Reuters: This construction project was on time and on budget. Then came ICE.​

Rawstory version

In an interview with Reuters published Monday, construction site superintendent Robby Robertson expressed frustration at the way the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies have impacted his business.

He said that trouble at his site began in late May, shortly after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on a construction site in Tallahassee, Florida, which he said scared off nearly his entire workforce for several days afterward. Even though nearly two months have passed since then, he said a little more than half of his workforce has come back.

[Even legal Hispanic ones.] "They are scared they look the part," Robertson explained.

"I'm a Trump supporter," Robertson told Reuters. "But I just don't think the raids are the answer."

"The contractor world is full of Republicans," explained [construction company CEO] Harrison in an interview with Reuters. "I'm not anti-ICE. We're supportive of what the president is trying to do. But the reality of it is our industry has to have the Hispanic immigrant-based workers in it."

durangodawood said:

Orange mixed with blue makes a reddish mud color. Side by side the contrast looks pretty great tho.

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That totally depends on the proportions. You can get anywhere from a burnt orange, brown, gray, to a dull blue. It's one of my favorite portrait palettes as the range is both wide and pleasing. It's cool to see how side by side juxtapositions alter the perception of the actual color.

Yes, I know it's not everyone's preferred source...nor is it mine. However, there aren't any mainstream outlets actually discussing this story.

State documents indicate that Mitchell, age 30 at the time, was arrested and charged in early February 2016 with three felony counts of possession of child pornography; endangering the welfare of children; corruption of a minor; felony sexual abuse of a minor; and felony photographing/videotaping sexual acts in Chester County, Pennsylvania.











Now, to be clear, I don't have any personal issues with gay couples adopting kids. Obviously forum rules would dictate that one can't advocate for that sort of thing -- so that's not what I'm doing, but I have mentioned in the past that being adopted to a two-parent home is preferable to getting bounced around from foster home to foster home for 18 years.


My main issue is it sounds like Pennsylvania has some weakly structured laws, where a man who would've been totally ineligible to adopt a child into their custody, is granted a loophole due to surrogacy situations being treated differently.

"The couple obtained legal parentage of their child through a pre-birth order, which bypasses adoption checks that would have flagged the conviction"


It could also potentially be a black eye for GoFundMe (they've since taken down the campaign, but the screenshot of it is above and is still accessible through the web archives)


Should surrogacy options be off the table for these types of situations if they're not going to go through the same vetting procedures that adoption would provide? They're both creating the same end result -- being a person gaining custody of child that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

And that doesn't even delve into the well known challenges regarding babies being separated from their biological mothers.

Valletta said:

There again you assume Trump, a guy who has made an effort to fulfill so many campaign promises when compared with other politicians, is not telling it straight. We'll have to see if the U.S. gets 90%.
Remember we just got rid of an administration involved in numerous hoaxes perpetrated against the American people as well as no serious effort to fulfill a number of campaign promises.

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President Trump may be accurately stating that the Japanese Prime Minister has provided assurance that Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States.

However, assurances from the Prime Minister do not guarantee outcomes. Anyone familiar with democracy and capitalism knows that while Japan's Prime Minister can make promises in bilateral agreements, they lack the legal power to direct Japanese companies on investment decisions.

Is that you call “ Trump bashing”?

The Vatican’s doctrinal office has expressed reservations about an alleged Marian apparition site in southern Italy, permitting only private devotion and warning that claims that a deceased woman has communicated messages through a guardian angel “require further study.”

Sant’Onofrio is a mountain in the southern Italian region of Molise, close to the town of Agnone. Since 2009, a resident of the area, Michelino Marcovecchio, has claimed to receive visions of the Virgin Mary and messages from her.

He has also claimed to hear the voice of his deceased mother-in-law, Livia Casciano, through his guardian angel.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) gave the alleged supernatural experiences at Mount Sant’Onofrio a judgment of “prae oculis habeatur” (“let it be held before the eyes”), meaning there are “important positive signs” but “some aspects of confusion or potential risk are also perceived,” and “doctrinal clarification might be necessary.”

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“Why does it seem that wherever the government is, God can’t be? Why is it that hurting kids can’t turn to the healing power of the Bible during the school day?”

That’s the question posed by a new documentary that examines the growing movement to bring Bible-based education back to students in public schools.

Produced by Ohio-based LifeWise Academy in partnership with Fathom Entertainment, “Off School Property: Solving the Separation of Church and State,” directed by Nate Lundquist, delves into the historic role of the Bible in American public education and its removal in the 1960s, exploring the societal impacts and the push for its return through released time religious instruction (RTRI).

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Richard T said:

Perhaps your cessionist and thats fine if you wish to limit visions. My personal experience says otherwise.

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I had a dream I knew was legitimate, so I tried to keep my mouth shut about it, i made it 3 weeks.

The dream was very simple, I saw a woman (not identifiable) walk up to me and ask permission to pray for me.

3 weeks later at a youthgroup, a friend walks up to me, and I tell her that 3 weeks ago I had a dream of a woman walked up to me to ask permission to pray for me. -the Spirit had just directly told her to pray for me. she was overjoyed, we went outside.

She remains the only person at that youth group who even attempted to pray for me, and whos prayers were immediately effective.

I am working on a website collecting details on places and objects for self-guided American Church history tours. It has been encouraging to find so much remains that our government has not removed or been destroyed by time.
I have found when I search online for this topic the Latter-Day Saints have cornered the market for church history tours, and they are promoting faithful evangelicals as their forefathers and retelling the story. I would love to hear some resources, blogs, websites, professors, etc. I could use as I do my research and also to connect with those who may have interest in this topic.

Here is my website if this interests anyone. Beside Old Hearthstones - An American Evangelical Church History Tour Thanks in advance!

Would have thought such estimates would be straight forward. It was known relatively soon after the pandemic began that some age groups were more adversely impacted than others. So you look at the mortality rate due to the virus in each age group, breaking it down between vaccinated and unvaccinated. The difference between the two would be the decrease in mortality due to the vaccine. Apply that rate to the number of vaccinated in each group and it should be possible to come up with an estimate of lives saved due to the vaccine. Such data was available prior to Omicron, and the significant difference in my demographic is what convinced me to get vaccinated. But if someone applied the same morality rate across all age groups, that could inflate the numbers because some age groups didn't have the same mortality rates.

CoreyD said:

I'm tempted to give a thorough response, but since getting into this might be considered off topic, could you please take a look at 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7, and the surrounding verses, as well as Acts 20:29, 30, as soon as you get opportunity. ...and can you please consider when these words were written, and when the writer died.
From those words would it have taken 400 years or more like 40... or even 4... if we consider 2 Peter 2:1 and 1 John 2:18, 19?

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Well at frist is was being stamped out. But as time progressed stuff got incorporated.

Tuur said:

Off topic comment ahead: Maybe I need to take a break. I saw Scotus and thought "What does the US Supreme Court have to do with theology?"

Sigh.

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They will soon weigh in also.

Bradskii said:

I guess you don't play golf. Cheating in the game is considered to be an undeniable reflection of your character. You simply don't do it. Even if you're playing alone. That Trump cheats doesn't surprise me in the slightest. In fact, based on his character, it would be something I'd assume he does regularly. It epitomises him.

If he lies, you can say he was mistaken or that it was an 'alternative fact'. If he says something crude or racist or misogynist then you can say it was taken out of context. If he makes a remarkably stupid claim like dropping drug prices by 1700% then you can call it exaggeration for effect. But if he cheats at golf, his true character - or rather his lack of character, is there for all the world to see. That one simple act sums up the man.

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Americans are coming around to the morality of whatever you can get away with.

Thought for the Day​

Cardinal Sarah delivered a STIRRING speech today in France:

'Too often in the West, religion is presented as an activity in the service of human well-being. Religion is equated with humanitarian efforts, acts of charity, the welcoming of migrants and the homeless, the promotion of universal fraternity and peace in the world. Even if these matters are important, this vision of religion is false. Religion is not a matter of food or humanitarian action. In the desert, this was the first temptation that Jesus rejected'

“I want to say once again ... how very sorry I am for my past actions.”​

A North Carolina priest has resigned his parish, after news reporting detailed allegations of sexual and spiritual manipulation in the context of spiritual direction.

The priest, who has been banned from a Catholic university in Virginia over the allegations against him, was made last month administrator of St. Paul Parish in New Bern, North Carolina, and resigned from the office Friday evening.



St. Paul Catholic Church, New Bern, North Carolina. Courtesy photo.

“After a recent news publication, I will be voluntarily stepping away from ministry at St. Paul and St. Peter the Fisherman and moving away from New Bern,” wrote Fr. Steven Costello in a July 25 email to parishioners, obtained on Saturday by The Pillar.

“I want to say once again as I did when I returned here in October how very sorry I am for my past actions.” I will say that it was certainly the worst mistake of my life,” the priest added.

—
Costello’s resignation came one day after The Pillar reported that a former spiritual directee had alleged against him a three-year period of abuse and manipulation, during which he reportedly said that God had given them a unique relationship, which he allegedly characterized as “spousal friendship.”

In the context of that relationship — during which he allegedly manipulated the woman’s emotional vulnerabilities disclosed in spiritual direction — the priest often told the woman he loved her, initiated hand-holding and cuddling sessions, touched her breasts, discussed his sexual desire for her, and disclosed to her that he had [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] while texting her, or during a FaceTime Call.

The priest allegedly analogized the couple’s relationship to the mystical spirituality of St. Theresa of Avila, while urging the woman to be “discreet,” because others, including her husband, would not “understand” the nature of their relationship.

According to the woman, the priest also disclosed to her that he had engaged in three similar relationships with women in the past.

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TRUEPeace said:

God speaks to your heart not your head. You will know when it's God speaking and when it is something else.

God bless

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I'm glad for you that it's a simple distinction, but that's not always the case for all of us. Some of us have to learn to listen to how God speaks to us, and some of us have a lot of noise in our heads and hearts. I recently had a conversation with a friend about computers and he and I can discuss things that most people don't have the capacity to follow. It comes naturally to us. Some people discern God's voice more easily than others. You sound like you are one of those, and that's great!

Not to mention, Jesus would have prayed the psalms regularly, as do many mainline Protestants do.

Glory to God!

Glory to God! May God increase their number!

Lord have mercy!

There is a strong unease among the accelerationist revolutionaries who still wander the Roman palaces: they are determined to prove at all costs that Leo XIV is fully continuing the agenda initiated by Francis. Spadaro, in particular, is aligned with those hardline Bergoglians who, during the last conclave, persisted to the very end in order to prevent Prevost from ascending to the See of Peter.

The Dehonian Editions of Bologna, Italy, recently published a book that was immediately met with criticism and scandal, particularly within the Vatican Curia. Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, Undersecretary at the Dicastery for Culture and Education, is the author of the book Da Francesco a Leone (“From Francis to Leo”). As the title clearly suggests, the aim of the book is to demonstrate complete continuity in governance between Bergoglio and Prevost.

There is a strong unease among the accelerationist revolutionaries who still wander the Roman palaces: they are determined to prove at all costs that Leo XIV is fully continuing the agendainitiated by Francis. Spadaro, in particular, is aligned with those hardline Bergoglians who, during the last conclave, persisted to the very end in order to prevent Prevost from ascending to the See of Peter. Among them are Jesuit Jean-Claude Hollerich and the 'people’s theologian' Víctor Manuel Fernandez.

The book's subtitle reads: 'With an unpublished interview with Cardinal Francis R. Prevost.' Yet, the interview in question is actually a transcription of a public conversation the former Prefect for Bishops gave nearly a year ago, on August 7, 2024, at the Augustinian parish of St. Jude Church in New Lenox, Illinois. The questions were written and proposed by Father Ray Flores, not by Father Spadaro. Nico Spuntoni, writing in La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, even points out that, according to social media, the Jesuit was in Sicily at the time—not in the USA. Both the Jesuit and the publishing house quickly took steps to contain the fallout, yet the book's cover remains quite explicit.

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The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication reiterated its long-standing call for recognition of Palestine statehood amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict after France announced last week it would recognize the region’s statehood.

The editorial manager for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, Andrea Tornielli, called for a “two-state solution” and recognition of Palestine as a state in a July 27 editorial.

In the editorial, Tornielli cited France’s recent movement toward recognition. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a post on X that France would recognize Palestine as a state — a plan that was quickly rejected by various Western countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Australia.

In addition to affirming Palestine as a state, Macron called for the demilitarization of the terrorist group Hamas that runs the government of Gaza. He demanded the release of the hostages, called for humanitarian aid for Gaza, and said that Palestine must accept demilitarization and fully recognize Israel.

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Church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris, which arsonists set fire to the day after an electrical fire damaged the church. | Credit: Julien Jean Zayatz/Shutterstock

Notre Dame des Champs, an iconic Catholic church in the Parisian neighborhood of Montparnasse, was targeted in an arson attack just 24 hours after an accidental fire broke out in its choir loft.

The cause of the first fire, which broke out on the morning of July 23, has been attributed to a failed electrical circuit that resulted in the destruction of the church’s sound system and choir organ, according to a Le Figaro report.

The next day, in a side chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, vandals set fire to wood panels. A recently renovated canvas located above the wood panels sustained significant damage. A statue of St. Joseph fell and broke while firefighters put out the flames, according to a reportfrom the Tablet, which said there have been “50 fires or attempted arson cases” in French churches in the past year, compared with 38 in 2023.

No one was reported injured in either incident.

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Where is this supposed to go? Kitchen Sink or Science?