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oday in Djibouti, Secretary Kerry announced the United States is providing more than $68 million to help humanitarian organizations meet the needs of nearly 16 million people in need of assistance in Yemen, including 300,000 newly internally displaced persons. The funds will support the activities of the World Food Program, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children’s Fund, and other organizations, providing food, water, shelter, medical care, protection, and other assistance. With this announcement, U.S. funding for humanitarian assistance for Yemen in Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015 now totals more than $188 million.

Looks like Pamela Geller will get her wish: More dead Americans at the hands of radical Muslims. Hell, the hatemonger finally even got ISIS to pay attention to her. Last week Geller — whose repulsive anti-Muslim ad campaign caused the MTA to ban all religious, opinion and political ads — held a $10,000 contest in Texas. The aim? To draw caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, which she knows is forbidden by most Muslims and frowned upon by the rest. The result? Two violent radical Muslims opened fire on the group, and the shooters ended up dead at the hands of...

Common sense from Rush Limbaugh. Free speech is under attack from the mainstream media, and thank God that Rush is there to call them out on it. Listen to this segment here. “ISIS Attacks, CNN Blames Victim,” Rush Limbaugh, May 4, 2015 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We have the ISIS shooting in Garland, Texas, to deal...

I've been reading the various criticisms of Pamela Geller's "Draw the Prophet" event in Garland Texas. Many are saying that it was provocative, and insulting. And Geller had to have known a violent response was possible. So it would have been so much better not to have held the event at all. Then I thought abou the civil rights protestors from back in the early 1960's.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, during which he continued his catechetical reflections on the nature and purpose of marriage in the order of creation and in the Divine plan of salvation. This week, the Holy Father focused specifically on Christian marriage as a Sacrament: an efficacious sign of God’s love for each and every person, for all humanity and for the whole world, a means of grace, and a genuine way of living our common baptismal call to holiness. “Christian marriage is that sacrament which builds up the community of the Church and of...

(CNN)—Fighting has again shaken a nearly three-month ceasefire deal between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, leaving five Ukrainian troops dead in a 24-hour period, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. Twelve other Ukrainian service members were injured in the fighting in separatist areas of eastern Ukraine, the country's National Security and Defense Council said.

A decade after its launch, profits for the Huffington Post remain elusive — but founder and Chairman Arianna Huffington drew a media Who’s Who to the Gramercy Terrace on Monday night to celebrate the news site’s 10th anniversary. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recalled that when his company’s $315 million deal to buy HuffPo was announced in 2011, AOL’s stock price immediately tumbled 30 percent. It closed at $21.19 at the end of the first day of trading after the announcement.

Counsel the Doubtful – A Meditation on the Third Spiritual Work of Mercy By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt first glance, counseling the doubtful may seem rather similar to instructing the ignorant. However, teaching has learning as its goal while counseling aims to assist with decisions. Certainly giving counsel often includes some aspects of teaching, such as providing information and perspective, but its primary purpose is to assist a person in coming to a decision. This distinction is contained in the root meanings of the words “counsel” and “doubtful.”The English word “counsel” comes from the Latin consilium (con (with) + silium (a decision)). So to...

More Americans feel comfortable with a presidential candidate who identifies as gay or lesbian than with one who identifies as an evangelical Christian, according to a new poll. The latest WSJ/NBC poll listed a series of qualities in a potential presidential candidate and asked respondents whether they'd "be enthusiastic," "be comfortable with," "have some reservations about" or "be very uncomfortable with" a candidate with each of those qualities. The results revealed that Americans are actually quite open to having a gay presidential candidate. Sixty-one percent said they would be either enthusiastic about or comfortable with a gay or lesbian candidate,...

The United States of America has only been invaded once; the British landed in 1812 from Chesapeake Bay and took Washington, D.C. the capital of the United States. Mexico has not been so lucky. First, the Mexicans warred on the Spanish for a decade before they left in 1821; then the United States invaded Mexico in 1846 and would invade again in 1914 and 1916. The U.S. won in 1846 but Woodrow Wilson’s 1914 and 1916 incursions failed in their missions. The 1916 incursion was humiliated by Mexican soldiers that captured Americans in battle. The incursion failed in its mission...

The University of North Dakota has unveiled the complete list of suggestions it received for a new team nickname to replace the "Fighting Sioux," which was retired in 2012. And boy, were some of the names ridiculous. You can check here for the list of 1,172 names still in contention, but let's pay tribute to some of the more amusing monikers suggested -- with shoutouts to Kobe Bryant, "Game of Thrones" and "South Park" -- and promptly missed the cut. And as you can see below, many people who submitted names (UND had to whittle down the 628-page list of...

Wisconsin city’s statute, enacted last month, is believed to be the first of its kind in the US: ‘Religion was protected, so non-religion should be, too’While conservatives in Indiana and Arkansas were explaining last month why their new religious objections laws weren’t invitations to discriminate against gays, the leaders of Wisconsin’s capital city were busy protecting the rights of another group: atheists. In what is believed to be the first statute of its kind in the United States, Madison banned discrimination against the non-religious on 1 April , giving them the same protections afforded to people based on their race,...

Some are saying I provoked this attack. But to kowtow to violent intimidation will only encourage more of it. Sunday in Garland, Texas, a police officer was wounded in a battle that is part of a longstanding war: the war against the freedom of speech. Some people are blaming me for the Garland shooting — so I want to address that here. The shooting happened at my American Freedom Defense Initiative Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, when two Islamic jihadists armed with rifles and explosives drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland and attempted to gain entry...

Amsterdam (Agenzia Fides) - The debate on the opportunity to unify the dates of the liturgical solemnities currently celebrated on different days from different Churches and communities, is "a historical problem" that in itself does not have implications of faith and doctrine. This is why the proposal to unify the Easter date for all Christian Churches "on the third Sunday of April" is being studied. This is what Patriarch Tawadros II said during a meeting with young people which took place on Sunday, May 3 at the Coptic Cultural Centre in Amsterdam, in the context of the visit carried out...

Whats the deal with the volcano spewing all the dust into the atmosphere? Will this cause global warming, or global cooling? Will it accelerate the cooling trend we have been seeing for the last 20 years?

<p>LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers will be forced to consider yet another alternative to address Michigan's deteriorating roads after voters' resounding rejection of a ballot measure that would have increased taxes to pump $1.2 billion a year more into transportation infrastructure.</p>

There are plenty of Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist churches in Dayton, Ohio, where parents could have an infant child baptized. But one local couple wanted Rodney Kennedy to baptize their 7-month-old son, even though they knew there was one hurdle to overcome: Kennedy is pastor at First Baptist Church in Dayton.And Baptists — both generally and specifically — do not baptize infants.“We knew that asking Rod, he might say no,” said Lucas, the boy’s father who requested only his first name be used in this article.But Kennedy did not say no, and during worship on Sunday, April 19, he conducted his...

Dante is 'a prophet of hope' and 'herald of the possibility of redemption', says PontiffDante’s Divine Comedy is more than a literary masterpiece, it is an invitation “to rediscover the lost or obscured meaning of our human path and to hope to see again the glowing horizon on which the dignity of the human person shines in its fullness,” Pope Francis has said. As the Italian government formally celebrated the 750th anniversary of Dante’s birth on May 4, Pope Francis sent a message saying that while the centuries have passed Dante “still has much to say and to offer through...

WASHINGTON—Freshman Sen. Tom Cotton’s temporary office is located in the less-than-desirable basement of the Russell Senate building, reflecting his rookie status. Like other junior senators, he performs his share of Senate chores, including presiding over the chamber. But the similarities end there. Among this year’s crop of 13 newly minted senators, Mr. Cotton, who served one term in the House, has emerged early on as the most vocal and polarizing newcomer, set apart by his headline-grabbing foreign policy. The Arkansas Republican’s tactics have drawn praise from his conservative supporters, but irritated some GOP colleagues when his moves have conflicted with...

A fugitive Minnesota terror suspect was back on Twitter Tuesday, spreading false information about a Texas attack to ISIS sympathizers. WCCO reported Monday how the Minnesotan known as Mujahid Miski encouraged one of two gunmen involved in an attempted attack on a Texas event. Elton Simpson was one of two gunmen who tried to storm into a cartoon contest Sunday night in Garland, Texas — where images of the Prophet Muhammed were drawn. Simpson and the other gunman were shot and killed immediately. Two different anti-terror groups say Mujahid Miski is one of the best-known online promoters for ISIS. He...