Society's Child

Serbian Church 'doesn't recognize' Ukrainian church leaders' attempt to split from Russian Orthodox Church

RFE/RL
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:29 UTC

The Serbian Orthodox Church says it will not recognize a decision by the leadership of Orthodox Christianity to rehabilitate the leaders of two Ukrainian Orthodox churches breaking away from Moscow.

The Serbian church's Holy Assembly of Bishops "does not recognize" Patriarch Filaret and Metropolitan Makariy or "their followers," a statement said on November 12.

Ukraine has three Orthodox churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate led by Patriarch Filaret; and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Metropolitan Makariy.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople last month agreed to recognize the autocephaly, or independence, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Comment: Something that is not in Constantinople's power to do, at least not traditionally. That requires unanimity among the churches. As the Saker recently wrote when describing the situation:

Second, crucial decisions, decisions which affect the entire Church, are only taken by a Council of the entire Church, not unilaterally by any one man or any one Church. These are really the basics of what could be called "traditional Christian ecclesiology 101" and the blatant violation of this key ecclesiological dogma by the Papacy in 1054 was as much a cause for the historical schism between East and West (really, between Rome and the rest of Christian world) as was the innovation of the filioque itself.

It also lifted excommunications imposed on Filaret and Makariy, who have been instrumental in pushing for an independent Ukrainian church.

Comment: The Ukrainian churches supporting this move have made a deal with the devil, putting politics above religion. They should reread their Apostle Paul, or Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos (quoted in the Saker article above):

Saint Maximos the Confessor says that, while Christians are divided into categories according to age and race, nationalities, languages, places and ways of life, studies and characteristics, and are "distinct from one another and vastly different, all being born into the Church and reborn and recreated through it in the Spirit" nevertheless "it bestows equally on all the gift of one divine form and designation, to be Christ's and to bear His Name. And Saint Basil the Great, referring to the unity of the Church says characteristically: "The Church of Christ is one, even tough He is called upon from different places". These passages, and especially the life of the Church, do away with every nationalistic tendency. It is not, of course, nations and homelands that are abolished, but nationalism, which is a heresy and a great danger to the Church of Christ.

Victims of US sanctions: Iranian cancer patients struggling to obtain life-saving medication, equipment

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:53 UTC

© Screenshot / Ruptly
Marjan Shirazi, whose husband suffers from cancer, said that the drugs that used to be available before sanctions have now become “more expensive and rarer.” US assurance that the restrictions are meant to hurt the Iranian government is “an absolute lie”.

US sanctions are driving up the cost of cancer treatment in Iran, patients and doctors say - as restrictions reimposed on Tehran by Washington make it harder to buy life-saving medication and equipment.

Ali Shokri, a Tehran resident battling cancer, had his second round of chemotherapy after the US sanctions kicked in. The cost of each session jumped from 10 million Rial ($240) to 20 million ($475), Ali told Ruptly video agency on Monday, adding that the price hike isn't the only problem cancer patients now face.

"The drugs can't be found easily like before, and we have to look for them several times in different pharmacies."

Comment: Sanctions disproportionately injure civilians but most governments (Russia aside) haven't a whit of conscience or concern over their fates:

How to stop the corporate virtue-signaling before it's too late

Josh Dehaas
Quillette
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:01 UTC

Just before Halloween, the U.S. streaming giant Hulu sent out a tweet: "If you're dressing up for #Huluween this year, this is your reminder to wear a costume that is culturally appropriate and respectful to others. Let's celebrate the holiday in a way that we can all enjoy."

The question of whether some Halloween costumes are "appropriate" is one of the hottest flashpoints in the culture wars right now. The mainstream media, university professors and left-wing politicians seem to agree that dressing up as people of another race is inherently offensive while a large proportion of regular people believe that costumes are only offensive if there's an intent to mock. Unsurprisingly, Hulu's finger-wagging tweet pissed off a lot of people who wondered why a streaming service was suddenly sounding like a social justice warrior. Hulu deleted the tweet.

Comment: It's curious why a company would even think it's a good idea to weigh in on some issue that has nothing to do with their brand. Since most are cynical enough to see through such pandering, the only thing it does is risk offending a part of their customer base. A slight miscalculation of the make-up that customer base could end up with detrimental results.

See also:

CNN goes ahead with lawsuit against Trump over White House ban on boor Jim Acosta

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:34 UTC

© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN's Jim Acosta as he continues to question U.S. President Donald Trump after being told his time was up.

CNN has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the revocation of press credentials from its reporter Jim Acosta. The suit alleges the ban violated both First and Fifth Amendment rights of the network and reporter.

The lawsuit was announced by CNN on Tuesday. The network is also asking the court for an "immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to Jim."

Comment: The members of the White House press corp are there by invitation. Jim Acosta has a long history of bad behaviour. CNN is perfectly capable of designating another reporter who has better manners. 'Tough questions' and respectful interactions are not mutually exclusive behaviors. The network is doing itself no favors in trying to shoehorn him back into the WH corps with a frivolous lawsuit.

Illinois prisons to retrain staff after transgender inmate who feels like 'sex slave' sues

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:01 UTC

After multiple lawsuits from a prisoner who claimed she felt like a 'sex slave' in male prisons, the Illinois Department of Corrections is mandating staff training in "transgender issues." Is it a special privilege or necessity?

There are only 28 transgender prisoners in the Illinois correctional system, but one of them - a trans-woman named Deon "Strawberry" Hampton - has sued the Illinois Corrections Department four times to be allowed to serve out the remainder of her 10-year burglary sentence in a women's prison, alleging abuse by inmates and guards alike. While previous lawsuits merely shuttled her between four different men's prisons, this time the court ordered officials to reevaluate her request and allow her to attend a transgender support group.

Glyphosate blues: Bayer hit by new wave of lawsuits over Monsanto's toxic Roundup weed killer

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:46 UTC

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer disclosed that lawsuits from 9,300 plaintiffs were pending at the end of October. The lawsuits allege that the company's recently acquired weed-killing product causes cancer.

Plaintiffs claim that Roundup weed killers, which Bayer acquired in its takeover of US agrochemical firm Monsanto, made them ill and that the company knew or should have known of the risks but failed to warn adequately.

Bayer rejected all the accusations, claiming there are hundreds of scientific studies and regulatory authorities that show glyphosate, the compound contained in the weed killers, is safe to use.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, which is the most popular weed killer in the US.

Comment: See also:

California's wildfires are man-made, but not in the way they tell us

Chuck DeVore
Forbes
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:05 UTC

© Mario Tama/Getty Images
The Cranston Fire burns in San Bernardino National Forest on July 26, 2018 near Idyllwild, California. Fire crews are battling the 4,700-acre fire in the midst of a heat wave.

California is once again on fire. Northern California's Carr Fire has killed six people, two of them firefighters, and continues to burn out of control, claiming more than 700 homes and about 100,000 acres.

As a citizen-soldier in the California Army National Guard for two decades, I often heard the gallows humor quip that California's four seasons were: flood, fire, earthquake and riot.

But, what was once an expected part of living in the Golden State is now blamed on larger forces. A crisis, we are told, should never go to waste.

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson's book is a hit in Sweden - even though FM loathes him

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:51 UTC

A Swedish book retailer has listed Jordan Peterson's new book as a top seller, just days after the country's foreign minister told the Canadian academic to "crawl back under his rock".

Peterson's new book, '12 Rules For Life, an Antidote to Chaos', is currently one of the most popular titles on Adlibris - a Swedish online book retailer.

"12 Rules for Life crawled out from under a rock in Sweden to take the Number One spot in book sales," Peterson wrote on Twitter.

Comment: Clueless Swedish Foreign Minster tells anti-PC academic Jordan Peterson 'crawl back under your rock'

Black security guard killed by Illinois police while stopping a bar shooting

RT
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:12 UTC

Responding to reports of a bar shooting, police in a southern suburb of Chicago shot and killed the heroic security guard as he was subduing the gunman. Local residents say the killer cops are unlikely to be punished.

Jemel Roberson, 26, was shot dead by Midlothian police officers after they mistook him for the suspect in a shooting call. The victim turned out to be a security guard at the bar where the incident took place - and had been in the process of restraining the perpetrator when police officers shot and killed him.

Local residents told the media that Roberson hoped to one day become a police officer. Now he is the latest case in a long string of police shootings of African-American men.

Officers were responding to a report of a shooting at Manny's Blue Room Bar in Robbins, Illinois, a short distance south of Chicago. After the establishment asked a group of drunken men to leave the bar around 4am on Sunday, one of the men then returned to the bar and began to open fire, trading shots with security, according to witnesses at the scene. Upon arriving, police then shot and killed Roberson, who had been pointing his gun at a suspect he had pinned down and detained.

Finland's first sex doll brothel opens in Helsinki

Dan Hall
The Sun, UK
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 06:30 UTC

Finland will be opening its first sex doll brothel later this week as demand for silicone companions blows up all over the world.

Russian-owned Unique Dolls will open its doors in Helsinki on Thursday - charging frisky Finns €100 an hour with its demimonde dolls.

The silicone brothel is located in a discrete location behind a shopping centre in the Finnish capital.

And they say they'll only ever be allowing a maximum of four clients in the building at any one time to keep noise levels at a respectable level.

well you sure don't have to think about anything so what would you call it

cracker

Greek acting gods have a joke “Sapiens is wise, because they know, that we know better what to do with their will, than they do.” Vicious foreign...

Orwik

Jut for laffs here's George Carlin doing a spoof as the Architect in the Matrix: [Link] * BTW, this just came out today: Leonard Cohen - Puppets...

parzival

.. .. Is the Brits' Prince Pedo ok? [Link]

Jibrish

.. .. jUS Con gress shid show [Link] Let's go pfhizer [Link]

Jibrish

Society's Child

Serbian Church 'doesn't recognize' Ukrainian church leaders' attempt to split from Russian Orthodox Church

Victims of US sanctions: Iranian cancer patients struggling to obtain life-saving medication, equipment

How to stop the corporate virtue-signaling before it's too late

CNN goes ahead with lawsuit against Trump over White House ban on boor Jim Acosta

Illinois prisons to retrain staff after transgender inmate who feels like 'sex slave' sues

Glyphosate blues: Bayer hit by new wave of lawsuits over Monsanto's toxic Roundup weed killer

California's wildfires are man-made, but not in the way they tell us

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson's book is a hit in Sweden - even though FM loathes him

Black security guard killed by Illinois police while stopping a bar shooting

Finland's first sex doll brothel opens in Helsinki

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