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Daily Archives: May 13, 2017
Editorial: Give churches freedom of speech, but why freedom from taxation? – DesMoinesRegister.com
Posted: May 13, 2017 at 5:35 am
The Register's Editorial Published 5:45 p.m. CT May 11, 2017 | Updated 20 hours ago
The bill extends religious exemptions to government employees and members of organizations. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on promoting free speech and religious liberty in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 4, 2017 in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images)
Its not clear what Lyndon Johnson was thinking in 1954. The then-U.S. senator introduced an amendment to a bill that prevented some tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from engaging in political campaign activity. Congress adopted it without debate. Lawmakers later strengthened the ban. Courts have upheld it.
None of this means the statute makes sense. There is certainly a case to be made that free speech rights should not be tied to tax status for any organization. And Congress can certainly vote to change the law if it chooses.
But President Donald Trump is still figuring out howthis branches of government idea works.
Last week he signed an executive order he said would free churches from restraints imposed by the law. Seeking to garner as much attention as possible, the signing was stagedin the Rose Garden withactivists, faith leaders and nuns. They were serenaded by a string quartet.
The order will prevent the Johnson Amendment from interfering with your First Amendment rights, Trump declared.
Well, no it wont. The executive order does essentially nothing.
In fact, groups preparing to sue over what they expected the document to contain said there was no need after they saw the final version. The American Civil Liberties Union called the order an elaborate photo-op with no discernible policy outcome. Even conservative groups recognized it as little more than a gesture.
Then again, the Johnson Amendment is little more than a gesture. It is essentially meaningless because it is not enforced.
Some religious leaders have intentionally flouted the provision in law, trying to draw attention to themselves annually on Pulpit Freedom Sunday." They tell their congregation which political candidates to support and face no consequences from the Internal Revenue Service.
We record our sermons, as have many several thousands of pastors, and then send their sermons to the IRS in hopes of provokinga lawsuit. But we have not been successful, a California pastor told CNN last year.
The IRS could take action. It could revoke the preferential tax status of churches. But it doesnt. After being starved by Congress for several years, it doesnt have the staff. It also likely doesnt have the stomach for the certain political backlash. And the IRS may not even know some churches exist, as they are not required to apply for tax-exempt status and are generally not required to file annual forms with the agency.
A 2014 report from the Government Accountability Office noted budget cuts at the IRS have led to a steady decrease in the number of charitable organizations examined. In 2011, the examination rate was 0.81 percent; in 2013, it fell to 0.71 percent, lower than the examination rate for other types of taxpayers, including individuals and corporations.
Translation: Pretty much anyone can open a church, avoid taxation and engage in political activities with no fear of repercussions. And with pressure from the president to leave these entities alone, the IRS is even less likely to scrutinize them.
The question Trump should be asking:Why are churches exempt from taxation in the first place? That could spur the larger conversation this country needs to have about reforming the entire, antiquated federal statute on tax-exempt status. Use of theexemption has run amok.
About 1.6 million organizations, including about 400,000 religious entities, do not pay taxes. That drives up the federal deficit, hurts local governments and forces the rest of us to pay more to compensate. Among the activities our additional tax contributions support: politicking pastors who proudly and loudly violate federal law.
Washington policymakers should ensure everyone has freedom of speech, but revisitwho gets freedom from taxation.
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Escape into the wild with Maasthi Gudi- The New Indian Express – The New Indian Express
Posted: at 5:34 am
The story of Maasthi Gudi, conceived by Duniya Vijay, is about how saving tigers will eventually help us get water.
The daughter (Kriti Kharbanda) of a Range Forest Officer narrates her experience in a forest and her encounter with Maasti (Duniya Vijay) through a TV Channel. An orphan, who lands up in Maasti Gudi forest, he is raised by Madayya (Rangayana Raghu) and Bheemaji (B Jayashree). He grows up to be a mahout for an elephant Drona. But when Bheemajji, through her tantric vision, sees that the forest is headed for trouble, Maasti steps forward to save it. This is followed by a thin storyline of love, revenge and sacrifice.
Two men died while attempting to make Maasthi Gudi. Anil and Uday, who play villains attempted a misadventure to a give shot. What came of it? Does Maasthi Gudi do justice to their giving all for its making? The audience must decide.
The director Nagashekar, who has taken a step beyond his usual romance, has this time dealt with an action movie that also tackles global warming. With Maasthi Gudi, he elaborates on the importance of forests and saving animals from poachers, a subject rarely dealt with. But he seems to have tried to do way too many things by mixing action, love and family bonding with pantheism and ghosts. He ends up confusing the central theme of Save Tiger, Save Forest. Therefore, the movie evokes a mixed response. The film with its great setting in the lap of Nature and with computer graphics looks good, but leaves a viewer feeling a little empty. The makers, who could not portray better climax, are clearly ambitious because they have announced a sequel.
No doubt that Nagashekar and his team have put in a great effort in sending out a message of the need to protect forests, but they could have worked on their narration which flags and loses momentum. Vijay has come out of his comfort zone with him attempting a realistic performance and he has done it whole-heartedly. Amulya too has got into the character of the girl-next-door and Kriti Kharbanda does justice to the character she plays -- a Phd holder from London. Actors such as Rangayana Raghu, B Jayashree and Srinivas Murthy ably support the leads but the comedy track by Sadhu Kokila, Bullet Prakash and Tabla Nani is not so sensible.
The films technical team deserves an applause. Cinematographer Satya Heagde makes it a must-see with his striking visuals of the dry forest and the greenbelt. Music by Sadhu Kokila is another reason to watch it, there are soothing songs and a good background score. For all those living in the concrete world, Maasthi Gudi could be a good escape into the wild.
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The religious comeback after Communist atheism – Patheos (blog)
Posted: at 5:34 am
The Soviet Union and its satellites in Eastern Europe strongly enforced the atheism mandated by Communist ideology. They promoted atheism by laws, education, and brutal persecution of religious believers. Schools taught required courses in atheism.
Churches were torn down or converted into movie theaters or (in the case of the Lutheran church in St. Petersburg) swimming pools. Thousands of pastors were killed or consigned to the Gulags. I talked with an Estonian who told me that her son once went inside an abandoned church because he was interested in the artwork. He was warned never to do that again or he wouldnt be allowed to go to university.
But 25 years ago, Communism collapsed in Russia and Eastern Europe. Now those regions are arguably more religious than most of the countries of Western Europe.
A study by Pew Research shows the massive failure of Soviet atheism. In the 18 former-Communist countries surveyed, 86% of the population believe in God.
And yet the temporary loss of a religious history shows. Most citizens associate religious belief with national identity. And they arent necessarily going to church all that much.
Catholics go to churchmore than the Orthodox. Butthe Orthodoxare more conservative morally when it comes to issues like homosexuality.
The Pew study describes religion in the former Communist states asbelieving and belonging, without behaving.
Read about the findings after the jump.
From Jeremy Weber,Pew: Heres How Badly Soviet Atheism Failed in Europe | Gleanings | ChristianityToday.com:
The comeback of religion in a region once dominated by atheist regimes is striking, states Pew in its latest report. Today, only 14 percent of the regions population identify as atheists, agnostics, or nones. By comparison, 57 percent identify as Orthodox, and another 18 percent as Catholics.
In a massive study based on face-to-face interviews with 25,000 adults in 18 countries, Pew examined how national and religious identities have converged over the decades in Central and Eastern Europe. The result is one of the most thorough accountings of what Orthodox Christians (and their neighbors) believe and do. . . .
Across countries, solid majorities say that in order to belong, one must identify with the majority religion. For example, most say being Orthodox is essential to truly being Russian or Greek, while being Catholic is essential to truly being Polish. The close connection between religious and national identity is stronger for Orthodox than for Catholics (regional medians: 70% vs. 57%)
However, observance is a different matter. Relatively few Orthodox or Catholic adults in Central and Eastern Europe say they regularly attend worship services, pray often, or consider religion central to their lives, Pew researchers stated.
Catholics are twice as observant as Orthodox when it comes to weekly church attendance (medians: 25% vs. 10%). In addition, Catholics in Central and Eastern Europe are much more likely than Orthodox Christians to say they engage in religious practices such as taking communion and fasting during Lent, Pew researchers stated. Catholics also are somewhat more likely than Orthodox Christians to say they frequently share their views on God with others, and to say they read or listen to scripture outside of religious services.
Across the 18 countries, medians of 86 percent believe in God, 59 percent believe in heaven, and 54 percent believe in hell. Half also believe in fate, as well as the existence of the soul. Fewer than half pray daily.
Catholic-majority countries are more observant, but Orthodox-majority countries are more conservative on homosexuality and other social issues.
[Keep reading. . .]
For the Pew study, go here.
Propaganda drawing of Communist workers dumping icons into the garbage by Staff of Bezbozhnik (1929 issue of Bezbozhnik, via NYPL) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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NASA’s Hubble telescope captures galaxy duo by the ‘Hare’ | Zee … – Zee News
Posted: at 5:32 am
New Delhi: The US space agency NASA has released a beautiful image of the unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare).
The image was captured by NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope.
According to NASA, Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments have observed the galaxy from a distance of 500 million light-years.
The particular object stands out from the crowd by actually being composed of two separate galaxies rushing past each other at about 2 million kilometers (1,243,000 miles) per hour.
The speed is most likely too fast for them to merge and form a single galaxy.
Because of their small separation of only about 20,000 light-years, the galaxies will distort one another through the force of gravity while passing each other, changing their structures on a grand scale, as reported.
Such galactic interactions are a common sight for Hubble, and have long been a field of study for astronomers.
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Australia considering NATO request to send more troops to Afghanistan – Reuters
Posted: at 5:32 am
SYDNEY Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday he is considering a NATO request for more troops in Afghanistan, as U.S. President Donald Trump considers whether to expand the NATO-led mission there by several thousand.
Turnbull did not specify the details of the request from NATO's military authorities, which he received during a visit to Afghanistan late last month, although he said he was "open" to the idea.
"We are certainly open to increasing our work there, but we've obviously got to look at the commitments of the Australian Defense Force in other parts of the region and indeed in other parts of the world," Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
"It is very important that we continue - we and our other allies in the effort in Afghanistan - continue to work together," he said.
Australia currently has nearly 300 troops stationed in Afghanistan, training and advising Afghan forces.
The top U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday security in Afghanistan would deteriorate even further without a modest increase in troops from the United States and its allies for the NATO-led force.
Afghan forces being trained by their NATO allies have only tenuous control in Afghanistan almost 16 years into the intractable war against the Taliban, the remnants of al Qaeda, Islamic State and other Islamist groups.
In February, U.S. General John Nicholson, commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan, told a Congressional hearing he needed several thousand more international troops to break a stalemate with the Taliban.
Reuters reported in late April that Trump's administration was carrying out a review of Afghanistan and that conversations were revolving around sending between 3,000 and 5,000 more U.S. and coalition troops to Afghanistan.
U.S. and NATO allies have since been receiving requests for more troops to boost the Resolute Support mission, which currently stands at about 13,450 troops, including about 6,900 U.S. military personnel training and advising the Afghan armed forces to take over Afghanistan's defense and security.
The United States also has about 1,500 more troops as part of a counter-terrorism unit that mainly targets the Islamic State militant group and remaining pockets of al Qaeda.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week the alliance was considering a request for more troops, although NATO member Germany ruled out sending more of its forces back to Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Paul Tait)
WASHINGTON The United States is close to completing a series of arms deals for Saudi Arabia totaling more than $100 billion, a senior White House official said on Friday, a week ahead of President Donald Trump's planned visit to Riyadh.
DOHA Gunmen killed a Saudi child and a Pakistani man during an attack on workers at a building project in restive eastern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the interior ministry said on Friday.
ANKARA President Hassan Rouhani cast his hardline clerical opponents as power-hungry pawns of Iran's security forces on Friday, going far beyond the traditional bounds of Iranian political discourse in a blistering final TV debate a week before an election.
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Russia to conduct drills that could defeat NATO in two days – AmeriForce Publishing, Inc.
Posted: at 5:32 am
By Tom OConnor, Newsweek
Canada is preparing to deploytroops to Latvia as part of a NATO plan to bolster the Western military alliances borders with rival power Russia, but Moscow has plans for a show of might that will likely dwarf NATOs efforts.
Latvian ambassador to CanadaKarlis Eihenbaums said Friday that his nation, which has previously expressed concern about Russian military activity in Europes Baltic region, was particularly on edge ahead of its neighbors quadrennial defense maneuvers called Zapad, or West, due to be held in August and September.Eihenbaums said the drills, which date back to the Soviet period, have left Latvia uneasy in past years, but that this yearsexercise would be especially concerning given the dueling military buildup that has occurred between NATO and Russia in the past few years.
You cannot feel safe, Eihenbaums told CBC News.
Servicemen take part in the joint war games Zapad-2013 (West-2013), attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, at the Khmelevka range on Russias Baltic Sea in the Kaliningrad Region, September 26, 2013. The quadrennial games were set to be held again in 2017 amid heightened geopolitical tensions between Moscow and NATO.ALEXEI DRUZHININ/RIA NOVOSTI/REUTERS
Canada has already begun sending vehicles and equipment to Latvia, which was designated by NATO last year as one of four battle groups to which the multinational force would devote its resources. In additionto Latvia, the groups also includefellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania as well as Poland. Canada is set to send the first of 450 soldiers to Latvia next month and will be joined by forces from NATO allies Albania, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. About 1,200 troops in all will be stationed in Latvia, with an additional 800 more in Estonia, 1,200 in Lithuania and 4,000 in Poland. Despite this escalation, however, NATOs moves have been described as merely a tripwire to Russia.
Russia already maintains a force numbering tens of thousands of troops at strategic border points in the region. In 2016, the Rand Corporation ran an analysis of multiple conflict scenarios and found that across multiple plays of the game, Russian forces eliminated or bypassed all resistance and were at the gates of or actually entering Riga, Tallinn, or both, between 36 and 60 hours after the start of hostilities. Russia has since announced wide-ranging initiatives to expand and modernize its defense capabilities,including more powerful submarines, more sophisticated missile defense systemsand the creation of a service branch dedicated specifically to electronic warfare. This years Zapad drills were set to see from 70,000 to 100,000 Russian troops join their Belarussian allies for a simulated battle with NATO forces, according to Russias state-run Sputnik News.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Wednesday during a trip to Lithuania, which will host a German-led NATO battalion, that Russias buildup was destabilizing and stated NATO would maintain a defensive posture. U.S. officials had earlier suggested that the Pentagon may authorize the deployment of a Patriot missile defense system to the region in preparation for Russian missile movements across the border, but Mattis and Lithuanian PresidentDalia Grybauskaite declined to comment specifically on the potential installation.
Both the U.S. and Russia have accused the other of trying to provoke a military showdown in Europe, but neither has expressed a willingness to engage the other in combat. After suffering a political falling out earlier this month over opposing policies toward war in Syria, the White House and the Kremlin have attempted to mend their political relationship, which suffered significantly under former President Barack Obama. However, a series of scandals and investigations centering around connections between the administration of President Donald Trump and Russia have left many U.S. officials suspicious of Moscows intentions. Russia denies interfering in U.S. politics and has called on Washington to restore relations between the worlds two foremost military powers.
Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday to discuss the countries positions on international affairs andRussian presidential aide Yury Ushakov called on the U.S. Friday to normalize the Russia-U.S. relations, according to Russias Sputnik News.
Source:http://www.newsweek.com/russia-military-drills-defeat-nato-forces-608382
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Jim Mattis, in Lithuania, Reaffirms US Commitment to NATO – New York Times
Posted: at 5:32 am
New York Times | Jim Mattis, in Lithuania, Reaffirms US Commitment to NATO New York Times PABRADE, Lithuania If a shooting war ever breaks out between Russia and the NATO alliance, it could well be in a place like Pabrade, a little town near the edge of a little nation. But a different sort of conflict, waged with bytes rather than ... US defense secretary, in Lithuania, reaffirms commitment to NATO ... US May Send Missiles to Russia Border as Moscow Prepares for War Games US, NATO prepared to deter Russia in Europe: Pentagon chief |
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How Poland Is Casting Itself as the Leader of NATO’s Eastern Flank – World Politics Review
Posted: at 5:32 am
Author Yiannis Baboulias Kristian Coates Ulrichsen Michael A. Cohen Patrick Corcoran Robbie Corey-Boulet Iyad Dakka Frederick Deknatel Matthew C. DuPee Kimberly Ann Elliott Linda Farthing Andrew Futter Frida Ghitis Cynthia Glock Benot Gomis Richard Gowan Andrew Green Judah Grunstein Nikolas Gvosdev Kyle Haddad-Fonda James Hamill Julian Hattem Timothy R. Heath Saurav Jha Ellen Laipson Ciara Long Christopher Looft Robert Looney Damien Ma Andrew MacDowall Steven Metz Mohsen Milani J. Berkshire Miller Jernimo Mohar Prashanth Parameswaran Karina Piser Matthew Rojansky Sagatom Saha Maria Savel Alex Thurston Christine Wade Region Africa Central Africa East Africa North Africa Southern Africa West Africa Asia-Pacific Afghanistan Australia Central Asia China East Asia India Japan North Korea Southeast Asia South Asia Europe Caucasus Central & Eastern Europe Western Europe Russia Global Polar Regions United Nations The Americas Brazil Caribbean Central America Mexico North America South America United States Middle East & North Africa Gulf States Iran Iraq North Africa Syria Turkey Issue The NATO Alliance Whats Really at Stake in Chinas One Belt, One Road Initiative? Education Income Inequality Trend Lines Podcast The Trump Era Defense and Security Cyber Crime Insurgencies Intelligence Military Terrorism War and Conflict WMD Diplomacy and Politics Aid and Development Domestic Politics Environment Human Rights Human Security International Law Maritime Issues Radical Movements U.S. Foreign Policy Economics and Business Energy Resources Infrastructure Nuclear Energy Technology Trade
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Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen NSA Tool – New York Times
Posted: at 5:31 am
New York Times | Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen NSA Tool New York Times They then quickly spread through victims' systems using a hacking method that the N.S.A. is believed to have developed as part of its arsenal of cyberweapons. And finally they encrypted the computer systems of the victims, locking them out of critical ... NSA-created cyber tool spawns global attacks Cybercriminals have just mounted a massive worldwide attack. Here's how NSA secrets helped them Ransomware based on leaked NSA tools spreads to dozens of countries |
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Report: NSA Analysts Frequently Broke Rules on Intelligence Collection – Foreign Policy (blog)
Posted: at 5:31 am
When searching intelligence data, analysts from the National Security Agency failed to follow the rules with much greater frequency than was previously disclosed, documents published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence show.
The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court accused the NSA of a lack of candor when reporting those failures, which are a serious concern for the Fourth Amendment.
During a preliminary review of just a few months in 2015, analysts running searches on emails and other digital communications vacuumed up from undersea internet cables frequently violated Americans privacyalbeit unintentionally. The problem was widespread, wrote the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in a memorandum published on the intelligence offices Tumblr page Thursday evening.
NSA analysts had a startling error rate of 85 percent on another, smaller part of the NSAs foreign intelligence programs, a statistic that raises questions about the propriety of current powers to search that data, the court wrote. That program, which uses rarely exercised authorities involving a few dozen top targets, is designed to target American citizens presumably living overseas, one former intelligence official explained to Foreign Policy.
Those failures happened almost immediately after being told to fix the same issue with privacy protection in 2011. Too oftenthe government fails to meet its obligation to provide prompt notification when an analyst doesnt follow the rules, the court wrote.
On April 28, the NSA announced it would be winding down one part of a controversial foreign intelligence program, called Upstream, that allowed it to vacuum up digital communications about a target straight from the backbone of the Internet. That program is authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law thats set to expire at the end of the year unless lawmakers reauthorize it.
The frequency of compliance issues, meaning the regularity with which NSA employees broke protocol when sifting through the communications, was the reason for shutting down the program, the NSA said.
The new memorandum reveals further detail about those compliance issues. At least one section of the program didnt allow audits of the searches, something unusual for the NSA. One former intelligence official told Foreign Policy it was shocking the database wasnt immediately tied to an auditing system.
The program is designed to track only foreign people living overseas, and NSA analysts werent supposed to be digging through Americans communications. But because the information was drawn straight from undersea Internet cables trawling for information about foreign targets, Americans data often got swept up in what is known as incidental collection.
The NSA blamed human error and tricky technical design on the analysts improper searches as well as a system that forced them to opt-out of certain search parameters instead of opt-in, leading them to forget to limit their queries.
Its unclear if NSA will try to revive its legal authority to search for communications about foreign targets, but for now it appears to be gearing up to defend the rest of the collection program so that lawmakers dont further strip away collection powers.
The immense magnitude of noncompliance shows the current structure does not function and needs to change, Jake Laperruque, senior counsel at constitutional nonprofit The Constitution Project, wrote in a message to FP. If FISA surveillance leads to such systemic failures violation of Americans rights, its time for systemic reforms.
NSA analysts werent the only ones with compliance issues, according to the courts memorandum. The FBI, which also maintains access to communications collected by the NSA for both foreign intelligence and domestic crime purposes, shared that raw intelligencewithout any redactions or privacy protectionswith a third party largely staffed by private contractors.
Photo credit: MICHAEL BOCCHIERI/Getty Images
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