The Supreme Court is often divided on ideological lines on hot-button
issues, and tends to write unanimously when dealing with procedural
questions where a lower court just went off the rails. So, when the
Court takes a unanimous stand in a case involving a controversial
political issue and goes out of its way to dress down the lower-court
judges, you know they really went overboard. That’s what happened this
morning in an immigration case, United States v. Sineneng-Smith. Justice Ginsburg herself delivered the lecture to the Ninth Circuit to knock off the antics and stick to the cases before it.
The Sineneng-Smith case involved an immigration consultant who made
$3.3 million from clients (mostly Philippine immigrants) by filing
applications for lawful permanent residence when she knew they were not
legally entitled to that status. There were two potential victims here:
the immigrants, if they paid for something they were never going to
receive, or the government, if it approved illegal applications.
Sieneneng-Smith tried to make herself more sympathetic by arguing that
she was only scamming the immigration system: She “argued that
labor-certification applications were often approved despite expiration
of the statutory dispensation, and that an approved application, when
submitted as part of a petition for adjustment of status, would place
her clients in line should Congress reactivate the dispensation.”
Neither of these was an argument that her clients had any legal leg to
stand on, just hope that they might get away with it.
Sineneng-Smith argued that she had a First Amendment right to file
bogus applications, under the Petition and Free Speech Clauses. When her
appeal reached the Ninth Circuit, however, it landed before notorious
liberal activist judge Stephen Reinhardt (who died after the case was
argued, and has since been the subject of other controversies),
on a three-judge panel with two Clinton appointees, judges Marsha
Berzon and Wallace Tashima. Instead of hearing the arguments
Sineneng-Smith made against her conviction, the judges thought up their
own argument — that the federal statute against “encourag[ing] or
induc[ing] an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States,
knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry,
or residence is or will be in violation of law” is itself overbroad and
should be thrown out in its entirety.
Read the rest here.
Thursday, May 07, 2020
Wednesday, May 06, 2020
Lusitania leaving New York for the last time
Original film footage shot at the Cunard pier on May 1, 1915. See also this post for background on the ship and numerous images of the liner.
Monday, May 04, 2020
Breaking: US Treasurey to sell $3 trillion in bonds by July
The Treasury Department plans to borrow $2.99 trillion from April through June to cover the federal government’s massive response to the coronavirus pandemic, issuing a tremendous level of debt to try and limit the economic impact on U.S. businesses and workers.
Last year, Treasury borrowed $1.28 trillion over 12 months. The $3 trillion in borrowing Treasury plans to do now would be done over just three months.
Congress has approved nearly $3 trillion in new spending in the past two months to try and arrest the economic fallout of the crisis. Because revenue levels are falling, Treasury is planning to issue large amounts of debt to cover these costs.
Read the updates here.
Sunday, May 03, 2020
The dangerous liberal ideas for censorship in the United States
Almost everywhere you turn today,
politicians are telling the public to “get used to the new normal” after
the pandemic. For some people, this means public health precautions
from social distancing to banning handshakes. Others have quickly added
long standing dreams for everything from the guaranteed basic income
advocated by Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, which was also
recently raised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to mailed voting
elections advocated by many Democrats.
The most chilling suggestion, however, comes from the politicians and academics who have called for the censorship of social media and the internet. The only thing spreading faster than the coronavirus has been censorship and the loud calls for greater restrictions on free speech. The Atlantic published an article last week by Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods calling for Chinese style censorship of the internet.
They declared that “in the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong” and “significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with society norms and values.”
The justification for that is the danger of “fake news” about coronavirus risks and cures. Yet this is only the latest rationalization for rolling back free speech rights. For years, Democratic leaders in Congress called for censorship of “fake news” on social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all engaged in increasing levels of censorship and have a well known reputation for targeting conservative speech.
Read the rest here.
The most chilling suggestion, however, comes from the politicians and academics who have called for the censorship of social media and the internet. The only thing spreading faster than the coronavirus has been censorship and the loud calls for greater restrictions on free speech. The Atlantic published an article last week by Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods calling for Chinese style censorship of the internet.
They declared that “in the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong” and “significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with society norms and values.”
The justification for that is the danger of “fake news” about coronavirus risks and cures. Yet this is only the latest rationalization for rolling back free speech rights. For years, Democratic leaders in Congress called for censorship of “fake news” on social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all engaged in increasing levels of censorship and have a well known reputation for targeting conservative speech.
Read the rest here.
Saturday, May 02, 2020
Trump is in trouble
A sampling of recent polls...
Florida: Biden +3
Pennsylvania: Biden +6
Michigan: Biden +8
North Carolina: Biden +5
Minnesota: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +12
Arizona: Biden +9
Wisconsin: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +3
Texas: Two polls released within 72hrs of each other First Biden +1 / Second tie.
New Hampshire: Biden +8
Utah: Trump +19
New York: Biden +36
New Jersey: Biden +16
Indiana: Trump +13
Virginia: Biden +10
Ohio: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +4
All polls cited are most recently available and unless otherwise indicated, are within the last 30 days. Generally polls with margins greater than 5% are considered outside the margin of error.
Florida: Biden +3
Pennsylvania: Biden +6
Michigan: Biden +8
North Carolina: Biden +5
Minnesota: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +12
Arizona: Biden +9
Wisconsin: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +3
Texas: Two polls released within 72hrs of each other First Biden +1 / Second tie.
New Hampshire: Biden +8
Utah: Trump +19
New York: Biden +36
New Jersey: Biden +16
Indiana: Trump +13
Virginia: Biden +10
Ohio: No polling data within last 30 days. Last poll Biden +4
All polls cited are most recently available and unless otherwise indicated, are within the last 30 days. Generally polls with margins greater than 5% are considered outside the margin of error.
Brett Stephens on Joe Biden and the Shifting Standards of the Left
Regarding Tara Reade’s allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Joe Biden in 1993, and what the allegation could mean for Democrats this fall, some stock phrases come to mind. Hoisted on their own petard. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Be careful what you wish for.
Above all: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Let’s not start with the Brett Kavanaugh precedent. Or with the vindictive excesses of the #MeToo movement, typified by the Aziz Ansari story, the “Shitty Media Men List” and Al Franken’s resignation from the Senate. Go back further than Juanita Broaddrick’s appearance, like Banquo’s ghost, at the second debate in 2016, which did so much to blunt the Clinton campaign’s case about Donald Trump’s moral unfitness for office.
Rewind instead to 2011, when then-Vice President Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced a new policy of “comprehensive guidance” on matters of sexual violence and harassment for any school, college or university receiving federal aid. The guidance, issued in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter, demanded that campus administrators use a “preponderance of evidence” standard — also known as “50 percent plus a feather” — to adjudicate accusations of sexual assault.
As with so many such policies, the intentions were irreproachable. To take a zero-tolerance attitude toward every form of sexual abuse. To transform the way that women thought of their experiences of abuse and of their rights. To teach men to think much harder about their behavior and their responsibilities. As Biden put it in a 2015 speech, “We need a fundamental change in our culture. And the quickest way to change culture is to change it on campuses of America.”
But if the goal was laudable, the means frequently were not. It’s one thing to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard in a civil case. It’s another when there’s a 50 percent minus a feather chance that an innocent person might have his (and occasionally her) reputation destroyed and life wrecked by a dubious accusation.
Within a few years there were at least hundreds of such cases. Accused students, sometimes facing charges based on ambiguous sexual encounters, were left to fend for themselves in campus tribunals with little regard for due process. Guilty verdicts in these kangaroo courts tended to run high, but so did stories of financial settlements between schools and the families of the accused.
Read the rest here.
(Note: I had previously posted this with links from the Times in the text. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond my 1980's technical knowledge, the html seems to have wiped out the blog's sidebar. So if you want to read the whole thing with the original links embedded, just click above.)
Above all: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Let’s not start with the Brett Kavanaugh precedent. Or with the vindictive excesses of the #MeToo movement, typified by the Aziz Ansari story, the “Shitty Media Men List” and Al Franken’s resignation from the Senate. Go back further than Juanita Broaddrick’s appearance, like Banquo’s ghost, at the second debate in 2016, which did so much to blunt the Clinton campaign’s case about Donald Trump’s moral unfitness for office.
Rewind instead to 2011, when then-Vice President Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced a new policy of “comprehensive guidance” on matters of sexual violence and harassment for any school, college or university receiving federal aid. The guidance, issued in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter, demanded that campus administrators use a “preponderance of evidence” standard — also known as “50 percent plus a feather” — to adjudicate accusations of sexual assault.
As with so many such policies, the intentions were irreproachable. To take a zero-tolerance attitude toward every form of sexual abuse. To transform the way that women thought of their experiences of abuse and of their rights. To teach men to think much harder about their behavior and their responsibilities. As Biden put it in a 2015 speech, “We need a fundamental change in our culture. And the quickest way to change culture is to change it on campuses of America.”
But if the goal was laudable, the means frequently were not. It’s one thing to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard in a civil case. It’s another when there’s a 50 percent minus a feather chance that an innocent person might have his (and occasionally her) reputation destroyed and life wrecked by a dubious accusation.
Within a few years there were at least hundreds of such cases. Accused students, sometimes facing charges based on ambiguous sexual encounters, were left to fend for themselves in campus tribunals with little regard for due process. Guilty verdicts in these kangaroo courts tended to run high, but so did stories of financial settlements between schools and the families of the accused.
Read the rest here.
(Note: I had previously posted this with links from the Times in the text. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond my 1980's technical knowledge, the html seems to have wiped out the blog's sidebar. So if you want to read the whole thing with the original links embedded, just click above.)
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Meanwhile on Wall Street
As the nation appears to be collapsing into an economic depression (see previous post) Wall Street has been singing its favorite song. After the initial panic of late February and March, the stock market has been rallying. The S&P 500 has recovered around half of its losses as investors seem determined to ignore the steady stream of bad news. Are they right? How long will this last? Hmm...
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
The Economy: How bad will it get?
So, are we going to have a depression? That would depend on how deep the economic downturn goes, and importantly, how long it lasts. It is almost a running joke that use of the 'D' word is prohibited in academia and among business people, as well as the talking heads on the various financial news networks, except when used in historical reference to the events of the 1930s. And it doesn't help that there is no hard and fast definition of what constitutes a depression.
Most economists and historians have avoided labeling any of our post-war downturns as depressions, though I would argue that two probably meet the vague definition. The first would be the downturn that began in the last year of the Carter administration and continued through the first couple of years of the Reagan administration. Roughly late 1979 to 1983. The second would be the most recent financial crisis of twelve years ago. A number of countries and regions, notably in southern Europe, never recovered and were still experiencing devastating unemployment aggravated by sovereign debt crisis right up to the arrival of COVID-19.
To my mind the odds of a quick 'V' shaped recovery that Wall Street seems to be hoping for are poor. The economy, especially in our globalized era, cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. When you break the glass and hit the red button labeled "Emergency Stop," the engine is going to seize. In furtherance of the damage to the engine is that we don't have either a cure or a vaccine anywhere on the horizon. This means all of the global distancing rules are going to remain in effect for the foreseeable future. And the mass unemployment is going to send shock-waves out inflicting even more damage. Unemployed people generally can't afford much in the form of goods and services. So what we have is the prospect of an economic contraction functioning like a giant snowball rolling down hill while gaining both size and velocity.
Fortunately we do have a few things going for us. The first is that we have learned a bit since the 30s. So the catastrophic policy mistakes of that era are, we hope, unlikely to be repeated. Raising taxes (both Hoover and FDR), massive increase in government regulation of the economy (FDR), tightening monetary policy (the Fed of the early 30s) and raising protectionist tariffs (Hoover). The last one is a bit alarming since we have a president who is enamored of economic protectionism.
Also unlike in the 30s, we do have something of a social safety net. Granted, it is among the weakest in the developed world. But it is like noon on Miami Beach compared to the long winter of the early 30s where the unemployed and homeless were almost entirely dependent on private charity, which quickly became overwhelmed.
Which brings us to; where are we going? There are just too many variables to give any kind of concrete prediction. But I will make a few general observations. The medical community seems resigned that this thing is going to be with us for years. So until a vaccine is developed we can expect succeeding waves of COVID. Some of those could be worse than what we have experienced thus far and could inflict even more loss of life and economic damage. Unemployment is likely to breach 20% and the contraction in GDP is unlikely to be less than 25%. In that scenario I don't see even the beginning of a meaningful recovery for at least a year, and more likely two to three.
So... depression? Yeah, very likely. Great Depression Part II? I doubt it. It was the government that put the "Great" into the depression of the 1930s. And while I always encourage taking a deep breath before putting any upward limit on the stupidity of politicians and bureaucrats, if... we can avoid the mistakes of the Hoover/Roosevelt years, I am cautiously hopeful that the worst will be over within four to five years.
But for now, I think we are just going to have fasten our seat belts and hang on. Because even the rosiest predictions suggest we are in for one hell of a bumpy ride.
(To those who are fortunate enough to be doing OK, please remember the many who are not.)
Monday, April 27, 2020
US Supreme Court passes on closely watched gun rights case
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will not issue a ruling in a closely watched case over a New York gun regulation that barred transport of handguns outside the city, including to second homes and firing ranges.
In an unsigned opinion, the court said that the roll-back of the rule by city and state officials after the court agreed to hear the case effectively ended the dispute without the justices needing to intervene.
The case was the first Second Amendment case to reach the top court in nearly a decade. The justices have not waded into the highly charged debate over gun rights since expanding the reach of the Second Amendment in a pair of cases in 2008 and 2010.
Conservatives were hoping the court, which has a new 5-4 conservative majority, would use the New York case to limit regulations on firearms further. But the outcome of the case was telegraphed in December during oral arguments, when the court spent little time addressing the underlying constitutional questions raised by the New York regulation.
Three of the court’s Republican-appointees, Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said they would not have dismissed the case. Alito, in an opinion joined by Gorsuch and in part by Thomas, wrote that by declining to rule in the case the court allowed itself to be “manipulated.”
Read the rest here.
In an unsigned opinion, the court said that the roll-back of the rule by city and state officials after the court agreed to hear the case effectively ended the dispute without the justices needing to intervene.
The case was the first Second Amendment case to reach the top court in nearly a decade. The justices have not waded into the highly charged debate over gun rights since expanding the reach of the Second Amendment in a pair of cases in 2008 and 2010.
Conservatives were hoping the court, which has a new 5-4 conservative majority, would use the New York case to limit regulations on firearms further. But the outcome of the case was telegraphed in December during oral arguments, when the court spent little time addressing the underlying constitutional questions raised by the New York regulation.
Three of the court’s Republican-appointees, Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said they would not have dismissed the case. Alito, in an opinion joined by Gorsuch and in part by Thomas, wrote that by declining to rule in the case the court allowed itself to be “manipulated.”
Read the rest here.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Trump's behavior is alarming Republicans
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s erratic handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the worsening economy and a cascade of ominous public and private polling have Republicans increasingly nervous that they are at risk of losing the presidency and the Senate if Mr. Trump does not put the nation on a radically improved course.
The scale of the G.O.P.’s challenge has crystallized in the last week. With 26 million Americans now having filed for unemployment benefits, Mr. Trump’s standing in states that he carried in 2016 looks increasingly wobbly: New surveys show him trailing significantly in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he is even narrowly behind in must-win Florida.
Democrats raised substantially more money than Republicans did in the first quarter in the most pivotal congressional races, according to recent campaign finance reports. And while Mr. Trump is well ahead in money compared with the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democratic donors are only beginning to focus on the general election, and several super PACs plan to spend heavily on behalf of him and the party.
Perhaps most significantly, Mr. Trump’s single best advantage as an incumbent — his access to the bully pulpit — has effectively become a platform for self-sabotage.
His daily news briefings on the coronavirus outbreak are inflicting grave damage on his political standing, Republicans believe, and his recent remarks about combating the virus with sunlight and disinfectant were a breaking point for a number of senior party officials.
Read the rest here.
The scale of the G.O.P.’s challenge has crystallized in the last week. With 26 million Americans now having filed for unemployment benefits, Mr. Trump’s standing in states that he carried in 2016 looks increasingly wobbly: New surveys show him trailing significantly in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he is even narrowly behind in must-win Florida.
Democrats raised substantially more money than Republicans did in the first quarter in the most pivotal congressional races, according to recent campaign finance reports. And while Mr. Trump is well ahead in money compared with the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democratic donors are only beginning to focus on the general election, and several super PACs plan to spend heavily on behalf of him and the party.
Perhaps most significantly, Mr. Trump’s single best advantage as an incumbent — his access to the bully pulpit — has effectively become a platform for self-sabotage.
His daily news briefings on the coronavirus outbreak are inflicting grave damage on his political standing, Republicans believe, and his recent remarks about combating the virus with sunlight and disinfectant were a breaking point for a number of senior party officials.
Read the rest here.
This is disturbing
The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral
dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of
President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet
leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday.
The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May 9 — the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — at a sprawling military-themed park near Moscow. Once completed, the building will become one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world.
Read the rest here.
The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May 9 — the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — at a sprawling military-themed park near Moscow. Once completed, the building will become one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world.
Read the rest here.
Friday, April 24, 2020
In Defense of Closed Communion
Fr. Lawrence (Farley) has an excellent piece up. Read it here. Please leave any comments there.
Rescue bills hide huge tax breaks for the wealthy
...One provision tucked into the federal economic-rescue law increases the amount of deductions companies are permitted to take on the interest they pay on large quantities of debt. Only companies with at least $25 million in annual receipts can qualify for that break.
Another change lets people deduct even more of their businesses’ losses from any winnings they reaped in the stock market, sharply reducing what they owe in capital gains taxes. Only households earning at least $500,000 a year — the top 1 percent of American taxpayers — are eligible.
And yet another provision in last month’s rescue package allows companies to deduct losses in one year against profits that they earned years earlier. The tax break most likely won’t put any extra cash directly into the hands of companies hit by the current crisis for at least a year.
The bottom line is that, barely two years after congressional Republicans and President Trump lavished America’s wealthiest families and companies with a series of lucrative tax cuts, those same beneficiaries are now receiving a second helping.
Many of the tax benefits in the stimulus are “just shoveling money to rich people,” said Victor Fleischer, a tax law professor at the University of California, Irvine. While the 2017 tax-cut package was a bonanza for big companies and wealthy individuals, in order to keep the law’s overall costs down it imposed a number of restrictions on who could take advantage of certain tax breaks and how much those taxpayers could reap.
Read the rest here.
Another change lets people deduct even more of their businesses’ losses from any winnings they reaped in the stock market, sharply reducing what they owe in capital gains taxes. Only households earning at least $500,000 a year — the top 1 percent of American taxpayers — are eligible.
And yet another provision in last month’s rescue package allows companies to deduct losses in one year against profits that they earned years earlier. The tax break most likely won’t put any extra cash directly into the hands of companies hit by the current crisis for at least a year.
The bottom line is that, barely two years after congressional Republicans and President Trump lavished America’s wealthiest families and companies with a series of lucrative tax cuts, those same beneficiaries are now receiving a second helping.
Many of the tax benefits in the stimulus are “just shoveling money to rich people,” said Victor Fleischer, a tax law professor at the University of California, Irvine. While the 2017 tax-cut package was a bonanza for big companies and wealthy individuals, in order to keep the law’s overall costs down it imposed a number of restrictions on who could take advantage of certain tax breaks and how much those taxpayers could reap.
Read the rest here.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Pakistan: Court legitimizes abduction and forced marriage/conversion of 14 yo girl
A high court ruling in Pakistan validating the marriage and forced conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old Christian girl has heightened fears that it will encourage others to commit such crimes, sources said.
Advertisement
The High Court in Sindh Province on February 3 dismissed a petition to have the marriage and forced conversion of a Catholic girl overturned. The court ruled that both were valid since a girl under sharia (Islamic law) can marry after her first menstrual cycle.
Huma Younus was taken from her home in Karachi’s Zia Colony on October 10 while her parents were away. She was forced to marry the man who abducted her, identified as Abdul Jabbar of Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab Province, her attorney said.
“The hearing on February 3 lasted only five minutes,” the family’s attorney, Tabassum Yousaf, told Morning Star News. “The court, in just a few words citing the sharia, has justified the violation of the girl’s body since she has already had her first period.”
Yousaf added that the family was prohibited from seeing Huma because police said her life would be at risk if she was brought to the courtroom.
Read the rest here.
Advertisement
The High Court in Sindh Province on February 3 dismissed a petition to have the marriage and forced conversion of a Catholic girl overturned. The court ruled that both were valid since a girl under sharia (Islamic law) can marry after her first menstrual cycle.
Huma Younus was taken from her home in Karachi’s Zia Colony on October 10 while her parents were away. She was forced to marry the man who abducted her, identified as Abdul Jabbar of Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab Province, her attorney said.
“The hearing on February 3 lasted only five minutes,” the family’s attorney, Tabassum Yousaf, told Morning Star News. “The court, in just a few words citing the sharia, has justified the violation of the girl’s body since she has already had her first period.”
Yousaf added that the family was prohibited from seeing Huma because police said her life would be at risk if she was brought to the courtroom.
Read the rest here.
Roman Catholic Traditional Mass Under Threat?
Francis has sent out a questionnaire on Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum. Under normal circumstances one might simply treat this as a routine inquiry into one aspect of the liturgical life of the Latin Church. But given Francis' known hostility to all aspects of Roman Catholic tradition, this is understandably causing people to nervously sit up and take notice.
Details.
UK: Forced contraception and abortion
UNITED KINGDOM, April 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A judge in England has ruled that a woman reported to have learning disabilities will be fitted with a contraceptive device against her will.
Representatives of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust told Justice Gwynneth Knowles that the woman – who is in her late twenties and is currently pregnant – has already given birth multiple times and has had those children removed from her custody.
They also explained that she suffers from medical conditions and suggested that future pregnancies could put her health at risk...
...Forced abortion is on the rise in the U.K. In October 2019, a judge ordered a disabled woman be forced to have an abortion and doctors could restrain her while committing it.
“This is an outrage which should shock every right-thinking person,” John Deighan, Deputy Chief Executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said at the time. “It is a level of cruelty and barbarity reminiscent of how people with mental health issues were treated in the 1930s of Nazi Germany. To force abortion on any person is abhorrent and to do so in the name of medicine calls into question the structures of law and justice in our society.”
In February 2020, a judge ordered another forced abortion on a vulnerable woman who had been raped by her carer.
Also in 2019, another disabled woman narrowly escaped a forced abortion after massive public outcry.
Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe
Representatives of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust told Justice Gwynneth Knowles that the woman – who is in her late twenties and is currently pregnant – has already given birth multiple times and has had those children removed from her custody.
They also explained that she suffers from medical conditions and suggested that future pregnancies could put her health at risk...
...Forced abortion is on the rise in the U.K. In October 2019, a judge ordered a disabled woman be forced to have an abortion and doctors could restrain her while committing it.
“This is an outrage which should shock every right-thinking person,” John Deighan, Deputy Chief Executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said at the time. “It is a level of cruelty and barbarity reminiscent of how people with mental health issues were treated in the 1930s of Nazi Germany. To force abortion on any person is abhorrent and to do so in the name of medicine calls into question the structures of law and justice in our society.”
In February 2020, a judge ordered another forced abortion on a vulnerable woman who had been raped by her carer.
Also in 2019, another disabled woman narrowly escaped a forced abortion after massive public outcry.
Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
The Death of the Department Store: ‘Very Few Are Likely to Survive’
American department stores,
once all-powerful shopping meccas that anchored malls and Main Streets
across the country, have been dealt blow after blow in the past decade.
J.C. Penney and Sears were upended by hedge funds. Macy’s has been
closing stores and cutting corporate staff. Barneys New York filed for bankruptcy last year.
But nothing compares to the shock the weakened industry has taken from the coronavirus pandemic. The sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half
in March, a trend that is expected to only get worse in April. The
entire executive team at Lord & Taylor was let go this month.
Nordstrom has canceled orders and put off paying its vendors. The Neiman
Marcus Group, the most glittering of the American department store
chains, is expected to declare bankruptcy in the coming days, the first
major retailer felled during the current crisis.
It is not likely to be the last.
“The
department stores, which have been failing slowly for a very long time,
really don’t get over this,” said Mark A. Cohen, the director of retail
studies at Columbia University’s Business School. “The genre is toast
and looking at the other side of this, there are very few who are likely
to survive.”
At a time when retailers
should be putting in orders for the all-important holiday shopping
season, stores are furloughing tens of thousands of corporate and store
employees, hoarding cash and desperately planning how to survive this
crisis. The specter of mass default is being discussed not just behind
closed doors but in analysts’ future models. Whether that happens, no
one doubts that the upheaval caused by the pandemic will permanently
alter both the retail landscape and the relationships of brands with the
stores that sell them.
Read the rest here.
Rumors: North Korean dictator may be seriously ill
South Korea is trying to throw cold water on the rumors, but at least some of them are coming from US intelligence. Hmm...
Monday, April 20, 2020
Happy Birthday
Pope Clement XIV, remembered today chiefly for a single act, was born on this day in AD 1705. Here's hoping the next Pope is Clement XV.
Oil Crashes -300%
The price of oil collapsed deep into negative territory for the first time in history today with persons holding oil contracts paying around $35 a barrel for someone to take it off their hands.Traders however were cautioning that this is likely at least in part a technical event and that, as battered as the oil market is, the true value of oil remains positive.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
A note on blog posts and updates
It is normally my custom to abstain from blogging during the three days preceding Pascha as it is a distraction and I am extremely busy with services. Sadly, services will not be as demanding on my time this year. That said, I expect blogging to be greatly reduced while I try to focus on the Great and Holy Days preceding the Resurrection to the best of my ability.
Wishing you all a blessed finale to your fast and a joyous Pascha.
Wishing you all a blessed finale to your fast and a joyous Pascha.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
The Fed Is Killing the Two Main Functions of Wall Street: Price Discovery and Prudent Capital Allocation
On Thursday, knowing that a three-day Easter weekend was coming and
the attention of the public would be elsewhere, the Federal Reserve
announced that it would allow two of its emergency lending programs to
begin buying junk bonds. Those are bonds with less than an
investment-grade credit rating, meaning they have a greater likelihood
of defaulting. The Fed is not simply accepting junk bonds as collateral
for loans, it will actually be buying junk bonds — potentially hundreds
of billions of dollars of them.
Two of the popular junk bond ETFs, iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (symbol HYG) and SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (symbol JNK) closed the trading day on Thursday up 6.55 and 6.71 percent, respectively, on the announcement. Those ETFs had been plunging in price for most of the month of March.
For years now, prudent investors have been forgoing risky investments like junk bond ETFs and accepting a much tinier yield on U.S. Treasury securities. Now, high rollers like hedge funds that bought junk bonds and junk bond ETFs and received the higher yields, are getting bailed out of these risky bets. The markets will now, going forward, price junk bonds on a closer plane with Treasury securities, assuming the Fed will not let them fail.
This is effectively killing the pricing mechanism of Wall Street. A U.S. Treasury note has the unconditional guarantee of the U.S. government to make the timely payment of interest every six months and pay the principal at maturity. Junk bonds are backed by nothing more than deeply-indebted corporations, which can, and do, frequently file for bankruptcy protection, making their bonds sometimes sell for pennies on the dollar. But going forward, junk bond ETFs will be priced on the premise that the Fed may ride to the rescue.
Read the rest here.
Two of the popular junk bond ETFs, iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (symbol HYG) and SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (symbol JNK) closed the trading day on Thursday up 6.55 and 6.71 percent, respectively, on the announcement. Those ETFs had been plunging in price for most of the month of March.
For years now, prudent investors have been forgoing risky investments like junk bond ETFs and accepting a much tinier yield on U.S. Treasury securities. Now, high rollers like hedge funds that bought junk bonds and junk bond ETFs and received the higher yields, are getting bailed out of these risky bets. The markets will now, going forward, price junk bonds on a closer plane with Treasury securities, assuming the Fed will not let them fail.
This is effectively killing the pricing mechanism of Wall Street. A U.S. Treasury note has the unconditional guarantee of the U.S. government to make the timely payment of interest every six months and pay the principal at maturity. Junk bonds are backed by nothing more than deeply-indebted corporations, which can, and do, frequently file for bankruptcy protection, making their bonds sometimes sell for pennies on the dollar. But going forward, junk bond ETFs will be priced on the premise that the Fed may ride to the rescue.
Read the rest here.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Thursday, April 09, 2020
Get ready for the recovery of the 1%
There were two important economic events on Thursday. The government reported that 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment, an all-time record. And the Federal Reserve announced a new program to flood the economy and financial markets with $2.3 trillion in liquidity — including buying up junk bonds from debt-laden companies.
Which one moved the market? The Fed move, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 500 points by midday.
The market jump, unemployment surge and Fed rescue efforts all converged to form a new split in the economy, between the asset-rich and the rest of America.
Much like the early days of the financial crisis recovery, the wealthy (or the top 10% who own more than 85% of the stocks and financial assets) were quickly saved by the Federal Reserve and Congress.
In 2009, the stock market jumped more than 50% from its low, thanks to the TARP program and other Fed and government support. It took the rest of American almost a decade to recover lost wages and their home values.
The diverging fortunes of the haves and have-nots led to a massive, post-crisis backlash against the wealthy. It gave rise to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Tea Party, anti-establishment politicians and a roaring debate over inequality.
Now, while the root cause of the crisis is vastly different, and no one is talking about greedy sub-prime bankers who brought the trouble on themselves, the coronavirus and response is likely to lead the country down a similar anti-elite path...
Read the rest here.
Which one moved the market? The Fed move, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 500 points by midday.
The market jump, unemployment surge and Fed rescue efforts all converged to form a new split in the economy, between the asset-rich and the rest of America.
Much like the early days of the financial crisis recovery, the wealthy (or the top 10% who own more than 85% of the stocks and financial assets) were quickly saved by the Federal Reserve and Congress.
In 2009, the stock market jumped more than 50% from its low, thanks to the TARP program and other Fed and government support. It took the rest of American almost a decade to recover lost wages and their home values.
The diverging fortunes of the haves and have-nots led to a massive, post-crisis backlash against the wealthy. It gave rise to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Tea Party, anti-establishment politicians and a roaring debate over inequality.
Now, while the root cause of the crisis is vastly different, and no one is talking about greedy sub-prime bankers who brought the trouble on themselves, the coronavirus and response is likely to lead the country down a similar anti-elite path...
Read the rest here.
Tuesday, April 07, 2020
Episcopal Church Reports No Change In Attendance In Recent Weeks
NEW YORK, NY—Most churches have been severely impacted by recent bans
on large gatherings, but not the Episcopal Church. Local parishes
across the country reported no change in attendance once the ban went
into effect...
Read the rest here.
Read the rest here.
Monday, April 06, 2020
‘The greatest miscarriage of justice’: Andrew Bolt responds to George Pell verdict
Outspoken columnist Andrew Bolt has labelled the case against Cardinal George Pell as “the greatest miscarriage of justice in Australian history”.
The Sky News host said the “witch hunt” against Pell had destroyed his career, reputation and locked him in jail for 404 days “for a crime he could not possibly have committed”.
Pell will immediately be released from prison after the High Court ordered his child sexual abuse convictions be quashed “and judgments of acquittal be entered in their place”.
The most senior Catholic in the world to be convicted of child sexual abuse today learned his final appeal bid had been successful. He released a statement saying he felt as though the “serious injustice” he suffered while maintaining his innocence had been “remedied”.
The full bench of seven judges were unanimous in their decision, finding the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a reasonable doubt as to Pell’s guilt.
Bolt, an outspoken supporter of Carindal Pell, was quick to respond to the judgement.
“This was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Australian history,” he said.
“A lot of people today should be ashamed of their role in the persecution, the witch hunting and the jailing - for 404 days - of an innocent man.
“The charges were inherently implausible and yet they were believed.
“And voices that spoke against this conviction were hounded down.”
Read the rest here.
The Sky News host said the “witch hunt” against Pell had destroyed his career, reputation and locked him in jail for 404 days “for a crime he could not possibly have committed”.
Pell will immediately be released from prison after the High Court ordered his child sexual abuse convictions be quashed “and judgments of acquittal be entered in their place”.
The most senior Catholic in the world to be convicted of child sexual abuse today learned his final appeal bid had been successful. He released a statement saying he felt as though the “serious injustice” he suffered while maintaining his innocence had been “remedied”.
The full bench of seven judges were unanimous in their decision, finding the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a reasonable doubt as to Pell’s guilt.
Bolt, an outspoken supporter of Carindal Pell, was quick to respond to the judgement.
“This was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Australian history,” he said.
“A lot of people today should be ashamed of their role in the persecution, the witch hunting and the jailing - for 404 days - of an innocent man.
“The charges were inherently implausible and yet they were believed.
“And voices that spoke against this conviction were hounded down.”
Read the rest here.
Breaking News: Cardinal Pell's Conviction is Overturned by High Court
This is just breaking. Details likely to be added here.
Boris Johnson Hospitalized in ICU
Highly disconcerting news. Although the UK government is being extremely tight lipped, this must be said. People are not put into intensive care on a precautionary basis, especially in the middle of a pandemic with resources under severe strain. It must be assumed the Prime Minister is seriously ill and his condition is probably life threatening to at least some degree.
Saturday, April 04, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Saturday, March 28, 2020
The Federal Reserve Now Owns 15 Percent of the U.S. Treasury Market
According to the U.S. Treasury, as of February 29, 2020, there was $16.9 trillion in marketable U.S. Treasury securities outstanding. Of that amount, at the end of February, the Federal Reserve held $2.47 trillion or 14.6 percent – making it, by far, the largest single holder of U.S. Treasuries anywhere in the world.
By this past Friday, the Fed’s ownership of the Treasury market had increased to $3.12 trillion. It had grown by an unprecedented $650 billion in one month’s time. And on March 23, the Fed announced that it would buy unlimited amounts of both Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities “to support smooth market functioning.”
But exactly how can a so-called “free market” function smoothly if the country’s own central bank is cornering the market. Salomon Brothers paid a $290 million fine and came close to getting slapped with criminal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1992 for manipulating prices in the Treasury market. And make no mistake about it, the Fed’s massive purchases are having a demonstrative impact on driving up prices in the Treasury market while driving down yields – meaning the income that determines if senior citizens in America can buy real groceries or have to live on one pot of soup for the week.
At the end of 2007, before the Wall Street crash in 2008, a senior citizen could invest $10,000 in a 10-year Treasury note and get $400 a year in income, or 4 percent. Today, that same $10,000 generates just 0.67 percent or $67. Seniors who were living on their Treasury income have experienced an 83 percent drop in income while food costs and pharmaceutical costs have soared.
If the Fed keeps up this pace of Treasury buying, it will own the entire Treasury market in about 22 months. If you look at the New York Fed’s list of the Treasury securities that are being submitted to it for sale by Wall Street’s trading houses versus the amounts the New York Fed is buying, you will see that Wall Street is puking up Treasuries in something akin to projectile vomiting.
This is clearly another one of those unanticipated consequences of a corporate-controlled Senate that passed the massive tax cut for corporations and the one percent in December 2017 and created a $1 trillion+ deficit as far out as the eye can see with no plan for who was going to buy all of the gargantuan amounts of Treasury debt that had to be issued as a result.
Because yields on Treasury securities have collapsed by 83 percent since the financial crash, investors, including risk-adverse senior citizens, have been driven into the stock market in order to capture the higher dividends paid on stocks. That’s also been great for the richest top 10 percent of Americans who own the vast majority of the stock market.
Read the rest here.
By this past Friday, the Fed’s ownership of the Treasury market had increased to $3.12 trillion. It had grown by an unprecedented $650 billion in one month’s time. And on March 23, the Fed announced that it would buy unlimited amounts of both Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities “to support smooth market functioning.”
But exactly how can a so-called “free market” function smoothly if the country’s own central bank is cornering the market. Salomon Brothers paid a $290 million fine and came close to getting slapped with criminal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1992 for manipulating prices in the Treasury market. And make no mistake about it, the Fed’s massive purchases are having a demonstrative impact on driving up prices in the Treasury market while driving down yields – meaning the income that determines if senior citizens in America can buy real groceries or have to live on one pot of soup for the week.
At the end of 2007, before the Wall Street crash in 2008, a senior citizen could invest $10,000 in a 10-year Treasury note and get $400 a year in income, or 4 percent. Today, that same $10,000 generates just 0.67 percent or $67. Seniors who were living on their Treasury income have experienced an 83 percent drop in income while food costs and pharmaceutical costs have soared.
If the Fed keeps up this pace of Treasury buying, it will own the entire Treasury market in about 22 months. If you look at the New York Fed’s list of the Treasury securities that are being submitted to it for sale by Wall Street’s trading houses versus the amounts the New York Fed is buying, you will see that Wall Street is puking up Treasuries in something akin to projectile vomiting.
This is clearly another one of those unanticipated consequences of a corporate-controlled Senate that passed the massive tax cut for corporations and the one percent in December 2017 and created a $1 trillion+ deficit as far out as the eye can see with no plan for who was going to buy all of the gargantuan amounts of Treasury debt that had to be issued as a result.
Because yields on Treasury securities have collapsed by 83 percent since the financial crash, investors, including risk-adverse senior citizens, have been driven into the stock market in order to capture the higher dividends paid on stocks. That’s also been great for the richest top 10 percent of Americans who own the vast majority of the stock market.
Read the rest here.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
The Stock Market Bounces (and a personal note)
So the stock market just had it's best three day run since 1931. Yep, that's impressive. And I honestly hope that this is the first sign of confidence in a general economic recovery. But something worth remembering is that the early 30's on Wall Street became infamous for bear market rallies. These wild upward ticks, also known as suckers rallies or a dead cat bounce, never fully recouped the earlier losses and always preceded another sharp sell off.
With a veritable wave of ugly news still waiting in the wings, I have no confidence in this stock market. And now that the government is printing money like it is water and monetizing the bond market, the only asset I'm nibbling in right now, is gold.
To be clear, I'm not making any predictions here. All I'm saying is that these are dangerous times economically and it does not feel like we are near the end. My gut says things may be just warming up. So if you have a well diversified portfolio (stocks indexed, bonds, a solid cash reserve and maybe some gold) I'd just sit tight and wait things out. Nine times out of ten, selling into a financial panic just locks in losses. But I'd definitely not be making speculative investments right now unless it was with money I could afford to lose.
[On a personal note; thank you to those who have inquired about my health. My symptoms have, thank God, been very mild. A persistent dry cough that turned into the achy blahs with on again off again low grade fevers. A little shortness of breath and the urge to lie down every time I did anything even remotely active. This has lasted for around three weeks now and I am sorry to say when it first started I didn't even realize my cough could be more than a reaction to my dogs shedding. Happily the symptoms have been fading lately to the point where I mostly feel fine now. I hope to be able to begin the seven day countdown either tomorrow or Saturday where if no symptoms return I can bust out of this joint. Options of places to go are pretty limited right now but even just a trip to the gas station would be a relief. Stay safe everybody.]
Study: COVID-19 Impacts Men, Women More Than All Other Genders Combined
BALTIMORE, MD—A new study by Johns Hopkins University found that the novel coronavirus is impacting men and women more than all the other genders combined.
According to the study, 100% of coronavirus cases have affected men and women and not a single other gender.
"It's incredible - we've found this virus is far more likely to affect biological males and biological females than any other biological gender," said Head of Gender Research Dr. Benji Charmin. "We thought the data had to be flawed, but we checked again and again, and sure enough, this thing is aggressively going after men and women and ignoring the other genders entirely."
He shrugged. "It's just science."
Progressives quickly applauded the virus for not attacking any of the other genders and only focusing on traditional, outdated, binary genders.
"Finally, a virus that ignores the demiboys, dragonkin, and those who identify as tater tots," said one activist in Portland. "It's about time the tables were turned. Thanks, COVID-19!" He then headed over to his local Communist cafe to lick a doorknob -- "just my little way of showing my gratitude."
Source
According to the study, 100% of coronavirus cases have affected men and women and not a single other gender.
"It's incredible - we've found this virus is far more likely to affect biological males and biological females than any other biological gender," said Head of Gender Research Dr. Benji Charmin. "We thought the data had to be flawed, but we checked again and again, and sure enough, this thing is aggressively going after men and women and ignoring the other genders entirely."
He shrugged. "It's just science."
Progressives quickly applauded the virus for not attacking any of the other genders and only focusing on traditional, outdated, binary genders.
"Finally, a virus that ignores the demiboys, dragonkin, and those who identify as tater tots," said one activist in Portland. "It's about time the tables were turned. Thanks, COVID-19!" He then headed over to his local Communist cafe to lick a doorknob -- "just my little way of showing my gratitude."
Source
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Comments
Hi everyone. A quick reminder that this is a Christian blog and comments that are deemed inconsistent with that will be removed. I do understand that some topics can generate heated discussion, but that should not extend to ad hominem posts directed in a personal way at other commenters. Additionally please remember the season. See the guidelines for posting comments that are linked in the sidebar. Thank you.
Monday, March 23, 2020
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Saturday, March 21, 2020
For the record
Yes, I probably have the bug. Nothing serious. Dry cough and a few bouts of the achy blahs. I get tired easily. Time for a nap and then some reading. Stay safe everybody.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
The Ecumenical Patriarch has suspended public liturgies
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople issued a statement on Wednesday announcing the Church’s new decision in regard to the covid-19 global coronavirus pandemic.
According to this statement, all religious ceremonies, events and rituals will be suspended in all of the Patriarchate’s regions around the globe until March 31, 2020.
These include parts of Greece as well, such as Macedonia, Thrace, and many of the Greek islands.
After the Ecumanical Patriarch’s announcement, a letter sent by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to parishes clarifies that services in the USA may continue behind closed doors and without any parishioners present in the church.
Elpidophoros writes: “Having discussed the situation with the Sacred Center of Orthodoxy, at length, and having inquired specifically about the United States, I received His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s reply, namely, that we should allow for the divine services, including Divine Liturgies, to be celebrated in our Holy Churches behind closed doors, as is the case with the Monasteries.
“In this way we may be able to keep our liturgical tradition alive, even in this minimal way, but also that we may broadcast through streaming and other means the aforementioned services for the spiritual benefit of our faithful.”
Additionally, personal prayer will still be allowed in all churches which will remain open.
Read the rest here.
According to this statement, all religious ceremonies, events and rituals will be suspended in all of the Patriarchate’s regions around the globe until March 31, 2020.
These include parts of Greece as well, such as Macedonia, Thrace, and many of the Greek islands.
After the Ecumanical Patriarch’s announcement, a letter sent by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to parishes clarifies that services in the USA may continue behind closed doors and without any parishioners present in the church.
Elpidophoros writes: “Having discussed the situation with the Sacred Center of Orthodoxy, at length, and having inquired specifically about the United States, I received His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s reply, namely, that we should allow for the divine services, including Divine Liturgies, to be celebrated in our Holy Churches behind closed doors, as is the case with the Monasteries.
“In this way we may be able to keep our liturgical tradition alive, even in this minimal way, but also that we may broadcast through streaming and other means the aforementioned services for the spiritual benefit of our faithful.”
Additionally, personal prayer will still be allowed in all churches which will remain open.
Read the rest here.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Urgent: If you have anything stored in a bank safe deposit box that you may need or want in emergency; get it out NOW
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Holy Cross Monastery is Live Streaming All Services
[Received via email. A/O]
Due to the reports we have received of many Orthodox parishes being forced to close the divine services to the public, Archimandrite Seraphim has blessed for the monastery church services to be livestreamed for the duration of this crisis. While viewing the services over the internet is certainly less than ideal, nevertheless it is for now the only way that many of the faithful now have to participate in divine worship. We wish to make our life of prayer for the world, which will continue unabated, available to those confined to their homes or who are otherwise unable to worship in their parish temple during this trying time.
Please feel free to share this news, as well as the schedule and links below, with anyone who might benefit from this ministry.
SCHEDULE FOR LIVESTREAMED SERVICES
WEEKDAYS WITHOUT PRESANCTIFIED
5:00am – 7:00am Matins, First Hour, Typica, Litia for the Departed
12:00pm – 12:15pm Sixth Hour
5:00pm – 5:45pm Ninth Hour & Vespers
6:30pm – 7:30pm Great Compline (Monday-Thursday)
6:45pm – 7:15pm Universal Pannykhida (Friday)
WEEKDAYS WITH PRESANCTIFIED
5:00am – 7:00am Matins, First Hour, Typica, Litia for the Departed
12:00pm – 12:15pm Sixth Hour
4:00pm – 5:50pm Ninth Hour & Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
6:30pm – 7:30pm Great Compline (Monday-Thursday)
6:45pm - 7:15pm Universal Pannykhida (Friday)
SATURDAY
5:00am – 8:15am Matins for the Departed, First Hour & Liturgy
12:00pm – 12:10pm Sixth Hour
6:30pm – 10:00pm Vigil
SUNDAYS & VIGIL RANK FEASTS
9:00am – 11:30am Hours & Liturgy
5:00pm – 6:00pm Ninth Hour & Lenten Vespers
6:30pm – 7:00pm Small Compline
Stream via YouTube
MOLEBEN IN TIME OF DEVASTATING EPIDEMIC: 3/18 at 12pm Eastern
On Wednesday, March 18 at 12pm Eastern the whole brotherhood will gather to serve a Moleben in Time of Devastating Epidemic to our patron the Holy Great-Martyr and Healer Panteleimon as well as to St. Nikephoros the Leper. This service will likewise be live-streamed for as many of the faithful to join in prayer as possible.
Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America writes:
Already reports are coming in that the Archangel Michael has appeared to many people promising them his powerful help. Also, the newly-glorified Saint Nikephoros the Leper has appeared in Greece to a pious Orthodox serviceman and assured him that he will intercede for all who ask his prayers to be protected and healed from the Corona virus.
The monastery's YouTube channel may be found here.
Due to the reports we have received of many Orthodox parishes being forced to close the divine services to the public, Archimandrite Seraphim has blessed for the monastery church services to be livestreamed for the duration of this crisis. While viewing the services over the internet is certainly less than ideal, nevertheless it is for now the only way that many of the faithful now have to participate in divine worship. We wish to make our life of prayer for the world, which will continue unabated, available to those confined to their homes or who are otherwise unable to worship in their parish temple during this trying time.
Please feel free to share this news, as well as the schedule and links below, with anyone who might benefit from this ministry.
SCHEDULE FOR LIVESTREAMED SERVICES
WEEKDAYS WITHOUT PRESANCTIFIED
5:00am – 7:00am Matins, First Hour, Typica, Litia for the Departed
12:00pm – 12:15pm Sixth Hour
5:00pm – 5:45pm Ninth Hour & Vespers
6:30pm – 7:30pm Great Compline (Monday-Thursday)
6:45pm – 7:15pm Universal Pannykhida (Friday)
WEEKDAYS WITH PRESANCTIFIED
5:00am – 7:00am Matins, First Hour, Typica, Litia for the Departed
12:00pm – 12:15pm Sixth Hour
4:00pm – 5:50pm Ninth Hour & Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
6:30pm – 7:30pm Great Compline (Monday-Thursday)
6:45pm - 7:15pm Universal Pannykhida (Friday)
SATURDAY
5:00am – 8:15am Matins for the Departed, First Hour & Liturgy
12:00pm – 12:10pm Sixth Hour
6:30pm – 10:00pm Vigil
SUNDAYS & VIGIL RANK FEASTS
9:00am – 11:30am Hours & Liturgy
5:00pm – 6:00pm Ninth Hour & Lenten Vespers
6:30pm – 7:00pm Small Compline
Stream via YouTube
MOLEBEN IN TIME OF DEVASTATING EPIDEMIC: 3/18 at 12pm Eastern
On Wednesday, March 18 at 12pm Eastern the whole brotherhood will gather to serve a Moleben in Time of Devastating Epidemic to our patron the Holy Great-Martyr and Healer Panteleimon as well as to St. Nikephoros the Leper. This service will likewise be live-streamed for as many of the faithful to join in prayer as possible.
Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America writes:
Already reports are coming in that the Archangel Michael has appeared to many people promising them his powerful help. Also, the newly-glorified Saint Nikephoros the Leper has appeared in Greece to a pious Orthodox serviceman and assured him that he will intercede for all who ask his prayers to be protected and healed from the Corona virus.
The monastery's YouTube channel may be found here.
Time for General Confession?
I've never been a fan of the practice, but we are living in extraordinary times. This is going to get worse before it gets better, maybe a lot worse. I am wondering if this might not be the moment to invoke oikonomia and hold a service of general confession and absolution in those parishes and jurisdictions where Sunday liturgy is still being held. Realistically, church services are likely to soon be banned, at least in some places. And even where they are not, many people will, for perfectly legitimate reasons, choose not to attend.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
They need to close the financial markets
Trump should issue an emergency decree and close the financial markets for the next thirty days. The global economy is slowing to a near halt in some sectors. There are reports of a run on banks and ATMs for cash. There is no reason to allow the rapidly spreading panic to cause even more economic damage.
Friday, March 13, 2020
COVID-19: How bad could it get?
Very...
One of the agency’s top disease modelers, Matthew Biggerstaff, presented the group on the phone call with four possible scenarios — A, B, C and D — based on characteristics of the virus, including estimates of how transmissible it is and the severity of the illness it can cause. The assumptions, reviewed by The New York Times, were shared with about 50 expert teams to model how the virus could tear through the population — and what might stop it.Read the rest here.
The C.D.C.’s scenarios were depicted in terms of percentages of the population. Translated into absolute numbers by independent experts using simple models of how viruses spread, the worst-case figures would be staggering if no actions were taken to slow transmission.
Between 160 million and 214 million people in the U.S. could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to one projection. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.
And, the calculations based on the C.D.C.’s scenarios suggested, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the U.S. could require hospitalization, potentially crushing the nation’s medical system, which has only about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. Fewer than a tenth of those are for people who are critically ill.
The assumptions fueling those scenarios are mitigated by the fact that cities, states, businesses and individuals are beginning to take steps to slow transmission, even if some are acting less aggressively than others. The C.D.C.-led effort is developing more sophisticated models showing how interventions might decrease the worst-case numbers, though their projections have not been made public.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
On this date...
In 1708 Queen Anne became the last British monarch to withhold the Royal Assent from a bill passed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Court orders US Navy to release report on the loss of the USS Thresher (1963)
SAN DIEGO (Tribune News Service) — At 9:12 a.m. on April 12, 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine Thresher issued its final coherent message.
“Experiencing minor difficulties,” it began. “Have positive up angle. Am attempting to blow. Will keep you informed.”
The first and last sentences were unduly — and tragically — optimistic. After a garbled message from the boat at 9:17 a.m., none of the 129 aboard Thresher were ever heard from again. The difficulties had not been minor. They had been fatal, taking the vessel and her crew to a watery grave in the North Atlantic.
Almost 57 years later, this remains the U.S. Navy’s worst undersea disaster. It’s also one of the most mysterious. While there are numerous theories about what caused the Thresher’s sinking, the official story is still under wraps.
The Navy’s investigation resulted in a 1,700-page report. Only 19 pages have been publicly released.
Capt. Jim Bryant, a submarine skipper retired in Point Loma, wants the public to see the other 1,681 pages.
“I feel a responsibility to the men who were aboard,” he said, “and their families.”
Last year, Bryant went to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to pry loose the report.
On Feb. 10, a federal judge ordered the Navy to release its report in monthly 300-page segments, beginning May 15 and continuing until Oct. 15. When the Navy requested more time to review documents and redact classified information, Bryant’s lawyer noted that the Navy already had promised to do this — 22 years ago. Then, in 2012, the Navy announced it had nearly completed its declassification review but wasn’t going to release anything.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden noted that history this month, while rejecting the Navy’s plea for more time. “Normally I defer to the government,” he said during a hearing, “but I can’t say I have a lot of confidence in how this looks now.”
Read the rest here.
“Experiencing minor difficulties,” it began. “Have positive up angle. Am attempting to blow. Will keep you informed.”
The first and last sentences were unduly — and tragically — optimistic. After a garbled message from the boat at 9:17 a.m., none of the 129 aboard Thresher were ever heard from again. The difficulties had not been minor. They had been fatal, taking the vessel and her crew to a watery grave in the North Atlantic.
Almost 57 years later, this remains the U.S. Navy’s worst undersea disaster. It’s also one of the most mysterious. While there are numerous theories about what caused the Thresher’s sinking, the official story is still under wraps.
The Navy’s investigation resulted in a 1,700-page report. Only 19 pages have been publicly released.
Capt. Jim Bryant, a submarine skipper retired in Point Loma, wants the public to see the other 1,681 pages.
“I feel a responsibility to the men who were aboard,” he said, “and their families.”
Last year, Bryant went to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to pry loose the report.
On Feb. 10, a federal judge ordered the Navy to release its report in monthly 300-page segments, beginning May 15 and continuing until Oct. 15. When the Navy requested more time to review documents and redact classified information, Bryant’s lawyer noted that the Navy already had promised to do this — 22 years ago. Then, in 2012, the Navy announced it had nearly completed its declassification review but wasn’t going to release anything.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden noted that history this month, while rejecting the Navy’s plea for more time. “Normally I defer to the government,” he said during a hearing, “but I can’t say I have a lot of confidence in how this looks now.”
Read the rest here.
Friday, March 06, 2020
Miracle: Coronavirus Passes Over Houses With Chick-Fil-A Sauce Smeared On Door Posts
U.S.—The CDC is suggesting lots of weird ways to avoid contracting coronavirus, such as "washing your hands" and "not licking doorknobs." These methods sound kind of sciencey, so we were immediately suspicious of them.
Sure enough, it seems the best way to avoid getting infected is supernatural: many have found that if you paint Chick-fil-A sauce on your doorposts, the virus will pass right over you and your household.
Research seems to indicate that the Angel of Coronavirus passes through each town and city every night and looks for the telltale sign that you are one of God's elect, Chick-fil-A sauce. Those with the correct sign of being one of God's people are passed over, while those without the sign are visited and immediately infected.
"We have no explanation," said one so-called "scientist." "This must be some kind of miracle from God." The scientist said that they tried other substances, such as liberal tears, hand sanitizer, and essential oils, but only Chick-fil-A sauce proved 100% effective at staving off the Angel of Coronavirus.
At publishing time, President Trump had vowed to lead the nation's Christians away from the Coronavirus-infested country and into the Promised Land where there are hardly any diseased people, or people at all. This turned out to be Greenland.
Source.
Obviously fake news since no true Christian would set foot in Chick-fil A during Lent.
Sure enough, it seems the best way to avoid getting infected is supernatural: many have found that if you paint Chick-fil-A sauce on your doorposts, the virus will pass right over you and your household.
Research seems to indicate that the Angel of Coronavirus passes through each town and city every night and looks for the telltale sign that you are one of God's elect, Chick-fil-A sauce. Those with the correct sign of being one of God's people are passed over, while those without the sign are visited and immediately infected.
"We have no explanation," said one so-called "scientist." "This must be some kind of miracle from God." The scientist said that they tried other substances, such as liberal tears, hand sanitizer, and essential oils, but only Chick-fil-A sauce proved 100% effective at staving off the Angel of Coronavirus.
At publishing time, President Trump had vowed to lead the nation's Christians away from the Coronavirus-infested country and into the Promised Land where there are hardly any diseased people, or people at all. This turned out to be Greenland.
Source.
Obviously fake news since no true Christian would set foot in Chick-fil A during Lent.
Bones found in Kent church likely to be of 7th-century saint
Bones discovered more than a century ago in a Kent church are almost certainly the remains of an early English saint who was the granddaughter of Ethelbert, the first English king to convert to Christianity, experts have concluded.
Saint Eanswythe, the patron saint of the coastal town of Folkestone, is thought to have founded one of the first monastic communities in England, probably around AD660. She died a few years later, while still in her teens or early 20s.
n 1885, workers renovating the parish church of St Mary and St Eanswythe close to Folkestone harbour found a lead container of human remains in an alcove – probably hidden to avoid the destruction of relics during the Reformation.
The bones, which comprised about half of a skeleton, were assumed to belong to Eanswythe. But it was not until January this year, following a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, that a team of experts set up a temporary laboratory in the church, which was closed for five days.
Initial analysis suggested the bones were consistent with Eanswythe: they came from one person, probably female, probably aged between 17 and 20, and with no signs of malnutrition, so potentially a person with high status.
A tooth and a foot bone were sent to Queen’s University Belfast for radiocarbon dating. The tests confirmed it was highly probable the person died in the mid-seventh century. Fears that the remains might be part of a medieval fad for fake relics were allayed.
Andrew Richardson, of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, said: “It was a brave move by the church. We could have come out and said: ‘Folks, it’s not her.’ I was 50-50 about it, and a lot of colleagues were sceptical. But everything is consistent with it being her.”
He said the result of the analysis was of national significance. “It now looks probable that we have the only surviving remains of a member of the Kentish royal family, and one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon saints.
Read the rest here.
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Tuesday, March 03, 2020
Monday, March 02, 2020
The Great Fast
On this first day of Lent I beg forgiveness for any offense I have caused, especially anything posted on this blog.
Sunday, March 01, 2020
Friday, February 28, 2020
The Financial Markets
The "spot" would be the bond market. Not even during the world war were bond yields this low.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Pope Francis is ill a day after supporting coronavirus sufferers
Pope Francis has come down with a “slight indisposition,” forcing him to cancel a planned Mass in Rome, just a day after he expressed his solidarity with coronavirus sufferers around the world — and as the disease continues to spread across Italy.
The illness has forced the 82-year-old pontiff to nix a penitential Mass, marking the start of Lent, that he’d planned to celebrate at the St. John Lateran basilica across town with Roman clergy, the Vatican said.
Francis will proceed with the rest of his planned work Thursday, but “preferred to stay near Santa Marta,” the Vatican hotel where he lives, officials said.
The Vatican has not specified the nature of the pope’s illness, but he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during Ash Wednesday Mass.
Meanwhile, 400 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Italy, and 12 people have died. Most of the cases have been reported in northern Italy.
Read the rest here.
The illness has forced the 82-year-old pontiff to nix a penitential Mass, marking the start of Lent, that he’d planned to celebrate at the St. John Lateran basilica across town with Roman clergy, the Vatican said.
Francis will proceed with the rest of his planned work Thursday, but “preferred to stay near Santa Marta,” the Vatican hotel where he lives, officials said.
The Vatican has not specified the nature of the pope’s illness, but he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during Ash Wednesday Mass.
Meanwhile, 400 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Italy, and 12 people have died. Most of the cases have been reported in northern Italy.
Read the rest here.
If COVID-19 hits the US hard Trump could take some blame
...The Trump administration has cut funding for the US Center for Disease Control by 9pc. This month he proposed slashing it a further 16pc. The worst hit area has been pandemic preparation. The CDC’s global health security initiative has been chopped by 80pc, reducing country coverage from 49 to 10.
Mr Trump got rid of the US Complex Crises Fund. He shut down the pandemic and global health machinery at the White House, and fired the lot. He tried to cut the budget of the National Institutes of Health - the world’s finest concentration of science - by 20pc in 2018, and by 27pc in 2019. Congress stopped the worst but damage has been done.
Tom Frieden, ex-head of the CDC, warned two years ago that the cuts would leave the US at the mercy of the next killer virus. “The surveillance systems will die, so we won’t know if something happens. You can’t pull up the drawbridge and expect viruses not to travel,” he said. Ouch.
It has been a war on science. Mr Trump’s cuts have nothing to do with fiscal austerity. They happened just as he was pushing through tax cuts and driving the US cyclically-adjusted budget deficit to 6.3pc of GDP (IMF data), spraying money with Peronist abandon. The science cuts were ideological. Some readers chide me for being an unreconciled Never Trumper. This is why.
Read the rest here. (paywall)
Mr Trump got rid of the US Complex Crises Fund. He shut down the pandemic and global health machinery at the White House, and fired the lot. He tried to cut the budget of the National Institutes of Health - the world’s finest concentration of science - by 20pc in 2018, and by 27pc in 2019. Congress stopped the worst but damage has been done.
Tom Frieden, ex-head of the CDC, warned two years ago that the cuts would leave the US at the mercy of the next killer virus. “The surveillance systems will die, so we won’t know if something happens. You can’t pull up the drawbridge and expect viruses not to travel,” he said. Ouch.
It has been a war on science. Mr Trump’s cuts have nothing to do with fiscal austerity. They happened just as he was pushing through tax cuts and driving the US cyclically-adjusted budget deficit to 6.3pc of GDP (IMF data), spraying money with Peronist abandon. The science cuts were ideological. Some readers chide me for being an unreconciled Never Trumper. This is why.
And now
the White House has a disaster on its hands. “The epidemiological
conditions for a pandemic are met,” said Prof Marc Lipsitch, Harvard’s
guru on infectious diseases. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly low
numbers of infections in the US (57 as I write): the country has tested
just 426 people. Only three of the 100 public health labs even have
working test kits.
One reason why South Korea appears to have so many cases is because it has carried out 44,981 tests. “They are looking, so they are finding,” says professor Caitlin Rivers from John Hopkins University.
One reason why South Korea appears to have so many cases is because it has carried out 44,981 tests. “They are looking, so they are finding,” says professor Caitlin Rivers from John Hopkins University.
Read the rest here. (paywall)
A Whiff of Panic on Wall Street
Stocks down another 2.5%. Real (inflation adjusted) bond yields now
negative across the yield curve. Gold and silver both at multi-year
highs.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
C.D.C. Officials Warn of Coronavirus Outbreaks in the U.S.
The coronavirus almost certainly will begin spreading in communities in the United States, and Americans should begin preparations now, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a new briefing.
The news caps weeks of fear that the coronavirus spreading from China may become a pandemic, disrupting the global economy and political landscape in ways that are difficult to forecast.
Iran, South Korea and Italy are now grappling with clusters of infection, even as the epidemic in China’s Hubei Province seems to be slowing.
The emergence of these new hubs underscored the lack of a coordinated global strategy to combat the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing at least 2,600 deaths.
Officials at the C.D.C. said they did not know whether spread of the disease to the United States would be mild or severe. But Americans should be ready for a significant disruption to their daily lives, she added.
“We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad,” Dr. Messonnier said.
Read the rest here.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a new briefing.
The news caps weeks of fear that the coronavirus spreading from China may become a pandemic, disrupting the global economy and political landscape in ways that are difficult to forecast.
Iran, South Korea and Italy are now grappling with clusters of infection, even as the epidemic in China’s Hubei Province seems to be slowing.
The emergence of these new hubs underscored the lack of a coordinated global strategy to combat the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing at least 2,600 deaths.
Officials at the C.D.C. said they did not know whether spread of the disease to the United States would be mild or severe. But Americans should be ready for a significant disruption to their daily lives, she added.
“We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad,” Dr. Messonnier said.
Read the rest here.
Monday, February 24, 2020
LA Times: Trump has flipped the 9th Circuit —
...and some new judges are causing a ‘shock wave’
When President Trump ticks off his accomplishments since taking office, he frequently mentions his aggressive makeover of a key sector of the federal judiciary — the circuit courts of appeal, where he has appointed 51 judges to lifetime jobs in three years.
In few places has the effect been felt more powerfully than in the sprawling 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Because of Trump’s success in filling vacancies, the San Francisco-based circuit, long dominated by Democratic appointees, has suddenly shifted to the right, with an even more pronounced tilt expected in the years ahead.
Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.
“Trump has effectively flipped the circuit,” said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.
Read the rest here.
When President Trump ticks off his accomplishments since taking office, he frequently mentions his aggressive makeover of a key sector of the federal judiciary — the circuit courts of appeal, where he has appointed 51 judges to lifetime jobs in three years.
In few places has the effect been felt more powerfully than in the sprawling 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Because of Trump’s success in filling vacancies, the San Francisco-based circuit, long dominated by Democratic appointees, has suddenly shifted to the right, with an even more pronounced tilt expected in the years ahead.
Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.
“Trump has effectively flipped the circuit,” said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.
Read the rest here.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Greek Archbishop of America declares open Communion for non-Orthodox spouses
Archbishop
Elpidophoros, the primate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, caused a stir yesterday at the
opening of the 29th annual Leadership 100 Conference at the Breakers
Resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Fund Incorporated
is a corporation that supports the National Ministries of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in advancement of Orthodoxy and
Hellenism.
As multiple participants in the conference are reporting, in front of
dozens of participants, Abp. Elpidophoros declared that anyone who was
married in the Orthodox Church can receive Communion in the Orthodox
Church, regardless of whether they are Orthodox or not.
His statement came during the question and answer portion of his talk.
As the Orthodox Church firmly teaches that only baptized and
chrismated members of the Church can commune, the Archbishop’s
statement upset many people.
He previously addressed the issue of mixed marriages at the Archdiocesan Council meeting
in October, hinting at what he openly declared yesterday.
After noting that nearly 50% of all Orthodox Christians in America
are converts, including 25% in the Greek Archdiocese, the
Archbishop stated:
With this in mind, I would make this suggestion: instead of calling
marriages with non-Orthodox spouses “mixed marriages,” might we not
better refer to them as “miracle marriages?” For these marriages are
the main road that ushers converts to the Faith. As the Apostle Paul
says: How do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? (I Cor. 7:16).
While speaking above about marriage leading to spouses converting to holy Orthodoxy, Abp. Elpidophoros went on say:
Every faithful marriage is a miracle marriage—a miracle of God’s
love and a Mystery to be celebrated with joy and embraced with
thanksgiving. Whether or not the spouse joins the Church in a formal
way through Chrismation, they are still 100% part of our community,
and should be embraced as such. If we are to be a Church that truly
serves and embraces our young people who live in a technologically
advanced and pluralistic world, we must embrace the strangers in our
midst—make them strangers no more, and embrace all the members of our
community and our Country.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople previously made waves when it
announced that it would allow priests whose wives died or abandoned
them to enter into second marriages, thereby contradicting the
long-standing canonical Tradition of the Church.
In October,
the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Archdiocese in America
announced that it was petitioning Constantinople to allow three
clergymen to remarry.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Russian Church Supports Move to Define Marriage as Between One Man and One Woman
His Eminence
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow
Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, supports the
recent statements from President Vladimir Putin in favor of the
traditional understanding of the family as the union of a man and a
woman.
“As
for ‘parent # 1’ and ‘parent # 2, I have already said publicly once
before, and I will repeat again: as long as I am President, we will
not have parents one and two—we will have a father and mother,” the
President said on February 13 at a meeting with the working group on preparing amendments to the Constitution.
He also supported the initiative that “the concept of marriage as a
union of a man and a woman should be enshrined in the basic law.”
“I am glad that the President openly stated this, because,
unfortunately, I see what is happening in some Western countries with
the absolutely unabashed, shameless, intrusive and aggressive
propaganda of so-called alternative family lifestyles, when, for
example, two men or two women can create a family and adopt a child.
Then it will not be mom and dad, but, indeed, ‘parent #1’ and ‘parent
#2,’” Met. Hilarion commented, as reports Foma.
Referring to the fact that Western society is now being insistently
taught that marriage can take multiple forms, the Metropolitan
stressed: “But I think that in our country, where the absolute
majority of people adhere to traditional values, even regardless of
their religious affiliation, it is very important that the
Constitution enshrines this concept of marriage as a union between a
man and a woman.”
Vladimir Legoida, head of the Synodal Department for Relations
Between the Church and Society and the Media, also commented on the
President’s statement, saying, “The Church certainly welcomes this
statement of the President. It is a designation of the most important
position for all traditional religions: that marriage is the union
of a man and a woman. Unfortunately, legislation in a number of
countries, and countries with a Christian tradition, already contains
different formulations. In accordance with these formulations, new
life realities that destroy the very foundations of society and family
relations are legalized.”
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill also earlier proposed adding a reference to God to the Russian constitution.
Source.
Source.
The Democratic Debate...
Bloomberg bombs, Sanders gets a pass, Warren does well and may get a bump. The others largely can say that they were there.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Sam Donaldson Endorses Bloomberg and (some) Journalists Throw a Fit
I am 53 and have to wonder how many people younger than me even know who he is. Of those who like me, remember him, after getting past that initial response of "I didn't know he was still alive," most off us are likely to respond with a giant "who cares?" But apparently some in his former profession (he has been retired for seven years) think that the journalistic code of ethics (try not to laugh) is a bit like the mob; once in never out. Which is to say they think he has forever forfeited his right to express political opinions because he used to be the White House correspondent for ABC News.
Rubbish.
Whatever one may think of his opinions, he is entitled to them and he has not forfeited his basic rights to freedom of expression. Donaldson is retired, and has been for quite a while. If he was still on the job, then yes, his endorsement would have been seriously unethical. But he isn't. These people need to get over their inflated view of themselves.
Details
Rubbish.
Whatever one may think of his opinions, he is entitled to them and he has not forfeited his basic rights to freedom of expression. Donaldson is retired, and has been for quite a while. If he was still on the job, then yes, his endorsement would have been seriously unethical. But he isn't. These people need to get over their inflated view of themselves.
Details
Monday, February 17, 2020
Protestants to receive Communion at first Catholic Mass in Geneva Cathedral since Reformation
GENEVA, February 4, 2020 (LifeSiteNews)
— The first Catholic Mass in Geneva’s cathedral since the Reformation
takes place at the end of this month and Protestants have been invited
to attend and receive Holy Communion.
Moreover, although Catholic Church canon law does not permit intercommunion, it is reportedly a common practice in Geneva, according to Swiss Protestant news agency Protestinfo.
Fr. Pascal Desthieux, Catholic episcopal vicar for the canton of Geneva, will say Mass in Saint-Pierre Reformed Protestant Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. on February 29, at the invitation of the Protestant cathedral’s parish council.
Read the rest here.
Moreover, although Catholic Church canon law does not permit intercommunion, it is reportedly a common practice in Geneva, according to Swiss Protestant news agency Protestinfo.
Fr. Pascal Desthieux, Catholic episcopal vicar for the canton of Geneva, will say Mass in Saint-Pierre Reformed Protestant Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. on February 29, at the invitation of the Protestant cathedral’s parish council.
Read the rest here.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
The White House doesn’t trust China’s coronavirus numbers
The coronavirus that emerged from China’s Hubei province over a month
ago and has spread to two dozen countries is already fueling mistrust
from the U.S. government on whether China can provide accurate
information about the epidemic.
The White House said this week it does “not have high confidence in the information coming out of China” regarding the count of coronavirus cases, a senior administration official told CNBC. Meanwhile, China has reportedly been reluctant to accept help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has reportedly suppressed information about the outbreak from scientists that it deems alarming.
U.S. officials’ mistrust of China goes as far back as the 1950s, when national authorities set unrealistic production quotas that led local officials to inflate data. Mishaps with the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which sickened 8,098 people and killed about 800 over nine months, and discrepancies in reporting of economic data over the past two decades has only hardened the U.S. government’s belief that China cannot be trusted, experts say. White House advisor Peter Navarro has even called China a “disease incubator.”
Since emerging from the city of Wuhan, the new virus has spread from about 300 people as of mid-January to more than 64,000 as of Friday — with the number of new cases growing by the thousands every day. World health officials say China’s response to the virus is an improvement from past outbreaks. China has been more transparent, World Health Organization officials told reporters this week. Chinese health authorities quickly isolated the virus’ genetic sequence and shared it on a public database in a matter of weeks, they said, giving scientists a chance to identify it.
Read the rest here.
The White House said this week it does “not have high confidence in the information coming out of China” regarding the count of coronavirus cases, a senior administration official told CNBC. Meanwhile, China has reportedly been reluctant to accept help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has reportedly suppressed information about the outbreak from scientists that it deems alarming.
U.S. officials’ mistrust of China goes as far back as the 1950s, when national authorities set unrealistic production quotas that led local officials to inflate data. Mishaps with the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which sickened 8,098 people and killed about 800 over nine months, and discrepancies in reporting of economic data over the past two decades has only hardened the U.S. government’s belief that China cannot be trusted, experts say. White House advisor Peter Navarro has even called China a “disease incubator.”
Since emerging from the city of Wuhan, the new virus has spread from about 300 people as of mid-January to more than 64,000 as of Friday — with the number of new cases growing by the thousands every day. World health officials say China’s response to the virus is an improvement from past outbreaks. China has been more transparent, World Health Organization officials told reporters this week. Chinese health authorities quickly isolated the virus’ genetic sequence and shared it on a public database in a matter of weeks, they said, giving scientists a chance to identify it.
Read the rest here.
‘Fighting like ferrets in a bag’ as EU tries to plug Brexit cash hole
Presidents, prime ministers and chancellors across Europe will pack
their bags later this week in preparation for a long weekend in
Brussels. They won’t, however, be taking in the baroque majesty of the Grand Place
or savouring the local culinary treats. Instead, they will be preparing
for that most infamous of events, a “four shirter”, to use the
clothes-packing gauge adopted by male diplomats to measure the length
and horror of EU leaders’ summits in the Belgian capital. The thorny
subject this time around? Money. And the problem? Britain.
The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has left a huge €75bn (£62bn) hole in the bloc’s budget for the next seven years, 2021 to 2027. “And now we are fighting like ferrets in a sack,” said one EU diplomat with a sigh.
Covering items ranging from agricultural subsidies to science programmes and the EU’s efforts to combat the climate emergency, the new multi-annual financial framework (MFF) needs to be agreed by the leaders and an increasingly unpredictable European parliament before the end of the year. Without agreement, everything risks grinding to a halt in just nine months’ time, including the flow of cohesion funds, the cash dedicated to supporting the poorest member states.
Read the rest here.
The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has left a huge €75bn (£62bn) hole in the bloc’s budget for the next seven years, 2021 to 2027. “And now we are fighting like ferrets in a sack,” said one EU diplomat with a sigh.
Covering items ranging from agricultural subsidies to science programmes and the EU’s efforts to combat the climate emergency, the new multi-annual financial framework (MFF) needs to be agreed by the leaders and an increasingly unpredictable European parliament before the end of the year. Without agreement, everything risks grinding to a halt in just nine months’ time, including the flow of cohesion funds, the cash dedicated to supporting the poorest member states.
Read the rest here.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
The coming Democratic train wreck
Democrats, I bring you good news. By Election Day, hardly anyone will remember the goat rope known as the Iowa caucuses. Downside: That memory will be obliterated by the infinitely larger train wreck that appears to be looming in July.
After losing narrowly in the 2016 primaries, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) used his clout to strip power from the Democratic Party insiders known as superdelegates — elected officials, union leaders and other pooh-bahs skeptical of his glorious revolution. In meetings to write the rules for 2020, the senator’s loyalists took control of the party to create a more democratic nominating process. But oops! They may have come up with something worse.
Let me explain. Despite contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the field is still crowded. Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar are riding high. Elizabeth Warren says she’s raised $6 million since flopping in Iowa. Joe Biden, who went from bad to worse in the first two rounds, still leads in some state polls. Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg pack 100-ton wallets. Democrats aren’t sure what they want.
The ousted insiders used to have a cure for this problem: winner-take-all primaries. Awarding all of a state’s delegates to the winner in a crowded field, no matter how small the margin of victory, ensured that someone would cross the finish line with enough delegates to be nominated. Winner-take-all contests may have prevented a civil war in the Republican Party in 2016.
But that finger has been taken off the scales. In today’s new and supposedly improved world, Democratic delegates are awarded in rough proportion to the primary and caucus results. Opening a big lead is much harder. Suppose New Hampshire had been winner-take-all. Sanders would have walked away with 24 delegates. Instead, he tallied nine for his narrow victory; Buttigieg also got nine, and Klobuchar left with six.
Handwriting, meet wall. With so many candidates and this set of rules, can anyone win a majority? We have eight highly ambitious, well-funded people hunched feverishly at the craps table, some rolling hot dice, others sure their luck’s about to change. No one’s ready to walk away.
Read the rest here.
After losing narrowly in the 2016 primaries, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) used his clout to strip power from the Democratic Party insiders known as superdelegates — elected officials, union leaders and other pooh-bahs skeptical of his glorious revolution. In meetings to write the rules for 2020, the senator’s loyalists took control of the party to create a more democratic nominating process. But oops! They may have come up with something worse.
Let me explain. Despite contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the field is still crowded. Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar are riding high. Elizabeth Warren says she’s raised $6 million since flopping in Iowa. Joe Biden, who went from bad to worse in the first two rounds, still leads in some state polls. Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg pack 100-ton wallets. Democrats aren’t sure what they want.
The ousted insiders used to have a cure for this problem: winner-take-all primaries. Awarding all of a state’s delegates to the winner in a crowded field, no matter how small the margin of victory, ensured that someone would cross the finish line with enough delegates to be nominated. Winner-take-all contests may have prevented a civil war in the Republican Party in 2016.
But that finger has been taken off the scales. In today’s new and supposedly improved world, Democratic delegates are awarded in rough proportion to the primary and caucus results. Opening a big lead is much harder. Suppose New Hampshire had been winner-take-all. Sanders would have walked away with 24 delegates. Instead, he tallied nine for his narrow victory; Buttigieg also got nine, and Klobuchar left with six.
Handwriting, meet wall. With so many candidates and this set of rules, can anyone win a majority? We have eight highly ambitious, well-funded people hunched feverishly at the craps table, some rolling hot dice, others sure their luck’s about to change. No one’s ready to walk away.
Read the rest here.
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