essentialsaltes said:

So-called “active clubs” have proliferated across the US and are a combination of fitness and mixed martial arts groups that often espouse neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies, openly taking their historical cues from the Third Reich’s obsession with machismo and European soccer hooliganism.

Active clubs have emerged as perhaps the most dangerous form of far-right political organizing today. With links to other militant organizations, including Patriot Front, they encourage a seemingly mainstream version of masculinity, layered with ideologies promoting a US race war and using the popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a gateway to recruiting.

Earlier this month, their main Telegram account, endorsed “youth clubs”, which are chapters beginning to spring up online across the country, showing pictures of 18-year-olds and under engaging in mixed martial arts, racist meme-ing, and posts referencing genocidal and bigoted literature.

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Warning Issued Over 'Explosion' of Neo Nazi Clubs in US​

According to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), there has been an "explosion" in the number of active chapters of neo-Nazi Active Clubs (ACs) in the U.S. and other countries. The group is raising alarm about this trend, calling it a "growing transnational threat."

Active Clubs are a transnational network of sports clubs that were founded by the white supremacist Robert Rundo and the Russian neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin in 2020. Rundo is one of the founders of a U.S. far-right organization called the Rise Above Movement (RAM) and was sentenced to jail in 2024 for conspiracy to riot at Californian political rallies in 2017. Kapustin is a far-right figure who runs the Russian Volunteer Corps and has reportedly espoused Adolf Hitler's views.

The decentralised groups engage in physical training with the purpose of being able to attack political opponents and also spread propaganda about white nationalism.

Stephen Volz, the assistant administrator of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, and Jeff Dillen, a deputy general counsel at NOAA, were placed on leave Thursday morning, Volz told NBC News.

“The letter itself gave no information about the cause. It said, ‘You are on administrative leave pending an investigation into your recent public conduct,’” Volz said Friday, adding that he had “no idea” what was being investigated.

Volz and Dillen were figures in the controversy during the first Trump presidency that came to be known as “Sharpiegate,” in which forecasters were rebuked for contradicting the president over a crude alteration to a hurricane map.

NOAA confirmed Friday that the two men had been placed on leave.

“Mr. Dillen was placed on administrative leave by the department’s senior career attorney pending a review of performance issues over the past several weeks,” Kim Doster, NOAA communications director, said in an emailed statement. “Separately, Dr. Volz was placed on administrative leave on an unrelated matter.”

The agency is without a leader as Neil Jacobs, President Donald Trump’s nominee, awaits Senate confirmation. NOAA’s spending is also under close review. The Trump administration has proposed deep cuts to the agency’s budget

[After Sharpiegate,] NOAA hired the National Academy of Public Administration to perform an independent assessment into allegations of scientific misconduct during the incident. The investigation found that Jacobs [acting administrator during Trump 1.0] violated NOAA’s ethics policies.

Volz wrote a final decision about the report for NOAA, which agreed with NAPA’s findings. [Dillen served as legal counsel.]

Who is he? Does he even have a job?

lifepsyop said:

Do you think it's worth investigating, or nah, nothing suspicious at all?

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What's the point? Trump made sure presidents are immune to any and all actions during their presidency. Let us reason. Please.
Thanks for engaging!
Be blessed.

Fossils unearthed in Grand Canyon reveal new details of evolutionary explosion of life

CNN - Paleontologists have discovered remarkable fossils in the Grand Canyon that reveal fresh details about the emergence of complex life half a billion years ago.

The newfound remains of fauna from the region suggest that it offered ideal conditions for life to flourish and diversify, in a “Goldilocks zone” between harsh extremes elsewhere. This evolutionary opportunity produced a multitude of early animals, including oddballs with peculiar adaptations for survival, according to new research.

The study team expected to recover mostly the fossilized remains of hard-shelled invertebrates typical of the region. Instead, the team unearthed something unusual: rocks containing well-preserved internal fragments of tiny soft-bodied mollusks, crustaceans, and priapulids (...).

“With these kinds of fossils, we can better study their morphology, their appearance, and their lifestyle in much greater resolution, which is not possible with the shelly parts,” said Giovanni Mussini, the first author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. “It’s a new kind of window on Cambrian life in the Grand Canyon.”

Using high-powered microscopes, the team was able to investigate innovations such as miniature chains of teeth from rock-scraping mollusks and the hairy limbs and molars of filter-feeding crustaceans, providing a rare look into the biologically complex ways Cambrian animals adapted to capture and eat prey.

The Trump administration has located more than 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children who were previously unaccounted for amid concerns about human trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor.

At least 13,061 migrant children, who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied by an adult, have been located, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official confirmed to NewsNation. At least 422 sponsors who cared for unaccompanied minor children upon their arrival in the U.S. had been arrested on charges of abusing the minors in their custody or other crimes, the source said.

An August 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General stated that "ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody."

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Please pray for a 65-year-old pastor in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, who has recently been sentenced to three years in prison.

Pavel Shreider, who lives in the country’s capital, Bishkek, was arrested last November by members of the country’s secret police. Earlier this month he was convicted on charges of ‘inciting racial, ethnic, national, religious or regional hatred.’ He denies all charges and is preparing to appeal.

The indictment against the pastor stated that Shreider and other unidentified accomplices had ‘conceived of inciting religious hatred in order to undermine the integrity and security of the state.’ It went on to say he had ‘illegally organised a religious cell, based on the principles of Protestant Christianity, in which he exerted a manipulative influence on church members, as well as through religious literature that is negatively aggressive in nature towards other religions.’

Kyrgyzstan is one of a cluster of Central Asian countries that gained its independence in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The country’s constitution provides for freedom of religion.

Release International’s partner said, ‘For many years now it has been impossible to register a single new church in Kyrgyzstan; and as for previously registered communities, their legal legitimacy is currently under great threat, due to the adoption of new legislative acts.’ He added, ‘I sincerely ask all caring Christians to pray diligently for brother Pavel Shreider, as well as for the church in Kyrgyzstan.’

Pray:

• for Pastor Pavel Shreider: in particular for a successful appeal against his sentencing;
• for his congregation and other Christian churches who may feel under pressure in Kyrgyzstan at this time;
• for God to continue building his kingdom in Kyrgyzstan.

The FBI spied extensively on a Roman Catholic priest who declined to disclose private conversations he had with a parishioner, according to a report released earlier this week from the House Judiciary Committee that has raised religious liberty concerns.

“This new information demonstrates that the FBI not only used its federal law enforcement resources to surveil certain Catholic Americans, but it also used these resources to investigate a clergy member,” the committee said, according to the July 22 report that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, shared with the Catholic News Agency.

After he expressed reluctance to comply with a January 2023 inquiry regarding a parishioner who had been arrested, the FBI’s Richmond office probed the unnamed priest’s ordination history, examined his finances and coordinated with the FBI’s London office to track his international travel.

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When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we enter into a personal relationship with the Lord, which is a close intimate relationship with God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is now our husband, and we are his bride, and we are to be faithful to our Lord just as anyone who is married should be faithful to his or to her spouse. And we are now to follow the Lord with our lives in obedience to his commands, and in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives, for the glory of God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

But following Jesus Christ with our lives is not an easy road, and he never promised that it would be. It will be filled with trials and tribulations to test our faith and to strengthen us in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and to mature us in Christ. And we are going to come up against “brick walls” and “high waters” and all sorts of obstacles which God intends to use for good in our lives, but which Satan intends for evil in our lives as a means to try to get us to give up on God and on faith and on service to our Lord.

And these difficult situations, which we will encounter from time to time, may tend to distress us and to make us afraid, in our natural human emotions. But this is where we need to look to the Lord and trust him to work it all out according to his plan and purpose for our lives, as he continues to mold us and to make us into his likeness. For if we are on God’s side, obeying his commands, and doing his will, he is for us, and he will watch over us, and he will give us victory over the enemy of our souls.

So, rather than respond to life’s difficulties with fear and distress, and/or with retreating and escaping and running away from our circumstances, we are to be even more dedicated and serious about our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives. And we must continue in the work of the Lord, to which he has called us, despite all the obstacles in our way. And we must keep on in serving the Lord and in living holy lives, pleasing to God, living out the salvation he provided for us.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-39; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

I Need Thee Every Hour

Hymn lyrics by Annie S. Hawks, 1872
Ref. by Robert Lowry, 1872
Music by Robert Lowry, 1872

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

I need Thee every hour; stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

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From My Distress I Called
An Original Work / July 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I believe the way it goes is Tolkien who was a devout Catholic, lead Lewis who was an atheist, to becoming a Christian.

PTL that is good news!

And has been my experience that some Ultras believe in Soul sleep. !

And what does Soul Sleep means , does anyone have a verse ?

And I believe that I have a verse , but your thoughts first. ?

dan p

What's really funny is how they took the famous Karl Marx slogan of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", and changed it to "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work". Uh oh. In the words of Johnny Rotten, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Be kind, please rewind.

-CryptoLutheran

It doesn’t look like it on the surface; it looks more like a magazine cover or artistic rendition, and less like a canonical icon.

By the way regarding the consecration of icons, I don’t know if that’s the case; I have seen conflicting arguments on whether or not they require consecration. There is also the blessing of icons on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, one of my favorite feasts, the joyous beginning of the joyous fast and liturgical buffet of delights such as the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, the Presanctified, Great Vespers and the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete that is the Great Lent, which traditionally ends with my favorite Orthodox liturgy other than the Eucharist, which is the Holy Unction service (consecration of Holy Oil and annointing of the sick or fasters with Holy Oil). This service is still celebrated on the last Friday in Lent in more traditional Orthodox churches such as many ROCOR parishes, and also in at least some Oriental Orthodox (Coptic Orthodox)

We live in a day and age when so many people are becoming followers of other humans instead of becoming followers of God (of Jesus Christ). Since we live in the age of computers and television and the internet, and other media outlets, we can get 24/7 media coverage on just about anyone of any level of importance or notoriety. And many people are becoming followers of public figures, instead of becoming followers of God, and this is sad.

Many people are treating other humans as though they are gods, as though they are their saviors who are going to rescue them from the evils of the world. They depend on other humans to tell them the truth instead of turning to God and to the Scriptures to get truth. Or they depend on internet memes to tell them the truth because memes are short and easy to read quickly, and they don’t involve research and studying, which takes time.

The internet is a strong influencer over people’s minds and their beliefs and ways of thinking. There is a lot of mind control going on via television and the internet and other media outlets. And if people of faith are addicted to the media, and if they are dependent on the media to get truth, then so many of them are subject to accepting lies in place of the truth, for the lies can be made to sound good, while the truth can be made to look evil.

But we who profess faith in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives are not to put our dependency and trust in other humans who are bound to fail us. We are not to be looking to other humans to save us from what ails us as a people and as nations on this earth. For what ails us as nations are the sins of those who oppose God and his plan and purpose for our lives, and who do evil to one another, sometimes in the name of God, too.

What ails us as the nations of the earth is that so many people are rejecting God and his plan and purpose for our lives in favor of living their lives their own way, doing their own thing, even if that means deliberately and habitually sinning against God and against one another. And sadly this includes many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ, for their faith is man-created instead of God-created, and it appeases human flesh rather than putting flesh to death so that they can now serve God with their lives.

But God’s salvation, which he has for us, puts sin to death in our lives, and it transforms us, and it changes us so that our desire is now to obey God and to no longer walk in sin in disobedience to God. But if our faith does not do that, then it is not biblical faith. For if we are convinced that a mere profession of faith in Christ is enough to secure us heaven for when we die, but while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to God, we have believed a lie and not the truth which saves our souls from hell, and which promises us eternal life with God in heaven.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Refiner’s Fire

By Brian Doerksen

Purify my heart,
let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
let me be as gold, pure gold.

Purify my heart,
cleanse me from within
and make me holy.
Purify my heart,
cleanse me from my sin, deep within.

Refiner's fire,
my heart's one desire
is to be holy;
set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be holy;
set apart for You, my Master,
ready to do Your will.

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The Lord, My Salvation
An Original Work / July 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

rjs330 said:

ICE like any LE has investigatory skills that they use to determine if someone is an illegal or not. If by that investigation reveals they are illegal they can be deported. BY LAW they do NOT need a court order to deport unless the alien says they want a hearing. If the alien says they want a hearing they have to get one before an immigration judge who then hears the case and determines if the person is subject to deportation. If they say so then the person can be deported immediately. If the alien does not ask for a hearing then they may be deported immediately.

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Yep. And if they are subject to deportation, they lose any chance of coming back. If they self deport, then they maintain the ability to seek citizenship.

I'm still playing Destiny 2

essentialsaltes said:

Fortunate? This guy especially. He got 29 years knocked off his sentence.​

Perpetrator of triple homicide in Madrid included in group of political prisoners repatriated by US from Venezuela​

Dahud Hanid Ortiz landed Friday in Texas from Caracas, where he was sentenced to 30 years for a crime committed in the Spanish capital in 2016​

The United States has welcomed the release and surrender by the Venezuelan Chavista regime of a group of 10 Americans who landed last Friday in Texas, among them a triple murderer, Dahud Hanid Ortiz. The identity of this freed man has been confirmed to EL PAÍS through a source close to the Spanish secret services and another from the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, which is dedicated to the defense of political prisoners. This organization, a reference in the field of human rights in Venezuela, warned that among those being released was one who was not a political prisoner. This Tuesday, Foro Penal confirmed to this newspaper that it was referring to Ortiz.

Images published in the U.S. media show him last Friday, waving to the camera as he and the rest of the group left the Joint Base San Antonio military installation in Texas.

The triple homicide perpetrated by Ortiz took place in 2016 in a law office in Usera, a working-class district in the south of the Spanish capital. None of the three victims were who he was actually going after that day. His target was Víctor Salas, a lawyer who was in a relationship with his ex-wife who he had threatened to kill. That day, however, he murdered two female employees of the office and a client whom he mistook for Salas.

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Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister, said Wednesday night on his weekly broadcast that the Venezuelan government had warned U.S. officials at the airport that they were “taking away a convicted murderer.”

“The United States defended their murderer and asked for him to be included,” Cabello alleged.

An unamed source indicated Cabello is not in detention following his arrival on US soil.
The US government has been mum on his wherabouts....

Honestly have been thinking about visiting a Catholic or Orthodox church myself.

Not from the hype, but I've kind of spiritually outgrown Protestantism.

Seems to be the only direction left to try.

This week the White House released its plan for artificial intelligence (AI) in the United States, which aims “to achieve global dominance in AI” and promote “human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people.”

The plan comes as Catholic leaders continue to urge developers to exercise caution when growing and refining the new technology.

The government’s “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan” identifies more than 90 federal policy actions within the categories of “accelerating innovation, building American AI infrastructure, and leading in international diplomacy and security.”

The White House announcement laid out the key policies the AI plan will focus on, including sharing technology with allies around the world, developing data centers, and stripping away red tape around AI development.

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“Thanks be to God more people weren’t harmed,” said Father Gabriel Romanelli in an exclusive interview with EWTN on July 24 in the wake of the July 17 bombing of his parish, Holy Family Church in Gaza, which left three dead and 15 wounded, including himself.

“It was a shocking experience,” Romanelli told “EWTN Noticias” in the Spanish-language interview, noting that while the parish grounds were struck toward the beginning of the war in December 2023, last week’s attack marked the first time the church itself was hit. The front of the church was hit in a strike that Israeli officials have said was an accident.

“That iconic cross you’ve seen — it’s about 2 meters [6.5 feet] tall — was heavily damaged,” the priest said of the crucifix fixed atop the church structure. “Shrapnel flew in all directions,” he recounted.

“The area is quite small, and while we hear bombings daily and metal fragments often fall, there hadn’t been such a severe incident since the war began,” Romanelli continued, adding: “The recent strike has left a deep mark.”

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