Assuredly, the word of truth can be painful and uncomfortable. But it is the way to holiness, to peace, and to inner freedom. A pastoral approach which truly wants to help the people concerned must always be grounded in the truth. In the end, only the truth can be pastoral.
Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Admin Targets Tech Contracts With Feds To Streamline Bloated Gov'tTyler Durden Sun, 06/01/2025 - 11:05
A new report cites an internal memo from the General Services Administration informing 'Big Tech' that the Trump administration is expanding its cost-cutting review of federal contractors beyond consulting firms to include now technology providers—specifically value-added resellers (VARs) like Dell and CDW.
The letter, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, was sent by Josh Gruenbaum, Commissioner of the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, to 10 tech firms in recent weeks, demanding an explanation of services and a breakdown of costs and markups, targeting inflated pricing practices and inefficiencies.
Gruenbaum oversees the review of federal contractors and has given tech firms until June 11 to respond. The US spends a staggering $82 billion annually on IT products and services through a complex procurement process. He noted that some of these services carry excessive markups and inflate costs to taxpayers, warning the tech firms, "This must change."
"We don't need to outsource everything; we don't need to always go and buy bespoke, specialized products and services," Gruenbaum told WSJ in an interview, adding, "The point is, really, can you shape shift the way the federal government does business? We think unequivocally 'yes.'"
WSJ provided an update on contract cancellations since President Trump stepped into office:
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11,297 contracts canceled across 60 agencies, saving $33 billion
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2,809 consulting contracts terminated
The shift in scrutiny to streamline the bloated federal government, from consulting firms to big tech, comes as Booz Allen slashed up to 2,500 in June. The consulting firm specializes in government and defense consulting, generating a whopping 98% of its revenue from government-related work.
Goldman analysts recently downgraded Booz Allen from "Neutral" to "Sell," noting medium-term revenue growth is expected to be flat as federal civilian spending comes under pressure and priorities shift within various federal agencies.
DOGE data shows that Booz Allen has had 68 contracts canceled, with 41 of these being contracts that had not been fully paid out, and the remainder having been fully paid. The 60 contracts account for over $600 million in deals.
Goldman also expects government IT outlays to slow in the coming year.
Here are the 20 other companies with the highest percentage of revenue from the US government.
The key takeaway is that the federal procurement process is in urgent need of reform. Looking ahead, the White House is expected to ask Congress next week to formally codify several cost-cutting measures from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Site: Catholic ConclaveIn the centre of Milan is born the Deloitte Gallery: an exhibition space opened inside the former church of San Paolo Converso. The opening is “Liturgical”, a work by Giuseppe Lo Schiavo generated with Artificial Intelligence. Everything is part of the new Milan campus of the consultancy Deloitte.Cathcon: There is nothing liturgical about this art. They are pretending a pseudo-religiosity Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Bonfire of the Vanities - Fr. Martin Fox
The feast of the Ascension is NOT about Jesus leaving us.
Rather, it’s about where Jesus wants to take us.
The Ascension is about heaven;
Jesus wants to take you and me to heaven.
It’s the exact same thing with Holy Mass.
This is all about getting us to heaven.
This is something some miss, or don’t grapple with.
For one, way too many people take heaven for granted.
And if you do that, then what’s Mass?
It would be like going into court, facing a trial,
but you were convinced that you’d never be found guilty.
So, there’s nothing at stake. You can just shrug. Not even show up!
So it is for many people coming to Mass.
Or else, people want Mass to boost their mood.
Or they can visit with friends. Or we get to reflect a little.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with any of these objectives;
but none of these is the point of Holy Mass.
And, this means, by the way: if these goals don’t happen –
if you aren’t inspired, if you can’t have quiet reflection,
if you don’t see familiar faces you hoped to see,
and you don’t come out of church feeling “up” –
that doesn’t mean you, quote, “didn’t get anything out of Mass.”
It might mean you came with the wrong expectations.
People say: what do babies get out of Mass? Or any of us?
Answer: GRACE!
The Sacrifice of the Mass is about getting us to heaven.
It is Jesus our priest making an offering – himself! – for you and me.
And that demands a response. Some reject. Some shrug.
But when you and I strike our chest, like the tax collector:
Remember, Jesus said, that’s who left justified.
That’s the response.
And again: if we take heaven for granted, why change?
No drama. Nothing at stake.
What Holy Mass does, as the Cross does, is to confront you and me,
like a mirror, showing us our desperate need.
And only then
is Jesus’ offering on the Cross – and the altar – good news!
You’re drowning, Jesus says! I’m here to save you! Good news!
But not if I say, “Who’s drowning? I’m fine. No thanks.”
By the way, let me tie this into the great project
of our parish family, our archdiocese, and our whole Church,
Namely, evangelization:
Drawing others back to the Faith, or drawing them here anew.
As long as people think: I don’t need it, then why would they be there?
On the other hand, the best pitch comes from conviction.
And that comes best, not from me – but you:
From you saying, not, “it’s kind of nice!” But rather:
“This is my refuge in a storm.
This is my hope.
The Mass, and my Catholic Faith, gives me mercy,
grace to change, and a way to understand what is dark around me.
“In a word, it’s about heaven.”
If you and I, together, are going to build our parish family
as we know needs to happen,
Everyone is needed as a convinced messenger.
Kid to kid. Teen to teen. Family to family.
Young adult to young adult.
Senior citizen to senior citizen.
Here’s another reason to focus on the deep reality of Mass.
Our focus has to be beyond the externals of our parish.
Of course, let’s become more welcoming, let’s offer our best.
But there’ll always be something on the surface to find fault with.
The best message, I think, is to say, “it’s not about us.
It’s about Jesus. And he’s here.”
So, if you’ve ever been bored at Mass, this is your remedy.
Remind yourself that the salvation of souls is at stake.
Jesus, on the Cross, pleads for them, for you!
He wants us to plead with Him, for them.
In a moment, at the altar, I’ll lift up His Body and Blood.
You hear, “Through him, with him, in him”:
This is really Jesus offering himself to the Father.
This is the source of grace to change us.
This is what gives us salvation! This is the entirety of our hope!
Jesus is the point of every Mass.
He’s in the Scriptures. He’s at the altar.
He feeds you. He goes in peace with you when Mass is ended.
And this is why the Ascension wasn’t a “going away” party.
Jesus went ahead to the Holy Trinity,
And everything that follows is him drawing us in,
Pulling in the drowning swimmers! That is, us!
Jesus hasn’t, really, gone anywhere.
It’s about him reorienting everything toward heaven.
Here’s there; he’s here.
Mass is about heaven. This to there.
Us to there. You and me: heavenly.
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Site: Steyn OnlineThis week, the team took a trip down memory road, celebrating the 8th anniversary of SteynOnline! We are truly grateful to all our readers, columnists, and of course, Mark, for being our courageous leader these many years. As SteynOnline moves into its
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Site: Steyn OnlineProgramming note: Mark will be back in audio on Friday with the latest entry to our series of audio adventures, Tales for Our Time. ~If you missed today's Serenade Radio broadcast, here's a chance to catch up via this SteynOnline premiere of one of our
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Site: Catholic ConclaveThe African cardinal was a guest of the Movimento per la Vita: "The West is governed by people without children who do not know what a family is"."The Church should rediscover its doctrine and remain faithful to it". This is the appeal that Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah wanted to spread during the presentation of his book "Does God exist?". In front of the audience in the Aula Magna of the Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: ChurchPOP
June is a month rich in celebrations for the Catholic Church.
It is a time when we remember the lives of different patron saints who, through their faith, profoundly impact millions of people around the world.
Let's learn more about some of the saints the Catholic Church celebrates during the month of June:
Saint Boniface: The Apostle of Germany (June 5)
Saint Boniface / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Saint Boniface, also known as the "Apostle of Germany," was a tireless English missionary who, in the 8th century, dedicated himself to the evangelization of the Germans.
His courage and determination truly exemplify faith and dedication, inspiring countless other missionaries throughout the centuries.
Saint Norbert: The Founder of the Premonstratensian Order, or the Norbertine Order (June 6)
Saint Norbert / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Saint Norbert, a 12th-century man who founded the Premonstratensian Order (also known as the Norbertine Order), is an icon of deep commitment to religious life and encouragement of active apostolate. His life shows us the importance of total consecration to God and service to the brothers.
Saint Anthony of Padua: The Saint of Miracles (June 13)
Saint Anthony of Padua / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
One of the Church's most beloved saints, Saint Anthony of Padua is known for his inspiring preaching and the numerous miracles attributed to him.
It is common for the faithful to turn to Saint Anthony in search of help to find a good marriage.
However, his story and testimony of love for God go far beyond that. Humility and great eloquence in preaching the Gospel marked this saint's amazing life.
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga: Patron Saint of Youth (June 21)
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
16th-century Italian Jesuit Saint Aloysius Gonzaga lived a life marked by purity and total dedication to God.
As the patron saint of youth and caregivers of the sick, his example reminds us of the importance of living the faith in a concrete and loving way.
Saint John the Baptist: Precursor of Christ (June 24)
Saint John the Baptist / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Saint John the Baptist is known as the last great prophet to announce the Messiah. His preaching ministry on repentance was essential in preparing the way of the Lord.
Jesus baptized him in the Jordan River and he is a martyr for defending marriage and the Truth.
The Catholic Church celebrates him twice a year. We celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist on June 24 and his martyrdom on Aug. 29.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul: Pillars of Christianity (June 29)
Saints Peter and Paul with the Resurrected Christ / Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Saint Peter and Saint Paul are two great pillars of the Church. Saint Peter, the first Pope, and Saint Paul, the "Apostle of the Gentiles," made invaluable contributions to the establishment and spread of Christianity.
Their feast celebrated together reminds us of the apostolic foundation of our faith.
All of these notable patron saints of June are not only examples of virtuous living but also a source of inspiration and intercession for believers around the world, always reminding us of the call to holiness that God extends to each of us.
Additional saints on the June liturgical calendar include Saint Justin Martyr (June 1), Saint Barnabas (June 11), and Saint Thomas More (June 22).
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
Soon Truth Will Be Too Costly To Tell
Paul Craig Roberts
Dear Readers, June is upon us, and it is time for my quarterly appeal for support from the website’s readers. For 15 years this website has been providing alternative information to the concocted false narratives that disguise secret agendas. For example, 9/11 was a false flag operation to set the justification and framework for a hoax “war on terror” that was used to destroy independent Arab states. The Maidan Revolution in Ukraine was orchestrated in the hopes of restoring Washington’s hegemony by destabilizing Russia. I can go on, but this is not an article about all of the lies we have been officially told, narratives designed to deceive us and to convince us that “our leaders” are protecting our freedom, when actually they have been busy taking freedom away from us along with our understanding of reality. Those articles have already been written, and they are archived on this website.
The effort on my part to tell the truth is costly, not merely financially. The large costs are to my reputation and to my freedom. For example, some years ago a website called PropOrNot, funded by we-don’t-know-who, perhaps the US Department of State, or US AID, or George Soros, or Israel, identified me as a “Putin agent/dupe.” I was designated a “Russian agent” because I asked a simple question: Is it really in our interest to risk war with Russia, which in all likelihood will end up nuclear, for the sake of Washington’s hegemony?
If one complains of the annihilation of Palestinians and Palestine by the Israelis, one is labeled an “anti-semite” and “Holocaust Denier.”
If one complains about white ethnic America being overrun by immigrant-invaders, one is labeled racist.
And so on. Hopefully, my readers know the drill.
It is not only my reputation. Can I risk showing up at an airport and going through TSA? What is the likelihood that I am on a list? If Tulsi Gabbard can be harassed by TSA and forced to miss flights while they search her for the third time in a row, what can I expect from DEI hires who find my name on a list? In America today, I can be denied a flight by a Muslim TSA employee or an immigrant-invader who just walked across the border and was integrated into America with a TSA job.
Think about this for a moment. A former presidential appointee as Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury confirmed in office by the US Senate has no assurance that he will be able to board a US airliner in a US airport.
If I make a trip abroad, will I be harassed on re-entry?
This is the cost of telling the truth.
I sometimes wonder what the value of truth is to most Americans, or perhaps I should say a better approximation to the truth than is available in official narratives. Most Americans want to hear what they already believe. When they hear something different it upsets them because it doesn’t fit the framework from which they understand what they mistakenly think is reality. I have found in my life that telling the truth is the best way to make enemies. That’s why so few people tell the truth.
A person who takes the risk of telling the truth likes to see that there are people who appreciate it. This site receives no support from the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, George Soros, US AID, the Israel Lobby, corporations, foreign governments. This website is financed by monthly donations of who I think are the 5,000 Americans who encouraged me about 15 years ago to continue writing. They constitute less than 1% of the readership.
So quarterly I reach out to the 99% and ask that they support the website if it serves them, which I assume it does as the website has 2 million readers and 5 million visits annually. At times when I have checked, Word Press has reported that my website is read in every country on planet Earth. In some countries tens of thousands read it; in others three or four people, probably CIA station chiefs.
In a world with nuclear weapons and biolabs busy at work weaponizing viruses or whatever they are, life is precarious. There is huge worrying on the left about “global warming,” but little about nuclear winter and US biolabs sprinkled all over the world. Recently, the Trump administration had to stop US funding of the weaponization of bird flu in the Wuhan lab in China. How was it possible for this funding to exist? What kind of insanity is ruling over us?
If you look closely, you will see that in the Western World life is no longer viewed as positive, something to be protected. I am not just speaking about abortion. The World Economic Forum, a collection of anti-human elites and Bill Gates, seem committed to reducing human life on Earth from 7 or 8 billion to 500 million. Perhaps this is why no one in the West is disturbed by Israel’s genocide of Palestine–a mere 2 million–and not only the genocide of the Palestinians but also their country.
Ask yourself, why is your life precarious? Compare yourself to those on the American frontier in the 19th century. They are threatened by competent and committed warriors–Apaches, Comanches, Sioux–a real but minuscule threat compared to nuclear war and bioweapons and laboratory prepared and released pandemics. Americans today are far less safe than Americans on the frontier in the 1800s.
This should disturb Americans, but they seem unaware of it.
If you appreciate my efforts to elevate your understanding of our time, show it with a contribution. It is the only way I have of knowing my efforts are appreciated.
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Site: PaulCraigRoberts.org
The Camp of the Saints
Paul Craig Roberts
Austria once possessed a European empire. Today Austria exists only as a geographical location. Immigrant-invaders from the third world have taken over the cities.
In Vienna more than 75% of students in Vienna’s middle schools do not speak German at home. In some of Vienna’s districts more than 80% of residents do not use German as their main language. In lovely Salzburg, 52 percent of children do not speak German at home.
Syrian knife attacks by kids under the age of 14 have risen by 700% in 4 years.
The Austrian people, whose country Austria once was, overwhelmingly disapprove of the intentional destruction of Austria, but they are powerless to do anything about it. Their own government forces it upon them.
Herbert Kickl leads Austria’s Freedom Party, Austria’s largest party, which the anti-white Austrian establishment keeps from power like the French establishment keeps Marine Le Pen’s party from power. Kickl sums up the situation all over Europe:
“What is happening in Europe is no coincidence. It is the result of an agenda, a consciously controlled ethnic and cultural transformation. Because migration is not being stopped, it is being organized, promoted and glorified. NGOs are not noble aid organizations, they are part of smuggling networks with a political and ideological mission.”
As the children of the immigrant-invaders reach voting age, the already impotent electorate will shift in favor of the left-wing, anti-white, pro-immigrant-invader parties. With the exception of Hungary and Poland, all European ethnicities and the British and Irish are in an advanced stage of replacement.
It is the same in the United States where close to half of the electorate vote for the Democrat Party whose agenda is to transform America into a Sodom & Gomorrah Tower of Babel. Democrats openly admit this, and their policies reflect it. The Obama and Biden regimes refused to defend the borders of the United States and actually helped to organize the inflow of millions of immigrant-invaders. The Democrats prevented President Trump during his first term from constructing a wall to defend America’s border. In Trump’s second term, Democrat judges are intentionally making illegitimate rulings to prevent Trump from deporting those who have entered the country illegally. The Democrats in California allow or propose for the immigrant-invaders to serve as police officers and to count the votes in elections. Many Democrat mayors are committed to protecting illegals from deportation and to allowing them to vote in elections. All of this is known; yet it continues. Democrat voters, nearly half of the electorate nationwide and majorities in blue jurisdictions, support the transformation of America into a Tower of Babel, which the Democrats call “multiculturalism.” America is full of progressive women from elite universities who are full of empathy for immigrant-invaders but hate “Trump deplorables.” The media has been instrumental in creating these self-destructive attitudes.
For several generations throughout the Western World universities and school systems have taught white ethnicities their crimes and not their achievements. There are now several generations of white people indoctrinated that they are racists exploiters who owe “racial justice” to “people of color.” The belief system in the Western World has been destroyed by the universities, themselves transformed into anti-white indoctrination ministries.
When Western politicians force their populations into war for Israel or for oil companies or for bankers, why do white populations fight for governments that are intentionally replacing them with a Tower of Babel? Why do white ethnicities join armies that do not serve them? Everywhere in the West, except for Hungary and Poland, white people have no greater enemy than their own governments which have brought the Camp of the Saints upon them.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/shocking-data-shows-massive-demographic-transformation-europe
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Site: Zero HedgeAuthorities Find 11 Dead Bodies In Abandoned Boat Near St. Vincent And The GrenadinesTyler Durden Sun, 06/01/2025 - 08:45
Authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are investigating the grim discovery of an abandoned boat with 11 decomposing bodies found near Little Bay on Canouan Island on May 26, 2025, according to ABC.
The 45-foot vessel reportedly carried passports indicating the deceased may be from Mali, a West African country over 6,000 kilometers away.
The Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force called the incident “deeply concerning” and said they are working with both regional and international partners to identify the victims and establish how the boat ended up there.
This tragedy echoes previous cases involving West African migrants attempting dangerous Atlantic crossings.
In January 2025, a similar vessel was found off St. Kitts and Nevis with 19 bodies, some carrying Malian documents. In May 2021, another boat from Mauritania, containing over a dozen deceased men, was discovered near Trinidad and Tobago. Investigators believe those men had tried to reach Spain’s Canary Islands but were instead swept off course.
ABC writes that the Atlantic route remains highly dangerous, driven by factors such as political instability and economic hardship in countries like Mali. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees notes that migrants often target the Canary Islands, but ocean currents and limited navigational skills can push them far from their intended destination.
Authorities continue to investigate the Canouan case, determined to understand how this tragedy unfolded.
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Site: Zero HedgePunitive Politics And Economic Self-Harm – Germany Plans Special Tax On U.S. Tech GiantsTyler Durden Sun, 06/01/2025 - 08:10
Submitted by Thomas Kolbe,
Germany is planning to introduce a 10% special tax targeting U.S. tech giants. At least now we know what the German government needs a “Minister of State for Culture and Media” for: to invent new taxes.
Illustration via Bitcoinsensus
If the ongoing trade dispute with the United States has taught us anything, it’s that Europeans are no innocent lambs when it comes to protectionism. On the contrary, they’ve mastered the art of shielding their markets through subtle mechanisms—while their media machine works overtime to conceal these maneuvers from the public.
Weimer's Unexpected Mission
Wolfram Weimer, recently appointed Minister of State for Culture and Media, traditionally oversees a largely symbolic post linked to coalition horse-trading. Now, however, the office is being used to launch a direct political strike: a new tax to intervene in the tariff conflict with the U.S.
Weimer frames the digital tax as an act of social justice. With his “Platform Solidarity Contribution,” he aims to hold big tech companies accountable and break up their “quasi-monopolistic structures.” According to Weimer, Germany must reduce its dependence on U.S. infrastructure and contribute to “media diversity.” This is precisely where caution is warranted. When politicians start preaching solidarity, it usually ends up costing taxpayers and consumers dearly.
A Deliberate Provocation
Forget solidarity—this tax is nothing less than a calculated provocation aimed squarely at Washington. At a time when Donald Trump has paused threatened 50% tariffs on EU imports until July 9, hoping to find a negotiated solution, Europe responds with a punch in the face.
Moves like this digital tax won’t bring Brussels closer to a deal. Quite the opposite: they sour the climate and push transatlantic relations further into confrontation. Whether Germany realizes it or not, this tax confirms what many in the U.S. already suspect: Europeans are not truly interested in free trade—they're protectionists at heart.
This isn't the Art of the Deal—this is the Art of Closing the Door.
Europe’s Tech Failure
The underlying issue is both well-known and uncomfortable: Europe has failed to build its own competitive tech sector. Instead, the continent has meticulously crafted a vast and questionable regulatory framework. One wonders who this regulation is meant to serve when the sector it targets barely exists.
It’s a bureaucratic chimera—a Brussels-born behemoth now fed by Berlin, following Austria’s lead with a similar tax that met widespread criticism. In Vienna, that criticism also fell on deaf ears.
As is often the case with new levies, there’s a real concern that companies will simply pass on the added costs to consumers—through digital services, advertising, or subscriptions. What officials claim won’t affect users may well end up hitting them directly.
Industry groups like Bitkom already warned back in April that a digital tax could drive up prices for software, cloud services, and digital tools—slowing digital adoption and hurting both consumers and businesses.
Risk to Germany’s Innovation Landscape
Beyond the obvious financial burden for users, the proposed German digital tax carries serious structural risks. Though it targets international tech giants, its ripple effects could weaken Germany’s digital economy as far as it exists.
Startups and mid-sized IT firms reliant on global platforms would face rising costs. Innovation would be penalized, not rewarded—sending the wrong message to investors and stalling Germany’s already sluggish digital transformation.
On top of this looms the risk of escalating trade tensions: those who tax digital services must expect analog retaliation. Ultimately, this tax undermines Germany’s competitiveness without delivering a viable homegrown tech alternative.
Symbolic Politics Instead of Real Strategy
In the end, the digital tax is a symbolic gesture—politically driven, economically questionable. Europe again gets lost in micromanagement, passive-aggressive policies, and a complete lack of creative, future-oriented thinking.
When all else fails, the reflex is always the tax hammer. But this tax won’t hit the monopolies—it will hit their users. Not the tech behemoths, but the small players in the digital ecosystem.
And once again, it reveals the old European habit of making rules where freedom and competition would be far more productive.
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Site: AsiaNews.itPastoral workers who carry out their ministry in prisons met recently in Bangkok for their national meeting. Prisoners are among the most marginalized groups in society. For Bishop Wuthilert Haelom of Chiang Rai, the 'prison ministry is not just a social service – it is a living expression of God's mercy.'
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Site: Rorate CaeliAs soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived. Someone else saved us by caring for us in body and spirit. All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care.That human kindness is sometimes betrayed. As for example, whenever freedom is invoked not to give life, but to New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: La Salette Journey
The National Catholic Register is reporting that:"Controversy in a North Carolina diocese has broadened beyond traditional Latin Mass restrictions after it was revealed that the local bishop had also planned to ban the use of Latin, altar rails, and other traditional practices in all diocesan liturgies — a development with implications far beyond the Tar Heel State.
Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte proposed the restrictions in a leaked draft of new liturgical norms, which was first made public by the blog Rorate Caeli on May 28 and confirmed by the Register. Bishop Martin wrote that the purpose of the new norms, which also included barring ad orientem worship and traditional prayers at the foot of the altar, including the St. Michael Prayer, were made with the intention of “purifying and unifying the celebration of the Mass” in the diocese.
The bishop also wrote that the proposed norms are called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution on the liturgy, a perspective that has been widely challenged in reactions to the document."
Bishop Martin is either supremely ignorant on this matter or he is a contemptible liar. Readers of this Blog know full well that I do not sugar coat the facts. This in keeping with the teaching of Saint Francis de Sales that the wolf is always called the wolf.
Now with regard to the Bishop's nonsense:
In his Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei, Pope John Paul II said that, "Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition...for the use of the Roman Missal according to the 1962 edition."
And, in his book "Salt of the Earth," Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger said, "I am of the opinion, to be sure, that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it. It's impossible to see what could be dangerous or unacceptable about that. A community is calling its very being into question when it suddenly declares that what until now was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden and when it makes the longing for it seem downright indecent."
To be sure, Vatican II called for an extended use of the vernacular. But nowhere did Vatican II call for the Latin language to be abolished from the liturgy. And anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of the facts or a liar. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) No. 36 states clearly that, "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites."
Number 54 of this same Vatican II document teaches that, "In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply in the first place to the readings and "the common prayer," but also, as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which pertain to the people, according to the norm laid down in Art. 36 of this Constitution.
Nevertheless steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them."
This is the teaching of Vatican II and the mind of the Church on the use of Latin and the attitude Catholics should have toward those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition.
Perhaps instead of appealing to some vague bullshit "spirit of Vatican II," Bishop Martin should sit down and actually READ the Conciliar documents.
Is that really too much to ask? If the Bishop cannot do his one job, perhaps it's time for him to step down.
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Site: OnePeterFive
Our Sunday is ensconced in the novena days after the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the mighty day of Pentecost. Church’s liturgical calendar gives us … gave us, at least, until about 1970 an Octave for Pentecost was removed which allows us to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s descent from different angles. However, in this case we also have a novena, nine days…
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusThe Roman Rite has various ways of arranging the Masses during an octave. That of Easter, for example, has a completely proper Mass for every day, that of Pentecost for every day but Thursday, which was originally an “aliturgical” day; when its Mass was instituted later, it was given proper readings, but everything else is repeated from Sunday. The feast of Ss Peter and Paul is continued with Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: OnePeterFive
From the Roman office of the feast. ℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing. Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement. ℟. Amen. Reading 4 From the Sermons of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. 2nd on the Ascension Dearly beloved brethren, our Saviour is gone up from us into heaven, but let us not be troubled on earth. Let only our heart be there with Him…
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Site: southern orders
Quote from Pope Leo at Sunday morning’s Mass for Families:For this reason, with a heart filled with gratitude and hope, I would remind all married couples that marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful (cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Humanae Vitae, 9). This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.
I encourage you, then, to be examples of integrity to your children, acting as you want them to act, educating them in freedom through obedience, always seeing the good in them and finding ways to nurture it. And you, dear children, show gratitude to your parents. To say “thank you” each day for the gift of life and for all that comes with it is the first way to honour your father and your mother (cf. Ex 20:12).
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Site: OnePeterFive
When asked to write something for Ex-Gay Visibility Day, I was elated. I hold OnePeterFive and its readers in high regard. This publication has many talented and prolific writers, and I don’t hold a candle to any of them. However, once the elation wore off, I realized that I would be confronted with having to write about my past. There is nothing I wish to be “visible” about it…
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Site: Catholic ConclaveChurch Reform: Catholic Action for Austrian Plenary CouncilAppeal to the Bishops' Conference: Synodal Assembly of Bishops, Priests, and Laity would be an important signal of a common new beginningIt is a battle for power and moneyThe Catholic Action Austria (KAÖ) is calling on Austrian bishops to initiate a Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Austria. A corresponding proposal has been sent Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Rorate CaeliH/T Il Nuovo Arengario and Marco Tosatti Dear Readers, Professor Bernardino Monejano of Buenos Aires offers us the following reflections on the present state of the European continent. §§§ . Europe is assisting its own suicideTime Cover, February 28th 2005We learned from MÉDIAS-PRESSE-INFO that the European Union is assigning €10 million to finance the Islamic Francesca Romanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05458124297326049975noreply@blogger.com
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Site: The Unz ReviewTrump wants China to open up its key sectors like finance, real estate & high-tech industries so that his billionaire Zionist buddies can buy up the assets (using the freely printed USD the Fed gave them) and control China like they control America. — 倪明达 (Ni Mingda) (@NiMingDa_888) May 9, 2025
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Site: The Unz ReviewTomorrow, Monday June 2, the second round of “direct” negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will open with the exchange of term sheets, the Russian memorandum and what retired US Army General Keith Kellogg calls the twenty-two points which have been drafted by the US and FUGUP (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine and Poland). Speaking...
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Site: The Unz ReviewDear Readers, June is upon us, and it is time for my quarterly appeal for support from the website’s readers. For 15 years this website has been providing alternative information to the concocted false narratives that disguise secret agendas. For example, 9/11 was a false flag operation to set the justification and framework for a...
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Site: The Unz ReviewAustria once possessed a European empire. Today Austria exists only as a geographical location. Immigrant-invaders from the third world have taken over the cities. In Vienna more than 75% of students in Vienna’s middle schools do not speak German at home. In some of Vienna’s districts more than 80% of residents do not use German...
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Site: The Unz ReviewBorn with a large Russia-hating chip on his shoulder, Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb has been the ideal US Government recruit to be president of Finland. And so, since March 1, 2024, he is. No one in Finnish politics has done as much as Stubb to cancel Finland’s post-war neutrality, drive the country into the NATO alliance,...
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Site: The Unz ReviewMichael Ledeen, the man who urged America to “to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall” every decade, met an end that many of his critics would call overdue. On May 17, 2025, Ledeen died at the age of 83. marking the passing of one of the last influential...
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Site: The Unz ReviewIn 1902, a few decades before Austria joined the Third Reich, German scholar Paul Langhans published an estimate of the size of the German people, coming up with a figure of almost 90 million worldwide, of whom 76 million in Europe. Even if one might argue with Langhans’ decision to consider the Dutch and Flemish...
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Site: The Unz ReviewI get that Puffy is a gay nigger. If he gay raped poor sweet Justin, he should be executed. But he’s not being charged with gay raping our sweet poor Justin. He’s being charged with being mean to women. He’s facing life in prison for allegedly being a mean guy. This is nonsense. From what...
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Site: The Unz ReviewOn May 15, former FBI director James Comey posted a picture of seashells on social media. The seashells were arranged into the numbers 8647. Comey commented: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” And then all hell broke loose. Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem commented on X: “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey...
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Site: Zero HedgeDOE Cancels $3.7 Billion In Biden-Era Green Energy AwardsTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 22:10
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
The Department of Energy has canceled 24 clean energy demonstration projects worth nearly $3.7 billion, citing concerns over financial viability, insufficient return on taxpayer investment, and a failure to meet the energy needs of Americans.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the decision on May 30, describing the awards as hastily approved in the final days of the Biden administration and misaligned with the Trump administration’s energy and economic priorities. The cancellations come after an internal review ordered earlier this month under a new departmental policy aimed at increasing accountability and rooting out waste in federally funded energy programs.
“The Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,” Wright said. “Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards.”
According to a department list reviewed by The Epoch Times, the terminated awards include high-dollar carbon capture and industrial decarbonization projects involving firms such as ExxonMobil, Calpine, Heidelberg Materials, and Kraft Heinz. Sixteen of the 24 awards were signed between Election Day 2024 and Inauguration Day 2025.
The rescinded projects span a range of industries and regions, including glass manufacturing facilities in Ohio, carbon capture efforts in Texas and California, and decarbonization initiatives at food production sites nationwide. The largest award canceled was a $500 million grant to Heidelberg Materials for a carbon capture project in Louisiana.
The move follows a May 15 memorandum issued by Wright titled “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance,” which established new standards for evaluating financial assistance programs. Under the policy, DOE is now requiring detailed financial, technical, and legal documentation from all recipients and reserving the right to modify or terminate awards that fail to meet economic or national interest benchmarks.
Earlier oversight efforts had flagged the risk of poorly vetted loans and grants under Biden-era programs.
A November 2024 report from the DOE’s Office of Inspector General warned that the Loan Programs Office, which saw its authority balloon from $17 billion to more than $400 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation, was under pressure to rapidly distribute funds before key deadlines expired. The report highlighted “significant risks” to taxpayers from rushed decision-making and insufficient vetting, particularly given the volume and complexity of applications.
In two cases, the inspector general said DOE had already canceled nearly $400 million in grants awarded to entities with suspected ties to foreign adversaries. The watchdog urged the department to expand its applicant vetting capabilities and avoid what it described as a “pay and chase” model, where funds are disbursed before due diligence is complete.
President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuel production and limiting public funding for climate initiatives or ones involving DEI mandates. The administration has also directed federal agencies to review all discretionary grants issued under the Biden administration, with a focus on clawing back funds where possible.
In the case of the DOE, Wright said his department has already requested further documentation from 179 award recipients whose combined funding totals more than $15 billion. These reviews are ongoing and could result in further cancellations.
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Site: Zero HedgeOPEC+ Hikes Output For Third Time By 411Kbpd, Despite Reservations From RussiaTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 21:35
Following days of frenzied speculation that OPEC+ may go so far as to start another global price war similar to the Saudi armada in March 2020 which eventually sent WTI crude prices to a negative $45, however briefly, today's decision was positively tame: OPEC+ agreed to surge oil output for the third month in a row, despite mounting reservations from key member Russia, doubling down on a historic policy shift that has sent crude prices sinking.
According to a statement on the OPEC website, the cartel of oil-exporting nations and several hangers on agreed during a video conference on Saturday to add 411,000 barrels a day to the market in July. The hike matches increases scheduled for May and June, marking a radical reversal from defending prices to actively driving them lower, largely in response to Kazakhstan chronically and unapologetically breaching its quota.
“OPEC+ isn’t whispering anymore,” said Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy A/S, who previously worked at the OPEC secretariat. “May hinted, June spoke clearly, and July came with a megaphone.”
Officials said the supply hikes reflect Saudi desire to punish over-producing members like Kazakhstan and Iraq, recoup market share lost to US shale drillers and other rivals, and satisfy President Donald Trump’s desire for cheaper oil, even if it leads to - well - cheaper oil, and even steeper budget deficits for the country that exports 10 million barrels of oil per day and has an all-in breakeven price around $90.
The hikes will offer temporary relief to consumers as the northern hemisphere goes into its peak demand season, while also helping central banks grappling with stubborn inflation. Yet the market impact creates financial peril for oil producers around the world, which could be facing a period of prolonged low prices, followed by much higher prices as producing infrastructure suffers from disuse.
What was most notable about this latest production hike is that, according to Bloomberg, several members expressed reservations during Saturday’s meeting about the speed with which OPEC+ was raising production. Russia, Algeria and Oman wanted a pause in the increases, according to delegates.
The difference in views between Moscow and Riyadh, the cartel’s two most powerful members, will come back into play on July 6, when they meet again to discuss output levels for August.
In April oil briefly tumbled to a four-year low under $60 a barrel after OPEC+ first unexpectedly announced they would bolster output by triple the scheduled amount. The move came even as faltering demand and Trump’s trade war were already crushing the market. This was followed by a second hike announcement one month later, and now a third one.
While Brent futures have since recovered to trade near $64 a barrel, the IMF estimates the Saudis need prices above $90 to cover the lavish spending plans of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom is contending with a soaring budget deficit, and has been forced to cut investment on flagship projects such as the futuristic city, Neom.
However, thanks to earlier Reuters leaks, the markets is likely to take Saturday’s agreement as positive because ahead of today's announcement “there were some concerns of a larger increase,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS, referring to Reuters reports that OPEC+ was considering even bigger output hikes.
Meanwhile, if Riyadh’s strategy is to discipline the cartel’s quota cheats through a “controlled sweating,” it doesn’t seem to be working. Kazakhstan, the most blatant offender, continues to exceed its limits by several hundred thousand barrels a day and has publicly stated that it has no plans to atone. Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told reporters on Thursday that the country can neither enforce cutbacks on international corporate partners, or dial back at state-run fields. Which is why we recently speculated that if one or more of its peers wishes to teach Kazakhstan a painful lesson, then the Caspian Sea pipeline which carries most of Kazakh oil exports courtesy of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, is probably sweating bullets right now.
With Kazakhstan chronically abusing its OPEC+ quota, and with 80% of Kazakh oil reaching the world via the CPC pipeline, what are the odds CPC gets Nordstreamed? pic.twitter.com/xgQ0QGlkMJ
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 23, 2025But while Kazakhstan has so far refused to budge, the price downturn is taking a clear toll in America’s shale oil heartlands, where companies like Diamondback Energy Inc. say production has peaked, despite Trump’s promise the country would “drill, baby, drill” in a new energy boom.
With the hike scheduled for July, OPEC+ will be just over halfway through a road map for reviving 2.2 million barrels a day of output it had idled in recent years, a process that was previously planned to last until late 2026 yet which depends largely on how much of a stimulus China will finally unleash. The group will decide in the coming months how quickly to restore the remainder of supplies it’s still withholding from the market.
For some analysts, increasing supply is entirely logical. Demand will rise over the next few months in the US as drivers take to the roads for summer vacations, and also in the Middle East, where peak use of air conditioning means some barrels will be consumed domestically.
“Fundamentals in the right-here, right-now are strong — inventories are very low,” Amrita Sen, director of research at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., said in a Bloomberg television interview before the meeting. “It is a good time for OPEC+ to add barrels to the market, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t.”
Nonetheless, further price losses may be in store. JPMorgan forecasts that Brent futures will sink into the “high $50s” later this year as the cartel’s hikes contribute to a global supply glut of more than 2 million barrels a day.
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Site: Zero HedgeIsrael Launches Major Airstrikes On Syria's Coast For 1st Time In Nearly A MonthTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 20:25
Israel has attacked Syria for the first time in nearly a month. The last known airstrikes were May 3rd, but on Friday night major strikes rocked Syria's coastal area.
State news agency SANA says that one civilian was killed "as a result of an Israeli occupation airstrike targeting the vicinity of Zama". Social media videos showed large fireballs lighting up the night sky.
The Israeli military offered quick and rare confirmation that it had "struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation, in the Latakia area of Syria."
Huge spoke plumes were seen over Tartus in the strike aftermath, and it should be noted that the coastal city is also home to Russia's lone Mediterranean naval base, which has yet to be completely packed up amid negotiations with the new Jolani regime.
"In addition, components of surface-to-air missiles were struck," the Israeli military (IDF) statement further stated, vowing that the IDF will "continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region, in order to carry out its missions and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens."
The irony of the timing is that the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government has been teasing the possibility of peace and normalization with Israel, despite Israeli forces currently occupying large swathes of southern Syria, even well beyond the Golan Heights.
The new post-Assad government has mostly shrugged off the Israeli attacks, which soon after Assad's ouster came in the hundreds, as Tel Aviv sought to destroy any and all military hardware left by the former Syrian Arab Army.
Israel bombed Syria’s naval defences a few hours ago. Not a single word of condemnation from the new regime, who continues to beg for normalisation.
— Syrian Girl (@Partisangirl) May 31, 2025
The “revolution” was fought by those who want to surrendering to Israel and against those who fight it. pic.twitter.com/yfVAB7HbZ9Tensions have been rising between Israel and Turkey over the 'spoils' in Syria. Turkey's military has sought to set up anti-air defenses for the new regime, reportedly in the center of the country - in Palmyra - which Israel has tried to thwart through bombing raids.
Prior to Assad's ouster, Israel said it repeatedly bombed Syria for 'counter-Iran' operations, but at this point the divide-and-rule policy of keeping Syria as weak and fractured as possible has certainly become more clear.
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Site: Zero HedgeMegyn Kelly: Bongino & Patel "Looked Like Hostages" While Claiming Epstein Did Kill HimselfTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 19:50
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly has called out the FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino for not being “fully transparent” when it comes to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Both have claimed that they now believe Epstein did kill himself and that there is no evidence of foul play as far as his death goes.
Bongino revealed yesterday that the FBI has video that it intends to release showing that no one else entered Epstein’s cell when he died.
Bongino noted, however, that the footage doesn’t show Epstein at all, prompting many to conclude it will not prove or disprove anything.
While interviewing journalist Glenn Greenwald, Kelly pondered, “What’s happening? Because it doesn’t take that long to clean up quote clean up surveillance video from one camera of one cell.”
“I’m not sure what’s happening here. I trust Dan. I don’t know Kash as well, but I trust Dan. But I’m not sure we’re getting the straight scoop,” Kelly added.
She continued, “It’s starting to smell. When Dan and Kash gave a joint interview, and they were like ‘he committed suicide,’ they looked like hostages.”
“They have the disadvantage of us having heard countless hours of Dan, in particular, speaking extemporaneously and from the heart, and he is an honest guy, but there’s certain limits to how honest you can be when you’re holding these positions,” the host further noted.
“And I had the same reaction that a lot of people had, which is, he looks like he’s not being fully transparent. What do they know that they don’t want us to know?” Kelly asked.
She further asserted that the “best theory” she has heard is “that it’s something having to do with Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to intelligence, and that would be something they’d have to keep covered potentially, and they can’t say it.”
“They can’t be as transparent as they like to be,” Kelly reiterated.
Watch:
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Site: Henrymakow.com
(All banks are Rothschild franchises like MacDonald's except for fiat currency ( i.e. credit.) The Rothschilds are Jewish Satanists intent on destroying the nuclear family, patriotism and belief in God. They're grooming our children for pedophiles. We gave them our national credit card and entrust our personal savings to them.)The promotion of homosexuality is designed to depopulate and destabilize society by destroying gender distinctions and the nuclear family.In honor of June, "Gay Pride" month, I re-post the classic 1995 essay by Charles Socarides, a psychiatristwho treated hundreds of gays for arrested development over a 40-year-career and cured about a third.Until 1975, homosexuality was recognized for what it is, a developmental disorder. The massive crusade to mainstream homosexuality is characteristic of Satanism, which pretends that sick is healthy and unnatural is natural.Society is satanically possessed. Mankind has been colonized by a satanic cult, Freemasonry (Jewish Cabalism) which is a proxy for the Cabalist Jewish central banking cartel. Our political, economic and cultural leaders are traitors, factotum for the satanist banking cartel that controls society through credit.Aren't you suspicious that every single corporation is promoting this developmental disorder? They are all controlled by the banks.
Homosexuality is another depopulation psy op like COVID which was nothing but the flu rebranded. We have compassion and affection for individual gays who often are very kind and talented. It's not their fault that their mothers were overbearing or they were sexually abused as youths. We feel no more animosity toward them than we would for someone who was autistic. But we oppose the Illuminati plan to subvert society by spreading this disorder until it becomes the social norm.The real issue is heterophobia, not homophobia. "Everyone is welcome," Canadian banks say but they definitely make straight white males feel UNWELCOME because they rarely appear in their commercials or as bank tellers.
"We must introduce into their education all those principles which have so brilliantly broken up their order...We shall destroy every collective force except our own." Protocols of Zion 16"We will destroy all collective forces except our own." Protocols of Zion (16-4). Collective forces include race, religion (God), nationhood and family (gender.)
Charles W. Socarides, M.D., (1922-2005) was a clinical professor of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.Part One: "How America Went Gay"Updated from Feb. 8, 2014 and May 25, 2023
by Charles Socarides MD
(Edited & Abridged by henrymakow.com)
For more than 20 years, I and a few psychiatrists have felt like an embattled minority, because we have continued to insist that gays aren't born that way.For most of this (20th) century, we have considered this behavior aberrant...a pathology. We had patients who would seek out one sex partner after another--total strangers--on a single night, then come limping into our offices the next day to tell us how they were hurting themselves. Since we were in the business of helping people learn how not to keep hurting themselves, many of us thought we were quietly doing God's work.
Now, in the opinion of those who make up the so-called cultural elite, our view is "out of date." The elite says we hurt people more than we help them, and that we belong in one of the century's dustbins. They have managed to sell this idea to a great many Americans, thereby making homosexuality fashionable and raising formerly aberrant behavior to the status of an "alternate lifestyle."...
HOMOSEXUAL REVOLUTION ORCHESTRATED
How did this change come about? Well, the revolution did not just happen...
It was all part of a plan, as one gay publication put it, "to make the whole world gay." I am not making this up. You can read an account of the campaign in Dennis Altman's The Homosexualization of America. In 1982 Altman, himself gay, reported with an air of elation that more and more Americans were thinking like gays and acting like gays. There were engaged, that is, "in numbers of short-lived sexual adventures either in place of or alongside long-term relationships." Altman cited the heterosexual equivalents of gay saunas and the emergence of the swinging singles scene as proofs that "promiscuity and 'impersonal sex' are determined more by social possibilities than by inherent differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals, or even between men and women."
Heady stuff. Gays said they could "reinvent human nature, reinvent themselves." To do this, these re-inventors had to clear away one major obstacle. No, they didn't go after the nation's clergy. They targeted the members of a worldly priesthood, the psychiatric community, and neutralized them with a radical redefinition of homosexuality itself. In 1972 and 1973 they co-opted the leadership of the American Psychiatric Association and, through a series of political manoeuvres, lies and outright flim-flams, they "cured" homosexuality overnight-by fiat. They got the A.P.A. to say that same-sex sex was "not a disorder." It was merely "a condition"-as neutral as left-handedness.
HATRED, INTIMIDATION & INTOLERANCE
This amounted to full approval of homosexuality. Those of us who did not go along with the political redefinition were soon silenced at our own professional meetings. Our lectures were cancelled inside academe and our research papers turned down in the learned journals. Worse things followed in the culture at large. Television and movie producers began to do stories promoting homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle.
"For some years now, gays have been disrupting our meetings, shouting down people trying to deliver their scientific papers, threatening individual doctors like myself...The gay activists have a ferocious irrationality. They turn every scientific agreement into a political issue -- which is all they can really do since the only science they have going for them is pseudoscience." Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far pp.153-154]
A gay review board told Hollywood how it should deal with or not deal with homosexuality. Mainstream publishers turned down books that objected to the gay revolution. Gays and lesbians influenced sex education in our nation's schools, and gay and lesbian libbers seized wide control of faculty committees in our nations' colleges. State legislatures nullified laws against sodomy.
If the print media paid any attention at all, they tended to hail the gay revolution, possibly because many of the reporters on gay issues were themselves gay and open advocates for the movement. And those reporters who were not gay seemed too intimidated by groupthink to expose what was going on in their own newsrooms.
And now, what happens to those of us who stand up and object? Gay activists have already anticipated that. They have created a kind of conventional wisdom: that we suffer from homophobia, a disease that has actually been invented by gays projecting their own fear on society. And we are bigots besides, because, they say, we fail to deal with gays compassionately.
Gays are now no different than people born black or Hispanic or physically challenged. Since gays are born that way and have no choice about their sexual orientation, anyone who calls same-sex sex an aberration is now a bigot. Un-American, too. Astoundingly now, college freshmen come home for their first Thanksgiving to announce, "Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad! We've taken the high moral ground. We've joined the gay revolution."
BRAINWASHED
My wife, Clare, who has an unerring aptitude for getting to the heart of things, said one day recently in passing, "I think everybody's being brainwashed." That gave me a start. I know "brainwashing" is a term that has been used and overused. But my wife's casual observation only reminded me of a brilliant tract I had read several years ago and then forgotten. It was called After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 1990s, by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen.
That book turned out to be the blueprint gay activists would use in their campaign to normalize the abnormal through a variety of brainwashing techniques once catalogued by Robert Jay Lifton in his seminal work, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China.
These activists got the media and the money to radicalize America-by processes known as desensitization, jamming and conversion. They would desensitize the public by selling the notion that gays were "just like everyone else." This would make the engine of prejudice run out of steam, i.e., lull straights into an attitude of indifference.
They would jam the public by shaming them into a kind of guilt at their own "bigotry." Kirk and Madsen wrote:
All normal persons feel shame when they perceive that they are not thinking, feeling, or acting like one of the pack....The trick is to get the bigot into the position of feeling a conflicting twinge of shame...when his homo-hatred surfaces. Thus, propagandistic advertisement can depict homophobic and homo-hating bigots as crude loudmouths....It can show them being criticized, hated, shunned. It can depict gays experiencing horrific suffering as the direct result of homo-hatred-suffering of which even most bigots would be ashamed to be the cause.
Finally-this was the process they called conversion-Kirk and Madsen predicted a mass public change of heart would follow, even among bigots, "if we can actually make them like us." They wrote, "Conversion aims at just this...conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media."
In the movie "Philadelphia" we see the shaming technique and the conversion process working at the highest media level. We saw Tom Hank's character suffering (because he was gay and had AIDS) at the hands of bigots in his Philadelphia law firm. Not only were we ashamed of the homophobic behavior of the villainous straight lawyers in the firm; we felt nothing but sympathy for the suffering Hanks. (Members of the Motion Picture Academy felt so much sympathy they gave Hanks an Oscar.) Our feelings helped fulfil Kirk and Madsen's strategy: "to make Americans hold us in warm regard, whether they like it or not."
Few dared speak out against "Philadelphia" (1993) as an example of the kind of propaganda Kirk and Madsen had called for. By then, four years after the publication of the Kirk-Madsen blueprint, the American public had already been programmed. Homosexuality was now simply "an alternate lifestyle."
Best of all, because of the persuaders embedded in thousands of media messages, society's acceptance of homosexuality seemed one of those spontaneous, historic turnings in time-yes, a kind of conversion. Nobody quite knew how it happened, but the nation had changed. We had become more sophisticated, more loving toward all, even toward those "afflicted" with the malady-excuse me, condition.
By 1992 the President of the United States said it was the time that people who were openly gay and lesbian should not be ousted from the nation's armed forces. In 1993 the nation's media celebrated a huge outpouring of gay pride in Washington, D.C. Television viewers chanted along with half a million marchers, "Two, four, six, eight! Being gay is really great." We felt good about ourselves. We were patriotic Americans. We had abolished one more form of discrimination, wiped out one of society's most enduring afflictions: homophobia. Best of all, we knew now that gay was good, gay was free.
Part Two- https://www.henrymakow.com/2019/05/Excuse-Me-Gay-is-Not-Good%20%20.html
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Note - A sign of things to come. Searched Google images for "gay zealots" and all I got were anti-gay zealots. They are filtering perception. It's also nearly impossible to find an unattractive lesbian on search engines.
Socarides was a co-founder of NARTH, National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality.
Related- E Michael Jones - Gay Marriage form of Political Control-------------- The Real Agenda Behind Gay Rights--------- Feminized Society Harming Boys--------- Satire on Gay Adoption is Exhilarating---------- Western Media's Pathetic Russia BashingFirst response from James: Essentially the Russians won't permit this psychological war on heterosexuals.Contrary to the media spin, Russia's family values bill does not make homosexuality a crime. Homosexuality is not illegal in Russia.What the bill prohibits is "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations," defined as "relations not conducive to procreation." The law imposes significant fines of up to $31,000 for providing information about the LGBT community to minors, holding gay pride events, speaking in defense of gay rights, or equating gay and heterosexual relationships.It's a pro-life, pro-family bill, which is exactly why liberals hate it. There is no valid reason for providing information about the LGBT community to prepubescent youth. And some of the so-called "gay pride events" get rather obscene and should not be held in public. Furthermore, the media throws a hissy fit whenever a heterosexual speaks out about their values, witness A&E's suspension of Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson. The gays want the right to speak out, but they want to deny the same right to everyone else. Neither can gay and heterosexual relationships be equated: man + man = man + woman? That's not a true equation.---------------------
Sunshine Mary: "for being such a small part of the population, homosexuals sure are the belle of the ball in the American coverage of the Olympic games. "
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Site: Community in Mission
The Feast of the Ascension is often neglected today. It is tucked into a nearby Sunday, it’s role as the fortieth day, jettisoned. But even in those places that still honor it with a Thursday Solemnity, there is still a difficulty in appreciating the full glory of that day. In this post, following the Scriptures and the teaching of some of the ancient Fathers of the Church, we can investigate some of the more hidden glory of this magnificent event.
The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s book The Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of the Church. The references to the Fathers in this post are fully footnoted in his book, but some of the scriptural passages below represent my own additions.
We can begin with a parabolic prelude – Jesus told at least two parables that the Fathers of the Church interpret to represent the angels:
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- Then Jesus told them this parable: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:3-7)
- Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)
Gregory Nazianzus interprets this parable as Christ entering into heaven at the Ascension and, after having recovered the lost sheep and the Lost Drachma and calling together the angels to share his joy.
Indeed, there is a whole tradition, among the Fathers but going back much further into the early Church which sees the lost sheep as human beings, and flock which the Good Shepherd “leaves” in order to search for the sheep as the angels. Origen sets it forth and Methodius of Philippi writes: “We must see the ninety-nine sheep as a representation of the Powers, Principalities and Dominations whom the Head and Shepherd has left behind to go down and seek out the one lost sheep.” Gregory of Nyssa adds: “We mankind, are the lost sheep…and have strayed from the other spiritual creates [i.e. the angels].
Hence we are given a picture of joy as Christ re-enters heaven with the lost sheep of humanity.
The Picture of the Ascension given by the Lord: Jesus prophecies his ascension in John’s Gospel as something which Nathaniel will see. The Lord’s description also shows the role of the angels
Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. (John 1:50-51)
Here then is a picture of Jesus ascending, not as a lone figure,
A picture from the Psalms: Church Fathers Eusebius, Chrysostom, Justin and Athanasius say that the virtues (i.e. angels) of heaven, seeing him begin to ascend, rise and surround him to form an escort proclaiming his ascension as they cried: Rise up eternal gates and the King of glory will enter!” Gregory of Nyssa adds, that at first the higher angels do not recognize Christ since he has put on the poor tunic of humanity and because his garments were stained with blood. And herein comes a questioning and wondering dialogue back and forth that is from Psalm 27 but which the ancient Fathers apply to the moment of the Ascension:
The lower ranking angels who have escorted Jesus cry out to the higher ranking angles of heaven:
Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter!
And from within the heavenly angels answer:
Who is this King of Glory?
And the escorting angels answer:
The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! (Psalm 24:7-9)
Eusebius also cites Psalm 47 as fulfilled in the Ascension through the praises of the Angels:
God ascends amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is King of all the earth; sing profound praises to Him. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly to be exalted. (Ps 47:5-9)
Another picture from Scripture (Isaiah 63:1-3) is applied by the Fathers to the Ascension where the angels of heaven, seeing Christ approach, cry out:
Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength?
Jesus answers:
“It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
The Angels ask:
Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
Jesus answers:
“I have trodden the winepress alone, (Isaiah 63:1-3)
The exultation of our humanity In Christ’s Ascension is also a principle developed in Scripture and by the Father. Thought the angelic nature remains superior to human nature in the order of creation, Christ’s incarnation, resurrection and ascension have exalted our humanity in his. The Book of Hebrews says,
[Jesus] has taken his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father” (Heb 1:3-4)
For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him? You made him for a while lower than the angels; and now You have crowned him with glory and honor and placed everything under his feet. (Heb 2: 5-8)
These texts speak to Christ’s superiority to the Angels. As God, he was always superior to the angels but, in hypostatically uniting himself to a human nature, raising it gloriously and ascending with that glorified human nature, he has exalted us all.
St. John Chrysostom says of the Ascension:
Today we are raised up into heaven, we who seemed unworthy even of earth. [In Christ, and as members of his Body] We are exalted above the heavens; we arrive at the kingly throne. The [human] nature which caused the Cherubim to keep guard over paradise is seated today above the Cherubim. Was not such a glory beyond all expression? But he rose above the angels, he passed the cherubim, he went higher than the Seraphim, he bypassed the Thrones. He didn’t stop until He arrived at the very throne of God.
So, the Feast of the Ascension is our feast too. In baptism we died with Christ and rose with him to new life. In the Ascension of Christ, we also ascend. Hence, in Christ and as members of Christ’s Body through baptism, we are mystically seated with him at the Father’s right. In Christ and by his ascension our lowly nature is glorified and we hear the call “come up higher.” For now we never cease to honor the angels who by nature are superior to us and care for us. And yet, by grace alone and in Christ we have ascended with him to the highest place. On account of which the angels marvel and sing God’s praises.
The Ascension is the counterpart of the fall in Eden, but we are not simply restored to an earthly paradise, we are taken to the heavenly one!
Is this why Satan rebelled? There is an ancient tradition that the angels where shown God’s plan and that Lucifer, a high ranking angel, recoiled at the idea of God joining himself to the mere “mud dolls” of humanity. Inspiring a rebellion he waged war in the heavens and was cast out by St. Michael and the other angels. Now he roams the earth, deeply envious of human beings and seeks to debase and destroy him. This is hinted at in Scripture in Revelation 12, but the details of the reason for Satan’s wrath are more in the realm of tradition and speculation.
Here then are some reflections on the glorious feast of the Ascension from Scripture, and the teachings of the Fathers of the Church.
The post The Role and Experience of the Angels at the Ascension appeared first on Community in Mission.
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Site: Community in Mission
In more dioceses than not, the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated this Sunday. The liturgist in me regrets the move from Thursday, but here we are any way. Let’s ascend with the Lord, three days late!
This marvelous feast is not merely about something that took place two thousand years ago, for though Christ our head has ascended, we the members of His body are ascending with Him. Because He was ascended, we, too, have ascended. In my own life as a Christian, I am brought higher every year by the Lord, who is drawing me up with Him. This is not some mere slogan, but something I am actually experiencing. An old song says, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained with sin, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea, heard my despairing cry. And from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I. Love Lifted me when nothing else could help. Love lifted me!”
If we are faithful, the feast of the Lord’s Ascension is our feast, too. Let’s look at it from three perspectives.
I. The Fact of the Ascension – The readings today describe a wondrous event witnessed by the Apostles. By His own power, the Lord is taken to Heaven. In so doing, He opens a path for us, too. The gates of paradise swing open again. Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in! (Psalm 24:7) In Christ, man returns to God. Consider three things about the Ascension:
A. The Reality – Imagine the glory of this moment! Scripture says, As they were looking on, he was lifted up and cloud took him from their sight … they were looking intently in the sky as he was going (Acts 1:9). So impressive was the sight that the angels had to beckon them to get along to Jerusalem as the Lord had said, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Yes, it was glorious. Jesus had once said as a summons to faith, What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? (John 6:62) He had also encouraged them saying, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man (John 1:51). So here is a glorious reality and a fulfillment of what Jesus had said.
B.The Rescue – In the Ascension, it does not seem that the Lord entered Heaven alone. As we have remarked, in His mystical body we also ascend with Him. Consider this remarkable text that affirms that: Therefore it is said, When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things (Eph 4:8ff). Yes, the Lord had earlier (just after his death) descended to Sheol, awakened the dead, and preached the Gospel to them (cf 1 Peter 4:6). Now for those He had justified came the moment to ascend, with Jesus as a “host,” as an army of former captives now set free. Behold the great procession that enters behind Christ through the now-opened gates of Heaven: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Judith, Deborah, David, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, John the Baptist, … and, one day, you! Yes, this is a great rescue. Adam and his descendants have not simply been restored to some paradise-like garden; they have entered Heaven.
C.The Rejoicing – Consider how this once captive train sings exultantly as they follow Christ upward to Heaven. The liturgy today puts before us a likely song they sang: God mounts his throne to shouts of Joy! The Lord amid trumpet blasts. All you peoples clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, for the Lord the most high, the awesome is the great king over all the earth. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne (Psalm 47:6-7). I also have it on the best of authority that they were singing this old gospel song: “I’m so glad Jesus lifted me!” as well as this old Motown song: “Your love is lifting me higher than I’ve ever been lifted before!” More on this tomorrow from the Fathers of the Church.
II. The Fellowship of the Ascension – We have already remarked that, when Christ ascends, we ascend. Why and how? Scripture says, Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it (1 Cor 12:27). It also says, All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. By baptism we were buried together with him so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, we too might live a new and glorious life. For if we have been united with him by likeness to his death we shall be united with him by likeness to his resurrection (Rom 6:3ff). When Christ died, we died. When Christ rose, we rose. When He ascends, we ascend.
But, you may say, He is in glory while I am still here. How is it that I am ascended or ascending? Consider a humorous example using our physical bodies. When I get on an elevator and press the button for the top floor, the top of my head gets there before the soles of my feet, but the whole body will get there unless some strange loss of integrity or tragic dismemberment takes place. In an analogous way, so it is with Jesus’ mystical body. In Christ, our Head, we are already in glory. Some members of His Body have already gotten there. We who come later will get there too, provided we remain members of His Body. Yes, we are already ascended in Christ, our Head. We are already enthroned in glory with Him, if we hold fast and stay a member of His Body. This is the fellowship of the Ascension.
III. The Fruitfulness of the Ascension – Jesus does not return to Heaven to abandon us. He is more present to us than we are to ourselves. He is with us always to the end of the age (cf Matt 28:20). In ascending, without abandoning us, He goes to procure some very important things. Consider four of them:
A. Holy Ghost power – Jesus teaches very clearly that He is ascending in order to send us the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (Jn 16:7ff). He also says, These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (Jn 14:25ff). I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come (Jn 16:13-14). So the Lord goes in order that with the Father, He might send the Holy Spirit to live within us as in a temple. In this way, and through the Eucharist, He will dwell with us even more intimately than when He walked this earth.
B. Harvest – Jesus says, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me (John 12:32). While the immediate context of this verse is the crucifixion, the wonder of John’s gospel is that he often intends double meanings. Clearly Christ’s glorification is His crucifixion, but it also includes His resurrection and ascension. So, from His place in glory, Christ is drawing all people to Himself. He is also bestowing grace on us from His Father’s right hand to be His co-workers in the harvest: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Yes, from His place in glory, Christ is bringing in a great harvest. As He said in Scripture, Do you not say, “Four months more and then the harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying “One sows and another reaps” is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor (Jn 4:35-38). Harvest! It is the Lord’s work from Heaven in which we participate.
C. Help – At the Father’s right hand, Jesus intercedes for us. Scripture says, Consequently he is able, for all time, to save those who draw near to God through him, since he lives always to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25). The Lord links his ascension to an unleashing of special power: Amen, amen, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (Jn 14:12).
We must not understand asking in the name of Jesus as a mere incantation, for to ask in His name means to ask in accord with His will. Yet we must come to experience the power of Jesus to draw us up to great and wondrous things in His sight. Despite the mystery of iniquity all about us, we trust that Christ is conquering, even in the puzzling and apparent victories of this world’s rebellion. In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Though, at present we do not see everything subject to him, yet we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor … so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Heb 2:8-9; 14-15). Thus, from Heaven we have the help of the Lord’s grace which, if we will accept it, is an ever-present help unto our salvation.
D. Habitation – Jesus indicates that in going to Heaven, He is preparing a place for us: In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (Jn 14:2ff). Yes, Jesus has the blueprints out and the hard hat on. He is overseeing the construction of a mansion for each of us that we may dwell with Him, the Father, and the Spirit forever.
Here, then, are the ways that Christ, by His love, is lifting us higher than we’ve ever been lifted before. Yes, love lifted me when nothing else could help; love lifted me.
The post Love Lifted Me: A Homily for the Ascension of the Lord appeared first on Community in Mission.
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Site: Zero HedgeDiminishing Returns Threaten World Economic StabilityTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 18:40
Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World
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The world economy is facing a predicted contraction due to physical limits related to resource extraction and diminishing returns in various areas, including energy and minerals.
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Current economic indicators, such as high debt levels, falling oil and coal production, and rising inflation, suggest an impending downturn that will affect global living standards and government stability.
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As existing economic systems falter, new economic models are expected to emerge, though the transition period will likely be marked by financial instability, job losses, and a decrease in overall prosperity.
I predict that the world economy will shrink in the next 10 years. I think that this is bound to happen because of energy and debt limits the world economy is hitting. There are a variety of other factors involved, as well.
In this post, I will try to describe the physics-based limits that the economy is facing, related to diminishing returns of many kinds. The problem we are facing has sometimes been called “limits to growth,” or “overshoot and collapse.” Such changes tend to lead to a loss of “complexity.” They are part of the way economies evolve. I would also like to share some ideas on the changes that are likely to occur over the coming decade.
[1] The world economy is a tightly integrated physics-based system, which is experiencing diminishing returns in far more areas than just oil supply.
When extraction of a mineral takes place, usually the easiest (and cheapest) portion of the mineral deposit is extracted first. After the most productive portion is removed, the cost of extraction gradually increases. This process is described as “diminishing returns.” Generally, more energy is required to extract lower quality ores.
The economy is now reaching diminishing returns in many ways. All kinds of resources are affected, including fossil fuels, uranium, fresh water, copper, lithium, titanium, and other minerals. Even farmland is affected because with higher population, more food is required from a similar amount of arable land. Additional-cost efforts such as irrigation can increase food supply from available arable land.
The basic problem is two-fold: rising population takes place while the easiest to extract resources are depleting. The result seems to be Limits to Growth, as modeled in the 1972 book, “The Limits to Growth.” Academic research shows that problems such as those modeled (sometimes referred to as “overshoot and collapse”) have been extremely common throughout history.
Precisely how this problem unfolds varies according to the specifics of each situation. Growing debt levels and increasing wage disparity are common symptoms before collapse. Governments become vulnerable to losses in war and to being overthrown from within. Epidemics tend to spread easily because high wage disparity leads to poor nutrition for many low-wage workers. Dr. Joseph Tainter, in his book, “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” describes the situation as the loss of complexity, as a society no longer has the ability to support some of the programs it previously was able to support.
At the same time the existing economy is failing, the beginnings of new economies can be expected to start. In some sense, economies “evolve,” just as plants and animals evolve. New economies will eventually replace existing ones. These changes are a necessary part of evolution, caused by the physics of the biosphere.
In physics terms, economies are dissipative structures, just as plants, animals, and hurricanes are dissipative structures. All dissipative structures require energy supplies of some type(s) to grow and remain away from a dead state. These structures do not “live” endlessly. Instead, they come to an end and are often replaced by new, slightly different, dissipative structures.
[2] Over the next 10 years, the general direction of the economy will be toward contraction, rather than growth.
There are many indications that the world economy is hitting a turning point because of rising population and diminishing returns with respect to resource extraction. For example:
[a] Debt levels are very high in the US and other countries. A rising debt level can temporarily be used to pull an economy forward without adequate energy supplies because it indirectly gives workers and businesses more spendable income. This income can be used to work around the lack of inexpensive energy products of the preferred types in a variety of different ways:
- It can allow consumers to afford a higher price for existing energy products, if the additional funds get back to customers as higher incomes or lower taxes.
- It can allow businesses to find more efficient ways of using resources, such as ramping up international trade or building more efficient vehicles.
- It can allow the development of new energy products, such as nuclear power generation and electricity from wind and solar.
What we are finding now is that these new approaches tend to encounter bottlenecks of their own. For example, oil supply is sufficiently constrained that the current level of international trade no longer seems to be feasible. Also, wind and solar don’t directly replace oil; electricity based on wind turbines and solar panels can lead to blackouts. Furthermore, diminishing returns with respect to oil and other resources tends to get worse over time, leading to a need for ever more workarounds.
If at some point, extraction becomes more constrained and workarounds fail to provide adequate relief, added debt will lead to inflation rather than to hoped-for economic growth. Higher inflation is the issue that many advanced economies have been struggling with recently. This is an indication that the world has hit limits to growth.
[b] Because of low oil prices, companies are deciding to cut back new investments in extracting oil from shale, and likely elsewhere.
Figure 1. Brent equivalent oil prices, in 2024 US dollars, based on a combination of indications through 2023. Sources include historical oil prices in 2023$ from the 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy, published by the Energy Institute; the increase in average Brent spot price from 2023 to 2024, published by the US EIA; and the US Consumer Price Index for Urban consumers.
Figure 1 shows that oil prices rise and fall; they don’t rise endlessly. They rose after US oil production hit its first limits in 1970, but this was worked around by ramping up oil production elsewhere. Prices rose in the 2003 to 2008 period and then fell temporarily due to recession. They returned to a higher level in 2011 to 2013, but they have settled at a lower level since then.
One factor in the price decline since 2013 has been the production of US shale oil, adding to world oil supply. Another factor has been growing wage disparity, as workers from rich countries have indirectly begun to compete with workers from low-wage countries for many types of jobs. Low-wage workers cannot afford cars, motorcycles, or long-distance vacations, and this affordability issue is holding down oil demand.
US oil production from shale is in danger of collapsing during the next few years because prices are low, making new investment unprofitable for many producers. In fact, current prices for oil from shale are lower than shown on Figure 1, partly because US prices are a little lower than Brent, and partly because prices have fallen further in 2025. The recent price available for US WTI oil is only about $62 per barrel.
[c] World per capita coal production has fallen since 2014. A recent problem has been low prices.
Figure 2. World coal production through 2023 based on data of the 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy, published by the Energy Institute.
Transportation costs are a major factor in the delivered price of coal. The reduced production of coal is at least partly the result of coal mines near population centers getting mined out, and the high cost of transporting coal from more distant mines. Today’s coal prices do not seem to be high enough to accommodate the higher costs relating to diminishing returns.
[d] In theory, added debt could be used to prop up oil and coal prices, but debt levels are already very high.
Besides the problem with inflation, mentioned in point [a], there are problems with debt levels becoming unmanageably high.
Figure 3. Figure from page 10 of The Long-Term Budget Outlook 2025 to 2055, published in March 2025 by the US Congressional Budget Office.
Figure 3 shows US government debt as a ratio to GDP. If we look at the period since 2008, there was an especially large increase in debt at the time of the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis and the 2020 Pandemic. The debt level has become so high that interest on the debt is likely to require tax revenue to rise endlessly. The underlying problem is needing to pay interest on the huge amount of outstanding debt.
Putting together [a], [b], [c], and [d], the world has a huge problem. As the world economy is currently organized, it is heavily dependent on both oil and coal. Oil is heavily used in agriculture and in transportation of all kinds (cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, and ships). Coal is especially used in steel and concrete making, and in metal refining. We don’t have direct replacements for coal and oil for these uses. Wind and solar are terribly deficient at their current state of development.
The laws of physics tell us that, given the world’s current infrastructure, a reduction in the availability of both crude oil and coal will lead to cutbacks in the production of many kinds of goods and services around the world. Thus, we should expect that GDP will contract, perhaps for a long period, until workarounds for our difficulties can be developed. Today’s wind turbines and solar panels cannot solve the problem for many reasons, one of which is that fact that production and transport of these devices is dependent upon coal and oil supplies.
Thus, without adequate oil and coal to meet the needs of the world’s growing population, the world economy is being forced to gradually contract.
[3] Overall living standards can be expected to fall rather than rise during the next decade.
A recent article in the Economist shows the following chart, based on an analysis by the United Nations:
Figure 4. Chart showing global average “Human Development Index,” as calculated by the United Nations, in the Economist.
Figure 4 shows the trend in the Human Development Index as level in 2023-24. I expect that the trend will gradually shift downward in 2024-2025 and beyond. Modern advances, such as the availability of potable water in homes and the availability of electricity 24 hours per day, will become increasingly less common.
The Economist article displaying Figure 4 notes that, so far, most of the drop in living standards has happened in the poorer countries of the world. These countries were hit harder by Covid restrictions than rich countries. For example, the drop in tourism had a greater impact on less advanced countries than on rich countries. Poor countries were also affected by a decline in export orders for luxury clothing.
Outside of poor countries, young people are already finding it difficult to find jobs that pay well. They are often burdened with debt relating to advanced education, making it difficult for them to have the same standard of living that their parents had. This trend is likely to start hitting older citizens, as well. Jobs will be available, but they won’t pay well. This problem will affect both young and old.
[4] Governments will be especially vulnerable to cutbacks.
History shows that when overshoot and collapse occur, governments are likely to experience severe difficulties, indirectly because many of their citizens are getting poorer. They require more government programs, but if wages tend to be low, the taxes they pay tend to be low, too.
Unfortunately, the kinds of cutbacks being undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are very much necessary to get payments by the US government down to a level that can be supported by taxes. Regardless of how successful the current DOGE program is, I expect a huge reduction in the number of individuals on the payroll of the US government, perhaps by 50% to 75%, in the next 10 years. I also expect major cutbacks in the funding for outside organizations, such as universities and the many organizations DOGE has targeted.
At some point, the US government will need to reduce or eliminate many types of benefit payments made now. One approach might be to try to send many kinds of programs, such as job loss protection, Medicaid, and Medicare, back to the states to handle. Of course, the states would also have difficulty paying for these benefits without huge tax increases.
[5] Ten years from now, universities and colleges will enroll far fewer students.
I expect that university enrollments will fall by as much as 75% over the next 10 years, partly because government funding for universities is expected to fall. With less funding, tuition and fees are likely to be even higher than they are today. At the same time, jobs for university graduates that pay well will become less available. These considerations will lead fewer students to enroll in four-year programs. Shorter, more targeted education teaching specific skills are likely to become more popular.
There will still be some high-paying jobs available, requiring university degrees. One such area may be in finding answers to our energy and resource problems. Such research will likely be carried out by a smaller number of researchers than are active today because some current areas of research will be discarded as having too little potential benefit relative to the cost involved. Any approach considered will need to succeed with, at most, a tiny amount of government funding.
High paying jobs may also be available to a few students who plan to be the “wheeler-dealers” of the world. Some of these wheeler-dealer types will want to be the ones founding companies. Others will want to run for public office. They may be able to succeed, as well. They may want to study specialized tracks to advance their career goals. Or they may want to choose institutions where they can make contacts with people who can help them in pursuing their career goals.
For most young people, I expect that four-year university degrees will increasingly be viewed as a waste of time and money.
[6] In a shrinking economy, debt defaults will become an increasing problem.
A growing economy is very helpful in allowing financial institutions to prosper. With growth, future earnings of businesses tend to be higher than past earnings. These higher earnings make it possible repay both the borrowed amount and the required interest. With growth, there is little need to lay off employees. Thus, the employees have a reasonable chance to repay mortgage loans and car loans according to agreed-upon terms.
If an economy is shrinking, overhead becomes an ever-larger share of total revenues. This makes profits harder to achieve and may make it necessary to lay off employees. These laid-off employees are more likely to default on their outstanding loans. As debt defaults rise, interest rates charged by lenders tend to rise to compensate for the greater default risk. The higher interest rates make debt repayment for future borrowers even more difficult.
All these issues are likely to lead to financial crises, as debt defaults become more common.
[7] As debt defaults rise, banks tend to fail. This can lead to hyperinflation or deflation.
In a shrinking economy, the big question when banks fail is, “Will governments bail out the banks?”
If governments bail out the failing banks, there is a tendency toward inflation because the bailouts increase the money supply available to citizens, but not the quantity of goods available for purchase. If enough banks fail, the tendency may be toward hyperinflation–way too much money available to purchase very few goods and services.
If no government bailouts are available, the tendency is toward deflation. Without bailouts, the problem is that fewer banks are available to lend to citizens and businesses. As a result, fewer people can afford to buy homes and vehicles using debt, and fewer businesses can take out loans to purchase needed supplies. These changes lead to less demand for finished goods. This change in demand can indirectly be expected to affect commodity prices, as well, including oil prices. With low prices, some suppliers may go out of business, making any supply problem worse.
Regardless of whether bailouts are attempted or not, on average, citizens can be expected to be getting poorer and poorer as time goes on. This occurs because with a shrinking economy, fewer goods and services will be made. Unless the population shrinks at the same rate, individual citizens will find themselves getting poorer and poorer.
[8] Expect more tariffs and more conflicts among countries.
Without enough oil for transportation, the quantity of imported goods must be cut back. A tariff is a good way of doing this. If one country starts raising tariffs, the temptation is for other countries to raise tariffs in return. Thus, the overall level of tariffs can be expected to rise in future years.
Without enough goods and services for everyone to maintain their current standard of living, there will be a definite tendency for more conflict to occur. However, I doubt that the result will be World War III. For one thing, the West seems to have inadequate ammunition to fight a full-scale conventional war. For another, the nuclear bombs that are available are valuable for providing fuel for our nuclear power plants. It makes no sense to use them in war.
[9] Expect an increasing share of empty shelves, as time goes on.
High tech goods are especially likely to disappear from shelves. Replacement parts for automobiles may also be difficult to find, especially before an aftermarket of locally manufactured parts appears.
[10] Interest rates are likely to stay at their current level or increase to a higher level.
The high level of borrowing by governments and others makes lenders reluctant to lend unless the interest rates are high. It should also be noted that current interest rates are not high relative to historical standards. The world has been spoiled in recent years with artificially low interest rates, made possible by Quantitative Easing and other manipulations.
[11] Clearly, this list is not exhaustive.
The world economy has gone through two major disruptions in recent years, one in 2008, and one in 2020. Very unusual changes such as these are quite possible again.
We don’t know how soon new economies will begin to evolve. Eric Chaisson, a physicist who has researched this issue, says that there is a tendency for ever more complex, energy-dense systems to evolve over time. This would suggest that an even more advanced economy may be possible in the future.
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Site: Zero HedgeRussia Launches Major Drone Attack On Border Town With NATO MemberTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 18:05
As the drone and aerial war between Russia and Ukraine continues heating up, there's been another 'close call' which is being viewed as a possible direct threat by a NATO member country.
Ukrainian officials said Friday that Russian forces sent drones on a Ukrainian town on the border with NATO member Romania in Odessa region, as cited in Reuters.
Local media issued photos of a destroyed postal center in Izmail, on the Ukraine, Romania border.
"The attack hit the town of Izmail, Ukraine's biggest port on the Danube river, which is important for critical imports and which lies across the river from Romania," the report underscores.
There were reports of damage, including the total destruction of a post office and parcel center, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said, but no immediate reports of casualties.
Throughout the war there have been similar border town strikes, but they remain rare, as Moscow is seeking to avoid any action which can be seen as a brazen attack on NATO territory.
Still, there have at times been threats connected with Western-supplied F-16s, as the Kremlin long ago warned that if these jets take off from NATO airbases next to Ukraine, those very bases could be 'fair game'.
But both sides have thus far carefully avoided build-up to nuclear-armed confrontation pitting Russia vs. the NATO bloc, led by the US. Russia may at this point be increasingly targeting 'command centers' in Ukraine as well.
Drone warfare over the past months has been greatly expanded by both sides. Ukraine too has been pummeling Russian territory with constant nighttime drone attacks, in hopes of crippling the country's infrastructure and destabilizing Russia's leadership.
Ukrainian military leaders have boasted of some startling figures, which can't be verified:
Ukrainian soldiers hit and destroyed in May more than 89,000 Russian targets using drones of various types, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on May 30.
Syrskyi did not specify which targets were hit. Throughout Russia's all-out war, Ukrainian drones have been used to target Russian vehicles, troops, as well as fortified positions.
"Each drone means a destroyed enemy, and therefore a saved life of a Ukrainian serviceman. A special emphasis is placed on the destruction of enemy UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) operators and their command centers," the commander said. Presumably he's tallying all drone use, whether on the front lines inside Ukraine or sent against Russian territory or Crimea.
But these nightly tit-for-tat assaults threaten to derail Trump-backed efforts to achieve peace, at a sensitive moment going into the second round of Istanbul talks, scheduled for Monday. Analysts are currently setting expectations low, also given the Russian delegation is made up of mid-level officials.
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Site: Zero HedgeTrump Aims For 400 GW Of Nuclear By 2050, 10 Large Reactors Under Construction By 2030Tyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 17:30
By Brian Martucci of UtilityDive
Executive Summary:
- The White House wants to deploy 300 GW of net new nuclear capacity by 2050 and have 10 large reactors under construction in the U.S. by 2030 while expanding domestic nuclear fuel supplies, according to an executive order signed by President Trump.
- Trump signed three other orders on Friday to accelerate Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews of reactor license applications and reconsider strict NRC radiation limits; expand departments of Energy and Defense roles in nuclear power plant licensing and siting; and speed up deployment of new test reactors.
- Nuclear power advocates hailed the orders as a boon for the industry, but warned that staff cuts at NRC and DOE could slow progress. A representative for the Union of Concerned Scientists said the proposed reforms would make the public less safe.
Shares of publicly-traded advanced nuclear and reactor fuel companies have soared, suggesting investors see Trump’s orders as more than just words on paper.
Oklo, the advanced reactor developer previously chaired by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, was up more than 20% since Friday afternoon. Oklo’s shares got another boost Tuesday morning as it announced a design and development partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to accelerate deployment of its Aurora powerhouses.
Shares of small modular reactor developer NuScale and uranium suppliers Centrus Energy and Uranium Energy also rose more than 20% in Friday and early Tuesday trading.
Trump’s “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base” executive order called on Wright and other cabinet secretaries to develop a national policy for spent nuclear fuel management. The order singles out recycling and reprocessing activities that could benefit companies like Oklo, which plans to build fuel reprocessing capabilities and is developing reactors that can run on recycled fuel.
Another order, “President Donald J. Trump Deploys Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security,” calls on Wright “to release at least 20 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium into a readily available fuel bank for private sector projects operating nuclear reactors to power AI infrastructure at DOE sites.”
Congress last year banned Russian uranium imports from 2028, cutting off a key supply of HALEU in particular and adding urgency to ongoing federal efforts to expand domestic supplies.
“Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base” also calls for the DOE Loan Programs Office to prioritize support for construction of new large reactors and 5 GW of power uprates to existing reactors by 2030. It specifically mentions support for “completing construction of nuclear reactors that was prematurely suspended,” signaling possible LPO support for the completion of the two unfinished AP1000 reactors at Santee Cooper’s VC Summer site in South Carolina.
Recent changes at DOE could undermine that goal, Nuclear Innovation Alliance President and CEO Judi Greenwald said in a statement.
“Recent DOE staffing reductions and proposed budget cuts undermine the Department’s efforts and make it harder to implement these executive orders,” Greenwald said. “We urge the Administration and Congress to adequately resource and staff DOE to meet this moment.”
Greenwald said proposed NRC process changes in another executive order, “President Donald J. Trump Directs Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” while well-intentioned, could also prove counterproductive.
“NIA has long thought it is important that NRC improve the efficiency of its activities,” she said. “However …[o]ur assessment is that NRC is already making significant progress on reform in compliance with congressional direction including the 2024 ADVANCE Act. It is in everyone’s interest that this progress continue and not be undermined by staffing cuts or upended by conflicting directives.”
Greenwald added that the “effectiveness, efficiency and independence” of the NRC is essential for public confidence in nuclear power and for ongoing efforts to commercialize and export nuclear technology.
Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, was more blunt in a statement that also criticized the administration’s proposal to involve other federal departments in nuclear reactor siting, licensing and fuel supply.
“The U.S. nuclear industry will fail if safety is not made a priority,” Lyman said. “By fatally compromising the independence and integrity of the NRC, and by encouraging pathways for nuclear deployment that bypass the regulator entirely, the Trump administration is virtually guaranteeing that this country will see a serious accident or other radiological release that will affect the health, safety and livelihoods of millions.”
Setting aside potential safety risks, involving the departments of defense and energy could cause needless confusion for nuclear technology developers, said Atomic Canyon CEO Trey Lauderdale.
“New capabilities for the Department of Defense and DOE to license and oversee projects could actually create additional red tape as companies navigate between three new potential oversight bodies instead of one,” Lauderdale said.
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Site: RT - News
Ahmed al-Sharaa led a coalition of Islamist forces that toppled the previous government last November
The insurgents who toppled previous Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s government and brought new interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to power could now threaten his political survival, the Washington Post wrote on Saturday.
Multiple militant groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power in Damascus late last year. They included thousands of foreign fighters who remain in Syria, some of whom have ties to extremist groups like Islamic State and other radical factions, the newspaper wrote.
While al-Sharaa “seems intent on keeping” some of them around as he courts Western support, the “hard-line Sunni Muslim militants” are already giving him trouble, WaPo wrote. Some of the militants were involved in massacres of Alawites along the Syrian coast in March, the outlet added. At least 1,300 people, including 973 civilians, were killed in the span of a few days, according to local media. Christian and Druze communities in Syria have also reportedly faced bloody sectarian violence since the change in power.
The most radical of the foreign Islamists are “turning their ire” on al-Sharaa, because the new president has not implemented Sharia law and allegedly cooperated with the US and Türkiye to target extremist factions in Syria, WaPo wrote.
READ MORE: What is Trump’s game in Syria?
Earlier in May, US President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa and announced the lifting of sanctions, most of which had been imposed during the rule of Assad. Al-Sharaa has called Trump’s move “a historic and courageous decision, which alleviates the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth, and lays the foundations for stability in the region.”
Read moreSyria facing collapse – Rubio
Shortly after the Trump-Sharaa meeting, a top ideologue of Salafi jihadism, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, issued a fatwa branding the new Syrian leader an “infidel.”
Syria remains a hotbed of extremist activity and could destabilize at any time, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The country has become “a playground for jihadist groups, including ISIS and others,” the top diplomat warned last week, adding that it could be “weeks – not many months – away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war.”
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogIt’s the last day of the Roman Sojourn cycle of April and May 2025. My first mistake was attempting something called Smash Burger It took 17 minutes to get this sloppy mess. My pressure grew as I watched the kitchen … Read More →
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Site: Henrymakow.com(Trump signalled his allegiance to racist psychopath Menachem Schneerson by visiting his grave Oct 7, 2024, the anniversary of the Hamas-Mossad false flag attack designed to kick off WW3. He was accompanied by fellow Chabadniks Commerce Sec Howard Lutnick and Zionist shill Ben Shapiro.)CHABAD wants to genocide most Christians by roughly the summer or autumn of 2027."Overall, the CHABAD is frustrated that the Christian Holocaust "only"led to the genocide of 150 million Christians so far in WW1 and WW2.But statements by "holy" CHABAD rabbis show that, in WW3, the CHABADplans to increase its total death-toll to over 2 billion Christians,which is its most "holy" mission of all.Trumpet, Putin and Satanyahu are all members of Chabadcommitted to using war to disguise their genocidal agenda.Chabad Defector- Jewish Racism Behind Plan to Exterminate Goyimby Patrick O'Carroll(henrymakow.com)The CHABAD deadline for the resumption of the CHRISTIAN HOLOCAUST appears to be mid to late 2027. This is clear from the following three facts:Firstly, in Jul 2024, CHABAD "holy" rabbi Isser Weisberg stated that the latest deadline for installing the Final Antichrist is 2 Oct 2027, here: https://old.bitchute.com/video/1argN02mzJf5/.But secondly, in 1994, CHABAD "holy" rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson stated that MOST Christians must be genocided BEFORE the Final Antichrist arrives. Hence, the CHABAD seems to be hinting that MOST Christians must be genocided by 2 Oct 2027 at the latest.Thirdly, the CHABAD appears to have intended its Hamas False-Flag Attack of 7 Oct 2023 as the start of WW3 because this occurred close to the 2023 Feast of Tabernacles "Sukkot", and a prophecy called TUR SHULCHAN ARUCH ORACH CHAIM 490 states that WW3 shall begin at "Sukkot" (i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles).Overall, the CHABAD is frustrated that the Christian Holocaust "only" led to the genocide of 150 million Christians so far in WW1 and WW2. But statements by "holy" CHABAD rabbis show that, in WW3, the CHABAD plans to increase its total death-toll to over 2 billion Christians, which is its most "holy" mission of all.#1 CHABAD TIMING FOR THE CHRISTIAN HOLOCAUST IN THREE PARTSWithin Judaism, the official covert + overt name for the Christian Holocaust is the "Three-Part War of Gog and Magog", as described in Ezekiel chapters 38-39 of the Old Testament, although most Jews are unaware of this.In 1951-94, the "holy" rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the leader of the Sabbatean-Frankist, Gnostic-Dualist (Luciferian) CHABAD. And although very many of his followers regarded Schneerson as the Antichrist, he himself eschewed this praise in 1994, when he told his followers that the Antichrist will not arrive until the Jews have first done their "sacred" duty by genociding MOST Christians in order to "merit" the arrival of the Antichrist, who will ultimately reward them by granting them the Talmudic "new" world order, and by granting every Jew 2,800 Goyim "Livestock" ("animals") as his slaves in perpetuity.The CHABAD plans these slaves to include a Christian minority that will "unfortunately" succeed in surviving this MASSIVE CULL. The exact headcount of slaves is confirmed by Talmud Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D, which states: "When the Jewish messiah [i.e. the Antichrist] comes, every Jew will have 2,800 slaves".Here, Schneerson was expressing his frustration at all Jews in general, but also expressing his disappointment that the CHABAD itself "only" managed to genocide 150 million Christians in the Christian Holocaust of 1914-55.His grandfather was the "holy" rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneerson, who was the CHABAD leader in 1892-1920, when the CHABAD succeeded in orchestrating the genocide of 65 million Christians in WW1.And his father was the "holy" rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who was the CHABAD leader in 1920-50, when the CHABAD succeeded in genociding 85 million Christians in WW2. In his 2016 book "The Rabbi Saved by Hitler's Soldiers", Bryan Mark Rigg showed how the NSDAP went out of its way to save this same "holy" rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn who, along with Bernard Baruch and Victor Rothschild, was one of the TOP THREE Zionist bosses, owners, and controllers of the NSDAP in 1933-45.Today, the topmost priority of the CHABAD and its helper organizations such as the SANHEDRIN (re-founded in Jerusalem in Oct 2004) is to GENOCIDE OVER 2 BILLION CHRISTIANS pursuant to the Talmud, in the third or final part of this "Three-Part War", and to vastly increase its current kill-count from "only" 150 million.In the following clip, the "holy" CHABAD rabbi Yosef Mizrachi openly calls for the genocide of 6 BILLION Goyim "Livestock" in the coming years because the tracts added to the Talmud by the "holy" rabbi Maimonides in the 1100s refer to these Goyim "Livestock" as "idol worshipers": https://old.bitchute.com/video/bPPxENsNPSVj/. Needless to say, this does not qualify as "hate speech", which only pertains to the "crime" of disagreeing with a Jew. It cannot be construed as "Anti-Arabic" (Anti-Semitic) since this "holy" rabbi has VERBAL IMPUNITY by being Jewish. Overall, Mizrachi confirmed the CHABAD wants to genocide 6 billion Goyim "Livestock" (such as most Christians) in WW3.#2 CHABAD TIMING FOR WW3, WHICH IT LAUNCHED ON 7 OCT 2023Why did the CHABAD launch the Hamas "attack" on 7 Oct 2023, close to the Feast of Tabernacles ("Sukkot"), which, in 2023, ran from Saturday 29 Sep 2023 until Friday 6 Oct 2023? The significance was discussed in this article, dated 3 Nov 2023 (published less than a month after the CHABAD-orchestrated Hamas false-flag "attack").ARBA'AH TURIM is an important Halakhic code composed by the "holy" rabbi Yaakov ben Asher. The four-part structure of the ARBA'AH TURIM and its division into chapters were adopted by the later code called the SHULCHAN ARUCH, which is often called TUR SHULCHAN ARUCH (where "TUR" refers to ARBA'AH TURIM).But, TUR SHULCHAN ARUCH ORACH CHAIM 490 says that WW3 will begin during "Sukkot" (i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles) on the fifteenth of the seventh month Tishrei. In 2023, the fifteenth of Tishrei fell on Saturday 30 Sep 2023. So, it is unclear why the CHABAD launched the Hamas false-flag "attack" on 7 Oct 2023. This did not totally "fulfill" the prophecy. (Of course, the CHABAD rigged events to make it SEEM as if prophecy was being "fulfilled")."BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT HE HAS A SHORT TIME" (Rev 12:12)Revelation 12:12 reminds us that the Antichrist does not have "forever" to accomplish his genocide. In full, Rev 12:12 reads: "Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them; Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth and the sea; For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time".The Antichrist State of Israel knows IT ONLY HAS 80 YEARS (meaning 1948-2028)In Nov 2023, the ZioFascist website ISRAEL TODAY ("Israel Hayom") reminded its readers of the following:"About 30 years ago, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe [Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994] told a young Netanyahu that 'he, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be [the Antichrist State of] Israel's prime-minister, who will pass the scepter to the [Jewish] messiah [i.e. to the Antichrist]'. [Schneerson] said this during the election campaign in the 1990s, before Netanyahu's first term in office". Source: https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/lubavitcher-rebbe-after-bibi-comes-the-messiah/That means the CHABAD plans the Antichrist (Jewish "messiah") to appear when Benjamin Netanyahu finishes being prime-minister of the Antichrist State of Israel, although the Antichrist himself will not succeed him as PM.The article added: "Never in its history has the [Antichrist State] of Israel ruled and lived freely and independently in its Biblical homeland for more than 80 years". But that is nonsense since the Japhetic Khazars have no link to any Palestinian "homeland", but are a cancer attached by allograft to the hopelessly afflicted Arab-Semitic region.Ehud Barak is regarded as a "moderate" Zionist (i.e. not a ZioFascist). In May 2022, Barak warned that no Jewish Kingdom has ever lasted longer than 80 years AND that the Antichrist State of Israel could cease to exist before turning eighty on 14 May 2028: https://www.palestinechronicle.com/former-israeli-premier-israel-could-cease-to-exist-before-80th-anniversary/Of further interest is that Benjamin Netanyahu is also set to turn eighty soon, on 21 Oct 2029.All of these are CLEAR CONFIRMATIONS that the Antichrist is WELL AWARE THAT HIS TIME IS SHORT.Two CONCURRENT Preparatory Antichrists: Trump and NetanyahuJudaism has two separate antagonists, i.e. one Preparatory Antichrist in every age and one Final Antichrist in the End Times. The Preparatory Antichrist is called "Moshiach ben Yosef", whereas the Final Antichrist is called "Moshiach ben David".The Preparatory Antichrist does NOT have to be a Jew but the Final Antichrist MUST be a Jew. Christopher Jon Bjerknes named two past Gentile Preparatory Antichrists as Zionist Adolf Hitler in 1933-45, and the Persian Cyrus the Great in 600-530 BC. The Zionists secretly revere the Zionist-controlled Hitler as the founder of the Antichrist State of Israel, while Judaism exalts Cyrus the Great for his role in freeing the Judeans from the Babylonian Captivity, by issuing the Edict of Restoration following the Persian conquest of Babylon.In the following ceremony on 18 Nov 1990, the "holy" rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson officially appointed Netanyahu as the Jewish Preparatory Antichrist called "Moshiach ben Yosef": https://old.bitchute.com/video/C0SUSxjULsIN/In late July 2024, the "holy" CHABAD rabbi Isser Weisberg officially confirmed that the Sabbatean-Frankist and Gnostic-Dualist (Luciferian) CHABAD had anointed CHABAD-member Donald Trump as the Gentile Preparatory Antichrist or "Moshiach ben Yosef", whose official task is to prepare the way for the "Moshiach ben David" or Final Antichrist. In the same talk,Weisberg stated explicitly that the CHABAD wants the Final Antichrist to be installed [in Jerusalem] by 2 Oct 2027, meaning at the very latest by the end of Hebrew Year 5787. Weisberg made these statements in a talk that you can find here: https://old.bitchute.com/video/1argN02mzJf5/.The fact that the CHABAD has now fielded TWO concurrent Preparatory Antichrists (Netanyahu as the Jewish "Moshiach ben Yosef" and Trump as the so-called Gentile "Moshiach ben Yosef") is exceptional or unprecedented, and it would tend to indicate that it really means business. Overall, the CHABAD wants to resume the CHRISTIAN HOLOCAUST soon and genocide most Christians by roughly the summer or autumn of 2027.CONCLUSIONThis may all be the CHABAD plan but there is no guarantee that it will succeed, or that the Antichrist will win. The "80 years of the Antichrist State of Israel" confirm that the Antichrist is very well-aware that his time is short.Judaism is not really a "religion", but rather a Mafia Codex intending to orchestrate the industrial genocide of most Christians in what Judaism covertly and overtly calls the "Three-Part War of Gog and Magog".
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Site: Zero HedgeHarvard, You're Entitled To NothingTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 16:20
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via The Daily Signal,
Recently, President Donald Trump has escalated his struggle with Harvard University.
Remember what the issues were.
Harvard had not really followed the letter of the law according to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling, which it and the University of North Carolina had lost.
In other words, they were, by court order, to stop giving preference in admissions, in hiring, in promotion, in retention on the basis of race, gender, etc., what we would call DEI. Harvard has been skirting that. And I think the data’s pretty clear how they have and no question that they’ve been doing it.
Second, they have also been getting a lot of money from foreign governments, not always fully accounted for, that is reported to the Department of Education, specifically Communist China and Qatar, over the years.
You could make the argument that there have been, in the past, graduations, dorms that have a racial basis, almost a segregation element to them.
You can make the argument that they don’t fully honor the First Amendment when you have guest speakers. Sometimes when they want to give a presentation at a formal lecture or even an informal class, students—while they may be officially discouraged from it—they are allowed, de facto, to shout the speaker down or to protest.
I think there’s no question that there is a climate of antisemitism throughout Harvard. Recently, two Harvard students who assaulted a Jewish student—one of whom was kind of rewarded with a $65,000 honorarium through the auspices of the law school, another one was given an honorific title at a graduation at the Divinity School of marshal. That sent the wrong message.
What I’m getting at is there was a lot of cause for Donald Trump to suggest, “I don’t need this, the country doesn’t need this.” But in his bill of complaints that were contingent on Harvard making compromises, he also got into elements of instruction, curriculum, and hiring.
He said, “Why are you hiring people from only one point of view?” Which I think is indisputable. Very few conservatives. Or one particular take on the American history, i.e., negative. That prompted the Council on Higher Education and other venues that have published it to solicit letters from people who would be called center-right—some of my colleagues at Hoover. And they objected to what Donald Trump’s add-ons were. And I think that’s reflected in The Wall Street Journal column by Jason Riley.
Essentially, they’re saying: We understand when Harvard’s clearly violating laws or charging too much for individual research grants—60% overhead. But now you’re entering the inner domain of the Harvard complex and you’re trying to micromanage and that’s wrong.
I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I don’t know whether my colleagues and friends on the right have characterized it the way in which the argument is coming from the Trump administration.
They are saying, “This is analogous to immigration. When somebody is a guest and applies to come here in a visa, that’s an invitation. And we don’t have to give reasons why we don’t want a particular person to come to the United States. What the federal government does with its money vis-a-vis private education is kind of like an invitation. They invite us to give them money. And sometimes we don’t wanna do it. Maybe we say, ‘We don’t like Harvard. We like Fresno State.’ And we don’t have to give you a reason at all because it’s not a requirement. It’s a privilege. Some colleges like Hillsdale don’t take any money. They don’t want us to give them money.”
And so, I think the argument from the administration that maybe our right-wing friends are missing is not that the Trump administration doesn’t have a right to go in and micromanage. They’re just saying, “I don’t really wanna give Harvard any money. They’ve got $53 billion. They’re private. They’re not public institutions. But you know, if they ask us and they want money, then we have to look at why we would give it to them.”
And it’s kind of like Mr. Smith coming from Korea or Mr. Jones coming from Sweden. We look at them and we don’t really think they add to the Americans. So, we don’t have an invitation.
It’s kind of like foreign aid. Maybe Denmark wants foreign aid. Maybe Ghana wants foreign aid. And we look at it and then, we’re under no—we can say, “Well, Denmark, you have to give us Greenland—if we want—before we give you foreign aid.” We’re under no requirement to explain every decision we make for an optional gift.
So we would apply that logic. I think that’s what the Trump administration is doing: “Harvard, here’s some money. We don’t really care if you want it or not. But if you do want it, we would suggest that you broaden your curriculum, you give both points of view, and just try to hire more conservatives to balance out. And if you don’t want to do that, don’t worry about it. We’ll just give the money to trade school.”
This is as simple as that.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionBy Meghan Schrader
Meghan SchraderFrom my perspective as a disability justice advocate and scholar, assisted suicide is an ableist public policy that furthers systemic violence and trauma, and it is best to nip the USA assisted suicide movement in the bud and not let that movement get its foot in the door. l think that this reality is perhaps best exemplified in the story of my Canadian friend “Amy.”
I’ve heard a lot of proponents refer to assisted suicide opponents as “cruel,” and I think Amy’s story is a good opportunity for readers to contemplate which public policies are cruel and which are not, especially because the USA death with dignity movement that is pushing Oregon style laws collaborate with people who want to take the United States in Canada’s direction.
Amy is a disabled Canadian who reached out to me and another X user for help after Canada legalized euthanasia for disabled people in 2021. Amy had endured child abuse, which left Amy with PTSD and physical injuries that caused severe chronic pain. As an indigent disabled person Amy was unable to access thorough medical treatment for these disabilities, so even though Amy wanted to live and was deeply offended by Canada’s decision to expand euthanasia to people with disabilities, Amy’s suffering was so great that Amy thought constantly of dying by “MAiD.”
However, when Amy called a mental health and suicide crisis support hotline for poor people and asked the operator for help fighting against these thoughts, the operator said, “Well, MAiD is a legit and legal option. Maybe it’s something you should consider. The medical system seems to be failing you. And you are never going to get the opiate pain medication that you think you need.”
So, me and this other X user, “Rachel,” took the place of that suicide hotline. For months, whenever Amy thought about applying for MAiD or dying by some other suicide method, we would talk our companion down. The three of us became really good friends. We talked about our experiences with ableism, our struggles to access treatment for our illnesses, what toys we liked as children and our hopes for the future. Various issues had made it impossible for Amy to approach a faith leader about the situation, so Rachel and I did our best to fill that role. At Amy’s request, the three of us prayed together and talked about God.
With help from about ten different people, including the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Amy was eventually able to take a train four hours away from home and show up in the emergency room of a hospital that opppses “MAiD” and specializes in chronic pain and mental illness. Amy finally recieved excellent care. Although Amy sometimes still has symptoms of chronic pain and PTSD and life is still often quite a struggle, Amy’s symptoms are manageable and Amy is not planning to die by “MAiD.” It was my honor to attend Amy’s Zoom birthday party recently.
But thanks to Compassion and Choice’s friends in Canada and the systemic ableism that is enabling their cause, the Canadian medical system would have killed Amy before providing adequate medical treatment or support.
I am not sure what happened to Rachel. Rachel shared that she now has to walk past a “MAiD provider’s” office at every psychiatrist appointment, that this is traumatic and that appropriate accommodations for her physical disabilities are often not available. We have not heard from Rachel in over a year. I hope Rachel is alive.
I’ve read statements from proponents of recent assisted suicide bill's saying that their supporters are “real people with grief and loss, not hypothetical scenarios.” Well, Amy and Rachel are not hypothetical scenarios, they are my friends. I’ve read statements describing myself and other disability rights movement opponents of assisted suicide as “abusive, bullying and cruel.”But I can think of few things more abusive, bullying and cruel then for a suicide prevention hotline operator to tell a caller to go ahead and be killed. I don’t want to live in that world, and like others in the disability justice movement I won’t be quiet while the proponents lay the scaffolding for that to happen.I’m sorry if that makes me cruel. -
Site: RT - News
The body has also banned a 2024 Olympics gold medal winner from future events until she is tested
Amateur boxers aiming for the Olympics will now face sex chromosome testing, under a new rule introduced by World Boxing, the sport’s international governing body.
The federation, which will oversee boxing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, has specifically stated that Algeria’s Imane Khelif – an athlete whose eligibility to compete as a woman at the 2024 Paris Olympics was questioned – will not be able to participate until her genetic sex is verified.
The new measure will “determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part,” World Boxing announced on its website on Friday, explaining that the test is aimed at ensuring the “safety of all participants and… a competitive level playing field for men and women.”
The tests are in the final stages of development, the body said, adding the new rules will come into force on July 1.
Those with “Y chromosome genetic material… or with a difference of sexual development (DSD) where male androgenization occurs, will be eligible to compete in the male category,” World Boxing said. The procedure will involve an appeals process and additional tests in case of any disagreements.
Read moreMen shouldn’t be in women’s sports competitions – UN official
The decision to introduce the new rules was taken by the body’s executive board in May, the organization said, citing what it called “emergency circumstances” and “physical risks associated with Olympic-style boxing.” National federations will be responsible for testing and can be subjected to sanctions if they fail to test or provide fake certifications.
The 25-year-old Khelif found herself at the center of controversy at the Paris Olympics when she defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini in just 46 seconds in a preliminary bout, sparking outrage online. She went on to win the gold medal in women’s boxing.
According to Algeria, Khelif is not transgender but is affected by a medical condition characterized by a high level of testosterone and the presence of XY chromosomes. She failed a gender test and had been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) – the federation that previously oversaw Olympic boxing. However, she was still cleared to compete at the Paris Olympics later.
Khelif herself denied all the allegations and even filed a lawsuit over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” by several prominent figures, including Elon Musk and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
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Site: Zero HedgeICE To Increase Deportations To 3000 Illegals Per Day After Leadership Shake-UpTyler Durden Sat, 05/31/2025 - 15:45
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced sweeping leadership changes Thursday as part of an effort to dramatically ramp up arrests of illegal migrants. New goals for deportations start at 3000 arrests per day at 'bare minimum' according to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and this will grow as the agency receives increased funding.
The change in quota is nearly double the 1800 arrests per day originally mandated by the Trump Administration in January. If arrests remain static at 3000 per day, the new goal would result in over a million deportations of illegal immigrants per year.
To put the situation in perspective, there were at least 11 million border encounters recorded under the Biden Administration's open border bonanza. Add to this approximately 2 million getaways (border jumpers that were not intercepted by Border Patrol). The vast majority (around 85%) of all encounters were released into the US under asylum policies, meaning it is likely that 10 million or more illegal migrants were able to enter the US unfettered.
Considering that the Trump Administration reduced those numbers by 95% at the border in only four months, it's clear that the border invasion was highly coordinated and supported by Democrat politicians and leaders. The migrant crisis was engineered.
Unfortunately the success at the border does not solve the problem of millions of illegals already within the US. Trump is seeking to make deportation a tangible threat and this requires far more arrests. With deportation becoming a common occurrence, the effort may inspire most illegals to simply leave the country on their own.
As part of the shake-up, Kenneth Genalo is out as the head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division – the branch tasked with executing arrests and deportations. Genalo “decided to retire and will continue to serve the public as a special government employee to ICE,” the agency said in a statement.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Executive Associate Director Robert Hammer has also been reassigned to a “critical leadership position.”
Career ICE officials Marcos Charles and Derek Gordon will replace Genalo and Hammer at ICE and HSI, respectively. In total, more than half a dozen personnel changes were made at ERO, HSI and other ICE divisions Thursday, according to the agency.
The change in momentum comes with rising public concerns about migrant crime and the possibility that Trump's second term will not be enough time to undo the damage done by Democrats since 2021. With constant interference from leftist judges, the process of removing illegals from the US is far more difficult that opening the gates and letting them flood in.
Progressives are doing everything in their power to maintain a mass illegal migrant presence, with all their future election prospects resting on an eventual political action to turn most illegals into voting citizens through mass amnesty.
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Site: southern orders
Pope Leo arrives at the Lourdes’ Grotto behind St. Peter’s to close out the Month of Mary with the Holy Rosary. His Holiness is stunningly papal!
Rorate Caeli confirms that Pope Leo will indeed live in the Apostolic Palace as it is a more humble abode and smaller than where Pope Francis lived at the Vatican Motel VI. Press title for full story:Santa Marta is too expensive: Pope Leo returns to the Apostolic Palace
Moneybyte:
Leone has first of all reestablished—with kindness but firmness—the dignity proper to the Supreme Pontiff with small but significant gestures. The new Pope willingly accepts the kissing of his hand as a sign of respect and reverence, but woe betide anyone who asks him for a selfie, a symbol of the pop decadence to which Bergoglio had become so accustomed. Even his outward appearance has returned to that befitting the successor of Peter, with more appropriate and formal attire: the Pope wears the choral vestments (rocchetto and red mozzetta over the cassock) on formal occasions and wears the Fisherman's Ring he received last Sunday on a daily basis.
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Site: Rorate CaeliThe first steps taken by Pope Leo XIV at the helm of the Church are largely satisfying the expectations of the cardinals who elected him. The eminent prelates were looking for a good shepherd, but even more so they trusted that the new pontiff would be able to restore balance to a form of government that, under Pope Francis, had taken on authoritarian tendencies and destabilized the clergy and Peter Kwasniewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136784193150446335noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Zero HedgeSaudi Women Held In 'Hellish' Rehab Centers For 'Disobedience'
Hundreds of Saudi women are being held in “hellish” conditions in secretive care homes, used to “rehabilitate” women banished by their families, according to a report in the Guardian. Over a period of six months, the Guardian collected testimonies about conditions in the care homes, known as Dar al-Reaya.
The homes are where women are sent by their families or husbands for alleged disobedience, extramarital sexual relations or absence from home. Conditions were described to the Guardian as “hellish”, and included weekly floggings, forced religious teaching and a ban on any contact with the outside world.
Sarah al-Yahia, who lives in exile and campaigns for the abolition of the homes, said she had spoken to a number of inmates about life in the homes. The women and girls described several abuses, including being given sedatives to put them to sleep, strip searches and virginity tests.
One woman described getting lashes for not praying, and also getting lashes and being accused of lesbianism for being alone with another woman.
Yahia herself was threatened by her father that she would be sent to one of the facilities when she was 13. “My father used it as a threat if I didn’t obey his sexual abuse,” she said.
“I know a woman who was sentenced to six months in jail because she helped a victim of violence,” Yahia added. “If you are sexually abused or get pregnant by your brother or father you are the one sent to Dar al-Reaya to protect the family’s reputation.”
'Utterly alone and terrified'
There have been reports of women committing or attempting to commit suicide due to the abusive conditions, according to rights group Alqst. Saudi officials describe the institutions as “shelter for girls accused or convicted of various crimes who are aged less than 30”.
It says that they serve to “rehabilitate the female inmates in time of entering the facility in order to return them to their family”.
Amina, whose name was changed for security reasons, said she sought refuge in a care home in Buraydah, central Saudi Arabia, after being beaten by her father. She found staff at the home to be “cold and unhelpful”, and belittling of her experience.
Amina said that the facility asked her and her father to write down “conditions”. Her conditions included not being beaten or forced into marriage. However, she said once she was released, the beatings continued, and she was later forced into exile.
“I remember being utterly alone and terrified. I felt like a prisoner in my own home, with no one to protect me, no one to defend me,” she said.
Another woman told the Guardian that she was held in Dar al-Reaya after she told the police that she had been abused by her father and brothers. She said she was held there until her father agreed for her to be released, despite the fact that her father was the alleged abuser.
“If they are serious about advancing women’s rights, they must abolish these discriminatory practices and allow the establishment of genuine shelters that protect, rather than punish, those who have experienced abuse,” Nadyeen Abdulaziz, of Alqst, said.
Allegations denied
A Saudi spokesperson rejected claims of enforced confinement and mistreatment in the facilities. “These are not detention centers, and any allegation of abuse is taken seriously and subject to thorough investigation,” the spokesperson told the Guardian.
Image source: Bloomberg
“Women are free to leave at any time, whether to attend school, work, or other personal activities, and may exit permanently whenever they choose with no need of approval from a guardian or family member.”
Since taking de-facto control of the kingdom in 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent, even as he pushed several nominally liberalising reforms.
Those reforms include allowing women to drive, and relaxing restrictions preventing women from travelling without the consent of a male guardian. However in recent years, Saudi Arabia has jailed several women who have spoken out against women's rights and human rights abuses in the country.
In May 2023, Fatima al-Shwarabi was given a 30-year sentence for anonymously tweeting about political prisoners, women's rights and unemployment. Last January, Saudi activist and fitness instructor Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years for promoting women’s rights on social media.
Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University doctoral candidate and women's rights activist who was handed down a decades-long sentence for her tweets in 2022, was released this year.
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