Pope Francis proclaimed sainthood Sunday for a pair of former pontiffs, John Paul II and John XXIII, thrilling multitudes who gathered in St. Peter’s Square and nearby to witness the unprecedented double canonization.

It marked the first time in the church’s more than 2,000-year history that two former popes had been canonized on the same day.

And, though the focus was on the two late pontiffs, the extravagant ceremony and Mass will probably provide another boost for the soaring popularity of Francis, the Argentine pope who has only held office for slightly more than a year.

"These were two men of courage," Francis said in his homily of the two late popes.



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http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-pope-francis-canonization-vatican-20140427,0,2793771.story

A Neo-Nazi rally in Tennessee was outnumbered by hundreds of counter-protesters Saturday afternoon.

A few dozen members of the National Socialist Movement held an anti-immigration rally at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Chattanooga, but the Times Free Press reported a few hundred people came out to counter-protest.

The members heckled the neo-Nazi supporters from across the street as authorities separated the protesters with an orange barricade.

Chants included "Hey, hey, ho, white supremacy has got to go" and "Nazis go home," the newspaper reported.

Another man heckled the Swastika flag-waving members over their lack of participants.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/neo-nazi-rally-tenn-draws-protesters-supporters-article-1.1770260

BY EDWARD ERICSON JR.

Here is the future: nobody gets any job security. Nobody gets a fair wage while they have a job. Nobody gets a retirement fund or even any guarantee they’ll be able to eat tomorrow. And almost everyone is doing everything they can just to get by—and paying some substantial portion of their earnings to a pimp or “platform” which controls the business they are in. And ain’t life a grand adventure? Isn’t it all so fun?

Welcome to the Sharing Economy.

This is the model of the new economy, where anyone with a car ought to be a Lyft contractor (your fare pays what he or she thinks is right but the company is tweeting out “we’ve slashed prices 20 percent”) and anyone with a house or apartment is renting it out on Air BnB and crashing at their boyfriend’s parents’ place.

All of this came about by design. The world is arranged according to the people who arrange things—the people who make money by this arrangement. We’re in our fourth decade of this. The Times reported this week that the American middle class has been surpassed by Canada’s.

And it’s much worse than the New York Times imagines. As Dean Baker points out, the middle classes in most other countries have increased their incomes while getting longer vacations. In the U.S.A.? Not so much.

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http://blogs.citypaper.com/index.php/the-news-hole/desperate-hustle-way-life/

Steve Chapman
April 27, 2014

When he ran for president in 2000, George W. Bush promised to "stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions." When he ran in 2008, Barack Obama trumpeted his opposition to the Iraq invasion while asserting that our "strength abroad is measured not just by armies but rather by the power of our ideals."

They didn't quite practice what they preached. But Hillary Rodham Clinton is different. She won't disappoint anyone hoping for greater restraint, because she has no use for it. The former secretary of state is a long-standing and unblushing advocate of frequent military intervention abroad.

Unlike Obama, Clinton supported the Iraq invasion. In the months before the war, she defended Bush's handling of Saddam Hussein in a way calculated to make her look presidential. "I know a little bit about what it's like on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, making these difficult decisions," she confided.

Her Iraq vote dogged her during the 2008 primaries. But as secretary of state, she proved that it had not affected her thinking. Over and over, Clinton has opted for getting into wars rather than staying out.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-hillary-clinton-war-oped-chapman-0427-20140427,0,2788945.column

Sarah Palin: ‘Waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists’ in her administration

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired up a crowd of thousands inside Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night to kick off the National Rifle Association’s “Stand and Fight Rally,” saying Americans’ constitutional rights as envisioned by the founding fathers are under attack and policies like gun-free zones constitute “stupid on steroids.”

“They knew that if the Second Amendment goes, the rest of the constitution is not far behind,” she said of the country’s founders.

In her approximately 12-minute address, Mrs. Palin also derided what she argued is akin to a ‘blame the messenger’ attitude on gun violence many Americans take today.

“Gun stores are an accomplice to crime,” she said, “and that fork made me fat.”


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/26/palin-waterboarding-how-wed-baptize-terrorists-her/

In speech to Alabama Republicans, Sarah Palin blasts Obama and 'RINOs' alike

ORANGE BEACH, Alabama – Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin offered plenty of red-meat attacks on President Barack Obama during an appearance at the Baldwin County Republican Party’s annual fundraising dinner Friday, but she did not spare her own party.

Palin, who rocketed to political stardom after presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his running mate in 2008, expressed nearly as much exasperation with the GOP establishment as she did with Democrats.

She referenced her own upbringing in an Alaskan hunting family in declaring that she would fight politicians that conservatives deride as “Republicans in Name Only” during intra-party squabbles.

“I’m not afraid at all to go on a little RINO hunt,” she said.

http://blog.al.com/live/2014/04/in_speech_to_alabama_republica.html

By Olivia Becker

April 26, 2014 |
There is a bill in the South Carolina State Senate that, if passed, would allow pregnant women to use lethal force to defend their unborn fetuses against attack.

But the controversy over the proposed law is not so much that it extends the “stand your ground” law to include unborn babies but, by doing so, it effectively grants full constitutional rights to unborn fetuses from the moment of conception.

The South Carolina Senate Judiciary Subcommittee voted 3-2 in support of the bill on April 10, moving it along to the Judiciary Committee where it is currently awaiting a vote.

“A pregnant woman is justified in using physical force or deadly physical force against another person to protect her unborn child,” the Pregnant Women's Protection Act states. “‘Unborn child' means the offspring of human beings from conception until birth."

more

https://news.vice.com/articles/south-carolina-bill-wants-to-apply-stand-your-ground-law-to-fetuses

By Dave Johnson
April 26, 2014

Research concludes that if you're making less than $87,000 per year (the current 90th percentile wage), the Trans-Pacific Partnership would mean a pay cut. But that's fine for corporations who want this treaty.




President Obama is in Asia, partly to "reassure" partner countries that the U.S. is a strong ally and partly to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Both are to counter China's growing influence. While TPP is being sold as a "strategic" countermeasure to China, like other so-called "trade" agreements TPP does not help American workers; it hurts them.

Obama In Asia Pushing TPP

President Obama is in Japan as part of his "pivot to Asia" tour of Pacific countries. He is also visiting South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. The trip is meant to demonstrate U.S. diplomatic and economic efforts toward Pacific nations to counterbalance China's increasing influence in the region. Part of this effort is a big push to get TPP negotiations back on track and completed.

TPP is a massive "trade" treaty between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. "Trade" is in quotes because only five of the treaty's 29 chapters actually deal with trade. Others set rules on investment, set limits on the ability of governments to regulate corporations, restrict a government's ability to spend its own tax dollars on goods made in that country (such as "Buy America" procurement policies) and other things well beyond the usual scope of what would be considered a trade agreement. This leads many to claim that the treaty is really about limiting the ability of governments to reign in the giant corporations. (For those not familiar with TPP, read all about it in ourfuture.org's TPP section.)

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http://crooksandliars.com/2014/04/why-would-obama-push-trade-deal-would-cut

simple. $$$$$$$$ for his backers. $$$$$$$$ for him after he leaves the Presidency. Just like Bubba. And Shrub, and Poppy Bush….

By Michelle Jaworski on April 25, 2014 Email
Alzheimer’s is an ugly disease that can rob loved ones of their voice and the ability to perform even the simplest functions. But there’s still a chance for a final shining moment before that day comes.

Lisa Abeyta’s father is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s, and he’s almost completely lost his ability to speak. When it comes to the family dog, things sometimes work a little differently.

Cue the piano music.



http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/dad-alzheimers-dog-speech/#trending

Who's a good dog? You're a good dog!