms.
“The French services sector is the workhorse of the economy,” said Norman Liebke, an economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. “French manufacturing output stays subdued, but we expect it will soon follow the path of the services sector. The manufacturing sector delays the overall economy’s recovery for now, though.”
But the better momentum in both countries was flanked by stronger price pressures, which as Bloomberg notes is a potential source of concern for European Central Bank officials who are gearing up for a first interest-rate cut in June. That development was also centered on the services sector, where rising wages are playing a bigger role. Diverging fortunes were equally visible in the labor market. While German and French services firms added workers at a quicker pace, factories shed jobs.
Overall though, the currency bloc’s top two economies couldn’t keep pace with the rest of the region, which appears to be recovering after the energy crisis that stifled its post-Covid rebound.
The rise in power costs — triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine — also fanned inflation, though consumer-price growth has since slowed markedly. The purchasing-manager data showed that price pressures “intensified slightly” this month.
“The PMI figures are poised to test the ECB’s willingness to cut interest rates in June,” de la Rubia said. “Accelerated increases in input costs, likely driven not only by higher oil prices but also, more concerningly, by higher wages, are a cause for scrutiny. Concurrently, service-sector companies have raised their prices at a faster rate than in March, fueling expectations that services inflation will persist.”
Still, he doesn’t expect that to derail a well-telegraphed easing at the ECB’s next monetary-policy meeting. “However, we doubt that the central bank will adopt a ‘pragmatic speed,’ as suggested by Francois Villeroy de Galhau” de la Rubia said. “Instead, we expect a more cautious approach.”
As noted above, comments by ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos earlier on Tuesday reinforce that approach. “The level of uncertainty makes it very difficult to say,” he told Le Monde, according to a transcript on the ECB website. “I already mentioned June. As for what happens afterwards, I’m inclined to be very cautious.”
A separate set of data for the UK showed the economy’s recovery from recession unexpectedly gathered pace at the start of the second quarter as private-sector firms reported the strongest growth in almost a year. PMIs are closely watched by markets as they arrive early in the month and are good at revealing trends and turning points in an economy. A measure of breadth of changes in output rather than depth, business surveys can sometimes be difficult to map directly to quarterly GDP.
US figures later are set to show continued growth. Earlier numbers from Australia, India and Japan pointed to faster expansion.
-
Site: Zero HedgeEuro Area PMI Activity Hits 11 Month High On Service Expansion As Manufacturing Recession Gets WorseEuro Area PMI Activity Hits 11 Month High On Service Expansion As Manufacturing Recession Gets WorseTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:30
Europe's study in paradoxical contrasts continues. On the same day, ECB's de Guindos said a June rate cut looks like a set deal (unless there are surprises) with the end of inflation fight is in sight, the Euro-area's private-sector activity advanced to the highest level since May 2023, driven by a buoyant services sector and Germany's return to growth; UK firms also reported the strongest growth in almost a year
Here are the details:
France
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 50.5 vs. Exp. 49.0 (Prev. 48.3);
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 44.9 vs. Exp. 47.0 (Prev. 46.2);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 49.9 vs. Exp. 48.8 (Prev. 48.3);
- "Overall, our HCOB nowcast model for the second quarter points to a recovery of the French economy, driven by the services sector".
Germany
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 42.2 vs. Exp. 42.9 (Prev. 41.9);
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 53.3 vs. Exp. 50.5 (Prev. 50.1);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 50.5 vs. Exp. 48.6 (Prev. 47.7);
- "Factoring in the PMI numbers into our GDP Nowcast, we estimate that GDP may expand by 0.2%".
UK
- Services PMI (Apr) 54.9 vs. Exp. 53.0 (Prev. 53.1);
- Manufacturing PMI (Apr) 48.7 vs. Exp. 50.4 (Prev. 50.3);
- Flash Composite PMI (Apr) 54.0 vs. Exp. 52.7 (Prev. 52.8)
Euro-Area
- Services Flash PMI (Apr) 52.9 vs. Exp. 51.8 (Prev. 51.5);
- Manufacturing Flash PMI (Apr) 45.6 vs. Exp. 46.6 (Prev. 46.1);
- Composite Flash PMI (Apr) 51.4 vs. Exp. 50.8 (Prev. 50.3);
- "Considering various factors including the HCOB PMIs, our GDP forecast suggests a 0.3% expansion in the second quarter".
Putting it all together, the Euro area composite flash PMI increased by 1pt to 51.4 in April, above the 50.7 consensus estimate, in expansion (>50) for the second straight month and the highest since May 2023. As shown in the chart below, the improvement in the composite index was skewed heavily towards the services sector, where the index rose (by 1.4pt) to 52.9, while the manufacturing PMI continued to sink.
Across countries, the improvement in the area-wide index was driven by Germany - which was above that key 50 expansion mark for the first time in 10 months driven by services (even as manufacturing continued to shrink, though at a slower pace than the month before) defying analysts who had expected another sub-par reading - and France, partially offset by a slight deceleration in the periphery.
In the UK, the composite flash PMI improved notably to 54.0, above consensus expectations of a decline, on the back of a pick-up in services activity, where the index grew by 1.8pt to 54.9, which was partly offset by a slowdown in manufacturing activity.
Commenting on the results, Goldman saw three main takeaways from today's data.
- First, there are continued improvement in the Euro area headline numbers, coupled with continued, but moderating, optimism for the upcoming year.
- Second, the PMI price components ticked up in April, driven by both sectors, with the risks to cost inflation coming from higher wages and oil prices.
- Lastly, the UK saw another month of expanding activity, also driven by the services sector, which should support growth momentum going forward.
While output prices ticked up only marginally in both the Euro area and the UK, it is important that firms' pricing behavior remains supportive for the disinflationary process, Goldman's economists noted.
The positive figures suggest that the euro area will probably expand by 0.3% in the second quarter, matching the rate of growth in the January-March period, said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. That’s a more upbeat prediction than the Bloomberg consensus, which sees just 0.1% growth at the start of the year, with data due on April 30.
“It appears that the recession was predominantly concentrated within the manufacturing sector, while the broader economy may have narrowly skirted such a downturn,” de la Rubia said. “The service sector may serve as a catalyst for the overall economy.”
After contracting in the final quarter of last year, Germany was long expected to have had a shallow recession over the winter. But the Bundesbank last week said output may have grown slightly in the first three months of the year because of a pickup in industrial production, exports and construction — meaning the country would avoid such a scenario.
De la Rubia agreed, saying a Nowcast model points to economic expansion of 0.1% in the first quarter followed by 0.2% in the second. German bonds fell across the curve and money markets reduced wagers on the scope for interest-rate cuts after data for the country were published. The two-year maturity, which is sensitive to changes in monetary policy, rose as much as three basis points to 2.99%.
The overall performance was also better in France, where activity remained broadly stable after contracting for 10 months. That development was also driven by services, where rising demand resulted in the first expansion in almost a year. New orders placed with factories fell at the steepest pace since January, increasing the wedge between manufacturers and services firms.
“The French services sector is the workhorse of the economy,” said Norman Liebke, an economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. “French manufacturing output stays subdued, but we expect it will soon follow the path of the services sector. The manufacturing sector delays the overall economy’s recovery for now, though.”
But the better momentum in both countries was flanked by stronger price pressures, which as Bloomberg notes is a potential source of concern for European Central Bank officials who are gearing up for a first interest-rate cut in June. That development was also centered on the services sector, where rising wages are playing a bigger role. Diverging fortunes were equally visible in the labor market. While German and French services firms added workers at a quicker pace, factories shed jobs.
Overall though, the currency bloc’s top two economies couldn’t keep pace with the rest of the region, which appears to be recovering after the energy crisis that stifled its post-Covid rebound.
The rise in power costs — triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine — also fanned inflation, though consumer-price growth has since slowed markedly. The purchasing-manager data showed that price pressures “intensified slightly” this month.
“The PMI figures are poised to test the ECB’s willingness to cut interest rates in June,” de la Rubia said. “Accelerated increases in input costs, likely driven not only by higher oil prices but also, more concerningly, by higher wages, are a cause for scrutiny. Concurrently, service-sector companies have raised their prices at a faster rate than in March, fueling expectations that services inflation will persist.”
Still, he doesn’t expect that to derail a well-telegraphed easing at the ECB’s next monetary-policy meeting. “However, we doubt that the central bank will adopt a ‘pragmatic speed,’ as suggested by Francois Villeroy de Galhau” de la Rubia said. “Instead, we expect a more cautious approach.”
As noted above, comments by ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos earlier on Tuesday reinforce that approach. “The level of uncertainty makes it very difficult to say,” he told Le Monde, according to a transcript on the ECB website. “I already mentioned June. As for what happens afterwards, I’m inclined to be very cautious.”
A separate set of data for the UK showed the economy’s recovery from recession unexpectedly gathered pace at the start of the second quarter as private-sector firms reported the strongest growth in almost a year. PMIs are closely watched by markets as they arrive early in the month and are good at revealing trends and turning points in an economy. A measure of breadth of changes in output rather than depth, business surveys can sometimes be difficult to map directly to quarterly GDP.
US figures later are set to show continued growth. Earlier numbers from Australia, India and Japan pointed to faster expansion.
-
Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
Russia’s free running in the Ukraine war in the most recent months is about to end as the Biden Administration has met with success, finally, in the US Congress on the long-stalled Ukraine aid bill. The aid approved by the House on Saturday would send $60.8 billion to Ukraine.
Senate approval is expected as soon as Tuesday. President Biden has promised, “I will immediately sign this law to send a signal to the whole world: we support our friends and will not allow Iran or Russia to succeed,”
To be sure, the US is doubling down to frustrate Russia’s perceived plans for an outright Russian military victory in Ukraine through this year. Unsurprisingly, Washington’s transatlantic allies are also rallying, which is the message coming out of the virtual meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at the level of Allied Defence Ministers chaired by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at Brussels on Saturday.
The sense of relief in Kiev is palpable with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling NBC, “I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces of Ukraine, and we will have a chance for victory.” He said the US lawmakers moved to keep “history on the right track.”
On the other hand, the Russian foreign ministry reaction has been rather polemical — as if Moscow was anticipating the development. What seems to perturb Moscow most in the US aid bill is the thinking favouring the confiscation of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, which, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov singled out “because this is essentially the destruction of all the foundations of the economic system. This is an encroachment on state property, on state assets and on private property. By no means should this be perceived as legal action — it is illegal. And accordingly, it will be subject to retaliatory actions and legal proceedings.”
Moscow would sense that the American intention is, first, to force the EU too onto a similar trajectory and thereby destroy whatever residual prospects remain for reconciliation between Russia and Europe for a long time to come; second, provide the wherewithal to ultimately utilise the Russian frozen assets to generate business for the US military-industrial complex; and, three, in geopolitical terms, create a precedent in any future showdown between the West and China.
Suffice to say, Moscow is right in estimating that in a longer term perspective, the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act, which was also passed by the US House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 360-58 on Saturday empowering empowering the US executive branch to seize and transfer frozen Russian assets held in the US to Ukraine is fraught with consequences far more devastating than the $60 billion financial aid for Ukraine. Curiously, they complement each other too.
Make no mistake about the bipartisan consensus in the Congress in this regard. This is important to know as Donald Trump has apparently shed his ambivalence and decided to be supportive of the Ukraine aid bill. The meeting between Trump and the Republican House speaker Mike Johnson in the run-up to the vote in the House on Saturday would suggest that Johnson might not be ousted, after all, by his far-right House Republican colleagues.
Beijing understands the diabolical play perfectly well. A commentary in the Global Times on Sunday said, “If the bill [on Russian assets] ultimately becomes law and goes into effect, it will set a disastrous precedent against the existing international financial order.”
Of course, the Russian military moves going forward will be keenly watched. For, in such fluid circumstances, actions will speak better than words. At any rate, an inflection point has come since, evidently with an eye on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forthcoming visit to Beijing, the Biden Administration is also shifting gear to explicitly threaten China for allegedly supporting the Russian defence industry. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is paying a 3-day visit to China on Wednesday.
Taken together, what emerges is that the Biden Administration is doubling down on the Ukraine war, contrary to earlier prognosis that war fatigue is setting in. Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder has disclosed to Politico in a statement that the Biden Administration is considering sending additional military advisers to Ukraine, since “security conditions have evolved.”
These additional personnel “would not be in a combat role, but rather would advise and support the Ukrainian government and military.” The specific numbers of personnel remain confidential “for operational security and force protection reasons.” They will support logistics and oversight efforts for the weapons the US is sending Ukraine and “new contingent will also help the Ukrainian military with weapons maintenance.”
Indeed, the sophistry of non-combat role apart, what is in the cards is an incremental expansion of the US military presence in Ukraine, notwithstanding Biden’s repeated assertions that US troops wouldn’t participate in the war on Ukraine’s behalf, as doing so would increase the risk of a direct Russian-American military confrontation.
Citing sources, Politico further reported that “One of the tasks the advisers will tackle is helping the Ukrainians plan sustainment of complex equipment donated by the US as the summer fighting is expected to ramp up.”
How does the new US $60.75 billionaid package add up? It includes $23.2 billion intended to replenish US weapons stocks; $13.8 billion for the purchase of advanced weapons systems for Ukraine; and another $11.3 billion for “ongoing US military operations in the region.”
That is to say, in effect, the direct military assistance to Ukraine will actually amount to about $13.8 billion till end-2024. The Russian experts estimate that this allocation rules out another Ukrainian “counteroffensive.” But that is small comfort, since the increased flow of US weaponry will beef up the Ukrainian military capability to withstand the Russian offensive, which cannot but impact the present balance of forces at the front.
From a military angle, in immediate terms, the cutting edge of the aid bill lies in the fact that it opens the gateway for the transfer to Ukraine of tactical missile systems [ATACMS] capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 300 km, which brings Crimea within its range. Reportedly, French troops are already on the ground in Odessa numbering 1000 and another contingent is expected shortly. This was of course forecast a few weeks ago by the Russian foreign intelligence but Paris had flatly denied it. (here and here)
The bottom line here is that the aid package aims on the one hand to avoid a catastrophic military situation arising at the front in the coming months, which could be politically damaging for Biden’s re-election bid, while on the other hand, the bulk of funds actually goes to the US arms manufacturers in some key “swing states” and gratifies the influential military-industrial complex and the Deep State.
Biden told Wall Street Journal, “We will send military equipment from our own stocks, and then use the money authorised by Congress to replenish these stocks by buying them from American suppliers. This includes Patriot missiles made in Arizona, Javelin missiles made in Alabama, and artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.”
To be sure, the triumphalist narrative of the Ukraine war by the US state department is on a comeback trail.
Reprinted with permission from Indian Punchline.
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Site: Zero HedgeLarge Structural Short Will Drive Yen Much HigherTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:15
Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,
Focus has been on the growing short position in the yen. But the total size is likely to be small in the scheme of things. The real story is the lack of domestic hedging leading to a large structural short in the yen which will drive the currency much higher when it is covered.
There has been some back and forward internally about the extent of the yen short position. FX positioning is hard to get good visibility on unless you are in the flow. The go-to for most people that aren’t is the CFTC data. This certainly shows that yen short-positioning versus the dollar has risen in recent months.
The chart measures the net short versus open interest. Although the short is high, we can see it has been higher, especially in the late 1990s when USD/JPY rose to ~150.
But COT data is based on flows of FX futures, which are low compared to spot and other flows. The net short for the speculator category - which aims to catch hot flows that are more likely to be price moving on a shorter-term basis, and will mainly be CTA flows – is only about $13.4 billion, not earth shattering.
More important for the longer-term outlook is how the yen’s steadily weakening path is leading to domestic investors to allow their foreign asset positions to become underhedged. As a proxy, we can look at the behavior of life insurers, who are among the largest hedgers of their overseas positions. Their hedging ratios have slipped to under 50%.
Japan is the world’s largest net creditor, with over $3 trillion of assets held abroad. Domestic investors’ flows dominate flows of foreigners buying Japanese assets.
Thus, the large and building structural yen short of Japanese investors will be what ultimately sets the path for the currency.
When the wind changes, the yen is primed to change direction with vigor.
-
Site: Zero HedgeLarge Structural Short Will Drive Yen Much HigherTyler Durden Tue, 04/23/2024 - 09:15
Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,
Focus has been on the growing short position in the yen. But the total size is likely to be small in the scheme of things. The real story is the lack of domestic hedging leading to a large structural short in the yen which will drive the currency much higher when it is covered.
There has been some back and forward internally about the extent of the yen short position. FX positioning is hard to get good visibility on unless you are in the flow. The go-to for most people that aren’t is the CFTC data. This certainly shows that yen short-positioning versus the dollar has risen in recent months.
The chart measures the net short versus open interest. Although the short is high, we can see it has been higher, especially in the late 1990s when USD/JPY rose to ~150.
But COT data is based on flows of FX futures, which are low compared to spot and other flows. The net short for the speculator category - which aims to catch hot flows that are more likely to be price moving on a shorter-term basis, and will mainly be CTA flows – is only about $13.4 billion, not earth shattering.
More important for the longer-term outlook is how the yen’s steadily weakening path is leading to domestic investors to allow their foreign asset positions to become underhedged. As a proxy, we can look at the behavior of life insurers, who are among the largest hedgers of their overseas positions. Their hedging ratios have slipped to under 50%.
Japan is the world’s largest net creditor, with over $3 trillion of assets held abroad. Domestic investors’ flows dominate flows of foreigners buying Japanese assets.
Thus, the large and building structural yen short of Japanese investors will be what ultimately sets the path for the currency.
When the wind changes, the yen is primed to change direction with vigor.
-
Site: Henrymakow.comPlease send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.com
We live in fear and that's deliberate. To paralyze us? We're under constant spiritual, psychological and physical assault. The list is endless: direct energy weapons (Lahaina), chemtrails, gender dysfunction, Critical Race Theory, migration, muggings, censorship, lawlessness (shoplifting legalized), threat of war, attack on farmers (food supply), pandemic hoaxes, cancer, poisonous "vaccines" and other drugs, financial meltdown and CBDC's, mass shootings, climate hoaxes...The list is endless. These afflictions are due to the fact that most of our social institutions have been subverted by satanist Jews and Freemasons (Zionists & Communists). They finagled our national credit cards and are not content with unlimited wealth. They want unlimited power over every aspect of your life.I appreciate that this website contributes to the fear. But I don't subscribe to the "ignorance is bliss theory." I don't apologize for seeking and sharing the truth.Finally, we must have the courage to live with dignity according to our principles. Our souls were made in the image of God (Perfection) to refine our animal nature and create Heaven on earth. We must adhere to this standard.US-led West on verge of causing nuclear war - LavrovThe three Western nuclear powers are among the chief sponsors of the Kiev regime and main organizers of provocations against Russia, the foreign minister has saidThe US-led collective West could cause a potentially catastrophic war between global nuclear powers due to its openly hostile stance toward Russia and efforts to undermine existing arms control agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.-Troops from the US and other NATO countries will be in Ukraine fighting Russian troops within a year, security and international relations expert Mark Sleboda predicted on Sputnik's The Critical Hour on Monday.I would say, that of the $61 billion, actually only $14 billion of that is going to go to Ukraine for direct military aid and weapons," Sleboda explained. "It sounds like a lot of money, it's really not considering that just one Patriot battery of 6 to 8 launchers costs more than $1 billion, and they've already lost several of them."-Ukraine Has Lost Almost Half Million Soldiers Since Beginning of Special Military Operation - ShoiguShoigu also said that NATO drills involving up to 90,000 servicepeople are taking place right now, and the exercises are mimicking supposed impending Russian aggression.The Russian minister also said that the alliance is trying to strengthen its activity in the Arctic, while Sweden's accession to NATO has increased tensions."Sweden's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance in early March has increased military and political tensions in the Western and Northwestern strategic directions," Shoigu said.-
Trump Sold-Out His Base to Shovel $95 Billion to Ukraine and Israel, by Mike Whitney - The Unz ReviewThe man who is most responsible for the $95 billion giveaway to Ukraine and Israel, is the same guy who pretends to oppose America's "wasteful" foreign wars. Donald Trump. It was Trump who consulted with Speaker Mike Johnson about the contents of the Ukraine aid package, just as it was Trump who concocted the idea of issuing loans instead of dispersing the standard welfare handout. It was also Trump who said:"I stand with the Speaker, (Mike Johnson)" after which he added that Johnson is doing "a very good job."A "good job"?? So, secretly collaborating with the Democrat leadership to push through a bill that "reauthorizes FISA to spy on the American people without a warrant, (bans Tik Tok) fully funds Joe Biden's DOJ that has indicted President Trump 91 times, and giving Biden's political gestapo a brand new FBI building bigger than the Pentagon," while not providing a dime to protect the southern border from the swarms of people entering the country illegally, is doing a "good job"?Reader- According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, since Israel's false flag attack on the United States on 9/11, the cost of the resultant global wars for Israeli aggression is now over $8 trillion. The direct deaths caused by the United States, 905,000-940,000. Indirect deaths, 4.5 - 4.7 million. People displaced, 38 million. And yet Johnson and Trump call themselves Christians, which is strange for two men grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of adding another $61 billion to the carnage. In fact, as Christ said, it would be better if these two tied a millstone around their necks and threw themselves into the sea for their scandalous invocation of the name of God in doing the work of pure evil.-Peter Sweden - HUGE: The WHO is BACKING DOWN on the pandemic treatyFirst of all, they are making the treaty non-binding. This means that countries will keep their national sovereignty instead of having to hand it over to a bunch of unelected elites at the WHO.Makow- This may be because of expanded war with Russia--While Congress Abandons Border, $3.5 Billion Slipped Into Israel Bill For 'Migrants And Refugees' |-
Erdogan met Haniyeh alongside key members of his cabinet and Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, to discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza and efforts to calm tensions across the region, according to the Turkish presidential office.NOTICE THE MASONIC HANDSHAKE - FREEMASONS ON BOTH SIDES OF EVERY WORLD WARErdogan Meets Hamas Chief with Egyptian FM - Faggot Kike Babies Feeling Ultra Salt-Gaza detainees 'urinated on, made to act like animals' by Israeli forces, Unrwa saysMiddle East EyeGaza detainees 'urinated on, made to act like animals' by Israeli forces, Unrwa says Palestinians released from Israeli custody report widespread ill treatment to UN agency. "Detainees were threatened with prolonged detention, injury or the killing of family members if they did not provide requested information."The testimonies come from some of the 1,506 detainees that Unrwa said it had documented being released from Israeli detention between Novemberand 4 April.-Cowboys Vs Aliens? No Jews Vs Gays!Jewish groups call for end to funding for Edmonton Pride centre over its response to Hamas attackThe Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs argues that the Pride centre, which received $138,000 from the federal government in January, should have its funding revoked
Stacey Leavitt-Wright, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, said in an interview that the Jewish community had attempted to schedule a meeting with the Pride centre to discuss the centre's social media postings and the sense that it was no longer a safe space for the city's Jews."Our biggest concern with this ... is of course, seeing to the needs and the inclusion of the Jewish intersectional queer community in Edmonton," said Leavitt-Wright.-Satellite images show tent compound under construction in Khan Younis ahead of possible Rafah opNetanyahu has said he would order the military to evacuate civilians from Rafah for the offensive, but it is not clear where they could go.-Karen Kingston--What You Need to Know About America's New Surveillance StateUnfortunately for global and U.S. citizens, a highly-advanced 24/7 surveillance system is currently being deployed on civilians around the globe, and it would literally take a war to change things.Not only are China's 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week (24/7) surveillance policies and technologies highly invasive, many western nations consider the use of these surveillance systems as a violation of human rights.Unfortunately for global and U.S. citizens, a highly-advanced 24/7 surveillance system is currently being deployed on civilians in the United States of America and in other nations around the globe.-
How in the world did we get to this point, where the U.S. Constitution clearly protects the right to "Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of Religion", and yet lawmakers in Washington D.C. today only allow one opinion and one religion??There is only one answer to this question: Zionist Evangelical Christianity.Zionist Evangelical Christians, representing the main religion of Republican lawmakers in Congress, believe that their view is the only right one, and they will twist your words, and twist the writings of the Bible, to "prove" their point and justify genocide against those who oppose them. No other views are allowed in this fanatical religion.If the Zionists on the Conservative Right continue getting their way, you can kiss the Constitution goodbye, because there will no longer be ANYTHING resembling Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion in this nation anymore, as we just observed last week in this "Congressional hearing" which was a literal witch hunt.This is the New World Order Religion that is being pushed by the Globalists, and they have the American Church in their back pocket paving the way and supporting a Satanic New World Order.-Pandemic treaty to be enforced by national governments, not WHO"This agreement is being written by countries, for countries, and will be implemented by countries, in accordance with their own national laws," Roguski writes, suggesting that individual nations rather than the WHO will be in charge of all the tyranny."The pandemic agreement will not give WHO any power to dictate policy to any country. In fact, it says exactly the opposite." -
Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionAlex Schadenberg
Executive Director
Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionAmy SmithWhile cleaning up my emails I came across this excellent commentary by Amy Smith, who is a physician-assistant in Minnesota titled: Pledge to 'do no harm' and say No to physician-assisted suicide. Smith's commentary was published in the Minnesota Reformer on April 13, 2024. Smith begins her article by explaining why she opposes assisted suicide.
I’ve spent the past 20 years of my career as a physician assistant saving lives in the emergency department. On a daily basis, I pledge to “do no harm” to my patients as I care for them and render lifesaving aid.
As a medical provider, the greatest harm I can imagine is being responsible for ending my patient’s life. That is why I am deeply troubled by ongoing conversations at the Minnesota Legislature to legalize physician-assisted suicide.
This proposed legislation goes against the fact that a health care providers’ obligation is to care for their patients — not to assist in killing them — no matter the circumstance.Smith is also concerned with the inevitable future extensions to the legislation.
It is also evident that limits on assisted suicide erode over time. These laws often begin with eligibility limited to terminal illness and a six-month life expectancy; however, countries like Belgium, Netherlands and Canada have gradually expanded criteria to offer assisted suicide to people with depression, disability and chronic pain, as well as people with limited income. Patients often seek assisted suicide out of fear of becoming a burden. Legalizing it reinforces harmful misconceptions that people experiencing chronic illness are a burden and encourages people to end their lives prematurely. And euphemisms like “medical aid in dying” make it more palatable for people to accept this as okay, masking the fact that medical professionals are prescribing medication that results in suicide.Smith continues by sharing personal experience with death and dying:
Like many Minnesotans, suicide is also a deeply personal subject for me. My dad ended his own life when I was 12 years old. Most people would say that my dad’s death at age 35 was a tragedy. They’d say we should try our best to prevent suicide. I agree.
I also lost my mom to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis when she was only 62. This proposed legislation tells us that it would not have been a tragedy for my mom, with the assistance of her medical provider, to end her own life prematurely. Instead, this legislation says it would have been the caring thing to do. I disagree.
Both situations are absolute tragedies. In both scenarios, a person should have access to supportive, person-centered care — not a legal path to suicide.Smith concludes by repeating why she opposes assisted suicide.
Is physician-assisted suicide really how we want to care for patients in Minnesota? As a physician assistant, wife, mother — and as an orphan daughter — my answer is a resounding ‘No’.Thank you Amy Smith for your personal and professional opposition to killing your patients.
Image: AFP
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