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I recently visited a Benedictine monastery known for its excellent liturgical life. At Mass on Epiphany, the celebrant said the following in the course of his homily: Frankincense represents the costly spiritual sacrifice that is adoration; frankincense is the vital essence of the tree that produces it; it is, if you will, the lifeblood of the tree. The tree is slashed, and the precious essence bleeds out of it. One who would adore in spirit must be ready to be stripped and slashed, like the frankincense tree, so as to give the blood of one’s very essence in sacrifice. A...

* £200million being set aside for ‘restoration or redress’ to thousands of victims * Bill is more than the annual sum spent running the C of E by its financial arm * It could force sale of some of the Church’s £8billion-worth of historic assetsThe Church of England could be forced to pay £200million to survivors of child sex abuse, its parliament is to be told. The money is being set aside for ‘restoration or redress’ to thousands of victims abused by bishops, clergy and lay helpers. This huge bill is more than the annual sum spent running the C...

There may end up being a startling and some say worrisome consequence of New York’s controversial criminal justice reform laws. CBS2’s Marcia Kramer has learned that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is considering dropping some cases over an inability to comply with new evidence rules. Overwhelmed by paperwork and what he calls the “unsustainable hours” required to comply with the new so-called “discovery” rules enacted by state lawmakers as part of the new laws, Vance is considering the drastic step of simply letting some bad guys off the hook, not indicting them. “We are evaluating whether to defer or even...

Father Amadou Kizito Togo, a specialist in Church History, recounts his journey of faith He's a priest and the son of an imam. He was enticed by Christianity, thanks to a booklet a Protestant minister gave him. Meet 53-year-old Father Amadou Kizito Togo. He's a living symbol of interreligious dialogue. And that's a good thing. Because the Cathedral of Mopti in the center of Mali, where he's parish priest, is a region where Islamic jihadists continuously stir up religious and inter-community tensions. The tensions have been recurring in the Dogon country -- as the central plateau region of Mali is...

Bernie Sanders keeps telling young people how he will give them so much free stuff, if only they will go with him, vote for him. Bernie basically stands in front of a windowless van, telling kids to get in, luring them with candy and puppies. Back in my day, I was taught to be wary of people luring me with promises of Utopia. I was taught that if someone offers something for free, I should tell them, "no, thank you, I can't afford it." But those days are gone. At the start of the new millennium, adults have lost sight...

Move comes amid 'false' accusations that the group is aiding communist rebels The Philippine government has frozen the bank accounts of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) for "probable cause," saying they are "related to terrorism financing." The government's Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered a 20-day freeze on three RMP accounts with the Bank of the Philippine Islands. In a resolution dated Dec. 26, 2019, the AMLC also ordered the bank to submit details of related bank accounts and proposed the filing of a petition before the Court of Appeals to extend the freeze order to six months. The...

Was Abraham Lincoln a conservative? Some people say right/left distinctions are no longer meaningful. In my own life I was born into a progressive family and absorbed that way of thinking. When I became older, I have learnt quite painfully how important and valuable maintaining western traditions is, when my own rights were trashed by modern misandry, leading me to create this blog: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2017/11/08/freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity/ Where I write this it is already President Lincoln’s birthday. Who has ever been to Lincoln's birthplace Sinking Spring Farm in Kentucky? Did you learn anything about the man there which came to you from the...

39 new cases in Japan. They were found on the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship off Yokohama, raising the ship’s total to 174.

The meteoric rise continues for Andrew Brasher, who was confirmed as a federal district court judge for the Middle District of Alabama just nine months ago. Brasher is moving up the judicial ladder with confirmation Tuesday by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. He’ll now sit on the bench at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, based in Atlanta. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, praised the young judge from the Senate floor, calling the confirmation “a testament to his vast legal ability and commitment to upholding the rule of law as it is written.” Brasher was nominated for the position...

"When I ask people if they’re voting for Donald Trump, I hear about their 401(k)s a lot," the host said Tuesday. "But there are those out that who don't have a 401(k). And there are those out there, this economy is not really working for them. They might have a job, but it's not a job that pays their bills. They can get a car, but it's a loan that will last them 30 years."

IOWA CITY, IOWA - Days before the Iowa caucuses, Democratic Party activist Lindsey Ellickson prepared to run her Cedar Rapids precinct by downloading the new smartphone app designed to calculate and report results. But her planning ran into a problem: Her phone was ruined when she accidentally dropped it in the toilet. She struggled to get the app on her replacement phone and decided to call in the results instead. But it took two hours for her to report them to a party hotline overwhelmed with calls, genuine and prank. **SNIP** Sorting through the wreckage isn't just a humbling experience...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has issued a warning to deep state actors behind the false "Russia collusion" hoax against President Donald Trump, saying those responsible "are gonna go to jail."Speaking Sunday during an interview on Fox News, Republican Sen. Graham assured Judge Jeanine Pirro the traitors behind the attempted coup of the Trump presidency will not go unpunished.

Playwright Yolanda Bonnell is a two-spirit, Ojibwe/South Asian performer who has written a new play entitled Bug, which is now playing at the Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. The aim of her play is to take a stand against colonialism. Bonnell has requested that the media only allow Indigenous, black or other people of colour to review her play. “I do a lot of work in terms of decolonizing theatre… and for me this was one of those steps — taking away the colonial lens,” said Bonnell in an interview with Tom Power for CBC’s Q radio. “There is an...

Sometimes, life really does imitate art. Recent actions by certain members of the Democratic Party remind me of scenes in Ayn Rand’s most famous novel, “Atlas Shrugged.” Take the impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives two months ago. It was as blatantly a kangaroo court as Hank Rearden’s trial in “Atlas.” Rearden had zero chance of being found “not guilty.” Same with President Donald Trump. I mean, what chance did he have of not being impeached when the Democrats refused to identify the accuser, denied the accused’s right to have counsel cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and didn’t allow any witnesses...

Bat meat is still popular in some parts of Indonesia, despite research suggesting the coronavirus spreading from China might have originated in bats before being passed on to humans.

Early voting starts in Tennessee, tomorrow, Wednesday at 9am. I am often first in line :) The polls are open Mon-Sat 9-6pm. For the Primary we ask for either a Republican ballot or a Democrat ballot...we don't have to be committed or belong to either.. The ballots will have the following candidates for president: Republican ballot: Donald J Trump Joe Walsh Bill Weld Uncommitted Write-in Democrat ballot: Michael Bennett Joseph R. Biden Michael R. Bloomberg Cory Booker Pete Buttigieg Julian Castro John K. Delaney Tulsi Gabbard Amy Klobuchar Deval Patrick Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren Marianne Williamson Andrew Yang...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - A super PAC supporting former Vice President Joe Biden’s White House bid is urging donors to “dig deep right now” into their pockets and is warning that if Biden’s campaign collapses, Democrats could face “a doomsday scenario.” The memo from the Unite the Country super PAC -- seen as a signal of deep concerns among Biden supporters about the former vice president’s White House prospects -- warned that “donors hedging their bets on Biden because of [Mike] Bloomberg could be creating a doomsday scenario for the Democrats everywhere.” **SNIP** The memo, written by Unite the Country treasurer...

From 1852 to 1890, polygamy was regularly practiced in the Mormon church. Polygamy was first practiced by Joseph Smith after God supposedly gave him a direct revelation, but it was later defended by Apostle Orson Pratt, which gave it widespread approval until Utah territory joined the United States under the condition that polygamy would be discontinued. A new law in Utah is set to reverse that and remove heavy criminal penalties for being married to more than one spouse. It was commonly said during the gay marriage debate in the United States that once sodomy-based unions were legalized, polygamy would...

President Trump on Tuesday suggested the military should consider additional disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who provided damaging testimony against Trump in the impeachment inquiry and was reassigned from his White House job last week. "We sent him on his way to a much different location, and the military can handle him any way they want," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "Gen. Milley has him now. I congratulate Gen. Milley. He can have him." Gen. Mark Milley is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Asked specifically if the Pentagon should pursue further action against...

Amazon Web Services is asking a federal claims court for depositions from President Donald Trump, as well as his current and former secretaries of Defense, as part of its bid protest of the Pentagon’s $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI). The cloud computing company claims there are gaps in the discovery information provided by the Department of Defense about its evaluation of JEDI bids and eventual award to Microsoft, according to court documents filed in the Court of Federal Claims in January but unsealed Monday. Seeking to supplement the record, AWS issued a number of requests for targeted additional...