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December 6, 2018 Thursday of the First Week of Advent Reading 1 Is 26:1-6 On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah: "A strong city have we;he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.Open up the gatesto let in a nation that is just,one that keeps faith.A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace;in peace, for its trust in you." Trust in the LORD forever!For the LORD is an eternal Rock.He humbles those in high places,and the lofty city he brings down;He tumbles it to the ground,levels it with the dust.It is...

The fountain of youth just might be filled with sweat: Certain types of exercise can help you age better, new research published in the European Heart Journal suggests. In the study, researchers enrolled 266 young, healthy participants who were generally inactive. Then, they split them into four groups: an endurance training group, a HIIT group, a circuit-based weight lifting group, and a sedentary control group. The three exercise groups performed 45-minute sessions three times per week (the control group continued doing what they were doing, which, well, wasn’t much). At the end of six months, researchers looked at the lengths...

An aide to California Sen. Kamala Harris (D) resigned Wednesday after his involvement in a settled harassment case was uncovered by a local newspaper. The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday that Harris's office confirmed the resignation of Larry Wallace, the senator's senior adviser, after the Bee contacted Harris's office with questions related to Wallace's conduct at California's state Department of Justice. According to a lawsuit uncovered by the newspaper, Wallace was named in a 2016 harassment case that was settled last year after a woman who previously worked as his executive assistant said that the former state official "harassed and demeaned"...

In the Illinois Capitol rotunda this month, several traditions are being celebrated. There's a Nativity scene for Christmas, a menorah for Hanukkah, and then something a little different: an arm holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it. It's a gift from the Chicago branch of The Satanic Temple. Called "Snaketivity," the work also has a sign that reads "Knowledge Is The Greatest Gift." Nearby stands a sign in which the state offers a civics lesson — and explains it didn't have much of a choice...

An investigation referred to Justice Department prosecutors by Special Counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year into possible criminal activity by Clinton-linked Washington insider Tony Podesta and former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig is heating up, according to a new report that underscores federal authorities' increasing enforcement of laws governing foreign business relationships. The inquiries center not only on Craig and Podesta -- a Democratic lobbyist and co-founder of the onetime lobbying powerhouse known as the Podesta Group -- but also on Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman from Minnesota. The probes had been quiet for months since Mueller referred...

President Trump is dismissing the importance of paying down the national debt, saying he won’t be in office to take blame for the nation's fiscal crisis when it becomes even more unsustainable, according to a report Wednesday. The national debt sits at $21 trillion and counting. As a candidate, when the national debt was $19 trillion, Trump promised to erase the entire debt “over a period of eight years.” Senior administration officials showed Trump charts and graphics in early 2017 that illustrated a “hockey stick” spike in the debt in the coming years. Trump said the data showed the national...

“The Child Who Is Zechariah’s Hope” (Luke 1:5-25) “What Child Is This?” That’s the theme of our midweek Advent series this year, picking up on the title of the hymn we sang. “What Child Is This?” Of course, the child we sing about in that hymn is the Christ child, Jesus, the Savior sent from heaven. But there is another child we consider first, one who prepares the way for Jesus, both later on in his ministry, but also even here in his birth. And that child is John, John the Baptist. And because our text today is about John...

President Trump exchanged greetings with his predecessor Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama after arriving at George H.W. Bush ’s funeral Wednesday, but there was a noticeable lack of warmth between the commander-in-chief and the woman he defeated to win the White House. Bush’s funeral brought together all of the living former presidents – Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter – as well as Trump and first lady Melania Trump. The pair was seated in the front row of the Washington National Cathedral next to the Obamas. Trump shook hands with Obama and former first...

On Thanksgiving, Ezekiel Elliott dropped $21 and Dak Prescott into a giant Salvation Army kettle during a win over the Washington Redskins. His donation ended up costing him more than $13,000. *snip* “I mean, I didn’t really expect a fine,” Elliott told reporters. “Really don’t care about the fine. It’s all for a good cause. We’re trying to bring awareness to the Salvation Army." *snip* Elliott and Prescott both backed up their in-game stunts with $21,000 donations to the Salvation Army.

The House GOP leadership is responsible for blocking a pro-American immigration reform package which was backed by President Donald Trump, a top House chairman said Tuesday. The GOP leadership let the House immigration reform die in June by allowing a critical bloc of GOP legislators to split their votes between two rival reform bills, said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the retiring chairman of the House committee on the judiciary. “The strategy of having two options really let people have an off-ramp — they could vote for the more conservative bill and against the other, or vote for the second bill and...

Don’t condemn white nationalists, Veterans Affairs’ diversity chief was told after Charlottesville, emails show A top White House appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs sought to silence the agency’s chief diversity officer, who — in the aftermath of last year’s racially charged violence in Charlottesville — pushed for a forceful condemnation that was at odds with President Trump’s response, newly disclosed emails show. The tense exchange between Georgia Coffey, a nationally recognized expert in workplace diversity and race relations, and John Ullyot, who remains VA’s chief communications official, occurred during a low point in Trump’s presidency: when he blamed...

The tax collection blue ribbon now goes to France. Congratulations! Vs the OECD average of 34.2%, French taxes amount to 46.2% of GDP. Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and Greece round out the top five.

NYT: Draft Version of Report on Moonves Sexual Harassment Situation Details Employee "On Call" To Provide Oral Sex, a "Transactional" Sexual Relationship With Four CBS Employees, and Management Knowing About Moonves' Misconduct But Doing Nothing Tweets from the NYT below the fold.

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them...

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). Jesus not only brought but in fact was God’s full and final revelation. A Samaritan woman declared, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us" (John 4:25). The expectation of that day, even among the Samaritans, was that Messiah would unfold the full and final revelation of God. The Holy Spirit, through the writer...

“Although He existed in the form of God, [Christ] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself” (Philippians 2:6-7). Christ emptied Himself without ever surrendering His deity. Note the contrast in Philippians 2 between verses 6 and 7: Christ didn’t think equality something to be grasped but instead emptied Himself. Paul used the contrasting connective “but” to show that being equal with God didn’t lead Christ to fill Himself up but instead to empty Himself. The Greek verb translated “emptied” (kenoo) is where we get the theological term kenosis—the doctrine of Christ’s self-emptying as...

The Camp Fire ripped through 153,336 acres of Northern California over 17 days in November, demolishing more than 13,000 single-family homes and killing 88 people as of Monday. ...Newly-released photography and drone footage brings the devastation of what’s now known as the deadliest and most damaging wildfire in California’s history into sharp, visceral focus. Drone engineer Greg Crutsinger, alongside 16 teams of Northern California law and fire departments and task forces of public safety drone operators, captured the destruction in aerial shots and 360-degree panoramas of what’s left of Paradise, California. The teams performed 518 drone flights in smoky conditions,...

WEST POINT, Va. (WRIC) -- Students and parents in West Point, a town roughly an hour east of Richmond, are rallying behind a teacher put on paid administrative leave following a transgender controversy at the school. A French teacher at West Point High School, Peter Vlaming, is currently on paid administrative leave for not using a student's preferred identity pronoun. 8News reached out to the school for comment but West Point Public Schools cited the incident as "a personnel issue" and declined to respond about the status of Vlaming's case. Students told 8News that Vlaming won't use male pronouns for...

The recent clash between Russian and Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait has generated a flurry of alarm. NATO was compelled to call an emergency meeting with Ukraine and the UN Security Council convened an urgent session to discuss the crisis. Exercising their usual tendency to oversimplify murky geopolitical rivalries, Western officials and journalists embraced the knee-jerk narrative that the incident is yet another case of Vladimir Putin’s blatant aggression and “outlaw behavior” against its peace-loving, democratic neighbor. Right on cue, CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets dispatched stridently anti-Russian editorials masquerading as news stories. In reality, the Kerch...

Twenty-four Amazon workers in New Jersey have been hospitalized after a robot accidentally tore a can of bear repellent spray in a warehouse, officials said. The two dozen workers were treated at five local hospitals, Robbinsville Township communications and public information officer John Nalbone told ABC News. One remains in critical condition and 30 additional workers were treated at the scene.