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Median income and earnings rise in 2018, while poverty rates drop, Census data shows The median household income in the United States increased less than a percent from 2017 to 2018, while the median earnings of workers in the United States rose 3.4%.The data, released by the Census Bureau Tuesday, also shows that the official poverty rate in the United States dropped to 11.8%, a 0.5 percentage point decrease from 2017.Here’s a look at the new data:Household income The [median household income] in the United States rose, from $62,626 in 2017 to $63,179 in 2018 adjusted for inflation. The Census...

Posted on September 9, 2019September 10, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope Do Not be Deceived! A Meditation on a Constant Theme of Scripture A very common word in the New Testament is “deceived.” In English we tend to think of this word as referring to someone who has been tricked or fooled. And thus the emphasis is on intellectual terms. The Greek and Latin roots, however, have an almost physical dimension to them.The Latin roots for “deceived” or “deception” are de- (from) + capere (to take or carry away). The Greek word in the New Testament that is translated...

It's a plethora of political mash-ups — former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Fox News's Sean Hannity, former FBI Director James Comey and ex-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will all be under one roof for an upcoming Washington-meets-Hollywood-inspired convention. The line-up for the fifth annual Politicon was announced Tuesday. Organizers for the October 26 and 27 event in Nashville say it will "bring together some of the biggest names in politics and entertainment for an unorthodox and highly entertaining weekend of political discourse." SNIP According to a promotional site for the convention, of which The Hill is a media...

SALEM — Oregon’s first-ever public records advocate is resigning from her post Oct. 11. Ginger McCall, appointed by Gov. Kate Brown in early 2018 to boost transparency and openness in state and local government, said she was stepping down after what she called “meaningful pressure” from the governor’s office to represent its interests in her role on the state’s public records advisory council. Willamette Week first reported McCall’s resignation. McCall sent two resignation letters: one to the advisory council, and a second to Brown. In her letter to Brown, McCall wrote that she believed she and the governor’s office had...

“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:17–18). God’s Law was permeated with His glory and reflected His holiness and righteousness. Though God was gracious in the Old Testament, the Law was not an instrument of grace because the Law saved no one (Rom. 3:20–22; Gal. 2:16; 3:10–12). It merely convicts sinners of their inability to keep perfectly God’s righteous standards, and condemns them to the eternal...

Coalition and Iraqi forces carried out airstrikes Tuesday against an island south of Mosul in the Tigris River believed to be a safe haven for the Islamic State group in Iraq. Fireballs exploded across Qanus Island in Iraq’s Salahuddin province, as plumes of smoke billowed up into the sky, a video posted on Twitter showed. Black-clad Iraqi counter-terrorism troops are seen watching over the operation from the ground.

The mayor of Boston announced Monday that every kindergartener in the city’s public school system will receive a savings account, complete with a starting $50 balance this fall at beginning of the school year. Mayor Marty Walsh said Boston Saves, a pilot program which has benefited about a dozen schools since 2016, is slated to reach all Boston public schools by Fall 2019. The city will then take steps to expand the program to charter schools. The initiative aims to increase college and career access by supporting low income families in saving and planning for their children’s future. “Every child...

People of color make up the bulk of new working-age hires for the first time ever, according to an analysis from The Washington Post. Women have driven the trend, according to the Post, which cited Labor Department data going back to the 1970s. The trend has been driven both by a wave of retirements among white baby boomers and another wave of minority women entering the workforce in 2015, the newspaper noted. It added, however, that the demographics could be some of the first affected in a slowing job market. “We’ve seen a lot of gains in employment among lower-income...

Gee, who could have seen that coming? Millions of Americans don't like decriminalizing illegal entry into the country, or having their private health care insurance taken away. Joe Scarborough has figured out that those and other radical positions the Dem presidential candidates have adopted have turned off many Americans. And he's worried that could cost the Dems the White House in 2020. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

[Catholic Caucus] Guest Op-Ed: "Discerning the false prophets at the Amazonian Synod" - by Nick Donnelly As we await the Amazonian Synod we would do well to pay special heed to one of sacred Scripture’s and sacred Tradition’s insistent warnings — we must be on our guard against individuals who seek to pass off their own words as the word of God. The history of the ecclesia dei includes dark periods when false prophets and heretics sought to deceive the faithful that they spoke the word of God.  However, darkness does not have the final say — the history...

My Wife and I are planning on going to Israel within the next 2 years. Any Recommendations on Tour Companies to use?

Tv report only from FOX. Bolton’s services no longer required at the White House. John Roberts reporting now too...

Today’s post is in honor of Capt. Leroy J. Cornwell III and Maj. Andrew Ivan Jr. who were lost when their F-4D Phantom went down during a forward air control mission over Laos on this day in 1971. Originally listed as missing, the crew were declared dead in 1973. However, their remains were located and buried in Arlington National Cemetery in the 1990s. 1813: Along the shores of Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s squadron engages the Royal Navy in the Battle of Put-in-Bay. Perry’s ship is so damaged that he boards an open lifeboat and transfers his flag to...

Romantic couples with a large age gap often raise eyebrows. Studies have found partners with more than a ten-year gap in age experience social disapproval. But when it comes to our own relationships, both men and women prefer someone their own age, but are open to someone 10-15 years their junior or senior. While there is variation across cultures in the size of the difference in age-gap couples, all cultures demonstrate the age-gap couple phenomenon. In some non-Western countries, the average age gap is much larger than in Western countries. For example, in some African countries about 30% of...

Breaking News: Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton

Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton

The Washington Post "Fact Checker" column gave former CIA operative and current Democratic New Mexico congressional candidate Valerie Plame three "Pinocchios" for her claim that former George W. Bush administration official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby leaked her identity. Plame blamed Libby for the leak in a campaign ad released Monday, but according to the Post's fact-check, there is no evidence he disclosed her role to columnist Robert Novak. Novak wrote the piece that reported that Plame, identified as a CIA operative, suggested sending her husband, Joe Wilson, to Niger to look into a report that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium...

The Dukes of Politically Correct Hazard. This pretty much somes up television today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHO1PprfmkY

Governor Cuomo Advances First-in-the-Nation Domestic Terrorism Law to Include Mass Violence Motivated By Hate New York State "Hate Crimes Domestic Terrorism Act" To Define Hate-Fueled Murder with the Intent to Cause Mass Casualties as an Act of Domestic Terrorism with Penalty Equivalent to Other Acts of Terrorism Cuomo Also Calls on Congress to Enact a Federal Domestic Terrorism Law, Including Banning Weapons Used to Perpetrate These Crimes: Military Style Assault Weapons and High Capacity Magazines, and Enacting Universal Background Checks Cuomo: "White supremacists, anti-Semites, anti-LGBTQ white nationalists - these are Americans committing mass hate crimes against other Americans and it...