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The computer scientist credited with inventing the World Wide Web has called for affordable access to the Internet to be recognized as a human right, as a report showed that billions of people still cannot go online and government surveillance and censorship are on the rise. Tim Berners-Lee said Thursday the Internet can help tackle inequality—but only if it comes with the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. The Briton, who launched the Web in 1990, made the remarks as he released his World Wide Web Foundation’s latest report tracking the Internet’s global impact. …

Linky only per FR Rules. Sheesh...

The Treasure of Singleness Tyler Blanski It can be difficult to be a single Christian. I remember watching as one by one my friends would marry, start families, and settle down. The cards would come just before Christmas with news of another baby or a new home, and I would set them on the table in my empty apartment and sigh. As a Christian, my newsfeed was like one long drawn out toast to holy matrimony, and I was getting tired of holding up my glass. The Kingdom of God is like a wedding feast, and the baptized faithful had so...

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) yesterday released the redacted executive summary of its report on the CIAÂ’s rendition, detention and interrogation program. It describes acts of torture against detainees held in the United StatesÂ’ armed conflict against the Taliban and al Qaeda, such as water-boarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, confinement in a box, slapping and slamming into walls, and other appalling techniques. These revelations will no doubt fuel the debate of whether the U.S. should directly grant CIA torture victims any reparation for their ill-treatment. This debate should be framed with the knowledge that there is some precedent...

As the final month of the NFL’s regular season begins, the league’s response to concerns over a link between football and traumatic brain injury may finally be making a difference on the field, according to a FRONTLINE analysis of officially reported head injuries. Through the first 13 weeks of the season, a total of 96* concussions have been disclosed on team injury reports, down from 115 at the same point last season and 128 in 2012. At the current pace, teams are on track to report at least 122 concussions, a drop of nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

December 11, 2014Thursday of the Second Week of Advent    Reading 1 Is 41:13-20 I am the LORD, your God,who grasp your right hand;It is I who say to you, “Fear not,I will help you.”Fear not, O worm Jacob,O maggot Israel;I will help you, says the LORD;your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.I will make of you a threshing sledge,sharp, new, and double-edged,To thresh the mountains and crush them,to make the hills like chaff.When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them offand the storm shall scatter them.But you shall rejoice in the LORD,and glory in the Holy...

Football may be king in terms of sporting popularity in the United States currently, but a recent poll suggests that participation could wane in the coming years. According to Annie Linskey of Bloomberg, 50 percent of the 1,001 American adults polled in a survey from Dec. 3-5 said they would not want their sons to play competitive football.

MILLERSVILLE, Tenn. – Officials in Robertson and Sumner Counties are searching for a car that could be carrying the body of a deceased child. Officials with the Millersville Police Department said an officer pulled over a vehicle on Interstate 65 South around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday because it had a temporary tag that was difficult to read. Three men were inside the vehicle. A man claiming to be from Saudi Arabia told the officer they were traveling from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Franklin to bury a child in accordance with their Islamic faith. *snip* Not wanting to disrupt a religious ceremony,...

Even as they publicly condemn Tea Party Republicans as hostage-taking legislative thugs, the truth is that some Democrats are quietly jealous of them. Think of it: The Tea Party gang gets to intimidate party leaders, threaten legislation, block nominees, shut down the government and default on the debt if they don’t get their way. They cause major trouble. Boy, does that sound good. The extreme right has power, and that’s something the left hasn’t had much of for a long time. But in the aftermath of the party’s disastrous midterm performance, it’s very possible that the Democratic Party leadership will...

White people and nonblack people of color have the luxury of treating these cases as injustices. For them, it is moralistic. For us, it's about survival. A conversation about race.JUDNICK: I feel like this is just an extension of the our “favorite” iMessage topic but in the light of the recent grand jury events with Mike Brown and Eric Garner (not to mention the promise of more to come with Tamir Rice and the others they’ve shot to death) I’ve been reminding friends that they do not have to answer to white people about their feelings. RAWIYA: Unlike many people,...

Link to the video.This has to be seen to be believed. I rarely post, but this really shocked me.

A judge has sided with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the first clash in what is expected to be a major court fight over the legality – or not – of Barack Obama’s looming amnesty program, ordering a fast track for case arguments and hearings. The announcement came on Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ..granted a motion ... snip Two Justice Department lawyers representing Obama in the fight had wanted their initial response delayed for weeks – for one thing because of the coming Christmas season. But Howell ordered Obama to respond to Arpaio’s motion for...

In a post ranking the potential Republican candidates for President, Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake put Kentucky Senator at the top of the list: 1. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.). People used to roll their eyes when we said Paul had a real chance to be the Republican nominee in 2016. Not anymore. Paul has a unique activist and fundraising base, thanks to his father’s two runs for president, and has shown considerable savvy in his outreach to the establishment end of the party over the past few years. Paul still says odd things — his blaming of high cigarette taxes...

The Democratic assault on the CIA’s tough interrogation tactics against al Qaeda and other terrorists after 9/11 was pushed Wednesday to a new level when a top senator accusing the Bush White House of playing a role in the destruction of video evidence of “torture.” Sen. Carl Levin, the retiring chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said it “reminds me of Watergate.” The Michigan senator was referring to a section of the Democratic report on the CIA tactics released Tuesday that noted the destruction of videos the day after his proposal to establish an independent commission to probe the...

According to their ranking minority member, none of the members of the House Rules Committee, of either party, read the $1.1 trillion dollar “omnibus” spending bill before they met to push the legislation toward the floor of the House. Top Democrat Admits: Not One Member Of House Rules Committee Actually Read Omnibus Bill Before Hearing http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/12/10/Top-Democrat-Admits-Not-One-Member-Of-House-Rules-Committee-Actually-Read-Omnibus-Bill-Before-Hearing If they had bothered to do their job, here are a few of the choice items they would have found: A ten-fold increase in the size of individual contributions that can be received by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, one of the main...

They really really act like it, don't they? What could possibly explain their very whimpering like a abused dog all the time capitulation to both the DNC and the US Chamber or other cronies while blatantly and outright declaring war on a majority of their constituents. I bring this up because over the years I have heard a number of "innuendo remarks" and "open secret among DC Circles" comments concerning Mitch McConnell's personal relationship status and/or personal preferences so to speak. Then there is John Bohner, whose open secret seems to be his propensity to imbibing alcohol in liberal, pardon...

Charlottesville police nabbed Gene Everett Washington Monday night after he allegedly bludgeoned 58-year-old Robin Aldridge and 17-year-old Mani Aldridge Friday night. He faces two counts of first-degree murder. A Virginia man beat a schoolteacher and her teenage daughter to death inside their own home, police said. Charlottesville police nabbed Gene Everett Washington Monday night following the Friday deaths of 58-year-old Robin Aldridge and 17-year-old Mani Aldridge, Charlottesville’s Newsplex reported. The 30-year-old was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. It’s not clear if Washington knew the Aldridge family. Crews responded to a fire at the Charlottesville home Friday night. They...

Only in the Messiah of Israel is found the RIGHTEOUSNESS that we so desperately need to enter into Almighty God’s Holy and Perfect Heaven. That is what is so wonderful about the Christmas message! Almighty God provided a PERFECT body for His Son to dwell and make atonement for the sins of the world (Matt. 1:20-21, Luke 1:30-35, John 1:14, Heb. 10:5, 1 Peter 1:19)! We can NEVER enter into Almighty God's holy RIGHTEOUS Heaven without the PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS of the Savior. The PERFECT LAMB for the world was born in Bethlehem of Judea 2000 years ago to be the...

The U.S. Navy received Milestone C acquisition approval earlier this month to begin low-rate initial production (LRIP) of an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor pod for the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin and partner Boeing will deliver six pods in the first LRIP lot. The AN/ASG-34 IRST sensor gives the F/A-18E/F a long-range, passive search and tracking capability against multiple targets, supplementing the jet’s APG-79 active electronically scanned radar and other sensors. The pod is mounted on the nose section of the Super Hornet’s centerline fuel tank. It completed a first flight aboard an F/A-18F in February. “Integrating...

The KH-35U Uran Russia’s principal new defense product is the winged KH-35U Uran missile. Its special feature is its unique self-guided head, which is immune to enemy radar interference. It works in two modes: active, when the missile turns on its guiding head for a split second to find the target, and passive, when it does not scan the space around it to detect the target, but merely perceives the impulses emitted by the target. The Americans were very interested in this characteristic and wanted to purchase KH-35U self-guided missile heads for their Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The KH-35U attacks the...