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[Catholic Caucus] Cdl. Zen Celebrates Traditional Liturgy 'We are in the face of a mystery' Cardinal Joseph Zen celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the traditional rite at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York Saturday for the third annual Lepanto Conference.  The main speaker at the conference, Zen addressed communist persecution of Chinese Catholics and talked about the traditional liturgy, which he explained is not a relic of the past. Cardinal Zen: "The people who like this form of liturgy are precisely young people, so it is not a question of nostalgia."  Cardinal Zen reminded the audience the...

TEHRAN -- Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he believes his recent meeting with a U.S. senator had spooked the Trump administration because it was an opportunity to talk directly to “the American nation.” Mohammad Javad Zarif met last week with Sen. Chris Murphy on the sidelines of an international security conference in Germany. The Connecticut Democrat defended the meeting on Tuesday after his actions were questioned in conservative media, and as President Donald Trump suggested they may have violated U.S. law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped anyone who meets with Zarif would be reflecting the U.S....

... The youngest voters haven’t always leaned left. In 1984 Ronald Reagan won 61% of voters under 25, more than his 59% of the popular vote. Something deeper, specific to our time, is at work. Consider the formative experiences of adults 30 and younger. For them, the Cold War exists only in history books—which they didn’t necessarily read. High schools in only 31 states require a yearlong U.S. history course. Throughout their adolescence and young adulthood, they have seen their country embroiled in Middle Eastern wars triggered by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Intelligence shortfalls and security failures...

Anyone else wonder why the Wuhan Flu, briefly referred to as the Novel Coronavirus, is now referred to as COVID-19? Apparently it has to do with political correctness. The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, announced Tuesday at a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” Tedros told reporters…Tedros said the agency wanted to avoid stigmatizing a country or particular group, so it chose a name that did not refer...

Why do politicians want to take away our plastic bags and straws? This moral panic is intensifying even as evidence mounts that banning plastic is both a waste of money and harmful to the environment. If you want to protect dolphins and sea turtles, you should take special care to place your plastic in the trash, not the recycling bin. And if you’re worried about climate change, you’ll cherish those gossamer grocery bags once you learn the facts about plastic. During the 1970s, environmentalists wanted to restrict the use of plastic because it was made from petroleum. When the “energy...

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – A team of scientists at the University of Northern Colorado believe venom from venomous snakes could carry the cure to cancer. Dr. Stephen Mackessy, professor at UNC’s School of Biology, says studies show venoms in different snakes can attack human cancer cells in unique ways. (credit: CBS) To conduct the study, Mackessy’s students are given access to hundreds of snakes from around the world, all of which are stored in a secured facility on the campus of UNC. From rattlesnakes to vipers, the students are able to extract venom from each snake to study the compounds...

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, freed from prison Tuesday, heaped "profound and everlasting gratitude" on President Donald Trump for commuting his sentence. "President Trump is the one who did this, and I'm ... profoundly grateful," Blagojevich, who was a Democrat, told reporters Tuesday night at Denver International Airport. "He's got obviously a big fan in me," said Blagojevich, who has gone totally gray since entering prison. "And if you’re asking me what my party affiliation is, I’m a Trump-ocrat." "He didn't have to do this. He’s a Republican president; I was a Democratic governor," Blagojevich said. "My fellow Democrats have...

On February 14th, 1990 for Michael Bloomberg’s 48th birthday, staffers at Bloomberg L.P celebrated their boss’ most famous offensive quips and anecdotes by creating a pamphlet and presenting him with a leather-bound copy. Some of the quotes are anti-female, anti-faith, and someone who looks down upon people who aren’t like him. Called The Portable Bloomberg: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg, it was edited by Bloomberg L.P.’s chief marketing officer Elisabeth DeMarse. Some of the tidbits in the pamphlet include: The only liberal I trust is a rich old liberal. Why? Because they’re old enough to understand what they’re...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When residents of this city’s impoverished West Side reflect on Pete Buttigieg’s two terms as mayor, a few things come to mind: A spike in violent crime, development that largely ignored the African American community and how their only well-lit street is the one that leads to Notre Dame University. So how, they wonder, can Buttigieg possibly be trusted to run the country? “If he’s the next president, I fear for our country. He couldn’t run our city. How can he run the United States?” said Michelle Burger, 42, a stay-at-home mom who lives in South...

NEW YORK - As Republican President Donald Trump seeks a second term in November, Americans’ interest in voting is growing faster in large cities dominated by Democrats than in conservative rural areas, according to an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos national opinion polls. If the trend lasts until Election Day on Nov. 3, it would be a reversal from the 2016 election when rural turnout outpaced voting in urban areas, helping Trump narrowly win the White House. The finding, based on responses from more than 88,000 U.S. adults who took the online poll from August to December 2015 or from August to...

China's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) continues to take human lives. The Chinese people have suffered the most in terms of total cases and lives lost. The epidemic began in Wuhan, capital of the Hubei province. As I write this column, Hubei has had 60,000 confirmed cases and almost 1,800 deaths. Covid-19, however, has escaped China's political borders. The World Health Organization's Feb. 18 Covid-19 "Situation Report 29" declared that 25 countries have clinically diagnosed Covid-19 cases, and many are laboratory-confirmed. As of Feb. 17, WHO had sent virus laboratory testing kits to 34 countries. Eventually, 56 countries will receive them....

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday that the Fessenheim nuclear reactor, on the border with Germany, will be shut down at the end of June, with one of its reactors to be closed this weekend. A statement on Wednesday called the decision “the first phase” of France's energy strategy set out in 2018 by President Emmanuel Macron. The plan calls for a re-balancing of nuclear-produced energy and electricity derived from renewable sources. Coal plants are to be closed by 2022 to reduce greenhouse gases, the statement said. Reactor No. 1 will be halted on Saturday and the entire...

As soon as President Trump was acquitted, the tables turned quickly on the Deep State. In less than 48hrs, all the linchpins were pulled from the restraints keeping the Trump administration from fulling operating. Now the situation has flipped and the President is making his moves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uzFL5y4yLQ  

Sen. Bernie Sanders manifestly fears that if he succeeds in becoming president and enacting his economic plan, some Americans may seek to flee the country. How do we know this? His plan imposes a severe penalty on anybody who tries to leave to avoid paying his "wealth tax." "The wealth tax includes a 40 percent exit tax on the net value of all assets under $1 billion and 60 percent over $1 billion for all wealthy individual(s) seeking to expatriate to avoid the tax," it says. Under the current tax system, the United States does impose an "expatriation tax" on...

A Japanese disease expert has branded the Diamond Princess quarantine a 'major failure', 'completely inadequate' and a 'mistake'. Kentaro Iwata said he had placed himself in a 14-day quarantine for fear of infecting his family after a brief visit on board the ship yesterday. The Kobe University infectious diseases expert said conditions on the ship were 'completely chaotic' and violated quarantine rules. His video has racked up more than a million views amid a barrage of criticism of Japanese authorities after 542 people were infected during the lockdown.

Boeing recently discovered some of its stored 737 MAXes have foreign objects in the fuel tanks. The entire fleet of 400+ newly produced but undelivered MAXes is being inspected. Foreign objects, called foreign object debris (FOD) in aviation parlance, consist of tools or rags. FOD has been found in the fuel tanks of some MAXes. MAXes are stored at four locations in Washington State and in San Antonio (TX). It’s unlikely that the FOD inspections will delay recertification or testing of the MAX. The FAA was informed by Boeing. It takes up to three days to inspect each airplane, LNA...

(For those of you who don't know who Carol Rosenberg is, she is the Miami-Herald's beat reporter on Club Gitmo and knows everything about what is happening related to the facility. These are her Tweets today about the ongoing trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh) Good morning from Guantanamo Bay. Here at Camp Justice, the 9/11 trial lawyers return to court at 9 a.m. to hear what the judge is going to do about the capital defense lawyer whose "trial days are over" -- and the Yemeni man he represents, shown here. (snip) The 9/11 hearing is...

Some college students are going hungry nowadays, as some collegians have gone hungry since medieval times when students rioted in the streets of Oxford, Cambridge, and Heidelberg. Some college students are not eating meals that nutritionists would approve, as was commonplace with the 25 cent Kraft macaroni and cheese boxes students ate in the 1970s or the ramen noodles students relied on in the 1980s and 1990s. But where did presidential candidate Bernie Sanders get the notion that “nearly half our college students are going hungry?” From Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab and her team at the Hope Center for College, Community...

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes,” Mark Twain is reputed to have said. My first job after law school was as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. I reported for work September 1974, just weeks after Richard Nixon resigned. In the years leading up to his resignation, Nixon turned the Justice Department and FBI into his personal fiefdom, enlisting his political appointees to reward his friends and penalize his enemies. Reports about how compromised the Justice Department had become generated enough public outrage to force the appointment of the first Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox.

Home/Daniel Larison/Bloomberg’s Admiration For One-Party Authoritarianism Bloomberg’s Admiration For One-Party Authoritarianism Center for American Progress/Flickr FEBRUARY 18, 2020|11:14 PM DANIEL LARISON Matt Purple does a fine job summarizing what’s wrong with Mike Bloomberg in a new article on the main page. This one line captures the essence of who Bloomberg is: It’s that callous indifference that makes him truly unique. It is this same callous indifference that informs so many of his views, including his views on foreign policy. When asked about the Iraq war, he expresses no regret for supporting it. He claims that the invasion was an “honest...