One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Stealth Bear MarketTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 16:25
Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
Is this a “stealth” bear market? Of course, you may be asking yourself what I mean by that.
Historically, bear markets have tended to be pretty evident, as highlighted in the chart below. These bear markets are often more protracted affairs that lead to investors developing profoundly negative sentiment towards markets. This article will use a weekly moving average crossover to identify “corrections” and “bear markets.” While our definition may not “jive” with the mainstream narrative, the reasoning will be evident momentarily.
When the short-term moving average crosses below the long-term, a “sell signal” occurs. That trigger suggests that investors should reduce equity risk in portfolios. When that signal reverses, investors should increase equity risk. Since 1995, the weekly indicator has only given three “false” signals. However, those signals were quickly reversed as the bull market continued, doing little harm to investors’ total returns. The signals warned investors of critical downturns to reduce equity exposure and avoid more significant capital destruction.
The only actual “bear market” over this period was the 2000 “Dot.com crash” and the 2008 “Financial Crisis.” These were the only two declines that broke the previous bullish price trend. Since then, every highlighted drawdown has been a “correction” within the ongoing bullish price trend. Of course, that was a function of the Federal Reserve’s repeated interventions to mitigate any economic and financial instability risk.
In 2000 and 2008, the moving average crossover signal warned investors that a recessionary onset was coming 9 and 12 months ahead of actual recognition. The weekly moving average signals also triggered a sell signal in early 2022 ahead of the ~20% decline, although the NBER did not recognize a recessionary onset. For our purposes, 2022 was a “stealth” bear market. While the major indices did not correct that much, there was a lot of devastation below the surface, hidden by the effects of “passive investing.”
Notably, these signals are not always perfect. The drawdown was so swift in 2020 during the pandemic shutdown that the signals to reduce and increase exposure occurred within two months. However, outside of anomalous events, paying attention to these moving average signals over the longer term can provide investors with a valuable roadmap to follow.
But we will add one more piece of analysis to determine whether we are in a “stealth bear market“ or just a correction.
Risk Ranges & Signal Confirmations
Understanding that the market tends to lead the economy by six months or more, we can use longer-term market signals to help us navigate the risk of a more significant correction driven by a recessionary downturn.
We have produced a weekly “risk range analysis” in the #BullBearReport for several years. That report contains several measures of analysis, as shown below.
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The table compares the relative performance of each sector and market to the S&P 500 index.
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“MA XVER” (Moving Average Crossover) is determined by the short-term weekly moving average crossing positively or negatively with the long-term weekly moving average.
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The risk range is a function of the month-end closing price and the”“bet”” of the sector or market. (Ranges reset on the 1st of each month)
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The table shows the price deviation above and below the weekly moving averages.
For this analysis, we will focus on the far right column. In the above example, November 2021, every primary market and sector (except for the U.S. dollar) was on a bullish moving average crossover. Given this is weekly data, it is slower to move, which tends to provide better signals for both increasing and reducing portfolio risk.
The “Stealth Bear Market” Of 2022
Of course, in mid-January 2022, the market started to struggle, but the outlook for equities remained very bullish. The investor allocation and sentiment index remained at high levels in “greed” territory.
However, the number of markets and sectors on “bearish” moving average crossovers had increased markedly compared to just two months earlier. While that deterioration was increasing, akin to an undetected virus, the overall market appeared healthy.
However, the “stealth bear market” eroded investor capital as the virus spread. Each subsequent decline turned more markets and sectors into bearish sell signals. However, that erosion within the market also indicates when a stealth bear market is near completion. The report below is from the October 6th, 2022, Bull Bear Report:
“The selling pressure continued this week, taking almost every sector and market into double-digit deviations below long-term weekly moving averages. Such extremes are not sustainable, and when all markets and sectors are this oversold, a reflexive rally becomes highly probable.”
The table below shows that almost every sector and market had bearish moving average sell signals triggered. At the time, however, media headlines were filled with “death of the dollar,” recession warnings, and bear market alerts. However, such negative extremes are often coincident with market bottoms.
Of course, as we now know in hindsight, October 2022 marked the bottom of the market, and the recession predictions have faded into the past. While it was not the “great bear market” many had predicted, and the world did not end, even “stealth” bear markets can be painful.
Such seems to be where we are currently.
2025 Walking A Similar Path
Heading into the end of 2024, the market posted its second annual 20% gain since the 2022 correction. Unsurprisingly, virtually every primary market and sector was on weekly bullish buy signals, confirming the bull market trend was intact. However, as noted above, when virtually everything is a “buy,” the question should become, “Who is left to buy?” Such was the point we discussed in early January 2025 in “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“With slowing economic growth, fiscal policy uncertainties, global challenges, overconfident sentiment, and ambitious earnings expectations, investors have plenty of reasons to approach the markets carefully. There will be a time to raise significant cash levels. A good portfolio management strategy will ensure exposure decreases and cash levels rise when the selling begins.”
Furthermore, investor sentiment and allocations are also extremely bullish, suggesting that market risk was increasing.
Of course, that overly bullish sentiment and investor allocation mix gave way in late March and early April as President Trump shocked the world with a more aggressive-than-expected tariff plan. That event caused a very sharp reversal of allocations and sentiment, leading to our conclusion on April 6th that there was “Hope In The Fear” for contrarian investors. To wit:
“The weekly “Risk Range Report” details three critical factors investors should know. The first is that the recent market crash has pushed every major market and sector well below normal monthly tolerances. Only during market crash events do you see such uniformity of extremes across all markets. Secondly, the deviations from longer-term moving averages have reached double digits. Such deep deviations across many sectors and markets are also unusual and historically precede bullish reversions to the mean.”
Furthermore, the investor sentiment and allocation measures were at more extreme lows.
“While readings are not as negative as seen during the 2020 correction or 2008 bear market, current readings are at levels that have also previously confirmed near-term market lows and reflexive rallies. When these readings are combined with the technical readings above, investors are provided with a higher degree of confidence versus non-confirmed readings.”
Since then, the market has recovered nicely. However, the question is whether the current “stealth bear market” is over, just as in October 2022.
Corrections Tend To Be Opportunities
Just as we saw in 2022, the promoters of “bearish porn” are seizing the headlines with irrational fears of the “loss of reserve currency status,” the “deficit doom loop,” and the impending “market crash” that will wipe out investors. Such headlines are great for getting clicks and views, but do little to help investors build long-term wealth. Sure, those things can happen, but they won’t happen this year, and most likely not in your lifetime. So it is crucial to focus on the time frame and factors within our control.
Once again, most markets and sectors are on “bearish crossovers.” Does this mean the “stealth bear market” is set to continue? Or was the April low, with profoundly deep negative sentiment, the end of the correction?
Unfortunately, it is too early to know for sure. However, we are watching the longer-term moving averages closely. When more of these indicators reverse from bearish to bullish, the return of a more bullish market will be indicated.
However, risk remains somewhat elevated for the moment, and investors should consider being more conscious of portfolio risk until things become more certain. The one crucial note is that reversing the current bearish signals to bullish is an opportunity for astute investors for longer-term returns.
Revert To Your Process
Given the uncertainty of what potentially happens next, the recent rally is an excellent opportunity to adjust portfolio risks to navigate the next leg of this market cycle.
Step 1) Clean Up Your Portfolio
- Tighten up stop-loss levels to current support levels for each position.
- Hedge portfolios against significant market declines.
- Take profits in positions that have been big winners.
- Sell laggards and losers.
- Raise cash and rebalance portfolios to target weightings.
The next step is to rebalance your portfolio to the allocation that will most likely weather a “cold snap.” In other words, consider what sectors and markets will improve in whatever economic environment you believe we will experience in 2025.
Step 2) Compare Your Portfolio Allocation To The Model Allocation.
- Determine areas requiring new or increased exposure.
- Calculate how many shares to purchase to fill allocation requirements.
- Determine cash requirements to make purchases.
- Re-examine the portfolio to rebalance and raise sufficient cash for requirements.
- Determine entry price levels for each new position.
- Evaluate “stop-loss” levels for each position.
- Establish “sell/profit taking” levels for each position.
Step 3) Have positions ready to execute accordingly, given the proper market set-up. In this case, we are looking for positions that have either a “value” tilt or have pulled back to support and provide a lower-risk entry opportunity.
While market conditions remain uncertain, preparing and adjusting strategies can help investors navigate volatility confidently. As technical indicators flash warning signs, a well-structured risk management approach will protect capital and preserve long-term gains.
Understand that this “stealth bear market” will end. When it does, you want to be able to take advantage of it, not just recover with it.
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Site: RT - News
Washington has other global priorities including countering China, Handelsblatt has reported
The US is expected to announce a reduction in its military presence in Europe in the “coming months,” the German daily Handelsblatt has reported, citing “high-ranking European diplomats.” The scale of the pullout is still unclear, but NATO is reportedly making preparations, according to the paper.
The pullout could be linked to the new US national defense strategy, according to EU sources contacted by the newspaper. The document is expected to be ready by the end of summer, the report said. Washington needs to focus its efforts on countering China as it is not prepared for a potential confrontation with Beijing, according to US Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who was approached by Handelsblatt.
Rumors about a potential pullout have been circulating in the media ever since NBC News reported in April that the US was considering withdrawing up to 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe. US President Donald Trump later confirmed that he is considering a partial withdrawal but did not elaborate on either its scale or timetable.
Read more
US running out of patience over European troop reduction – envoy
In mid-May, the US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said Washington plans to start talks about a potential pullout with other NATO members following the bloc’s summit in June. “We are not going to have any more patience for foot dragging in this situation,” he said at the time, while admitting that “nothing has been determined” yet.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly denied speculation about a US pullout during a visit to Lithuania this week. “We currently have no indication that the United States of America will withdraw troops from Europe,” he told journalists at a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius.
The cost of replacing the US equipment and personnel following a withdrawal could amount to around $1 trillion over 25 years, Politico reported earlier in May, citing a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
As of early 2025, there were nearly 84,000 US troops stationed in Europe, with the largest concentrations in Germany and Poland, and smaller deployments in Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, according to the US European Command.
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Site: Zero HedgeMedvedev Issues Map Showing Putin's 'Buffer Zone' Could Swallow Most Of UkraineTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 15:50
If there's a 'good cop, bad cop' routine happening at the Kremlin, mostly assuredly the role of bad cop always falls to Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev. In his maximalist and hyperbolic threats, he can be seen as the "John Bolton of the Kremlin". It is most often this top official who warns that Russia could go nuclear if red lines are crossed in Ukraine. But certainly his statements are calculated and approved by the Kremlin.
The current deputy chairman of the country's Security Council has once again issued a hardline threat aimed at Ukraine and its Western backers, warning that President Putin's newly ordered buffer zone in Ukraine could extend over almost the the whole of the country. "If military aid to the Banderite regime continues, the buffer zone could look like this," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
He issued a map of the envisioned zone, covering practically all of Ukraine.
View his automated map below:
Medvedev published a "buffer zone map" - all of Ukraine - if provision of military aid to Ukraine continues.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 25, 2025
Is this the "peace plan" that Russia prepared to show the United States? https://t.co/NWE7XGKkOo pic.twitter.com/2TeCQ30pYRA tiny sliver of what could pass for Ukrainian territory was left along the Polish border. He cited that Western long-range weapons might make this necessary, though Putin has never articulated or affirmed any plan to take over the whole of Ukraine. From a strategic perspective, occupying the whole country would be a nightmare for Moscow forces - on the manpower, economic, logistical, and political blowback fronts.
Still, Medvedev wrote in reference to the reach of NATO-supplied weapons, "In other words, Russia must be present there: 550 km plus another 70 to 100 km just to be safe."
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Site: Zero HedgeThe War On UsTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 15:15
Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
“Is the Blue Party really only the customer service desk for the administrative state?”
- Jeff Childers
It’s pretty universally acknowledged that America’s recent wars — say, starting with Vietnam — have been stupid, pointless, and fake in instigation. And yet the soldiers we sent into these fiascos acted bravely and honorably for the most part. So, it has felt a little weird to celebrate their sacrifices minus any sense of political justice, victory, or meaning in the endeavors they sacrificed for. Ergo, the holiday is lately reduced to a celebration of grilled meat.
This Memorial Day, for a change, the USA is not actively at war in some distant land, only against ourselves. One faction in this as yet cold civil war seeks to Make America Great Again (MAGA), and the other side seeks what. . . ? To do the opposite of that? Make America Disintegrate (MAD). It’s hard to come to another conclusion.
MAGA is led, of course, by Mr. Trump, president again after the strangest executive interregnum in our history.
At its plainest, MAGA means returning to an economy based on producing things of value. To many, this might conjure up the image of humming factories, good pay for honest work, and a well-ordered, content, patriotic populace grateful for their prosperity, in other words, something like the America of 1958, when Mr. Trump was entering puberty.
It’s a comforting vision. Parts of it seem possible to achieve. Maybe we can rebuild an industrial infrastructure of up-to-date factories. Didn’t we voluntarily deep-six all the old ones only a few decades ago? And for what reason? So that faraway nations rising out of darkness could make all the stuff we wanted at a fraction of the cost? Turned out to be a bad bargain based on supremely foolish short-term thinking.
It also came with a set of very corrosive financial arrangements based on the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. These are pretty abstruse, but suffice it to say they enabled us to rack up phenomenal debt that we will never be able to pay off. We even fooled ourselves into thinking that we could replace that old economy of factory production with financial games based on jiggering interest rates and innovating ever more complex swindles. That merely produced a fantastic divide between the financial gamesters raking in billions while the former factory workers were left broke, demoralized, sick, and strung-out on drugs.
As a basic proposition, it’s doubtful that we can return to anything like a 1958 disposition of things based on rising continental-scale enterprise, as in the Big Three automakers and General Foods. It all seemed like a good idea at the time, and the zeitgeist pushed it, but we can see where it landed us: in the ghastly suburban sprawl clusterfuck and the overall ill health of the people. Also the scale of things is done rising; is, in fact, contracting.
And yet we are surely lurching into a new disposition of things, probably featuring a reduced population (disease and infertility induced by the Covid vaccine op), falling energy production (despite the whoop to drill-baby-drill), and much smaller-scaled, re-localized production of goods and food — if we’re lucky. (Events are in the driver’s seat, not personalities, even gigantic ones like Mr. Trump’s.) If we’re not lucky, the disorders of change itself may overwhelm our ability to remain civilized.
The MAD faction is led by the Democratic Party, the party of Hoaxes, Hustles, and Hatred. Being more a religious cult (of envy, grievance, and revenge) than a political faction, this Memorial Day they celebrate their patron saint George Floyd, a fake martyr whose death by fentanyl overdose sparked a summer of looting, arson, and homicide followed by a fraud-saturated election.
The Black Lives Matter operation proved to be hustle, that is, an effort to extract money dishonestly. But it morphed into the even more pervasive DEI op, seeping into every institution of American life and contaminating each of them with incompetence and grift, larded with sanctimony. That’s over now, but what is the MAD Democratic Party left with? It has put itself at the service of the depraved Deep State, the rogue permanent bureaucracy that has developed a malevolent hive-mind dedicated to maintaining its perquisites at all costs. In other words, it is vested solely in power. . . power over the people of this land. . . to dominate, regulate, asset-strip, and punish for the crime of wishing to be civilized.
The MAD party is on the wane now. Its insanity has become so exorbitant that no one of healthy sensibility can bear to be associated with it. Those who remain involved in Democratic Party politics are largely those liable to prosecution for manifold crimes against the country, now using the most unprincipled dregs of the legal system to keep them out of prison. The party will be defeated utterly.
The Deep State it served is getting disassembled systematically by MAGA, deprived of funding, de-staffed, shut down. It has nothing left but lawfare and a claque of judges who will lose their battle with legitimate law and the Constitution. If it attempts to revive its street-fighting proxies this summer, that too will get shut down swiftly and harshly. Lessons will be learned. All of which is to say that the Deep State’s war against the American people could be drawing to a close. That is something to be grateful for this Memorial Day.
MAGA will then be left to battle with the forces of nature, which basically means physics, especially as applied to the mechanisms of money. MAGA could easily founder if it fails to face the current deformities of finance, namely the gross, untenable debt hanging over the country. I’m not so optimistic about how that might work out.
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Site: Henrymakow.com
Zionism-History of a Jewish Heresy - available here in hard copy or onlineDavid Livingstone has been a contributor to my website since 2007.From the beginning, we've had a difference of style. I am in awe of David's ability to assemble a mind boggling wealth of detail.But I always wished he would just focus on conclusions, like I do. His latest book Zionism: History of a Jewish Heresy, has 703 pages.There are 90 pages of footnotes! With 40 footnotes per page-- that's 3600 footnotes. The man is a prodigy!!There is no way I can read this book from beginning to end nor do I wish to. Instead, I will keep my copy on my head table and dip into it for sordid details of the Masonic Jewish conspiracy against humanity. I present an example below.Sabbatean Frankism and Chabad are the head of the Illuminati snake. They consist of biological half-Jews who hate God.The Illuminati Thule movement gave birth to Hitler to destroy European civilization. Zionists also fundedHitler to force Jews to establish the State of Israel.David Livingstone--"My book shows that the history goes back much further than that, to the very origins of German nationalism, which began Weimar Classicism, the Tugenbund, and the Burschenschaft movement that Herzl belonged to. Both Zionism and Nazism begin with Moses Mendelssohn and the founding of the Frankfurt Judenloge in the early 1800s.From the Judenloge came Reform Judaism from which Zionism emerged, as well as German nationlism and the Occult Revival that produced people like Blavatsky and organizations like the Golden Dawn. My book details how the Frankists were constantly involved in overlapping activities.The most important example was the George Kreis (or George Circle), which included Moeller van der Bruck, who coined the idea of the Third Reich, which was based on Joachim of Fiore, who was a crypto-Jew."(Updated from April 2, 2025)by David Livingstone(henrymakow.com)Interviewed by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, Ernst Hanfstaengl recounted that Hitler had made it known privately that at Pasewalk he had had a "supernatural vision which commanded him to save his unhappy country. After giving his first speech at the Hofbräukeller for the DAP on October 16, 1919--a year after first having heard the "Voice," at Pasewalk--the members the Thule Society were so impressed by the oratorical skills of Hitler--a former male prostitute, and failed artist with barely a secondary-school education--that he was received by them as the "messiah" they had been awaiting.Thule founder Dietrich Eckart (1868 - 1923) had expressed his anticipation of List's prophecy of a "German Messiah" who would save Germany after World War I in a poem he published in 1919, months before he met Hitler for the first time. When he met Hitler, Eckart was convinced that he had encountered the prophesied redeemer. Eckart refers to Hitler as "the Great One," "the Nameless One," "Whom all can sense but no one saw."[1] Ludendorff "trembled with emotion" when he first heard Hitler.[2]Several months after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Sebottendorf published a book titled Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundliches aus der Friihzeit der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung ("Before Hitler Came: The early years of the Nazi movement,"), where he detailed how the Thule Society was the organ of the Nazi Party:Thule members were the people to whom Hitler first turned, and who first allied themselves with Hitler. The armament of the coming Führer consisted--besides the Thule Society itself--of the Deutscher Arbeiterverein, founded in the Thule by Brother Karl Harrer at Munich, and the Deutsch-Sozialistische Partei, headed there by Hans Georg Grassinger, whose organ was the Münchener Beobachter, later the Völkischer Beobachter. From these three sources Hitler created the Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei.According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, the Thule's "membership list... reads like a Who's Who of early Nazi sympathizers and leading figures in Munich."[3] In a book also titled Bevor Hitler Kam ("Before Hitler Came"), Dietrich Bronder alleged that members of the Thule Society included Dietrich Eckart, Gottfried Feder, Hans Frank, Hermann Göring, Karl Haushofer, Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, and Alfred Rosenberg.Bronder also noted that among the anti-Semites there were quite a few of Jewish origin, and concluded, from his own research, that among 4000 men of the Nazi leadership there were 120 foreigners by birth, many with one or two parents of foreign origin and one percent even of Jewish descent. Of Jewish descent or related to Jewish families he listed Thule member Rudolf Hess, Gregor Strasser, Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Franz Hanfstaengl, and Aufbau and Thule members Alfred Rosenberg and Karl Haushofer. According to Bronder, Ribbentrop--a protege of Hanfstaengl--also maintained a close friendship with Chaim Weizmann.[4]
Hanfstaengl was intimately associated with Otto Khan and Aleister Crowley's friend and co-conspirator, Hanns Ewers, who worked the secretive Propaganda Kabinett of Max Warburg's associate Dr. Bernhard Dernburg, with George Sylvester Viereck and Harvard professor Hugo Münsterberg.[5] Ewers was also an associate of Guido von List Lanz von Liebenfels.[6] Ewers wrote a screenplay about the Nazi martyr Horst Wessel that was produced by Hanfstaengl.Ludendorff was also friendly with Karl Haushofer (1869 - 1946), whose concept of Geopolitik influenced Hitler's ideological development.[7] Under the Nuremberg Laws, Haushofer's wife and children were categorized as Mischlinge, the German legal term used in Nazi Germany to denote persons deemed to have both "Aryan" and Jewish ancestry. His son, Albrecht, was issued a German Blood Certificate through his protégé Rudolf Hess' help. Albrecht had studied alongside Hess at Munich University. Hess and Albrecht shared an interest in astrology, and Hess also was keen on clairvoyance and the occult.[8]In 1932, Goebbels pamphlet published to refute certain allegations that his grandmother was Jewish.[9] Gregor Strasser, for many years second only to Hitler in the Nazi Party, had asserted that Goebbels was of Jewish ancestry, citing the club foot as proof.[10] After attending the lectures at University of Heidelberg on the German Romantics from his Jewish professor Friedrich Gundolf, a member of the George-Kreis, Goebbels became completely captivated by the works of the Schlegel brothers, of Tieck, Novalis and Schelling.[11] Goebbels sent a letter to Professor Max Freiherr von Waldberg (1858 - 1938), with whom he graduated, reiterating how much he owed to Gundolf.[12] Goebbels's first love, Anka Helhom, often showed her friends a book with his personal inscription on it, the Buch der Lieder, by Heinrich Heine. In the summer of 1922, he began a love affair with Else Janke, a schoolteacher. After she revealed to him that she was half-Jewish, according to Goebbels the "enchantment [was] ruined."[13] Nevertheless, he continued to see her on and off until 1927.[14]A prominent member of the Nazi Party, Goebbels's wife Magda was a close ally, companion and political supporter of Adolf Hitler.When she was eight-years-old, Magda's mother married Jewish businessman and leather-goods magnate Richard Friedländer and moved with him to Brussels in 1908. Friedländer's residency card, found in Berlin archives, stated that Magda was his biological daughter.[15]The family moved to Berlin, where Magda eventually met the Zionist Chaim Arlosoroff (1899 - 1933).During their relationship, she briefly wore a Star of David he had given her and accompanied him to Zionist meetings. Magda continued to carry on the affair, even after she married Dr Günther Quandt, a successful industrialist. By the time she had divorced Quandt, Chaim had had left for Palestine to join the Jewish Agency and work for the establishment of a state of Israel.[16] Magda later married Goebbels in 1931, with Hitler as his best man. Friedländer was later killed in the Buchenwald concentration camp.--- -
Site: Zero HedgeIsrael Reportedly Rejects New US Ceasefire Proposal, Citing 'Impossible' Hamas DemandsTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 14:40
On Sunday President Trump declared once again that he wants to end the Gaza war "as quickly as possible," stating publicly what he had long previously been saying privately, according to Axios.
Sky News Arabia is among several outlets to cite unnamed sources Sunday into Monday as saying Trump is likely to announce a new big ceasefire deal, which aims to see the rest of the Israeli hostages come home, within the next days.
"We want to see if we can stop that. And Israel, we've been talking to them, and we want to see if we can stop that whole situation as quickly as possible," Trump said to reporters on Air Force One. He then said he hopes he can give the world good news soon.
Via Reuters
But at the moment Israel's government and military seems set on implementing an expanded offensive and occupation of the Gaza Strip. Axios cites the following:
- An IDF official told reporters Sunday that in two months the IDF will occupy 75% of the Strip.
- The official said most of Hamas' military command has been wiped out but its core fighting brigades are still functioning.
The reality also is that tens of thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants are still operational, utilizing the Strip's vast tunnel network to wage a guerilla-style insurgency.
On Monday, Israeli and other regional media are reporting that Israel is already rejecting Trump's reported plan, citing the "impossible conditions" still being set by Hamas, and the continued threat to Israeli national security and sovereignty.
The Times of Israel writes in a fresh report:
Responding to a Lebanese report that a new outline for a hostage and ceasefire proposal had been agreed upon in principle by Israel, a senior Israeli official said Monday the deal has been rejected.
“The proposal received by Israel cannot be accepted by any responsible government,” the official told the media, without giving any further details.
“Hamas is setting impossible conditions that mean a complete failure to meet the war goals, and an inability to release the hostages,” he said.
Like with the Ukraine war, President Trump has expressed increasing frustration over the Gaza situation. He wants to 'stop the killing' - and yet has continued massive amounts of arms and money flowing to one side of the war (the Israelis of course).
Meanwhile, internal unrest over Netanyahu's commitment to war grows...
Given the gruesome and heart-wrenching images of dead civilians and even children burning to death which continue to come out of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the White House could just be responding to international pressure. No deal at this point seems to have any real potential at getting the warring sides to agree. Things continue to slide amid already hellish conditions in Gaza.
Increasingly, conflict is being renewed in the West Bank as well, amid fears of a new intifada which would see the Israelis go to war on several fronts. While Lebanon has been relatively quiet, Israeli warplanes have sporadically renewed attacks on sites in Beirut and south Lebanon.
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Site: RT - News
Sparkasse Hannover reportedly froze payments to Gerhard Schroeder from sources it has deemed Russia-related
A German bank has imposed restrictions on an account belonging to former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder due to concerns that some payments could be linked to Russia, Bild reported on Sunday. The reported freeze came despite Schroeder not being listed under any sanctions.
Sparkasse Hannover, with which the former German leader has long had a relationship, has frozen incoming transfers it suspects are linked to his business ties with Russia, according to the outlet. The restrictions reportedly apply to nearly half a million euros annually that Schroeder is said to receive from his position on the board of Nord Stream 2, a pipeline project owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The pipeline, which was intended to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany, was completed in 2021 but never entered service due to EU sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. In 2022, it was severely damaged in a sabotage Moscow believes was orchestrated by Western intelligence services.
Read more
German politician urges talks on restoring Nord Stream
In a letter to Schroeder, Sparkasse Hannover reportedly cited fears of violating international financial restrictions, particularly those imposed by the US on Russian energy entities. The funds were allegedly routed via a Gazprombank account in Luxembourg but have been returned since Sparkasse’s internal review raised concerns about potential exposure to secondary US sanctions.
The bank declined to discuss individual accounts When asked for comment by Bild.
The ex-Chancellor remains unsanctioned by the EU, UK, or US. However, according to Bild, the bank’s restriction came shortly after Hanover Mayor Belit Onay, a public critic of Schroeder, became chairman of the Sparkasse board. Onay has previously advocated for stripping Schroeder of his honorary citizenship of Hanover, calling his continued business ties with Russia incompatible with the city’s values.
Schroeder served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, forging close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure. After leaving office, he took on senior roles in several Russian energy companies.
READ MORE: Germany arming for possible conflict with Russia – Reuters
After the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Schroeder faced growing political pressure due to his perceived ties with Russia. In 2022, the German parliament stripped him of his government-funded office, and attempts were made within his own SPD party to expel him – though ultimately unsuccessful.
Schroeder has blasted Western policymakers over underestimating the dangers of the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, while warning it should respect Russia's historical security interests. According to Bild, the ex-chancellor still views Nord Stream as a positive for Germany, citing the need for cheap and sustainable energy supplies.
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Site: Zero HedgeMusk Confirms 'X Money' Beta-Testing Ahead of Planned 2025 LaunchTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 14:05
Authored by Helen Partz via CoinTelegraph.com,
X Money, the payment and banking app tipped by Elon Musk in 2022 after he acquired Twitter, has started beta testing, Musk confirmed in an X post on May 25.
Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, a fan X account focused on Elon Musk and Tesla, took to X on May 25 to report that Musk has confirmed that X is “launching X Money soon.”
Source: Elon Musk
The billionaire businessman subsequently jumped on the X thread to confirm the news, writing that the test will be a “very limited access beta at first.”
“When people’s saving are involved, extreme care must be taken,” he wrote.
X Money expects launch in 2025
Musk’s confirmation comes amid X Money’s planned launch this year, according to the platform’s X account.
Source: X Money
Musk’s silent confirmation of X Money trials followed a series of reports suggesting the platform may launch this year based on alleged software code leaks in January.
X has been actively working to obtain multiple transmitter licenses for X Money across the United States, having secured 41 such licenses at time of publication, according to the Nationwide Multi-State Licensing System.
X Money plans date back to 2022
Some of the early public indications of Musk’s plans to integrate payments into X date to October 2022, when Musk referred to his $44 billion Twitter acquisition as “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
In 2023, Twitter rebranded to X, with CEO Linda Yaccarino disclosing that the social media app planned to feature “unlimited interactivity,” support multiple media formats, and feature payments and banking. At the time, many speculated that the platform would likely support cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
The payment platform was reportedly expected to be launched in mid-2024.
The platform apparently gathered more steam with US President Donald Trump taking office in January and appointing Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency’s Workforce Optimization Initiative (DOGE).
Heavily involved in administration through DOGE, Musk quickly received pushback from US officials like US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who criticized X’s payment platform plans in February.
“Musk has lost money hand over fist on X. So he has this idea of X becoming a big money platform where he would get everyone’s personal financial data,” Warren said, referring to Musk’s efforts to dismantle her agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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Site: Zero HedgeRussia Cautions Of 'Emotional Overload' Right Now After Trump Calls Putin 'Absolutely Crazy'Tyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 13:30
Moscow has responded Monday to President Trump's latest fierce criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, cautioning of "emotional overload" at this "very important moment."
"We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organizing and launching this negotiation process," began Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when asked about Trump’s late Sunday remarks.
"Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions," Peskov said. Other translations used "emotional overstrain".
There's been a noticeable frustration and impatience coming from the White House at the lack of progress toward peace. At first more of the pressure seemed to be on Zelensky and the Ukrainian side, but recent weeks have seem Trump's rhetoric shift to more pressure on Putin and the Kremlin.
"I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night.
The below full statement is mainly aimed at Putin, but Trump has notably taken swipes at both sides over the weekend, as pointed out by the WSJ correspondent...
"I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever."
Trump blasts CRAZY Putin for killing innocents — and immediately blasts Zelensky for talking in a way he doesn’t like. https://t.co/Cwvs4WBg41 pic.twitter.com/dy47gjnUDs
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) May 26, 2025Earlier on Sunday President Trump had told reporters aboard Air Force One that he is not "happy" with the Russian leader. "I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin," Trump said.
Russia has clearly ramped up attacks over prior consecutive nights. Last night it hit Ukraine with another record number of drones along with nine cruise missiles, according to The Associated Press. However, no deaths were immediately confirmed and an emergency response continued in Monday.
But Trump had caveated in his remarks Sunday, "Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does."
We detailed previously how Russia's current stepped-up attacks are the result of drone waves from Ukraine which are unprecedented in size and intensity over the past week:
Trump says Putin has gone crazy and threatens to walk away from Ukraine peace talks. What he ISN'T saying is that the Ukrainians launched a massive drone attack on Russia on May 20 - targeting Putin's helicopter during a visit to Kursk - using US intel. pic.twitter.com/GxlmtYZTF5
— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) May 26, 2025All of this is likely calculated to press the Kremlin to get serious about negotiations. But as Trump has long admitted, Putin holds all the cards, and more villages in the Donbass were taken by Russian forces this weekend.
As for what "happened" to Putin... the reality is that nothing has changed, and like it or not this is how powerful world leaders wage war in the 21st century.
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Site: RT - News
Kemi Badenoch has said Kiev is fighting Russia on behalf of Western Europe, and Israel’s war against Hamas serves London’s interests
Israel’s military operation against Hamas is a “proxy war” being waged on behalf of the UK, British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed.
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Badenoch commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent claim that the UK, France, and Canada are on “the wrong side of humanity” for trying to pressure his country to end its campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
She dismissed the widely held belief that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide, arguing that the brutal military campaign, initially against Hamas, that has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, is both justified and serves the interests of the UK.
“Who funds Hamas? Iran – an enemy of this country. Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK,” Badenoch claimed.
The Ukraine conflict is similarly a proxy war against Russia, being waged on behalf of Western Europe, she added.
Read more
US de facto financing persecution of Christians in Ukraine – Tucker Carlson
The Russian Embassy in London later reposted a clip of Badenoch’s interview, saying the Conservative leader has “finally called a spade a spade.”
“Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of Western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014,” the embassy wrote on Facebook.
Badenoch’s own party was responsible for telling the Ukrainians to “keep fighting” when a potential peace settlement was on the verge of being signed in 2022, the statement noted. “The result has been an unmitigated disaster for Ukraine and its people, as well as an unprecedented security crisis in Europe.”
READ MORE: Ukraine will have to pay for new Patriots – WaPo
In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a similar admission when he said the Ukraine conflict is in fact a “proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine – and Russia.”
Moscow has repeatedly described the hostilities as a Western-led proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainians are being used as “cannon fodder.”
Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions in the region by disregarding Russia’s national security concerns over NATO expansion in Eastern Europe and Ukraine’s potential admission into the military bloc.
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is currently standing alone against the Collective West and is locked in an “existential war.”
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Site: RT - News
The decision runs counter to Moscow’s efforts to find a peaceful settlement with Kiev, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said
The reported decision by Ukraine’s Western backers to lift restrictions on Kiev’s use of long-range weapons runs counter to Russia’s efforts to find a peaceful settlement of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Peskov made the remarks in response to comments by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said Ukraine is no longer subject to range limitations on Western-supplied weaponry.
“If such decisions have indeed been made, they are entirely at odds with our aspirations for a political resolution and with the efforts currently being made toward a settlement,” Peskov stated.
“Quite dangerous decisions, again – if they were indeed made,” he stressed.
At the EuropaForum on Monday, Merz said “there are no longer any range restrictions” on Western-supplied weapons used by Ukraine against Russian military targets. “There are no restrictions from the UK, France, Germany, or the US,” he added, as quoted by Euronews.
Moscow has repeatedly warned Western countries against participating in the conflict by giving Kiev targeting data from NATO satellites to carry out long-range strikes against Russia.
Read more
US greenlights long-range missile transfer to Ukraine – NYT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also signed off on a new nuclear doctrine which expands the list of conditions that could trigger a strategic response to include scenarios where aggression by a non-nuclear state or group of states supported by a nuclear state could be viewed as a “joint attack.”
Since then, Ukrainian forces have launched numerous long-range strikes inside Russia using Western-supplied weapons. Despite the changes, the doctrine still characterizes nuclear weapons as “an extreme and forced measure” and emphasizes Russia’s aim to avoid escalation.
Russia has consistently condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they fuel more bloodshed and hinder efforts toward the peace process. Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks since 2022. The sides agreed to present detailed ceasefire proposals, carry out a record 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap, and continue negotiations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow is at an “advanced stage” of preparing a memorandum outlining the principles and timeline for a peace settlement with Ukraine.
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Site: RT - News
Berlin has not confirmed plans to provide long-range Taurus missiles to Kiev
Germany will no longer restrict Ukraine’s ability to launch long-range strikes deep inside Russia, including using German-made weapons, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has stated. Moscow has repeatedly warned Berlin that the move would make Germany a direct participant in the conflict.
Kiev should be able to “effectively” defend itself against Russia, the chancellor said at a EuropaForum event on Monday. The ability to only strike targets on its own territory is insufficient, Merz argued.
“We will do everything in our power to continue supporting Ukraine militarily,” the chancellor said. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine, neither from the British nor the French, nor from us, nor from the Americans.”
He did not elaborate on whether long-range Taurus missiles would be provided, which was a contentious topic under the previous government of Olaf Scholz. The former chancellor consistently opposed the idea, arguing that it would lead to a dangerous escalation of the conflict.
Taurus missiles have an operational range of 500km, meaning they could be used to attack targets deep inside Russian territory, potentially even reaching the nation’s capital. Russia has warned Germany that deliveries to Ukraine would make Berlin a direct participant in the conflict.
Read more
Berlin refuses to discuss missile deliveries to Kiev
On Monday, Merz stated that Berlin is “actively discussing” potential deliveries with London and Paris.
The Kremlin has called the German chancellor’s latest statements “dangerous.” Berlin’s actions go against the attempts to settle the Ukraine conflict peacefully, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned. “If such decisions have been made, they are contrary to our desire to find a political settlement, to all the efforts to resolve [the conflict],” he said.
The chancellor’s statements come as Russia and Ukraine have engaged in direct peace talks for the first time in over three years after Kiev unilaterally withdrew from the negotiations in 2022.
Merz remains skeptical about a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin “obviously sees offers of talks as a sign of weakness,” he claimed on Monday, adding that “we must prepare ourselves for this war to last longer than any of us could wish or imagine.”
Moscow has said it is open to peace talks but would prefer a lasting solution to the conflict to a temporary truce. The Istanbul talks took place after Putin suggested resuming the peace process without preconditions.
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Site: Mises InstituteThere are numerous critics of free markets. However, all of those critics also are consumers and they gladly depend upon free markets to satisfy their needs.
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Site: Mises InstituteThere are numerous critics of free markets. However, all of those critics also are consumers and they gladly depend upon free markets to satisfy their needs.
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Site: Zero HedgeCrime Rates Of Illegal Migrants UnderreportedTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 12:55
Authored by John Lott Jr via American Greatness,
Democrats actively oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, despite the administration’s focus on those with criminal histories.
To support their opposition, Democrats frequently claim, almost as an article of faith, that illegal immigrants are less prone to commit crime. “The crime rate among immigrants is far lower than the crime rate among native-born Americans,” New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler asserted confidently. “So the whole issue is wrong.”
“Immigrants commit crimes in this country at a rate lower than natural-born citizens,” added Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy.
“So, if you want a safe town or a safe neighborhood, you are better off if you have immigrants.”
Speaking on the Senate floor last year, Murphy added, “Whether you choose to want to believe the facts or not, that is not my decision, it’s your decision, but…but it is the truth.”
This tenet is incessantly parroted by the legacy news media. Sample headline, this one from ABC News: “No, migrants are not driving a surge in violent crime as Trump claims.” ABC asserted that crime in this country is declining despite an influx of illegal immigrants.
This barrage has achieved its intended goal: A McLaughlin & Associates survey commissioned by the Crime Prevention Research Center on April 29, 2025, reveals that 41.6% of voters believe illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens, compared to 33.3% who think otherwise.
Like most issues, U.S. public opinion on this question has a demographic and partisan component.
Only men, Republicans, conservatives, whites, and those aged 41 to 55 believe illegal immigrants commit more crimes. +
The majority of young voters (18-29), Democrats, liberals, and African Americans most strongly assert that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes.
But is this “the truth”? Are these “the facts”?
The data suggests that the answer is pretty clearly “no.”
These claims usually conflate legal and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants tend to follow the law, but illegal immigrants are a different story.
As to the claim that crime is falling despite a flood of illegals, it depends on whether one looks at just crimes reported to police (the FBI data) or total crime as measured by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. Total crime rose markedly in 2021, 2022, and 2023 (the last year it was available). This surge coincided with a massive flood of illegals. The increases shown for total crime during the Biden-Harris administration are by far the largest percentage increases over any other three-year period, more than doubling the previous record.
One big problem is that the government databases are a mess in identifying illegal aliens. You can see this in terms of errors in the NICS background checks that are supposed to stop non-citizens with criminal records from buying guns.
There is more direct data linking illegals to crime. Just last year, the Biden administration admitted that 9% of the so-called “non-detained” illegals who were released into the U.S. had criminal backgrounds (662,566 out of 7.4 million released). The problem is that these were overwhelmingly those who had voluntarily turned themselves in at the border, presumably the ones we should be least concerned about. It doesn’t count the 2 million “gotaways” we detected crossing the border but failed to apprehend during the Biden administration, nor the unknown millions we never saw coming across the borders. All this also depends on us believing that the Biden administration didn’t undercount these criminal backgrounds. And many countries, such as Venezuela, won’t provide information on the criminal backgrounds of their citizens.
Last December, a similar estimate for New York City indicated that about 7% of the illegals living there were criminals.
A prior Maricopa County Attorney’s Office study revealed that illegal immigrants committed 21.8% of felonies sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court, over twice their proportion of Arizona’s population. Mexican nationals alone accounted for 13% of inmates in the state prison system.
Earlier work that the Crime Prevention Research Center did for the Arizona County Prosecutor’s Association also found that illegals made up a disproportionate share of the Arizona prison population and that legal immigrants were more law-abiding than the general population. Illegal immigrants are at least 142% more likely to be convicted of a crime than other Arizonans. They also tend to commit more serious crimes and serve 10.5% longer sentences, are more likely to be classified as dangerous, and are 45% more likely to be gang members than U.S. citizens.
Critics like the Washington Post cite academic studies asserting illegal immigrants are relatively law-abiding. There are numerous problems with these studies. None of them account for changes in police, arrest, or conviction rates, or imprisonment in explaining crime rates. They look at states like California but ignore the impact of cutting crime rates from laws such as California’s 1994 three-strikes law during the period studied.
They ignore a key issue: Criminals often target those similar to themselves. Illegal immigrants, therefore, are more likely to commit crimes against other illegal immigrants. These crimes often go unreported—for fear of deportation—and as the local population of illegal immigrants grows, underreporting almost certainly increases. While these studies acknowledge that illegal immigrants who are victims hesitate to report crimes, they neglect to adjust their empirical analyses for this factor, particularly when relying on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data. Notably, the FBI data captures only about 40% of all violent crimes and 30% of all property crimes reported in the National Crime Victimization Survey.
The media’s relentless narrative that illegal immigrants don’t commit crimes has shaped Americans’ perceptions. And these numbers, as bad as they are, likely undercount the number of criminal illegals. Even if some believe undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates, ignoring ICE detainers for convicted undocumented immigrants to prevent their deportation raises doubts about whether they really care about the criminal rate of these illegal immigrants.
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Site: La Salette Journey
"...the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world's noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.
His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements." - General Douglas MacArthur.
In honor of Arthur Melanson, killed over the Pacific, WWII.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
Deal-making is said to be President Trump’s specialty, yet after five rounds of indirect talks with Iran – most recently just days ago – we seem as far away from an agreement as ever. The fifth round ended last Friday with no breakthrough, but at least no breakdown. However, each day that passes without a document signed on the table is another day for the neocons to maneuver the US president toward an attack on Iran.
One way the war party does this is to continuously move the goal posts and change the rules of the game. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, under great pressure from the neocons, has himself signaled at least three position-shifts: from no enrichment at all, to low-level enrichment for civilian uses, back to no enrichment at all.
The neocons know that Iran will not give up its right to the civilian use of nuclear power and that is why they are applying maximum pressure to force Trump to officially adopt that position. They know if that becomes the US “red line” then they will win and they will get their war.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in league with US neocons, has been warning us for 20 years that Iran is “months away” from a nuclear weapon – even though our own Intelligence Community recently re-affirmed that Iran is not working on a nuclear weapon at all.
Of course this is the same Netanyahu who promised Congress in 2002 if the US would just invade Iraq, peace and prosperity would break out in the Middle East. “If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime,” he told Congress in March of that year, “I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.”
We know how that worked out.
Poll after poll shows that the American people are tired of intervention and tired of Middle East wars. President Trump himself recognized this in his scathing rebuke of neocons and interventionists during a recent speech in Saudi Arabia.
But rebuke in a speech is not enough. President Trump must actively turn away from the neocons – many of whom are prominent in his own administration.
The recent US debacle in Yemen – where billions were wasted, civilians killed, and US military equipment destroyed – is just a taste of what the US would be in for if the neocons get their way and take us to war with Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister laid down in the simplest terms how the impasse could be solved, posting on X that, “Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal; Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal.
My own preference is non-intervention and I do not believe Iran has the desire or the ability to militarily harm the United States. I share President Trump’s view that it would be far better to re-establish relations with Iran and begin mutually beneficial trade with the country. But if a mutually acceptable nuclear deal is the best way to take the neocon war with Iran off the table, then a deal is worth supporting.
President Trump should make his position clear to his negotiators: no more waffling or contradictions, get this agreement signed and put one in the “win” column.
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Site: RT - News
Washington simply cannot keep up with Kiev’s demands for aid defenses, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has recently stressed
Officials in Kiev reportedly believe the administration of US President Donald Trump would be willing to sell Ukraine Patriot air defense systems, according to the Washington Post.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has increasingly implored Washington to provide more Patriot missiles and launcher units in recent months, citing the Ukrainian army's dwindling stockpiles.
Kiev believes that the current US administration “will not give it away for free” but will be ready to sell the billion dollar air defense system and ammunition for it, the WaPo wrote on Monday, citing a senior Ukrainian official.
“They think like business people. If I give you something, you have to give me something in return,” the outlet cited the official as saying.
Kiev has mostly requested the air defense systems and missiles as military aid from the Trump administration, “which, frankly, we don't have,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a Senate meeting last week.
Read more
Russian missiles ‘fool’ US-made Patriots – Ukrainian military
Washington is instead pushing for NATO allies to donate the US-made armaments from their own stockpiles, but “none of these countries want to give up their Patriot systems either,” he said. “We can't make them fast enough.”
Trump has expressed growing impatience with the pace of peace talks around the ongoing conflict. Zelensky’s rhetoric is doing Ukraine “no favors,” he wrote on Truth Social on Monday, adding that “everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
He also condemned Russia’s increased long-range strikes on Ukraine, claiming the attacks are happening “for no reason whatsoever.”
Read more
Russia shoots down over 150 Ukrainian kamikaze drones in a day – MOD
Russian forces have intensified large-scale strikes against drone and missile production facilities in Ukraine last week, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has confirmed. The attacks were a retaliation for Ukraine’s escalating strikes on Russian civilian infrastructure, and solely targeted Ukrainian military sites, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Monday.
Russian air defenses have intercepted nearly 1,000 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs over the country in the past week, Defense Ministry reports say.
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Site: Rorate CaeliNew Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: AsiaNews.itThese refugees meet the criteria for resettlement in third countries and need international protection the most. Expulsions to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan continue; in April alone, more than 300,000 returned from Pakistan and Iran, aggravating a humanitarian crisis already out of control due to extreme poverty. For their part, Kabul, Beijing and Islamabad are building new geopolitical ties.
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Site: AsiaNews.itAfter a five-year hiatus, passenger rail service between Hanoi and Nanning restarted yesterday. The two countries recently announced a new high-speed railway to Haiphong Port, part of joint plans to boost tourism and regional trade.
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Site: RT - News
Warsaw can play a key role in rebuilding the country after the conflict, according to the prime minister
Poland intends to profit from Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
During a visit to the Euroterminal Slawkow railway facility in the south of the country on Monday, Tusk pitched the expansion of the site into a key hub for materials bound for Ukraine.
“It is not wrong to say: we want to earn big money for Poland on the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he told reporters. “We want to help, but we also want to earn money on it, and this special hub is needed for this purpose.”
Poland has been one of Ukraine’s top donors since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022, providing over €5.1 billion ($5.7 billion) in aid – more than 70% of it military – according to Germany’s Kiel Institute. Warsaw is also part of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of European nations advocating continued military aid for Kiev. Polish officials have repeatedly urged EU-wide militarization in response to what they describe as a growing threat from Russia – claims that Moscow has repeatedly dismissed as “nonsense” and “fearmongering.”
The Euroterminal Slawkow, established in 2010, lies near the intersection of Pan-European Transport Corridors III and VI. It currently supports regular connections within Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, and several Ukrainian locations. According to Tusk, the terminal has the potential to become a major transshipment center, thanks to its location at the junction of rail lines linking Western Europe with Ukraine and Asia.
Read more
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment rising in Poland – media
Tusk complained about Poland’s minimal role in reconstruction efforts after the Iraq War, insisting that the country will not be sidelined again.
“It cannot be like it used to be... where everyone got involved, including Poland, and then the bigger players made money on the reconstruction, and Poland was left out in the cold,” he said.
“If we are talking about tens, hundreds of billions of zloty that the world, Europe, Poland, Ukraine will spend on the reconstruction, then among other things we are expanding this logistics hub... so that Poland can make money on it,” he concluded.
READ MORE: EU to tap frozen Russian funds – Reuters
The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s recovery could cost more than $500 billion over the next decade. Some EU countries, including Poland, have suggested using frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund the effort. Others, however, have warned that doing so without clear legal grounds could set a dangerous precedent and discourage global investment in Europe. Moscow has condemned the proposed move as “theft” and threatened to retaliate against Western investments in Russia.
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Site: PeakProsperityThe long bonds are caving, Japan's bonds are swan-diving, and the ECB warns that physical demand for gold could cause a systemic crisis for its member banks. By which they mean banks' derivative exposures to synthetic gold shenanigans. Tune in with with GoldCore CEO David Russell.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionBy Gordon FriesenPresident, Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionEPC has an online petition, we have post-cards to be sent to members of parliment and we have a traditional paper petition demanding a complete review of Canada's euthanasia law. Contact EPC at: info@epcc.ca for more information.In coming weeks and months, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Delta Hospice Society will be calling on government's to undertake a complete, and long-promised review of euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada.
Link to our EPC petition (Petition Link)
It is our observation that events have unfolded in a completely unexpected and alarming fashion; that current policy has little to do with its originally stated intent; that such policy is in fact leading us on a horrific course that no one consciously chose (or very few) but which is now evolving under its own anti-human economic logic and impetus.
Even we, in the organized resistance to euthanasia, have been taken unawares, while our rhetoric has been roughly overtaken by the facts. To take one key example, it has always been a priority to champion fair treatment of the most vulnerable, in terms of access to needed care and services. For we all immediately understand that legal euthanasia threatens the safety of specific lives. What we did not understand is just how many lives that would be.
Very simply put, the "most vulnerable" narrative assumes that disputed benefits actually exist; that people are generally able to access appropriate services; that only certain groups (defined perhaps by economic, racial, gender, or ability criteria) are not. However, as the situation now exists in Canada, real health care --meaning truly life-affirming care, free of the pressure to accept euthanasia-- is no longer available (in so far as that availability depends upon the State).
Real, good and decent doctors and nurses do exist, of course! And they are clearly among the most influential actors in our Coalition. However, our chances of being treated properly as patients should not be dependant upon the personal moral compass of individual professionals who are now forced to operate as dissidents within a hostile system.
That is not at all how things were intended to be. We have always been taught to expect proper medical care as a right of citizenship. Our universal Canadian system was established some sixty years ago with the precise goal of making such care available to all.
Shockingly, the true calamity we are now experiencing involves nothing less than the cynical replacement of that time-honoured medical ideal, with a radical, euthanasia-based, veterinary-style system of population management.
In this scheme, advanced medical treatment will indeed be provided for those briefly incapacitated persons who may easily be restored to full productive status. But a radically different path is marked out for everyone else, which is to say: for anyone at all whose physical or mental status --for whatever reason-- might cause their expected economic contribution to fall below the cost of their upkeep. In these cases, illness, disability, and even simple aging itself, are now to be collapsed into the smallest social dimension possible, by actively steering all such individuals towards the newly discovered medical "treatment" of euthanasia.
Indeed, the only easy way to escape this trap requires personal resources large enough to privately make up the difference. For our ruling elites there is obviously no difficulty. Simply jump in the plane, and off they go, to state-of-the-art facilities provided by dynamic extra-national organizations dedicated to the satisfaction of every client whim (medical or otherwise) in settings of luxury.
Back in Canada, however, few individuals possess such options. The available earnings of the entire working and middle classes are already fully committed to the spending policies of which medical care is by far the greatest component. For the individual taxpayer, that money cannot be spent twice. No personal budgetary room remains for typical Canadians to pay, out of pocket, for real medical care.
To repeat the essential: service deprivation is now the norm, not the exception. To portray this as a "most vulnerable" issue (wholly, or even primarily) would require the redefinition of "most vulnerable" to include any person whose speedy recovery cannot guarantee prompt return on investment. And in the normal experience of accident and aging (while excluding our rulers) this is a category which includes the entire population.
In short, the problem of euthanasia does not affect only certain persons. It affects every person at certain seasons in their lives. Our common problem is the deliberate promotion of euthanasia by the administrative State. It is the shameless presentation of medical homicide as a legitimate and sufficient solution for any sort of problem. Nor have we seen the worst. We may now expect decision-makers to actually lower care standards on purpose. For if suffering is assumed to have a cure --in euthanasia-- then suffering can no longer be allowed to impede rationalization.
In retrospect, I think it is fair to say that very few people could have suspected that a supposedly limited access to voluntary euthanasia might ever devolve into the scale of industrial destruction, of human life, to which we are now witness. Quite naturally, many people have come to question the "why" and the "how" of such a calamitous outcome.
And that is why we are calling for a complete review of Canada's euthanasia policy.
We demand a full review, as originally promised in law but never delivered: an open and unfiltered scrutiny of current practice, accompanied at each stage by the severe questioning of past decisions made. Everything must be on the table.
We further believe that serious changes must result. For we --by a large majority-- want real medical care.Link to our letter to federal and provincial parliaments (Link to letter). -
Site: RT - News
The bloc has accepted around 4.3 million Ukrainians under its temporary program for displaced persons
EU member states are reportedly preparing to reevaluate the legal status of Ukrainian refugees who live in the bloc, Euractiv reported on Monday, citing an EU diplomat. Discussions on a potential exit from the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) may begin as early as June.
Brussels invoked the TPD shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in early 2022. Originally established in 2001, the directive offers a broad array of benefits, including residence permits, housing, access to employment, education, healthcare, financial benefits and social services. While the program was initially set to expire in March 2025, it has recently been extended until March 2026.
Talks around “exit strategies” are intensifying behind the scenes amid a “shifting geopolitical landscape,” the unnamed diplomat told Euractiv. The issue is expected to be a central focus at the bloc’s upcoming Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting scheduled for June 12–13.
Although most member states support continuing the program for now, Euractiv noted, legal experts warn that further extensions may stretch the directive’s original intent.
Read more
US ready to change legal status of 240,000 Ukrainian migrants – media
“We’re already on thin ice with the last prolongation,” Martin Wagner, a senior policy adviser at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, told the outlet. “A straightforward reading of the directive would mean that after three years, it’s over.”
Wagner stressed the need for “a real discussion about alternatives and how to exit temporary protection in one way or another,” pointing out that the directive was never intended as a long-term solution.
Another anonymous diplomat warned that the EU risks “overwhelming national asylum systems — exactly what the TPD was meant to prevent.”
According to Wagner the current number of beneficiaries is “multiple times more than what countries usually handle,” calling the status quo “an incredible burden.”
Read more
Ukrainians who moved to the West not coming back – MP
The debate comes amid growing challenges faced by member states in managing the large-scale influx of Ukrainian refugees. As of March 2025, over 4.3 million Ukrainians had been granted temporary protection in the EU, according to Eurostat data.
While Brussels has maintained that continued support is essential, several governments are reconsidering the level of assistance they can provide. Germany, currently hosting more than 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, has begun scaling back welfare benefits due to sustainability concerns. Meanwhile, Poland has opposed taking in additional migrants under the EU’s newly proposed migration pact.
More Ukrainians fleeing the conflict have reportedly migrated to Russia than any there country. According to a law enforcement official as cited by TASS, 5.5 million people had migrated as of 2023.
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Site: southern orders
I think we can all agree that the novel approach to the initiation of the Bishop of Rome into the Petrine Ministry leaves something to be desired now that coronations are canceled.
Byrus stated that the simple ceremony where Pope Leo XIV ascended to the throne of His Holiness’ Cathedral at the Basilica of St. John Lateran was more regal than what His Holiness experienced at His initiation into the Petrine Ministry.
So, my suggestions to beef up the ceremony at St. Peter’s Square would be the following:
First the Bishop of Rome ascends an ornate throne under the logia of St. Peter’s. At that point the fannon and pallium are placed upon him and then the Petrine ring. Wouldn’t that be more regal?
I think the symbolism of the Chair of Saint Peter should be showcased and be the central symbol!
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Site: Catholic ConclaveVincenzo Paglia: “Indignant at the world in ruins. We need global bioethics”The outgoing President of the Pontifical Academy for Life: “I am 80 years old, my mandate ends here. From artificial intelligence to medicine, knowledge collaborates for a sustainable development of humanity”“I have just returned from Argentina, from an international conference at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: RT - News
The nation’s military has reportedly been instructed to be ready for potential offensive operations by 2029
The German military must significantly increase its weapons stockpile by 2029, the year the current government anticipates a potential threat from Russia, according to a directive issued by the country’s defense chief, obtained by Reuters.
The order, titled ‘Directive Priorities for the Bolstering of Readiness’, was signed on May 19 by Carsten Breuer, the inspector general of the Bundeswehr, the news agency reported on Sunday.
Moscow has denied that it has any aggressive intentions toward NATO countries, dismissing Western speculation of a possible attack as fearmongering aimed at justifying extensive militarization by the bloc’s European members.
Breuer’s order emphasizes the procurement of advanced air defense systems and long-range precision strike capabilities effective at ranges exceeding 500km. He has also reportedly directed the military to increase the stockpiling of various types of ammunition and to develop new capacities in electronic warfare, as well as space-based systems for both defensive and offensive missions.
Read more
EU could be ‘destroyed’ – Merkel
Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Monday that his government has lifted restrictions on the range of weapons it can supply to Ukraine to fight Russia. The news is perceived as a hint at the possible delivery of long-range Taurus missiles, which the previous government refused to donate.
In March, the German parliament amended the nation’s law to exempt military spending from the ‘debt brake’, a measure that limits government borrowing. Merz has proposed allocating up to 5% of the nation’s GDP to security-related projects by 2032, a significant increase from the current level of around 2%. He claimed that this expenditure would transform the Bundeswehr into Europe’s most formidable military force.
The rearmament plans necessitate a corresponding increase in personnel. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius indicated in a recent interview that the ruling coalition aims to introduce a recruitment model similar to Sweden’s, potentially ending the current volunteer-only system as early as next year.
READ MORE: German defense minister teases possible conscription in 2026
The military initiatives come amid economic challenges, including de-industrialization and stagnation. On Sunday, the newspaper Bild said that ThyssenKrupp, a company with over two centuries of history, is undergoing a significant restructuring amounting to dissolution. According to the report, the company plans to reduce its headquarters staff from 500 to 100, transfer its steel mills to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, sell its naval shipyard Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in the public market, and divest most other divisions.
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogThis time of year many new priests are being ordained and, consequently, many priests observe their own anniversaries. In the traditional, Vetus Ordo of the Roman Rite a priest can add orations “for himself… Pro seipso sacerdote“, on the anniversary … Read More →
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Site: AsiaNews.itA Yanadi tribal family forced into bonded labour at a duck farm. The mother, desperate for news of her nine-year-old son held as "collateral", was fed a string of lies by the employer. Bishop Thakur of the Indian Bishops' Commission for Migrants: "Slavery, though officially illegal, remains a deep stain on the conscience of a country that presents itself as an economic powerhouse".
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Site: Mises InstituteThanks to the endless “War Against Terror,” the US Government promoted methods of torture, including some borrowed from the sadistic torturers of the former Soviet Union. Congress stood by and let it happen.
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Site: Mises InstituteThanks to the endless “War Against Terror,” the US Government promoted methods of torture. Congress stood by and let it happen.
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Site: Steyn OnlineA special Memorial Day edition on battle, sacrifice and remembrance - from the Civil War to the Great War to the unwon wars of our own time...
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Site: AsiaNews.itWomen who acquired nationality through marriage particularly affected. Ordinary workers, entrepreneurs, and celebrities—including singers and actors—also targeted. Human rights activists and organisations express concern. In March, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah pledged to 'cleanse Kuwait of impurities' and return the nation to its 'original people'.
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogMany priests observe the anniversary of their ordination at this time of year. It is a common time for ordinations, probably because Ember Days were common times for ordinations and Ember Days fall during the Pentecost Octave. In any event, … Read More →
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Site: non veni pacem
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Site: southern orders
Can’t we come up with a better way to describe this? This is the Crux headline:Pope Leo XIV officially installed as bishop of Rome
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Site: AsiaNews.itThe Karina Foundation held its biennial meeting in Jakarta from 21 to 24 May at the headquarters of the Bishops' Conference. The event brought together operators, bishops and international partners to boost the commitment to cooperation and integral human development. Fr Fredy Rante Taruk highlighted 'working closely with government stakeholders'.
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Site: Zero HedgeDoug Burgum Warns Whoever Wins AI Race 'Controls The World'Tyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 09:35
Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics,
Doug Burgum, the soft-spoken Interior secretary responsible for managing the more than 507 million acres of federally owned land, is haunted by a fear that seems, at first glance, outside his mandate. He worries the free world will lose dominance in the field of artificial intelligence, and with it, the future.
So does the president.
“When President Trump declared a national emergency on his first day in office it was, in large part, because of what we're facing with our electrical grid and making sure that we’ve got enough power to be able to win the AI arms race with China,” Burgum said Wednesday in remarks first reported by RealClearPolitics. “That is absolutely critical.”
Thus the stated policy of this White House: “It’s called drill, baby, drill,” Trump said earlier this spring.
The immediate goal, the one touted at every campaign, is to bring down the average price of a gallon of gas. The concurrent and long-term mission that Burgum obsesses over: AI dominance. The former governor from fracking-friendly North Dakota and tech entrepreneur who sold his software to Microsoft, Burgum laid out an abbreviated formula on stage at the America First Policy Institute.
Electricity generation via fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, powers data centers “filled with these amazing chips,” the secretary said, “and you know what comes out the other side? Intelligence. A data center is literally manufacturing intelligence.” He envisioned a new world that follows, where the best computer programmer, or the most brilliant lawyers, could “clone themselves” again and again to train AI models to do the work of thousands in a process “that can be repeated indefinitely.”
No longer science fiction, the process has been headline news for some time. AI models like ChatGPT and X’s Grok are already available in every home with an internet connection. And the U.S. was the undisputed leader. That is, until recently.
American tech companies enjoyed a clear edge with not just the most powerful AI models, the most funding, and top engineering talent, but also the easiest access to those “amazing chips” that Burgum referenced. Former President Biden banned the export of the most advanced semiconductors to China. And yet DeepSeek, an unknown Chinese startup with less money and allegedly less sophisticated chips, still managed to one-up Silicon Valley earlier this year with a more powerful AI model.
The latest development in the battle for tech supremacy, in what some likened to “a Sputnik moment,” the DeepSeek launch rattled both markets and geopolitics. A new kind of AI nationalism now consumes heads of state convinced that their nations must develop their own technology or fall behind in the future. Said Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017 of AI, “The one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.”
Burgum does not disagree. He would just prefer the West take on that role. “Trust me, you do not want to be getting your data from a Chinese data center,” he told the crowd, adding that “Whoever controls the manufacture of intelligence is going to control the world. The next five years is going to determine the next 50.”
This is the goal of the White House, including Vice President JD Vance, who once warned that falling behind on this front could mean that the U.S. meets China “on the battlefield of the future” with the equivalent of digital “muskets.”
Democrats on Capitol Hill are not thrilled. The day before, Maine Rep. Marie Pingree complained in the House Appropriations Committee that Burgum had gutted the department he leads and sought to slash Biden-era clean energy tax credits.
“In just four months, the department has been destabilized, and there’s been a stunning decline in its ability to meet its mission,” she told Burgum. “This disregards the climate change concerns that we have.”
The secretary replied that he was concerned with a more pressing order of operations. “The existential threats that this administration is focusing on are Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon, and we can’t lose the AI arms race to China,” Burgum said in committee. “That’s the number one and two. If we solve those two things, then we will have plenty of time to solve any issues related to potential temperature change.”
His immediate focus, then, is on how the U.S. can boost energy production. Burgum reported that industry leaders tell him electricity demand will soon outpace supply with astronomical numbers measured not in megawatts, but gigawatts. The power needed to run one data center, he said, would be equivalent to the electricity needs of Denver times 10.
Because AI has the potential to supercharge nearly every business, he said, “the demand for this product is like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lives.”
Concluded the Interior secretary, “The fundamental principles here again, as they say, we’re going to sell energy to our friends and allies, and we’re going to have enough energy here at home to be able to win the AI arms race. And this requires electricity.”
On this Burgum and Trump are simpatico. During the campaign, the president likened artificial intelligence to “the oil of the future.”
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Site: southern orders
We all know that Catholic funerals on the parish level often become eulogies on the dead person and often canonize them as already being in heaven. Often, the persons declared to be in heaven have lived lives far from the Gospel. But they were popular in life, often because of their free and easy lifestyle.Bishops, priests or deacons who do this have not recalled what the funeral homily should be. It should focus on Christ not the deceased person, although good examples from the deceased person’s life could be included as responding to the Risen Christ’s grace.
Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily for now Saint Pope John Paul is a wonderful example of what a funeral homily should be. During the homily, in no way did Cardinal Ratzinger canonize Pope John Paul II although examples from the pope’s life shored up the Christo-centric nature of the homily. You can read the homily HERE.
The same is true of the homily that Pope Francis gave at Pope Benedict’s funeral a bit more than two years ago. It was excellent too, brief but quite Christo-centric and far from a canonization of the pope. You can read that homily HERE.
Unfortunately, the homily give by Cardinal Re for Pope Francis’ funeral was more a eulogy that canonized Pope Francis rather than a Christo-centric homily as funeral homily should and must be! I would think that even Pope Francis might have objected to this kind of homily for him. You can read Cardinal Re’s homily HERE.
But there is another pitfall that Pope Leo XIV has fallen into.
On three occasions, not at Mass or in a formal teaching, His Holiness has said that Pope Francis is in heaven, not that he hopes Pope Francis’ soul is in heaven or commending his soul to almighty God.
Pope Leo is new at being pope but should know better that as pope only at a true canonization can he declare that a faithful departed is in heaven. Any pope, but also Pope Leo, should be careful of casual talk that declares an uncanonized person to be in heaven and thus casually sainted.
In no case, though, should any Catholic intimate that anyone is definitely in hell. But also, apart from a formal canonization, neither should we say someone is definitively in heaven.
I hope Pope Leo reads my most humble blog.
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Site: Zero HedgeStock Futures Soar, Yields Rise After Trump Extends Deadline For EU TariffsTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 09:10
US equity futures surged and European stocks climbed after President Donald Trump extended a deadline on aggressive euro area tariffs, reinforcing the pattern of leaving markets guessing and flip-flopping by making trade threats before backtracking, all in keeping with the gamebook established during the Trump 1.0 trade wars. With US cash markets closed for Memorial Day, US equity futures jumped 1.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures surged 1.4%, erasing all of Friday's losses.
A gauge of the dollar hovered near its lowest level in almost two years. Cash Treasuries didn’t trade due to holidays in the UK and US but futures dipped, indicating a 10Y yield about 4.53%
Trump’s decision to extend the deadline came after a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said earlier Sunday in a post on X that “Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” but “a good deal” will need “time until July 9.” That’s the date on which Trump’s 90-day pause of his so-called reciprocal tariffs had originally been set to end.
Trump’s tariff threats on Friday also included a 25% levy on smartphones if companies including Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. failed to move production to the US.
Even as the Big Beautiful Bill is now stuck in the Senate where any changes threaten to undo its razor thin passage in the House, the trade war has made a return as the major risk driver once again after concerns about Trump’s proposed tax cuts, and their impact on the US deficit, churned markets much of last week. Trump’s whiplash moves have increased uncertainty in markets and his broadside against Europe on Friday, followed by a backtrack, was a stark reminder of the president’s volatile policy making.
“The stock market seems to dance to Trump’s tune: first a threat, then a pullback, quickly followed by a rebound as speculative investors anticipate a concession from the U.S. President,” said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “This morning’s confirmation of such expectations reinforces the so-called ‘Trump Pattern,’ which is increasingly seen as a successful strategy for risk-tolerant investors.”
“One thing that is starting to concern us a bit is the fact that the rebounds that follow these selloffs are losing strength as we go on,” said Frederic Rozier, a portfolio manager at Mirabaud France. “We can sense investor fatigue about this back-and-forth and there’s a risk sentiment will erode as markets run in circles on tariffs. The only thing we know is that even if there’s an agreement, there will be a cost for European stocks.”
Europe's Stoxx 600 index also erased Friday’s losses sparked by Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs on the European Union. The US President later said he had agreed to delay the date for the levies to July 9 from June 1. Among individual movers in Europe, Thyssenkrupp AG jumped more than 7% after a report that the firms chief executive plans to turn it into a holding company, allowing it to cut overhead costs as it divests further units. Volvo Car AB climbed as much as 4.8% after announcing plans to eliminate around 7% of its global workforce to cut costs and protect profits.
Earlier in the session, Asian equities were steady as weakness in China offset gains in Japan and South Korea. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index traded little changed after rising as much as 0.4%. Japanese firms Sony Group and Tokyo Electron were the biggest boosts to the gauge, while Chinese shares including Tencent and BYD were among the biggest drags. A broad sense of optimism buoyed markets in the region after President Donald Trump delayed duties on EU imports. Benchmarks in Japan got a lift as the country’s chief tariff negotiator indicated plans to resolve talks with the US before a G-7 meeting in June. Trump’s nod of a partnership between Nippon Steel and US Steel also helped sentiment. Shares in Korea led gains in the region, while Indian gauges also gained. That’s helped the regional measure remain on pace for its best close since October.
The trade tensions and weak demand for US assets are showing up in the dollar. Bloomberg’s dollar spot index was track for its lowest close since July 2023, while the greenback is at or approaching key levels against a host of currencies including the euro, Britsh pound, yen and Swiss franc.
Enthusiasm has faded for the world’s reserve currency this year. Speculative traders remained bearish on the dollar but trimmed their positioning to $12.4 billion in the week ending May 20 from $16.5 billion in the week prior, according to CFTC data reported Friday.A key event this week will be Nvidia Corp.’s results on Wednesday. The chip-making giant is seen as a bellwether for so called growth stocks and the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom. It’s outlook will be crucial given macro risks and tariff uncertainty.
Investors are also gearing up for the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the US personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, which will be released Friday. The April reading is forecast to rise 0.1% based on consensus expectations.
Elsewhere, signs of port congestion in northern Europe and other hubs suggests trade wars could lead to maritime disruptions around the world, increasing shipping rates.
Trump on Friday announced a partnership between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., shocking markets with an agreement he said would keep the once-iconic American firm in the US, but otherwise providing no specifics. Nippon Steel shares jumped as much as 7.4% in Tokyo, while shares in US Steel rose 21% Friday.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
The following is a contribution to our EPC "Story Contest". Please visit our "contributor info" (link). "recent stories" (link). and "story index" (link).
We would be thrilled to receive your story (fact or creative fiction) at: story@epcc.ca
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is not a religious organization. Naomi submitted her poem and we accepted it for publishing. All formats are welcome.
Fatal Temptation
By Naomi Jane Haw
Many times, at the bleak barricade of depression,
Looking down the endless, echoing tunnel
That seems to be my life.
Many times, if there had been a pill or injection
To remove me from that seemingly senseless suffering,
I would have taken it.
If euthanasia is allowed for the terminally ill,
I could argue that my endlessly repeating battles with depression
Represent a similar depth of pain and suffering that will continue to haunt me.
Many times I have wanted to walk the path
To a peaceful, painless, blameless, endless sleep.
AND YET
I am a Christian and I truly believe God when He declares:
“I know the plans I have for you,
plans for welfare and not for calamity,
to give you a hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11 NLT)
I can also see the Devil’s deviant, defiant schemes.
I truly believe that “You must not murder”, (Deut. 5:17 NLT)And euthanasia is killing humans.
In other words- murder.
And yet, if the path to euthanasia was opened up,
I would be tempted to kill (myself), to be killed;
Anything to escape the torture of untreatable depression.
But it would be wrong.
I could be slipping into an endless torment of separation
From God, my family and friends.
You may think of death (from euthanasia) as a sweet oblivion,
An endless, dreamless sleep.
But you may be wrong!
It may be a trick and a lie from the Devil.
No-one has ever returned to tell us about this unending death.
It could be a terrible, fatal beginning,
More painful and terrifying than the hardest fight against illness.
Medically assisted suicide
Would mean depriving my family of a wife, a mother, a daughter.
And though there are many times
When I have no success in playing the roles assigned to me,
Times when I no longer want to be me…
Still I believe that:
A hopeless, helpless wife is better than no wife for my husband,
A failing mother is better than no mother for my children,
An emotionally distant daughter is better than no daughter for my parents.
And I think they would agree.
God created me, with all my talents and in all my weakness.
And God allows the Devil To hunt me and haunt me with depression.
I don’t understand why.
I may never understand why,
But I choose to believe in the value that God places on my life.
“You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8 NLT)
I choose to believe God when He says:
“I created all the delicate, inner parts of your body
and knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13 NLT)
And also when He declares that, in the end:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death will not exist anymore -
or mourning, or crying, or pain,
for the former things have ceased to exist” (Rev 21:4 NLT)
In essence, what I’m saying
Is that the lure of an endless, dreamless sleep May be a trick and a lie,
May, in fact, be a nightmare of torment,
And could well prove to be
Not just a final extinction
But a fatal temptation.
Written by Naomi Jane Haw
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Site: Zero HedgeParadise Lost: Jeffrey Epstein's Legacy Still Clouds The U.S. Virgin IslandsTyler Durden Mon, 05/26/2025 - 08:50
Authored by Lee Feng via RealClearInvestigations,
When Jeffrey Epstein purchased Little Saint James, the teardrop-shaped island south‑east of St. Thomas, in the late 1990s, he was seen as a mere oddity. A one-time math teacher who claimed to manage the fortunes of billionaires, he told U.S. Virgin Islands officials that he was seeking privacy. He also appears to have purchased impunity.
Statue on Little St. James Island
The alleged crimes that Epstein committed on that emerald island reachable only by helicopter or ferry would explode into an international scandal. Investigators accuse him of raping and sexually abusing girls as young as eleven at his island compound where he also hosted many A-list politicians, business leaders and celebrities. One 15-year-old, whom Epstein allegedly forced into sex acts, attempted to escape by swimming away from the island. She was caught and her passport was taken away.
While Epstein was alive, Virgin Islands officials appear to have shielded him from scrutiny – customs agents at the airport, for example, reported seeing Epstein leave his plane with girls between the ages of 11 and 17, yet there is no record that anyone checked on their safety.
After his death in 2019, other officials who aided Epstein began profiting from continued secrecy and a string of legal settlements associated with his behavior that put hundreds of millions of dollars under the government’s control. No one appears to have benefited more than Albert Bryan Jr., the governor of the territory. Court records show that Bryan had previously overseen the agency that granted nearly $300 million in illicit tax credits to Epstein’s company, which fraudulently claimed to provide “biomedical and financial informatics” services. Bryan, after securing a gubernatorial victory in 2018 with the support of Epstein and his aides, would later push for a waiver for Epstein to avoid compliance with the island’s sex offender laws.
Bryan fired the attorney general who led the island’s cases against Epstein’s estate, and his appointed successor ended an explosive case over J.P. Morgan Chase’s ties to the former financier before a new round of discovery.
Over the last few months, legislative records show, Bryan has tapped the Epstein settlement funds to pay for a variety of his domestic political agenda items. The money was secured from Epstein’s estate and his associates, including the case with J.P. Morgan Chase and a close financial supporter, private billionaire Leon Black, who was also accused of abusing women. The settlements, which collectively account for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, were championed as a measure of accountability, and the proceeds were promised to assist victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and child sexual abuse.
In late April, Bryan, at his weekly briefing at the Government House on St. Thomas, announced the allocation of $22 million in retroactive wages to government workers, a move his office touted as strengthening public trust. "This is real money – money in the bank," Bryan boasted. Left unmentioned was the source – the Epstein settlement money.
Earlier this year, Bryan applied the Epstein funds for vendor payments and sought to use the money for a variety of other earmarks, such as a $25 million makeover for the Justice Building on St. Croix. The lack of transparency around the funds has faced scrutiny from legislators and some Virgin Islands residents.
The total amount remaining in the Epstein settlement fund is not clear. Motley Rice, a private law firm that assisted the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Justice Department with the cases, is projected to receive about $23.35 million of the settlement as its share of the fees.
“We have a situation where some of the monies might have been spent, even though they were appropriated for specific purposes,” said USVI Senator Alma Francis Heyliger. “The legislature did not give approval for this.”
In a letter posted online last year, David Silverman, a retiree living in St. John, stated, “This money was promised to be used to protect vulnerable young women, among other things. But for reasons that nobody can explain, the money is nowhere to be found.”
The U.S. Department of Justice maintains oversight of the USVI, a jurisdiction that has been plagued by corruption. In recent years, FBI agents have raided territory agencies over the mismanagement of public money. In June 2024, several senior USVI officials were charged with defrauding $4 million in housing funds. The FBI declined to comment on whether it is investigating the USVI's use of Epstein settlement funds.
The Bryan administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Questions continue to swirl over the Epstein secrets still buried in government vaults. The much-hyped Trump administration release of files related to the Epstein case quickly turned to disappointment in February as the government distributed binders with no new information. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to criticism of the fizzled press event, has said she is still pushing for the release of more files held by the FBI and her department.
While attention still focuses on the 256,000 square-foot warehouse in Winchester, Virginia, where unreleased FBI records, including CDs, hard drives, and recordings from Epstein’s homes, are still held, the Virgin Islands side of the story remains unresolved. The tropical territory remains one of the last redoubts of intrigue related to the scandal.
The island territory was the nexus for Epstein’s alleged human trafficking operation. It was there that Epstein entertained his VIP rolodex of guests and is believed to have engaged in some of his worst sexual crimes.
The abrupt settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase prevented the release of more disclosures about the nature of Epstein’s network, including documents and depositions from key figures who aided and abetted the former financier.
The U.S. Virgin Islands government and JPMorgan Chase both denied claims of complicity in Epstein's abuses. In a previous statement to reporters, the bank claimed it “would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”
Nearly two years ago, Bryan shut off the valve of a smattering of unflattering documents released as part of the island territory’s lawsuit with J.P. Morgan. After initially seeking $190 million from the bank for its role in aiding Epstein’s operations, Bryan shocked observers by firing his own attorney general and reportedly pushed to end the lawsuit.
The initial 2022 lawsuit charged that J.P. Morgan had “turned a blind eye” to clear evidence that Epstein had used the bank to facilitate his sex trafficking operations. USVI claimed in court that it had uncovered evidence that J.P. Morgan officials had repeatedly raised red flags about Epstein, who maintained around 55 accounts and routinely referred his network to the bank’s wealth management services. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan executives joked over email about his interest in young girls.
But the bank hit back with a countersuit and filed hundreds of documents, exhibits, and emails alleging “a decades-long quid pro quo between Epstein and the USVI government.” The legal probe revealed the former financier’s extensive system of alleged bribes and influence payments to USVI officials – money, J.P. Morgan’s lawyers claimed, that “created a haven for Epstein’s criminal activity.”
These records show that Epstein placed the former first lady of the island, Cecile de Jongh, on his payroll. She suggested campaign donations and targeted gifts to universities, civic groups, and the families of powerful politicians. The gifts appear to have helped Epstein win special benefits, including visas to bring young girls to the island and $300 million in illicit tax exemptions for his fraudulently registered information technology company.
J.P. Morgan's attorney filed documents with the court charging that de Jongh suggested Epstein pay monthly retainers to local politicians, including former USVI Senator Celestino White, to gain “loyalty and access.” The records showed he also gave free Thanksgiving turkeys to 78 federal customs agents at the St. Thomas airport after dealing with one “difficult” officer.
The ties extended to the governor and the territory’s representative in Congress, the incumbent lawmaker Stacey Plaskett. In his previous role as head of the economic development office, Bryan signed off on a string of tax exemptions for Epstein’s Southern Trust business entity. At the time, Plaskett served as counsel to the tax office.
Plaskett went on to work at Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC, a USVI law firm Epstein retained for tax and legal issues. In 2014, as Plaskett geared up to run for Congress, de Jongh advised Epstein to support her bid against a popular local politician, Shawn-Michael Malone. “Shawn is the one who came after you in the senate hearing last week. He is nasty and needs to be defeated and we have a friend in Stacey,” de Jongh wrote in an email uncovered by J.P. Morgan’s attorneys.
During the election, Epstein’s closest aides and advisers, including Darren Indyke, Lesley Groff, and Erica Kellerhals, donated to Plaskett, helping her defeat Malone by just 737 votes in what local press called “one of the biggest upsets in Virgin Island politics.” De Jongh wrote to Epstein to confirm that a $13,000 corporate donation planned for the Democratic Party would be made “for the benefit of Stacey Plaskett.”
Epstein repeatedly donated to Plaskett’s campaign committees until his suicide in a New York City prison cell in 2019. In an email made public by the litigation, Plaskett wrote to Kellerhals and Lesley Groff, another Epstein aide who reportedly helped him recruit young women, to request the financier’s fundraising assistance. She also met with him at his New York City home in a bid to request larger donations to the DCCC, the House Democrats’ campaign arm.
Plaskett did not respond to a request for comment. In March, a federal judge in New York ruled that Plaskett will continue to serve as the sole defendant in a case brought by multiple victims of Epstein. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case charges that USVI officials conspired with Epstein to sustain his sex-trafficking scheme.
The case relies on much of the evidence that the J.P. Morgan countersuit uncovered nearly two years ago.
The Epstein network also helped to elect Bryan governor. Kellerhals, campaign finance disclosures exclusively obtained by RealClearInvestigations show, donated $1,000. Records from the J.P. Morgan litigation provide further evidence of support, including an email from de Jongh suggesting $25,000 to an inauguration party in Bryan’s honor and a reminder that Bryan had requested $30,000 in support for the USVI Little League.
Bryan, as governor, requested that the USVI Justice Department provide Epstein with a waiver for the territory’s sex offender registry. Epstein’s legal requests for special exemptions to the law, notably, were facilitated by Kellerhals.
“Not every sexual offender or any person, you know, are in the position to have the governor make the request to the attorney general … that by itself indicated to me that [Epstein] was flexing his political influence over or with the governor,” Denise George, a former USVI attorney general said in a deposition she gave as part of the JPMorgan lawsuit.
Bryan, in a deposition with J.P. Morgan’s attorneys, dismissed concerns about Epstein’s operations in the USVI. He said he was only aware that “he copped a plea to having sex with a hooker who was under age,” a reference to Epstein’s 2008 conviction over child prostitution.
On New Year’s Eve 2022, Bryan unexpectedly fired Denise George, the attorney general responsible for the J.P. Morgan lawsuit and the island’s landmark case against the Epstein estate. George had previously opposed Bryan’s requests for a waiver for Epstein to get around the island’s sex offender laws.
As the litigation continued to mount, J.P. Morgan’s attorneys threatened more discovery and depositions of USVI officials. In a filing to the court in September 2023, they argued that they planned greater investigations of a host of USVI’s elite, including Bryan and Plaskett.
A few weeks after the filing, USVI announced its settlement, agreeing to end its case in exchange for $75 million, an amount far below the initial amount sought by the lawsuit.
The sudden end to the case closed the rare window of disclosure into Epstein’s private power structure and the ways in which he carried out his political operation.
Some lawmakers and island residents believe secrets from the Epstein scandal are still hidden. The J.P. Morgan case proved too harmful for the USVI elite as it exposed embarrassing documents on all sides.
“Listen, as a community, I would rather these things come out so we can clean up our community instead of sticking our heads in the sand,” said Senator Francis Heyliger. “The more we clean up this territory, and more things are exposed, I think in the long run, it will be better for us and as a community and for the people.”
The senator was clear that President Trump should release new, unredacted Epstein files or pressure USVI officials to provide more clarity over the financier’s influence. “If this administration, on a national level, chooses to put out more information, I am never one that believes you should hide from the truth." she said.
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Site: Mundabor's blogPope Leo visited Santa Maria Maggiore, where Francis is buried. He prayed at his tomb, which in itself is not wrong. He also did not say anything wrong, at least as far as I can see, about Francis’ ultimate destiny. But he did something that his predecessor did not like to do: he encouraged the […]
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Site: Mundabor's blogThe comment section is not there for you to write your poems, or to go on bloviating, or to repost stuff you have posted elsewhere. Most people don’t read long comments, and they distract from the message. Thanks
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Site: Mundabor's blogSlapped in the face by his own wife. The same wife who slept with him as his teacher when he was 15, which would have got her to 1) jail and 2) loss of job pretty much everywhere else but France. These are the leaders of the Western world. A bunch of pussies smacked by […]
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Site: AsiaNews.itThe Court of Appeal upheld an earlier decision by the High Court. For the judges, the case is procedural, not about personal faith. The woman was never Muslim since the change in religion results from a unilateral act by her mother when she was a child without the consent of her Hindu father.
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Site: RT - News
State Department officials reportedly met with British anti-abortion activists over concerns that their rights to free speech were being violated
US officials recently travelled to the UK to meet with local anti-abortion campaigners who Washington believes face retribution for expressing their views, The Telegraph reported on Saturday. The paper described the move as evidence of Washington’s desire to “intervene in domestic British affairs.”
In March, the State Department dispatched a delegation from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), to meet with officials from the Foreign Office and communications regulator Ofcom to “affirm the importance of freedom of expression in the UK and across Europe.”
The talks, which also overlapped with separate UK-US trade negotiations, focused on Britain’s new online safety act and its potential consequences for freedom of speech.
However, the five-member US team also quietly met with British activists who had been arrested for protesting outside abortion clinics, the article said. The US officials also reportedly attended an event held at a “nondescript” office block where campaigners were present.
Read more
UK proposes stricter immigration rules
“The visit is the latest sign of the Trump administration’s willingness to intervene in domestic British affairs,” The Telegraph noted.
While the paper did not provide details on whom the US officials met, Washington has sounded the alarm over several controversial cases where the right to free speech in the UK may have been violated.
One of them was that of Livia Tossici-Bolt, a 64-year-old campaigner who was charged in 2023 for holding a sign reading “here to talk if you want” outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. She refused to leave when asked by police and faced prosecution under a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) – a legal restriction that creates a 150-meter buffer zone around facilities providing abortion services.
In February, US Vice President J.D. Vance also singled out the case of Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old British army veteran and anti-abortion activist, who was convicted in October 2024 for silently praying near the same Bournemouth clinic. Vance called it a “most concerning case” and said it illustrated the threats to the “basic liberties of religious Britons.”
UK law enforcement has been criticized for so-called “two-tier policing,” a term suggesting that much harsher measures are often taken against right-wing protesters than against left-wing ones. Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, has been particularly vocal on the matter, blasting the UK over its response to what he described as a disproportionate response to anti-immigration demonstrations.
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Site: Novus Motus LiturgicusThe following excerpts are taken from book VI, chapter 102 of William Durandus’ treatise on the Divine Offices. On the three days before the feast of the Lord’s Ascension, the Rogations, which are also called the Litanies: the Greek word “litania” in Latin is “supplication”, or “rogation” (from ‘rogare – to ask’), on which the Holy Church asks God… to destroy the counsel of those who wish to Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: OnePeterFive
The Feast of the Ascension commemorates the return of Our Lord to his Father in Heaven and begins the closing of the Paschaltide season. We read of the day’s events in the first chapter of Acts. In our home the weekdays before and after Ascension serve as a time of double penance and preparation as we lead up to Pentecost. There are the three Minor Rogation Days like a long vigil for the…
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