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It’s Advent and our thoughts naturally turn toward less fortunate souls, longing for basic niceties, and the call for selfless giving. Christ-like love, almsgiving, and prayer are staples of this anticipatory time which brings in the new Church year. The scripture readings at Mass remind us of those in need and our moral obligation toward them. What a sad statement about current times, then, that we are forced to look a gift horse in the mouth.No, not the gifts we receive, but the gifts we give.As the giving season continues, as well as the rest of the year, we are often...

The attack by hackers suspected of having links with North Korea, has taken most of Sony Pictures’ computers offline and left it unable to process payments. The Hollywood studio that made the James Bond and Spider-Man films has abandoned film shoots after hackers paralysed its computer network, and leaked four films and thousands of documents. Agencies filming for Sony Pictures have cancelled shoots because the problems have left it unable to process payments, according to The Times. The attack by Guardians of Peace, a hacking collective suspected of having links with North Korea, has taken most of Sony Pictures’ computers...

TOKYO — Angelina Jolie’s new movie “Unbroken” has not been released in Japan yet, but it has already struck a nerve in a country still wrestling over its wartime past. The buzz on social networks and in online chatter is decidedly negative over the film, which depicts a U.S. Olympic runner who endures torture at a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. Some people are calling for a boycott of the movie, although there is no release date in Japan yet. It hits theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 25. Others want the ban extended to Jolie, the director...

My new Ford has 6 Months of Sirius Radio. I listen mostly to Patriot talk. Mike Church is on in the AM and He sounds like a real nut case. Today either I was not paying attention or he compared the EIT we did to Islamic Terrorists to what the Romans did to Various Saints. Does anyone else listen to him?

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Abraham New International Version (NIV) 15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram.     I am your shield,
    your very great reward" 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not...

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David Miliband has said he "passionately" wants Labour to win the general election and for his brother to become the next prime minister. In an interview with the Financial Times, the former foreign secretary said his brother Ed, the Labour leader, had "clarity, vision, determination". He also said it would be "unbelievably stupid" for the UK to leave the European Union

BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Hungarian prime minister, who has vowed to remake his country into a "non-liberal" state as he moves closer to Moscow, called Friday for mandatory drug testing of journalists and politicians.

The leader of a group hoping to improve liberals' fortunes at the state level revealed on Friday plans to start tracking conservative state legislators based on the assumption that "someone’s going to say something about black people" or women. The comments came at the first ever conference of the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), the Left’s attempt to counter conservative policy successes that have followed Republican victories at the state level. “We’re working with David Brock and Media Matters and American Bridge who have trackers that we can send out to monitor the debate on some bills that you all might...

There is a super deal on a great Christmas gift for kids. Looney Tunes Golden Collection. It is 350 cartoons (48 hours). Today only, it is $48. It has been $130 lately, and Amazon just made it the Deal of the Day. This is not a bootleg cheapie collection. This is quality. I do not think you can find a better Christmas gift for a kid, and this price is outstanding.

In a small percentage of cases, a victim disarms an attacker.  The attacker usually runs off.  In one case, they even asked for the gun back!   My experience is that disarms by victims are considerably more common than disarms by attackers.   It is not hard to understand why.  The victim has a lot more to gain from a disarm; the attacker a lot more to lose if he continues the fight.   Sometimes the victim turns the gun on the attacker, as happen in this case in Chicago.   It happened in the 6600 block of South State Street, one of...

Tonight's second feature is much lighter fare. John Cusack stars in this surreal 80s teen comedy. Co-starring David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, and Johnny, a sociopathic paperboy who wants his TWO DOLLARS.

Culture ministry says it will press charges against activists for damage to world heritage site as UN climate talks began in Lima Greenpeace has apologised to the people of Peru after the government accused the environmentalists of damaging ancient earth markings in the country’s coastal desert by leaving footprints in the ground during a publicity stunt meant to send a message to the UN climate talks delegates in Lima. A spokesman for Greenpeace said: “Without reservation Greenpeace apologises to the people of Peru for the offence caused by our recent activity laying a message of hope at the site of...

Tonight, a gripping British made-for-tv film about the true story of the massive Jewish revolt and overthrow at Sobibor, one of the Nazi death camps inside Poland. Adam Arkin, Rutger Hauer, and Joanna Pacula star.

About an hour ago the wife and our dog Lucy were in bed. I was up reading FR when I thought I heard a noise outside. I get up from my chair and open the front door and the porch light is on, it has a motion sensor. I thought that was unusual when Lucy came barreling out from the back door( she has a pet door, comes and goes as she pleases) to the front door to the woods across the street barking like hell. The 4 wheeler was parked in front of the house and that is a...

NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that denial of the Nanjing Massacre will not be allowed by the Chinese people or peace-loving people anywhere in the world. The Nanjing Massacre, committed by Japanese aggressors, was one of three major massacres during WWII. It was an atrocious anti-human crime and a dark page in the history of humanity, Xi said while addressing a state ceremony for China's first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. "Anyone who tries to deny the massacre will not be allowed by history, the souls of the 300,000 deceased victims, the...

ISIS: Enslaving, Having Sex With 'Unbelieving' Women, Girls Is OK By Greg Botelho, CNN December 12, 2014 ISIS produces a document, "Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves" It has been posted online, and armed men distributed it to residents of Mosul In it, ISIS claims the Quran justifies taking non-Muslim women and girls captive It also says they can be sold as "property," and that sex with captive girls is permissible (CNN) -- Can you take non-Muslim women and children captive? Yes, says ISIS. Can you have sex with them, even prepubescent girls? Yes, according to the Islamist...

The so-called Stormpocalypse did little to wash away the rage or concern or fear or opportunism or whatever it is that's compelling thousands of Bay Area residents to take to the streets as of late. San Francisco police officers have had their scheduled off-days canceled this weekend in anticipation. The San Francisco Police Department is anticipating a full weekend of protest events, with no fewer than three scheduled for Saturday alone. At 12:15 p.m. tomorrow, police are expecting a "March Against Racist Police Brutality" to convene at Union Square. Within the department, SF Weekly is told, the worry is that...

There are many stereotypes about animals that just aren’t true, but when it comes to the one about cats wanting to do only as they please (regardless of what their human may think) then … well … we think this video sort of speaks for itself.

Radio Interview on Andrea Shea King's show of the incomparable Ann Barnhardt. Link here: http://www.barnhardt.biz/2014/12/12/one-hour-interview-with-andrea-shea-king/ Direct MP3 link here: http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/7/174/show_7174343.mp3