How an innocent woman's name was tied to the Jan. 6 pipe bombs​

Multiple sources said that a unit overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard drafted a memo identifying the woman and describing allegations that she had placed the explosive devices outside Democratic and Republican party offices. The memo was written after ODNI was made aware of allegations from an outside source, an ODNI spokesperson said.

ODNI officials said the agency received a tip from a person affiliated with a media organization [could it be... the Blaze?] about potential criminal wrongdoing by an individual believed to be working at an intelligence agency and set about documenting it in a memo.

[The unfinished memo was sent to her place of employment and circulated within the Trump Administration. She was briefly placed on leave.]

ODNI oversees the nation's foreign intelligence gathering and has limited domestic investigative authorities.

A short time after the unfinished memo began to circulate, the conservative news outlet, Blaze News, published details similar to those in the draft, including the woman's full name.

Gabbard, the top ODNI official, has since distanced herself from the memo, telling senior officials that the information about the woman spread without her knowledge while Gabbard was traveling abroad, several sources said.

JulieB67 said:

Sorry, I was at work but Christ taught them the gospel so it stands to reason they were given a chance after Christ died and rose again.

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Interesting. Can you show where in scripture does it teach that Christ taught those in prison during His three days in the tomb the gospel?

Disgusting.

And theres already enough reason for foreign tourists to stay away.

Following a brief social media hiatus, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar Conor McGregor (37) posted that he met Jesus while undergoing ibogaine treatment.

According to the Addiction Center, ibogaine is “a plant-derived compound used for its psychoactive effects. It is currently being studied for its potential in treating substance use disorders.”

“Ibogaine causes hallucinations and vivid dreams,” says the center. “It may have a positive effect on substance cravings by acting on several receptors in the brain.”

Throughout his fighting career, McGregor, who is nicknamed “Notorious,” has been known as one of the most arrogant, brash, charismatic, passionate, trash-talking fighters the sport has ever experienced.

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essentialsaltes said:

Judge to address how he'll proceed with contempt inquiry into AEA deportations​

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, in a hearing Wednesday, is set to address how he will proceed with the early stages of contempt proceedings into whether Trump administration officials violated a court order by deporting hundreds of men to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act in March.

Boasberg's earlier finding that the Trump administration likely acted in contempt was halted for months after an appeals court issued an emergency stay. While a federal appeals court on Friday declined to reinstate Boasberg's original order, the ruling allows him to move forward with his fact-finding inquiry.

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Kristi Noem made call to hand over deported men to El Salvador in violation of court order, DOJ says​

The Justice Department acknowledged Tuesday that it was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who decided to proceed with the deportation of 100 Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador despite a judge’s order to keep them in U.S. custody.

The disclosure came in response to demands by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg that the administration identify the officials involved in authorizing an unprecedented deportation operation in March that sent the men to a prison known for abusive treatment.

[The legal advice Noem received] relied on an unusual claim that Boasberg’s oral order to turn around the deportation flights had no force.

fhansen said:

It's not, IMO, that they knew that nakedness was wrong; it's that, with their loss of innocence they thought it was wrong. They thought they were wrong, in their essence, as God made them. They now knew something foreign: they knew shame. And we've never gotten over this and will not get over it in this fallen world; shame of self is part of the exile from God that we all experience in this world. JMO, tho.

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Do you feel shame for doing good or for doing evil ? GOD seems to have agreed with their assessment and sacrificed animals to use the skins to more adequately cover them. If you think something is wrong it usually is. There could be a situation you are involved in that you do something that at the time you didn’t know was wrong but later discovered is wrong. It’s new to you but you still know it’s wrong none the less. Rather than attempt to psychoanalyze Adam and Eve just read the scripture and believe what it says. By making this more complex than what it is hinders the understanding of the truth.

Apple Sky said:

No they are not but nether the less are true.

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Except they're not.

The wireless power transmission is incredibly impractical and impossible. There is no way to safely and easily transmit energy over long distances without the substantial loss of said energy, thus meaning it would have to thousands upon thousands of the Tesla towers around the world, which still falls into the capitalist problem you think it would fix, let alone the fact that it is impossible to draw energy from the ionosphere or any part of Earth's atmosphere, and that was also not the intent behind Tesla's tower in Wardenclyffe.

Like Tartaria, it is a load of bunk and you are too ignorant to understand why.

Apple Sky said:

AI Overview


Jehovah's Witnesses do not receive blood transfusions because they believe it is against biblical teachings to "abstain from blood". This interpretation means they refuse whole blood, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, even in life-threatening situations, as it is considered a sin and a violation of God's will that could lead to spiritual damnation.

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Yes, that is what I meant. God's word forbids the eating of blood (of an animal which has been killed) not blood transfused from a donor who remains alive.

If you want discipleship that actually fits normal life, not just Sunday, give thementoringproject.com a try. The lessons are short and way less cheesy than you’d expect.

Postvieww said:

There is no need to “ tell the military to obey the Constitution” , they have already taken an oath to do so. Feeling the need to remind them is disrespectful to our soldiers who already know their duties. They have no need of ill motives lawmakers and Trump haters to remind them.

Sad !

The only thing the Trump administration is fighting is misinformation and past unchallenged illegal activities by traitorous political partisans.

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As I mentioned, 37% of Americans think one way while the rest have a different perspective. If reminding the military or anyone else to uphold the Constitution is considered an insult, then it would be impossible in a civilized society to encourage anyone to do the right thing.

I've also stated that this story offers no advantage for the administration. However, keeping this story in the spotlight for the American public, especially alongside concerns like unaffordable Thanksgiving dinners, will likely resonate strongly with people.

Michie said:

It’s an opinion piece.

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Sorry Michie. Nothing personal. It's just that I've seen too many Christian pundits lately pushing this new-ish label of 'Third-Wayism' in order to keep the middlemen out and sanctify the false dichotomy of "US vs. THEM."

It wasn't so long ago I heard a similar argument against those who might be in a "middle position" coming from the New Atheists, particularly Sam Harris.

Larniavc said:

The description from the first paragraph fits Mr Trump to a tee.

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Please copy and paste the portion you refer to here.
My comments don't refer to Trump, maybe you have me confused with another.

I’d been carrying a lot of anger, mostly toward myself. Working through the life-skills guides helped me learn how to pray again without guilt. Please try it thementoringproject.com

RileyG said:

If I understand correctly, historically, Republicans have usually been quite wealthy, and the Democratic voters have been on the working class/not as wealthy? How have times changed...

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It's policies, platform and appeal have fluctuated widely during its 75 years of existence.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

prodromos said:

Why do I feel like I'm arguing with @Apple Sky

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Not sure. If the topic were moon landings, the nature of the Antarctic or the shape of the earth, my views would not resemble Apple Sky's. I have no idea what she believes about baptism.

prodromos said:

It says no such thing regarding Lydia's household.

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I won't draw this out, just say that, regarding Lydia's household, it doesn't say that they were believers, or that they were not.

prodromos said:

You completely avoided the point about children of believing spouses being holy.

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MarkRohfrietsch said:

Actually, it truly is!

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How so?

NxNW said:

As we've learned, neither has happened.

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Who are "we;" and who taught y'all that?

Aldebaran said:

Probably more likely that Kelly and the others made their statement in preparation for what they think is coming, which is future military operations--perhaps in Venezuela. Those Democrats made their statement about not having to follow "illegal orders". Then what do you think these same Democrats would once military operations got started? They'd be standing on the House and Senate floors crowing about how Trump is conducting an "illegal operation" using the military. They would keep saying things like that to go along with their previous assertion about how military members don't have obey illegal orders, thus encouraging mutiny within our own military. I don't doubt this is exactly what they want. It's not like they haven't stooped to such low levels before.

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What would be the rationale for conducting war with Venezuela that is covered by any current Congressional resolution?

And if it's not, why shouldn't Congresspeople call that an illegal operation?

RileyG said:

It's not, but I had a professor randomly mention politics during theology courses.

Or maybe it's relevant today in this modern world? That can also be true.

Yes and no.

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What is your basis for saying that gender identity is not a genre of children's literature?

Xeno.of.athens said:

That is an area still open for debate as far as I know since I haven't found any dogmatic definition that excludes the possibility of the Blessed Mary never dying. As for myself, "I do not know", is my reply. I await the deliberations of theologians and bishops to make a definitive declaration if and when such is deemed as necessary.

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Your approach is always wise.

To be clear, I don’t believe she ever died in a spiritual sense of the word, but rather, like all the saints, reposed in the Lord and was alive in Christ from the moment she reposed, even before her body was taken up into heaven.

Specifically, the problem with the denial of the dormition aspect of the Assumption is that at Chalcedon the Patriarch of Jerusalem informed the Emperor, who desired to venerate the relics of the Theotokos, that on the occasion of her death she was attended by all the Apostles, but two weeks later St. Thomas desired her tomb to be opened, and it was found to be empty.

A more detailed account in the Orthodox synaxarium states that the tomb was opened for the benefit of St. Thomas, who, traveling from the East (recall, he founded in the Church in India, and would later receive the crown of martyrdom there in 53 AD, when an angry maharaja threw a javelin at him; the site of his martyrdom is now a Roman Catholic Church and is a candidate for being the oldest church built on the site of a martyrdom in continual use), that St. Thomas did not arrive in time to see the Theotokos repose, and overwhelmed with grief, asked for her tomb to be opened, which the other Apostles agreed to, and they collectively were greatly surprised (that is to say, shocked, awed and delighted) to find the tomb was empty, and it was thus revealed that the Theotokos had been assumed just like St. Moses and St. Elijah were.

Thus we benefit from saying she reposed, both for historical reasons, and also because it proves the means of our own salvation, in that it establishes the promise of Christ to resurrect us is not in vain, for clearly, he has already done this in the case of the Theotokos, having resurrected and taken her up to Heaven, as happened with himself, and also it establishes that Christ was fully human, because if his mother did not repose before being assumed, this could fuel the deadly fires of docetism, the denial of the full humanity of Christ. It must be asserted beyond any doubt that Christ is consubstantial with us, according to the theology of the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus, in a state of hypostatic union, as taught by St. Cyril (and thus believed by both Eastern and Oriental Orthodox as well as other Chalcedonians) fully human and fully divine, without change, confusion, separation or division between His humanity and divinity.

Now, I am fairly certain, on reflection, this is the Roman Catholic teaching, but would request the help of any of my pious Roman Catholic friends such as @Michie @RileyG @Valletta @concretecamper and @chevyontheriver in verifying this, to make sure I’m not in error.

What I did, since I’m not familiar with the Catechism of the Catholic Church or how it is structured, was look to the liturgy, which presumably is doctrinally authoritative, and found from the current version of the Liturgy of the Hours, at the Office of Readings (formerly known as Matins), the Second Reading on the feast of the Assumption:

“Thus Saint John Damascene, preeminent as the great preacher of this truth of tradition, speaks with powerful eloquence when he relates the bodily assumption of the loving Mother of God to her other gifts and privileges: “It was necessary that she who had preserved her virginity inviolate in childbirth should also have her body kept free from all corruption after death. It was necessary that she who had carried the Creator as a child on her breast should dwell in the tabernacles of God. It was necessary that the bride espoused by the Father should make her home in the bridal chambers of heaven. It was necessary that she, who had gazed on her crucified Son and been pierced in the heart by the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in giving him birth, should contemplate him seated with the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God should share the possessions of her Son, and be venerated by every creature as the Mother and handmaid of God.”

If I’m reading the dogmatic definition of Pope Piux XII correctly, from the second reading of the Office of Readings at the Liturgy of the Hours, it appears that he refers to the body of the Theotokos being taken up into heaven after death:

At Matins for this feast, in the old Divine Office (according to the old Tridentine and Dominican uses), historically the Fourth through Sixth Readings, quoted the aforementioned homily of St. John of Damascus directly:

“Eve, who had said yea to the proposals of the serpent, was condemned to the pains of travail and the punishment of death, and found her place in the bowels of the Netherworld. But this truly blessed being who had inclined her ears to the word of God, whose womb had been filled by the action of the Holy Ghost, who, as soon as she heard the spiritual salutation of the archangel, had conceived the Son of God without any sexual pleasure or carnal knowledge by a man, who had brought forth her Offspring without any the least pang, who had hallowed herself altogether for the service of God how was death ever to feed upon her? how was the grave ever to eat her up? how was corruption to break into that body into which Life had been welcomed? For her there was a straight, smooth, and easy way to heaven. For if Christ, Who is the Life and the Truth, hath said Where I am, there shall also My servant be how much more shall not rather His mother be with Him?”

On a more poetic and beautiful note, the same Assumptions Matins traditionally featured this lovely hymn:

Arise! the cold blasts from earth have receded,
And in the field are lovely flowers smiling,
For thee, O gracious Mother, bearer of Life,
Arise, O Mary!

Beautiful Lily blooming 'mid the brambles,
Death's haughty author thou alone didst conquer,
Plucking life-giving tree of fruits the fathers
By sin did not taste.

Ark of sweet wood not destined for ruin,
Holding the manna, whence springeth forth the power
Summoning forth the bones again arisen
From depths of the tomb.

Thou handmaid, faithful to the Ruler of hearts,
Thy flesh cruel decay could never touch,
Thy soul of Spirit partaking without end,
Hath winged to the stars.

Leaning on thy beloved, arise, go heav'nward!
Accept the crown with stars for thee bedecked,
List to the hymn thy children sing on this day,
Calling thee blessed.

Praise to the Triune Godhead everlasting,
Who hath caused thee, O Virgin, to be crowned,
And providently willed our Queen thou shouldst be
Also our Mother.
Amen.


I would expect to find this hymn in the Orthodox Western Rite liturgy; I shall take a look. It is such a pity so few Roman Catholics are able to easily access the Liturgy of the Hours or older forms of the Divine Office outside of monasteries and some cathedrals. For the most part, priests, friars and tertiaries of religious orders, who are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily, do so privately. This has also become de rigeur in the Maronite Rite, where the Divine Office, which is in a book called the Shimo, meaning “Simple” became known as the Fard (meaning “obligation”).

The Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox sing the following hymn at Vespers on the Feast of the Dormition (Assumption), which like in the Latin Rite, is on August 15th*. The version, to be of particular relevance to my Roman Catholic friends, I took from a Byzantine Catholic version of the Menaion**, the book containing the propers for the Divine Office for all fixed feasts, from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute (which serves the Ruthenian Greek Catholic churches): Menaion - August 15 (MCI)
The holy apostles were taken up from every corner of the world * and carried upon clouds by the command of God. * They gathered around your pure body, O Source of Life, * and kissed it with reverence. * As for the most sublime powers of heaven, * they came with their own leader * to escort and to pay their last respects to the most honorable body * that had contained Life itself. * Filled with awe, they marched together with the apostles in silent majesty, * professing to the princes of heaven in a hushed voice: * Lift up your gates and receive, with becoming majesty, * the Mother of the Light that never fades, * because, through her, salvation was made possible for our human race. * She is the One upon whom no one may gaze, * and to whom no one is able to render sufficient glory; * for the special honor that made her sublime is beyond understanding. * Therefore, O most pure Theotokos, * forever alive with your Son, the Source of Life, * do not cease to intercede with Him * that he may guard and save your people from every trouble; * for you are our intercessor. * To you we sing a hymn of glory * with loud and joyful voices, now and forever.

* in antiquity however, it was historicallly celebrated in January in Egypt and in the Gallican Rite, which was once the main liturgy in France, also a Latin liturgy, but very different from the Roman Rite, most closely related to the Mozarabic RIte, still celebrated in the cathedral of Toledo and a monastery, and the Ambrosian Rite which is used by over a million Catholics in the DIocese of Milan, which is celebrated with great reverence, the main difference being that over the years, the Ambrosian Rite wound up always using the Roman Canon as its Anaphora (although with the post-1969 reforms, it has six Eucharistic Prayers; I have not examined them but my understanding is that one of them is the Roman Canon, and three correspond to Eucharistic Prayers II-IV, and presumably the other two are based on the highly variable traditional Gallican and Mozarabic Eucharistic prayer. Now that I have good access to Italian language resources I should seek to find this out.

Leftists are no longer content with simply pushing the LGBT agenda onto conservative religious believers. They’ve escalated their attacks on religion and God. They’re engaging in gleeful public displays of bigotry meant to anger and humiliate faithful people in their community. But MassResistance activists are letting them know that regular citizens won’t stand for it.

A Loathsome, Offensive “Church” Event​

Melrose, Massachusetts is a suburb north of Boston (population ~29,400). Catholics make up the largest faith community in the city at about 40 percent.

Almost two weeks ago, MassResistance was contacted by “Patrick,” one of our long-time supporters in Melrose and a devout Catholic. He was distraught. The far-left Unitarian Universalist church located across the street from the Melrose Public Library was putting on an unbelievably offensive and disgusting event. It was open to the public. The church was advertising it on signs, on flyers, and through social media as one of its “Thoughtful Thursday” events.

Continued below.

The Liturgist said:

What do you think he meant by “abound”? Are you suggesting he was living luxuriously, with abundant wealth?

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If you read my post, I already showed you the definition from the Greek.

Sin deforms us, closes us in on ourselves and makes us unfit for communion with God.

Q. The Catholic Church teaches that hell is eternal. How is that consistent with an all-loving God who wants the best for us? If you’re an unrepentant sinner for 50, 60, 70 years or more, does that warrant spending eternity in hell without any hope of “parole?” Even after a couple hundred thousand years, wouldn't even the most hardened sort feel repentant?

A. The idea of an everlasting hell is troubling, to say the least. How can an all-loving God, who “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), allow some to be lost forever? Isn’t eternal punishment incompatible with God’s infinite mercy?

The two may at first seem incompatible, but when we look at the problem in the light of human freedom, we see they are not. God truly desires that all come to know and love him, but he has made us free to choose — and that includes the freedom to reject him. A creature unable to choose freely could not love. Although God invites us and enables us to love him, he never compels us, for coerced love is not love.

Freedom and Self-Determination​

Continued below.