Laodicean60 said:

My boy Gergely finally understands what happens when you tax the "Rich". Every company feels the effect of raised taxes and they layoff people or pass them on to the consumer to keep their margin.

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Long-term, this didn’t change the amount of tax collected (or wouldn’t have if employment hadn’t dropped). It merely changed when it was collected. This was basically an accounting gimmick to enable Trump’s plan to go through.

Laodicean60 said:

Something else I don't understand; The complaints about Trump's tax cuts benefiting the rich and now when taxes are raised Gergely complains.

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Again, they weren’t raised so much as reorganized, abruptly.

Laodicean60 said:

An unexpectedly high tax bill out of nowhere"
How was this unexpected when the TCJA was created in 2018?

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This facet of the bill hasn’t gotten much press. It’s my understanding that the bigger players tried to make some noise about it at the time.

He will also meet with leaders of several other countries including France (Macron), Ukraine (Zelensky), Brazil (Lula), India (Modi), and Turkey (Erdogan).

On the eve of Pope Francis' trip to Bari for the G7, the Vatican published the program for this trip on June 13, 2024, during which the Pontiff is scheduled to speak on artificial intelligence (AI).

The head of the Catholic Church will also take part in a dozen bilateral meetings. Private meetings are scheduled with various heads of state or government: Biden (USA), Macron (France), Zelensky (Ukraine), Lula (Brazil), Modi (India) and Erdogan (Turkey).

An alert regarding artificial intelligence​

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In January of 2024, the sainthood cause of Joseph Dutton concluded its local phase of exploration in the Diocese of Honolulu, meaning that he became officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a Servant of God. If miracles are approved through his intercession, he would be the third person from Hawaii to become a canonized saint.

So who was he?

As it turns out, Brother Joseph, as he was known to the lepers of Molokai, followed a long and winding path to Christian service, through sin and struggle and discernment, before leaving everything behind to honor Jesus by ministering to those affected by leprosy.

He was born Ira Barnes Dutton on April 27, 1843, in Stowe, Vermont, and was living in Wisconsin when the Civil War broke out a couple of decades later. He joined the 13th Wisconsin Infantry and witnessed the horrors of brother fighting against brother, as well as the fallout of a nation divided by violence and strife. Dutton grew up Baptist, but his experience of war factored into his descent into alcoholism, as well as a broken marriage. That struggle with alcohol would go on for several years, until he made a resolution to quit drinking in 1876. This was part of a deeper conversion in his life, which led him to eventually consider and embrace the claims of the Catholic Faith.

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‘No longer will your sun set, or your moon wane; for the Lord will be your light forever.’ —Isaiah 60:20

In April, the Biden administration called upon NASA to create a moon-based time standard.

The proposed lunar time zone would be known as Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).

What the inhabitants of the moon think of this has not yet been recorded, but NASA’s imposition of “time” upon the earth’s only natural satellite prompts the question: What is time? As underlying NASA’s undertaking is the presumption that time belongs to man, and, consequently, that it is up to humanity to define what it is. With such a view, man not only presumes to regulate the flow of time here on earth — and also now on the moon — but does so because time is merely a human construct, reflecting humanity’s comprehension of the universe.

This cannot be a Christian understanding of time. Especially so, perhaps, as more than adherents of any other religion, Christians are conscious of time not as something meaningless or of our own making. Instead, it marks out the timeline of the truths of our faith: Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the End Times and the Parousia.

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The security and encouragement of the believer is not according to how one feels, but in knowing the unchangeable love of God ever has to those who reckon themselves “dead with Christ” (Rom 6:8; Col 2:20); this is the “old man” remaining on the Cross of Christ, while the believer is raised from the Cross. The reason saints go through various feelings is so they can know that salvation transcends emotion. Yes, there will always be times of both types of feelings, of discouragement and encouragement, but it’s during the times of discouragement that demonstrates to us to know God’s love is the same, regardless the situation; and this increases and strengthens faith!

If one is still caught up in what they know God does not allow, it is either due to immaturity in Christ, where one is still a “babe in Christ,” from which God will eventually deliver from natural ignorance; or one is still unsaved and attempting to fool self into believing all is good if you keep confessing the wrong. The “old” self will continue to try to protect its ideals, so we are to be set in ourselves for the long-haul of being tempted—then being “delivered,” e.g. tempted but not giving in.

Even after being finally saved, the “old man”—until death or rapture, will continue to tempt the believer, but now it’s a different cycle. Instead of sinning and asking for forgiveness (which is not salvation if this is as far as you get), the believer is “delivered from evil” (Mat 6:13 Jhn 17:15 Gal 1:4 2Ti 4:18), i.e. we finally loose the desire for sin, which is how the old man maintains “dominion” over someone. It causes one to continue to desire sin, but the believer instead losses the taste for sin and goes “on unto completion” (Heb 6:1, 2).

Galatians 6:

1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens,

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Ok.

and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

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How to harmonize Galatians 6:2 and 6:5?

Let's check the Greek.

Galatians 6:

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

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Carry
βαστάζετε (bastazete)
Verb - Present Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's Greek 941: Perhaps remotely derived from the base of basis; to lift, literally or figuratively.

burdens,
βάρη (barē)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's Greek 922: Probably from the same as basis; weight; in the New Testament only, figuratively, a load, abundance, authority.

Galatians 6:

5 For each one will bear his own load.

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should carry
βαστάσει (bastasei)
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's Greek 941: Perhaps remotely derived from the base of basis; to lift, literally or figuratively.

load.
φορτίον (phortion)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's Greek 5413: A burden; the freight of a ship. Diminutive of phortos; an invoice, i.e. a task or service.

Galatians 6:2 and 6:5 describe two different concepts.

1. The "burdens" and "load" are two different Greek nouns.
2. The two verbs are the same but have different tenses: present and future.
3. The adjuncts "one another" and "his own" are completely different.

Galatians 6:2 talks about loving one another by helping each other out presently.

Galatians 6:5 states that an individual is responsible for and accountable for his own conduct, now and in the future. No one else is responsible for him.

See also Bear one another's burdens vs bear you own load

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. | Credit: Zelda Caldwell/CNA

The head of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ pro-life committee on Thursday expressed disappointment in the Supreme Court ruling that allowed the abortion pill to continue to be available, citing the health risks involved for women as well as concern for the life of the unborn.

The high court’s unanimous decision on Thursday found that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which had issued the regulations that made the abortion pill widely available.

“We know it was a procedural ruling, and we did not speak to the ultimate legality of the abortion pill, but it’s still very disappointing because now the abortion pill remains very available,” Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, told CNA.

As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, Burbidge had issued a call for Catholics to pray for the nation’s highest court to side with the pro-life medical groups challenging the FDA’s regulation.

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frienden thalord said:

It is Time to praise and thank the glorious Lord . hands up sue and hands up everyone . Let the LORD be praised .

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Let the Lord be thanked and praised.

Former abortionist turned pro-life advocate Dr. John Bruchalski speaks at a Live Action press conference in Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2024. | Credit: EWTN News Nightly/Screenshot

The same week the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a setback to the effort to rein in the growing distribution and use of chemical abortion pills, several leading pro-life advocates and lawmakers gathered in Washington, D.C., for a Live Action press conference to underscore the “violence” of chemical abortions and the importance of taking a principled stand on the issue.

At the event, former abortionist Dr. John Bruchalski, who founded Tepeyac OB/GYN and now heads Divine Mercy Care, discussed the growing popularity of chemical abortions and underscored that abortion “is a bloody, violent, brutal, unmerciful surgery or process that is emotionally filled with trauma, regret, hatred, shame, guilt, and malice.”

Bruchalski said the increasing number of chemical abortions “are turning apartments, homes, and bathrooms into memories of violence.”

“Today we are at a crossroads in medicine, in politics, and civil rights, testing whether this nation, conceived in liberty, is still dedicated to the proposition that all members of the human family are created equal,” he said.

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Pommer said:

PragerU should be able to peddle their wares in any school district that’ll have them.

People should vote out any school board which allows PragerU to peddle their wares in that district.

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Universities are also free to cast a critical eye on diplomas from Florida schools.

The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference in a speech to his fellow bishops gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, for their spring meeting discoursed on the subject of the incompatibility of “sex change” with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

In his speech to kick off the meeting, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who serves as archbishop for the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, and is president of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), reflected on the war in the Holy Land, the migrant crisis, the National Eucharistic Congress, and the persecution of the Church in Nicaragua, among other issues.

The largest portion of his address, however, was devoted to a catechesis on the subject of the dignity of the body, with the prelate citing Pope Francis’ recent declaration on gender ideology and referring specifically to the issue of “sex change.”

Broglio’s remarks come less than a month after news broke that a woman identifying as a man had attended seminary and was living a religious vocation as a male hermit in Kentucky, with the apparent approval of Bishop John Stowe, who leads the Diocese of Lexington.

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A southern pudu fawn born at Edinburgh Zoo – credit, Edinburgh Zoo, via SWNS

The Edinburgh Zoo has shared the first images of an adorable two-week-old Southern pudu fawn, the second smallest deer in the world.

It was born to first-time parents Violetta and Evan. The tiny female youngster is doing well and has been named Gia by keepers at the zoo, managed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Native to the forests of Chile and Argentina, pudu are the smallest members of the deer family, with the larger of the two—the southern pudu—standing at just 17.7 inches (55cm) tall when fully grown.

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Owen Barfield was actually the first and the last Inkling. He lived a very long time. His ideas were influenced by German Romanticism, especially Rudolph Steiner, a German esotericist who created the spiritual movement called Anthroposophy (and also developed the concept of organic farming, BTW). Barfield's ideas about language very much influenced Tolkien as well.

Lewis, on the other hand, had a much more dogmatic, modern Protestant perspective, focused on rationality, and was wary of the imagination's use in religion beyond a certain point, only pointing to the dogmas of "mere Christianity" as "true myth". Whereas Barfield himself sees the imagination as a kind of sacramental participation. Tolkien held similar views.

Trogdor the Burninator said:

COVID Vaccines = a world full of Magnetic superheroes? I've got to get another booster....

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Don’t bother. It didn’t make me magnetic, it just kept me from catching COVID until 2024. I don’t get vaccines to prevent deadly illnesses, just to give me super powers I can bust out at dinner parties.

Such a waste.

Pray that Sophia Huang Xueqin is miraculously released from prison in China after she was jailed for merely holding meetings to discuss social issues like the #MeToo movement, etc:

Huang Xueqin: Chinese #MeToo journalist jailed for five years

Pray that South Africa's recently elected government is guided by The Holy Spirit to uphold Christian values (i.e., Pro-life, Pro-Parental Rights, Pro-Freedom of religious expression, etc. ):

A remarkable new era begins in South Africa

IceJad said:

Our Father in heaven,

We come before You for mimi75042. We pray for healing and full recovery for the bodily illness. We ask too for Your Might and Grace to be upon her in times of anxiety and fear. That she may claim calmness and assuredness by the Glory that it You. Lord for You're our Good Shepard that will lead us in our most uncertain and trying times.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Lord Jesus, I join this petition. We pray that mimi75042 would not pass through this experience without You.
Rather may she gain more enjoymen of Your rich supply of leading, comfort, and even healing recovery.
Lord Jesus administer the truest healing of bringing mimi75042 deeper into the enjoyment of Your presence
moment by moment. Build her up through this situation to be ever more comfident, at peace, and assured that
You are the Great Physician healing not only her body but healing all distance in her heart from Yourself.

We do remember that this need for her recovery and transformation meets You need, O Lord, to
impart more of Yourself into her being. Thankyou Lord. We know You will be faithful to Your need to be
healed in every way being brought closer to God. Be her health Lord. Amen.

Peace to all,

Yes, out of this world is to me the Second Exodus, Greek for the road out in the transfiguration into the image of the creator, God, the Father.

To me, Elijah is John the Baptist in spirit and power.
And Moses is the Old Covenant Earthly Priestly Authority, fulfilled by The Christ creating the New Moses seat authority in the New Living Sacrifice, The Body of the Christ carried by the New Arc of the Covenant through Mary in the Body of The Christ.

The logic I perhaps can see is in The transfiguration. To me the Transfiguration is when Peter and James and John saw The Christ in the image of The Father. Jesus has fulfilled all faith and morality in the Elijah representing all of the Prophets and the Old Covenant, the Rod of Aaron that budded, the priestly staff and the manna from the desert, all in the Law of Moses. Peter asked to make 3 tents? "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." And Moses and Elijah disappeared into a cloud. Then God said.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, disappearing in the cloud was Elijah and Moses, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."

Now all clear in vision of The Christ, the coming of the New Eve, is the Resurrected Body of the Christ in all mankind as united in being.

And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Peace always,
Stephen

Next Monday is the start of National Pollinator Awareness Week, and one Colorado advocacy group is hosting a flower planting drive to rewild Colorado’s meadows, gardens, and just maybe, its children too.

Created by constitutional amendment in 1992, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) is a state-funded independent board that invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces.

This year, GOCO’s offshoot Generation Wild is distributing over 100,000 free packets of wildflower seeds to collection points at museums, Denver Parks and Rec. offices, and libraries all over the state to encourage kids and families to plant the seeds in their backyards.

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visionary said:

Feast of the Dedication and the Festival of Lights... why did John focus on the "dedication" aspect and Yeshua focus on the "light" aspect?

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The problem I see with the majority of translations and commentators is that, if you follow the text from chapter seven, there really is no break in the text except for the possibility of one night, (depending on ones' view and placement of the so-called pericope adulterae). The problem is two words in the text where the dedication is mentioned. One of those words is the same used for the dedication of the altar when the first temple was built, and which was not in the winter but adjoining Sukkot, (like it could also be in the Gospel of John). The other word is typically rendered as winter but literally only means stormy.

John 10:22 T/R (Textus Receptus)
22 εγενετο δε τα εγκαινια εν τοις ιεροσολυμοις και χειμων ην

The word for feast is not present in any manuscripts as far as I know: so we have τα εγκαινια, the dedications, or the dedication, (but technically it is plural), and we have και χειμων ην, which means either and it was stormy or and it was winter.

If it was merely stormy that also would justify the reasoning for the statement in the text that the Master was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch, and thus it is not necessarily winter because having been stormy is enough of a reason for walking under the shelter of Solomon's porch. As for myself I believe modern scholarship has assumed too much in this passage for these reasons and for what follows below.

Ezra 6:16-17 OG LXX
16 και εποιησαν οι υιοι ισραηλ οι ιερεις και οι λευιται και οι καταλοιποι υιων αποικεσιας εγκαινια του οικου του θεου εν ευφροσυνη
17 και προσηνεγκαν εις τα εγκαινια του οικου του θεου μοσχους εκατον κριους διακοσιους αμνους τετρακοσιους χιμαρους αιγων περι αμαρτιας υπερ παντος ισραηλ δωδεκα εις αριθμον φυλων ισραηλ

Ezra 6:16-17 LXX-Septuagint (Brenton translation)
16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with gladness.
17 And they offered for the dedication of the house of God a hundred calves, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, twelve kids of the goats for a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

In Numbers 7:84-88 we have εγκαινισμος and εγκαινωσις in the LXX, for the dedication of the altar, and in 2 Chronicles 7:9 again we have εγκαινισμος for the dedication of the altar. In the 2Chr passage we know this cannot have been the winter feast of the Hasmoneans, (Maccabees), which modern scholarship assumes in the John passage: in the 2Chr passage the dedication of the altar was surely adjoining the feast of Sukkot, which, at least imo, may well be also what the John passage is referring to.

The judge sentencing Paulette Harlow taunts her and her husband.

According to tradition, Feast of Trumpets is the anniversary of their creation. Is it possible that 10 days later was the day Adam and Eve sinned?

Yom Kippur is the atonement process for sin being removed from the records. It is the re-uniting man with God. God came and covered Adam in the Garden of Eden. Usually there is some link with history as to why the days of different feasts happen and are tied to them. Passover is tied to the event in Eqypt but also to the Cross. Both are said to happen at the time of year that Passover is currently kept in remembrance.

Fascinating! I know it’s not canonical, but it’s still interesting to learn about

Our Lady of Akita, pray for us!