[Aljazeera] State attorney general says Catholic dioceses withheld names of hundreds of clergy accused of sexually abusing children.
Illinois's attorney general has issued a blistering report about clergy sexual abuse, saying that Catholic dioceses in the US state have not released the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children.
The preliminary report on Wednesday by Lisa Madigan's office says that the church's six archdioceses have done a woefully inadequate job of investigating allegations and in some cases did not investigate them at all or notify the state's child welfare agency.
Madigan's office said that while the dioceses have disclosed 45 more names of those credibly accused, the total number of names disclosed is only 185 and raises questions about the church's response to the crisis.
"By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois," Madigan said in a statement.
#1
Nothing to joke about but it sounds exactly like Erdogan finding more Gulenists in the turk military.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/20/2018 7:04 Comments ||
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#2
Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, or so I’ve read, the character of those studying to become priests changed radically. We are now seeing the fallout of that.
[Matt at Feral Jundi] The true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives.
The phrase "riding shotgun" was no teenage game to the men who guarded stagecoaches and trains the Western frontier. Armed with sawed-off, double-barreled shotguns and an occasional revolver, these express messengers guarded valuable cargo through lawless terrain. They were tough, fighting men who risked their lives every time they climbed into the front boot of a Concord coach.
Boessenecker introduces soon-to-be iconic personalities like "Chips" Hodgkins, an express rider known for his white mule and his ability to outrace his competitors, and Henry Johnson, the first Wells Fargo detective. Their lives weren’t just one shootout after another‐their encounters with desperadoes were won just as often with quick wits and memorized-by-heart knowledge of the land.
The highway robbers also get their due. It wouldn’t be a book about the Wild West without Black Bart, the most infamous stagecoach robber of all time, and Butch Cassidy’s gang, America’s most legendary train robbers.
Through the Gold Rush and the early days of delivery with horses and saddlebags, to the heyday of stagecoaches and huge shipments of gold, and finally the rise of the railroad and the robbers who concocted unheard-of schemes to loot trains, Wells Fargo always had courageous men to protect its treasure. Their unforgettable bravery and ingenuity make this book a thrilling read.
[Al Jazeera] The governor of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , has banned campaigning in the city ahead of Sunday's presidential vote for security reasons, a move denounced by the opposition.
Andre Kimbuta, a member of the ruling coalition, announced his decision on Wednesday following crackdowns by security forces on opposition supporters last week that killed at least seven people and caused a fire that destroyed thousands of voting machines.
"The information in our possession attests that in all the political camps of the main presidential candidates, Death Eaters have prepared and are preparing for a street confrontation in the city of Kinshasa during election campaign activities," Kimbuta said in a statement, without elaborating.
The long-delayed election is meant to choose a successor for President Joseph Kabila, who is due to step down after 18 years in power. If successful, it would be the DRC's first democratic transfer of power.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] 'A case has been filed against Maulana Shahinur Pasha for the embezzlement of Tk322,000 by fraudulence from a businessman'
A Sylhet court has issued an arrest warrant for Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury, JatiyaOikya Front’s Sunamganj 3 candidate.
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sylhet issued the warrant on a fraud charge against the Jamaat Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh central vice-president on Tuesday.
Additional Public Prosecutor Mahfuzur Rahman confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune.
He said:"A case has been filed against Maulana Shahinur Pasha for the embezzlement of Tk322,000 by fraudulence from a businessman."
The plaintiff in the case, Mohammad Ali Talukder, a UK resident who also lives in the capital’s Banani area, said Pasha offered him a directorship in his real estate agency. Since November 4, 2012, Ali has been giving money in installments to Pasha.
Later, Pasha sold the enterprise without Ali’s knowledge and did not return his investment money, forcing Ali to file a fraudulence case against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Britannia’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has rejected claims that he called Prime Minister Theresa May a "stupid woman" during a parliamentary debate.
A front man for Corbyn said on Wednesday that the opposition leader was rejecting calls for an apology, insisting that he had muttered "stupid people" while being captured on live television cameras during the exchange in the House of Commons earlier in the day.
"He did not call her a stupid woman, so I don’t think there are any grounds for an apology. As I understand it, he said ’stupid people’," said the front man.
Corbyn himself told the Commons that he used the words to refer to people who were trying to spoil a debate on Britannia’s withdrawal from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... "Mr Speaker I did not use the words 'stupid woman' about the prime minister or anyone else," Corbyn said while addressing the chair of the Commons session John Bercow, adding, "During prime minister's question time today, I referred to those who I believe were seeking to turn a debate about the national crisis facing our country into a pantomime as 'stupid people'."
Corbyn was shown mouthing the words after May attacked him by taking a line from Christmas pantomimes and said that the opposition leader had even lacked the support of his politicians in the Labour for his EU strategy.
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12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
She does seem to be a stupid woman. Or evil. It's hard to tell sometimes. Either way, as I understand English law, truth is no defense against a charge of libel.
[Al Jazeera] A Brazilian Supreme Court justice issued a surprise ruling on Wednesday that could lead to the release of ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... this year on a corruption conviction.
Lula was tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in April after being sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, and faces six other trials for alleged corruption. He has maintained his innocence, dismissing the charges as a political plot against him.
Justice Marco Aurelio Mello issued the decision, which suspends the enforcement of the same court's earlier ruling that allows for convicts to be tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... after their sentence is upheld on first appeal, as was the case with Lula.
Mello's decision must next be considered by the full panel of the Supreme Court, which is divided on the issue of whether to allow those convicted to remain free until their case fully winds through Brazil's complex and backlogged legal system.
It is not yet clear if Lula could be freed from prison before the full court makes any decision, which would not happen until early next year, as the court goes into recess later on Wednesday.
If the decision stands, Lula could go free until he exhausts all appeals, a process which could take years.
Gleisi Hoffmann, who leads the leftist Workers Party that Lula founded, said via Twitter that the party had already filed legal requests before the top court to request that Lula be freed.
The office of Brazil's prosecutor general said it was studying Mello's decision and weighing its options. Prosecutors strongly oppose any backtracking on the ability of lower courts to order convicts to prison after their conviction is upheld on a first appeal.
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12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
A surprise ruling favoring a corrupt powerful candidate. Gee, I wonder what that means.
[Al Jazeera] The US Treasury sanctioned 16 members of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency over a "wide range of malign activity", including interference in the 2016 presidential vote and hacking international organizations.
The move came on Wednesday "in response to Russia's continued disregard for international norms", the Treasury said in a statement.
Those targetted included Victor Alekseyevich Boyarkin, a former GRU officer who acted on behalf of sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, it said.
"Deripaska and Boyarkin were involved in providing Russian financial support to a Montenegrin political party ahead of Montenegro's 2016 elections," the Treasury said.
Deripaska was among several oligarchs, senior government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company that the US sanctioned in April.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, two GRU agents, who allegedly took part in the attempted liquidation of Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, were also among the sanctioned.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#3
*Facepalm* So what if Greenpeace-USA, PETA-USA, or any other NGO that has a base in the USA, attempts to influence public affairs in another country...? Does the US Government help the foreign government to harass subpoena our citizens? This doesn't seem like a good idea...
[PRESSTV] China has opposed the "weaponization" of space by the United States, a day after President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ordered the creation of a new command center for controlling military space operations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying criticized the order by Trump administration during a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday
"China has consistently proposed the peaceful usage of space, and opposes the weaponization of space and a space arms race," the spokeswoman said, adding, "We oppose even further turning space into the new battleground," she added.
On Tuesday, Trump in a memo to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered the creation of the new organizational structure within the Pentagon that will have overall control of military space operations. "'I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command."
Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida's Cape Canaveral Tuesday, said the new US "Space Command" will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military. "It will develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures that will enable our war fighters to defend our nation in this new era."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Are these the same Chicoms that deployed an asat weapon awhile back that left a *bleep*load of debris in orbit? I'm guessing if they are bitching about the weaponization of space, then they are up to their ears in it.
[Breitbart] Chick-fil-A is growing at such a rapid pace that it is expected to become the third largest fast food chain in the U.S., surpassing competitors like Subway.
Business has been booming for Chick-fil-A, as sales for the chicken sandwich chain soared by 15.5 percent in 2018 and traffic to its stores went up by 10 percent since 2017.
But the privately-held chicken sandwich franchise is making such a splash that it is catching up to publicly-traded competitors such as McDonalds and Wendy’s years ahead of schedule.
Kalinowski Equity Research told Marketwatch that Chick-fil-A’s popularity is growing faster than expected, as the chain was not expected to grow this quickly until 2020.
"We have long pointed out that Chick-fil-A is the restaurant competition with which McDonald’s U.S. should most concern itself ‐ and by extension, investors should too," according to a statement from Kalinowski Equity Research. "But this goes beyond McDonald’s."
The chain’s projected sales for 2018 are expected to top $10 billion, even though the chicken sandwich joint is only open six days a week to keep company founder Truett Cathy’s wish to close the stores on Sundays to observe it as a holy day.
#2
Other chains have no hope of catching up to Chick-fil-A in terms of being staffed by pleasant, well spoken employees who don't have gang tattoos on their necks.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/20/2018 7:07 Comments ||
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#3
How's that boycott working?
The LGBT bunch will likely never attempt another boycott of Chick-fil-A. The parking lots were full, the stores were packed, the people had spoken. Corporate in Atlanta refused to divulge the financial profits Chick-fil-A reaped from the "boycott."
#4
If McDonalds and Wendys were smart they would add menu itens that would compete head to head with Chick-Fil-A, but todays executives are too focused on promoting stupid leftist policies and groups like LGBT, so they are not that smart.
#9
In a world where fast food is slim pickings,
An experience straight outta Dickens,
Just one little chain
Still stands up to the strain
With its plucky Churchillian chikins. /dlf
#10
A couple of weeks ago son-in-law, grandson, and I were out on errands and decided to stop at Chik-fil-A to eat. No big decision, it was just handy. Ordered, paid, sat down and were served - looked at each other and said 'Huh, this is how it is done right.' I guess we were not the only ones.
[Al Jazeera] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and businesses have ramped up planning for the fallout from the United Kingdom leaving the bloc without a divorce deal with just 100 days until Brexit.
Many European companies are planning for an economic shock in case the "nightmare" scenario becomes reality on March 29 next year.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said it would be an "absolute catastrophe" if the UK leaves the European Union without a transition deal in place.
For this reason, the commission and EU member states are working hard to avoid such a scenario, Juncker added, "but it takes two to manage a decent tango".
Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to find a deal the British parliament will approve means the world's fifth-largest economy now faces three choices: agreeing on a last-minute deal, halting Brexit, or leaving the EU without an agreement.
No deal means there would be no transition, so the exit would be abrupt. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said leaving the EU with no transition could be akin to the 1970s oil shock.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#3
Mark Carney is a globalist shill so cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Look at the numbers. The profits on British trade with the EUSSR vassal states (not just trade that goes through msterdam port for elsewhere) is not enough to make a big difference to the U.K. economy. That assumes ALL trade stops with the vassal states which is unlikely as the WTO rules kick in.
#4
Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to find a deal
It would better be phrased as success at not finding a good deal with the goal of forcing Britain to remain in the EU. They should just drop out and partner up with the US.
[Dhaka Tribune] The "great game" of the Kipling era was between Britannia in India and expanding Tsarist Russia. Now a new one has emerged in the Indian Ocean, with multiple players on one side and China on the other.
China under President Xi Jinping is concerned for secure sea trade access for its growing economy but its bases in the Indian Ocean are only part of asserting its challenge to US world hegemony, notably with the BRI. China now controls Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and Gwadar port in Pakistain. It has a new military base in Djibouti.
The US has a new Indo-Pacific command and links with India, Australia, and Japan in the "quadrilateral strategic dialogue." Australia and the US have pre-empted China by combining to fund a new naval base in Papua New Guinea.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2018 00:00 ||
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h/t Instapundit
The world's first privately funded lunar lander is ready for its mission to the moon in early 2019.
The Israeli company SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries loaded the payload -- the prayer of "Tefilat Haderech," the Bible, the Israeli flag, the national anthem and pictures drawn by children -- in a special ceremony Monday. Now, the spacecraft, dubbed Beresheet (genesis in Hebrew) will travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., where it will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in mid-February. "Palestinians" claim the Moon - we were there first - in 5..4..3
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2018 11:43 Comments ||
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#2
"Far above Palestinian palms
Looms a star newly purchased with alms,
Made of bundled qassams,
And this time it's Islam's!"
A kaboom on the moon. "Also bombs."
Hat tip: gCaptain. Chicoms are the new colonial plunderers of the 21st century.
Madagascar on Wednesday said it had seized a Panamanian-flagged ship with Chinese crew in its waters and said the vessel, that authorities had tracked for some time, was being used to plunder its resources.
Prime minister Christian Ntsay told a press conference in the capital Antananarivo the ship had "crisscrossed the territorial seas of Madagascar" for two to four months before it was seized overnight.
He said some steps were taken to stop it from illegally accessing the Indian Ocean Island nation's waters but that those efforts were fruitless.
The ship, he said, had previously "participated in the trafficking of our natural resources, including rosewood. This is unacceptable."
Investigations into the ship's activities would commence, he said.
Critics of growing China-Africa economic relations have accused the Asian giant of exploiting the continent's natural vast resources to fuel its economy back home.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/20/2018 14:45 ||
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[Breitbart] A federal school safety commission led by members of the Trump administration is recommending that the Departments of Justice and Education rescind the Obama-era school policy that urged more lenient forms of discipline in public schools for students of color and those of other minority groups.
In its final report released Tuesday, the commission concluded the "guidance" issued by the Obama administration in 2014 "may have paradoxically contributed to making schools less safe."
Some education policy experts have observed the Broward County school district’s policy that includes consideration of race and minority status where discipline is concerned, inspired the Obama administration’s guidance and may have played a role in the fact that Nikolas Cruz remained under the radar until his shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, on February 14.
The Obama-era Departments of Education and Justice ‐ under Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder ‐ issued school guidelines that claimed students of color are "disproportionately impacted" by suspensions and expulsions, a situation they said led to a "school-to-prison pipeline" that discriminates against minority and low-income students.
According to the Obama administration’s 2014 Dear Colleague letter (DCL), any school district whose disciplinary measures showed "disparate impact" ‐ meaning a disproportionately greater number of minority students are affected by disciplinary measures ‐ should be open to investigation by the Departments of Justice and Education, regardless of whether the behavior leading to the discipline is unacceptable.
Education policy analyst Max Eden, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explains:
#1
A safety commission recommends "scrapping" de-civilization? How can this be? Could equal academic standards, college enrollment, hiring standards, military promotions, and enforcement of highway motoring laws be next ?
h/t Instapundit
The number of federal government jobs in both the District and the wider D.C. region has declined on a year-over-year basis almost every month this year, according to statistics kept by the District’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
In September, the office reported 195,100 federal government jobs in the District ‐ 3,500 fewer than a year ago, and an annual decline of 1.8 percent.
h/t Instapundit
[Reason] Over 500 guns were surrendered to Baltimore police within the first hour and a half of a citywide gun buyback program this week. Participants received anywhere from $25 to $500 for their unwanted firearms.
Mayor Catherine Pugh and Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle announced a gun buyback program‐the first in six years‐last week. Pugh said that the program was intended to "get the guns off of our streets."
The program reportedly cost the city $250,000, but there is little evidence that buyback programs are effective in reducing violence, or even in reducing the number of firearms in circulation‐as one woman ably demonstrated.
Kathleen Cairns, a WBFF Baltimore journalist, tweeted a picture of a woman who was surrendering a 9mm. She hoped to use the money from the program to buy an even bigger gun.
There are other ways to game the system as well. For example, the city is offering $25 for every "hi-capacity" magazine turned in. Some digging from Daniel J. Mitchell of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) discovered that such a "hi-capacity" magazine can be purchased online for about $12. The $13 in profit may not seem like much money to some, but it can be the difference between paying for food, rent, a bill, or even a Christmas gift.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Aljazeera] State attorney general says Catholic dioceses withheld names of hundreds of clergy accused of sexually abusing children.
[Matt at Feral Jundi] The true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives.
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka 
[Dhaka Tribune] The "great game" of the Kipling era was between 
[Breitbart] A federal school safety commission led by members of the Trump administration is recommending that the Departments of Justice and Education rescind the Obama-era school policy that urged more lenient forms of discipline in public schools for students of color and those of other minority groups.
