Jerry N. said:

Some of which are not friends with NASA.

Click to expand...

Strange they were all friends when it came to the signing of the Antarctic treaty.

essentialsaltes said:

Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela​

JetBlue pilot calls incident ‘outrageous’ and says US military refueling tanker didn’t have transponder turned on

A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path ... They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

Click to expand...

....while reportedly, other U.S. military aircraft in the area of operations did have their transponders turned on.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault revealed the initiative during a news conference at the Governor’s Mansion [last] Monday. They did not outline any plans that would require schools to initiate the clubs, but Abbott said that he expects “meaningful disciplinary action” to take place against “any stoppage of TPUSA in the great state of Texas.”

Kirk’s organization has traditionally operated on college campuses, promoting itself as a hub for young people committed to conservative values. The group is also known for having created a so-called professor watchlist, which allows users to search for educators perceived as supporting and promoting liberal viewpoints in the classroom. Turning Point’s work has at times caused tension, particularly among students and faculty members who have reported being harassed because of the negative spotlight placed on them by the organization.

The group’s “Club America” chapters, meanwhile, operate in high schools. The clubs aim to “build strong networks, spearhead impactful initiatives, help students register to vote, and inspire meaningful conversations about the foundations of a free society,” according to their website.

Republican officials in Oklahoma and Florida have also announced partnerships with Turning Point to expand the organization’s presence. Those partnerships rely on interested students to initiate the clubs, while Turning Point provides them with organizational support.

Abbott on Monday sought to distance Turning Point from any particular political party, comparing it to organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes currently present in many public schools.

The governor acknowledged that it is highly unlikely he would endorse a similar initiative for more progressive, left-leaning causes, but added that “it would not be illegal” for them to exist in public schools.

[At least he's open about his plans for biased political indoctrination.]

Mark Quayle said:

There's only ONE verse?? I'm not going to argue the point, but I think most who go with ECT would disagree. Meanwhile, all the arguments I've heard for annihilation are also suspect. Consider, for example —do we really know what God means by "destruction"?

Click to expand...

Only one verse that actually has torment (kolasis) associated with eternal (aionoins). And that is the Matt 25:46 quote of Daniel 12:2. You are reading ‘humans living eternally‘ into the Lake of fire verses, and the judgment verses concerning the Devil, angels, the beast and false prophet. You also assume there are eternal worms and that smoke ascending forever mean ‘humans consciously are tortured forever also’. It does not say that in any text, you read it into the verse. Edoms fire did go out, and worms and fire speak of total destruction - not immortality.

There is no ancient or contemporary person who would think in any place or in any language - that fire and worms did not literally describe the certain end, destruction, and death of something. Anyone who has ever experienced an average fire or a decaying corpse could testify - only a indoctrinated person could imagine that worms or fire speak of ‘eternal consciousness’

National security.....(I suppose one could argue that feeding Trump's ego is a matter of national security)

another_lost_guy said:

I am willing to bet school will indoctrinate kids about January 6th in the future as if it were some national tragedy.

Click to expand...

It wasn't?

Always in His Presence said:

Trump shot by far left

Click to expand...

From the "new research" mentioned by article in the OP:

I start the Caplyta tonight the latuda 40mgs are FINALLY in at the pharmacy and my wife is going to pick them up after work today. Please pray that the Caplyta does its job and works well I'm hopeful for the medication. Also, my psychiatrist is refusing to refill my Ativan and is basically making me stop Ativan cold turkey so I'm hoping and praying I don't get any withdrawal symptoms from that this time.

I've been trying to get off of Ativan for several months now. I've successfully managed to get it down to .25mgs but cannot lower it down further than that and everytime I try removing ativan from my system my body withdrawals from it. It feels and hopeless to get off from it but I get why they're refusing to refill it I just wish they would refill it one last time so that I could slowly taper off instead of making me go from a quarter milligram to nothing that's just asking for withdrawal symptoms but whatever...

Please pray that this demented fool in the Whitehouse will get a brain, get a heart, or get impeached. It's time for a change and I hope leaders and the rest of us will step up to the plate. May we all contract a case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Landon Caeli said:

Uh-oh.....

Reports now saying that the shooter "shouted something" prior to the killing.

I guess it's getting close to the time we forget this whole little thing even happened. Time to sweep it under the rug, right? Isn't that what we're supposed to do now?

Click to expand...

The shooter could have yelled anything. For example, the shooter in the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue attack that killed 11 people and wounded 6 others yelled, "All Jews must die." Anders Breivik yelled, "You are going to die today, Marxists!" During the 2011 attack in Norway and in the 2014 Las Vegas police ambush, the shooters yelled, "This is a revolution!"

Shane R said:

Probably. Christmas has been so thoroughly marketed as a family day and taken over by football and basketball that a lot of churches, even liturgical churches, cancel anyway. I haven't presided a Christmas Day service since I left Virginia; no one wants it. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday there was some snow out but not a lot. I had a terrible time finding somewhere to take my kids. The Romans had pared down there usual 3 Mass schedule to only 1. I ended taking them to a Lessons & Carols service at the local Methodist Church.

Click to expand...

Wow. I couldn't imagine not having a Christmas Morning service. I mean, it would be lovely for me personally after all the craziness the day before and the long night. But it just feels wrong somehow. We don't have much demand, though...perhaps 30 people as opposed to 250+ for the Christmas Eve services. But for those who come, it's very special.

And if it snows on Christmas this year, we know who jinxed it!

It's sad that this kind of story doesn't really peak my interest at all. Things like this happen so often that when it does come up my first reaction is, "slow news day?"

Author and apologist Dr. Sean McDowellhas researched and discussed many aspects of the Christian life—including heaven. McDowell recently answered one of the toughest topics and questions with an approachable truth.

“Would you say that [people in heaven] can’t sin?” asked an audience member at a recent event.

Sean McDowell Says in Heaven, We’ll ‘See Sin for Exactly What It Is’​

As an apologetics professor at Biola University, Sean McDowell speaks at schools, conferences, and universities. After taking a question from the audience from a recent event, McDowell jumped into a conversation about heaven.

Continued below.

During a recent interview, Jenny McCarthy discussed her conservative values and said she “completely surrendered” to Jesus after Charlie Kirkwas murdered. Although the 53-year-old actor has “always been a follower of Christ,” she said the September assassination of conservative commentator Kirk caused her to become “so devoted” to Jesus.

On the Dec. 11 episode of “Culture Apothecary,” host Alex Clark asked McCarthy about her activism and her views about Hollywood, which led to conversations about values and faith. The actor, who was raised Catholic, said she has “a very deep relationship with God.” McCarthy explained, “Some people have to work really hard to hear him. I’ve got a direct line. I mean, Jesus is my homie.”

Continued below.

I'm not knocking marriage. I would like to be married again myself, but I don't believe it is what you think it is.

As a parent I can tell you that my love for my children far outweighs the love of any other human on the planet. They are relationships like no other, even unlike each other. Both of them has a different and unique relationship with me because they are not the same. I never treated my kids the same, and I don't interact with them in identical ways. They are two very different people, and our relationships are very different.

If you have ever been close to a dysfunctional family that includes abuse and neglect, you can see that not every child gets loved by default. There is often a favorite. There is often one that gets abused and neglected more or in different ways than the others. There is often one kid that one or both parents doesn't like or want. Everyone isn't automatically loved simply for existing within a family or because they are one of the kids.

Ryan Reynolds said something like when he got married he would be willing to die for his wife, but when his first child was born he realized he would be willing to throw his wife in front his child to shield his child.

This idea you seem to have in your head about what it's like to be someone's "one and only" is a fantasy. It can be a short-lived thing... But there's other family members, especially children or aged parents, that might come before you. The romantic and passionate love that draws people together in a unique relationship that they don't share with anyone else is temporary, and I think a tool to get people to commit to each other and procreate. Once that goal (the lifelong commitment) has been reach, it fizzles out. It can come and go, but it's never the same again. Sometimes it doesn't come and go. It's just gone.

When you're years and decades deep into paying a whole household worth of bills, gaining children and grandchildren, doting on nieces and nephews and your kids' friends, school meetings and events, your parents becoming elderly, medical needs, jobs, neighbors, and lawn mowing and washing dishes for 10,000th time, that specialness of a "one and only" relationship just feels like an item on a list of chores and responsibilities on a random Tuesday.

Being someone's "one and only" doesn't feel special when their attention is drawn to many other things and people that are also important and needed. You're relationship is just one of many needs and responsibilities in each other's lives. It shifts from being romantic and passionate, to a companionship with someone you get to be intimate with if you both have time and energy, and having a close friend to grow old with, until one of you dies and the other is left to die alone, unless you're still young and healthy enough to remarry and find the next "one and only."

On Friday, Dec. 12, Angel Studios, the streaming platform that introduced the world to “The Chosen,” announced it will release a new animated adaptation of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” in theaters nationwide on May 1, 2026. The studio acquired theatrical distribution rights for the project, which is led by director Andy Serkis.

According to Angel Studios’ website, the streaming platform that is “powered by over 1 million Angel Guild members [is] driven by purpose, and built to share stories that amplify light.” In addition to “The Chosen,” Angel Studios has distributed “Sound of Freedom,” “The King of Kings,” Bonhoeffer,” “Homestead,” “Cabrini,” “Sound of Hope,” “The WingFeather Saga,” and the upcoming animated film “David.” It is also often heralded as a family-friendly alternative to the Disney+ streaming platform.

Continued below.

I came from Somalia at 19. Let me tell you about the America I met.​

<excerpt>

"Years passed, and my assumptions about life in America kept collapsing. I enrolled in a federally funded job training program, where I started out learning to be an electrician and left with a path to college. I studied public affairs at a public university while working about 30 hours a week as a bus driver. I interned at a federal agency in Washington. I graduated with high distinction and was chosen to give the commencement speech for my class.

People opened doors for me. They offered mentorship without expecting anything in return. They connected me to opportunities I did not know existed. In college, I spent a semester in D.C. as part of a leadership program funded by a generous American sponsor. Later, I studied abroad, financed by another generous American who did not even know my name. I graduated and started working for a Fortune 500 company. I continued my education further than I ever imagined possible, all the way to a top business school in this country.

Along the way, I eventually accepted a truth that would have sounded impossibly naive to my 19-year-old self: America really does try to live up to its ideals."


Most Americans welcome the immigrant....despite what you hear from Donald J Trump and some of his supporters.

Twenty years ago, I wrote my first book with the late Bishop Harry Jackson, Personal Faith: Public Policy. Among the major issues we examined were immigration and health care. And here we are — two decades later — still listening to the same debates. Some issues in Washington are like that proverbial leaking roof: everyone knows it needs fixing, and every storm reminds us of the problem. But instead of grabbing a ladder and repairing it, the buckets just get moved around.

The current storm was created when Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer used the manufactured COVID-19 crisis as cover to spend billions more taxpayer dollars to prop up the failing Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Many predicted this back in 2010, when Nancy Pelosi famously declared, “We have to pass it so we can read it,” as she pushed it through Congress without a single Republican vote. The so-called Affordable Care Act quickly became what many warned it would become — the unaffordable care act.

Democrats doubled down in March 2021 and again in August 2022, passing the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, again without a single Republican vote. The first bill created temporary subsidies to mask the ACA’s structural failures, and the second extended this bailout until December 2025. Not only has the Affordable Care Act proven unaffordable — contrary to President Obama’s promises — it was deliberately crafted to bypass the longstanding bipartisan Hyde Amendment, which kept taxpayers out of the abortion business.

That brings us to the present dilemma for Republicans, who now find themselves the property managers of this leaking roof. They have inherited a failed, government-driven health system that funds abortion and pays for controversial experimental drugs and surgeries used in gender transitions.

Continued below.

Hobby Lobby is giving away half a million copies of the book The Case for Christmas in the latest example of the nationwide retailer making the Christian faith an essential part of its day-to-day operations.

In an X post on Dec. 3, author Lee Strobel announced that Hobby Lobby is giving away half a million free copies of his book The Case for Christmas at its stores nationwide ahead of Christmas Day: “I’m praying God uses them to point people to Himself!”

Strobel clarified in a follow-up X post on Dec. 6 that Hobby Lobby will continue to give away free copies of the book until 500,000 copies are handed out.

Continued below.

mindlight said:

We have the only message of true hope, true love and true life out there but people are being blocked from hearing by centuries of baggage and stupidity.

Click to expand...

Strong disagree. A secular country is a prosperous, less violent country.

A new report published by the General Secretariat for Catholic Education (SGEC) in France has sent shockwaves through the country’s educational landscape, reopening the debate over the methods used in state oversight, possible ideological abuses, and their impact on educational freedom. 

Published on Dec. 8, the 14-page document widely cited in the French press compiles testimonies from teachers, principals, and staff in Catholic schools under state contract who report having been subjected to what Catholic education leaders describe as “abusive,” “intrusive” inspections carried out by officials from the Ministry of National Education. The report highlights that it does not challenge the principle of state oversight itself but denounces the methods employed — methods that, according to Catholic leaders, risk undermining both the dignity of educators and the very identity of Catholic schools.

The controversy erupted just a few months after the publication of a parliamentary report calling for increased oversight of Catholic institutions in the name of child protection. Catholic school officials are now issuing a strong warning against the climate of suspicion and political exploitation that they have seen develop in recent months.

In July, revelations of physical and sexual abuse at Notre Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in southwestern France, triggered a nationwide debate on how abuse in schools is identified, reported, and addressed, alongside similar cases at other institutions. A parliamentary inquiry subsequently examined these cases, highlighting serious institutional failures while also prompting questions about how oversight is carried out at faith-based schools operating under state contract.

Continued below.

lismore said:

For those who don't think churches could revere demons or compel others to do so, there's 'Tuesday' for example. A day of the week named to honour a pagan god of war. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the same.

Click to expand...

It's the same for the name of all the planets - Think about it.

Akita Suggagaki said:

Donald Trump re-entered the Oval Office in January with a net approval rating of positive 6. Since then it has fallen, interrupted only by brief upticks. By early December it had dropped to -18. His polling numbers had only been that low once in his second term, back in October. This week it climbed back a bit, to -16.

Donald Trump’s approval rating

Follow our presidential approval rating poll tracker to see how favourably Americans view Mr Trump

www.economist.com

You have another source not “fake”?

Click to expand...

Most of @Aryeh Jay's posts are tongue -in-cheek.

samaus123456789 said:

1 Maccabees 9:27​

Common English Bible​

27 So there was great distress in Israel, the worst since the time when prophets ceased to appear among them.​

Click to expand...

Greetings to you samaus, I hope your week is beginning well.

The title of your thread is Maccabees no prophets. You then quote 1 Maccabees which shows us that the Jews of that time believed that the prophets had ceased to be sent by God. This in turn supports our own reading of the Bible that God had put an end to all prophets, dreams and visions until the coming of Elijah. That time span would then be around 400 B.C. to the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus.

But you then turn to this (below)...

samaus123456789 said:

Some of these are describing Pompey invading Jerusalem 63 BC then dying in Egypt 48 BC. One is describing the Babylon exile 587 BC or the Assyrian exile 722 BC. One claims to be a conversation Solomon had back in the 900s BC. It is possible that one goes back to Solomon. I do not know why a scribe titled this manuscript psalms of Solomon when none claim to have authorship by Solomon, and several are clearly recalling events after his time. Psalm 17 contains multiple prophecies about Jesus so at least this psalm is claiming be written before 1 AD, and claiming to be inspired scripture. The same psalm contains a part about either Pompey or Antiochus 4 in Maccabees also. Assuming it is about the same person in the other psalms that besieged Jerusalem it was Pompey. The internal date of authorship is between 48 BC, and 1 AD. I believe it is inspired scripture.​

So although most prophecy seemed to stop after Malachi was written around 400 BC there is some prophecy 48 BC-1 AD. I believe 1/2/3 Maccabees are inspired like Esther,​

Click to expand...

So let me ask this...
(1) If we read that God told us through the Scripture that there would be no more prophets or visions until the coming of Elijah...
(2) ...and in historical writings we see that the Jews of the time actually thought the same thing (so its not some modern day reading)...
(3) ... but then you say that there was in fact prophecies before the coming of Elijah...
(4) ... is God shown to be a liar?

Now I would presume that you would not in fact be calling God a lair. But it does seem that you have a problem with what appears to be a most reasonable reading of God's promise (one even the Jews of the times held) and what you say you believe.

Am I missing something?

Peace to you brother

About half of American adults who were raised Catholic and stayed in the Church said the faith continues to “fulfill their spiritual needs,” according to a Pew Research Center report.

The Dec. 15 report, “Why Do Some Americans Leave Their Religion While Others Stay?”, examines the religious switching of U.S. adults. It looks into the reasons why people stay or leave their childhood faith, addressing the social and demographic factors associated with the changes.

The report includes findings from a survey of 8,937 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP). The survey was conducted May 5–11 and its overall margin of error is 1.4 percentage points. It also uses information from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS), a survey of 36,908 U.S. adults conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with an overall margin of error of 0.8 percentage points.

While the report revealed many U.S. adults (35%) have left the religion they grew up in, the majority of Americans (56%) still identify with their childhood religion. Another 9% weren’t raised in a religion and still don’t have one today.

Continued below.