Could the Catholic Church Face Federal Investigation Over Sex Abuse Cover-Up?

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By Townhall. According to a Pennyslvania attorney general, and if a national victims’ rights group gets their way, the federal government might soon be launching an investigation into the Catholic Church.

In a New York Times interview published Monday, Attorney General Josh Shapiro answered questions about Pennsylvania’s recently released grand jury report. The bombshell report, years in the making, implicated over 300 Catholic priests in the sexual abuse of over 1,000 children, over the course of decades.

The secret investigation began in 2016, before Shapiro was even sworn into office. He recalled being given the choice of whether or not to move forward with the case, saying “I made it clear I wanted the investigation to continue. I put the full force of our office into this investigation.”

During the course of the interview, the attorney general spoke out about Pope Francis, the Pennsylvania dioceses that attempted to shut down the investigation, and the attorneys general now following Pennsylvania’s lead, and potentially initiating their own respective investigations. . .

Passed by Congress in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) allows prosecutors to go after not just individuals for an alleged crime, but organized groups as well. Prior to the passage of the law, there was little that could be done to address the unique problem of organized crime. (Read more from “Could the Catholic Church Face Federal Investigation Over Sex Abuse Cover-Up?” HERE)

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Is the Catholic Church Beyond Redemption?

By The New York Times. . .Reform must happen from within

You can’t possibly ask that every ordained member of the church resign. Catholicism is as much a culture as it is a religion. As hard and as terrible as it is, the only thing we can do is try to make it better and make sure it never happens again. When I say “we” I mean me, and you, and your priest, and the pope and everyone in between. Whether you’re going to be there to see it happen or not, it’s your choice. But this easy (and impossible) way out you’re asking for is unreasonable. — Ana Carolina, Brazil

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We should all stand up in the pews and speak. Letters to the nuncio are wasted paper. Prayers are misplaced energy as well. I sincerely hope there is a national commission, as there has been in Australia. If the civil authorities leave lay people to change this themselves, nothing will happen. We already know nothing will happen if we leave the church to reform itself. — Jennifer, Bronxville, N.Y.

(Read more from “Is the Catholic Church Beyond Redemption?” HERE)

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Good Trump: President Lends Air Force Two to McCain Family to Bring Body of Senator to D.C.

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While President Trump was bad-mouthed left and right over the course of Sen. John McCain’s five-day funeral and remembrance ceremonies, he actually did the former senator and war hero a solid.

McCain’s body was flown to Washington, D.C., on an aircraft that was approved by Trump. “The late Arizona senator’s casket was loaded onto one of the jets known as Air Force 2 — which is often designated for the VP or First Lady’s travel,” TMZ reported. . .

“The 89th Airlift Wing, based out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, is responsible for the aircraft as well as Air Force One. McCain’s body will be flown to the base, according to a representative of the airlift wing,” Arizona Central reported.

“This specific plane has carried the body of a significant figure at least once before, according to the Air Force. In 2001, this plane transported the body of United States Marine and Central Intelligence Agency Operations Officer Johnny Michael Spann. He was the first American killed in combat during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.” . . .

But Meghan McCain didn’t appear to appreciate Trump’s benevolence. At a Saturday memorial service for her father at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., the daughter of the late Arizona Republican took to the podium and ripped Trump. (Read more from “Good Trump: President Lends Air Force Two to McCain Family to Bring Body of Senator to D.C.” HERE)

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TRANS TRAINS? ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ Goes ‘Gender-Balanced,’ ‘Multicultural’

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The classic children’s series, “Thomas the Tank Engine,” is relaunching next week with an updated set of characters and a commitment to being more “inclusive, gender-balanced,” and “multicultural.” . . .

According to The Independent, Thomas’s “Stem Team” — the core group of anthropomorphic railroad cars that make up the show’s cast — will now be “gender balanced,” with three “male” trains and three “female” trains taking center stage, rather than the male-heavy team that held down Sir Toppem Hat’s rail yard in the original series. . .

“The new female characters include Isla, an Australian flying doctor; Hong-mei, a number 1 blue tank engine from China; and Churubala, a female railway controller from India,” The Independent reports. “The Steam Team is now gender-balanced, with three male and three female characters: Percy, James, Gordon, Emily and new members Nia and Rebecca, as well as Thomas.”

The team behind “Thomas” hopes that’ll boost the show among female viewers, and satisfy viewers across the world.

“The show has undergone an evolution to remain relevant for the next generation of parents and children by opening up the world of Thomas & Friends so children can discover the world around them while being entertained,” the show’s senior producer, Ian McCue, said in a statement. (Read more from “TRANS TRAINS? ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ Goes ‘Gender-Balanced,’ ‘Multicultural'” HERE)

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This Is How America Truly Feels About National Anthem Kneeling

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By CNBC. With the NFL season set to start next week, a majority of voters believes it is inappropriate for players to kneel during the playing of the national anthem before games, according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Fifty-four percent of voters called kneeling during the anthem inappropriate, while 43 percent say that the practice is an appropriate way to bring attention to the problems that NFL players have cited for their protests, the poll said.

The protests against police brutality and racial injustice have drawn fiery condemnations from President Donald Trump and are likely to remain a hot-button cultural and political issue this fall.

Trump has lambasted the players’ behavior as unpatriotic at his rallies and on Twitter, which has fired up his voter base. In June, he canceled the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles’ White House visit over disagreement about the protests. The president said the team was “unable to come” because “they disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.” . . .

The poll also comes after an arbitrator ruled that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who led the way in the kneeling protests, will have his collusion accusation against the NFL heard in court. Kaepernick, a former Super Bowl starter who hasn’t played since 2016, has accused NFL owners of denying him the right to sign with a team. (Read more from “This Is How America Truly Feels About National Anthem Kneeling” HERE)

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NFL Will Reportedly Not Finalize New National Anthem Policy by Week 1

By CBS Sports. Discussions between the NFL and NFLPA are still ongoing, but it is not expected that the sides will have agreed on a new national anthem policy by the start of the season. According to a report from ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano, however, talks are still ongoing and there is optimism that an agreement will eventually be reached.

Members of the NFLPA’s executive committee met with select owners earlier this week to discuss the policy. In a joint statement Monday, the sides labeled those talks “productive” while noting they “remain committed to working together on solutions.”

Sources familiar with that meeting told Graziano that as the talks continue, each side is curious to see how the other handles issues that arise moving forward, such as whether players will continue protesting during the anthem, what owners and/or the league will do, and if President Donald Trump continues to mention it.

(Read more from “NFL Will Reportedly Not Finalize New National Anthem Policy by Week 1” HERE)

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Horror Claims About Torture, Sexual Abuse and Murder in Catholic Orphanage

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By Daily Mail. Sickening claims about torture, sexual abuse and even the murder of children in a Catholic orphanage have resurfaced decades after the alleged events.

Public documents and witness interviews corroborate many details of the claims made by former residents of St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont, according to a four-year investigation published on Monday by BuzzFeed News.

The new report comes as governments in the UK, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere grapple with decades-old reports of horror inside Catholic orphanages.

St. Joseph’s, which was run by the Montreal-based Sisters of Providence, closed down in 1974, and the allegations regard children who lived there from the 1930s through the 70s.

Key witness Sally Dale was the institution’s longest resident, growing up at St. Joseph’s from ages 2 to 23. In 1996, Dale gave a searing 19-hour deposition recounting the alleged abuse, including that she saw a nun throw a boy to his death from a window. (Read more from “Horror Claims About Torture, Sexual Abuse and Murder in Catholic Orphanage” HERE)

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Will More States Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead and Investigate Priest Sexual Abuse?

By USA Today. In wake of Pennsylvania’s sweeping and landmark investigation into Catholic clergy members’ sexual abuse of minors, some people want to see every Roman Catholic diocese in the country receive the same level of scrutiny.

One lawmaker has two reasons: Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Democrat from Muhlenburg Township, was abused by a priest in the Allentown Diocese when he was a child.

“I would love to see that happen,” Rozzi said of 50 states worth of investigations in an interview with WHYY-FM, Philadelphia, a day after Pennsylvania’s nearly 900-page grand jury report was released.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also have called for every state’s attorney general to follow Pennsylvania’s lead and launch formal investigations into how U.S. bishops deal with victims and predator priests. (Read more from “Will More States Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead and Investigate Priest Sexual Abuse?” HERE)

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New Film on American Moon Landing Deletes American Flag to ‘Transcend Borders’

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If one were to point to an iconic moment during the first moon landing in 1969, the primary moment to come to mind would probably be Neil Armstrong’s legendary words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” However, a close second would probably be the planting of the American flag on the rock orbiting the third rock from the sun. . .

According to the U.K. Telegraph, “a new film about (Neil) Armstrong has chosen to leave out this most patriotic of scenes, arguing that the giant leap for mankind should not be seen as an example of American greatness.”

“The film, ‘First Man,’ was unveiled at the Venice Film Festival yesterday, where the absence of the stars and stripes was noted by critics.”

“Its star, Ryan Gosling, was asked if the film was a deliberately un-American take on the moon landing. He replied that Armstrong’s accomplishment ‘transcended countries and borders.’”

Yes, yes it did. And it did so because of American greatness. I really don’t see how that fails to come across, but Gosling has some explanation that sounded a bit like Charlie Brown’s teachers to me. (Read more from “New Film on American Moon Landing Deletes American Flag to ‘Transcend Borders'” HERE)

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Report: NBC Used Threats to Silence Reporting on Harvey Weinstein

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A former NBC News producer who was working with Ronan Farrow when the reporter was investigating sexual misconduct allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein stated on Thursday that an order to “stand down” on the story came from “the very highest levels at NBC.”

Rich McHugh, the producer who left NBC earlier this month, made this claim to The New York Times, saying executives were “resistant” throughout the eight-month reporting process.

“Three days before Ronan and I were going to head to L.A. to interview a woman with a credible rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein, I was ordered to stop, not to interview this woman and to stand down on the story altogether,” McHugh said.

He told Fox News in a statement, “That (order) was unethical, and a massive breach of journalistic integrity. Is there anyone in the journalistic community who actually believes NBC didn’t breach its journalistic duty to continue reporting this story? Something else must have been going on.”

“As a journalist for 16 years I do know that when you have an explosive story you never let it walk out the door,” McHugh added. “You keep digging for more so you can publish it at your network. NBC owed it to those brave women who spoke to us to get their stories out.”

The Daily Beast reported, based on multiple sources familiar with the matter, that NBC News General Counsel Susan Weiner made multiple phone calls to Farrow “threatening to smear him if he continued to report on Weinstein.”

A spokesperson for NBC News, speaking on a condition of anonymity, described the allegation as “absolutely false.”

“There’s no truth to that all. There is no chance, in no version of the world, that Susan Weiner would tell Ronan Farrow what he could or could not report on,” the spokesperson said.

ABC News reporter Chris Francescani, a former coworker with McHugh and Farrow, supported McHugh’s account, saying he is telling the truth and NBC is not.

NBC News denied McHugh’s allegation, saying in a statement, “The assertion that NBC News tried to kill the Weinstein story while Ronan Farrow was at NBC News, or even more ludicrously, after he left NBC News, is an outright lie.”

The network claimed it assigned Farrow to investigate Weinstein and supported him through the eight months he worked on the story.

However, in August 2017 when he came to NBC News executives stating the story was ready to air, they disagreed because Farrow “did not yet have a single victim of — or witness to — misconduct by Weinstein who was willing to be identified.”

Noah Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, told The Times, “(McHugh) was never told to stop in the way he’s implying.”

“We repeatedly made clear to Ronan and Rich McHugh the standard for publication is we needed at least one credible on-the-record victim or witness of misconduct,” Oppenheim said. “And we never met that threshold while Ronan was reporting for us.”

The NBC News chief added that the day before Farrow’s scheduled trip to Los Angeles to interview an alleged victim of Weinstein, he asked permission to pursue the story with another outlet.

“Ronan reached out to us and said: ‘I want to get this out now. I have a magazine that’s willing to do it. Will you be OK if I take the reporting to this magazine?’” Oppenheim said. “And we granted him permission to do so.”

“We said: ‘You’ve asked for permission to go elsewhere. You can’t use an NBC camera crew for another outlet. You can do whatever you want to do. And you don’t work for us,’” Oppenheim added.

Farrow took the piece to The New Yorker, which published its explosive exposé on Weinstein in October 2017, days after The New York Times published a story about the Hollywood producer’s sexual predatory behavior.

In April, Farrow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting along with The New York Times. Farrow left NBC in January for a position producing documentaries with HBO, Fox News reported at the time.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” following the breaking of his New Yorker story last October, Farrow was asked about NBC News’ decision not to run it.

“You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details,” Farrow replied. The reporter noted that he was threatened personally with a lawsuit by Weinstein, implying perhaps NBC received the same threats.

Maddow followed up saying NBC claimed the story wasn’t “ready to go” when Farrow brought it to their attention. He immediately shot that notion down.

“I walked into the door at The New Yorker with an explosively reportable piece that should’ve been public earlier,” Farrow said. “And immediately, obviously, The New Yorker recognized that, and it is not accurate to say that it was not reportable.”

He added, “In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.”

Weinstein was arrested in May and charged with three felony counts of first-degree rape, third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act.

Farrow praised McHugh on Twitter last fall writing, he “refused to bow to pressure to stop, through numerous shoots, even when it meant risking his job.” He also called McHugh an “unsung hero of this entire story.” (For more from the author of “Report: NBC Used Threats to Silence Reporting on Harvey Weinstein” please click HERE)

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Remember That Guy Who Stole a Teen’s ‘MAGA’ Hat? He Just Got Some Bad News.

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Remember that brave 30-year-old man who assaulted a teenage boy in a Whataburger restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, for the crime of wearing a pro-Trump “Make America Great Again” hat? Yeah, he’s been indicted for theft — since the attacker stole the boy’s “MAGA” hat after cursing him out and throwing a drink in his face — and is facing up to two years behind bars. . .

“Kino Jimenez was indicted Wednesday on a charge of theft of person, which is a state jail felony. He was located in Universal City in July by San Antonio police robbery task force detectives who took him into custody on an arrest warrant,” reports My San Antonio.

In July, footage of Jimenez’s assault of 16-year-old Hunter Richard was posted online and quickly went viral. The footage went so viral, in fact, that the oldest Trump son, Donald Jr., publicly commented on the despicable harassment and arranged for Richard to receive a new “MAGA” hat signed by President Trump.

“F*** the president. You ain’t supporting s***, n****,” screamed Jimenez, seen snatching Richard’s MAGA hat and throwing a large drink in the teen’s face. “B**** a** motherf***er!” . . .

Prior to the assault, Jimenez racked up misdemeanor offenses for marijuana possession and driving while intoxicated on his criminal record, notes My San Antonio. Still, Jimenez is eligible for probation or deferred adjudication if convicted. (Read more from “Remember That Guy Who Stole a Teen’s ‘MAGA’ Hat? He Just Got Some Bad News.” HERE)

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FBI Arrests All 5 Extremist Muslims Connected to New Mexico Compound

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By Daily Wire. The FBI announced on Friday that it has arrested all five adults connected to the “extremist Muslim” compound in New Mexico. The arrests come just days after all charges were dropped against three of the defendants.

Fox News reports that the five suspects, who made national headlines after 11 children were found starving at their compound, were arrested by the FBI for “violating federal firearms and conspiracy laws.”

“The defendants, Jany Leveille, 35, a Haitian national illegally present in the United States, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Hujrah Wahhaj, 37, Subhanah Wahhaj, 35, and Lucas Morton, 40, are charged in a criminal complaint that was filed earlier today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico,” the FBI said in a statement.

“The criminal complaint charges Jany Leveille with being an alien unlawfully in possession of firearms and ammunition in the District of New Mexico from Nov. 2017 through Aug. 2018,” the FBI continued. “The criminal complaint charges the other four defendants with aiding and abetting Leveille in committing the offense, and with conspiring with Leveille to commit the offense.” (Read more from “FBI Arrests All 5 Extremist Muslims Connected to New Mexico Compound” HERE)

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FBI Arrests Five New Mexico Compound Suspects Days After Multiple Charges Were Dropped

By Fox News. . .The announcement comes after local prosecutors dropped charges in the death of a 3-year-old boy at the compound site. Taos County District Attorney Donald Gallegos said Friday his office would now seek grand jury indictments involving the death. Gallegos said seeking indictments would allow more time to gather evidence.

“The criminal complaint charges Jany Leveille with being an alien unlawfully in possession of firearms and ammunition in the District of New Mexico from Nov. 2017 through Aug. 2018,” the bureau said. “The criminal complaint charges the other four defendants with aiding and abetting Leveille in committing the offense, and with conspiring with Leveille to commit the offense.”

On Wednesday, three of the suspects were released from custody, just hours after a judge dismissed all of the charges against them.

District Judge Emilio Chavez on Wednesday dismissed charges against Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj, ruling that authorities violated the state’s “10-day rule.” (Read more from “FBI Arrests Five New Mexico Compound Suspects Days After Multiple Charges Were Dropped” HERE)

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Watch: Bill Clinton Stares Creepily at Ariana Grande Singing at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral

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At Aretha Franklin’s funeral service, former President Bill Clinton ogled 25-year-old Ariana Grande as she sang Carole King’s “Natural Woman.”


. . .

At President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Clinton was also seen ogling Ivanka Trump, and was hilariously caught by his wife Hillary Clinton.

(Read more from “Watch: Bill Clinton Stares Creepily at Ariana Grande Singing at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral” HERE)

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