Vatican Halts U.S. Bishop Attempts to Address Sex Abuse Scandal

/0 Comments/in , /by

On Monday, Catholic News Agency reported that the Vatican has cancelled the US bishops’ vote on reform measures that were intended to address the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The article from CNA states that according to Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), American bishops will not be permitted to vote on two important proposals set before them. The proposals had been expected to lay the foundation for the Church’s response to widespread accusations of sexual abuse from around the country. . .

The bishops had been considering–and planning to vote upon–both a new code of conduct for bishops, and the establishment of a body of lay-led people to investigate bishops accused of sexual misconduct.

But now the Vatican has decided that the discussion and vote will, at the very least, be delayed–supposedly until after Pope Francis has held a special meeting in Rome slated for February. The meeting, according to the Vatican, will include bishops’ conference presidents from all over the world, and will allegedly address the sexual abuse crisis from a global perspective.

Prior to the US bishops’ assembly in Baltimore, two documents had been circulating. One of them was a draft for a new Standards of Conduct for bishops, and the other was a proposal to form a special lay “investigative commission” intended to look into claims of abuse against bishops. (Read more from “Vatican Halts U.S. Bishop Attempts to Address Sex Abuse Scandal” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Hamas Fires Record Number of Rockets at Israel

/0 Comments/in , /by

Starting on Monday afternoon, Hamas fired at least 400 rockets at southern Israel, the highest number or rockets fired by Hamas in its years-long war against the Jewish state. A 40-year-old Palestinian man was killed and a 40-year-old woman was critically injured when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a residential building in Ashkelon, as Israel National News reported.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, asked the U.N. Security council to condemn the firing of rockets from Gaza, but while Hamas was attempting to murder as many Jews as they could, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pusillanimously urged all sides to exercise maximum restraint. His spokesman, Farhan Haq, stated, “He urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint. The United Nations Special Coordinator, Nickolay Mladenov, is working closely with Egypt and all concerned parties to restore calm.”

anon had stated, ” … after a day of rocket barrages, there is no room for any other definition of Hamas except that of terrorist organization. To the world it presents its civilians as victims, but then uses them as human shields … Israel cooperated with all international bodies, including the U.N., but the aggressive escalation from Gaza indicates that there are elements pushing for another round of violence that will cause destruction and losses within the Gaza Strip.”

Israel Defense Force fighter jets, attack helicopters, aircraft and tanks retaliated by aiming at 70 Hamas and Islamic Jihad military targets, including the Al-Aqsa TV Broadcasting Station and Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters. The high rise building is located in the Al-Farqan neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip and serves Hamas’ intelligence operatives for intelligence gathering against the State of Israel.

(Read more from “Hamas Fires Record Number of Rockets at Israel” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Clueless Alert: Macron Says He Needs an Army to Defend France From the United States

/0 Comments/in , /by

Displaying a dazzling lack of connection with reality and utter contempt for the United States, last week French President Emmanuel Macron called for creating an independent European army.

“We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia, and even the United States of America,” he said. Such a thought is not new in France. However, the idea that Europe needs an army to defend itself against the United States demonstrates a hitherto unknown level of hostility by an “allied” leader.

The timing of Macron’s remarks is also baffling. He said this just days before the centennial commemoration of the end of the First World War. One hundred years ago, the United States of America deployed 2.1 million men to Europe to expel the German Imperial Army from France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The war was nearly lost to the Germans in 1917 after the French army mutinied and Czarist Russia quit the war as a result of the Bolshevik (Communist) Revolution. . .

After the bloody losses of Verdun and the blunders at the Somme in 1916, there was no way the Allies could win the war without the might and power of the United States. One of America’s largest and bloodiest campaigns in its history was the Meuse Argonne Offensive, which began on September 26, 1918 and lasted until the Germans signed an armistice to end the war on November 11, 1918.

The American Expeditionary Forces, under the command of Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing, were asked to attack the most heavily fortified and thickly defended part of the Western Front between the Meuse River and the ancient Argonne Forest. This would threaten German supply lines and thereby draw off their strategic reserve divisions. (Read more from “Clueless Alert: Macron Says He Needs an Army to Defend France From the United States” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

LGBT Members of Migrant Caravan First to Reach U.S. Border, Received Anonymous Help

/0 Comments/in , /by

A group of LGBT migrants arrived in Tijuana this weekend after reportedly breaking off from the larger U.S.-bound caravan due to verbal harassment and poor living conditions.

About 76 LGBT members of the caravan, which has about 3,600 members, described inter-caravan persecution and poor planning interfering with the members’ ability to eat and bathe on a regular basis, according to Telemundo 20 in San Diego. . .

An anonymous group paid for the small group of LGBT migrants to take a bus to the border. They said just like in their native country, they endured verbal abuse while they traveled with the large migrant group, which is expected to reach the U.S. border in about 2-3 weeks. . .

Sunday night, the rest of the caravan spent the night in Guanajuato, with plans to head to Guadalajara on Monday. The caravan continues to be spread out, with young men 100 miles or so ahead and women, children and families following behind.

A second caravan of 1,800 people is in Puebla, three days behind the main caravan, according to Mexican media reports. A third caravan of 2,000 people is about four days behind the main caravan. (Read more from “LGBT Members of Migrant Caravan First to Reach U.S. Border, Received Anonymous Help” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

French President Macron Fires Back at Trump

/0 Comments/in , /by

At an event to honor the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, French President Emanuel Macron lashed out at President Donald Trump, devoting his speech at a veterans’ memorial to fire back at Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.

Just weeks ago, Trump called himself an unabashed “nationalist,” praising both domestic and foreign policies that put America before its allies. The move drew swift condemnation at home, as Republicans and Democrats alike cautioned Trump over the connotations of openly “nationalist” rhetoric.

But Trump has maintained that he values American sovereignty in foreign entanglements, and that matters of trade — and even of defense — will be judged by an “America First” standard.

Sunday, at a multi-national war memorial event in Paris, Macron repudiated Trump by hearkening back to the “nationalist” policies that gave way to World War I, and brought about the slaughter of millions of young men. Macron pleaded with his audience to “never again” allow nationalism to supersede global unity. . .

“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” he continued. “In saying ‘Our interests first, whatever happens to the others,’ you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it live, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: Its moral values.” (Read more from “French President Macron Fires Back at Trump” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Triple Murder Suspect Is a Illegal Alien Released Despite Detainer Request

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Mexican illegal immigrant who has been charged with three murders in Missouri was released from a New Jersey jail earlier this year even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement was seeking to detain him, according to an ICE press release.

Luis Perez, a 23-year-old who is charged with killing his two roommates and a woman who was with him for the first two murders, was released from Middlesex County Jail in February, as the jail did not cooperate with an active detainer request from ICE.

“This tragedy might have been avoided had it not been for the reckless policy required of the Middlesex County Jail by their county officials,” John Tsoukaris, a Newark field office director, said. “Despite such policies, ICE [Enforcement and Removal Operations] will continue to enforce federal immigration law and prioritize public safety in the community.”

From New Jersey to Missouri: Perez was in Middlesex County Jail in December 2017 on domestic violence charges. Middlesex County is a sanctuary county, so the jail did not notify ICE when Perez was being released at the conclusion of his criminal proceedings. Perez moved to Missouri once he was released, and the triple murder occurred in Springfield.

Brutal murders: According to police documents, Perez shot and killed roommates Steven Marler and Aaron Hampton at their home on Nov. 1, and wounded two other people. The next day, Perez allegedly fatally shot Sabrina Starr, who had accompanied Perez to his home when the first two murders occurred. (Read more from “Triple Murder Suspect Is a Illegal Alien Released Despite Detainer Request” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Pair of Illegal Aliens Arrested for Trafficking Meth, One Wanted for Murder in Mexico

/0 Comments/in , /by

In another apparent act of love, as some politicians may describe it, two illegal aliens have been arrested in Utah for transporting more than 2 pounds of meth. One of these men has been previously deported and is currently wanted for murder in Mexico, according to authorities.

According to Fox 13, Fabian Barriga-Mendez and Mario Gomez-Cuevas were arrested during an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Weber-Morgan County Narcotics Strike Force in Ogden, UT.

According to Utah’s Attorney General’s office, “a controlled purchase of methamphetamine was conducted at an Ogden business and 563.18 grams of meth was located. While investigators were looking through a suspect’s phone, the press release stated that a text message regarding a large sum of money was observed, which authorities said they recognize as consistent with drug activity.”

The text exchange led authorities to Barriga-Mendez “who was also wanted for a narcotics investigation out of Colorado and had a warrant out for his arrest.” Authorities then staked out Barriga-Mendez’s home and waited for him to leave in a car that was believed to belong to him. Police ran a routine traffic stop and located 2.33 pounds of meth insides Barriga-Mendez’s vehicle as well as another passenger. (Read more from “Pair of Illegal Aliens Arrested for Trafficking Meth, One Wanted for Murder in Mexico” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

How the Central American Caravan Could Lead to a U.S. Refugee Crisis Like Europe’s

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Washington Post recently published an insidious analysis comparing Trump’s caravan rhetoric to right-wing populists “making up stories” and “stoking fear” during the European refugee crisis.

The article began by disparaging what the author believes to be unsubstantiated claims that the approaching caravan from Central America is an “invasion” and “terrorism risk,” as President Trump has described. According to the author, there’s “no better way for populists to win an election than by announcing a national emergency that plays into voters’ fears.”

It’s quite startling that a journalist would completely discard the horrific events that culminated during the extended, and at times fatal, refugee crisis across Europe. In 2015 and 2016, there were more than 2.3 million illegal crossings recorded across the European Union, with Germany absorbing more than 1 million foreign citizens in 2015 alone.

While the encroaching caravan south of our border may seem miniscule in comparison, the mass exodus of people from Northern Africa and the Middle East to Europe did not transpire overnight either. The first signs of the preceding European crisis began in January 2015, after a ship abandoned by smugglers was rescued off the coast of Italy with only 360 Syrians on board.

In the following months, ships carrying anywhere between a few hundred to a thousand people were intercepted all along Mediterranean coastlines. Figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency showed that 63,000 foreign citizens arrived in Greece and 62,000 in Italy during just the first half of 2015. (Read more from “How the Central American Caravan Could Lead to a U.S. Refugee Crisis Like Europe’s” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

China Is Rolling out the Most Massive Population Surveillance System in the World

/0 Comments/in , /by

Imagine the sum of your existence shrunk to a score that is constantly being updated and affects every area of your life –your social and economic status, access to better schools and employment, a nicer apartment, access to newer rental cars, and even friendships. You might laugh it off and point out you have seen this one in that “Black Mirror” episode. . .

Like so many things in China, the Chinese government took a perfectly innocent western idea, modified it to fit China’s needs with Chinese characteristics, and turned it into an Orwellian surveillance tool. Sebastian Heilmann, who coined the term “digital Leninism,” describes China’s social credit system as “a completely new perspective on regulating not just the economy and market, but also society. It’s really comprehensive, big data enabled, for both regulations and surveillance.”

The idea of China’s social credit system was first announced in 2014. Various Chinese cities and provinces have already rolled out their own pilot programs. Every Chinese citizen will be subjected to the mandatory social credit system in 2020, when a nationwide system is operational.

The Chinese government stated that the social credit system “uses encouragement to keep trust and constraints against breaking trust as incentive mechanisms, and its objective is raising the honest mentality and credit levels of the entire society … commend sincerity and punish insincerity.” Based on this, we know that unlike western credit bureaus, which mainly collect financial information, China’s social credit system is intended to mold Chinese citizens collectively into “good” people who follow a “moral” code of conducts sanctioned by China’s communist government. . .

Every behavior you can think of is currently being tracked by more than 200 million surveillance cameras that use facial recognition technology. By 2020, when China rolls out the social credit system nationwide, China is expected to have 626 million surveillance cameras installed. According to South China Morning News, “China is developing a facial recognition system that can match faces to a database of 1.3 billion ID photos in seconds, with a target of achieving 90 per cent accuracy.” (Read more from “China Is Rolling out the Most Massive Population Surveillance System in the World” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Here’s How Many Migrants Have Abandoned the Migrant Caravan

/0 Comments/in , , /by

By Washington Examiner. Nearly 3,000 migrants who had been a part of caravans moving from Central America to the United States’ southern border have abandoned the group to either stay in Mexico or return to their home countries in Central America, according to Mexican government officials.

Mexico’s Interior and Foreign Ministries reported, as of Thursday, 2,934 people originally traveling to the U.S. have stopped and applied for asylum in Mexico.

Of those, 927 have canceled their asylum claim with the Mexican government and returned to Guatemala and Honduras, where the caravans originated, according to a government news release.

The two Mexican departments said federal police and immigration officers are helping transport those who chose to return home.

For the estimated 2,000 people who remain in Mexico as they wait over the next 45 to 90 days to learn if their asylum requests have been granted, 1,553 have been put up in shelters in the southern state of Chiapas. (Read more from “Here’s How Many Migrants Have Abandoned the Migrant Caravan” HERE)

________________________________________________

Migrant Caravans Swell to 12,000, Get Some Help Along the Way

By Fox News. In the small town of Veracruz, Mexico, at a gas station and truck stop, two nuns began stopping big rigs Sunday to fill the trailers with waiting migrants from the caravan.

The caravan is trying to make 116 miles, a record for them, considering the first day walking in Mexico they traveled just 20 miles.

The Catholic nuns at the scene are from Guadalajara’s Misioneras de Christo Resuscitado, and as a big red 18-wheeler approached, they flagged down the driver, stepped on the running board on the passenger side and spoke for about 5 minutes. The driver then gave a reluctant wave of the hand, one of the nuns spoke and dozens of young men ran to the rear to open the two tall metal doors.

An organizer appeared with a bullhorn, and loaded dozens of women and children and strollers inside. As soon as that truck left, with one door tied open, another approached. And again the nuns convinced him to fill his empty trailer with migrants. (Read more from “Migrant Caravans Swell to 12,000, Get Some Help Along the Way” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.