Is hiring more conservative professors and admitting more conservative students a solution to liberal bias in American higher education?

Many people think so. The Trump administration, in threatening to cut Harvard’s federal funding, demanded that the university foster greater “viewpoint diversity,” including by recruiting faculty members and students who would restore ideological balance to campus.

But a policy of hiring professors and admitting students because they have conservative views would actually endanger the open-minded intellectual environment that proponents of viewpoint diversity say they want. By creating incentives for professors and students to have and maintain certain political positions, such a policy would discourage curiosity and reward narrowness of thought.


Would a deliberate effort to hire professors with conservatives views backfire or create balance? The example of Robert Nozick is given in the article as an someone who had an obvious Libertarian view but was hired for intellectual rigor and not his politics. Is that a good example?

ETA: The author concedes that there is liberal bias in US universities.

Just When You Think Someone is Coming Around​

I was just dozing off in my chair with the latest Tucker Carlson interview playing on the TV when Guardian Angel woke me just in time to hear the following.

(Video in link)


Apologies for the poor audio quality.

Did you catch that?

Protestants are the people who “think for themselves” and Martin Luther “took on the 1500 year-old Church by himself”.

The most risible moment is Charlie Kirk proudly asserting that he’s “Calvinist too”.

Luther was a revolutionary who set in motion the destruction of the West by trying to rend Her underpinning foundation – the Catholic Church. Thought for himself? No. He took the volumes of thought of other more brilliant men – like Aquinas and Albert the Great and his own “spiritual father” Augustine – and rejected it as only a man who thinks he knows better can do.

Continued below.

Exploring the historical celibacy connection​

When I was in the seminary, I had no idea how many of my fellow seminarians were homosexuals. The reason is that we often project onto others what we see in ourselves. If a faithful husband sees a friend having dinner with a beautiful woman he knows is not his wife, he may approach him anticipating that the woman is a visiting relative or business partner. However, if an unfaithful husband sees a friend having dinner with a beautiful woman who is not his wife, he may not approach him, assuming that his friend is also having an affair. Had I been a sexually active homosexual seminarian, I would have been in a much better position to identify who was straight and who was gay amongst both the seminarians and the seminary faculty.

Continued below.

U.S. bishops partnered with Democrats to break our immigration system, and now declare it needed to be fixed.​

We’ve heard the excuses so many times over the years, we can repeat them by heart.

“It’s a broken immigration system,” “We can’t close the border without fundamental immigration reform,” “It was already broken when we arrived,” and “If you don’t reform it first, you just don’t have compassion.”

Well, President Trump arrived to serve his second term on Jan. 20, 2025, and within days, he had secured the borders. After four years of millions of illegal aliens pouring in annually, the combination of fences, walls, rivers, planes, and federal law enforcement on the ground has brought illegal crossings to effectively zero for these past six months.

Continued below.

I recently discovered this very beautiful Book of Hours by the Flemish artist Simon Bening (1483 ca. - 1561), who specialized in the production of richly illuminated manuscripts, and made several such prayer books for wealthy patrons such the Emperor Charles V and the Infante of Portugal. This particular example is known as the Flower Book of Hours, since nearly every page without a large illustration has four different flowers on it, as in the fourth image here. (On many pages, one or more of the flowers is replaced by a bird, insect, or some other animal; an especially good example of this is given below.) It was made around 1520-25, for an unknown patron; by this time, Bening had moved from his native place (either Ghent or Antwerp) to Bruges, where he was an important figure in the bookmakers’ guild. He is regarded as the last major exponent of the tradition that produced this kind of work in the Netherlands, which were taken over in the 16th century by the worst and most destructive form of Calvinism; the Beeldenstorm, a famous and particular vicious outbreak of iconoclasm, took place about 5 years after his death.

The book begins with a calendar, and as is very often the case in Books of Hours, each page is accompanied by the sign of the zodiac that begins within that month, and some form of agricultural activity: for the current month, July, the sign of Leo, with the reaping of crops in the background, and a waterfowl hunt in the foreground. In many places in the manuscript, where a line has no text, it is filled with a decorative bar, also very typical of higher quality Books of Hours.



Continued below.

The popular Catholic and political commentator, Michael Knowles, said the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in Gaza was just too much

“Israel is losing me”. That’s what the popular political podcaster for the Daily Wire, Michael Knowles said Monday in a post Catholics for Catholics posted on X, the social media platform.

Knowles, who is also a committed Catholic, said he was bothered by the attack Israeli forces did on a Catholic church in Gaza. Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the war between Israel and Gaza, speaking of his profound pain about the strike on the sole Catholic Church in that country.

On Thursday, three people died and others were injured when the church of the Holy Family was attacked by a blast that killed three people, including the church’s janitor. The parish pastor, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, was also wounded during the attack, drawing condemnation by the international community, including President Trump, according to the White House Press Secretary.

Israel called the blast an “accident,” but Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said he did not believe that Israeli attack was not intentional.

“Was it an accident? I don’t see any evidence that it was an accident. Can you provide me some proof that it was an accident?” Knowles said during his live podcast at Daily Wire on Friday July 18th. “You struck the church. Churches are pretty obvious targets. They are pretty obvious sites. The cross. Can you explain to me how this was an accident?” he added.

Continued below.

Pray for Her​

I just heard from a friend that Trent Horn’s wife. Laura, has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

I do not wish that on anyone.

Please pray for her and for their family.
Ave Maria…

Please Pray for Trent Horn’s Wife

Under the shadowy figures running the Biden administration, the FBI targeted Christians. The FBI actually used the “hate map” generated by the infamous anti-American Southern Poverty Law Center. Unfortunately, the war on Christians didn’t end with the last election. There are other forces in the public square who reject the God-given rights to free speech and free exercise of religion recognized by the First Amendment and who are targeting Christians.

Specifically, those hostile to faith have set their sights on an even more vulnerable minority than traditional Catholics, or Christian cake-bakers in Colorado: members of Health Care Sharing Ministries. There are only about a million members of Health Care Sharing Ministries in the United States. Some smaller states are home to only a few hundred. Yet, a rising handful of blue state legislators, in league with obnoxious, atheist media figures like John Oliver and national atheist associations, are taking aim at these ministries (more on this below). Why is there an orchestrated effort to squelch the First Amendment rights of these groups?

The problem seems to boil down to this: Health Care Sharing Ministries are not health insurance. Health Care Sharing Ministries are 501(C)3 nonprofit charities. They convene communities of like-minded religious believers and facilitate the sharing of medical bills between them, praying for one another and supporting each other in their health journeys.

Continued below.

The Psalmist was being persecuted for his walk of faith. He was experiencing reproach, contempt, ridicule, and false accusations from the arrogant and from the wicked who forsook the commandments of the Lord. But he was a companion of all those who feared the Lord, who walked in the ways of the Lord and in his righteousness, and who kept the commandments of God. But despite the persecution he was facing, he believed God dealt well with him.

But he had not led a perfect life. There was a point in time when he wandered from the faith, and when he went astray, but that was in the past. Now he was committed to serving the Lord with his life. Now he wanted to obey the Lord and to walk in his ways, and so he prayed to the Lord that he would have good discernment and knowledge, and that the Lord would teach him his statutes (his commandments), that he might obey them fully.

But even though he was now walking in the ways of the Lord, in obedience to the Lord and to his commandments, by the grace of God, in the power of God, and not of his own flesh, and he was no longer going astray, there were people, the arrogant, who had forged a lie against him, who were trying to destroy him and to give him a bad reputation so that others would reject him and would think ill of him, for reasons of their own we do not know.

Perhaps it was because his teachings were “stepping on toes,” and were bringing conviction to people’s hearts and minds. For he was speaking the truth that they did not want to hear nor to accept. For they did not want to hear that we must die to sin and follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, as part of faith which saves, and that if we walk in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

At least, that is where many are today, many of whom profess faith in Jesus Christ. They are still wandering in their sins, still living in sinful addiction, and so they want to hear the sugar-coated messages which tell them that God will not judge them for their idolatries and adulteries, and that heaven is still secured for them, even though they ignore the Lord’s commands and they pursue the lustful desires of the flesh, and they don’t obey God.

And so they speak lies against the righteous who are following after the Lord to walk in his ways, who take the teachings of the Scriptures to heart, to obey them, and who are no longer walking in sin, making sin their practice, but for whom holy living is their practice, although they may not be perfect people in absolutely every respect, for they are still clay in the hands of the Potter being molded into the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

But no matter how we are treated, and by whom, we who are followers of Jesus Christ, in truth, must be those who are walking in the ways of the Lord, obeying our Lord’s New Covenant commands, following the Lord wherever he leads us. Sin must no longer be what we practice, but now righteousness and godly living should be our practice. For if sin is what we obey, and not God, we will not inherit eternal life with God. God says!

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:1-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

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The Arrogant Have Forged a Lie
An Original Work / July 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

In my experience, people who leave evangelicalism turn to atheism, and they generally don't turn back. There are exceptions. But generally, they go to atheism, and that's where they stay. And my observations of people I've known who were Jehovah's Witnesses, and some of them have been good friends, is the same.

This gets me to wondering if the shock of leaving evangelicalism-the transition away from that quite encompassing system of faith, and similarly with Jehovah's Witnesses-is so great that when the person leaves, they tend to reject all religion, and to do so permanently.

After I had become a Catholic, I had an SMS conversation with a Presbyterian minister who expressed fairly profound surprise that I had embraced Catholicism and thus had returned to Christianity. What he wrote in his SMSs gave me the impression that he expected that I would have become an atheist and would have never returned to Christianity, in any way, shape, or form. I can only guess, but I imagine that what he was saying was both based on his reading of Hebrews 6 and possibly pastoral experience as well. He will be one of the readers of this perhaps. I'm not sure if he will read it or not, and he will recognise that conversation if his memory is good. I mention the conversation only as corroborative evidence for what I'm about to say and what I've already observed.

It seems to me that Evangelicalism, along with Pentecostalism, possibly Jehovah's Witnesses, and maybe Mormons and others have a tendency to produce ex members who are atheists. I think the same may be true to a degree of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. But I think it's probably more pronounced in those more encompassing religions, such as evangelicalism. My thinking is that the devastation of the loss of that whole complex and embracing system of religion leaves such a strong vacuum that the person regards all religion as a write off. And if I'm not mistaken, that is the expectation of Calvinism to a degree, seemingly the expectation of those who are very strongly five pointed Calvinists (TULIP embracing Calvinism). But I may be wrong.

If anybody cares to comment, I would appreciate hearing from them. Especially anybody who has some direct experience with this or direct interest in it.

Shalom

Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen!

He never grows weary and never slumbers.

I'm feeling a bit powerless and disoriented at the moment and I pray that the Lord will grant me new strength so that, as His Word says, "I will soar like an eagle" (Isaiah 40:29-31) to build the Kingdom of God in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord bless you and may He bless Israel in Jesus' name. Amen!

Soli Deo Gloria

PS And I pray that the Lord will send out harvesters into His harvest (Matthew 9:38).

Both criminal illegal aliens involved in the attempted armed robbery were released into the country under the Biden Administration and NYC sanctuary politicians ignored detainer

The Biden administration let them in and the woke district attorneys left them on the streets.

Jeremiah 31:25 KJV
[25] For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.

My Respond: Thanking God for latter rain giving me blessings v24 to have a season and future seasons.
Joel 2:23-24 KJV
[23] Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. [24] And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Less than 70 years after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, became the center of the American debate about human evolution, the interpretation of Genesis, and broader sentiments about Christianity.

On July 21, 1925 — a century ago today — substitute teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of violating a state ban on teaching evolution in schools. His $100 fine (equal to $1,837 today) was overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Both then and today, the widely publicized trial has been portrayed as a microcosm of an asserted battle between “science” and “religion.”

Scopes was defended by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer Clarence Darrow, who was religiously agnostic. William Jennings Bryan, a Protestant Christian and three-time Democratic Party nominee for president, defended the state law and a literalist understanding of the first few chapters of Genesis.

During the trial, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as a Bible expert and proceeded to grill him on certain texts of the Bible and question their historical accuracy. That line of questioning allowed Darrow to use the trial as a proxy fight against Christianity itself. Although that portion of the trial was thrown out by the judge because it was not relevant to Scopes’ charges, it is remembered for its impact on 20th-century debates about human evolution and Christianity.

Most famously, the 1955 play and 1960 film “Inherit the Wind” played up the “science vs. religion” narrative, effectively solidifying that perception in American culture.

Continued below.

This was a very thoughtful gift from a friend.








This was a very thoughtful gift from a friend. In my case, these prayers are what I need to see on a regular basis (God’s provision is fantastic) but what prayers would you like to see on a cube like this so you can easily remember them?

In Against Democracy, libertarian professor and political philosopher Jason Brennan argues voting is bad for most people. Based on sixty-five years of data, he shows how completely and efficiently the voting public is misinformed on vital issues each election. The majority of voters are even ignorant of what party is in power, and, for example, during a presidential election, only a minority knew which candidate was more “conservative” or “liberal.” They vote with this lack of knowledge, and it negatively affects you and me. Brennan wrote they “impose these ignorant and irrational decisions on innocent people.” In other words, as Brennan says, voting is not a victimless crime. Brennan declares “The mantra ‘Get out the vote! Every vote counts!’ is dangerous. Most citizens are not doing us any favor by voting. Asking everyone to vote is like asking everyone to litter.”

Numerous studies demonstrate people consume political information in a biased manner. It is not only their choice of biased sources, but they do not process information the same way they would non-political information. They suffer from confirmation bias and reject facts conflicting with their preconceived ideas. In short, they are not able to reason about political issues.

When consuming data outside of a political situation, test subjects are fine, but the same data placed in a political context will cause them to automatically conform it to their biases. In other words, when it comes to politics, we refuse to accept facts contrary to our preferences. It is more important to be within our herd than to admit we might be wrong.

In Democracy for Realists, and agreeing with Brennan, Professors Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels argue most voters have very little understanding of politics; for example, in a survey only 44% of voters could name at least one branch of our government. The typical voter’s knowledge amounts to what can be gained from headlines and talking points. Voters en masse do not understand policy, or how actions will affect them.

Not only are voters ignorant of relevant information needed to cast a logical vote, but they also believe many falsehoods when entering the voting booths. Often they unknowingly vote against their own declared interests and reasons for voting in the first place. A large section of voters for both parties would change their party if they were better informed. For example, many conservative media watchers would vote Democrat but what they “know” of the party makes it impossible to do so. Likewise with left-leaning media watchers; if they were “exposed” to the whole truth, many would vote Republican.

In The Myth of the Rational Voter, libertarian Professor Bryan Caplan’s research also corroborates these views. As he discovered, “voters are worse than ignorant; they are, in a word, irrational–and vote accordingly…emotion and ideology…powerfully sway human judgment.” Caplan argues that since an individual is powerless to change an election, and because they receive no direct negative consequences from an uninformed vote, taking time to research and give a well-informed decision is not seen as worth their time and energy. As a result, most votes are based on emotion and ideology rather than facts and informed reasoned choices.

Since the 1940s, researchers at Columbia University have been measuring the knowledge of voters. It has never been impressive, but the decay has increased in recent decades. Brennan quotes Ilya Somin, author of Democracy and Political Ignorance: “The sheer depth of most individual voters’ ignorance is shocking to many observers not familiar with the research.” This ignorance is prevalent among supporters of both parties in every election, on a wide array of subjects.

Not only does the average voter need to gain knowledge about basic politics and how our government functions, but they need to understand that what they think they know is often factually inaccurate. They would vote otherwise, were they better informed. Voters are ignorant of how policies would affect them, where politicians stand on issues, and how those elected officials act after the election. They are unaware of which candidate supported what position, and uninformed in many other areas. Outside of presidential elections, most voters would not know who to vote for without a “D” or an “R” next to the candidate’s name.

Because voters generally have no idea what is going on, they can’t hold politicians accountable after they are elected. Further, the vast majority of those studied could only repeat misinformation about the opposing party rather than describe their actual stances. In other words, voters only had one option because what they “knew” about the other candidate and their position was false. Which makes politicians’ supposed accountability to voters seem a myth.

Achen and Bartels also argue politicians are rarely held accountable for their actions, since most voters are ignorant of what policies have been enacted and how they affect them. Further, voters often oust or keep current politicians based on something other than policy, namely how things happen to be going at election time. Their judgment is rarely on the politician’s performance but on other influences such as natural disasters and even the success of local sports teams.

Emotion, rather than logic, is what motivates the majority of voters. Philosopher George Tollefson wrote:

“The French Revolution released irrational forces into western civilization…where emotion was seen to be the principal organ of insight and truth. People, it was thought, could reflect on and decide political and ethical issues based on how they ‘felt’…Most humans almost never reason. These latter individuals practice opinion, prejudice, wishful thinking, superstition, egoism.”

Click to expand...

In agreement, Gustave Le Bon wrote, “The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste…Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”

Likewise, Scott Simon revealed this truth when he wrote, “A supporter once called out ‘Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you,’ and Adlai Stevenson answered, ‘That is not enough. I need a majority.'”

Based on his research, Brennan categorizes voters into various groups. First, “Vulcans” make up a tiny percentage of the voting population and remain unaffected by politics’ mental and emotional degradation. As a result, they can logically and rationally consume political information and make thoughtful decisions. Next “hobbits,” are those who don’t care about politics, don’t know much, and have no interest in it; they simply want to be left alone. The allure of controlling others via government force has no hold on them, similar to the allure of the One Ring hobbits resist so well.

However, “hooligans” make up most of the voting population; they see politics as a team sport and are “beset by cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias or intergroup bias.” Political parties become, for many, a team sport where both rivals wave flags and symbols and scream slogans at each other. As a result, they become furious and feel hatred toward others on the opposing team. Politics brings out the worst in some, dividing families, churches, and communities. I have noticed this among my customers; when the more politically active types meet people for the first time, they will often recite a section of the party creed, throwing out a signal to see if they get a friendly response. Once this is achieved and they know they are on the same team, they feel empowered to begin trashing the dissenting party.

When it comes to politics, hooligans stop thinking logically and enter into a tribal good-versus-evil mode. They cannot seek to understand those from the other side, and this mindset breeds hatred. Becoming involved in politics is like a viral vector for phronemophobia. I think it is partly why each party demonizes the other; to justify the abuses they will inflict on them when they come to power. They must demonize the other side in the eyes of their voters to morally justify obliterating their enemies’ self-rule. They must show their voters the other side cannot govern itself.

Getting involved in politics causes hatred; we demonize others outside of our tribe, making us think irrationally. Brennan said, “Politics… pulls us apart, stultifies and corrupts us, and makes us civil enemies.” Again, Brennan writes:

“Hooligans are the rabid sports fans of politics…hooligans consume political information, although in a biased way. They tend to seek out information that confirms their preexisting political opinions but ignore, evade, and reject out of hand evidence that contradicts or disconfirms their preexisting opinions…cherry-pick data and tend only to learn about research that supports their own views…Their political opinions are part of their identity, and they are proud to be a member of their political team. For them, belonging to the Democrats or Republicans…matters to self-image, in the same way, being Christian or Muslim matters to religious people’s self-image. They tend to despise people who disagree with them, holding that people with alternative worldviews are stupid, evil, selfish, or at best, deeply misguided. Most regular voters, active political participants, activists, registered party members, and politicians are hooligans.”

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Numerous studies from multiple researchers demonstrate emotion is intertwined when discussing politics, and people stop thinking logically. The brain releases pleasure responses when party members are given information revealing opposing politicians as hypocrites, allowing them to be criticized. The same happened when they defended members within their party for the identical actions. Many believe this pleasure response becomes addictive, like cigarettes and caffeine. Likewise, people watch their favorite political shows for the same reason; their brain generates these chemical responses as their source reinforces their position and ridicules the opposition.

Voters are willing to accept and defend actions of members of their party they condemn in others. When told the opposing party held a position they would condemn it harshly, but when it was revealed it was their party’s position, they did a 360, now defending it. Hypocrisy is innate in the thought of the typical voter. We would rather do less work and believe what we want than do more work and challenge our cherished views.

An alarming study showed that if nine people (who, unknown to the tenth, were shills working with the researcher) gave the wrong answer to an easy, straightforward question, the tenth, being the test subject, would give the wrong answer 75% of the time. Brain analysis showed these subjects actually believed their statements were factual; they were not just trying to fit in. This is precisely why mob politics (democracy) is the perfect political system to enable a population to accept falsehoods.

Pope Leo XIV spoke on the phone with President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine, who called the pope on Monday morning regarding the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.

According to the Vatican, the Holy Father repeated his appeal for the protection of “civilians and sacred places” during his conversation with the Palestinian president.

Besides reiterating his concern that international humanitarian law be “fully respected,” the pope specifically called for the prohibition of the “indiscriminate use of force” and the “forced transfer” of people in the region.

He also emphasized “the urgent need to provide assistance to those most vulnerable to the consequences of the conflict and to allow the adequate entry of humanitarian aid,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

Continued below.

​

Pope Leo XIV greets residents of St. Martha Home for the Elderly in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, during a visit on July 21, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV on Monday morning visited St. Martha Home for the Elderly in Castel Gandolfo, the Italian town where he is spending his vacation.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff arrived at the residence on July 20 at 10:30 a.m. local time and was welcomed by the community of nuns who run the facility.

The Sisters of St. Martha religious order was founded in 1946 by Blessed Tommaso Reggio. The sisters aim to be “humble presences of peace and hope” for those most in need and to pay “the utmost attention to the quality of relationships and the well-being” of the nursing home’s residents, according to the order’s website.

After spending time praying in the chapel, the Holy Father personally greeted approximately 20 elderly people, all between the ages of 80 and 101.

Continued below.

A Chicago family vacationing in Rome is making headlines after a video of their encounter with Pope Leo XIV on Sunday went viral.

Marcel and Ann Muñoz, along with their three children, met the pope after Mass on July 20 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Pancras in Albano, a town about 16 miles south of Rome, and gifted him a T-shirt that reads “Da Pope,” — in reference to “Da Bears,” which stems from the old “Superfans” sketches on “Saturday Night Live.”


The Muñoz family were also wearing the custom T-shirts, which were, of course, in Bears colors — navy blue with white text and orange lines.

Continued below.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Sunday that reports claiming up to over 70 Gazans were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza didn’t align with information available to the military, while acknowledging that some warning shots were fired.

In the latest of a string of near-daily reports of mass casualties allegedly caused by IDF soldiers opening fire at Gazans near aid distribution sites, Hamas-affiliated sources claimed that up to 73 people were killed on Sunday.

According to the IDF, soldiers identified “a gathering of thousands of Gazans” in the northern Gaza Strip, and some troops “fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them.”

Continued below.

Two parents have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop a Massachusetts school district from hiding and not disclosing the so-called social gender transition of their child.

In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last Friday, Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri urged the Supreme Court to act on what they consider a threat to parental rights and child mental health.

The couple filed a lawsuit against officials with Ludlow Public Schools, accusing them of encouraging their middle school daughter to identify as nonbinary against their wishes.

Continued below.

This picture taken on June 8, 2025 shows a protestor shattering the window of a Waymo vehicle during a demonstration following federal immigration operations in Los Angeles. Demonstrators torched cars and scuffled with security forces in Los Angeles on June 8, as police kept protestors away from the National Guard troops President Donald Trump sent to the streets of the second biggest US city. | BLAKE FAGAN/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are facing an eight-fold increase in assaults, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security blaming politicians and the media for stirring up "anti-ICE rhetoric" and promoting what it says are misleading stories about immigration enforcement efforts.

ICE officials have experienced an 830% increase in assaults between Jan. 21 and July 14 compared to the same period in 2024, the DHS stated in a statement. The timeline coincides with the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said it's "reprehensible that our officers are facing this threat while simply doing their jobs and enforcing the law."

Continued below.

Puerto Rico has banned so-called gender transition procedures for minors, joining more than two dozen states in prohibiting trans-identified youth from obtaining the life-altering surgeries and drugs.

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon, a Republican, signed Senate Bill 350, also known as the Law for the Protection of the Health and Well-being of Minors in Puerto Rico, into law last Wednesday. Her signature follows the approval from the Puerto Rico Senate in a 24-2 vote and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives in a 47-4 vote.

The bill is now in effect as Public Law 63-2025.

Continued below.

John Herring, a 12-year-old with a chronic heart condition, poses with Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, whom he got to meet as part of a partnership between ESPN and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. | YouTube/ESPN

A 12-year-old boy with a chronic illness got to meet his favorite athlete, whom he admires because of the athlete's Christian faith.

John Sperring, a 12-year-old from Dallas, Texas, who suffers from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome that has required him to undergo multiple surgeries, was featured on the "My Wish" segment of ESPN's "SportsCenter" last week.

The segment profiles children affiliated with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which works to make the dreams of children with chronic and/or terminal illnesses come true. ESPN partners with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to help children meet their favorite athletes.

Continued below.

I'm a baby boomer, and I recall all sorts of things that the younger generations today don't recall one of them is that The King James version used to be available in bookstores pretty much everywhere. You could buy it at Christian bookstores. You would see it in supermarkets. You'd even see it in some fuel stations.

But The presence of The king James version has been diminishing. You don't see it so much in the secular The. bookstores.
In Australia, I never see it in ordinary stores anymore.

Has The antiquated language of The king James version caused it to lose popularity? How many people reading what I'm writing here have lost interest in reading that Jacobean style English?

And what about the theology that lies behind The king James version?

Its history is forgotten. It's The product of a political movement as well as scholarly translation. It was mandated that it contain a number of catholic words. Catholic in The sense of The High Anglican Church. So you'll find words like baptism, church, and and Bishop. These are all big parts of king James theology. But it seems that now the people who like it most are evangelicals. How many of you are aware of the theological roots of The king James version? I've noticed that a number of people are espousing it. They like to speak about The king James only. But their own denomination is Baptist or something else that is inimical to The king James version theology. They don't have bishops. They like immersion or submersion rather than baptism in the traditional Anglican way.

And of course The king James version has elements of non catholic to anti catholic sentiment in the translation itself because of political and religious tensions around at the time when it was translated. This time I mean Catholic in The sense of The Catholic church with Rome as The seat of The Bishop Of Rome. It's an interesting thought to pursue. At any rate, I'd like to hear what any of you have to say about it.