Thousands of Pedophile Priests Abused Over 200,000 Children in French Catholic Church

 https://www.newsweek.com/thousands-pedophile-priests-abused-200000-children-french-catholic-church-1635564

 A Catholic leader in France has described the "shame" of revelations that those working for the church had abused hundreds of thousands of children over more than seven decades.

The findings of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) detailed widespread abuse that stretched back to 1950.

In presenting the commission's findings which followed an investigation lasting two-and-a-half years, CIASE president Jean-Marc Sauvé said on Tuesday that 216,000 people had been abused by priests and other members of the clergy.

When taking into account the abuse by lay people working for Church missions, that number could amount to an estimated 330,000 people.

Turning marriage problems into religious issues

 https://mishpacha.com/your-map-to-a-better-marriage-part-1/

 But the bigger picture is to accept is that you did not choose your husband. Hashem chose him for you. Out of every possible prospect in the entire world, Hashem determined that this person is the perfect match for you. Hashem knows you far better than you know you, and Hashem knows far better than you what is for your best. In His infinite wisdom, He determined that this is the ideal spouse for you. When you focus on the issue from this perspective, I think you’ll find it much easier to accept your husband for who he is.

You write that your disappointment nags at you and makes you unhappy. Those thoughts are a trick of the Satan. He wants you to be miserable and resentful. He doesn’t want your marriage to reach its potential. Whenever that notion pops up, try to replace it with another thought: “Hashem runs the world. Hashem knows better than I what is for my best. He alone made my shidduch. We are a perfect match.”

Arabs are 21% of population but 50% of serious COVID patients

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/arabs-are-21-percent-of-population-but-50-percent-of-covid-patients-in-serious-condition-681035

 The numbers are staggering: Arab-Israelis account for nearly 40% of new coronavirus cases and constitute almost 50% of COVID-19 patients in serious condition, but they comprise about 21% of the population.

“There is a gap between the Arab and general community, but we are closing the gap,” according to the Arab sector’s COVID czar, Ayman Saif.

Israeli researchers uncover dangers of artificial sweeteners- study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/israeli-researchers-uncover-dangers-of-artificial-sweeteners-study-681056

 New research has found that FDA-approved artificial sweeteners can cause previously healthy gut bacteria to become diseased, leading to discomfort and digestive issues, according to Ben-Gurion University scientists. 

The researchers, who published their findings last month in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, looked at six commonly used artificial sweeteners. While none of them actively kill off the bacteria, three of the six significantly impair communication.

Trump’s Claims About Hunter Biden in China

 https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter-biden-in-china/

 President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Hunter Biden, without evidence, of making millions of dollars in a “payoff” from China, after accompanying his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, on a 2013 diplomatic trip to Beijing.

The claim involves a cross-border private equity fund involving some state-owned financial companies in China. Biden served on the management company’s board while his father was vice president, but his attorney says that was an unpaid position, that he did not create the company and has not yet received any money, let alone millions. The attorney says Hunter Biden only acquired a minority stake in the investment management company after his father left office.

We have found no evidence to contradict that, and Trump hasn’t provided any. We also found no evidence that Joe Biden used his position as vice president to enrich his son.

How the War on Terror Gave Us Trump

 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/spencer-ackerman-trump-9-11-reign-of-terror-1222963/

 Trump would tolerate no more nonsense about a “war of ideas.” Brutality would be defeated by greater brutality. The euphemism of the War on Terror had been an attempt to conceal such disreputable behavior, but Trump brought it unapologetically into the open. He lied that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in Jersey City had cheered the fall of the Twin Towers. As vengeance, Trump would “bomb the shit out of ISIS” and stop fighting “a politically correct war,” by which he meant one that distinguished between guerrillas and civilians. “You have to take out their families,” he told Fox. Torture “absolutely” works, Trump asserted, showing faith in the CIA’s 15-year-old narrative. He pledged to bring back “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” and stock Guantanamo Bay full of “bad dudes.” ISIS’s assault on Paris meant there was “no choice” but to close mosques within the United States. Before 2015 had ended, Trump delivered his ultimate response to ISIS: calling for a ban on all Muslim immigration. “We can’t take a chance,” he said, denying that ISIS fighters were meaningfully distinct from the Muslim civilians they raped, terrorized, and turned into refugees. It was Cheney’s one-percent doctrine applied civilizationally. Stephen Miller was so excited by these promises that the following month he joined Trump’s campaign. His old boss, Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse Trump, helmed the candidate’s foreign policy and national security working group.

Top US general says Afghan collapse can be traced to Trump-Taliban deal

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/29/frank-mckenzie-doha-agreement-trump-taliban

The collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces can be traced to a 2020 agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration that promised a complete US troop withdrawal, senior Pentagon officials have told Congress.

Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of central command, told the House armed services committee that once the US troop presence was pushed below 2,500 as part of President Joe Biden’s decision in April to complete a total withdrawal by September, the unraveling of the US-backed Afghan government accelerated.

Top doctor held on suspicion of sexual assault of women, girl during treatments

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-doctor-held-on-suspicion-of-sexual-assault-of-women-girl-during-treatments/

Police arrested a senior doctor on Sunday on suspicion of multiple sex offenses against female patients in his care, including at least one minor, allegedly assaulting them under the guise of medical treatment.

The doctor, in his 60s and a resident of the central Gush Dan region of the country, works at a public hospital as well as at a private clinic and is suspected to have committed the offenses over a number of years, Israel Police said in a statement.

Among his suspected crimes is the rape of a girl under the age of 14, police said.

 

WisDems: FDA issues blunt warning on taking drug promoted by Ron Johnson to treat COVID-19

 https://www.wispolitics.com/2021/wisdems-fda-issues-blunt-warning-on-taking-drug-promoted-by-ron-johnson-to-treat-covid-19/

 ICYMI: ‘You are not a horse. You are not a cow’: FDA issues blunt warning on taking drug promoted by Ron Johnson to treat COVID-19

MADISON, Wis. — Despite constant and fierce warnings from the medical community, Ron Johnson continues to push dangerous and unproven COVID-19 treatments like Ivermectin, which has endangered numerous people in Wisconsin and across the country.

Four Pinocchios for Ron Johnson’s campaign of vaccine misinformation

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/16/four-pinocchios-ron-johnsons-campaign-vaccine-misinformation/

“The fact of the matter is it looks like natural immunity is as strong if not stronger than vaccinated immunity. ... There is a risk to the vaccine. Again, it’s very small, but there are some pretty serious side effects, including death. We are already over 5,200 deaths reported on the VAERS system. That’s a CDC, FDA’s early warning system.”

— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in an interview on “Hannity” on Fox News, July 14

Johnson has emerged as the leading vaccine skeptic in Congress this year.

For months, the senator has been peddling misinformation about coronavirus vaccines, undeterred by fact checkers, federal health agencies, medical experts and a growing body of scientific research.

We previously dug into two Johnson claims that resurfaced in this interview on Fox News, a network whose right-wing personalities consistently bash the Biden administration’s vaccination efforts.

Harris' office does damage control over student’s Israel 'ethnic genocide' comment

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/30/harris-office-does-damage-control-over-students-israel-comment-514837 

 The incident involving Harris took place on Wednesday, when a student attending an event with the VP to promote voting, said that Israel was conducting an “ethnic genocide” in Palestine and felt that the U.S. was ignoring protests even though Harris had been discussing the power of demonstrating. Harris responded: “Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard.”

Israeli news outlets jumped on the comments. “VP Harris to student who accused Israel of 'genocide': Your truth must be heard,” went the headline in The Jerusalem Post. The Times of Israel also chimed in: “Kamala Harris doesn’t reject US student’s ‘ethnic genocide’ claim against Israel.”

Mellman quoted Harris’ senior staff as reassuring them that the vice president “strongly disagrees with the George Mason student’s characterization of Israel.”

Israel and the shameful, dangerous final days of Donald Trump

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-the-shameful-dangerous-final-days-of-donald-trump/

 Few if any national leaders were more closely allied with the disgraced US President Donald Trump, inciter of last week’s assault on the Capitol in Washington, on American democracy, than Benjamin Netanyahu.

Few if any nations would consider themselves to have been greater beneficiaries of Trump-backed policies than Israel, even though Israelis were deeply conflicted over the man now nearing the end of his White House term in such ignominy.

The implications of these two facts are already being felt, and will continue to resonate in the coming days, weeks, months and years. And not for the good.

Cancer survivor blows the whistle on 'toxic positivity'

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/30/opinions/toxic-positivity-and-cancer-survivor-column-powers/index.html

 In this paradigm, God rewards you with health, wealth and happiness if only you have the right kind of faith. As the pandemic has demonstrated, scientific facts and common sense fall to the wayside as people declare they will "trust God" to protect them from a deadly virus that is befalling people all around them who God apparently doesn't care about. (Weirdly, many of these same people own guns rather than trusting God to protect them.)

Rand Paul blocked swift passage of a bill boosting Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.

 https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/09-30-2021/rands-iron-dome-opposition/

 What happened: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected to swift passage of a bill to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, five congressional sources told POLITICO.

The bill, which cleared the House overwhelmingly last week with more than 400 votes in favor, would appropriate $1 billion for the Iron Dome, a state-of-the-art system that prevents rockets from striking inside Israel’s borders.

The House-passed bill was brought up as a “hotline” for both parties — a process that requires the consent of all 100 senators in order for the bill to hit the Senate floor immediately for a vote. Democrats cleared the hotline unanimously, three people said, but the GOP hotline didn’t go through due to Paul’s concerns that the new funding for the Iron Dome was not offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

An effort — supported by Republicans — to hotline an amendment to the funding bill that would add the Iron Dome money also fell apart this week.

Paul's perspect: “He proposed that we pay for the House bill with money that is going to go to the Taliban,” a spokeswoman for the Kentucky senator said. A Senate GOP staffer confirmed that Paul held the measure over Afghanistan aid.