Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Yeah, I guess I'm just not finding the elite $upremaci$m loaded with lies funny anymore. Sorry.
"Israeli satirical TV show finds fodder as vote nears" by William Booth and Ruth Eglash, Washington Post February 08, 2015
HERZLIYA, Israel — The hit Israeli satirical TV show ‘‘A Wonderful Land’’ is back on the air for a 12th season, and the comedians say the timing is perfect.
Meaning: There is yet another Israeli election, and the colorful cast of real-life Israeli leaders are getting skewered in skits on a show described as the ‘‘Saturday Night Live’’ of the Holy Land, whose actors impersonate with wicked aim the country’s often over-the-top political class.
‘‘Yes, the timing is a gift, but then again Israel is the gift that keeps on giving for the satirist,’’ said Muli Segev, the executive producer of ‘‘Eretz Nehederet,’’ as the show is named in Hebrew.
Yeah, it's all funny what is going on over there -- unless you happen to be Palestinian or Israel's neighbor.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party suddenly find themselves in tight race leading up the March 17 contest.12/6:
Related:
Israel’s Netanyahu solidifies Likud backing
Also see:
"While Netanyahu might be unloved, he is still the best bet to head the next government. His coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, who leans ever further right, is projected to pick up seats. Even with Labor’s surge, current polling suggests that Netanyahu could form the next government with a razor-slim right-wing, religious majority."
Also see:
"While Netanyahu might be unloved, he is still the best bet to head the next government. His coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, who leans ever further right, is projected to pick up seats. Even with Labor’s surge, current polling suggests that Netanyahu could form the next government with a razor-slim right-wing, religious majority."
I'm seeing election fraud.
According to the latest polls, Netanyahu is running neck and neck with challengers Isaac Herzog, head of the Labor Party, and his new political partner, Tzipi Livni, the former justice minister and repeat peace negotiator.
The election is essentially a referendum on Netanyahu, whom critics — especially the writers of ‘‘A Wonderful Land’’ — cast as an imperial, bombastic pessimist who rules by fear-mongering.
One popular bit in a previous season had the Netanyahu character and his wife, Sara, dressed as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
But they do give some props to Netanyahu, played with Frank Sinatra swagger by his TV doppelgänger, who often breaks into song and dance routines. Netanyahu’s campaign ads, on the other hand, cast the prime minister as the only adult in a collapsing coalition government filled with pettish, quarrelsome kindergartners — more fodder for ‘‘A Wonderful Land.’’
Israelis have been spoofing their leaders on television since the 1970s, but the top-rated ‘‘A Wonderful Land’’ has become a kind of institution. The show is taped before a live studio audience a couple of hours before it airs on Monday nights, so Segev and his writers can add topical zingers from the day’s headlines.
More than 917,000 people tuned in last month for the season opener, making it the second-most watched show of the week after the Israeli version of ‘‘The Amazing Race.’’
The episode began with a spoof of the Israeli leaders as characters from ‘‘Star Wars,’’ with Netanyahu as the dark lord Emperor Palpatine and Herzog as Luke Skywalker.
The Emperor vows he cannot be defeated while flanked by his Royal Guards, who are bearded ultra-Orthodox Jews dressed in stormtrooper costumes with side curls attached to their helmets. Skywalker keeps trying to turn on his lightsaber, but the beam is small and, umm, inadequate.
The gags are not subtle.
‘‘Nothing is sacred,’’ said the show runner Segev. ‘‘Laughing at ourselves, at our ridiculous situation, it is part of the Jewish tradition, our sense of humor. For one hour a week, the people decide — not the leaders — what is funny. It’s payback.’’
The self-centered arrogance doesn't bother me all that much anymore because truthfully, the pre$$ is only serving it's dwindling readership.
Amotz Asa-El, the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post and now a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said the show is entertaining, sure, but not able to sway voters one way or another.
‘‘They do attack everyone with equal vehemence,’’ he said. ‘‘They make Bibi conceited and aloof. They make of Herzog a total child, literally portray him as a kid, which is extremely damaging for a politician.’’
The show runners of ‘‘A Wonderful Land’’ think the comedy has taken on a harder edge in recent years.
‘‘Are there red lines? No, the politicians keep moving them,’’ said the show’s host, Eyal Kitzis. ‘‘We have to be more extreme than them, to exaggerate more. But it is getting harder and harder. They are becoming their caricatures.’’
Segev compared Israeli politics to ‘‘a bad soap opera’’ and the politicos to ‘‘a crazy family.’’ The producer was speaking on a recent day in a spare dressing room as his actors busied themselves in wardrobe and ran through their lines.
The current format depicts a long-suffering anchorman and host, the ultimate straight man, sitting at a news desk flanked by his ‘‘guests’’ — actors in wigs and prosthetics who impersonate Israel’s leaders, spending the show talking over and at one another.
In the season opener, ‘‘Netanyahu’’ shows up for the debate dressed in a tracksuit with a plate of rugelach. When the anchor asks what gives with the nosh and the casual attire, Netanyahu shrugs and says it doesn’t matter what he does anymore, the voters will reelect him anyway (to a historic fourth term as premier, by the way).
The show runners say their own political bearings are liberal; they know the Israeli audience tilts right. They say they try hard to be equal-opportunity offenders.
They once spoofed the prophet Abraham, but they mostly step around Islam.
Palestinians are fair game, but the show is concerned with Jewish Israeli fixations, the characters dominated by politicians and ordinary citizens.
Gee, I'm so sorry I missed most of it.
They make fun of religious Jews and secular Jews, the endless wars and ineffectual peaceniks, Hamas rockets and the foreign media, which are skewered as biased or clueless.
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Oh, yeah, those elections:
"Israeli lawmakers move to dissolve Parliament" New York Times December 04, 2014
JERUSALEM — Israeli lawmakers passed several motions Wednesday to dissolve the Parliament as preparations began for new elections.
The motions came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his finance minister, Yair Lapid, and his justice minister, Tzipi Livni, the leaders of two centrist parties, effectively breaking up his fractious governing coalition.
Related:
"Israel’s former finance minister on Thursday said the government’s rush to allot tens of millions of dollars to West Bank settlements last month amounted to corruption, as he sought to link the secretive spending spree to a growing wave of scandals ahead of March elections."
Netanyahu had publicly denounced the two ministers and accused them of working to undermine him.
Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud party, who will be seeking a fourth term in office, called for elections less than two years after the last national ballot and 20 months after the current government was sworn in. Without the two parties led by Lapid and Livni, the three other parties in the coalition do not command a majority in Parliament.
The long-simmering tensions between members of the departing coalition burst to the fore in recent days, first in a quarrel over a proposed nationality bill that emphasized Israel’s Jewish character more than its democratic principles. Netanyahu and Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid, then clashed over the state budget and over a housing initiative championed by Lapid.
See: Cabinet backs bill promoting Israel’s Jewishness
Does it ever strike you as odd that the same tribe pushing inclusion and diversity around the world is insisting on a supremacist state for themselves?
In a preview of how the next few months of campaigning might look, the prime minister and the dismissed ministers engaged in strident personal attacks and mutual recrimination.
At a televised news conference Tuesday night, Netanyahu portrayed Lapid and Livni as dark forces who had challenged his policies on Iran and on the Palestinians.
Related: Israeli prime minister calls for scrapping UN Gaza war probe
See: War Crimes Court
Related: War crimes court rejects case vs. Israel
UN court clears Croatia, Serbia of genocide
Slovakia to decide on restrictions of gay rights in weekend voting
Vote restricting gay rights fails in Slovakia
‘‘It’s a success of Slovakia’s democracy?’’
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Well, the elections are set (as if I gave a crap what Zionist faction will be running Israel).
Kerry says US opposes efforts to interfere in Israeli election
Why not? They interfere in ours!
And have you ever noticed that when Israel is "warned" or "criticized" in any way some sort incident happens?
I mean, it would be in line with a long litany of things we have seen, as heroes are lionized and conventional myths reinforced long after the walls have fallen. Thus when Palestine receives recognition there always seems to be some sort of diversionary crisis brought about by Israel to provoke Palestinians Palestinians. The coverage drives on crazy as Israel tries to soothe Muslim fears while adding to the tensions.
Even worse, the AmeriKan Secretary of State, whom I don't even like, is trying to ease conflict as the UN chief says Palestinian recognition gains momentum (in a separate development Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowed to pass a contentious nationality law that has threatened the stability of his fragile coalition government, but he left the door open for negotiations to soften it).
Look at him play the race card and prey upon right-wing nationalism, 'eh?
Related:
"In a separate development Tuesday, Israeli police arrested 10 Jewish activists from an extremist group opposed to Arab-Jewish coexistence, including its leader, in the first major clampdown against a fringe organization that has become a symbol of rising anti-Arab sentiment."
In the meantime, Palestinians seek UN vote on Israeli withdrawal from occupied West Bank, complicating things for Kerry as "Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, said that Israel expected the United States “to stick to its longstanding policy, and veto” a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations," when it didn't even reach a vote.
I guess it is back to the drawing board once things clear the censors. Israel even had it's own to Paris moment, according to some. I hope you are starting to see why I'm skipping the craziness and not even floating you a trial balloon on the rest.
"Dems give Israeli ambassador earful over Netanyahu speech" by Donna Cassata and Charles Babington, Associated Press February 05, 2015
WASHINGTON — In a sometimes heated meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, several House Democrats expressed anger Wednesday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of a Republican invitation to address Congress next month.
Some of the seven lawmakers — all of whom are Jewish and supporters of Israel — urged the prime minister to postpone the speech or hold it somewhere else, participants said. They told Ambassador Ron Dermer that Netanyahu was unwise to accept a GOP invitation that bypassed President Obama, and to schedule the speech only two weeks before Netanyahu seeks another term in Israel’s elections.
The meeting’s purpose was ‘‘to try to defuse the optics’’ of the planned speech to Congress, and to return to substantive issues involving the two nations, said Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat who hosted the gathering in his House office. Some attendees suggested a different time or venue for a Netanyahu speech, Israel told reporters, but ‘‘we have a while to go before we have to address whether or not he’s coming.’’
What that means is Netanyahu is rubbing the American people's noses in the fact that Zionists control Congre$$ and it doesn't look good.
Netanyahu’s March 3 speech would focus largely on Iran — and its nuclear program — amid delicate negotiations involving the United States, other Western powers, and Tehran. Netanyahu’s acceptance of Speaker John Boehner’s invitation has infuriated the White House and many congressional Democrats.
Representative Israel said the problem began when Boehner ‘‘decided that Israel would be a political football and he’d spike it in the end zone.’’
Dermer asked for the Wednesday meeting in hopes of defusing some of the tension, lawmakers said.
Several Jewish House Democrats had met last week during the party’s retreat in Philadelphia to discuss what to do about the speech.
‘‘I organized the meeting with Ambassador Dermer, and I invited key congressional Democratic supporters of Israel to attend,’’ Israel said in a statement. ‘‘There were a wide range of views that were discussed, but one thing we all agreed on emphatically is that Israel should never be used as a political football.’’
Some Democratic lawmakers — including Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s second-ranking Democratic leader — say they have not decided whether they would attend Netanyahu’s speech in the House chamber. Numerous top Democrats, however, dismiss the idea of a large-scale boycott.
So this is really show theater for the masses.
Netanyahu has been an outspoken critic of the efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran, which does not recognize the Jewish state, and which supports anti-Israeli militants like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.
He is sensitive, though, to Israel’s important relationship with the United States.
Then why is he acting like such an asshole?
Last week Netanyahu called Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader; Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader; and Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, in hopes of blunting their opposition to the invitation.
The issue has split many US Jewish organizations and communities, with some liberal groups criticizing the planned speech and others cheering it.
That's why it is big news here.
March 3 is 21 days before the United States and its international partners are supposed to have reached a framework agreement with Iran — one that would provide an outline for a more comprehensive deal set to be finalized by the end of June.
The United States and its allies want to prevent Iran from having the capability to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any interest in nuclear weapons and says its program is for peaceful uses such as nuclear power and medical technology.
Boehner says the House is an equal branch of government and has the right to invite the Israeli leader to ‘‘talk to the members of Congress about the serious threat that Iran poses and the serious threat of radical Islam.’’
Actually, it's treason according to the Logan Act.
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"Netanyahu speech has lawmakers in quandary" by Sylvan Lane and Jessica Meyers, Globe Correspondent | Globe Staff February 07, 2015
WASHINGTON — While members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation expressed irritation Friday about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress next month, none has vowed to skip his speech.
Most said they plan to attend, while several said they were undecided.
House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu without consulting the White House, a deviation from protocol that has angered Democrats and thrust sensitive Middle East diplomacy more directly into Washington’s partisan battles.
Massachusetts representatives accused Boehner of putting Democratic lawmakers in a bind, caught between their desire to support a crucial international ally and their reluctance to join Boehner and the prime minister in tweaking President Obama.
“The speaker’s really put the House in a terrible position,” said Representative Katherine Clark, a Melrose Democrat, who pledged support for Israel but said she’s not sure if she’ll attend.
Democrats consider Boehner’s invitation an attempt to undermine the Obama administration’s negotiations with Iran on its nuclear power ambitions. Republicans — and some Democrats — are pushing for increased sanctions on Iran, while Obama has warned he would veto any sanctions before the current diplomatic efforts have concluded.
The speech was scheduled for March 3 so Netanyahu could attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy conference in Washington. But the date has added political significance, coming two weeks before Israeli elections, where Netanyahu faces a close race.
Vice President Joe Biden will not attend the speech, his office said Friday, because he is traveling. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said House Democrats will not officially protest the speech, but she gave Democratic lawmakers political cover if they choose not to attend.
“When these heads of state come, people are here doing their work, they’re trying to pass legislation, they’re meeting with their constituents, and the rest,” she told reporters. “It’s not a high priority for them.”
At least seven House Democrats had said they will bypass the address as of Friday evening, according to media reports, but there did not appear to be any broader boycott movement among lawmakers. Reaction in the Massachusetts delegation was mixed.
Prepare to be challenged in your next primary.
“It would be discourteous not to attend,” said Representative Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, who confirmed he will be in the House chamber if Netanyahu appears as planned. “It’s a sign of respect for us, not only to Netanyahu, but to the Israeli people that we show up.”
OMG! I never realized he was such a slave for them.
Democratic Representatives Bill Keating of Bourne and Richard Neal of Springfield said they were frustrated with the scheduling but also would attend so as not to further politicize the situation. Representative Joe Kennedy, a Brookline Democrat, and Senator Edward Markey also plan to go.
But Niki Tsongas, a Lowell Democrat, said she had not decided whether to attend.
“Israel is one of our strongest allies and I hate to see the upcoming elections politicized in this manner,” Tsongas said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, declined an interview request. Her office did not respond directly when asked if she would attend, but it sent a statement expressing Warren’s disappointment with Boehner’s invitation. Representatives Michael Capuano of Somerville and Seth Moulton of Salem also voiced frustration at Boehner’s move but did not respond to direct questions about whether they would avoid the speech.
Boehner defended his invitation this week, saying Americans needed to hear from Netanyahu directly about the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism.
I will decide who and what I need to hear from.
Some leaders in the Massachusetts Jewish community urged lawmakers to attend and warned against any boycott.
“It doesn’t make sense to do this at a time when we’re all horrified by the enemies of Israel and the free world,” said May Long, founder of the Massachusetts-based Christians and Jews United for Israel. If the delegation boycotts, she said, “we won’t sit back on that.”
Sure looks like a threat to me.
Others took a more neutral tone.
“We’re not going to advise the members whether to go, and we’re not going to protest whether or not they go,” said Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. “The entire brouhaha over the prime minister’s planned speech to Congress is a distraction from the substantive issues which brought it about.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, said only that it encourages members to attend.
Some congressional Democrats have proposed a middle ground: rescheduling the speech until after the Israeli elections. Representative James McGovern, a Worcester Democrat, signed onto a letter requesting the delay but said he wants to see the speech pushed back further until the Iran talks end. He has not decided whether to attend.
He is mine, he ran unopposed last time, and I wish he wouldn't go. Then I will look forward to 2016 to see if he is challenged.
This speech, he said, puts any thoughtful discussion of Iran’s nuclear capabilities in jeopardy.
“The circumstances behind the invitation to the prime minister to address a joint session of Congress were so political and partisan,” McGovern said. “His visit will be remembered for that and not anything he says about Iran.”
If we remember anything he says at all.
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"Stephen Lynch quest to release pages of 9/11 report gains support" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff February 06, 2015
WASHINGTON — Some current and former lawmakers who have read the 28 pages of secret findings about possible foreign government involvement in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, insist they implicate officials from Saudi Arabia. These lawmakers also have said that the findings show at least two of the hijackers had financial connections to the Saudi embassy in Washington.
It's now obvious the section is a blackmail tool put forth by the Zelikow Commission.
The embassy declined to comment this week, but Saudi officials had previously denied any connection to the hijackers.
They were foolish enough to cooperate with USrael, thus allowing themselves to be framed.
The Obama administration, which has the ultimate authority over classified information, has repeatedly said that a review of the issue is “ongoing.” It has not said if the information would be made public, despite several pledges by Obama to victims’ families to do so.
The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday reiterated to reporters that the documents are still being reviewed by the office of the intelligence director, James Clapper.
Last week, Representative Stephen Lynch told the Globe he believed the outpouring of sympathy for the death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud would make the release of the pages even less likely, at least in the short term. But both Lynch and one of his chief Republican partners in the effort, Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, were buoyed by the new attention on the issue this week.
If you do a little digging you mighty find something.
In an interview with CNN, Lynch said that for the families of the victims of the 2001 hijacking attacks — including two planes that took off from Boston — “we owe them a full accounting.”
Lynch said the withheld pages, which were initially kept secret by the Bush administration, corroborates some of the assertions by one of the 9/11 conspirators, Zacarias Moussaoui, who is serving a life sentence in a Colorado penitentiary.
They are taking anything that tortured crazy man says seriously?
“There are people named; there are transactions identified,“ Lynch told CNN.
“What are they afraid of?” he asked of the Obama administration. “Having those 28 pages disclosed to the public will inform our foreign policy going forward, which would be very helpful at this stage.’’
In an interview with the Globe, Jones said he believes “the new revelations have given us a springboard to give us more momentum.”
Jones and Lynch also wrote a letter to Obama in April urging him to live up to his own promises to 9/11 families that he would make the findings public. A lawsuit filed by the families against Saudi Arabian officials provided the forum for Moussaoui’s testimony.
“He can do it with the stroke of a pen,” Jones said.
Like so many other things.
The North Carolina lawmaker said he was planning to speak with Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, in the hopes of persuading him to propose a companion resolution in the Senate.
See: Rand Paul is on Koch
“They need to join on their side so we can show the president of the United States that he has support in the House and Senate to declassify this information,” said Jones. “This is all about the families, the families’ right to know the truth.”
Which is something you definitely will NOT be getting from the U.S. government or the agenda-pushing, war-promoting, propaganda pre$$. Sorry.
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Related: 9/11 Lynch Mob
What's next, Iran had a hand in it?
"Iran’s Ahmadinejad launches website ahead of vote" Associated Press February 02, 2015
TEHRAN — Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a website ahead of parliamentary elections next year in a sign he may be considering a political comeback despite a recent corruption scandal.
Remember when he was the next Hitler? Now it's Putin.
The website, ahmadinejad.ir, was launched Sunday with a big smiling photo of the former president.
Ahmadinejad effectively disappeared from Iran’s political landscape after his second term ended in 2013. The hard-line leader’s eight-year rule was marked by hostility toward the West and inflammatory rhetoric calling for the destruction of Israel and casting doubt on the Holocaust.
That's not exactly what he said, but.... sigh.
His reputation, even among hard-liners, took a hit last month after his former senior vice president was sentenced to five years in jail and ordered to pay a $300,000 fine for corruption....
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I guess the Jewish War Pre$$ just wanted to remind you he was there -- and could be coming back (doubtful)!
Now about the nuclear deal:
"Kerry, Iran downplay possibility of another talks extension" by Michael R. Gordon, New York Times February 09, 2015
MUNICH — Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was not pressed on the details of Iran’s position or its activities elsewhere in the Middle East, and he used his appearance here to present Iran as peace-minded and victimized by Western and Israeli anxiety, which he insisted was unfounded, about Iran’s military, nuclear, and regional aims.
It is unfounded, and it all has to do with the Project for the New American Century plans that still rule U.S. foreign policy to this day.
His comments came as Iran and its currency have been hit hard economically by the various sanctions of the Security Council, the European Union, and the United States, and hit harder still by the rapid decline in global oil prices, accelerated by the policy of Saudi Arabia, a rival to Iran in the Middle East.
That's why Saudi is keeping the pumps running -- that, and to destroy the burgeoning fracking movement in AmeriKa.
Zarif spoke as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday he was willing to accept an agreement that did not undermine his nation’s interests, an important gesture of support to Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani.
“I would go along with the agreement in the making,” Khamenei said in a speech, according to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. “Our negotiators are trying to take the weapon of sanctions away from the enemy. If they can, so much the better. If they fail, everyone should know there are many ways at our disposal to dull this weapon.”
*********
President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are eager to finish the deal with Iran [but] with a Republican-led Congress in Washington, an extension of the talks is virtually a political impossibility for the United States.
Why? Foreign policy is the president's prerogative, ptr so I've been told.
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A speech not raising as much of a stink:
"It's official: Pope Francis will address the US Congress; He will be the first pontiff to speak before US lawmakers" by Michael O'Loughlin, February 5, 2015
In what will be a first for a pope or religious head of state, Pope Francis will address a joint session of the US Congress Sept. 24, Speaker of the House John Boehner confirmed Thursday.
But whether Republicans and Democrats will like what they hear is an open question.
“In a time of global upheaval, the Holy Father’s message of compassion and human dignity has moved people of all faiths and backgrounds,” Boehner said in a statement. “His teachings, prayers, and very example bring us back to the blessings of simple things and our obligations to one another.”
“We look forward to warmly welcoming Pope Francis to our Capitol and hearing his address on behalf of the American people,” he continued.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, praised the pope’s emphasis on peace.
“Pope Francis has renewed the faith of Catholics worldwide and inspired a new generation of people, regardless of their religious affiliation, to be instruments of peace,” she said in a statement. “In the spirit of the namesake of San Francisco, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis’ universal message of love and compassion speaks to millions around the world.”
She forgetting about the pooper-pumping, and what gives with war-mongering scum citing peace?
A statement from the Archdiocese of Washington welcomed the news.
“It is a great honor and tremendous joy to welcome our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to the Archdiocese of Washington during his proposed pastoral visit to the United States in September,” it read. “This historic event will be a time of grace for all of us.”
At the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, President Barack Obama, who has credited the pope with helping the United States restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, said he was eager to welcome the pope to the United States.
“Like so many people around the world, I’ve been touched by his call to relieve suffering, and to show justice and mercy and compassion to the most vulnerable,” the president said.
Francis will be the first pontiff to address Congress, and is just the fourth pope to visit the United States.
I'm hoping to hell he isn't shot while here.
Although the pope speaks frequently about issues affecting Americans, including poverty and economic inequality, he has addressed the United States explicitly only when calling for more humane conditions on the US-Mexico border.
Most recently, Francis made the appeal in a letter to a Jesuit priest who helps organize Catholic teens in Nogales, Arizona, to support the Kino Border Initiative, which advocates a more humane solution to migration. The letter was dated Dec. 19, but made public on Kino’s website only recently.
“These young people — who have come to learn how to strive against the propagation of stereotypes, from people who only see in immigration a source of illegality, social conflict and violence — can contribute much to show the world a church without borders,” Francis wrote.
He's a globalist, and thus part of the problem.
Republicans have battled Obama’s efforts to make it easier for many immigrants in the US illegally to remain in the country, and want to strengthen border security to keep more of them out. Many of them have also opposed efforts to reduce pollutants that contribute to global warming.
Democrats, too, may be challenged by the pope’s message.
He has condemned abortion and the use of artificial contraception, and called marriage between a man and a woman a “fundamental pillar” of society.
Nearly 31 percent of Congress identifies as Roman Catholic, compared to 22 percent of the overall population, according to Pew Research’s Religion and Public Life Project. Protestants also are over-represented, making up 57 percent of Congress vs. 49 percent of the population.
Boehner and Pelosi, both Catholics, invited the pope last March to speak to Congress.
In addition to Washington, the pope will attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia and speak at the United Nations in New York, where he is expected to talk about climate change.
Too bad he wasn't here now.
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"Pope backs spanking as long as child’s dignity kept" by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press February 06, 2015
I'm not even going to say it.
VATICAN CITY — The Rev. Thomas Rosica, who collaborates with the Vatican press office, said the pope was obviously not speaking about committing violence or cruelty against a child but rather about ‘‘helping someone to grow and mature.’’
‘‘Who has not disciplined their child or been disciplined by parents when we are growing up?’’ Rosica wrote in an e-mail. ‘‘Simply watch Pope Francis when he is with children and let the images and gestures speak for themselves! To infer or distort anything else . . . reveals a greater problem for those who don’t seem to understand a pope who has ushered in a revolution of normalcy of simple speech and plain gesture.’’
The Catholic Church’s position on corporal punishment came under sharp criticism last year by members of a UN human rights committee monitoring implementation of the UN treaty on the rights of the child.
In its final report, the committee members reminded the Holy See that the treaty explicitly requires signatories to take all measures, including legislative and educational, to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence — including while in the care of parents.
So the state can take them away?
**********
The recommendations were prompted by reports to the committee of widespread physical abuse and use of corporal punishment in Catholic-run schools and institutions, particularly in Ireland, that committee members said had reached ‘‘endemic levels.’’
The Vatican had argued that it in no way promoted corporal punishment but that it also had no way to enforce any kind of ban on its use in Catholic schools, over which it has no jurisdiction. It noted that it was only responsible for implementing the child rights treaty inside the Vatican City State.
That said, it stressed that the term ‘‘punishment’’ isn’t even used in the section of church teaching that refers to parents’ duties to ‘‘educate, guide, correct, instruct and discipline’’ their children.
In its written response to the committee, the Vatican said that according to church teaching, parents ‘‘should be able to rectify their child’s inappropriate action by imposing certain reasonable consequences for such behavior, taking into consideration the child’s ability to understand the same as corrective.’’
The head of the Vatican delegation told the committee that he would take the UN proposal to ban corporal punishment in all settings back to Rome for consideration.
In the United States, parents can legally hit their child as long as the force is ‘‘reasonable.’’
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Related: Forget spanking; bishop accountability is the big pope story
"Former Arctic priest gets 19 years for sex abuse crimes" Associated Press February 05, 2015
IQALUIT, Nunavut — A defrocked Arctic priest has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for dozens of sex crimes against Inuit children.
Eric Dejaeger’s crimes took place 35 years ago in the remote Canadian community of Igloolik, when he was there as an Oblate missionary.
‘‘An exemplary sentence is needed to reflect not only the high moral blameworthiness associated with the crimes, but also to denounce and deter sexual offences against children and adolescents,’’ Justice Robert Kilpatrick said.
Dejaeger was convicted this year on a total of 32 charges. He was originally supposed to be tried on some of the charges in 1995, but he fled to his native Belgium and lived in Oblate homes until he was returned to Canada for immigration violations.
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Maybe he should get a spanking.
"Vatican prepares to open showers, barber shop for homeless" Associated Press, 6 February 2015
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Rome's homeless are about to get some TLC.
The Vatican said Friday it had finished renovations on public restrooms just off St. Peter's Square that will include three showers and a free barber shop for the city's neediest. Each "homeless pilgrim," as the Vatican called the clients, will receive a kit including a towel, change of underwear, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, razor and shaving cream.
Barbers volunteering on their days off - Rome's barber shops are closed Mondays - as well as students from a local beauty school will be donating their time, as well as some sisters from religious orders and other volunteers.
The bathrooms were made with high-tech, easy-to-clean materials to ensure proper hygiene, the Vatican said in a statement.
Francis' chief alms-giver, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, has said the project is needed since homeless people are often shunned for their appearance and smell. The initiative is being funded by donations and sales of papal parchments sold by Krajewski's office....
He should see plenty of them when gets to AmeriKa.
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Also see: Putting the Pope on ISIS
"Police chief quits after disastrous raid in Philippines" by Floyd WhaleyNew York Times February 07, 2015
MANILA — President Benigno S. Aquino III accepted the resignation of the Philippines’ national police chief Friday, two weeks after a raid left 44 police commandos dead and put the country’s peace agreement with rebels in jeopardy.
I called it.
Aquino has faced searing criticism, including calls for his impeachment and resignation, since the raid, which police say killed a top terrorism suspect. The dead police have been hailed as national heroes, and many Filipinos have criticized Aquino as not showing empathy and not taking responsibility for the officers’ deaths....
Looks serious.
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