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5 August 2026 Wednesday of week 18 in Ordinary Time Augsburg, Basilica of SS. Ulrich and Afra, St. Afra altarReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingJeremiah 31:1-7You shall be rebuilt, virgin of IsraelI will be the God of all the clans of Israel – it is the Lord who speaks – they shall be my people.The Lord says this:They have found pardon in the wilderness,those who have survived the sword.Israel is marching to his rest.The Lord has appeared to him from afar:I have loved you with an everlasting love,so I am constant in my affection for you.I build...

The Democratic Socialists of America just won their biggest prize yet, and the man who delivered it insists he has nothing to do with them. Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, prevailing over establishment favorite Haley Stevens in the most expensive Democratic Senate primary in American history. Within hours, the entire socialist apparatus of the American left was celebrating. Bernie Sanders’ machine, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ad money, every single member of the Squad, and the ground troops of the DSA itself all poured themselves into this race. They know exactly what they won on...

If the Trojan War were being fought today, the Greeks would not need to hide inside of a big, wooden horse and hope to be dragged inside Troy’s city gates. They’d simply disseminate all kinds of lies on social media and wait for the Trojan people to fight each other. Such is the power of corrosive ideas: They can destroy a civilization before its defenders understand that they are under attack. Information warfare is the name of the game today. It exists all around us. Soundbites attack us from every phone, computer, tablet, and television screen. Succinct messages ripple through...

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton shocked viewers on Tuesday evening as he appeared to violently cut himself during a TikTok livestream. TikTok suspended the account. Video of the shocking self-harm was reposted to X on Tuesday evening with calls to pray for Perez Hilton. The disturbing video shows a fully nude Perez Hilton covered in blood as he uses a knife to cut himself. Perez Hilton's status is unknown. Perez Hilton's legal name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., and he is best known for his celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com. Perez Hilton has three biological children - a son and two daughters,...

Missouri voters rejected a ballot measure in Tuesday’s primary election that would’ve abolished state income taxes. While nine states have phased out individual income taxes, Missouri voters apparently feared an increase in other forms of taxation to make up for the revenue loss. The measure, Amendment No. 5, was rejected by an 84%-16% vote, with about a fifth of the ballots tallied. Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe backed eliminating the income tax. Opponents of the change claimed that the state’s highest earners would’ve benefitted the most, while public areas like schools, prisons and social services would’ve been directly impacted. Concerns...

Canada has given Moderna the green light to launch a clinical trial for a vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo form of the Ebola virus — which continues to surge throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo — as experts caution that the outbreak continues to outpace efforts to contain it. Federal officials announced the recent authorization of Moderna’s mRNA shot on Tuesday, making Canada just the second country to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial for a Bundibugyo vaccine candidate after the U.K. This form of the virus was long considered rare and has no approved vaccines or treatments, thwarting efforts...

Here is a fundamental proposition to which I subscribe: The only thing worth being in life is an adult. By the word “adult” I have something specific in mind. An adult is someone who, at a minimum, either alone or in a family structure, provides for himself or herself. That’s the minimum. Even more worthwhile is being an adult who also, through effort and within a family structure, creates and provides for a family. Still more worthwhile is being an adult who, after fully providing for a family, also assists others who may need help, beginning with extended family, and...

In Philadelphia, the country’s second-poorest big city, the demand for deeply affordable rental housing is a constant. To better meet that need, the Philadelphia Housing Authority launched an ambitious — and costly — plan to remake and expand its vast real estate portfolio. Over eight years, the agency estimates it will spend $6.3 billion to preserve, redevelop, build or acquire roughly 20,000 subsidized units. That translates to an average unit cost of about $315,000 — more than the market value of many Philadelphia homes.

I'm not what you'd call a keen observer of the political climate in our country, but I do pay attention, broadly, to what's going on within our two parties. Watching the latest from Bill Maher, I was reminded of how we struggle to reconcile our support for an idea we might like, if it’s promoted by a politician we hate. And vice versa. Here though, we have an opportunity - Democrats, in particular - to speak out loudly and clearly against an ideology that has been proven, demonstrably, to be a really bad idea. It’s alarming to see how quickly...

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Friends of a Ukrainian woman arrested by ICE last week at SFO say they are hopeful they can get her released pending her removal hearing. It was last Wednesday when Iryna Gorb was forcefully detained and arrested by plainclothes ICE officers at SFO for overstaying her visa. Since the arrest, Gorb has been locked up at the California City ICE detention facility outside Bakersfield. ...

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the Democratic Senate race a month before the primary, endorsed Abdul El-Sayed as he maintained a narrow advantage over Rep. Haley Stevens early Wednesday morning. “I’m proud to give Abdul my full endorsement and support as we head to November together as a unified party,” she said in a statement. El-Sayed led Stevens by roughly two points at the time of McMorrow’s endorsement. Both candidates said early Wednesday morning the race would likely be decided later in the day. McMorrow urged Democrats to unite behind El-Sayed after a bruising primary that...

TikTok woman describes an aspect of dialectical language for self defence purposes

AEXERA JNRFZ SRW MNIFT CN ANXFTRJFRC EG UEDF AEXERA IPEGDFZ SRW VST DFZG CN CFFRSAF QNZG. ― M.Y. N'TNHTDF Clue: Look in the comments

JUST IN: Indian animal abuser Shri Thanedar, who defrauded investors and drove his first wife to suicide after using her for a green card, has been crushed in his primary. Best known for repeatedly filing frivolous impeachment articles against President Trump and for the small mammal that lives atop his head, Thanedar now joins Jasmine Crockett, Eric Swalwell, Al Green, Dan Goldman, and others in the unemployment line. Denaturalize and deport this loser now.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona, a vulnerable Democrat running for re-election, plans to tap a longtime Republican and former mayor of a Phoenix suburb to serve as her running mate, according to two people familiar with the decision. John Giles, a former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., is expected to be announced in the coming days as Ms. Hobbs’s lieutenant governor nominee. Neither Ms. Hobbs nor her campaign would confirm the choice, and nothing is final until an announcement. But the apparent pick is a nod to bipartisanship in a campaign that will pit Ms. Hobbs, a low-key Democrat, against Representative...

Daily Readings from the USCCBAt that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” Matthew 15:21–23At first glance, this interaction is surprising. Yet Jesus is performing an act of love toward the Canaanite woman, while at the same time offering an important lesson to...

FIFTY LABORATORIES OF DEMOCRACY One of the most common misunderstandings about our Founding Fathers is that they intended for each state to be free to decide how big or small a government to have. This idea, taught for generations in the schools and regularly repeated by the press and political class, posits that the Founding Fathers were specific about the federal government, but they didn’t care at all how big each state, county, or local government became. They teach that each state was to be its own “laboratory of democracy,” free to be anything from libertarian to dictatorial, as each...

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"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1). Love distinguishes true communication from useless chatter and meaningless noises. Paul begins his discourse on love by stating the futility of languages without love. The Corinthians were enamored with the showy spiritual gifts, apparently to the neglect of those they deemed less spectacular (see 1 Cor. 12:12-31). One of the gifts they prized most highly was tongues, which was the Spirit-given ability to declare God's truth in a language unknown to...