Pope Francis (Korea.net) COGwriter A reader from Australia sent the following: Pope Francis announced on Friday the Roman Catholic Church will mark an extraordinary Holy Year, one of its most important events, in which faithful make pilgrimages to Rome and other religious sites around the world. During the last Holy Year – or Jubilee – […]
Month: March 2015
USA may abandon Israel in the United Nations
United Nations General Assembly Hall (Patrick Gruban) COGwriter Because of the win by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as disappointment related to some of his statements, the Obama Administration is rumored to be considering abandoning Israel at the United Nations: March 19, 2015 Washington (CNN) The Obama administration’s frustration with Benjamin Netanyahu is […]
Russian military exercise in Baltic targetting NATO; South Ossetia enters treaty with Russia
Russia Baltic Fleet Missile Ships (Luis Díaz-Bedia Astor) COGwriter In a counter move to NATO, Russia is also conducting military exercises in the Baltics. The West is concerned, whereas Russia expresses its concerns about the West as the two sources below confirm: March 19, 2015 Russian military exercises, the latest in a series across the […]
Ishtar and Easter
Clothed Ishtar, early 2nd millennium BC (Marie-Lan Nguyen) COGwriter Where did the name Easter come from? Easter itself is not a Christian term but comes from paganism: The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which […]
Obama wants to force people to vote
Barack Obama (Official Whitehouse Photograph) COGwriter US President Barack Obama would like to require people to participate in secular politics through voting: March 18, 2015 Obama floated the idea of mandatory voting in the U.S. while speaking to a civic group in Cleveland on Wednesday. Asked about the corrosive influence of money in U.S. elections, […]
Austerity protests in Germany–expect more civil unrest in Europe
Frankfurt with ECB towers to the left (Epizentrum) COGwriter Protests in Frankfurt, Germany turned violent: March 18, 2015 FRANKFURT, Germany — Protesters torched police cars and threw stones at officers during anti-austerity protests ahead of the inauguration ceremony for the European Central Bank’s new headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Police detained 350 people but said those […]
Netanyahu seemingly victorious: Some are concerned.
Benjamin Netanyahu COGwriter Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had victory in yesterday’s elections: March 18, 2015 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to form a government in the next two to three weeks, which would give him a fourth term as prime minister, after his conservative Likud party won convincingly in Israel’s parliamentary […]
Because of ‘Lent,’ a rodent was declared a fish
Capybara (Photo by Karelj) COGwriter We are currently in the middle of a Greco-Roman adopted time called Lent. Because of this period, a rodent was once declared to be a fish. A reader sent me the following: Giant Rodents A Lenten Dish Sun Sentinel, Florida – excerpt… About 400 years ago, Spanish missionaries discovered that […]
No white majority projected for the USA
Hispanic and Latino Americans (Amy russ12) COGwriter Studies have come out showing what many of us have observed, the USA is becoming less and less white, non-Hispanic, and if the trend continues the USA will no longer have a white, non-Hispanic majority. Today, a reader sent me the first item below: AMERICA is a country […]
Europe is pivoting towards China and away from the USA
Wolfgang Schäuble COGwriter Germany announced it made a deal to support a Chinese alternative to the USA-dominated World Bank: March 17, 2015 BERLIN—Germany, France and Italy intend to join a China-led international development bank as founding members of an institution that aims to finance infrastructure projects in Asia, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on […]