iluvatar5150 said:

And Trump’s brilliant plan was to remove the inspections altogether. And look where it got us.

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No, Trump could see that Iran had a clear path to a nuclear weapon. Two of the major flaws were the lack of permanence and the setup so that Iran could delay inspections. The United States was just one of many countries that were signatory to the Iranian agreement, and the rest, most importantly Iran, kept with the agreement. Trump was correct--look what Iran did.

Queen of Heaven, pray for us!

The Morning Offering is rooted in sacrificial theology. St. Paul exhorts Christians to offer themselves as a ‘living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God’ (Rom. 12:1).

The Morning Offering is the practical application of this command.

Shout out to Montse! She had been at EWTN about a year when I joined, and three months into my career there they launched In Depth, which I think was kind of her brainchild. It's been fun to see her role grow and expand with us, a couple years in she was promoted to President/COO of EWTN News and a lot of cool things have happened on her watch. She was one of the emcee's at NEC 2024 in Indianapolis, she cohosted our coverage of Francis' funeral and the Papal Conclave with Matthew Bunson and Fr. Petri right at St Peter's Square, she's filled in at anchor on ENN several times while we looked for a replacement for Tracy. Since I went remote a year and a half into my career there we haven't interacted face-to-face much, if at all, but I've worked with her directly several times both when she anchored In Depth and during the NEC.

What's cool about EWTN personalities is what you see on TV is how they are behind the scenes and she's no different. She's kind, faithful, and devoted to EWTNs mission. Which will fit well into her new role.

Eat your heart out Mike Lewis!

For reference:

The Sound of Silence:

[Verse 1]
Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

[Verse 2]
In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

[Verse 3]
And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
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"Fools," said I, "You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops, fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

[Verse 5]
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence"

Pioneer3mm said:

It seems..Christian revival is sweeping in Netherlands.

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Active Christianity is strong, but nominal/cultural Christianity is diminishing fast - Islam is the fastest growing religion in The Netherlands; and even among young people. The pattern is very similar to other Western countries .. and the reasons are also similar: population growth comes from migration ONLY and migrants are predominantly Muslim, and the birth-rate among Muslims is substantially higher than among non-Muslims (the fact that polygamy is allowed among Muslims also contributes to that).

The growth of Islam doesn't come from voluntary conversions - that's a consistent pattern in history.

These Worship sessions in public places through Europe as organised by the 'Presence' organisation is wonderful and encouraging still. And the exposure of Muslims to Christianity in the West is also a massive opportunity for mission.

Aussie52 said:

Have a friend who is in theological seminary. He has a fellow student from a Middle Eastern country. As a Moslem, this guy saw Jesus in a dream, Jesus called him to commit his life to Him. He became fully saved and went out and preached the Gospel. The result was 10 years in prison. He is now studying for the ministry. God is indeed doing amazing things in the Middle East.

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Glory to God in all things!

has gone worldwide, the end of summer last year in the USA, over 2 or 3 million were saved. I am having memory problems. In warm areas the revival in parks continued making it about 6 million last year. So, far this year in the USA, we have already gone over a million.

Prayers for the Lord to lay His healing hands upon you.

Albert Mohler Revises SBC Amendment on Women Preaching Ahead of 2026 Annual Meeting

On Tuesday, Dr. Albert Mohler provided clarification to the Truth & Unity Amendment he plans to propose during the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) annual meeting next week.

Last month, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary announced plans to propose a motion to amend the SBC Constitution to clarify women’s preaching and leadership roles in SBC churches.

However, after receiving feedback and before formally proposing the motion, Mohler revised the amendment by deleting the words “such as” and replacing them with “specifically.”

“I want to come back to speak to you about the motion I intend to bring to the 2026 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in order to amend the SBC Constitution for an act of convictional unity to say this is where we stand,” he said in a video. “We also need the efficiency of having really clear language in our constitution that expresses that conviction. We did this a generation ago on LGBTQ issues and that has really helped the SBC. I think similarly we need to do this.”

Continued below.

Medicaid or Medicare Advantage will cover vitamins. Im assuming youre on one of them since youre on disability. So if you request your doctors to prescribe them, you should be fine. But make sure your insurance will cover it, although most do.

How DARE women express thoughts or opinions!

As long as Hezbollah exists, getting upset at Israel for attacking them and then framing the article like Israel is going after the literal country of Lebanon is insane. Hezbollah might have a grip in the Lebanese government, but they act completely independent of that government when it comes to military issues. So i dont conflate the two.

So to sum up, I think Trump is wrong. Israel should be able to exist without constantly getting missiles launched at them from various positions because of Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has installed a dozen bronze statues commemorating Revolutionary War figures in Freedom Plaza across the street from the White House to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Freedom Plaza, which has often featured as a popular location for political protests, now features 12 soldiers "arranged in a civic tableau commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence," according to a statement from DOI published last week.

A statue was also installed on April 25 of Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Delaware. Some mainstream media outlets framed the statue commemoration by noting Rodney's status as a slaveowner. His equestrian likeness was removed from the prominent Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware, amid the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Continued below.

Maybe they just want to telecommute?

A USDA spokesperson also attributed the bed bugs’ reemergence to employee negligence. The spokesperson declined to explain why employees have not been offered another chance to work remotely.

“Not allowing employees to telework while the office is infested with bed bugs is an unnecessary significant risk to U.S. cattle health, with experts dealing with the NWS situation forced to go home if they don’t want to get bed bugs,” one employee said."

From Notus Article.

johansen said:

yes this is basically continuous.

my grandpa started out as a blacksmith shoeing horses, ended up drilling oil wells later in life, then growing raisin grapes. He lived long enough to see mechanical harvesters replace mexican labor.

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I remember an article about that from The Wall Street Journal. It was introducing mechanical harvesters and noted the cost savings and their ability to work continually. If memory serves it was the nineties and I saved the article and knew it was significant and here we are.

The workforce has undergone many changes. Once upon a time people worked for one company and retired until they didn't. Unions and pensions were the norm until they weren't. The cost of living was comparable the wages now it isn't. Entry-level positions were plentiful now they're outsourced overseas or to Ai. If you look at our history things are getting worse not better for the majority.

~bella

essentialsaltes said:

Santos is being investigated for 'insider trading' on Kalshi.

He made bets on whether he himself would attend Trump's SOTU speech.

The day before, he tweeted that he would be there.

The day of, he tweeted that he was watching from an airport tv.

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throw away the key

Of course, Trump will pardon him.

Richard T said:

I have to say that I wrestle with the question of praying against large weather events. How can you know what God's will is and what the consequences will be? If you look only at the event, they do have potential for human suffering. If you look at the aftermath, sometimes you see flailing people clinging to God as the event profoundly puts more of God in people's lives.
Here is a historical article detailing the Protestant response to the dust bowl in the USA. The Dust Bowl, the Depression, and American Protestant Responses to Environmental Devastation | Church History | Cambridge Core
Is it Satan only causing events and God restoring many after it is over? Or is God actively taking part in events such as Noah's flood, knowing that the human condition is so far gone that only such drastic measures can allow the human race to even survive?
I will say too, that in Hebrews 11, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
Did Noah have faith that he could pray against the coming flood? No he had faith to prepare. Did Joseph and Mary have faith that Jesus could survive the genocide of male babies in those times, or was their faith in relocating based on revelation they received? I am not saying the promises of God do not extend to individual believers, or that intercessory prayer is not a powerful tool to mitigate the effects of harmful events. But how far this goes is ultimately God's will and perhaps can only be prayed or declared to be changed by God and the faith that he gives to believers that hear his voice. I certainly mean no harm in airing my thoughts on such an important topic. I applaud anonymous9090 for the zeal, devotion and faith to bring up these concerns to our attention. Usually I can pray right along with no reservation, but sometimes I personally can just pray God's will or such weighty events.

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Just FYI,

Abraham's Intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah​

This is one of the most profound and moving passages in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, found in Genesis 18:16-33. It is a masterclass in respectful, humble, yet persistent negotiation/advocacy.

The Narrative Context

• God reveals to Abraham His intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah due to their great wickedness
• Abraham's nephew Lot and his family reside in Sodom
• Abraham, deeply concerned, approaches God in an extraordinarily deferential yet bold manner

Abraham's Incremental Intercession Abraham employs a brilliant descending negotiation strategy, each time prefacing his plea with profound humility:

Notable Rhetorical/Theological Elements

• Abraham repeatedly acknowledges his unworthiness: "I am nothing but dust and ashes" (Gen 18:27)
• He appeals to God's own divine justice: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25) - arguably one of the most powerful rhetorical questions in all of scripture
• He stops at 10, perhaps assuming Lot's immediate family would constitute that number
• His tone is consistently conciliatory, deferential, and non-confrontational throughout

The Outcome Ultimately Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, but God remembered Abraham's intercession (Genesis 19:29) and extracted Lot and his family before the destruction, directly honoring the spirit of Abraham's plea even though 10 righteous were not found.

Theological Significance This passage is foundational in establishing the concept of intercessory prayer across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, demonstrating that righteous advocacy on behalf of others is not only permitted but honored by God.

In my opinion, Talarico is promoting heresy.

Trump, who should be in prison, exhorts how he keep Netanyahu out of prison.

“You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I'm saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” --Trump

Romans 2:1-4 NKJV


Now this is specifically addressing the subject of hypocritical judging, and it is not an indictment against all judging. For we are to judge right from wrong, and good from evil. We are to test the spirits to see which ones are of God, and which are not. But we are not to judge other people unjustly, by human standards, by our own traditions, by comparing others to ourselves, or in hate, with the wrong motives, prejudicially, by appearances, and/or without first giving the person a hearing or a chance to defend himself.

[Matthew 7:1-5; John 7:24,51; John 8:15-16; Romans 2:3; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:1-6; 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4; Galatians 6:1-5; Ephesians 5:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 5:19-20; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 John 2:18-25; 1 John 4:1; Jude 1:22-23; Revelation 2:2]

But hypocritical judging is especially grievous to the Lord and is a slap in the face (an insult) to him and to his grace. And this is being done by those who are making a practice of sin themselves, deliberately and habitually, while they stand in judgment of others’ sins which may be even far less grievous to God. Or else they stand in judgment of others who are committing the same sins as what they are committing willfully and continuously, by habit. Thus they are despising the goodness of God which is to lead to repentance.

Romans 2:5-11 NKJV


Now there are a lot of people today who believe that once they have professed faith in Jesus Christ that God will never judge them, no matter how much they sin against God. It is true that the grace of God pardons our sins if we have, by biblical faith in Jesus Christ, repented of (turned from) our sins, and now by the grace of God we are following the Lord in obedience to his commands. But God’s grace is not carte blanche (free reign) to keep living in sin without judgment, and without punishment.

For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. And if we claim to be in fellowship with God while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we are liars. And if we claim to know God but while we do not obey him in practice, we are liars. And if we profess Jesus as Lord but sin is still our practice, and not obeying God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

For on the day of judgment we will all have to stand before the Lord and he will judge us according to our deeds, according to how we lived and whether we surrendered to him, forsook our sins, and followed him in obedience, or if we stubbornly continued in deliberate and habitual sin and not in obedience to his commands. For all who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but who obey unrighteousness, they will face the wrath of God. And they will hear God say, “I never knew you. Depart from me workers of lawlessness.”

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; 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 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Love Must Be Genuine

Based off Romans 12:9-21
An Original Work / October 22, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Love must be genuine.
Hate what’s evil; cling to good.
Love each other with affection.
Show respect for ev’ryone.
Never lack in your zeal.
Serve the Lord with diligence.

Rejoice in steadfast hope.
In affliction, patient be.
Keep on praying; share with others.
Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute.
Feel with others sympathy.

Be not filled with conceit.
Daily sit at Jesus’ feet.
Live in harmony with others.
Live at peace with ev’ryone.
Repay not to someone
With the evil he begot.

Do not take your revenge;
Leave it to the wrath of God.
If your enemy is thirsty,
Give to him something to drink.
Do what’s right for mankind.
Evil: overcome with good.

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Know the Goodness of God
An Original Work / June 3, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

John Bauer said:

It has been nearly 25 years. That prediction has failed spectacularly.

And ironically, for Nelson was right about the timetable, but wrong about the patient. It was the International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design that was gasping for breath in two or three years, which was an ID-aligned academic society (www.iscid.org) whose web site published the transcript of that workshop discussion (source). It was gasping for breath by late 2003, had almost no activity by 2004, and its web journal, Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design (PCID), published its eighth and apparently final issue in November 2005—

—just before the Kitzmiller v. Dover decision came down in December of that year.

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Howell, a researcher based at Duke University, seeks to show where intelligent design (“ID”) fits alongside more established frameworks for relating the Bible’s account of Creation with the findings of modern evolutionary science. Young-earth creationism, he suggests, has gained a popular following and left its stamp on 21st-century Christian thought. So too, he observes, has its chief philosophical rival, theistic evolution (or its newer cousin, evolutionary creationism).

By contrast, Howell presents ID as more a brief flicker than a lasting force. In his telling, it emerged on the national stage with the 1996 Mere Creation Conference at Biola University and largely faded from view after the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial in Dover, Pennsylvania, which ended with a federal judge ruling that teaching ID in public schools amounts to promoting a religious belief.

To fulfill their mission, men must be attentive to their own hearts so as to hear the voice of God, as St. Joseph did. They must also be attentive to the hearts of those entrusted to them, in order to guide and protect them well. Too often, men overlook this essential aspect of their vocation as protectors because they lack tenderness and sensitivity.

What many women seem to do naturally is often difficult for men. Yet tenderness is not weakness, nor is it something unmanly. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is a strength, though it is expressed differently in men. One clear exception is seen in fathers with infants, when tenderness often arises more spontaneously.

Jesus himself was tender, and at the same time fully and deeply a man. His leadership flowed from his ability to see each apostle as he truly was, to accept him, and yet to speak truth with strength when needed. I am 77 years old and still learning this lesson. When I am angry, I can speak the truth harshly. It seldom bears fruit, because fear eventually leads either to rebellion or to passive-aggressive behavior.

We see this principle in leadership as well. Good leaders, whose men are loyal to them, may be strict, but they are always just and caring. Men recognize this and will give their all in response. If, however, they serve out of fear, they give much less. Even what appears to be “enough” is not enough when the heart is not engaged.

The same is true in monastic life. The best abbots are those who are firm yet compassionate, who listen carefully to the needs of their brothers. This requires patience—not only with others, but with themselves. Those who take their authority seriously pay a high price, for they must continually grow in self-knowledge and charity.

When St. Paul speaks about marriage, a careful and prayerful reading shows that listening, respect, and tenderness are essential to the role of the husband. This is sometimes overlooked when isolated passages are quoted to emphasize authority or hierarchy. Such use can distort the deeper message. In truth, it is far more demanding to be a loving, attentive, and strong husband than to fall into harshness or indifference. True strength is shown not in domination, but in patient, faithful love.-BrMD

Little more than half the vote in

Hilton staying in first would be mildly surprising, but we seem to be safe from a two Republican field.