Just looking at the El Niño regions...

Valletta said:

We don't want to overlook the fact that it was the United States fought a war to end slavery, where roughly 700,000 people died. But we have much more to stop, over a million die by abortion each year in the United States.

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Yes, fought a war with itself with a lot of sore losers.

I see the analogy with abortion. There also some refuse to see the humanity and want to treat life in the womb as property rather than person.

The earliest Christians were called 'haters of man' for a reason. They abhorred our self-centered nature.

In a recent New York Times guest essay, Catholic writer David Gibson praised Pope Leo for moving his church away from “pelvic theology.” For those unfamiliar with the term, it is a way of dismissing those concerned with all matters related to sex—from abortion to LGBTQ rights to traditional notions of chastity—as morbidly obsessed and (presumably) laboring under some psychological disorder. Given the attractiveness in our lazy soundbite world of any term that delegitimizes critics and thereby makes serious engagement with ideas unnecessary, the phrase will no doubt migrate into Protestant quarters too, if it has not done so already.

Despite Gibson’s assumptions and assertions to the contrary, there are obvious, perennial reasons why Christianity should focus on these “pelvic” issues. The Old Testament surrounds sexual activity both with taboos and with rituals of purification even for acts deemed legitimate. This carries into the New Testament. St. Paul argues that the man who sleeps with a prostitute has committed a particularly heinous sin—not only because he has sexually exploited a woman, but because he has sinned against his own body. The point is that the sexed nature of the human body is central to who we are as human beings. As for the post-apostolic world, the Didache, one of the earliest extant post-canonical writings, makes the rejection of abortion a central identity marker for the Christian community. This was key to the early church’s growth, as sociologist and historian Rodney Stark argued.

This all makes theological sense: The sexual act is biblically (and historically) both a key social bond (Gen. 2:24) and part of the mandate given to human beings (Gen. 1:28). Indeed, sexual intercourse, with its creative potential, is the human act that makes us most godlike. In short, attitudes to sex lie at the heart of what it means to be human. Of course, secular thinkers are free to reject this. A professing Catholic such as Gibson should pay more attention both to the teaching of his church and to the book his church considers to be divine revelation.
And, of course, underlying the notion of “pelvic theology” is the assumption that this sexual obsession is the fault of certain elements within the Church. Strange to tell, when I was a pastor, I had to spend a lot of time talking to young men about their internet pornography habits—but not because I was myself obsessed with such. It was because the culture was saturated with it. Some of them had become addicted to porn before the age of ten, long before I had even met them. I suspect the same applies to those now dealing with congregants wrestling with matters such as abortion, homosexuality, and the like. These are not the creations of the Church but rather the emphases of our age. I write this at the start of a month devoted to those who not only wish to indulge privately in the sexual deviations of their choice but who also demand that everybody else acknowledge the legitimacy of their acts through commercials, marches, and flags more ubiquitous in town centers than the Stars and Stripes. The Church hasn’t caused that; celebrating queerness is part of the liturgical calendar of this present age, not of the Church. The Church does have a God-given calling to respond to moral chaos, but the specific details of the moral chaos are determined by the evils of the age, not by pastors and presbyters.

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Asking for prayers today, I am not doing good this morning, same symptoms, going through, headaches, nausea, intestinal pain, and my mom (76) is doing poorly this morning also, in much pain, her L1,2,3,4,5 spinal fractures are causing her a lot of distress, and my dad (80) had to go to his part time job, and it is just us two sick people, in misery at the house. Please, asking for prayer.

Michie said:

Nobody said there was anything wrong with being single.

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Paul agreed.

Dan Perez said:

# 1 VERILY. //. AMEN. is in. HEBREW and is Indeclinable

# 2 VERILY. //. THE SAME AS # 1

# 3. I SAY // LEGO. in. the PRESENT TENSE. in. the ACTIVE VOICE in the INDICATIVE MOOD in the SIGNULAR

# 4. UNTO YOU. // HYMIN. is a PERSONAL POSESSIVE PRONOUN in. the DATIVE CASE , in the PLUIRAL

# 5. HE THAT //. HO. is a DEFINITE ARTICLE. in. then NOMINATIVE CASE in the SIGNULAR

# 6. BELIEVETH. //. PISEUO. in. the PRESENT TENSE. in then ACTIVE VOICE. an. a PARICIPLE CASE ,

# 7. ON //. EIS. is a PREPOSTION.

# 8. ME. // EME is. a P[ERSONAL POSSESSISEIVE PRONOUN. in. the ACCUISATIVE CASE in. the SINGULAR

# 9 HATH // ECHO in. the PRESENT TENSE in. the ACTIVE VOICE in. the INDICATIVE MOOD in. the SINGULAR

# 10 EVER LASTING // AIONIOS. in. the ACCUSATIVE CASE. in the SINGULAR

# 11. LIFE. // ZOE. is an. ACCUSATIVE C ASE in. the SINGULAR.


# A Does this mean you have everlasting life TODAY ??

#. B Or Rom 10:9 That if you should CONFESS. with the MOUTH. he Lord Jesus and should believe in. your. HEART

that God raised Him. from the DEAD. , YOU WILL BE SAVED !!

# C. And is 1 Cor 12:3 NO ONE CALLS JUSUS LORD EXCEPT BY HOLY SPIRIT , PERIOD as Saul // PAUL

DID in Acts 9:5. , PEREIOD. .

# D AND IS JOHN 11:25 speaking to JEWS , YES IT IS !!

dan p

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A person can choose to stop obeying God's commandments at any time during his lifetime. If he chooses to remain faithful—obedient—to God's commandments until he dies, he will then be approved to enter eternal life. Revelation 2:10

God's gift of "free will choice," which is given to each person, is his gift to us.
God does not want slaves who grudgingly obey him for fear of punishment; he wants adopted children who love him. They show their love for him by obeying his commandments, which are given to them for a righteous purpose—to save their souls; therefore, after they die, God will invite them to live with him forever. John 14:21, James 1:21

"Eternal Security" is an erroneous self-made doctrine, yet many people believe it, deceiving themselves. James 1:22

Jesus Christ teaches that to inherit eternal life, a person must obey his commandments until he dies, just as he obeyed his father's commandments until he died. Philippians 2:8, Romans 6:16

I'm glad Vance is taking a more circumspect view of life after having written a blurb for a book that labels liberals as "Unhumans".

essentialsaltes said:

FOX: Social Security has less than 10 years before reserves are exhausted, new trustees report warns​

The 2026 Trustees Report says ongoing tax revenues would cover only 78% of scheduled retirement benefits after 2032 depletion​

What happened?

"One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA): Enacted on July 4, 2025, this law makes permanent the lower income tax rates and adjusted tax brackets originally enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and both increases and makes permanent the larger standard deduction of the 2017 Act," the report says.

"The OBBBA also adds a temporary additional standard deduction for taxpayers over age 65," it says. "As a result, less income tax will be paid on Social Security benefits, and the OASI and DI Trust Funds will receive lower levels of revenue in the future from income taxation of Social Security benefits."

In an interview on the "Moon Griffon Show" Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said: "The reason we're in trouble is because over 74% of federal spending is on autopilot — mandatory spending, that is your entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and things like Social Security — they have to be adjusted and fixed." [Miraculously, finally something like the truth, rather than saying we can cut USAID and FEMA and this will balance the budget.]

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First thing we can do is cancel all of the vanity projects that Trump is planning in Washington, beginning with the ballroom. If polls are correct, about sixty five percent of Americans want to forget him as quickly as possible, not see him honored for the appallingly bad job he is doing.
Then we could stop the unnecessary wars that cost a billion dollars a day. I can't understand why we ever started them. Was it to fulfill campaign promises to defense contractors?
Next, on Election Day 2026 we could build a firewall in either of the House or the Senate, preferably both, that would prevent far more budgetary damage from occurring and protect Social Security and Medicare until our government is led by a president who cares about the ninety nine percent.

If applying negative labels to groups spawns political violence, maybe Rep Roy ought to interview some of the myriad vitriolic groups on the right.

Or is it only bad with people on the left do it?

Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her."

I ask God daily to empower and enable me through the unction of the Holy Spirit, to love my wife as I am commanded to do by God's word.

essentialsaltes said:

I haven't seen anyone here suggest it.

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Good to know.

I like what Professor John Lennox said in an interview with Peter Atkins a staunch atheist. Peter was explaining how math itself can explain the universe coming from nothing.

John says that math and the null set does not come tumbling out of nothing. It takes a mind to come up with the concept of math. It implies a mind behind the universe. Atkins was using a mind idea to explain how nothing can create something.

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In the mean time the Trump war is pushing the EU more and more toward renewable energy sources.
A € 25 billion project is being approved.

A rumor used to travel slowly. Someone would mention something after Mass, at work, or over dinner, and maybe it reached a few people by the end of the week if it was juicy enough. Now it takes one post. One clip. One caption written confidently enough to sound true. Suddenly, thousands of people are talking about someone they’ve never met as though they know every detail of their life.

Social media has done a lot of good, no doubt about that. It connects people instantly, gives ordinary voices a platform, and can expose genuine injustice faster than traditional media ever could. But in today’s deeply polarized online culture, people often accuse first and verify later — if they verify at all. Reputations rise or collapse through screenshots, rumors, half-context, and emotionally charged posts shared by strangers chasing outrage, attention, or approval from their side of the internet.

We don’t just share information anymore. We pass judgment — quickly, publicly, and often without the full picture.

And somewhere in all that noise, tearing people apart has started to feel disturbingly normal.

When Opinions Become Weapons​

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A North Carolina software engineer already secured an accommodation allowing her to avoid using AI at work based on her religious beliefs.

Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical on AI could set off a wave of workers seeking religious exemptions from using the tech at work.

One software engineer in North Carolina already secured one last month, Business Insider reports.

Erin Maus, a Unitarian Universalist, first sought the accommodation in April at the large tech-entertainment company where she works, which she described as progressive. She argued that using AI did not align with her religious beliefs because of environmental and ethical concerns.

Maus was granted the exemption in May, before the pope’s AI remarks.

“I’m writing my code and reviewing my code by hand, which seems crazy to say,” Maus told Business Insider. “Just two years ago, how else would you do it?”

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A former leader with the Chicago Church of Christ in Illinois is now facing charges of wire fraud and filing false tax statements after federal prosecutors say he convinced several members of the church to invest approximately $2 million into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that never existed.

Pastor Winston Batino, who served as an evangelist at the North Ministry Center of the multisite church, pleaded not guilty to the charges in a court appearance on Monday and was released on bail, according to Fox 32.

If convicted, Batino could spend up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge alone. Court documents cited by the news outlet say the former Chicago Church of Christ leader collected the $2 million from about 40 church members.

Similar charges are leveled against Batino in another civil lawsuit from a plaintiff who said he wired $144,000 to the former church leader to invest in the project.

Chicago Church of Christ did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post on Tuesday.

In a statement to Fox 32, the church said they commissioned an independent internal investigation into the claims against Batino after he was fired, and they were corroborated.

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In related VA housing news...

VA promise of 800 new homes on West L.A. campus this year shrinks to 260​

Five months after promising up to 800 units of new temporary housing on its West Los Angeles campus by this fall, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is calling for bids to build fewer than a third of that number with a delivery date seven months later.

The project is the first concrete step in President Trump’s May 2025 executive order to create a National Center for Warrior Independence in West Los Angeles, but still leaves in doubt how accommodations for 6,000 veterans can be completed by Jan. 1, 2028, as required by the order.

AV1611VET said:

But that's the point though.

Life on earth couldn't have come about as cosmic evolution says it did, since the sun is a key ingredient in shaping the earth's biosphere.

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If you studied a bit you could learn and not have to post stuff like this.

Education and knowledge is a strength and not to be feared.

U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston ruled that the fee violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations. “The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,” Sorokin wrote, contradicting an earlier federal court ruling that upheld the fee hike and kept it in effect until September when it is scheduled to expire.

In the Boston case, the states argued that the policy impedes their ability to hire primary and secondary school educators and to staff public colleges and universities, will stymie academic research and will lead to a decline in medical workers.

A bill that critics warn would eliminate key religious protections from criminal bans on acts of “hatred” has passed the Canadian House of Commons, prompting concerns from religious freedom advocates.

Canada’s House of Commons passed the measure, called the “Combatting Hate Act,” Wednesday. The House of Commons approved the legislation in a 186-137 vote that fell along party lines. All opposition to the bill came from the Conservative, New Democratic and Green parties, while all support for the legislation came from the Liberal and Bloc Québécois parties.

The “Combatting Hate Act,” also known as Bill C-09, declares that “Everyone who commits an offence — referred to in this section as the ‘included offence’ — under this Act or any other Act of Parliament, if the commission of the included offence is motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” is either “guilty of an indictable offence” or “guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.”

During a vigil held at Barcelonaʼs Olympic Stadium, the pontiff answered several direct, profound, and heart-wrenching questions from young people.

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Just wondering recently the extent to which high IQ young people aggregate in college and are subsequently more severely targeted to receive anti-Christian propaganda..