13 Sep, 2024 20:54

Pope opposes both Trump and Harris (And the World Doesn’t Care What He says)

Catholics must choose the “lesser evil” between the pro-abortion Harris and the anti-migrant Trump, the pontiff has said

US Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both “against life,” and Catholic voters should choose the “lesser evil,” Pope Francis told reporters on Friday.

Speaking to reporters while returning to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff said that “not voting is ugly,” and that the faithful “must vote.”

“You must choose the lesser evil,” he elaborated. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know.(So why comment?)

Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one that kills children, both are against life.” (When you stop being the evil Pope and embracing God and Jesus the Christ,people may be interested in what you say)

If elected, Trump has promised to close off the US’ southern border and lead “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Harris has vowed to sign a law guaranteeing the same access to abortion as under Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision that was overturned in 2022.

Roe v. Wade protected a woman’s right to seek an abortion, but certain restrictions on this right – for instance, bans on abortion past the second trimester of pregnancy – were set out in subsequent legislation. Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, signed a bill in 2023 allowing abortions to be performed up to the moment of birth.

“To send migrants away, to leave them wherever you want, to leave them … it’s something terrible, there is evil there. To send away a child from the womb of the mother is an assassination, because there is life. We must speak about these things clearly,” Pope Francis told reporters on Friday.

The pontiff has consistently opposed abortion, in line with Catholic teaching. However, he has allowed priests to forgive abortions, and urged bishops not to deny communion to politicians who support the practice.

He has also taken a more liberal stance on immigration-related issues than his predecessors. During the 2016 presidential election, he criticized Trump’s proposal to wall off the US/Mexico border as “not Christian,” and in 2019 the Vatican donated $500,000 to 75,000 Central American migrants attempting to reach the US via Mexico.

https://www.rt.com/news/603999-pope-trump-harris-abortion/

Drudge repeating what the Daily Mail pushed this a.m., they only do this because they cannot destroy him, but they want to infest some people's minds with their sickness.

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1834687351936966994

Ruling against date requirement on ballots is voided by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

The decision could affect thousands of mail voters in November’s election.

By Carter Walker | September 13, 2024, 4:32pm EDT

Pennsylvanians’ mail ballots must have a proper date on their envelopes or they will be rejected, under a decision Friday from the state Supreme Court that could affect thousands of voters this November.The Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated a Commonwealth Court ruling from Aug. 30 that found the state’s requirement on ballot dating was an unconstitutional violation of voters’ rights.

Republicans who appealed that decision argued to the state Supreme Court last week that plaintiffs failed to include all counties as parties to the case, among other claims. The original suit, brought by the ACLU and Public Interest Law Center on behalf of a coalition of voting rights groups, targeted the Department of State, Allegheny County, and Philadelphia.

The Supreme Court ruled on jurisdictional grounds, not on the merits of the underlying claim, meaning this argument could be made again.

“The Commonwealth Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to review the matter given the failure to name the county boards of elections of all 67 counties,” the court wrote in its order Friday afternoon. The inclusion of Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt as a named party was not enough to give the Commonwealth Court jurisdiction in the case, the order said.

Earlier this summer, a coalition of civil rights groups represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, among others, brought the case challenging the dating requirement under the free and equal elections clause of the state Constitution.

It is the latest of several challenges to the dating requirement since the state implemented its mail voting law, Act 77, in 2020. Act 77 required voters to sign and date the outer return envelope of their mail ballots, and return the ballot in a secrecy envelope, in order for them to be counted.

Federal judges have gone back and forth over whether enforcing the requirement violated federal voting law. The current case is the first to directly challenge this requirement under the state constitution.

The free and equal election clause says that “elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.” The ACLU and Public Interest Law Center argued on behalf of the voting rights groups that the dating requirement violated this provision.

In August, a majority of a five-member panel of Commonwealth Court judges agreed with them.

“The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters because of meaningless and inconsequential paperwork errors violates the fundamental right to vote recognized in the free and equal elections clause,” Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote for the 4-1 majority.

Adam Bonin, a Philadelphia-based election lawyer who was not part of this case but has been involved in other lawsuits challenging the dating requirement, said this means that, barring another ruling, voters will need to write a date on their ballot return envelope in order for the ballot to be counted.

Thousands of ballots are rejected each election for dating issues. During the April primary, counties rejected roughly 8,500 ballots, or 1.22% of those returned, for lacking a signature, date, or being returned without a secrecy envelope, according to an analysis of Pennsylvania Department of State data. More than 4,400 of those were rejected for dating issues.

Bonin noted that the NAACP’s challenge to the requirement under federal law could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and he is also representing clients challenging the requirement in a separate case.

“This is a huge win to protect the vote in Pennsylvania that will protect commonsense mail ballot safeguards and help voters cast their ballots with confidence. The Keystone State will be absolutely critical in this election, and the Supreme Court has decided a major victory for election integrity,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.

The ACLU and Pennsylvania Department of State did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://www.votebeat.org/pennsylvania/2024/09/13/supreme-court-voids-ruling-on-mail-ballot-envelope-date-requirement/

'Stout' Snake Gets Collected for Nature Survey. Then It Vomits Up Two More Snakes — One Living!

Kelli Bender Thu, September 12, 2024 at 2:40 PM EDT·2 min read

The nonvenomous eastern indigo snake has a diet that includes rattlesnakes and other reptiles.

A plump snake recovered during a nature survey in Georgia had a surprising secret to share.The Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GNR) detailed how the "stout" eastern indigo snake shocked researchers in an Aug. 29 Facebook post.

"During a survey for federally protected eastern indigo snakes last November,wildlife technician Matt Moore came across an astonishing find," the agency teased in the post.

"After catching and tagging a stout 4-foot-long indigo in southeast Georgia,Moore discovered that the snake had regurgitated two others: a young rat snake and a juvenile eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake," the social media post continued.

But that's not all!After the indigo snake vomited up its supersized reptile meal, the technician surveying the snakes realizedthe coughed-up rattlesnake was still alive.

"While the rat snake was dead, the rattlesnake, initially thought to be lifeless, showed surprising signs of life an hour later. It was later seen basking in the sun instead of taking shelter in a burrow," GNR's Wildlife Resources Division shared on Facebook.

According to the agency, the indigo snake and the "revived rattlesnake" slithered off into the wild after the survey was complete.

"To top off this remarkable event, the revived rattlesnake had a noticeable bulge, indicating it had recently eaten a large mouse. This unusual episode not only reveals the indigo's impressive hunting abilities but also the rattlesnake's unexpected resilience," GNR's Wildlife Resources Division closed its post.

A rattlesnake that survived being eaten and regurgitated by another snake.

The University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory notes that eastern indigo snakes eat "other snakes, including rattlesnakes and cottonmouths," small mammals, birds, and frogs. The snake species is nonvenomous but does make a rattling sound when threatened.

It is unclear what caused the indigo snake to regurgitate its two snake meal, but GNR'sWildlife Resources Division joked that the feast "must have been a little too 'undercooked.'"

According to GNR, the eastern indigo snake is federally protected. If you encounter one of these shiny bluish-black snakes in the wild, the agency recommends enjoying the reptile from afar and never handling any snake found in the wild.

https://news.yahoo.com/news/4-foot-snake-vomits-2-133124640.html

(There's a lot of snakes in GA, and they aren't all politicians, be aware:)

Mesmerizing photos from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest

By Jack Guy, CNN Published 2:30 PM EDT, Thu September 12, 2024

CNN —

The phases of Venus, the Aurora Australis and the International Space Station transiting the Sun all feature as category winners in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Ryan Imperio was named the overall winner for his photograph capturing the progression of Baily’s beads during the 2023 annular eclipse, according to a Thursday statement from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, which runs the competition.

“Baily’s beads are formed when sunlight shines through the valleys and craters of the Moon’s surface, breaking the eclipse’s well-known ring pattern, and are only visible when the Moon either enters or exits an eclipse,” reads the statement. “These are a challenge to capture due to their brevity and the precise timing needed.”

Imperio said that he didn’t expect to win the competition. “The images selected each year are absolutely astonishing and I am both thrilled and honoured to have my photo among them,” he said in the statement.

Ed Bloomer, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich and a member of the judging panel, said that this year’s competition featured an “abundance of astonishing works.”

Meanwhile, Victoria Lane, a senior curator at Royal Museums Greenwich, said: “The range and skill of images, some seemingly impossible to photograph, is astounding.”

There were more than 3,500 entries from 58 countries in this year’s competition, with the winners going on display at an exhibition opening at the National Maritime Museum in London on Friday.

Larryn Rae of New Zealand won the Aurorae category with this photo of the Aurora Australis above the mountains in Queenstown.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/12/science/astronomy-photographer-year-2024-scli-intl/index.html

(It's nice to see beautiful things every once in a while)