What’s interesting in the news today?

Lots to talk about today.

1. There’s no reason for this. It serves no other purpose but to insult.

From TheDailyMail  “The rebels, who are members of the Islamic State terror group, were filmed attacking centuries-old graves in the north-west city of Mosul in Ninevah province.

Donning balaclavas and black coats, they swung sledgehammers into the tombs, causing pieces of dust and stone to fly through the air.”

“One of the devastated tombstones belonged to the Prophet Jonah (Younis in Arabic) and was revered by Muslims and Christians alike, according to Iraqi authorities.”

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2. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I have no interest whatsoever in anything aiding pedophiles, but this sets a very dangerous precedent, even for non-Catholics. Imagine the effect this could have on people seeking spiritual guidance that they think is, and should be, protected conversations.

From HotAir  “Many observers misunderstood the Hobby Lobby dispute and others like it as a First Amendment case, but it wasn’t. It primarily related to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), with an indirect reference to the constitutional freedom of religious expression. A case in Louisiana may be the real McCoy, though. The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a priest must testify in a case about what he heard in a confessional — an order that would result in automatic excommunication and damnation, according to the doctrine and canon law of the Catholic Church:

The state high court’s decision, rendered in May of this year, demands that a hearing be held in 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where the suit originated, to determine whether or not a confession was made. It reverses an earlier decision by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing the original lawsuit filed against Bayhi and the diocese. The case stems from a claim by parents of a minor that their daughter confessed to Bayhi during the sacrament of reconciliation that she engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with grown man who also attended their church. Court documents indicate the child was 12 years old at the time of the alleged sexual abuse.”

“This case gets complicated for a couple of reasons. While the common perception has been that priests cannot be forced to testify about confessions in the US because of ministerial privilege and the First Amendment, that privilege gets defined by each state separately. In Louisiana, the privilege attaches to the person offering the confession and not the priest. Once the penitent has revealed what was said — or perhaps more to the specific point in this case, alleges to have revealed what was said — the state can subpoena the priest to confirm or deny the testimony. In that sense, it’s akin to the lawyer-client privilege, which can be broken by the client.

On the other hand, lawyers don’t face eternal disbarment for testifying once a client has waived the privilege. Priests do, and face automatic expulsion from the Catholic Church for complying. There is nothing in church doctrine that requires a penitent to keep quiet about what transpires in the confessional, but the canon law is clear on this point. Can. 983 states that “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” The punishment for breaking the seal is explicitly noted in Can. 1388: “A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae [by the commission of the act] excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.”

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3. Thoughts?

Also from HotAir  “Turns out the American public thinks Jesus is a pro-life liberal. Who knew?

The latest research from YouGov shows that on social issues in particular Americans tend to have more liberal attitudes than imagine say Jesus would have. 48% of the public supports legal abortion, compared to only 20% who say Jesus would support it, the biggest divide between public opinion and expectations of what Jesus would think. Only on one issue, the death penalty, do the public stake out a more conservative position, with 58% in favor of the death penalty for murderers compared to 34% who say that Jesus would support it. The smallest difference in attitude is on universal healthcare. 56% of Americans support universal healthcare and 55% of Americans say that Jesus would support it too…

Comparing Protestants and Catholics we see that Jesus’ imagined position amongst Protestants is more conservative than amongst Catholics. A third of Catholics say that Jesus would support gay marriage, compared to only 20% of Protestants. Most Catholics also say that Jesus would support universal healthcare and stricter gun laws, while in each case less than half of Protestants agree.

Abortion and gay marriage were the only issues tested in which more people thought Jesus would take the traditional conservative position than the liberal one. When asked if he’d support or oppose legal abortion, a clear majority of 20/52 overall said the latter:”

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4. Now we’re starting to see what they’ve been hiding. Well….. the stuff they haven’t already destroyed anyway.

Nope. No scandal here. 🙄

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Just as the IRS tea party targeting scandal was erupting, Lois G. Lerner warned colleagues to “be cautious” about what information they put in emails because it could end up being turned over to Congress, according to an email message released Wednesday.

The 2013 email exchange between Ms. Lerner and fellow employees at the Internal Revenue Service also says that instant message conversations were probably never stored and weren’t checked during open-records requests — even though they also fell under the law requiring electronic records to be stored.”

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails — so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails,” Ms. Lerner wrote in an April 9, 2013, message.

She went on to ask whether the instant message communications were stored automatically. When a tech staffer said no but the records could be stored if employees copied them, she replied, “Perfect.”

Yes, perfect…. for criminals trying to hide their actions.

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5. Ray Nagin has gotten ten years in prison for taking bribes and corruption.

From NBCNews  “Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced Wednesday to 120 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan also ordered Nagin to pay $84,000 in restitution. “What Ray Nagin did was sell his office over and over again,” lead prosecutor Matt Coman said after the sentencing. “The damage that C. Ray Nagin inflicted on this community … is incalculable.” He will report to a minimum security prison in September.

Nagin, 58, was convicted on Feb. 12 of accepting more than $500,000 worth of bribes and free trips from contractors in exchange for helping them clinch millions of dollars in city work when he was mayor of New Orleans, both pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina. He was found guilty of 20 out of 21 counts in the indictment. Nagin, a Democrat who was mayor for two terms from 2002 to 2010, denied he took any bribes.”

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6. Why worry about doing your job, when there’s more important things to do. Like pander to outraged libs.

From TheHill  “Senate Democrats will offer legislation Wednesday morning to reverse last week’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Supreme Court ruling on contraception coverage, though the measure has no chance of passing the House.

The measure from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) seeks to stop corporations from refusing federal healthcare coverage mandates on religious grounds.

Murray is spearheading the effort by Senate Democrats to turn the tables on Republican supporters of the ruling ahead of the midterm elections.

The Democrats, aware that the House would never defy the court’s ruling but confident the public sides with them, want to draw the GOP into a political fight over birth control in order to energize women voters.”

They can’t run on their pathetic record, so they’ll drag out the old “war on women” horse for another beating. How original… 🙄

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7. Not surprising. They don’t want people to see what’s going on in these facilities.

From TheBlaze  “Department of Homeland Security officials are stonewalling lawmakers who try to make unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities throughout the country and are closing off public roads along the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to keep journalists from reporting on the growing illegal immigration crisis, federal law enforcement officials told TheBlaze.

The officials said senior supervisors have made scheduling visits ahead of time mandatory at detention facilities, turned back officials from unannounced visits, and that Border Patrol agents have been forced to clean up facilities and transfer illegal aliens from unauthorized holding cells before they are inspected by lawmakers. Reporters have also been stopped by DHS officials from traveling along public access roads near the Rio Grande, where most of illegal immigrant children and groups are crossing into the U.S.

The media crackdown along the Rio Grande happened shortly after TheBlaze visited the region last month and traveled  along some of the more secluded roads along the river’s edge. TheBlaze witnessed dozens of illegal immigrants turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents after making the  crossing into the United States and interviewed many of them before they were taken away.”

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8. Meanwhile, the pushback from the communities they’re dumping the illegals in continues.

From WatchDogWire  “The current crisis on the southern border, involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, has now become a concern for Michiganders who live in a rural community with less than 3000 people.

Wolverine Human Services, a social services agency which typically helps needy Michigan children, is in the process of securing a contract and negotiating with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to bring between 60- 120 male illegal immigrants, between the ages of 12-17, to the small city of Vassar without any input from residents of the community.

About 100 concerned citizens, some bearing signs, gathered outside the Vassar City Hall last night to let public officials know what they think.”

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9. Liberal academia hate competing views that go against their dogma. So it’s not surprising that they would push abortion while calling a good alternative a bad thing in order to scare people away from it.

From CampusReform  “The University of Chicago (UC) has published an “abortion guide” on its website providing information on abortion— including how to obtain one on campus.

The website—titled “abguide”—is a comprehensive guide detailing how to pay for abortion, where to find an abortion provider in the area, and what to expect from an abortion. While the site touts “options counseling,” it warns against crisis pregnancy centers, saying they could “lead to suicide” or “post-abortion stress disorder.”

UC’s abortion guide is based on principles outlined by the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, an organization that claims the fight for women’s reproductive justice through youth organizing, environmental justice, and workers rights. The group affirms their cause stems from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.”

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