article said:

In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has also cracked down on NGOs he doesn’t like, is pushing sweeping constitutional reforms targeting the country’s judicial system.

His plan to replace Mexico’s current judicial appointment process with popular elections for all judgeships at the federal and state level might sound democratic — except for the fact that López Obrador’s Morena party will effectively decide who the candidates are.

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Sound familiar?

Who decides what candidates will be placed on ballots in the erstwhile USA?
HINT: it darn sure isn't the People. It's a couple of political parties, who write, control, and manipulate the election laws.

Apparently the Egyptian Pyramids incorporate the metric system as well as the Heliocentric model. This puts us at odds, who believe in a Geocentric model. Hehe.

COMMENTARY: St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer to the Author of Life offers ample inspiration to celebrate this day.
The Basilica of St. Francis stands over the countryside surrounding Assisi, Italy. (photo: Brad Ingram / Shutterstock)

Sept. 1 brings us “Creation Day,” also known as “Feast of Creation” or “World Day of Prayer for Creation.” This moment returns, like the seasons, timely, routine, but not taken for granted. It invites us to reflect on creation, a mystery that marks us deeply. It is the wonder in which everything is born. It is the wonder of the flowers and the glaciers, of the sparrows and the cetaceans.

“Look at the birds in the sky; look at the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:26-34). This invitation from Jesus to observe what is around us with an amazed and grateful eye stimulates us to study the musical score of the universe and listen to the great concert of the world — to try not to be, as unfortunately we are, the note out of tune.


Experiencing this in Assisi means letting ourselves be given the “la” by our singer par excellence, the Poverello. Eight hundred years ago — next year is the eighth centenary of “The Canticle of Brother Sun” — Francis of Assisi became a “maestro” even of our troubled era, an educator never followed enough by our gaze, so that it becomes a contemplative gaze, capable of inspiring the logic of prayerful gratitude and thoughtful care. We will ponder all of this, the heart of the ecological challenge — as Pope Francis proposed in Laudato Si — during the “Season of Creation,” which experiences its beginning on Sept. 1.

This date has a very ancient history in the Judeo-Christian tradition. For a long time, it has symbolized the creation of the world. In the Eastern Church, Sept. 1 was considered the moment in which God began the creation of the universe, a reason why it is the beginning of their liturgical year. It parallels the feast of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which also falls in September, albeit on a mobile date. On this feast, some Jewish liturgies proclaim: “Today is the day of the creation of the world.”

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Too bad. It should be banned from conception.

Genesis 4:

2b Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

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Cain was angry at God's preference.

6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

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God was still nice to Cain and advised him. I don't think Cain was angry at God. He was angry at Abel because Abel did better than him. He was angry enough to kill his brother:

8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

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1 John 3:

12b why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

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Even after the murder, God was merciful to Cain, Gen 4:

15b “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

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Was Cain angry at God?

Perhaps a bit, but he was mostly angry at Abel and God's preference for his brother's offering.

essentialsaltes said:

I guess the anticipation whetted people's appetites. Ratings were better than the Trump/Vance interview. (Speaking of anticipation, I can almost hear the ketchup hitting the walls).

Initial ratings released by Nielsen on Friday, which were expected to rise slightly in the final accounting, show that the interview of Harris and Walz drew in just under 6 million viewers

In comparison, Trump's first televised joint interview with Vance, airing on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime on July 22, was watched by 4.266 million. T

[For the alternative facts view: ] Responding to a request for comment, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed that other metrics, which could not be verified, meant that ratings for the Republican ticket interview "far surpasses the lowly rated" interview of Harris and Walz.

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The "ratings" are based on how many tuned in, and has nothing to do with how the interview itself went, or how Kamala performed. People tuned in because she hadn't done an interview in the past and the wait was so long. People wanted answers and thought they'd finally get some.
She looked terrible though. Not very confident, sat off to the side, didn't look the interviewer in the eye but kept looking down, wore a gray suit that blended in with the background, and looked like the smallest of the three people there.
Not a great look for the woman who wants the job of leader of the free world.

Ain't Zwinglian said:

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... the same guy who wrote John 1:1 wrote Rev. 19:13.

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As well as Rev 6-7.

Why do those Biblical facts (post #57) bother you so much?

I really don't like our disagreeing. . .

Repurposed peonies, ready for delivery in Harrisonburg – credit, Friendly City Florals
A pair of Virginians who found themselves habitually dismayed by the amount of floral waste they saw over a series of weddings and funerals decided to launch a small nonprofit to reuse them.

Friendly City Florals delivers flowers to hospice care homes, hospitals, and other events like funerals and weddings to make sure that the joy and special feeling a vibrant bouquet inspires can continue to do so as long as there is color in the petals.

The story begins when Rebecca Shelly, an experienced wedding industry worker, was cleaning up in the aftermath of a wedding reception in North Carolina last year, and was agonizing over stuffing hundreds of perfectly perky peonies into black garbage bags.

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The squirrel spa – Breyana Elwell.

Breyana Elwell never liked rodents, but after it became clear the neighboring squirrels were suffering from the heat, she began to warm to them.

Living in New Braunfels, Texas, she maintains a sort of “squirrel resort” where the arboreal rodents can stop by, cool down, grab a bite, and lounge until the heat of the day passes.

It all started when Elwell was playing with her toddler out on the deck and the mother of two left a fan on after they were finished. A local squirrel came to realize the value of the fan and plopped himself on the railing to cool down.

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Nellie, left, and Waylon ride the Keller Creek Boarding and Grooming pup bus in Franklin County, Georgia. Waylon was later adopted by one of the daycare’s clients. (Keller Creek Boarding and Grooming)

A determined Lab has found a new home in Georgia after galloping alongside a doggie daycare bus until he won over the driver and found a new home.

In Franklin County, the story begins when the driver of the ‘pup bus’ was doing his rounds to bring clients’ dogs to daycare.

Coming to a house he knew well, a Labrador retriever who had been attending Keller Creek Boarding and Grooming for three years named Motley was waiting for the bus like normal, but this time he had a friend.

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The ‘Flintstones’ home in Larkspur, Colorado – The Thayer Group / SWNS

Check out this real life ‘Flintstones’ home, a property built around a giant 200 million-year-old red rock.

The two bedroom house in Larkspur, Colorado, has a unique style, with the boulder incorporated into the interior of the home—perfect for a geology (or Flintstones) fan.

The home, which is on the market for $989,900, is integrated with nature, nestled around a 45-foot-high section of one of Colorado’s beloved ancient red rocks.

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credit – Mouser Williams CC 2.0., Flickr
GNN is not beyond taking a moment to admire the majesty of nature, regardless of form, or in this case, size.

If you went to one of the beaches of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan—take Okinawa for example, and picked up a grain of sand and held it under a magnifying glass, you might notice something amazing—it would have a star shape.

Japan has one of the world’s highest concentrations of star sand beaches on Earth. Sand is made up of ground stone and coral that’s been reduced to grains over many years, but star sand was once actually a living organism.

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Hvizsgyak said:

• Reply to a comment1h
  
  I don't encourage physical punishment but a figurative "slap in the face" is definitely what a lot of disruptive students in the classroom need. Send them to the office to have a talk with the principal, in school suspension or out of school suspension. If it needs to be done every day, do it. Let the administration handle the problem. If the administration says the teacher needs to handle the situation (and the teacher has), get the union involved. Here is the big problem (and a lot of parents are really in the dark about it) students think they are on equal standing with their teacher - they aren't. Students need to respect the authority of the teacher and this needs to be taught in schools starting in kindergarten. Unfortunately, a lot of students don't listen to their parents so they bring that same attitude to the classroom. It needs to be crushed when they are young because the students take it for a ride as they get older.
  
  
  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/students-need-tech-free-classrooms-opinion/ar-AA1oQk49?ocid=UCPNC2&pc=U531&cvid=b726edf33b314cdf9424befdfbb4a955&ei=15#comments&commentId=1252df72-45a1-452e-8c80-9c68ca4495c7

I just had my response comment censored by MSN so I wanted to bring the whole argument here to do some more discussing of the subject. I responded to a person who said "students in the classroom need to be slapped up a little more often". Now I know students should never be touch by a teacher not alone "slapped up a little" but I responded to the person's comment by saying "I don't encourage physical punishment but a figurative "slap in the face" is needed...". Now the reason I said that is because my wife is a teacher and she along with growing number of teachers are get overwhelmed by disruptive students in classrooms. There is NO respect for teachers in the classroom and alot of students are just sitting in the classrooms socializing with others (and being disruptive) or they are on their cell phones. It has gotten very bad everywhere. These are some of my other comments on the subject:

• • I agree with you that some students learn better by watching something than by listening. But the teacher should be the one who runs the slide presentation, video, and electronic easels. Students should NEVER be allowed to have cell phones in the classroom and their computers should only be allowed to be connected to what the teacher wants them to be connected to. My wife is a high school teacher (for about 18 years) and one of her biggest problems in the classroom are students on social media and not paying attention to her presentation. When you try to correct these students they get defensive with the teacher. Back in the day when there was more respect for the teacher and his/her authority in the classroom, it would have been fine to bring notebooks, laptops or cell phones into the classroom. Now, students think they are the center of the universe and they can do what they want in the classroom. So, the hammer now has to come down on them because they aren't even trying to learn anything. They just want to socialize. Now, we can talk about how we should give kids a decent social time during the school day but during class time, it's pay attention time.
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    Because they are not using the social media to learn. They are using it to socialize with their friends and not paying attention to what is being taught to them. If the teacher had control of what the student is watching on his/her notebook, laptop, cell phone then it would work well. What happens then is the student does lousy in the class, parent/student blame the teacher when it was the student's fault in the first place by not paying attention. My wife is a teacher and every teacher she has worked with over the years, identifies this as the biggest problem. In the one school, the administration got smart and they gave teachers a software package that allowed them to see what each student was doing on their notebook, laptop or cell phone. This allowed the teacher to shut down any social media programs that students weren't suppose to be using during class time.

Any other thoughts in the classroom? What should students be allowed to bring to class? What can be done about student's visiting social media sites during class time?

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I think theres a number of issues happening at the same time. I think over the years authority of teachers and parents has been eroded. I remember maybe 10 or 15 years ago there was a movement by a new progressive social order about students rights. There were many social workers and youth counsellors coming in talking about young peoples rights and protecting them.

That was ok except they went too far and it became student rights over all else including teachers and parents. I think this was part of a bigger movement associated with Rights based and identity politics.

The progressives have this idea that punishment is cruel and mean and we needed to understand young people and make them feel good all the time. That these students and especially those who played up the most were misunderstood and victims of a oppressive system that caused all these problems. It wasn't their fault but the mean old system.

From there it seems to have gone a downhill where students rather than feeling good, included and well adjusted developed behavioural problems and it made things worse. Rather than the age old and tested principle that bad behaviour brings bad consequences the need to take responsibility. It was sending a message that students could get away with misbehaviour because there was no real consequences.

We see this same problem in the judicial system where juvenile crime and misbehaviour has increased. Where young people don't respect the law and will brazenly commit crimes knowing there will be little repercussion. A slap on the wrist or fine or they are put through some community program where they are more or less rewarded for doing wrong.

We see this same ideology with 'Defund the police' or the idea that terror groups like Hamas are not terrorist but misunderstood victims who are standing up for this rights. Or how rioters and looters are victims and only reacting to the oppressive system. Or how Uni students have a right to be antisemetic, cancell speakers and demand the jobs of good professors because of percieved harm.

This is part of an ideology where the value of hard work, sacrifice, merit and facing responsibility for ones actions has been undermined. Where the feelings and rights of subjective identities is upheld over the harsh realities of life. The cotton wooling of young people in the name of not harming or making them feel bad as misplaced compassion.

When in reality it is these hard lessons in life, the feeling bad for wrong and the respect for the wisdom and experience of long held truth principles that have worked and brough law and order.

Relating this back to social media. It seems now social status is more important. So of course students who have been disenfranchised from the system and see it as oppressive are going to see social media as the only world they relate to.

It feeds well into the ideology as its about promoting the self, being an influencer and getting the Likes. This is now the measure of worth and not the behind the scenes hard work and sacrifice and taking responsibility. Its too conforming and the more people can show they are defying the bad old oppressive system the better they percieve their worth.

Its pretty superficial, simple and obvious but that is the new reality being created that social media has brought. Theres a detachment between the world created by social media and the real lived experience. Just like theres a detachment between making students feel good and cotton wooling them from the realities of life.

Ahhh... How awesome!

Getty Images
Water buffalo are at home wallowing in wetlands (Credit: Getty Images)

When water buffalo make a home for themselves in abandoned spaces, they can bring with them a rich array of frogs, bats and plant life.

Each autumn, as tadpoles outgrow their tails, the Kizilirmak Delta on Turkey's Black Sea erupts into chaotic commotion with the emergence of marsh frogs. While the fist-sized frogs are at home in the delta's wetlands, dozens can be seen hopping out of the muddy waters to exploit one particularly strange and unusually lively hunting ground.
Climbing up a hillside of thick fur, the frogs encounter terrain that's warm underfoot and an atmosphere that buzzes with flies. But there are risks to foraging here. The surface beneath their webbed feet twitches and shakes, and the entire floor is prone to lurching unpredictably through the air and collapsing into the mud.

This moving mountain of brawn and bugs is the muscular back of a massive water buffalo. On each of these giants roaming the delta, as many as 20 frogs or more can be found hitching a ride to their next meal.

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User’s Guide to Sunday, Sept. 1
Old engraving depicts St. Charles Borromeo in the book ‘History of the Church,’ circa 1880. (photo: Shutterstock)

Sunday, Sept. 1, is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

Today’s readings all regard the Law. Let’s look at four teachings that come from them.
The first reading text says, “Moses said to the people: ‘Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord … is giving you.’” So, the Law comes with a promise. It is the basis of life and the doorway to the further blessings of the land. Many today see God’s Law as a limitation on our freedom to “do as we please.” The Law of God does not imprison; it is a defense. Every ancient city had walls, not to imprison its citizens but to protect them from the enemy.

Within the walls there was security and the promise of protection. Outside the walls lurked danger; there was no promise of safety there. It is like this with God’s Laws.

Regarding the Law of God, Moses says, “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord … you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.” We might liken the Law to a set of directions to get to a designated destination. Compliance must be complete to bring us to the right place when driving. Similarly, we are directed to follow the Law of God wholly. Here, we must see God as a healer who is exacting and precise, not for his sake but for ours. God, who is our healer, points to full health.

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When the baby is born, there will be hormones released, which will help you to bond to the baby. Of course, holding the baby in your arms, will also cause a bond to be formed.

We are told that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Almighty. You can’t work up that faith and then get closer to the Lord.

We are told that faith is a gift. You can pray for that gift. And it’s useful to do that all your life, as the devil will try to steal away whatever you have.

Don’t stress to have faith and get closer to the Lord. Let his words do the work for you. We have a great advantage in this age with all the technology where we can listen to scriptures and even scripture songs even while we are doing other things in the background. That can be a good start.

You might want to check out scripture only songs from places like Integrity Music. Sing along with those videos and the Word will start to build up in your heart and change you overtime. Overtime. But if you keep it up, and you look back in a year, you will notice some real improvements.

It’s a process. Also think of whatever kind of Bible promises are most meaningful to you. You can read those online on Google, or, again, you can find them on places like YOUTUBE and favorite them, and play them and speak along with them.

Praying for you…

God's glory is his presence or manifestation of His divine nature, majesty, and holiness. In the Bible, It is frequently associated with light, described as a radiant, brilliant, or dazzling presence.

Ex 24:

15 Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

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Ezekiel described God's radiant glory in 1:

26 Above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

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God wears "light as with a garment" (Psalm 104:2).

At the Transfiguration, Jesus' face shone like the sun (Matthew 17:2).

The New Jerusalem will not need sun or moon because "the glory of God gives it light" (Re 21:23).

John explained the glorious light in 1:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

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John equated light with life. From the beginning, this light was the life of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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The light of Jesus expels evil darkness.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

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Jesus was the true light; no one else was.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

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Believe in Jesus and receive the true light to live a life of righteousness.

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

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Jesus was the shekinah glory of the Father. He was the visible glory of God dwelling on earth.

John 8:

12 I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

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Light symbolizes truth, righteousness, and the absence of sin.

1 John 1:

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all."

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John emphasized God's absolute purity and moral perfection. God is the source of all that is good and true, and there is no deceit or evil in Him. As believers, we are called to walk in the light (v. 7).

Ep 5:

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

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In the OT, God's glory was often associated with light. John, in the NT, pointed this glorious light to Jesus. Now, believers bear this light in us to shine forth the goodness of Jesus.

John started the description of the Last Supper with John 13:

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, … .

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Meyer's NT Commentary:

How long before the feast, our passage does not state; but it is clear from John 13:29; John 18:28; John 19:14; John 19:31, that it was not first on the 14th Nisan, as the harmonists have frequently maintained.

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According to Meyer, Jesus did not eat the paschal meal. The lexical meaning of the Feast/Festival of the Passover seems to support that argument, but see this and this.

I think Jesus did eat the paschal lamb.

I assume John knew about the synoptic gospels when he wrote his gospel. Luke 22:

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”

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John made a conscious effort to avoid duplication of materials, so he didn't bother describing the details of setting up the Passover meal.

I prefer the NET Bible's rendition:

Just before the Passover feast,

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i.e., just before they ate the paschal lamb

Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus.

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Benson agreed with this interpretation:

John 13:1. Now before the feast of the passover — That is, before they began the passover-supper.

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Scholars are divided on this issue, but I go with that Jesus and the Jewish leaders ate the paschal lamb before he died.

Panthers said:

There is no such thing as evolution in terms of gains.
There is only Devol-ution, in terms of breaking down.
Hence, is why there are no beneficial mutation centers.
The apes were lost tribes from the flood, but devolved rapidly.
(likely because of diet and incest)
View attachment 354058

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What do you mean the apes were lost tribes from the flood.

let romantic be happy and pure.

As a knock-about Australian I must be sleepwalking through the tik-tok daisies. I hadn't even heard of "trad wife", and could not afford a $30,000 wood burning stove if my life depended on it which in our climate it doesn't.

It's just gone the last week of winter here and due to a warm spell we've had days up to 34 degrees centigrade (93.2% F) so we haven't got the yuletide fire going. We won't have one going at Christmas either, being slap bang in the middle of summer in our hemisphere.

Meanwhile the workers I've seen around and about haven't been wearing "black leather jackets, tight lace t-shirts, and cargo trousers" and being retired myself I get around in jeans and flannelette shirt (when it's cool enough) and jeans or shorts and T-shirt when it gets a bit warmer.

In Sydney maybe, but not here.

I'll go back to my septuagenarian hibernation. Wake me when its over.