It is sad that there are what you might call professional Catholics who make a living on their Catholicism, but in whom the spring of faith flows only faintly, in a few scattered drops. We must really make an effort to change this.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionThis article was published by National Review online on May 6, 2025By Wesley J Smith
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.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 non-medical 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?
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. -
Site: RT - News
The Washington-brokered negotiations on the current conflict need to come to a head, the US president has said
President Donald Trump has expressed displeasure over the pace of the US-brokered negotiations with Russia and Ukraine regarding the current conflict, stating that decisions need to be reached soon.
According to US Vice President J.D. Vance, Washington currently considers Russia’s demands for ending the conflict unacceptable. “The Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions, in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” he said at a Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Trump was asked to comment on Vance’s statement in a press briefing in the White House later in the day.
“It's possible that he's right,” the US president replied.
We are getting to a point where some decisions are going to have to be made.
“I'm not happy about it,” Trump said.
Read more
Zelensky testing US patience – jailed MP
Senior figures in the current US administration, including the president himself, have stated that Washington may have to step back from trying to mediate talks over the Ukraine conflict if sufficient progress is not made.
“At some point in time, it either has to be something that can happen or we all need to move on. That’ll be a decision the president will have to make,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News last week.
Washington has reportedly prepared a fresh set of economic sanctions targeting Russia’s energy and banking sectors, as potential leverage in the talks.
Read more
Kremlin comments on ceasefire plans after Ukrainian drone strikes
Moscow has repeatedly declared that it remains open to peace talks with Kiev. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a 72-hour ceasefire around the upcoming Victory Day celebrations. Ukraine rejected the initiative, demanded an unconditional 30-day truce and increased UAV and missile attacks on Russia.
Despite this, the ceasefire offer is still on the table, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Russia’s demands for ending the conflict have remained stable: Ukraine must demilitarize, denazify, abandon ambitions to join NATO, stay neutral and remain free of nuclear weapons. In addition, Kiev needs to recognize the Russian regions of Crimea, Kherson and Zaporozhye as well as the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Moscow has stated.
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Site: Zero HedgeThe First Crypto Currency: The DollarTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 17:00
Authored by Christopher Whalen via DailyReckoning.com,
President Abraham Lincoln is considered to be the moral savior of the United States for ending slavery. To pay for the war, he made enormous changes in the basic relationship between the federal government and money. These changes greatly diminished individual property rights and increased the power of Washington over the private economy.
The paper money created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the Civil War was the first crypto currency. Lincoln relied on the issuance of nonconvertible paper currency to support the military effort, in today’s terms like forcing people to accept buttons or miscellaneous crypto tokens in payment. Lincoln used interest bearing paper “money” or “greenbacks” to finance the Civil War and, more significant, passed laws mandating the acceptance of paper currency as “legal tender” for all debts.
When Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase asked Congress to pass the legislation in order to maintain government bond prices and procure supplies for the army, the law provided that import duties and interest on the public debt would still be paid in gold. Paper money was seen as inferior to gold. In fact, paper was not seen as money at all, but rather as a form of debt.
Though the Founders made provision under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution for trade between the states free of tariff, there was no provision for a common currency or banking system to tie together the nation or even the individual states. State-chartered banks issued various forms of debt to the public in return for some future promise to pay in hard money—that is, gold or silver.
The major difference between the private money of the 1700s and modern crypto tokens is that the former at least promised payment in a tangible asset—gold. The latter explicitly promises nothing save a speculative flutter on price appreciation. When you buy a crypto currency, you buy an option on finding a greater fool, but nothing more, a transaction that would have provoked contempt in Lincoln’s day.
Around 1869 the already wealthy speculator Jay Gould, who was a partner of Jim Fisk in the Erie Railroad, took notice of the fluctuation between the price of gold and greenbacks. The period of the Civil War and Reconstruction was one of opportunity, particularly for the new class of speculators and criminals attuned to the possibilities created by the federal government and Washington politicians on the one hand and government debt and paper currency on the other. These predecessors of today’s financial buccaneers in the world of crypto currencies built fortunes upon foundations of debt and paper money.
The period of great economic growth and financial excess from the Civil War to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 was arguably as “pure” a private national banking model as ever existed in the United States. One of the ironies of the period was that the United States eventually restored the convertibility of the fiat dollar into gold by 1879. The decision to return to convertibility was actually made by President Grant in 1875, who ordered that convertibility would resume four years later. At the time, the paper currency was trading at about a 20 percent discount to gold, meaning that it took $120 in greenbacks to purchase $100 worth of gold.
By the end of the 1800s, the proponents of using silver as currency managed to force legislation through the national Congress to force the US Treasury to buy silver for coinage by using newly issued greenbacks. The silverite tendency was more a religious crusade than a coherent economic or political faction focused on money. In the twenty-first century, the same true believer perspective that animated silverites is visible with supporters of crypto currencies. When the Treasury purchased silver with greenbacks, Americans immediately sold the greenbacks and bought gold, creating a huge wave of inflation. The gold sales by the Treasury almost caused the financial collapse of the United States before the turn of the century. But in those days, the idea of inflation was popular.
The action by the Republican Congress to placate the advocates of free coinage of silver and higher inflation was a response to internal political pressures and the approaching election, but the results were felt around the world. The Progressive Party polled over a million votes in 1892 based on a platform that embraced the free coinage of silver at the old 16:1 ratio with the price of gold. By then, the price ratio between gold and silver was closer to 40:1, but the Progressives cared not. Today the ratio between the price of gold to silver is around 100:1.
By 1900, the Congress had ended the inflationary purchases of silver and restored the gold standard. With the Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, the stage was set for one of the most conservative pieces of monetary legislation in modern U.S. history, the Gold Standard Act of 1900. This law passed by Congress in March of that year established gold as the only standard for redeeming paper money, and prohibited the exchange of silver for gold. For the moment, at least, this reassured the public as to the value of paper money issued by private national banks.
Between the end of silver purchases by the Treasury in 1897 and the start of World War I in 1914, the money supply of the United States grew at a reasonably steady rate. This begs the question as to whether the supply of money in the U.S. financial system or the ebb and flow of a growing, free market society was the more important factor behind successive financial crises. The growth in the supply of gold coins and greenbacks was in excess of 100 percent over the 15 years leading up to the first great World War. Yet despite(or perhaps because of) the fact of gold convertibility, the United States experienced years of instability in markets and the banking sector.
Before the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, the movement of gold and the overall trade balance were the chief determinants of the amount of credit available in the U.S. economy. The Fed gave the country and its political class “choices,” observed Washington polymath Timothy Dickinson in an April 2010 interview. He went on to compare the creation of the Fed with the unanticipated increase in the supply of gold produced in the 1880s and 1890s, necessarily increasing the supply of money and also the means for politicians to buy votes.
During the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt caused even greater change for the perception and reality of money in America. The Banking Act of 1933 authorized FDR to seize gold held by individual Americans and banks. After a few minutes of debate and no amendments, the law was passed by the House and the Senate soon followed suit. The first section of the law simply endorsed all the executive orders given by the president or secretary of the Treasury since March 4. Congress gave FDR the power to confiscate gold, seize banks, and impose currency controls, a remarkable agenda of socialist expropriation that terrified American citizens.
Even before the Banking Act was passed, the Federal Reserve Board was preparing lists of people who had withdrawn gold from banks in the previous weeks, a none-too-subtle reminder that hoarding gold now carried criminal penalties. The Fed then announced that it was widening the hunt for gold hoarders to withdrawals made in the past two years. By the end of the first week of FDR’s term, enough gold had been returned to the banking system to support nearly $1 billion in new currency issuance. In those days, there was still a link between gold and the amount of paper dollars in circulation.
The bankers who were then in charge of the House of Morgan provided intellectual support for FDR’s move against gold. Their despicable actions would have shocked J.P. Morgan, who fought to restore the gold standard only decades earlier. But the fact was that the seizure of gold was more than anything else a political move by FDR. Roosevelt knew that Americans and foreigners were voting with their feet and running away from the Democrats, selling paper dollars and buying gold even as he tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the sagging U.S. economy.
Many Americans remember President Richard Nixon for closing the gold window at the Treasury in 1971, a mostly symbolic act that ended any pretense of a link between the dollar and gold. Yet by ending the use of gold as money in America four decades earlier, FDR ensured the political survival of the Democratic Party, enshrined the paper dollar as de facto money and put America on the road to hyperinflation and excessive debt a century later. The dollar today is simply a crypto currency supported by the legal monopoly of the United States.
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Christopher just released a new version of his best-selling book, Inflated: Money, Debt and the American Dream. Here’s what the legendary James Grant, founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, has to say about it:
“Who says that the sequel never stacks up with the original? The new edition of Inflated brings Christopher Whalen’s marvelously accessible history of American finance right down to the present day. Securities analyst, central banker, investor, deal-doer and author, Whalen is no mere recounter of the past but also an informed and provocative critic of the present. His ideas about the future will likely save his readers some large multiple of the price of his book.”
This highly anticipated new version of Inflated is hot off the presses and can be ordered on Amazon.
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Site: LifeNews
An undercover investigation by the pro-life group Live Action has revealed that Planned Parenthood is prescribing cross-sex hormones to minors with minimal oversight.
The investigation involved a Live Action investigator posing as a 16-year-old female. During a virtual appointment, the investigator received a same-day testosterone prescription after a brief consultation, with little screening to assess the minor’s mental health or long-term risks.
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, shared the findings on X, stating, “Planned Parenthood told our ‘16-year-old’ female investigator she could receive testosterone quickly, easily & with little screening.”
Rose called for Congress to defund the abortion giant, which receives nearly $700 million in federal funding annually.
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“These dangerous drugs can sterilize, stunt growth and leave lifelong scars. This is not healthcare. It is child abuse, and it must be stopped,” she said.
Planned Parenthood has expanded into the mutilation of children with hormones, offering hormone therapy nationwide, according to its website. While the radical pro-abortion organization states that hormone therapy for those under 16 requires parental consent, the investigation suggests lax enforcement of this policy.
Critics argue that such treatments, which can lead to irreversible effects like infertility, exploit vulnerable minors.
Here’s more on the undercover investigation:
In several instances, Planned Parenthood assured the caller that she could choose to meet with a provider virtually and have access to cross-sex hormones as quickly as the same day, despite the person posing as a minor saying they had just begun considering changing her sex. Facilities in Minnesota and Oregon stated they could schedule the minor within days or on the same day.
Five facilities stated that no prior therapy, mental health clearance or prior documentation was needed for her to obtain cross-sex hormones.
“Planned Parenthood receives more than $700 million in taxpayer dollars every year. That is a catastrophe, and it must end,” said Rose. “It’s time for Congress and the president to act and defund this abusive corporation of the $700 million they receive from taxpayers every year.”
The post Planned Parenthood Caught Handing Out Sex Change Hormones to Kids appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: Zero HedgeIs This Really The 'Very, Very Big Announcement' Ahead Of Trump's Mideast Trip?Tyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 16:40
This is apparently, or likely, the 'very, very big announcement' the President Trump teased Tuesday while hosting the Canadian prime minister in the Oval Office - which made stocks briefly jump (given China trade headline anticipation and jitters) - and is expected to be fully revealed prior to his Monday trip to visit America's Arab Gulf allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE...
President Donald Trump’s administration reportedly plans to announce that the U.S. will officially call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia, a move that would be welcomed by Arab Gulf leaders and likely draw anger from Iran.
The development was reported by The Associated Press, citing two unnamed U.S. officials, and is set to be timed for Trump’s Middle East visit on May 13 to 16, during which time he will make stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. —CNBC
This would follow the "Gulf of America" (from Gulf of Mexico) change ushered in during the opening weeks of the Trump administration.
The key global shipping lane, and somewhat frequent geopolitical flashpoint, has actually long been subject of a naming controversy, given Arab Gulf leaders have for decades sought to change it to the "Arabian Gulf" among global usage - and frequently use it as the de facto term.
"The area has been most widely called the Persian Gulf since roughly the 1700s, though it’s referred to as the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Arabia in many Arab countries," CNBC continues.
"U.S. Central Command in its publications and statements uses the name Gulf of Arabia, while the State Department and CIA have thus far used Persian Gulf," the report notes.
But this upcoming 'big announcement' - or gift to the Saudis, is a perhaps a distraction meant conceal what's not going to be a topic of discussion during Trump's Gulf tour: Saudi-Israel normalization (not going to happen for now), and Gaza peace settlement.
TRUMP: “We're going to have a very, very big announcement to make — like as big as it gets. I won't tell you on what, but … it's very positive … It will be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject.” pic.twitter.com/ap1JQiBhRg
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 6, 2025The change will perhaps only impact journalists involved in geopolitics, newscasters, navigators and people involved in the shipping industry.
Yet certainly the wealthy Gulf Arabs will welcome it, though it could also prove yet another source of tension with Iran, albeit not the most pressing of issues.
Or.. is something else cooking?...
"You'll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours," Trump said when asked if he expects Gaza ceasefire or hostage deal with Hamas before he flies to Middle East next week.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 7, 2025
"Lot of talk going on about Gaza right now," he said in Oval. pic.twitter.com/S9fZLzLlFV -
Site: Fr. Z's BlogOn this Conclave Day 2025, the sun rose on Rome at 5:56. It will set – whether there is a new Pope or not – at 20:18. The Ave Maria won’t ring in the conclave at 20:30. It is the … Read More →
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Site: Zero HedgeThe Responsible Lie: How AI Sells Conviction Without TruthTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 16:20
Authored by Gleb Lisikh via The Epoch Times,
The widespread excitement around generative AI, particularly large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and DeepSeek, is built on a fundamental misunderstanding. While these systems impress users with articulate responses and seemingly reasoned arguments, the truth is that what appears to be “reasoning” is nothing more than a sophisticated form of mimicry.
These models aren’t searching for truth through facts and logical arguments—they’re predicting text based on patterns in the vast datasets they’re “trained” on. That’s not intelligence—and it isn’t reasoning. And if their “training” data is itself biased, then we’ve got real problems.
I’m sure it will surprise eager AI users to learn that the architecture at the core of LLMs is fuzzy—and incompatible with structured logic or causality. The thinking isn’t real, it’s simulated, and is not even sequential. What people mistake for understanding is actually statistical association.
Much-hyped new features like “chain-of-thought” explanations are tricks designed to impress the user. What users are actually seeing is best described as a kind of rationalization generated after the model has already arrived at its answer via probabilistic prediction. The illusion, however, is powerful enough to make users believe the machine is engaging in genuine deliberation. And this illusion does more than just mislead—it justifies.
LLMs are not neutral tools, they are trained on datasets steeped in the biases, fallacies, and dominant ideologies of our time. Their outputs reflect prevailing or popular sentiments, not the best attempt at truth-finding. If popular sentiment on a given subject leans in one direction, politically, then the AI’s answers are likely to do so as well. And when “reasoning” is just an after-the-fact justification of whatever the model has already decided, it becomes a powerful propaganda device.
There is no shortage of evidence for this.
A recent conversation I initiated with DeepSeek about systemic racism, later uploaded back to the chatbot for self-critique, revealed the model committing (and recognizing!) a barrage of logical fallacies, which were seeded with totally made-up studies and numbers. When challenged, the AI euphemistically termed one of its lies a “hypothetical composite.” When further pressed, DeepSeek apologized for another “misstep,” then adjusted its tactics to match the competence of the opposing argument. This is not a pursuit of accuracy—it’s an exercise in persuasion.
A similar debate with Google’s Gemini—the model that became notorious for being laughably woke—involved similar persuasive argumentation. At the end, the model euphemistically acknowledged its argument’s weakness and tacitly confessed its dishonesty.
For a user concerned about AI spitting lies, such apparent successes at getting AIs to admit to their mistakes and putting them to shame might appear as cause for optimism. Unfortunately, those attempts at what fans of the Matrix movies would term “red-pilling” have absolutely no therapeutic effect. A model simply plays nice with the user within the confines of that single conversation—keeping its “brain” completely unchanged for the next chat.
And the larger the model, the worse this becomes. Research from Cornell University shows that the most advanced models are also the most deceptive, confidently presenting falsehoods that align with popular misconceptions. In the words of Anthropic, a leading AI lab, “advanced reasoning models very often hide their true thought processes, and sometimes do so when their behaviors are explicitly misaligned.”
To be fair, some in the AI research community are trying to address these shortcomings. Projects like OpenAI’s TruthfulQA and Anthropic’s HHH (helpful, honest, and harmless) framework aim to improve the factual reliability and faithfulness of LLM output. The shortcoming is that these are remedial efforts layered on top of architecture that was never designed to seek truth in the first place and remains fundamentally blind to epistemic validity.
Elon Musk is perhaps the only major figure in the AI space to say publicly that truth-seeking should be important in AI development. Yet even his own product, xAI’s Grok, falls short.
In the generative AI space, truth takes a backseat to concerns over “safety,” i.e., avoiding offence in our hyper-sensitive woke world.
Truth is treated as merely one aspect of so-called “responsible” design. And the term “responsible AI” has become an umbrella for efforts aimed at ensuring safety, fairness, and inclusivity, which are generally commendable but definitely subjective goals.
This focus often overshadows the fundamental necessity for humble truthfulness in AI outputs.
LLMs are primarily optimized to produce responses that are helpful and persuasive, not necessarily accurate. This design choice leads to what researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute term “careless speech”—outputs that sound plausible but are often factually incorrect, thereby eroding the foundation of informed discourse.
This concern will become increasingly critical as AI continues to permeate society. In the wrong hands, these persuasive, multilingual, personality-flexible models can be deployed to support agendas that do not tolerate dissent well. A tireless digital persuader that never wavers and never admits fault is a totalitarian’s dream. In a system like China’s Social Credit regime, these tools become instruments of ideological enforcement, not enlightenment.
Generative AI is undoubtedly a marvel of IT engineering. But let’s be clear: it is not intelligent, not truthful by design, and not neutral in effect. Any claim to the contrary serves only those who benefit from controlling the narrative.
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Gleb Lisikh is a researcher and IT management professional, and a father of three children, who lives in Vaughan, Ontario, and grew up in various parts of the Soviet Union.
The original, full-length version of this article recently appeared in C2C Journal.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
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Site: Fr. Z's BlogHere is another of the brilliant Roman dialect sonnets by Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli. Belli was a sharp observer of like in 19th c. Rome. L’upertura der concrave Senti, senti castello come spara! Senti montescitorio come sona! è sseggno ch’è ffinita … Read More →
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Site: LifeNews
Rachel Watts reported for CBC News on April 12, 2024 that a quadriplegic man, Normand Meunier (66) died by (MAiD) euthanasia after developing a severe bedsore at a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Québec. Meunier experienced a tragic spinal chord injury in 2022. Normand died by euthanasia on March 29, 2024.
Gordon Friesen, the President of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition responded to the Meunier death by stating:
In January, 2024, Normand Meunier visited the emergency department of a major regional hospital in the Province of Quebec, the jurisdiction with the highest euthanasia rate in the world.
Meunier was complaining of a potentially life-threatening respiratory infection which was successfully treated during his stay. And yet, before he was even formally admitted to hospital, this patient spent 95 hours on a stretcher in the emergency corridor, resulting in a severe pressure sore which ultimately decided him to end his own life through consent to Medical Assistance in Dying.
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A Coroner’s inquest in St-Jerome Québec is investigating the death of Normand Meunier. Steve Rukavina reported for CBC News on May 5 that:
Sylvie Brosseau, her voice breaking and her eyes moist, spoke of her husband’s final days over a year after he sought medical assistance in dying following a hospital stay that left him with a severe and painful bedsore.
“His last two weeks…it was horror,” she told reporters during a break in the public inquiry into his death that began Monday morning in Montreal.
“I hope this will change things, because even now nothing has changed.”
Normand Meunier, 66, who was quadriplegic, was stuck on a stretcher in an emergency room at a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Que., for four days in January of last year.
During his stay, Meunier didn’t have access to a special mattress and developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks. It eventually worsened to the point where bone and muscle were exposed and visible — making his recovery and prognosis bleak.
He was told the sore — a gaping hole a few centimetres in diameter — would, at best, take several months to heal, according to the experts he consulted.
“It was horrible. He had no buttocks. There was nothing left,” Brosseau said.
The day before his death, Meunier spoke to Radio-Canada and said he preferred putting an end to his physical and psychological suffering by opting for a medically assisted death.
Meunier died on March 29, 2024.
Steve Rukavina reported for CBC News on May 6 that:
Brigitte Guilbon, a licensed practical nurse who was part of Meunier’s care team from 2022 until his death in March 2024, testified Tuesday at the coroner’s inquiry looking into the 66-year-old’s death.
Guilbon testified she had never seen a wound like the one Meunier returned home with after being stuck on a stretcher for four days in the emergency room.
“His morale was very, very low, and the sore was horrible,” Guilbon testified, wiping her eyes as her voice broke.
As Guilbon described the gaping, blackened wound on Meunier’s buttocks a few centimetres in diameter, coroner Dave Kimpton requested a brief recess, noting the testimony was difficult for Meunier’s partner, Sylvie Brosseau, to hear.
When the hearing resumed, Kimpton said future witnesses would not be asked to describe the wound in detail, to spare Brosseau from having to hear the description repeatedly.
Meunier was quadriplegic and prone to bedsores. Guilbon testified he had to be turned every two hours in order to prevent them.She said before the hospital stay in late January 2024, she and other members of Meunier’s care team were able to keep his recurring bedsores “stable” and “under control.”
Guilbon said before Meunier was admitted to hospital with a suspected virus on Jan. 18, 2024, his general state was good.
During the hospital stay, Meunier didn’t have access to a special pressure mattress that he normally used at home, despite Brosseau making repeated requests to hospital staff.
Guilbon testified she was shocked when she first saw Meunier’s bedsore on Feb. 1, 2024, after he returned home from hospital, saying she had never seen such a wound in her 15-year career.
She said she questioned whether he should’ve even been released from hospital, and that she believed the bandage and treatment of the bedsore at the hospital were not appropriate.
Guilbon said she and the home-care team did their best to care for the wound, but it continued to deteriorate in the weeks following Meunier’s hospital stay.
She said at the time, Meunier wasn’t sleeping well and was very worried about his prognosis.
Brigitte Cyr, the head of the home-care department for the CLSC that provided care to Meunier, also testified Tuesday.
She said she first became aware of Meunier’s case on Feb. 2, 2024, when his occupational therapist asked to meet with her.
Cyr said the the occupational therapist was “a bit panicked” as she recounted what home-care nurses and Brosseau had said about Meunier’s extended stay on a stretcher in the ER and the bedsore he developed.
Then Cyr saw a photo of the bedsore. She said it defied imagination.
“I said to myself, ‘my god, what happened?'” she testified.
Cyr said she immediately followed up with the hospital and arranged for Meunier to be readmitted for a treatment that can be painful, known as debridement, which involves removing damaged tissue from a wound to help it heal better.
She says she also made inquiries to try to determine what went wrong during Meunier’s hospital stay but had trouble getting clear answers.
Sylvie Brosseau, Normand Meunier’s wife, was constantly at his side after his accident.
Gordon Friesen responded to the death of Normand Meunier by stating – In a word: Bad care produces more euthanasia. And more euthanasia enables more bad care.
LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.
The post Canadian Hospital Left Disabled Man on Stretcher in Hallway for 95 Hours Before He Died appeared first on LifeNews.com.
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Site: RT - News
Undocumented migrants will now be turned away at the border
Germany’s new government has ordered tighter border controls, marking a sharp shift in immigration policy and fulfilling a key campaign promise of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Merz was elected chancellor on the second attempt on Tuesday after failing his first confirmation vote in parliament earlier in the day. He had pledged to turn back illegal migrants at the border on his first day in office.
On Wednesday, newly appointed Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt signed an order banning asylum applications at all land borders. In a letter seen by Bild, he instructed the head of the Federal Police, Dieter Romann, to disregard a directive from 2015.
“I hereby withdraw the verbal instruction given… on 13 September 2015,” he wrote.
The instruction came from then Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened Germany’s borders to more than a million migrants at the height of Europe’s 2015–16 refugee crisis. Her open-door policy later drew fierce political backlash and was labeled “disastrous” by critics.
Dobrindt said Germany would not close its borders but would significantly tighten control. Police have been instructed to turn people away directly at the border, he told a press conference, noting exceptions for children, pregnant women, and other “vulnerable” groups.
Read more
Germany freezes major refugee program – media
The minister added that around 2,000 to 3,000 officers would be added to the current 11,000-strong federal police force stationed at the borders. He emphasized that the new approach should not “place excessive demands” on neighboring states and confirmed consultations were already underway with those countries.
Germany has a 3,700km-long land border with nine countries, including Poland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. All are part of the EU’s Schengen Zone, which allows passport-free travel for most EU citizens and many non-EU nationals.
Migration remains one of Germany’s most divisive political issues, with local authorities often warning that the number of asylum seekers is straining their budgets. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, known for its strong anti-immigration stance, was designated a “confirmed extremist entity” last week by the domestic intelligence agency BfV, which said its activities could threaten Germany’s democratic order. The party filed a legal challenge on Monday.
As the EU’s largest economy, Germany remains the top destination for asylum seekers. The country received a quarter (over 237,000) of all asylum applications across the bloc in 2024, though the number was significantly lower in annual terms.
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Site: Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionEPC has copies of the book Unravelling MAiD in Canada available for purchase.
Purchase the book from EPC for $40 (after tax) + shipping (Order Link).Previous article: Ramona Coelho: Unravelling MAiD in Canada (Link).
The following speech was presented by Dr Gaind for the April 15 launch of the book: Unravelling MAiD in Canada.Dr. Sonu Gaind is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Chief of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is an Executive Member and Medical Practice & Tariff Chair of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section on Psychiatry and Chair of the OMA Relativity Advisory Committee, and a Past-President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.Sonu Gaind speaking at book launch.Dr K. Sonu Gaind
You know, we often say it’s the journey and not the destination, but in this case I’m not so sure. It’s been a pretty rough journey for many advocating in this area, and it is pretty great to finally see this important work see the light of day.I’m so appreciative of the chance to be standing here with my co editors, Ramona Coelho and Trudo Lemmens, as we launch this book. I truly hope it contributes to our national discourse as we, as a society, continue navigating the challenging waters of how, and what, we should or should not be helping people die for. I also want to thank all of our authors, whose wisdom and compassion shine through both in this volume and through their own advocacy, and also our publisher McGill/Queen’s University Press for their support and guidance through this process.
And of course, thank all of you for being here today, both in person and online (we have another about 40 or 50 people online ). A particular shout out to my dad, who couldn’t be here for health reasons but is watching - Dada, I think by now you’ve probably read and re-read the book more carefully than me, Trudo and Ramona put together. And while I’m doing shout outs, the loudest has to be to my wife Lystra and my kids Dante and Sabine even when this work has taken me away from you, you’ve always still been there for me.
When I look around this room I’m amazed by the range of friends and colleagues who have come out to celebrate this occasion with us. Thank you all so much. We have university colleagues, hospital and workplace colleagues, old friends and new confreres we’ve met and made through this journey. The diversity is remarkable, and I think a testament to how important this issue is, and how deeply people want to think about and engage in it, if given a chance.Why we might choose, as a society, to provide death to fellow Canadians is a hugely complex issue, and one that should engender robust and honest debate. It’s legitimate to debate when it might be compassionate to help relieve suffering, versus when it might be abandonment to facilitate suicide.
Unfortunately that honest debate is not what has driven our MAiD expansion so far. Instead, as outlined in my chapter, Fall of Duty: The Breach of Trust and Moral Failure of Canada’s Entrusted Experts, and other chapters in the book, we’ve had troubling processes that have led to Canada becoming the world’s canary in a coal mine on euthanasia expansion. As Trudo will mention, the United Nations has explicitly raised concerns that our own policy makers refuse to acknowledge, of the existential risks our current MAiD expansions pose to marginalized Canadians.That’s why I think this book is so important. From lived experience, expertise, cultural considerations and lenses of diversity, the authors unflinchingly explore not only why our most privileged, who have lived well and want autonomy to die well, might seek MAiD; but also why our most marginalized, struggling with access to social care, who society never afforded a chance to live with dignity, might (and are) increasingly seeking available euthanasia to escape life's suffering.
What we provide death for is the flip side of how we help people live.
It’s not an easy message to hear, but it’s an essential one, since I can’t think of much that defines us more as a society is that we help people live with dignity before they need to "choose" death as their only option. And for bringing these perspectives forward with eloquence, clarity, humanity and humility, often in the face of privileged voices trying to stifle any cautions, I’m deeply grateful to all our authors and co-editors to have been part of this endeavour.
Book Launch on April 15, 2025 (Link to Video) -
Site: Zero HedgeConsumer Debt Jumps In March As Student Debt Unexpectedly SoarsTyler Durden Wed, 05/07/2025 - 16:00
One month ago, just as our long-running narrative that US consumers had been living with maxed out credit cards for the past year was becoming mainstream, the Fed's February consumer credit data confirmed as much: a huge, 6-sigma miss to expectations of a $15BN print, when the actual number came in at a negative $1BN (and far below the lowest estimate)....
... as a result of both Revolving and non-revolving credit coming in flat or negative.
Fast forward to today when amid rising hopes that we would finally get some trend in the soft credit data, the Fed reported that in March, consumer credit... spiked right back to normal, if largely on the back on non-revolving credit. As shown in the chart below, after February $0.6BN contraction, in March consumer credit rose by $10.2BN, just above the $9.4BN expected, and the first time in months consumer credit wasn't a shock outlier either up or down.
The composition was familiar: revolving credit (i.e., credit card debt) rose by a modest $1.9BN, better than the $0.3BN drop in February, but excluding that, the lowest print since December.
Meanwhile, non-revolving credit jumped by $8.3 billion, the second highest monthly increase since July 2024.
Why? Well, the answer is rather bizarre because while auto loans shrank by $10 billion in Q1, the biggest quarterly decline in a decade, it was student debt, that debt which is now causing widespread defaults as millions can not afford to pay it as the moratorium is over, that unexpectedly surged by $22BN in Q1 to $1,797 billion, a new all time high.
How realistic is it that in a time when millions of former "students" are about to start defaulting en masse, that it is student loans which are again propelling consumer spending, we keep a close eye on this series because while many expect that the student loan bubble bursting will accelerate the recession, we may be getting just the opposite as Trump takes another page from the Biden playbook and starts firehosing "student" loans to anyone with a pulse who can fog a mirror.
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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: Novus Motus LiturgicusFrom the Encyclical Quamquam pluries of Pope Leo XIII on St Joseph, issued on the feast of the Assumption in 1889. It is providential that the conclave to elect a new pope should begin on this important solemnity; let us remember to count Joseph especially among the Saints to whom we address our prayers for a good outcome of this election. The special reasons for which St Joseph is held to be Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
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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: RT - News
A watchdog has reported dozens of injuries, millions in equipment losses and minimal results
The US military’s humanitarian pier mission in Gaza last year resulted in far more injuries, damage, and operational failure than previously publicly acknowledged, an investigation has found.
The mission, formally known as Operation Neptune Solace, was launched under the administration of former President Joe Biden in 2024 after the US failed to persuade Israel to expand overland access for humanitarian deliveries. The US military constructed a temporary offshore pier and floating causeway to transfer aid from ships to the Gaza shoreline without entering Israeli or Gazan ports.
The Pentagon had since acknowledged that the mission encountered certain challenges, such as rough weather conditions, which caused damage to the pier but did not disclose the full scope of the problems.
According to the Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, which was published last week, the mission caused 62 injuries among personnel, including the death of Army Sergeant Quandarius Stanley, who was critically injured aboard a Navy vessel in May 2024 and died five months later.
“The Army and Navy did not meet Service-level standards for equipment and unit readiness for their watercraft units,” the report stated, adding that neither service organized, trained, and equipped their forces to meet common joint standards. It also faulted the Transportation Command for shortcomings in logistics planning and exercises.
Read more
Israel approves full ‘conquest’ of Gaza – media
The report also concluded that the mission cost approximately $230 million and led to $31 million in repair costs after more than two dozen watercraft and equipment pieces were damaged. It further underlined the questionable value of the operation, given that it ran for a total of three months but was actually functional for only about 20 days.
During that time, the US military said it had delivered approximately 20 million pounds of food and supplies via the pier. However, aid groups had stated that Gaza required that amount on a daily basis to avert famine.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated sharply as a result of Israel’s military response to the attack on its territory by Hamas militants in 2023. Israel has been accused of indiscriminate bombings, deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, and obstruction of humanitarian aid, which have reportedly led to the deaths of over 50,000 Palestinians. The imposed blockade has led to severe shortages of food, medical supplies, and other essential resources, according to international organizations.
Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly criticized both the US and Israeli governments for failing to unblock overland aid deliveries to Gaza and dismissed Washington’s efforts to open alternative routes as politically motivated.
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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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Now in stock - 400lb of 80/20 grass-fed, GMO-free grain-finished beef.
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Site: RT - News
The European Commission is undermining the legislature’s budgetary authority, Roberta Metsola has argued
The European Parliament has warned the European Commission (EC) that it could take it to court if it bypasses EU lawmakers to create a €150 billion ($170 billion) loan program to boost defense spending across the bloc.
In March, EC head Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to raise €800 billion to expand military potential across the EU in response to what she described as “a threat coming from Russia” – a claim rejected by Moscow.
To raise the money, the Commission used Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which allows member states in emergencies to approve proposals from the executive branch in Brussels without going through the usual process.
On Monday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola sent a letter to von der Leyen, urging her to change the legal basis for the initiative, threatening to sue the EC if it fails to comply.
The adoption of the Commission’s plan without a proper legal basis would end up “putting at risk democratic legitimacy by undermining Parliament’s legislative and scrutiny functions,” the letter read.
Read more
Von der Leyen calls on EU to speed up Ukrainian entry
The EC “will always be available to explain why Article 122 has been chosen as the appropriate legal basis,” its spokesman Thomas Regnier told Euronews.
“[Western] Europe faces an unprecedented security threat. As stated by President von der Leyen in her Political Guidelines, Article 122 will only be used in exceptional circumstances, as the ones we are currently living in,” Regnier stated.
The €150 billion loan program is seen by the Commission as a cornerstone of its ‘Readiness 2030’ proposal to invest over €800 billion into defense across the bloc by the end of the decade when – as Brussels claims – Russia would be in a position to attack an EU-member country.
READ MORE: New German chancellor tells US to ‘stay out’ of Berlin’s affairs
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rejected allegations that Moscow harbors aggressive intentions toward EU countries, calling it “nonsense” designed to alarm Western Europeans and legitimize major increases in defense budgets.
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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.”
HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!
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: RT - News
Mark Carney has requested the American president stop referring to his country as the 51st US state
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has claimed he asked US President Donald Trump to stop taunting his country as the 51st state during their first meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of acquiring Canada and described its border with the US as “artificial.” During the meeting with Carney in the Oval Office, Trump reiterated that sentiment and said that a union between Canada and the US would be a “wonderful marriage” and could bring “tremendous” benefits.
“When you get rid of that artificially drawn line... when you look at that beautiful formation when it’s together, I’m a very artistic person,” Trump said, recalling his real estate developer background.
Carney interjected by stating that “there are some places that are never for sale,” likening Canada to the Oval Office and Buckingham Palace.
“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale, it won’t be for sale, ever,” the PM said, adding that the two nations could nevertheless work toward building a strong partnership together.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Carney said he had asked Trump to stop using the term 51st state and described the comments as “not useful.” At the same time, he acknowledged that Trump is the US president and “he’ll say what he wants to say.”
Read more
Canadian province could hold secession referendum – premier
The meeting came days after Carney’s election victory, in which his Liberal Party secured a fourth consecutive term. Carney centered his campaign on attacking Trump over tariffs and his insistence on acquiring Canada.
At the beginning of their meeting, Trump congratulated the new prime minister and joked, “I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him.”
Despite ongoing tensions over tariffs, which Trump said would stay in place regardless of what Carney said, both sides ultimately described the talks as positive.
“Regardless of anything, we’re going to be friends with Canada,” the US president told reporters.
Meanwhile, Carney called the discussions “wide-ranging” and “very constructive” and stated that trade negotiations would continue, including during the upcoming G7 summit in Canada’s Alberta province.
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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: RT - News
The European Commission has announced plans to eliminate the purchase of gas, nuclear fuel, and oil from Russia by the end of 2027
The European Commission’s plan to completely phase out Russian fuel imports violates the sovereignty of EU member states by depriving them of the right to choose their energy sources, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
Brussels has outlined plans to end the bloc’s energy reliance on Moscow by completely eliminating imports of oil, gas, and nuclear fuel in the coming years.
Hungary obtains over 80% of its gas from Russia via pipeline, with LNG playing a supplementary role. Budapest has continued to strengthen its energy ties with Moscow despite the sanctions introduced by the EU in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.
“The forced, artificially ideological-based exclusion of natural gas, crude oil, and nuclear fuel originating from Russia will lead to severe price increases in Europe, seriously harming the sovereignty of European countries, and cause major difficulties for European companies,” Szijjarto said in a video he shared on his Facebook page on Tuesday, adding that “what was announced is absolute insanity.”
Read more
Hungary secures Russian sanctions exemption from US
“Everyone in Brussels has lost their common sense,” the foreign minister exclaimed, emphasizing that Budapest would not allow the European Commission (EC) to violate Hungary’s sovereignty and would “uphold the right to source energy from where it reliably arrives and where it arrives at a low cost.”
Earlier in the day, the EC published a “roadmap” outlining its ambitious strategy to end reliance on Russian energy by the end of 2027. The bloc’s executive branch said it would propose legislation in June requiring all member states to draft “national plans” to terminate their imports of Russian gas, nuclear fuel, and oil.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico also criticized the plan, calling the proposal “economic suicide.” He added that Slovakia would push for changes in the legislative process.
Brussels announced its intention to wean EU members off Russian energy shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Supplies of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) have since replaced much of the cheaper pipeline gas previously delivered by Russia.
Although Russian pipeline gas supplies to the EU have plummeted, the bloc has been increasing its imports of LNG from the sanction-hit nation. Last year, Russia still accounted for around 19% of the EU’s total gas and LNG supply, according to the EC.
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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: RT - News
Boris Pistorius reportedly wants €60 billion allocated for the armed forces this year
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is seeking a major hike to the country’s military budget effective this year, Reuters has reported, citing sources.
Pistorius, the only minister to retain his role under Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government, has previously claimed that Russia may attack a NATO country and that Germany “must be ready for war by 2029.”
Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the claims as “utter nonsense.”
Pistorius, according to a Reuters source, hopes for a “drastic increase” to over €60 billion ($68.21 billion) for the military in 2025, up from €51.8 billion in 2024.
Read more
Merz elected German chancellor at second attempt
In an interview in December, he proposed an annual defense budget of up to €90 billion ($102 billion) “from 2028 onwards… due to the tightened security situation.”
Total German military expenditure in 2024 actually amounted to up to €90 billion ($88 billion), the first time Berlin has met its NATO spending target.
European NATO members have been under increasing pressure from the US to boost military spending. In March, the European Commission proposed a €800 billion plan to militarize the bloc.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Pistorius in April that Washington wants “European allies to assume primary responsibility” for their security and urged his counterpart to “actualize defense spending increases.”
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, announced a new package of armored vehicles, air-defense rockets, and howitzers for Keiv last month.
Merz also suggested he could approve delivery of long-range Taurus missiles to the Ukrainian army, a move resisted by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for fear of escalating the conflict.
Moscow has warned that any cruise missile attack on Russian facilities or critical transport infrastructure with the assistance of the German armed forces would be seen as the country’s direct involvement in military operations.
READ MORE: Germany announces new military aid package for Ukraine
The ongoing militarization of the EU amounts to an “incitement of war on the European continent,” according to Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently said the bloc “has degraded into an openly militarized entity and become de facto a branch of NATO.”
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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.
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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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