Judge Donald Ostrom on Thursday ruled that 29-year-old Juan Francisco Méndez, who has no criminal record, must be released due to a failure to prosecute, according to a Boston Globe report.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials arrested Méndez outside his New Bedford home on April 14 as he and his wife, Marilu Domingo Ortiz, were en route to a dentist appointment. Ortiz captured the dramatic arrest on video, which was widely circulated in the media and on social media.

Questions swirled over why Méndez was arrested, as officers were reportedly asking for a man named “Antonio,” who lives on a separate floor of their building. Ortiz and the couple’s 9-year-old son were granted asylum in February 2024 after fleeing violence in Guatemala, according to the paper. Under federal immigration law, her husband is eligible for derivative asylee status.

“We don’t have any problems with this country. It’s fine for [immigration officials] to do their job but not unjustly like they did with my husband,” Ortiz told the Globe.

ICE has to hit those brown guy quotas somehow.

Trump is bringing white South Africans to the US as refugees, but what persecution are they facing?​

Keep in mind those Afghanistans were the very Afghanistans helping US troops during that war and promised safe haven from the sure fire retaliation they and their family would be on the receiving end by the Taliban. The same Taliban Trump had released from prison.
It's patently obvious the fruit does not fall too far from the tree given the man whose Father was arrested at a Klan rally. Whose apartment buildings were actively discriminating against blacks. Who had his project manager hide Black contractors working at his buildings when associates came by and by past statements, is in fact a racist.

Christ said:

Mat 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Many believe and teach Christ's rest some how relieves our moral obligation to obey the Sabbath commandment, but is this what Jesus is teaching?

Jesus said this and still kept the Sabbath going to church reading God's word Luke 4:16 as the apostles did following in His footsteps keeping every Sabbath in the same manner decades after the Cross Acts 15:21 Acts 13:42 Acts 13:44 Acts 18:4 as the Sabbath is a holy convocation Lev 23:3 and we see that continuing on in the New Heaven and New Earth Isa 66:22-23

So what rest is Christ referring to?

Psa 38:3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

The rest Jesus is giving us when we come to Him is rest from our sins. Jesus came to save us from our sins Mat 1:21 we are not saved in our sins Heb 10:26-30

Sin is:
1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
James 2:11-12 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. quoting and contrasting directly from the Ten Commandments breaking one we break them all
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
Rom 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.


We also see this play out in the last days

Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Compared to the antidote found in the next verse

Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

If we understand Christ rest, it will help us understand Hebrews 4 much better as it is speaking of two rests, not one.

We are invited to enter into Christ rest, just like the Israelites, Heb 4:1 but many didn't enter due to disobedience (sin) even through the same gospel was preached Heb 4:6

Why the Holy Spirit is calling us "TODAY" to come our of our rebellion (sin) and enter His rest quoting directly from Psa 95

Heb 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Why there is another day spoken of, which is TODAY God is calling us from our sins and come unto Him and He will give us rest from the burdens of sin but we need to enter through faith Heb 4:2

What did the Israelites disobey during their trial of the wilderness that led them to not enter into Christ rest

Eze 22:13 Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

Why the next verse says there remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God Heb 4:9 and the Sabbath rest is according to the commandment Luke 23:56 because breaking God's law is sin 1 John 3:4 James 2:11-12

The next verse clearly shows these two rests

Heb 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also (in addition) ceased from his works as God did from His.

God ceased from His works on the seventh day, Heb 4:4 Gen 2:1-3 just like God commanded us to Exo 20:8-11 as we were made in His image and likeness so to enter His rest one also ceases from work on the seventh day Sabbath. Exo 20:10

Heb 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience

We don't want to follow the same mistakes of the Israelites who sinned and never entered their rest in Canaan, which is a type of heaven. The same applies to us to enter in Heaven Rev 22:14

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

In Christ rest no one is in rebellion or breaking God's law, why there is just peace
Isa 48:18
Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Jesus is coming soon and we need to come out of our rebellion to Him and obey Him and His commandments, His version, God’s own personal Testimony Exo 31:18 written personally by God, His law and will Psa 40:8, It’s why we see the ark of the covenant, which holds God’s personal Testimony, the Ten Commandments written and spoken by the God of the Universe revealed at the last Trumpet before Jesus comes in all His Glory Rev 11:19 as it is the standard of what God will judge all man 2 Cor 5:10 James 2:10-12 Ecc 12:13-14 Mat 5:19-30 Rev 11:18-19 Rev 22:14-15 and removing anything God covers under His mercy seat which below sits God’s Testimony His Ten Commandments, laying it aside as to say its not for me, I do not believe that's going to work out so well as Jesus taught plainly Mat 15:3-14 Mark 7:7-13

So lets be willing to forsake our sins Pro 28:13 and come to Jesus, He will give us rest.

Spiritual guides needed

Behind the noise of a divided culture, something powerful is happening.

Behind the noise, a revival is stirring.

Headlines shout that faith is fading. Churches are closing. Trust in institutions is crumbling. Many predict a future without God. Yet beneath the surface, a quiet revival is stirring.

Belief in Jesus is not fading — it’s surging — and the next generation is leading the way.

A new study from Barna’s State of the Church 2025 initiative reveals something remarkable: two-thirds of American adults — 66% — now say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that remains important in their lives. That’s a 12-point surge since 2021, when commitment levels reached a 30-year low.

In just four years, approximately 30 million more Americans have chosen to follow Jesus.

Even more striking, it’s Gen Z and millennials — the very generations often accused of abandoning faith — who are fueling this resurgence. Gen Z men have experienced a 15-point increase in commitment since 2019, while Millennial men have surged by 19 points. For the first time in modern history, young men are outpacing young women in spiritual commitment, flipping a trend that held firm for decades.

This is not a fad. It’s a profound awakening.

But it is also a fragile one.

Continued below.

Every one of them should be fired.

So the new air force one will belong to not to the office of president but to Donald Trump. A bribe pure and simple.

David C. Pack asks; "Were the 10 Cs "Done away"? ... And nothing ever; on 2 Cor 3:7? P2.
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Over the years many have taught various ways to receive everlasting life. No wonder the world is full of so many denominations. All of these different doctrines, seemingly coming from the bible, tend only to confuse people. Most people don't know what to believe and simply choose not to attend any church. Salvation, what would you trade fore it? This is a question you should ask yourself. The answer should be nothing. What people fail to realize is Adam sin and brought forth the first and second death, and that second is the lake of fire. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5: 12)

So at this point the creation is lock under these two death, this is before Jesus of course. I find that a lot of people don’t understand this. We have a lot righteous prophets and people in the old testament, but still lock under those two death. We also have a lot of evil people in the old testament who will still be lock under those two death. If you are lock under those two death, this mean you will be raise from dead, and Judged, then headed straight for the lake of fire. So now, Jesus came and die for the world and bless us with grace, so that our righteousness which will remove the second death.

Jesus says in Luke: 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. See sin is what got us these two death in the first place. Let’s take a look at the biblical definition of sin. 1John 3:4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Now we have just read the biblical definition of sin, the transgression (breaking) of the law (commandments.)

So when you sin, you transgress the law, what law? The Commandments brother and Sisters. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1: 6,8,9)

So if you think because Jesus die for our sins, and you don’t have to keep the law (Commandments) then you are sinning, and Paul told us in Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We all have to do the samething to get in the kingdom of God, and one of those things is keeping the Commandments. A man asked Jesus this very question, "...What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?", and Jesus replied, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:16-19). This was a direct answer to a direct question, which all of us will do well to take heed to. Anybody can claim to have faith, but actions speak louder than words. Faith and works go together and you can't have one without the other. "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12).

VATICAN CITY, May 11 (Reuters) - Pope Leo XIVappealed to the world's major powers for "no more war" in his first Sunday message to crowds in St. Peter's Square since his election as pontiff.

Continued below.

In another thread I saw this post:

Laodicean60 said:

If we care about hunger, then we need to budget before the country goes broke, because when that happens, no one can be fed. Does it make sense to you to borrow money to pay for interest on the debt?

Click to expand...

Ah, so you’re calling for a balanced budget—because if the country goes broke, no one can be fed. That may be a bit extreme, but let’s suppose we do need to balance the budget. What would you cut?

I pulled data from the federal budget here: The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2025 to 2035.

Next, I created the table below showing the current budget and several attempts to balance it.

Notice that the current deficit is 26.5% of total spending. That’s a serious issue.

Suppose we eliminated all non-defense discretionary spending (first option below). This would wipe out many needed programs—and still wouldn’t get us close to a balanced budget.

Let’s try a really severe round of cuts (second option). Still nowhere near.



Finally, I offer an off-the-cuff attempt at a “fair” balanced budget. It increases tax revenue by 25% and cuts some important programs. It’s just a first draft to visualize what a balanced budget might actually require.

Can you do better? Fill in the eight percentages you believe should go in the red-font column, and I’ll add your proposal to the spreadsheet so we can compare.

An Original Work / May 13, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.

Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.

Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.

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If our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine biblical faith, of God, and not of the flesh of humans, and not of the will of man, then we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience is what we obey, it results in righteousness and sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

Therefore, all immorality and impurity must no longer have an active part in our lives. For it is morally wrong and improper for us who profess faith in Jesus Christ to still be walking in sin, making sin our habit. For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that we will die with him to sin and walk with him in obedience to his commands in holy living. For in his death on that cross he bought us back for God (he redeemed us) out of our lives of slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now, by his grace, and in his power, serve God with our lives.

So, please know that if you are being taught that you can just pray a prayer to receive Christ, or that you can just make a verbal confession of Jesus as Lord, or that you can just acknowledge what Jesus did for us on that cross and that he was raised from the dead, and now you are saved, all sins are forgiven, and heaven is secured for you when you die, you are being taught a half-truth, which is a lie. For the Scriptures make it very clear that faith in Jesus, which comes from God, must result in us dying to sin and walking in obedience to God, in practice, or it is not genuine faith which saves from sin.

For the life of a true follower (disciple) of Christ involves us putting away our former lives of walking in sin so that, by the grace of God, we will now walk in purity of devotion to our Lord in obedience to his commands in holy living. For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (see Titus 2:11-14).

But in our present day “Christian” culture here in America, the most popular teaching regarded as “the gospel of Christ” is an altered version of the gospel taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles. For many are teaching that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ is enough to secure for us forgiveness of all sins and heaven as our eternal destiny. But Jesus taught that if we are going to come after him we must deny self, die to sin daily, and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands. For if we continue living in sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26).

And because this diluted and altered “gospel” is what is prevailing among those professing faith in Jesus Christ, we have a “Christian” culture of people who are still living to please the flesh, and not God, who are still living in idolatry, adultery, sexual immorality, and/or drunkenness, lying, cheating, and stealing what is not theirs from people who they care nothing about, but who they are just using in order to fulfill the sinful lusts of the flesh. And so this is a warning to all who profess the name of Jesus that no immoral person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God/Christ.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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Deceived With Empty Words
An Original Work / May 11, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Hey all,

I'm looking for advice about how I deal with my parents. My dad is in his late 80s with cancer and my mum in her mid 80s. I'm posting this with great caution after not wanting to air my parents' dirty laundry in public (bearing in mind my understanding of Noah's Curse on Ham after Ham drew attention to his father's shame in this post)


The relationship between my mum and dad is pretty toxic, and this is reflected in the parent-child and sibling-sibling relationships as well. Both of them divorced their past husband/wife to get married after committing adultery. So this precluded my dad from being a pastor at church although the church was OK with him being a Bible teacher (it wasn't his day job).

To give you some examples of the venom from my dad:
My dad uses a walking stick and has fallen a few times already. When my mum offered to hold his hand to help him walk in public, he berated his wife in public, saying "I'd rather die than hold your hand."

They used to have a domestic servant. When there was a dispute between the domestic servant and my mum, on two occasions my dad chased my mum out of the house, favoring instead the domestic servant.

This is first hand testimony and not conveyed to me by my mum about what my dad did --- I was there when I learnt that my mum's brother passed away. I told her in the presence of my dad. We were walking to a restaurant at that time. My mum broke down in tears, wailed and needed to sit down on a park bench on the way -- all in public. My dad did not even ask my mum if she was OK, offer sympathies, hold her or hug her. He just stared at her, and frowned at the delay in us getting dinner when my mum needed to sit down for a while.

My dad has been in debt a few times in his life through bad financial decisions. Altogether he's burnt through about ten family properties (his parents were quite wealthy) and sold them to cover his poor financial stewardship. At the moment he has no income and my mum supports him with rent from her properties she carefully built up over the years. About 75% of my mum's gross income goes to my dad (and he still treats her this way). Some recent verbal venom my dad gave to my mum was, "What good have you done for people?" My dad gives out charity - with my mum's money, and basks in the credit for it as the "great" Bible teacher of the church.

For my mum's birthday, she showed me WhatsApp messages from lots of people from the church, wishing her a happy and blessed birthday. Notably absent was any birthday greeting from her husband.

My mum on the other hand relives and recounts the traumas she gets from my dad by telling everyone who would listen what he does to her. It can't be healthy (spiritually, mentally or physically) not only for her but her audience.

So....my question is what I should do as the child. For a start I really don't want to hear these awful stories from my mum, but she has no one else to talk to. The venom and repeated traumas between them is too much that no one from their existing church wants to be the Christian friend and shoulder to lean on. So I have to listen to these stories and it really affects me seeing how "mature Christians" act.

Also, although I haven't asked my dad for money for a long time, I remember when I did, he never held back. So I don't feel it's my place to put brakes on his spending now, especially when he is ill with cancer. Also, even if he didn't provide for me, we are told to honor our parents (without any condition such as "only if they are good to the children....")

My dad has asked me and the other children for money a few times. I'm kind of reluctant to give because I feel the money would be wasted or given away so he can seem like the good/generous church Bible teacher (for example he's taken out his Bible students to expensive restaurants and paid for them from money he got from his children or my mum). He also gave (with no contract!) a church leader who claimed to be a good investor a lot of money after the person asked my dad to give him money to invest. Naturally when my dad asked for how his investment was doing, this weasel said he had lost all my father's money.

Any advice or prayers would be much appreciated.

Before his election, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost spoke clearly on synodality, Church unity, sexual morality, and the role of bishops and women in the Church.

In the weeks and months ahead, the world will be watching to see where Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, leads the Catholic Church on any number of controversial issues.

But as the bishop and cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the man who is now pope has already spoken out on everything from Church unity to the possibility of ordained women, transgender ideology to ecclesial reform.

In his past remarks, Prevost often combined a concern for fidelity to the Gospel and apostolic tradition with openness to doctrinal development and pastoral adaptability in various settings.

Here’s what our new pope has previously said on five key issues facing the Catholic Church.

Synodality and Church Reform​

Continued below.

Looking for inspiration before evening prayer?
I am. I called my friend in California whose daughter had a dissected aorta last Mother's Day and only survived three days after surgery. She didn't answer the phone, and I left a message: "I'm thinking of you. I love you. I loved _________. I'm here for you if you need me." So inadequate....

But that's faith. Reaching out to comfort someone when only God can give her the peace she needs--and it might not come in this lifetime.

And then I read this quote from Pope Leo. While he admits he doesn't have the answers, he certainly is a shepherd worth following.
*Quote from Pope Leo X1V.*
" Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.
That changed me.
So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers.
And you, yes, you...
are one of them."
Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)

Read a book once called "Messy Spirituality," and this is a prime example. Looking for your feedback.

Please join me in prayer for a single mother who is facing homelessness. She has two teen boys, one who has medical needs.

She is hardworking for Uber to give her flexibility to be there for her sons, but issues with the app caused her to fall behind financially. She's also faced car issues and now has been told she needs to leave the house they are renting.

She has a donation page which I can't list here, but if you could please pray that people are led to it, and that the Lord will provide for them, and save them. Her name is Cris S.

Thank you so dearly.

May God bless you.

Made famous by that imbecile here is a brief glimpse of the geology, weather, flora and fauna of the islands.

Inspired by the very popular song from the 80s by Rich Mullins "Awesome God" I was a sleeper on this song until now. Didn't see it was released. Great song!

"What An Awesome God"
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In a year when a Pope from Chicago is elected, anything is possible. Anything.

Dear fellow missionaries

What are some of your personal experiences with Intercessory prayers during mission work?

Did anyone here find it difficult at first, but got better at it?

Has anyone here experienced a healing while doing this?

Please share scriptures, stories of your work doing this as well as any encouragement in images or poems or artwork even.

Thank you!

Gods Peace be with you

I think it's noteworthy that I've seen a lot of this sort of sentiment from the tradosphere on Twitter, a sort of patience and cautious optimism about Leo XIV where most are willing to at least wait a bit and let some time go by with the new papacy before casting any criticism or condemnation his way. Despite the flood of information both good and bad about our new Holy Father.

Dr. Kwasniewski writes, in part:

Since President Donald Trump was sworn into office in January, he has sat for just 12 presentations from intelligence officials of the President’s Daily Brief.

That’s a significant drop compared with Trump’s first term in office, according to a POLITICO analysis of his public schedule.

Presidents vary in how often they have received in-person briefings. George W. Bush saw briefers from the intelligence community almost every day and preferred hearing directly from analysts, while Obama was a studious reader of the PDB book itself.

But with Trump, there is added concern [beyond the paucity of in-person briefings] as he is known not to read the accompanying briefing document, referred to as “the book,” that is put together by intelligence analysts in a highly labor-intensive process. This document is delivered in hard copy or on a tablet device to the president and his key advisers five days a week.

In this season of seeing the Catholic Church elect a new Pope - one thing that keeps surfacing in the news is that there are 1.4 billion Catholics.

Then recently I saw a program where two non-Catholics were talking -- saying that they are counted as part of the 1.4 billion Catholics since they were born into a Catholic home and Catholicism is one of the infant-baptism groups.

ask AI - reports this
"It's difficult to provide an exact number of Catholics who have switched to non-Catholic denominations. However, Pew Research Center data indicates that 43% of those raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic."

Almost all denominations can give a reasonable approximation for the question "How many people have ever joined this denomination?"

But to the question "how many people alive today , currently identify as members of this denomination" - very few denominations appear to give attention to that level of accuracy. Obviously the answer to this second question will be a much smaller number than the answer to the question above.

It is difficult for any denomination to track the actual number of people currently members of their group - because people switch denominations, some decide not to be Christian at all or join non-Christian groups entirely - Muslim, Hindu etc.

But if the AI statement above is anywhere near representative for the Catholic Church - then 60% of that 1.4 billion number is closer to reality.

I think the denominations that practice believer's baptism may be slightly more accurate in what their numbers actually are.

But then there is also another layer of accuracy where some denominations remove a person's name from the books if that person can no longer be located by the local church that claims to hold their membership.

So this begs the question in general - what is the real true number of Christians in the world (not just what is the real number for a given denomination".

We tend to say 2 billion Christians world wide - but how close is that number to reality? (is it off by 30%? 50%)?

David Hogg tried pitching a compromise to the DNC. He was rebuffed.​

DNC chair doubles down on his ultimatum for Hogg​