In proclaiming the faith and in administering the sacraments every priest speaks on behalf of Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ.
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Site: Zero HedgeFed Rejects Trump Calls To Cut Rates: Warns Of "Increased" Stagflationary "Uncertainty"Tyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 16:00
Since the last FOMC meeting, on March 19th, a great deal has happened - Liberation Day, bond market crisis, stock market crash, a tariff pause, stock market surge, sentiment slump but labor market and hard data surged... and trump has demanded rate-cuts... oh and China cut rates and flooded the zone with liquidity...
China's central bank cuts key rates, injects 1 trillion yuan 3 hours after agreeing to trade talks to prop up economy and give communist party ammo for negotiations.
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 7, 2025
Tomorrow the Fed will do precisely none of that.Gold has been a dramatic outperformer since March, stocks are rather shockingly unchanged-ish (after collapsing on Liberation Day), Treasury yields are higher, while crude has collapsed...
'Soft' data has collapsed since the last FOMC meeting while 'hard' data has improved...
Should Powell be pre-emptively cutting... like he did when financial conditions tightened ahead of the election...
The market is expecting only 3 cuts this year now (up from 2 cuts before the last FOMC)...
...and nothing from The Fed today...
And that's what they got...
- *FED HOLDS BENCHMARK RATE IN 4.25%-4.5% TARGET RANGE
But risks have risen on both sides - raising the spectre of stagflation:
"The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen."
“The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.”
Uncertainty has risen:
“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further.”
The new statement makes specific reference to trade's impact on GDP in Q1...
“Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace.”
Read the full redline here...
And so all eyes and ears are now focus on what Powell says at the presser for Powell to explain the difference:
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Sept 2024: weak soft data, tight financial conditions, August market crash, cut rates by 50bps
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May 2025: weak soft data, tight financial conditions, April market crash, pause
Oh, one more difference: Sept 2024: Democrat President; May 2025: Trump President
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Site: ChurchPOP
The conclave is underway, and the first vote was cast on Wednesday, May 7, resulting in black smoke.
We must continue to call on the Holy Spirit during this time.
Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit plays a guiding role in the election of the pope. The process is deeply spiritual. The cardinals pray for the Spirit’s guidance before and during the conclave.
Here are some prayers calling on the Holy Spirit to add to your prayer routine during the conclave:
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come, thou Holy Spirit, come! And from thy celestial home Shed a ray of light divine! Come, thou Father of the poor! Come, thou source of all our store! Come, within our bosoms shine! Thou, of comforters the best; Thou, the soul’s most welcome guest; Sweet refreshment here below. In our labour, rest most sweet; Grateful coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe. O most blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of thine, And our inmost being fill! Where thou art not, we have naught, Nothing good in deed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill. Heal our wounds, our strength renew On our dryness pour thy dew; Wash the stains of guilt away. Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray. On the faithful, who adore And confess thee, evermore In thy sev’nfold gift descend. Give them virtue’s sure reward; Give them thy salvation, Lord; Give them joys that never end.A Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Saint Augustine of Hippo
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.A Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Cardinal Mercier
O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will.Prayer to the Holy Spirit from the USCCB
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithfuland kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
O God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation.Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Litany of the Holy Spirit
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, …
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, One God,
Divine Essence, one true God, Have mercy on us.
Spirit of truth and wisdom, …
Spirit of holiness and justice,
Spirit of understanding and counsel,
Spirit of love and joy,
Spirit of peace and patience,
Spirit of kindness and goodness,
Spirit of generosity and gentleness,
Spirit of faithfulness and modesty,
Spirit of self-control and chastity,
Love substantial of the Father and the Son,
Love and life of saintly souls,
Fire ever burning,
Living water to quench the thirst of hearts,
From all evil, Deliver us, O Holy Spirit.
From all impurity of soul and body, …
From all gluttony and sensuality,
From all attachments to the things of the earth,
From all hypocrisy and pretense,
From all imperfections and deliberate faults,
From our own will,
From slander,
From deceiving our neighbours,
From our passions and disorderly appetites,
From our inattentiveness to Your holy inspirations,
From despising little things,
From debauchery and malice,
From love of comfort and luxury,
From wishing to seek or desire anything other than You,
From everything that displeases You,
Most loving Father, forgive us.
Divine Word, have pity on us.
Holy and divine Spirit, leave us not until we are in
possession of the Divine Essence, Heaven of heavens.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Send us the divine Consoler.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Fill us with the gifts of Your Spirit.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Make the fruits of the Holy Spirit increase within us.V. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,
R. And enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray: O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit
did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by the
same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in
His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen -
Site: OnePeterFive
Interview by Matt Gaspers This year marks the eighth anniversary of The Dictator Pope, a groundbreaking exposé in which you explain how Pope Francis’s election was sought and achieved by the St. Gallen Mafia, a group of progressive prelates led by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini (d. 2012). How successful do you think Francis was in implementing what you call “the Martini Agenda” in your book?[1]…
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Site: Catholic ConclaveCardinal Kasper: “They all want a new Francis. A guide in the world’s dramas”The German theologian: “The opposing factions? They are few, we will not backtrack”“Look carefully around St. Peter’s and St. Mary Major and ask the crowd: everyone will answer that they are waiting for a new Francis. Without looking for a photocopy, I am convinced that we will continue along Bergoglio’s line, I have Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: Zero HedgeHSBC Launches 'TradePay' For Struggling ImportersTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 15:40
U.S. importers who ignored President Trump's first-term warnings about shifting supply chains out of China have been stunned—some into paralysis—by the renewed tariff war in his second term, which includes a 145% levy on Chinese goods entering the U.S. Now, many importers are frantically reassessing product lines and supply chains amid soaring costs, with some desperately needing financial lifelines to stay afloat.
HSBC Holdings Plc has understood this need and launched 'HSBC TradePay for Import Duties' on Wednesday. The platform allows struggling importers to borrow to meet the increased expenses of shipping products to the U.S. market.
"Many corporates are currently facing changing working capital needs and increased upfront commitments," HSBC wrote in a press release, adding, "By settling payments of import duties directly and frictionlessly through HSBC TradePay, businesses can simultaneously access credit and complete payments, leading to more efficient settlement times and better visibility over cash flows."
The new loans allow import payments to be automatically settled through pre-arranged credit with brokers or direct ACH transfers, enabling companies to manage cash flow more effectively and streamline duty payments.
"Clients' working capital needs are evolving – and we're responding swiftly with solutions that deliver the most value to them. By settling import duties directly and frictionlessly through HSBC TradePay, our U.S. clients have more visibility and control over their working capital at the time they need it most," Vivek Ramachandran, Head of Global Trade Solutions at HSBC, stated.
Last week, we provided the example of a Seattle, Washington-based Wyze Labs, a popular seller on Amazon of smart home and wireless camera products from China, revealed on X: "Just got our first tariff bill. We imported $167k of floodlights and then paid $255k in tariffs. That's more than any of our founders were paid last year."
Wyze said their "first tariff bill" has "accelerated" efforts to leave China in two months, and they are seriously considering restoring supply chains in the United States.
Wyze's steep tariff bill is just one example of the tariff bills impacting importers with weaker balance sheets—creating an opening for HSBC to step in with targeted financing options.
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker recently warned that global trade faced a "period of deep and profound change" and "the over-arching impact of the changing approach to global trade relations has been to increase economic uncertainty with serious potential risks to global growth."
Goldman offered some good news last week: Peak trade war.
Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius noted earlier this week: "The mood music with China has improved, and we expect the U.S. tariff rate on China to drop from around 160% to around 60% relatively soon. (China is likely to reduce tariffs on the U.S. by a similar amount.)"
More peak trade headlines appeared in the overnight session:
US, Chinese Delegations To Meet In Switzerland To Launch Trade Talks; S&P Futures Surge https://t.co/8QFfQhOmCb
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 6, 2025In the meantime, HSBC has identified a growing need among importers struggling to manage tariff-related costs—offering working capital solutions to bridge gaps. Some of these importers are now paying the price for not acting sooner on earlier warnings to shift away from China.
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Site: LifeNews
Five years ago, the highest court in Germany declared that committing suicide is a fundamental right — for everybody and for any reason — and that being assisted or assisting others in the act are ancillary rights associated with that liberty. In other words, death on demand. Now the Supreme Court of Estonia appears to have followed the same course.
Here’s the context: A man who provided a suicide machine to those who wanted to kill themselves was acquitted of any culpability. He was charged, among other crimes, with providing health services without a license. But the Court ruled — quite logically and correctly — that helping someone commit suicide is not health care. From the ERR News story:
The Supreme Court noted that Tammert’s actions did not serve any of the legally required purposes of providing healthcare services. Current law does not recognize as treatment any activity that intentionally harms health. Therefore, causing death cannot be considered the provision of a healthcare service.
I wish our courts understood that assisted suicide — despite its being called euphemistically “medical aid in dying” — isn’t health care. It is simply suicide, or helping someone commit suicide.
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If the Estonian court had left it at that, it would be one thing. But it ruled that committing suicide is a right, as is assisting and being assisted in doing so:
The Supreme Court further emphasized that every competent individual has the right to end their life voluntarily. Criminal liability for assisting in such an act can only arise if the person is unable to carry it out themselves or lacks full understanding of the significance of their actions.
The court called on the Estonian parliament to issue regulations to guide nonmedical suicide facilitation. In other words, once again: death on demand.
At least these rulings candidly cut through the toxic smoke so often generated by assisted-suicide advocates who claim that the death agenda is about terminal illness or, indeed, physical illness or disability at all.
Here is the debate we should be having.
- Should suicide be a right?
- If people want to be dead, should they have a right to be assisted in terminating their lives?
- Are there any limits to personal autonomy?
Bottom line: The high court rulings in Estonia and Germany demonstrate that the real goal — or, at least, the destination — of assisted suicide advocacy is a right to death by any competent person for any cause and assisted by anyone.
So, let’s stop pretending that any of this is about medicine or health care. That conceit merely corrupts the medical profession.
And let’s face the fact that, to an increasing degree, the West is no longer an anti-suicide culture.
LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D. is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement. He blogs at Human Exeptionalism.
The post Estonia Court Declares a Right to Kill Yourself in Assisted Suicide appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Catholic Herald
After a long wait among the crowds in St Peter’s Square, so much so that rumours started to build, black smoke finally emerged from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel at approximately 9 p.m. local time in Rome.
The signal of black smoke served to show that the 133 cardinal-electors had failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of the conclave.
Black smoke billowing from the chimney indicates that no decision has been reached and that the required two-thirds majority hasn’t been achieved.
Once white smoke emerges that will be the signal that the next leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics has been chosen.
Photo: This photograph shows black smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel signalling that cardinals failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of their conclave, Vatican, 7 May 2025. (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images.)
The post Black smoke after first ballot first appeared on Catholic Herald.
The post Black smoke after first ballot appeared first on Catholic Herald.
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Site: LifeNews
Rep. Mary Miller is spearheading a campaign to defund Planned Parenthood through the budget reconciliation process, urging her Republican colleagues to seize a rare opportunity to end taxpayer funding for the nation’s largest abortion business.
In a letter to Rep. Brett Guthrie, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Miller called for “every legislative option available” to halt federal funds to Planned Parenthood, which she described as a “multi-billion-dollar abortion business.” The radical pro-abortion organization received nearly $700 million in taxpayer money in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, accounting for 34% of its revenue, while killing 392,716 babies in abortions, according to its annual report.
“Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion-dollar abortion business that continues to receive millions in federal funding. President Trump had it right when he issued an Executive Order to cut off taxpayer dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” Miller told Breitbart News. “It’s time for Congress to make that policy permanent. I urge the Energy and Commerce Committee to ensure that not another dime of American tax dollars goes to this murder-for-profit organization.”
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In her letter, the Illinois Republican pointed out that “abortions and transgender treatments have exploded in clinics across the country.”
“According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, abortions made up 97.1% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services from 2021-2022, performing nearly 400,000 abortions. In 2023, my home state of Illinois performed 72,143 abortions, the most in our history since the state started reporting abortion totals in 1973,” she wrote.
“Due to a lack of decisive Congressional action, Planned Parenthood has become a federally funded health network with private assets valued at $2.5 billion. Recent numbers show that Planned Parenthood received nearly $700 million in taxpayer revenue from 2022-2023.” she continued.
The reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate, offers Republicans a chance to bypass the 60-vote threshold typically needed for legislation. With GOP control of Congress and the White House in 2025, pro-life advocates see this as a critical moment. Miller’s push follows similar efforts in 2015 and 2017, when reconciliation bills included provisions to defund Planned Parenthood, though those efforts ultimately fell short thanks to pro-abortion Republicans.
Pro-life leaders have rallied behind Miller, with 150 national and state organizations urging Congress to act.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus, called abortion “violence” and said taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize it.
Miller’s campaign has gained traction, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressing support for defunding Planned Parenthood. However, with a narrow House majority, every vote counts, and some Republicans are reportedly holding up such a bill.
As reconciliation talks intensify, Miller’s unwavering stance has galvanized pro-life advocates, who see her leadership as a beacon in the fight to protect the unborn.
The post Pro-Life Congresswoman Leads Fight to Defund Planned Parenthood appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH
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Site: Zero HedgeMCAT Developers Still Promote DEI Despite Public Scrutiny; ReportTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 15:20
Authored by Simon Olech via Campus Reform,
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which develops and administers the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), was believed to have left DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) behind until The Daily Wire published an article stating otherwise.
The AAMC was exposed for continued DEI efforts after a scrutinizing report from the nonprofit Do No Harm, which stated that the group works “to create, promote, and ingrain philosophies that are rooted in controversial belief systems instead of established science.”
However, The Daily Wire received information from an “AAMC insider” who says that the organization is using unorthodox measures to further its DEI agenda, despite recent changes.
An internal “Language Suggestions” document provided by The Daily Wire reveals that the medical association continues to promote DEI by telling employees to “[C]hoose language that defines and translates diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into actionable steps that promote the AAMC’s mission.”
It also tells employees to use clarifying language that it believes “are widely misunderstood or misinterpreted.” Examples include “birthing people,” “Anti-racism,” “Minority” and “DEI.”
Additionally, The Daily Wire reports that employees are introduced to “Reframing the Conversation” so that in order to “communicate the impacts of these efforts more effectively,” they should “focus on the positive outcomes they bring, aligning them with our mission and work.”
The AAMC states that “[b]y emphasizing the broader benefits, we can better illustrate how these initiatives contribute to our shared goals and long-term success.”
According to the insider, “the AAMC has pushed DEI for about a decade. The leaders are not going to change their views overnight…Even though we now talk about it differently, the AAMC is still very much committed to DEI.”
In its report, Do No Harm revealed that tens of millions of dollars were donated to the AAMC in order to promote initiatives such as “gender-affirming care” and “systemic inequities,” embedding these kinds of goals into medical school accreditation and testing.
Most significantly, the biggest benefactor has been the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which contributed more than $24,000,000 for a program called “Confronting Structural Racism to Transform Health.”
After the release of the report, the AAMC began to delete certain messages and resources dedicated towards expanding and promoting DEI across its network.
The AAMC deleted a page titled “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” which was archived, along with the “Underrepresented in Medicine Definition,” also archived.
Additionally, a web page capture of a previous AAMC report, “Creating Action to Eliminate Racism in Medical Education,” has also been removed.
Campus Reform has contacted the Association of American Medical Colleges. This article will be updated accordingly.
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Site: Zero HedgeSatellite Images Uncover China's Buildup In Cuba, Triggering U.S. Spy ConcernsTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 15:00
China’s aggressive push into Cuba is sounding alarm bells, with fears of covert surveillance operations targeting the United States, a concerning new report from Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reveals.
The worrying findings, drawn from open-source intelligence, expose a suspected circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA) at Cuba’s Bejucal signals intelligence site, just a stone’s throw from Havana, according to Fox News. The antenna could zero in on radio signals from 3,000 to 8,000 miles away—putting U.S. military bases and even Washington, D.C. within range, the news outlet noted.
"The CCP’s poisonous alliance with Cuba has posed significant threats to U.S. national security for decades," House Intellience Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AK) told Fox News. "Their alleged involvement in signals intelligence hubs in Cuba is outward, unconcealed adversarial behavior against the U.S. The CCP’s actions are becoming increasingly more bold and thereby detrimental to Western Hemisphere security."
Photo via Fox News
The report’s findings have sparked so much concern on Capitol Hill that Republicans are seeking a briefing from Homeland Security Secretary Noem.
"The PRC is positioning itself to systematically erode U.S. strategic advantages without ever firing a shot," read a letter written by Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and a group of other lawmakers to Noem. "The geographic proximity of suspected PRC-linked facilities in Cuba to sensitive U.S. installations, including Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Kennedy Space Center, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, may enable the PRC to monitor American detection and response capabilities, map electronic profiles of U.S. assets, and prepare the electromagnetic environment for potential future exploitation.”
"If left unchecked, the PRC’s activities in Cuba could establish a forward operating base for electronic warfare, enable intelligence collection, and influence operations that directly undermine U.S. national security interests," the lawmakers added.
In 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that China and Cuba reached an agreement under which Beijing would pay Cuba several billion dollars to establish an electronic surveillance facility on Cuban territory, aimed at monitoring the United States.
"We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people. The United States must respond to China's ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation's security," Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a joint statement at the time. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States, in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic."
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Site: AsiaNews.itThe Indian military claims that Operation Sindoor against Pakistan was 'focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature.' Pakistan's response killed students at a Catholic school. Sadly, 'two students lost their lives, and their parents were severely injured,' lamented Bishop Ivan Pereira of Jammu (India). For his part, Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore (India), called on the faithful to 'pray specially for the leaders of our country to pursue attempts for peace'.
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Site: LifeNews
A push to defund Planned Parenthood through a budget reconciliation bill is facing resistance from three House Republicans, threatening a key pro-life priority.
The reconciliation bill, which allows legislation to pass with a simple majority in both chambers, is seen as a critical opportunity to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business. The abortion company received nearly $700 million in taxpayer funds in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, killing 392,715 babies in abortions, according to its annual report.
Pro-life advocates argue that redirecting these funds to community health centers would better serve women’s health care needs without supporting an industry they view as responsible for ending unborn lives.
However, three House Republicans are reportedly hesitant to support including the defunding measure in the reconciliation package, citing concerns over political backlash or the measure’s fit within the bill’s fiscal focus. This hesitation has sparked frustration among pro-life leaders who see 2025 as a pivotal year, with Republican control of the House, Senate, and White House aligning for the first time in years.
Thr three reportedly imclude Reps. Mike Lawler, Jen Kiggans and Brian Fitzpatrick.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson has voiced support for defunding Planned Parenthood, stating on Fox News that he is “working to build the votes” needed to pass such a measure through reconciliation.
At the annual gala of the pro-lifen group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America last week, Johnson pledged that the reconciliation bill “is going to redirect funds away from ‘big abortion.’”
However, with a narrow Republican majority, even a small number of holdouts could derail the effort, as no pro-life Democrats are expected to support the measure.
“We need simplicity in this bill,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I think there’s other policy areas that we need to focus on,” he continued.
After news surfaced before this report that the three lawmakers were opposed to defunding Planned Parenthood, a spokesperson for Kiggans said the congresswoman’s position was taken “out of context.”
“Congresswoman Kiggans is proudly pro-life and firmly opposes any federal funding for abortion, ” the spokesperson said in a statement. “She attended a closed-door policy discussion with House leadership and Republican colleagues focused on Medicaid reform within the broader reconciliation process. The Congresswoman supports thoughtful, targeted Medicaid reforms that strengthen the program, preserve its integrity, and ensure it serves those who it was originally intended to help.”
Pro-life groups, including Students for Life of America and Family Research Council, have intensified lobbying efforts, with hundreds of activists visiting Capitol Hill in recent weeks to press lawmakers. A coalition of over 150 national and state pro-life organizations has called for action, emphasizing that Planned Parenthood’s federal funding, primarily through Medicaid, must be redirected.
Critics of Planned Parenthood point to reports of mismanagement and ethical concerns, including a New York Times investigation highlighting botched abortions and unsafe conditions at some facilities.
The reconciliation bill’s broader scope, which includes tax cuts, energy policy, and border security measures, has added complexity to the negotiations. Some Republicans, like Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, have previously questioned whether defunding Planned Parenthood fits the bill’s cost-saving goals, though cutting $700 millions appears to be an obvious savings.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) wants the big budget reconciliation plan extending President Donald Trump’s tax cuts sent to his desk — ready for signature — by July 4. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would like it even sooner: Memorial Day. This tight timeline is forcing Congress into high-stakes negotiations to unify on a budget. Meanwhile, Representative Mary Miller (R-Ill.) is waging a fierce campaign among her Republican colleagues to make defunding Planned Parenthood a non-negotiable piece of the final proposal.
On Monday, Miller sent a passionate letter to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, obtained by Breitbart News. In it, she urged Guthrie to “use every legislative option available to cease all federal funds going to Planned Parenthood,” exposing the organization’s deep entanglement in abortion and transgender treatments. “Abortions and transgender treatments have exploded in clinics across the country,” she wrote.
Citing the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Miller highlighted that “abortions made up 97.1% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services from 2021-2022, performing nearly 400,000 abortions.” She also underscored the crisis in her home state, noting, “In 2023, my home state of Illinois performed 72,143 abortions, the most in our history since the state started reporting abortion totals in 1973.” Miller laid bare Planned Parenthood’s financial empire, stating, “Due to a lack of decisive Congressional action, Planned Parenthood has become a federally funded health network with private assets valued at $2.5 billion. Recent numbers show that Planned Parenthood received nearly $700 million in taxpayer revenue from 2022-2023.”
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Her letter concluded with a call to action: “It is essential that we protect taxpayer dollars and stop funding this organization. President Trump has already issued an Executive Order that implements such a plan. Therefore, I urge you to do everything possible to ensure Planned Parenthood never receives another penny of taxpayer dollars.”
Speaking to Breitbart, Miller doubled down, declaring, “Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion-dollar abortion business that continues to receive millions in federal funding.” She praised Trump’s leadership, stating, “President Trump had it right when he issued an Executive Order to cut off taxpayer dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” and insisted, “it’s time for Congress to make that policy permanent. I urge the Energy and Commerce Committee to ensure that not another dime of American tax dollars goes to this murder-for-profit organization.”
Miller’s crusade is part of a broader Republican offensive. In late March, pro-life advocates and lawmakers united for the Big Abortion Lobby Day, pressing Congress to shield taxpayer dollars from funding abortion. Several GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), have repeatedly echoed the same demands as Miller, introducing legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and advocating for its inclusion in the reconciliation package.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaled strong intent to confront “big abortion” in the budget reconciliation, according to Fox News. Two sources close to the House Energy and Commerce Committee told reporters that defunding Planned Parenthood is under serious consideration as lawmakers seek $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to offset Trump’s tax priorities. “[I]t’s been discussed,” Guthrie confirmed. “We are working on a lot of different options, but that’s been discussed.” And it’s not just Republicans who are calling for this action. An army of pro-life Americans are chiming in as well.
In March, when Miller shared a post about her push to defund abortion businesses, those in the comments expressed their shared passion to defund Planned Parenthood. “Cut them off forever,” one wrote. “How did taxpayers ever get forced to pay for someone else’s abortion in the first place?” another questioned. “Defund planned parenthood.” For pro-lifers near and far, one comment hit the nail on the head: “The American people don’t want to pay for abortion.”
Thune, speaking to Breitbart, outlined the sweeping scope of the reconciliation agenda, emphasizing its alignment with Trump’s campaign promises. “[T]he objective in reconciliation is border security, it’s national security, it’s rebuilding the military,” he said. “It’s tax relief. … It’s cutting spending. And it’s creating energy dominance for this country. Those are all agenda items the president campaigned on, the American people voted for, and we need to deliver on.” He acknowledged the complexity, noting, “there are a lot of moving parts around it. … But … I always believe you underpromise and over-deliver. So, as we look at what we have to get done, we want to be sure it gets done right.”
According to Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, including the defund abortion agenda is worth every ounce of effort. As she put it, “American taxpayers do not want their tax dollars paying for the killing of unborn children. This makes sense — who wants their hard-earned money used to kill a human being?”
“Moreover,” she continued, “Planned Parenthood specifically is guilty of not only killing millions of unborn children, but they are also guilty of being one of the largest providers of hormones to minors who are experiencing gender dysphoria.” Ultimately, Szoch concluded, “This organization should not receive any money from taxpayers. Thank goodness for the work of pro-life congressmen and women who are trying to protect American taxpayers from unwillingly taking part in this evil.”
The post Three House Republicans Reportedly Holding Up Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: AsiaNews.itThis morning, the pro eligendo Pontifice Mass was held at the tomb of Peter, the first act of the Conclave that will elect the new pontiff. In his homily, the dean of cardinals said, 'that the Pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history.' In the afternoon, the procession from the Pauline Chapel to the Sistine Chapel took place, ending with the pronunciation of the "extra omnes'. ...
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Site: non veni pacem
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Site: Mises InstituteWith the deadline for obtaining the federal government's Real ID technically upon us, it’s important to understand that this is not an irritating but necessary program to keep Americans safe. It's the latest example of the government using 9/11 as an excuse to grab more power.
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Site: ChurchPOP
When do the cardinals vote in the conclave?
The Conclave to elect a new pope begins on May 7.
White smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney indicates the election of a new pope. Black smoke from the chimney indicates a new pope has not been elected. The election occurs multiple times daily until the College of Cardinals selects a new Pontiff with at least two-thirds of the vote.
Here is the approximate Conclave schedule below:
Wednesday, May 7
1:00 pm ET (7 pm Rome time)
Thursday, May 8 and Friday, May 9
4:30 am ET (10:30 am Rome time)
6:00 am ET (Noon Rome time)
11:30 am ET (5:30 pm Rome time)
1:00 pm ET (7:00 pm Rome time)
Important note: These times are approximate and are subject to change.
As we await the announcement for the Catholic Church’s new pope, let us recite this prayer by Father Chad Ripperger, consecrating the papal conclave to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
Lord Jesus Christ, by entrusting to St. Peter and his successors the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, thou didst establish the office of the papacy. Grant to thy Church, we beseech thee, a pope who, in his dedication to the Sacred Tradition of the Church, will seek to govern the Church according to the Deposit of Faith and for the salvation of souls.Immaculate Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of Confessors, we consecrate to thee the conclave and the election of the Holy Father. Blessed Mother, look not upon our sinfulness or upon the infidelity of many Catholics who do not accept the teaching of thy Son, but upon the Church which is the spotless Bride of thy son, so that we do not get the leader we deserve, but a Holy Father who will guide the Church for the glory and honor of thy Son. Amen. -
Site: Zero HedgeRussia Thwarts Largest Drone Attack In History, Sparking Airport Chaos, Hours Before Victory Day CeasefireTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 13:00
Hours before Putin's unilaterally declared three-day Victory Day ceasefire is expected to go into effect (starting May 8), Ukraine has launched a huge cross-border drone attack on Russia which has reportedly unleashed air traffic and flight chaos in an around Moscow, as well as other regions.
Russian state media has said several Russian airlines were forced to cancel and reroute dozens of flights late Tuesday into Wednesday, amid off-and-on airport closures and flight stoppages. Russia's anti-air defense systems have been engaged in non-stop intercepts of inbound UAVs from Ukraine.
This marks three consecutive days of drone attacks targeting the capital, at a sensitive moment the Kremlin is preparing to host dozens of world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, are also expected. Venezuela's Maduro is also in Moscow, where he's already met with President Putin.
"Aviation authorities grounded flights at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports, as well as in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Yaroslavl, Kazan," RT confirms.
The same outlet is now saying the last hours have seen the largest drone attack against Russian soil in history...
Russia thwarts LARGEST drone attack in history — hours before proposed ceasefire period
— RT (@RT_com) May 7, 2025
524 Ukrainian drones, 5 Neptune missiles, 6 JDAM bombs & 2 HIMARS rockets intercepted in just 24 hours https://t.co/P4NWLOUyiT pic.twitter.com/phEfHCkf43Apparently hundreds of drones were sent. Moscow has been directly targeted once again, with Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announcing the military intercepted nearly 20 inbound drones on the capital over the last half-day.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has described of the flight chaos, "The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights."
The Kremlin has said that Putin's ceasefire offer remains in force, but that the Russian military will undertake the appropriate response if Ukraine doesn't abide by it. Russian officials have condemned Zelensky for appearing to directly threaten Victory Day parades, such as the main televised events in the Red Square.
Collapse at Russian airports: canceled flights and crowds of people
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 7, 2025
Dozens of flights have been delayed at Russian airports due to drone attacks.
The airline Pobeda announced it is canceling some flights on May 6 and 7 because of restrictions imposed at several Russian… pic.twitter.com/avKoonSnVgA fresh statement from Putin's spokesman has described the following:
The Russian military is doing everything necessary to ensure that the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory is held in a calm and peaceful atmosphere, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"The Kiev regime continues to demonstrate its true nature, its propensity for terrorist actions. Special services and our military are taking all necessary measures to ensure that the celebration of the Great Victory takes place in a calm, stable, and peaceful atmosphere," he said.
But it looks like major disruptions are already happening, including drones fired at hit military facilities and airbases, also resulting in forced school closures and internet outages in various provinces.
Key infrastructure inside has Russia has been struck...
Ukrainian drones penetrated deep into Russian territory overnight, striking the country’s largest fiber-optic cable plant.
— Pekka Kallioniemi (@P_Kallioniemi) May 7, 2025
The facility plays a crucial role in Russia’s production of fiber-optic drones. pic.twitter.com/zeM0SM59fVNewsweek writes, "Drone attacks caused internet outages in Russia's Tula, Yaroslavl and Tver regions, where people have complained of disruptions in phone coverage and ATMs, according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti, although there are no reports of casualties."
Russia has at the same time continued deadly strikes on Ukraine, but there are growing fears a larger attack could be unleashed on Kiev, in retaliation for these drone assaults ahead of Russia's main national civic holiday.
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Site: LifeNews
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) wants the big budget reconciliation plan extending President Donald Trump’s tax cuts sent to his desk — ready for signature — by July 4. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would like it even sooner: Memorial Day. This tight timeline is forcing Congress into high-stakes negotiations to unify on a budget. Meanwhile, Representative Mary Miller (R-Ill.) is waging a fierce campaign among her Republican colleagues to make defunding Planned Parenthood a non-negotiable piece of the final proposal.
On Monday, Miller sent a passionate letter to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, obtained by Breitbart News. In it, she urged Guthrie to “use every legislative option available to cease all federal funds going to Planned Parenthood,” exposing the organization’s deep entanglement in abortion and transgender treatments. “Abortions and transgender treatments have exploded in clinics across the country,” she wrote.
Citing the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Miller highlighted that “abortions made up 97.1% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services from 2021-2022, performing nearly 400,000 abortions.” She also underscored the crisis in her home state, noting, “In 2023, my home state of Illinois performed 72,143 abortions, the most in our history since the state started reporting abortion totals in 1973.” Miller laid bare Planned Parenthood’s financial empire, stating, “Due to a lack of decisive Congressional action, Planned Parenthood has become a federally funded health network with private assets valued at $2.5 billion. Recent numbers show that Planned Parenthood received nearly $700 million in taxpayer revenue from 2022-2023.”
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Her letter concluded with a call to action: “It is essential that we protect taxpayer dollars and stop funding this organization. President Trump has already issued an Executive Order that implements such a plan. Therefore, I urge you to do everything possible to ensure Planned Parenthood never receives another penny of taxpayer dollars.”
Speaking to Breitbart, Miller doubled down, declaring, “Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion-dollar abortion business that continues to receive millions in federal funding.” She praised Trump’s leadership, stating, “President Trump had it right when he issued an Executive Order to cut off taxpayer dollars from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” and insisted, “it’s time for Congress to make that policy permanent. I urge the Energy and Commerce Committee to ensure that not another dime of American tax dollars goes to this murder-for-profit organization.”
Miller’s crusade is part of a broader Republican offensive. In late March, pro-life advocates and lawmakers united for the Big Abortion Lobby Day, pressing Congress to shield taxpayer dollars from funding abortion. Several GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), have repeatedly echoed the same demands as Miller, introducing legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and advocating for its inclusion in the reconciliation package.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaled strong intent to confront “big abortion” in the budget reconciliation, according to Fox News. Two sources close to the House Energy and Commerce Committee told reporters that defunding Planned Parenthood is under serious consideration as lawmakers seek $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to offset Trump’s tax priorities. “[I]t’s been discussed,” Guthrie confirmed. “We are working on a lot of different options, but that’s been discussed.” And it’s not just Republicans who are calling for this action. An army of pro-life Americans are chiming in as well.
In March, when Miller shared a post about her push to defund abortion businesses, those in the comments expressed their shared passion to defund Planned Parenthood. “Cut them off forever,” one wrote. “How did taxpayers ever get forced to pay for someone else’s abortion in the first place?” another questioned. “Defund planned parenthood.” For pro-lifers near and far, one comment hit the nail on the head: “The American people don’t want to pay for abortion.”
Thune, speaking to Breitbart, outlined the sweeping scope of the reconciliation agenda, emphasizing its alignment with Trump’s campaign promises. “[T]he objective in reconciliation is border security, it’s national security, it’s rebuilding the military,” he said. “It’s tax relief. … It’s cutting spending. And it’s creating energy dominance for this country. Those are all agenda items the president campaigned on, the American people voted for, and we need to deliver on.” He acknowledged the complexity, noting, “there are a lot of moving parts around it. … But … I always believe you underpromise and over-deliver. So, as we look at what we have to get done, we want to be sure it gets done right.”
According to Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, including the defund abortion agenda is worth every ounce of effort. As she put it, “American taxpayers do not want their tax dollars paying for the killing of unborn children. This makes sense — who wants their hard-earned money used to kill a human being?”
“Moreover,” she continued, “Planned Parenthood specifically is guilty of not only killing millions of unborn children, but they are also guilty of being one of the largest providers of hormones to minors who are experiencing gender dysphoria.” Ultimately, Szoch concluded, “This organization should not receive any money from taxpayers. Thank goodness for the work of pro-life congressmen and women who are trying to protect American taxpayers from unwillingly taking part in this evil.”
LifeNews Note: Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand, where this originally appeared.
The post Republicans Must Make Defunding Planned Parenthood Part of Reconciliation Bill appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeCrackdown On Student Loan Defaulters To Begin With Benefit Seizure, Then Wage GarnishmentTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 12:40
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. government will begin seizing federal benefits from 195,000 student loan defaulters in June, with wage garnishment notices set to reach 5.3 million borrowers later this summer, the Education Department announced on May 5, marking the formal restart of involuntary collections after a years-long pause.
The renewed enforcement effort begins with the Treasury Offset Program, which allows the federal government to intercept tax refunds, Social Security checks, and other federal payments to recover unpaid student debt. Borrowers affected by the program began receiving notices this week, the department said.
“Starting today, approximately 195,000 defaulted student loan borrowers will begin receiving an official 30-day notice from the U.S. Department of Treasury notifying them that their federal benefits will be subjected to the Treasury Offset Program,” the Education Department said in Monday’s announcement.
Following the notice period, administrative wage garnishment will begin later this summer for all 5.3 million borrowers who remain in default. Guaranty agencies have also been authorized to resume involuntary collections on defaulted loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the department added.
The move officially ends a pandemic-era freeze first imposed in March 2020 under President Donald Trump and extended multiple times under the Biden administration. Although payments officially resumed in fall 2023, most collection efforts remained paused—until now.
In an April 21 statement previewing the shift, the department said the decision was necessary to “restore common sense and fairness” and protect taxpayers, citing data that only 38 percent of the 42.7 million federal student loan borrowers were current on their loans, while nearly 10 million were delinquent or in default. The remainder were in forbearance, deferment, or grace periods.
“Student and parent borrowers–not taxpayers–must repay their student loans,” the Education Department said at the time.
“There will not be any mass loan forgiveness.”
As of early 2025, roughly 5 million borrowers were already in default and another 4 million were in late-stage delinquency, defined as 91 to 180 days behind on payments. The New York Federal Reserve estimated that delinquent student debt reached $250 billion by the end of 2024.
To help borrowers avoid wage garnishment or benefit offset, Federal Student Aid (FSA) has launched direct outreach and expanded support services, encouraging borrowers to enroll in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, make voluntary payments, or begin loan rehabilitation.
Alongside the repayment restart, the Education Department also issued a Dear Colleague letter to colleges and universities on May 5, warning that schools must act quickly to avoid federal penalties tied to rising default rates.
The letter reminded institutions that the cohort default rate—the share of former students who default soon after leaving school—must stay below 40 percent in a single year or 30 percent for three years in a row, or the school risks losing access to Pell Grants and federal student loans.
To mitigate that risk, the department urged schools to immediately contact former students with reminders of their loan obligations and information on repayment plans.
“As we begin to help defaulted borrowers back into repayment, we must also fix a broken higher education finance system that has put upward pressure on tuition rates without ensuring that colleges and universities are delivering a high-value degree to students,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“For too long, insufficient transparency and accountability structures have allowed U.S. universities to saddle students with enormous debt loads without paying enough attention to whether their own graduates are truly prepared to succeed in the labor market.”
The department also said it plans to publish institution-level nonpayment rates later this month to increase transparency and accountability across the higher education sector.
The enforcement restart follows the collapse of former President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, which aimed to cancel hundreds of billions in debt through executive action. The Supreme Court struck down the plan in 2023, ruling that the administration lacked the authority to cancel loans without congressional approval.
In April, McMahon made clear that the department would no longer pursue blanket debt forgiveness.
“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” McMahon said in April.
“The executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear.”
While supporters of Biden’s proposal argued that widespread forgiveness would reduce inequality and stimulate economic growth, critics said it was fiscally reckless and unfair to borrowers who had already repaid their loans—or never borrowed at all.
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Site: Catholic ConclaveExperts throw a new name into the mix: This Cardinal is set to become the new PopeFor days, the favorites to succeed Pope Francis have been repeatedly named. Two researchers now surprise with an unexpected forecast.Vatican – The election of a new Pope is not only a major ecclesiastical event, but also an exciting field for game theory analysis, as two Hungarian economists prove. László Á. Kóczy Catholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
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Site: The Remnant Newspaper
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Site: LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH
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Site: LifeNews
New analysis from the Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates there are 15 community health centers offering women’s health care for every Planned Parenthood facility in the United States. That’s over 8,800 community women’s health providers compared to just 579 in-person and virtual Planned Parenthood locations.
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The research examined 5,500 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) which are community-based health care providers vetted and funded by the federal government to provide comprehensive health care services to low-income, vulnerable and underserved populations. It also examined 3,300 rural health clinics (RHCs) which are located in rural areas that are particularly vulnerable to health care shortages. These RHCs qualify for federal government funding to make health care available to Medicare and Medicaid recipients in underserved areas.
Tessa Cox, senior research associate at CLI, and one of the lead researchers in this analysis, said:
“With research showing that nearly 70% of women who had abortions described them as unwanted or inconsistent with their preferences and values, we know that many women are looking for better options. Community health centers give those options, providing care in underserved communities and filling critical health care gaps. Women deserve comprehensive care from providers who offer real health care, not abortion.”
Planned Parenthood’s motto is “care, no matter what,” but according to their 2022-2023 report, they only have a few options to resolve a woman’s pregnancy: prenatal services, adoption, miscarriage care, and abortion. Their own reporting shows 97% of the time, she’s sold an abortion. Since 2010, Planned Parenthood’s total cancer screening and prevention services have dropped by 71%, including declines of 72% for breast exams and 74% for pap tests, and prenatal services are down 80% from a record high in 2009.
Despite rapidly declining non-abortion services, Planned Parenthood reported receiving $699.3 million in the form of government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements (34% of its total revenue) in 2022-2023.
Karen Czarnecki, executive director of CLI, said:
“This report makes one thing abundantly clear: Women aren’t receiving comprehensive medical care at Planned Parenthood, despite what the abortion lobby claims, because their business is abortion. Women, especially ones in underserved areas, deserve access to quality health care. Planned Parenthood isn’t meeting the needs of these women, especially considering recent reports of botched services.”
CLI’s full analysis, including maps and a state-by-state breakdown, is available at LINK.
The post Community Health Centers Outnumber Planned Parenthood 15-1, Offer Better Health Care Without Killing Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: LifeNews
Senator Josh Hawley is urging the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies on dangerous chemical abortion drugs, arguing that states like Missouri should be empowered to impose safety restrictions on mifepristone to protect women and unborn children.
In a letter dated May 7 to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Hawley called for the Justice Department to reconsider its defense of Biden’s mail-order abortion policy, which he says has led to severe health risks for women.
The letter highlights a recent study showing that 1 in 10 women who use mifepristone experience serious complications, such as infection or hemorrhaging, often requiring emergency medical care within 45 days.
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“The Biden administration’s mail-order abortion policy poses a grave threat to the health and safety of American women,” Hawley, a Missouri Republican, wrote. “I strongly urge you to reconsider the Justice Department’s defense of this policy in court.”
Hawley’s push aligns with his broader efforts to reinstate safety regulations on mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions.
On April 28, he introduced legislation aimed at restoring safeguards that were stripped away under Democratic administrations, including in-person doctor visits and mandatory follow-up care. The senator cited a study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which found that the rate of adverse events from mifepristone is at least 22 times higher than the FDA’s reported rate of less than 0.5%.
“The grounds for dismissal sought are mostly procedural in nature,” Hawley wrote in his letter, referring to a lawsuit filed by Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas to limit access to the drug. “I am troubled by the fact that the Justice Department has sided with the Biden administration’s position.”
Pro-life advocates have long warned about the dangers of mifepristone, especially after Biden’s policies allowed the drug to be mailed without medical supervision.
LifeNews.com reported yesterday that a pro-life group urged President Donald Trump to limit the abortion pill’s availability, citing cases where women have suffered severe complications or even died.
Missouri, a state at the forefront of the legal battle, has seen a drastic decline in abortions since the 2022 Dobbs decision, with only 64 abortions performed between June 2022 and March 2024 under emergency exemptions. However, the state reported 186 complications from pill-based abortions between April 2018 and August 2023, according to litigation data. Hawley and other pro-life leaders argue that these statistics underscore the need for stricter oversight of mifepristone, which they say endangers women by allowing abortions without proper medical supervision.
The senator’s letter to Bondi emphasized the role of states in protecting their citizens, particularly in light of Missouri’s recent voter decision to legalize abortion—a move Hawley acknowledged but said should not prevent safety measures.
“Missouri’s litigation aims to reverse that policy and protect women,” he wrote, urging the Justice Department to support the state’s efforts rather than obstruct them.
The post Josh Hawley Calls on Trump to Let States Stop Dangerous Abortion Pills appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Catholic Herald
The head of Catholics in England and Wales has taken the solemn oath of secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel as the conclave to select the successor to Pope Francis begins.
Cardinal Vincent Nicholas, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is one of three English cardinals among the total of 133 cardinal electors who will choose the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The cardinal electors all recite the oath, promising that if elected pope, they would faithfully fulfill the ministry of universal pastor of the Church, that they will follow the rules of the conclave scrupulously and keep secret the results of the votes.
Only one round of voting will take place on Wednesday night, with four ballots on each subsequent day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, until a new pope is selected. If the cardinals have not elected a new pope after 12-13 ballots, they will take a break for a day of prayer and reflection before continuing.
A nun in St Peter’s Square as cardinals begin their conclave to elect a new pope, Vatican, 7 May 2025. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.)
The past two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, were short, with a pope elected on the fourth and fifth ballots, resulting in a new pope within two and a half days.
Though most cardinals have insisted that they believe this year’s conclave will also be short, many observers have speculated that it could also last longer, given that there are more cardinals, and many do not know each other.
In this regard, the pre-conclave general congregation meetings have been essential, allowing the cardinals a chance to get to know one another and jointly discuss their vision for the Church, and the profile of the new pope.
Once the doors to the Sistine Chapel close, cardinals will effectively be entirely shutoff from the rest of the world, with phone jamming systems and Wi-Fi blockers in place.
They will also have no newspapers or television news available while they remain closed in together in the Santa Marta residence, to allow for complete privacy and to prevent the interference of any external factors that might sway the voting process.
Cardinals’ deliberations end as conclave and discernment begins
Photo: Faithful watch a giant screen displaying cardinals taking oath of secrecy inside the Sistine chapel, at St Peter’s Square on the first day of the conclave to elect the next pope, Vatican, 7 May 2025. (Photo by STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP via Getty Images.)
The post Cardinal Nichols takes solemn oath of secrecy before first conclave vote first appeared on Catholic Herald.
The post Cardinal Nichols takes solemn oath of secrecy before first conclave vote appeared first on Catholic Herald.
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Site: AsiaNews.itIn a town of just 8,000 inhabitants in the state of Goa lie the roots of both the Indian Filipe Neri Ferrão and the Pakistani Joseph Coutts, who from this afternoon are participating as electors in the selection of the new pontiff. A sign of the Church of the peripheries, but also of the vitality of a community founded four centuries ago by Portuguese Franciscans. ...
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Site: Rorate CaeliThe last couple weeks were the important ones for any hope of influence. Media articles lifting up good cardinals. Reports exposing bad cardinals. We can only hope the cardinal electors talked with their sheep, read up on their colleagues, chatted with their colleagues on strategy and came up with a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, if not more.But at this point, there is no more news. Media will be Kenneth J. Wolfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483319369640034300noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Catholic Herald
A new law in the US state of Washington which requires “members of the clergy” to report to police cases of child abuse or neglect learned in the confessional is being looked at by the US Justice Department to see if it violates the First Amendment of the United States.
Senate Bill 5375 passed by margins of 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate, and was signed by Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson, a Catholic, on Friday.
“Protecting our kids, first, is the most important thing. This bill protects Washingtonians from abuse and harm,” Ferguson said.
The Bill offered no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic priests.
Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle issued a statement referring to the quote of Saint Peter in the Acts of the Apostles: “We must obey God rather than men.”
“This is our stance now in the face of this new law. Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession – or they will be excommunicated from the Church,” Etienne said.
“All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential and protected by the law of the Church,” he said.
The archbishop said the Catholic Church agrees with the goal of protecting children and preventing child abuse.
“The Archdiocese of Seattle remains committed to reporting child sexual abuse, working with victim survivors towards healing and protecting all minors and vulnerable people. Our policies already require priests to be mandatory reporters, but not if this information is obtained during confession,” Etienne said.
The archbishop said the Catholic Church in the US has been committed to preventing sexual abuse for many decades, reporting incidents of abuse to law enforcement and cooperating with civil authorities.
“While we remain committed to protecting minors and all vulnerable people from abuse, priests cannot comply with this law if the knowledge of abuse is obtained during the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” he said.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Etienne said that with the new law, the State of Washington is specifically targeting religious conduct by inserting the government into the Catholic tradition, namely, the highly defined ritual of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“The state is now requiring priests to violate an essential element of the rite, the confidential communication between the priest and penitent in which the absolution of sin is offered,” the archbishop said.
In a statement, the US Justice Department said the Washington State Senate Bill 5375 “appears on its face to violate the First Amendment”.
“Washington State’s new law adds ‘members of the clergy’ to a list of other professionals who are required to report information received in a confessional setting relating to child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or other state authorities, with no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic Priests,” the government statement says.
“Furthermore, the State of Washington’s new law singles out ‘members of the clergy’ as the only ‘supervisors’ who may not rely on applicable legal privileges, including religious confessions, as a defence to mandatory reporting,” the State Department continues.
It said the Civil Rights Division will investigate the apparent conflict between Washington State’s new law with the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment, which it called “a cornerstone of the United States Constitution.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said SB 5375 demands that Catholic priests “violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law”, while “a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government”.
“Worse, the law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals. We take this matter very seriously and look forward to Washington State’s cooperation with our investigation,” he said.
The main sponsor of the Bill, Democrat Noel Frame, defended the new law’s requirement for priests to violate the seal of the confessional.
“There are some things that it doesn’t matter what religion you are in, you never put somebody’s conscience over the protection of a child,” she told reporters.
“It really said the Church is not above the law, no one is above the law, especially when it comes to protecting children,” Frame said.
Photo A priest listens to a faithful in a confessional ahead of the mass celebrated for the beatification of Alvaro del Portillo on September 26, 2014. (Photo by GERARD JULIEN / AFP)
The post US Justice Department reviews state law forcing priests to break confessional seal first appeared on Catholic Herald.
The post US Justice Department reviews state law forcing priests to break confessional seal appeared first on Catholic Herald.
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Site: LifeNews
Kansas City’s Archbishop Joseph Naumann will offer the closing Mass and the opening prayer for the gala at the 54th National Right to Life (NRL) Conference in Overland Park, Kansas, June 20-21.
The NRL website states that Archbishop Naumann has “consistently challenged pro-abortion Catholic politicians and spearheaded pro-life efforts and ministries in Kansas and throughout the country.”
When serving as the pro-life coordinator in the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1984 to 1995, Archbishop Naumann helped establish a Project Rachel ministry and the Lifeline Coalition, the website adds.
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The NRL conference organizers say the event prepares participants to advocate for life.
“Across two dynamic days, we’ll spotlight developments on the medical, scientific, political, legislative, and grassroots fronts, giving attendees a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities ahead,” the website states. “You’ll hear directly from national leaders to local advocates from those shaping the conversation in courts, classrooms, communities, and the media.”
After the closing Mass, the conference will conclude with a gala, where the NRL will present a pro-life leader with the Proudly Pro-life Award.
LifeNews Note: Grace Porto writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Archbishop Joseph Naumann Will Headline Pro-Life Event appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Rorate CaeliNew Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: LifeNews
ProPublica has received a 2025 Pulitzer Prize for a report critics say falsely blamed a Georgia woman’s death on pro-life legislation — despite evidence that her fatal complications stemmed from the abortion pill.
The reporting team, which included Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser, Cassandra Jaramillo, and Stacy Kranitz, was awarded the prize for coverage the Associated Press described as “reporting on pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgent care in states with strict abortion laws,” according to Shawn Fleetwood of The Federalist.
Left unmentioned was that the story at the center of the award has been widely challenged for its misleading framing.
ProPublica centered its reporting on the 2022 death of Amber Thurman, a Georgia mother whose passing it attributed to alleged confusion about the state’s abortion laws. The story ran just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
However, Thurman “died on the table during a surgery only needed because she suffered severe complications from ingesting abortion pills associated with sometimes fatal complications,” according to Federalist’s Jordan Boyd.
Last week, the Ethics and Public Policy Center released the largest known study of the abortion pill, revealing that more than 10% of women who take mifepristone experience sepsis, hemorrhage, or other serious complications — a rate that is 22 times higher than the FDA approved drug label’s claim of “less than 0.5 percent.”
“Thanks to the Biden administration’s radically relaxed abortion pill expansions, Thurman was able to induce abortion hours away at home unsupervised,” Boyd noted.
CatholicVote previously reported that prominent pro-life leaders decried the media’s handling of Thurman’s story, calling it a case of “medical negligence and misinformation.” Analysts pointed out that Thurman’s death was not the result of pro-life policy, but of a dangerous lack of oversight in the administration of chemical abortion drugs.
After former Vice President Kamala Harris falsely claimed during the 2024 campaign that Donald Trump’s abortion policies caused Thurman’s death, The Wall Street Journal ran a fact-check exposing the inaccuracy.
ProPublica’s award follows what Fleetwood described as a growing trend of journalism prizes being awarded to politically driven narratives.
“If Americans needed further proof that the Pulitzer Prize has become nothing more than a glorified gold sticker given to the media’s biggest left-wing propagandists,” Fleetwood wrote, “the award’s 2025 winners are sure to convince them.”
LifeNews Note: Rachel Quackenbush writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Liberal Media Wins Pulitzer for Lying About Abortion Bans appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: non veni pacem
From Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers back in 1981. Which is as long ago as 1981 was to 1937. Dang.
Keep praying, folks.
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Site: OnePeterFive
Theresa Ickinger, a post-conciliar champion of the Faith active in many realms, spoke at one of my first Roman Forum meetings in the early 1970s. I cannot remember which of her battles she recounted to us, but I do recall that it took place in Philadelphia. She noted that after discussions with the church authorities brought about the usual depressing failure, she regained her courage by…
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Site: Rorate Caeliby Aurelio PorfiriRome, May 7, 2025Today, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which leans progressive, still listed Cardinal Pietro Parolin, former Secretary of State, as the frontrunner, and noted a rise in support for the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. According to journalist Iacopo Scaramuzzi, La Repubblica’s Vatican correspondent and author of the article, FilipinoNew Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Henrymakow.comPlease send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.comEvery nation that backs Israelis morally complicit in genocideand morally defenceless againstthe genocide planned for them.Trump, Netanyahu and Putin belong to Chabad, a satanic Jewish supremacist cultthat believes non-Satanists are squatters on their planet.Former Housing Official: U.S. Government Has Built a $21 TRILLION Underground City for the Wealthy and Powerful to Live If a "Near-Extinction Event" Occurs (VIDEO)"We have built an extraordinary number of underground bases and, supposedly, transportation systems," she said. "Some of these are documented as part of the national security infrastructure, but I think there are many more in the United States and all over the world."Fitts added that she and a team of investigators spent between 2021 and 2023 collecting "all the data and all the information on underground bases." She estimated they had found roughly 170 in America and under the ocean around America."We systematically went through and tried to guesstimate our guess of how many underground bases (there are), both underground in the United States, but also underground under the ocean around the United States," she stated. "And our estimate was 170 with a transportation network connecting them."-----Michael Snyder--Why Is The Underground Facility Where Government Leaders Would Take Shelter During An Extinction-Level Event "Getting An Upgrade"?"I think that it is worth noting that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Mount Weather just last month...Mount Weather, which is also known as the High Point Special Facility, has both above- and below-ground facilities as part of its 564-acre site, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the complex in early April, posing for photos outside with the complex's fulltime fire department and armed FEMA security guards.Of course Mount Weather is not the only underground facility that exists. According to USA Today, Mount Weather is actually "part of a network of underground facilities scattered across the United States designed to protect federal leaders during a crisis"...Buried in the Blue Ridge Mountains 64 miles west of Washington, D.C., Mount Weather is part of a network of underground facilities scattered across the United States designed to protect federal leaders during a crisis. It takes less than 30 minutes by helicopter to reach Mount Weather from Capitol Hill. One of our most prominent "continuity of government" facilities is located in Colorado..."--Kevin Barrett- Israel committing most fully-documented genocide in human history"Israel" is committing the most fully-documented genocide in human history. Never before has a nation announced its willingness to exterminate helpless civilians, and documented its deliberate mass murders of those civilians and the destruction and deprivation of their food, water, power, shelter, and medical facilities, the way "Israel" has. Nor has any group so shamelessly reveled in rape and sexual abuse, murdering women and dressing up in their clothing, and torturing helpless people to death--proudly bragging about it and posting war crimes to social media--the extent that "Israel" has. And certainly no people has ever vaunted its lust for murdering children the way "Israel" does. In short, "Israel" has become the most cartoonishly evil nation in the history of humanity. Yet because criminal Jewish-Zionist oligarchs rule the West, and use their financial power to torment those who speak even mildly against them, most of the world has stood by helplessly."-------Today's Bigger Picture Implications on How Mossad Blackmail Operations Killed Virginia Giuffre, Part 2---Stephen Miller's America First Legal (AFL) has filed a bombshell lawsuit against Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., in his capacity as Presiding Officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and Robert J. Conrad, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.The lawsuit accuses the powerful duo of running what AFL describes as an "unconstitutional shadow agency" and violating federal transparency laws.The lawsuit, filed on April 22, slams the Judicial Conference of the United States and its administrative arm--both overseen by Chief Justice Roberts--as rogue "executive agencies" that have collaborated with far-left lawmakers to wage lawfare against conservative Supreme Court justices.-JD Vance and Cardinal Pietro Parolin demonstratethe Masonic thumb-on-knuckle handshake that Satanists use to identify each otherWill the next pope be good for the Jews?A look at a few of the frontrunners, and their statements on antisemitism, Israel and theology----Asia's Economic Realignment: China, Japan and ASEAN Nations Push for De-Dollarization and Regional SovereigntyThe global majority seeks to decouple from the United States as economic coercion escalates under President TrumpThe U.S. continued use of the dollar as a geopolitical tool through sanctions and restrictive trade policies has not gone unnoticed. This policy continuity has only strengthened the resolve of countries across Asia to forge alternative economic pathways.---Boycott Zionists - Naples, ItalyGaza Child Needs FoodManitoba to make Holocaust education mandatory in secondary schools starting fall 2025Manitoba is the sixth province in Canada to make Holocaust studies mandatory in secondary schools.Other provinces that have committed to making Holocaust education a mandatory component of their curriculum include Ontario, B.C, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta.The Northwest Territories has also added Holocaust education to its Grade 6 curriculum, making it the only territory to do so.The new curriculum will take effect in September 2025.Makow- Zionists funded Hitler and the Nazis to trick Jews into going to Israel. This holocaust education is designed to guilt the goyim into giving Jews special privileges. Meanwhile Jewish genocide of Christians in Russia or Palestinians is not taught. Public education is brainwashing and will die.-Preparing the goyim to die for IsraelUS Supreme Court backs Trump's transgender military banThe 6-3 decision allows the Pentagon to discharge current personnel and reject new recruits with "gender dysphoria"--The 2019 film 'Unplanned' dealt with the reality of abortion, when an abortion clinic receptionist is ordered to participate in an abortion procedure. Grim watching though it is, the reality in Alberta is that even if a child survives the 'procedure,' they are as a matter of policy left to die anyway, writes Richard DurDUR: Surely it cannot be that babies born alive after an abortion, are left to die?'But in Alberta, that is the policy of Alberta Health Services... Inhumanity knows no bounds.'-
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Site: OnePeterFive
With the Mass Pro Eligendo Pontifice in the morning and the procession of the Cardinals into the Sistine Chapel, the Conclave of May 7, 2025, officially begins. Cardinal Re, Dean of the Sacred College, gave a speech urging his fellow cardinals not to be guided by personal considerations. I imagine the Cardinals enter with minds full not only of what has been discussed during the General…
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Site: Mises InstituteNot only are Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) cultists dishonest about the role of money, they also are dishonest about money‘s history. By taking issue with Carl Menger‘s historical version, they expose their own ignorance of how money came about.
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Site: Steyn OnlineMark takes questions from Steyn Club members around the planet...
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Site: Steyn OnlineIf you missed today's edition of Steyn's Clubland Q&A live around the planet, here's the action replay...
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Site: Steyn OnlineWelcome to Part Six of our birthday audio entertainment in Tales for Our Time...
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Site: Steyn OnlineThe Conclave Watch begins...
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Site: LifeNews
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation May 1 that protects families and faith-based adoption and foster care providers from government discrimination based on their religious or moral beliefs.
The new law, HB 655, ensures that individuals and organizations with faith-based convictions about human sexuality can continue offering homes to children in need without fear of exclusion by state or local officials, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ
“Every child deserves a loving home that can provide them stability and opportunities to grow,” ADF Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen said. “The sad reality is that in some states, the government can discriminate against people of faith, allowing vulnerable children to suffer.”
Chafuen commended Montana lawmakers and pro-family advocates for their leadership in passing the bill.
“Montana has taken critical steps to prioritize the well-being of kids by prohibiting state and local government officials from discriminating against adoption and foster care providers and parents simply because of their religious beliefs and moral convictions,” he said.
He added that protecting religious liberty in the foster care system expands the pool of families and organizations available to serve vulnerable children.
“By signing this law,” Chafuen said, “Gov. Gianforte is ensuring that Montanan children benefit from as many adoption and foster care agencies as possible — faith-based and non-faith-based.”
The post Montana Governor Signs Law to Stop Discrimination Against Christian Families Who Adopt Children appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Rorate CaeliCardinal Pietro Parolin is the front runner -- no doubt about that. As Rorate said days ago on X/Twitter:There is no doubt Parolin is the front runner, as Ratzinger in 2005 (for the same reasons), and Bergoglio in 13 (because he had been the second-place in 05).Since there is no runner-up now (Scola being over 80), this is Parolin’s to lose. (Twitter)There seems to be an assumption by some New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
The American system of medical-care delivery has no name. It is neither single payer nor based on private enterprise. It is a patchwork of cockamamie carrots and sticks, agencies and incentives, exceptions and accounting tricks, cajoles and punishments, cobbled together over some 50-100 years of legislation that itself was a product of pressure-group pushes, graft, loopholes, mandates, and subsidies.
It’s not even a clean public-private partnership. It’s a public-private-nonprofit-grifter-payola regulatory cacophony of confusion and chaos over which pharmaceutical companies and professional lobbyists exercise the dominant influence.
Still it quasi-functions. It hobbles along year after year with ever more expense and administrators, with ever worse results. Absolutely no one would design such a thing from the ground up. No one is particularly happy with it but neither is there much push to change it fundamentally.
The Covid years devastated trust or, perhaps, just pulled back the veil. Every poll confirms it, e.g. a Harvard/Northwestern poll showed that trust fell from 71.5% in April 2020 to 40.1% by January 2024 across all groups. The reality is likely far worse. Everyone is asking how to restore trust.
The last time centralized reform was attempted was 15 years ago. The debates about Obamacare minted a healthcare expert daily and generated think-tank blueprints reflecting every ideological bias. The final product of a thousand pages, in which no one group got its way, was shoved through with great huzzahs on one side and boos on the other. It resulted in more coverage, yes, but also cost increases anywhere between 50 and 500 percent depending on how one chooses to measure it.
No one can produce evidence that it has made America more healthy. A statistical tour through chronic disease data, or a casual walk through a mall or airport, proves that.
The debate over the Affordable Care Act pretty well exhausted the appetite for far-reaching reform. And maybe that is a good thing because the drive today is not for one system for everyone but a realization that the needs are so diverse and diffuse that it would likely have more success with a series of parallel systems that emerge from the ground up.
Thus has most of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda focused on matters that individuals and families can do themselves. They include being more scrupulous about diet, exercise, sleep, sunshine, and caution about prescription medications, whether for mental or physical maladies. The movement against mandates is at the core simply because it now (versus a few years ago) pertains to children and relates directly to the grave concern about ill-health and the rise of autism.
Again, this is a more productive conversation than going back to the drawing board to reform a system that has no name and hardly anyone understands in its totality. It recognizes something crucial, namely that health is not granted by a system of government or a large insurer but rather emerges from individual decisions and habits. In large part and with the exception of unpredictable twists of fate, much of what we call health is mainly within our own control.
Given that insight, we have a better starting point in which to discuss real policy reforms that can give people a greater degree of control than they currently have under the existing bureaucratic patchwork of programs, mandates, agencies, and bureaucratized systems. Here are eight examples that can make a massive difference and should be favored regardless of ideological bias.
- Liberalize generic therapeutics from prescription control and make them over the counter. People are not idiots, though the US’s prescription system presumes they are. Fourteen states are working toward making Ivermectin and other common medicines like Hydroxychloroquine more available, thus liberating people from dependency on medical services. With the ubiquity of AI and quality medical information everywhere at our fingertips – no longer monopolized by the lab coats – we are better positioned to care for ourselves in our own interest. Probably hundreds of generics that people take routinely could be so regarded.
- In many countries, pharmacies have nurses and doctors available for diagnostics, which seems like a much better system than ours. It is far easier to get routine medical care in Mexico than it is in the US. This should not be the case, but regulatory barriers limit pharmacists’ roles in diagnostics or prescribing. Liberalizing the system and breaking down professional barriers and regulated buckets could better serve the healthcare consumer.
- Allow employers to offer employees an opt-out of mandated health insurance. The mandates are hugely expensive for employers. Every employer with more than 50 employees must comply. We don’t even have to change the mandate but simply permit options for the workers. Allowing their workers an extra $5-10 thousand or so in salary and wages would be accepted by many and give the direct primary care industry a boost. This would lower costs and boost job options.
- Permit anyone to make contributions toward a Health Savings Account, not just people with high-deductible health plans (as it stands today). The HSA is a bit of an annoyance – its troubling how government uses the tax system to direct spending choices – but it at least allows some tax-free choice that can otherwise earn money in financial markets. It makes no sense why these should not be open to anyone, even and especially people who elect against expensive coverage. It would serve as a substitute for insurance and add to the country’s store of savings and capital.
- Permit insurers to offer catastrophic-only plans to people of all ages. For that matter, health insurers need to be free from the shackles of predefined plans that are inclusive of services that most people do not want or need. A catastrophic-only plan would be selected by many. This might be the worst aspect of Obamacare, and it needs to go. We should be able to buy health insurance the way we buy any other good or service, which is to say, according to our own perceived needs, risk aversion, and willingness to pay.
- Put actuaries to work not just on large groups of people but on individuals, and allow premiums to adjust based on actual individualized health risks. This would strongly incentivize better living. For example, there could be discounts for people who join and use gyms, follow a keto diet, don’t abuse substances, and so on. Reward them and many more will join in better practices. It’s possible that this could happen even without repealing the non-discrimination for pre-existing conditions. Simply reward people with lower premiums for being less likely to use medical services.
- Eliminate legal indemnifications from pharmaceutical harm. The rest would take care of itself.
- Permit non-allopathic services providers such as naturopaths and homeopaths to enlist to be paid with insurance money. This would save insurance companies millions if not billions of dollars. Such doctors rely on supplements and alternatives, not drugs, that cost far less. And they help people fix their lifestyle choices. This fits where the market is going in any case, as people are seeking out a greater range of opinion.
None of these eight reforms rub hard on ideological wounds. All are about respecting individual choice, which is the essence of health. They can all be pursued without touching existing entitlement systems and legacy welfare provision. They would amount to the first major steps toward creating parallel systems of experimentation, all within the framework of the existing system. It seems like they should earn bipartisan support.
Reprinted with permission from Brownstone Institute.
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Site: Rorate CaeliMain excerpts below:Catholics Who Prefer Latin Mass Pin Hopes on a New Pope Ruth GrahamThe New York TimesMay 7, 2025 (page A12)About 140 people came to the Sweetest Heart of Mary church in Detroit for the Traditional Latin Mass at noon the Sunday after Easter. Incense and organ music wafted through the ornate sanctuary, built by Polish Catholics in the late 19th century. It was a New Catholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04118576661605931910noreply@blogger.com
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Site: LifeNews
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two legislative packages May 2 that would have established a “right to contraception” in the state and forced insurance companies to cover contraception without exceptions for religious organizations.
According to Dogwood, the state’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed the first package, House Bill 1716 and Senate Bill 1105, earlier this year. The package would have allowed birth control pills, IUDs, and other methods of contraception and banned restrictions on its sale or distribution. While he wrote in his official veto statement that he supports access to contraception, Youngkin vetoed it on the grounds that contraception is already protected by the U.S. Constitution, adding that the bill “contains significant flaws by creating overly broad rights of action.”
“The legislation also fails to include adequate conscience clause protections for health care providers and weakens the fundamental right of parents to guide the upbringing and care of their children, which the General Assembly refused to adopt,” he wrote.
Get the latest pro-life news and information on X (Twitter). Follow @LifeNewsHQ//
Youngkin vetoed a similar bill almost exactly a year ago. This year, he also vetoed a second package that sought to require health insurance plans that cover outpatient prescription drugs to also cover contraceptives.
According to his veto statement, Youngkin had asked the General Assembly to include a conscience clause in the bill that would have exempted organizations with religious beliefs about contraception from covering it.
“Without such protections, many organizations would be forced to violate their religious or ethical beliefs about contraception should this bill have become law,” Youngkin stated. “These entities would thus be forced to choose between following the law or following their deeply and sincerely held beliefs — a choice the Commonwealth must not require them to make.”
However, state legislators refused to add the amendment to the bill, resulting in the veto.
“In a divided government, no one is going to get 100 percent of what they want, and we must work across the aisle to serve the common interests of Virginians,” Youngkin stated in a news release. “For the 38 bills that would damage the interests of the Commonwealth and her citizens, I am exercising my constitutional duty to veto these bills.”
LifeNews Note: Hannah Hiester writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
The post Gov. Glenn Youngkin Praised for Vetoing Two Pro-Abortion Bills appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeGold Soars To Another New High, What's The Message?Tyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 09:25
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
There are three messages. Do you see them?
Three Messages
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Gold does not believe the Fed is under control
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Gold does not believe Congress is under control
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Gold does not believe Trump is under control
And neither do I.
Think!
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If you think either Congress will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
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If you think DOGE will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
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If you think Trump will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
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If you think tariffs will offset spending that Trump demands and Congress will deliver, then think again.
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If you think the Fed will stop monetizing the debt, then think again.
Buying Votes for a “Big Beautiful Bill”
Trump will buy as many votes as it takes to get support for his “big beautiful bill”.
Number one on the table is restoration of State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. This benefits Democrats and Republicans in Big Blue states, especially New York.
The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates full restoration of SALT would cost $920 billion over 10 years.
The TCJA tax extension will cost $3.9 trillion.
Why stop there?
Trump wants to but more votes with no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security benefits, and new deductions for interest on auto loans.
No DOGE to the Rescue
To pay for all of this DOGE has come up with $150 billion in alleged savings of which only about $12 billion is real.
For discussion, please see How Much Money Has DOGE Really Saved, and Where Will it Go?
Let’s do some fact checks on DOGE claims and reality.
Trump Promises $1 trillion in Defense Spending for Next Year
Also note Trump Promises $1 trillion in Defense Spending for Next Year
Even bigger budget deficits are now in store due to the first $1 trillion defense budget.
Meanwhile, the lies that it will pay for itself continue along with praise from the cult.
For discussion of the truly absurd, please see Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
Lutnick: “We’re going to make the External Revenue Service replace the Internal Revenue Service.”
And finally Republicans Have One Chance to Reform Medicaid, They Will Blow It
Republicans, including Trump, won’t fix anything if it costs votes.
There is no political will by Congress or Trump to do anything about deficits out of control.
If you think we are headed for a currency crisis, then you are thinking correctly.
Don’t ask me when, because no one knows. But the message is unmistakable.
* * *
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
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Site: Ron Paul Institute - Featured Articles
“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”—James Madison
We are being frog-marched into tyranny at the end of a loaded gun. Or rather, hundreds of thousands of loaded guns.
Let’s not mince words: President Trump’s April 28 executive order is the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook: martial law masquerading as law and order.
Officially titled “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens,” this order is a “heil Hitler” wrapped in the goosestepping, despotic trappings of national security.
Don’t be fooled by Trump’s tough-on-crime rhetoric, cloaked in patriotic language and the promise of safety.
This is the language of every strongman who’s ever ruled by force.
The White House claims the order will “empower state and local law enforcement to relentlessly pursue criminals and protect American communities.” But under this administration, “criminal” increasingly includes anyone who dares to exercise their constitutional rights.
The order doesn’t merely expand policing—it institutionalizes repression.
It sets us squarely on the road to martial law.
If allowed to stand, Trump’s executive order completes our shift from a nation of laws—where even the least among us had the right to due process—to a nation of enforcers: vigilantes with badges who treat “we the people” as suspects and subordinates.
Without invoking the Insurrection Act or deploying active-duty military forces, Trump has accelerated the transformation of domestic police into his own paramilitary force.
With the stroke of his presidential pen, he has laid the groundwork for a stealth version of martial law by:
- Expanding police powers and legal protections;
- Authorizing the DOJ to defend officers accused of civil rights violations;
- Increasing the transfer of military equipment to local police;
- Shielding law enforcement from judicial oversight;
- Prioritizing law enforcement protection over civil liberties;
- Embedding DHS and federal agents more deeply into local policing.
All of this has occurred without congressional debate, judicial review, or constitutional scrutiny.
For years, we have watched as the government transformed local law enforcement into extensions of the military: outfitted with military hardware and trained in battlefield tactics.
However, this executive order goes one step further—creating not just a de facto standing army but Trump’s own army: loyal not to the Constitution or the people, but to the president.
This is the very danger the Founders feared: a militarized police force answerable to a powerful executive, operating outside the bounds of the law.
This is martial law without a declaration.
Law enforcement today is equipped like the military, trained in battlefield tactics, and given broad discretion over who to target and how to respond. But these are not soldiers bound by the laws of war. They are civilian enforcers, wielding unchecked power with minimal oversight.
And they are everywhere.
Armored vehicles on neighborhood streets. Flashbang raids on family homes. Riot police in small towns. SWAT-style teams deployed by federal agencies. Drones overhead. Mass surveillance below.
We are fast approaching a reality where constitutional rights exist in name only.
In practice, we are ruled by a quasi-military bureaucracy empowered to:
- Detain without trial;
- Punish political dissent;
- Seize property under civil asset forfeiture;
- Classify critics as extremists or terrorists;
- Conduct mass surveillance on the populace;
- Raid homes in the name of “public safety”;
- Use deadly force at the slightest provocation.
In other words, we’ve got freedom in name only.
It’s the same scenario nationwide: in big cities and small towns alike, militarized “warrior” cops—hyped up on power—ride roughshod over individual rights by exercising almost absolute discretion over who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to “serve and protect.”
This nationwide epidemic of court-sanctioned police violence has already ensured that unarmed Americans—many of them mentally ill, elderly, disabled, or simply noncompliant—will continue to die at the hands of militarized police.
From individuals shot for holding garden hoses, to those killed after calling 911 for help, these tragedies underscore a chilling truth: in a police state, the only truly “safe” person is one who offers no resistance at all.
These killings are the inevitable result of a system that rewards vigilante aggression by warrior cops and punishes accountability.
These so-called warrior cops, trained to act as judge, jury and executioner, increasingly outnumber those who still honor their oath to uphold the Constitution and serve the public.
Now, under the cover of executive orders and nationalist rhetoric, that warrior mentality is being redirected toward a more dangerous mission: silencing political dissent.
Emboldened by Trump’s call to reopen Alcatraz and target so-called “homegrown” threats, these foot soldiers of the police state are no longer going to be tasked with enforcing the law—they will be deployed to enforce political obedience.
This is not a theory. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.
We are living in a creeping state of undeclared martial law.
The militarization of police and federal agencies over recent decades has only accelerated the timeline toward authoritarianism.
This is how freedom ends—not with a loud decree, but with the quiet, calculated erosion of every principle we once held sacred.
We’ve come full circle—from resisting British redcoats to submitting to American forces with the same disdain for liberty.
Our constitutional foundation is crumbling, and with it, any illusion that those in power still serve the public good.
Congress, for its part, has abdicated its role as a constitutional check on executive power—passing sweeping authorizations with little scrutiny and failing to rein in executive overreach. The courts, too, have in the past sanctioned many of these abuses in the name of national security, public order, or qualified immunity. Instead of acting as constitutional safeguards, these institutions have largely become rubber stamps.
Indeed, the president, Congress, the courts, and the police have come to embody the very abuse the Founders fought to resist. Only now are the courts beginning to show glimmers of allegiance to the Constitution.
This is not about partisanship. This is about power without restraint.
As tempting as it is to place full blame on Trump for this full-throttle shift into martial law, he is not the architect of this police state. He is its most shameless enabler—a useful frontman for the Deep State in its ongoing war on the American people.
As we warn in Battlefield America: The War on the American People and A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, we are sliding fast down a slippery slope to a Constitution-free America.
We ignore these signs at our peril.
Reprinted with permission from Rutherford Institute.
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogLive video stream of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel HERE BEST GUESS Wed 7 May – 1900-2000 (Rome) 1300-1400 (EDT)
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