American foreign policy is in the toilet, with our adversaries not respecting us and our allies not trusting us. Pundits here and abroad have been proclaiming the end of America’s global dominance. And yet, if you factor out our government’s ineptitude, the United States has quite a bit going for it globally. See what two think tankers have to say about this. (more…)
In Brazil a man suffered a stroke, whereupon he started giving away his money, giving food to street children, and being so kind to everyone that he has been diagnosed as having “pathological generosity.” Interestingly, his condition made him lose his job as a manager for a large corporation. (more…)
More evidence of Luther’s point about Roman Catholics and Protestant “enthusiasts” being basically the same in thinking God speaks to them directly and experientially, apart from His Word:
“God told me to do it,” the 86-year-old former pontiff told a friend, six months after his decision to step down shocked the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. (more…)
Pope Francis, responding to reporters’ questions, said, “Who am I to judge gay people?” Though what he said about homosexuality and gay priests is being hailed as a revolutionary change, he really didn’t alter church teaching. He just spun it differently. After the jump, an account of what he said and some reflections. (more…)
Pope Francis will be offering a plenary indulgence–that is, a full release from Purgatory for sins committed up to that point–for those who follow the World Youth Day activities on Twitter or other social media sites. (more…)
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has been stuck in the transit zone of a Russian airport for a week. The U.S. government cancelled his passport, so he can’t get on another airplane. He has reportedly applied to 21 countries for asylum, all to no avail. (Some would take him, but he has to get there first.) What he should have done is settle in a country that would take him and then out himself as the leaker of the NSA internet and cell phone surveillance scheme. What he should do now is turn himself in to American authorities and take his punishment like a man.
Still, whether he is a traitor or a hero, I feel sorry for him. He is truly a Man Without a Country. (Read that short story by Edward Everett Hale to get your patriotic juices flowing on this Fourth of July.) (more…)
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