Iraqi Christian Archbishops Barred from Entering Britain for Ceremony

Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed?

Is someone flexing his power?

Is someone anti-Christian? 

    Mor Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf © Safin Hamed / AFP

Two Iraqi archbishops were denied entry to Britain for an important Syriac Orthodox Christian ceremony because they could not prove they had sufficient funds to support themselves while in the country.

The Home Office barred the two clergymen from the consecration of the Cathedral of St. Thomas in Acton, west London, the first Syriac Orthodox Church in the city, fearing the men would overstay their permits and claim asylum.

And, after-all, we don't want their kind in our country, right? Another Christian church in London? Good grief, aren't there enough? 

Mor Timothy Mosa Alshamany, archbishop of Mosul, and his north of Mosul counterpart, the archbishop of St. Matthew’s, Mor Timothy Mosa Alshamany, were said to have been left “very upset.”

“Why did this happen?” asked Syriac Orthodox Church UK archbishop, Mor Athanasius Toma Dawod.

“They have a role in the church. I invited them to share with us the consecration of the cathedral. Our people are still there in the Middle East and I wanted them to share it with me.”

According to Archbishop Dawod, the clerics were told:“First, you might go and not come back; you might apply for asylum. Second, you don’t have enough money to spend there.”

How much money does an Archbishop need to be a guest in England? These are Archbishops of Mosul which is at this moment being reclaimed from ISIS. No Archbishop could abandon his church just when his people need him the most. Was someone looking for an envelope under the table, perhaps?

He added that the decision was “ridiculous” as the men had visas for the United States and Europe’s Schengen area, as well as enough money to travel.

“Why did the British refuse?” Archbishop Dawod asked. “They give visas to people who don’t deserve them.”

A third archbishop, Mor Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, of Homs and Hama in Syria, was also said to have tried to apply for a visa, only to be told by the British embassy in Lebanon that he was unlikely to succeed given his Syrian nationality.

Prince Charles, who attended the ceremony in late November, said it had been “deeply encouraging” as Christians went through “appalling suffering” in Iraq and Syria.

“All visa applications are considered on individual merits and applicants must provide evidence to show they meet the requirements of the immigration rules,” a Home Office spokesman said.

Over 60 percent of Iraqi visa applications and just under 50 percent of those by Syrians were rejected over the last year. The figure was up from 36 and 32 percent respectively in 2010.

I wonder how many Muslim clerics were allowed in during the past year. It's great that Britain is keeping terrorists from entering the country, but Christian Archbishops are not terrorists, or doesn't Home Office know that?

Pot Heads Have Abnormally Low Blood-Flow in Their Brains

Marijuana users 'have abnormally low blood flow in every part of the brain - including Alzheimer's danger zones'

Researchers studied brain scans of 1,000 US marijuana users
They found cannabis users all had low blood flow in the hippocampus
The users also had significant restricted blood flow all over the brain
Hippocampus is key for memories, and is a ground zero for Alzheimer's

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Marijuana users have abnormally low blood flow in virtually every part of the brain, new scans reveal.

Sophisticated imaging of 1,000 cannabis users' brains found all of them had widespread restrictions or build-ups of blood flow.

Many had abnormal blood levels in areas affected by Alzheimer's disease, such as the hippocampus.

The findings, published in the latest Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, are an ominous warning as the United States rapidly embraces recreational and medical marijuana legalization.

It comes just weeks after the White House's surgeon general, Dr Vivek Gupta, warned legalization is moving faster than research.

    Health dangers? Sophisticated imaging of 1,000 cannabis users' brains found 1,000 marijuana
    users had widespread restrictions or build-ups of blood flow (file image)

The researchers at Amen Clinics analyzed data from a broad database including 26,268 patients across the US between 1995 and 2015.

The patients - from California, Washington, Virginia, Georgia and New York - all had complex treatment-resistant issues, and all underwent single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) - a sophisticated imaging study that evaluates blood flow and activity patterns while undergoing concentration tests.

One thousand of the patients were marijuana users. 

Comparing those patients' brain scans with 100 healthy controls, the researchers saw a stark difference in blood flow levels. 

Every marijuana user had significantly lower blood flow in the right hippocampus compared to the controls. 

Marijuana use is thought to interfere with memory formation by inhibiting activity in this part of the brain.

Shocked by findings

Co-author Dr Elisabeth Jorandby said even she was shocked by the findings, despite dealing with marijuana patients on a routine basis. 

'As a physician who routinely sees marijuana users, what struck me was not only the global reduction in blood flow in the marijuana users brains , but that the hippocampus was the most affected region due to its role in memory and Alzheimer's disease,' she said.

'Our research has proven that marijuana users have lower cerebral blood flow than non-users. 

In other words, they're stupider, but is that because they are marijuana users, or are they marijuana users because they are stupider?

'Second, the most predictive region separating these two groups is low blood flow in the hippocampus on concentration brain SPECT imaging. 

'This work suggests that marijuana use has damaging influences in the brain – particularly regions important in memory and learning and known to be affected by Alzheimer's.'

Dr George Perry, editor in chief of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease said: 'Open use of marijuana, through legalization, will reveal the wide range of marijuana's benefits and threats to human health.

'This study indicates troubling effects on the hippocampus that may be the harbingers of brain damage.'

Dr Daniel Amen, founder of Amen Clinics, said: 'Our research demonstrates that marijuana can have significant negative effects on brain function. 

'The media has given the general impression that marijuana is a safe recreational drug, this research directly challenges that notion. 

'In another new study just released, researchers showed that marijuana use tripled the risk of psychosis. Caution is clearly in order.'

And, as mentioned before, my own observations are that pot virtually stops the maturing process in regular users, such that if you start smoking pot regularly when you are 15, when you are 35 or 45 or 55, you will still act, talk, dress, think and behave like a 15 year old. I believe it is the reason why Michael Jackson never grew beyond being a little boy.

More Scary Research into the Effects of Marijuana on Teenagers
28% of 11-15 Year Olds Using Pot in Canada - Highest Rate in the World

European Politics Stabilize, Sort of

Italy Votes 'NO'; Austria Rejects Hofer

Italy PM Matteo Renzi quits after

crushing vote loss

Renzi's defeat seen as another victory for wave

of populist politics sweeping world

    Matteo Renzi  Image Credit: AFP

In reality it is an expression of a lack of faith in Italian

oligarchs to do the right thing if given more power!

AFP

Rome: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation on Monday, hours after learning he had suffered a crushing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform.

"My experience of government finishes here," Renzi told a press conference, acknowledging that the No campaign had won an "extraordinarily clear" victory in a vote on which he had staked his future.

Interior Ministry projections suggested the No camp, led by the populist Five Star Movement, had been backed by 59.5 percent of those who voted.

Nearly 70 percent of Italians entitled to vote on Sunday cast their ballots, an exceptionally high turnout that reflected the high stakes and the intensity of the various issues involved.

Renzi said he would be visiting President Sergio Mattarella on Monday to hand in his resignation following a final meeting of his cabinet.


Mattarella will then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he can't do that, ordering early elections.

Most analysts see the most likely scenario as being Renzi's administration being replaced by a caretaker one dominated by his Democratic Party which will carry on until an election due to take place by the spring of 2018.

Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is the favourite to succeed Renzi as the President of the Council of Ministers, as Italy's premier is formally titled

'Unequivocal' defeat

The scale of the No victory was even bigger than opinion polls had been indicating up until November 18, after which the media were banned from publishing survey results.

Renzi's departure will plunge Italy into a new phase of political uncertainty and possible economic turmoil.

The main opposition parties went into the vote insisting that there should be early elections if the proposals - curtailing the size and powers of Italy's Senate and transferring powers from regions to the national government - were defeated.

Renzi had gone into the final weekend of the campaign insisting he could still win voters around but he acknowledged he had failed. "The Italian people spoke today in unequivocal fashion," he said.

Opposition parties had denounced the proposed amendments to the 68-year-old constitution as dangerous for democracy because they would have removed important checks and balances on executive power.

Spearheaded by Five Star, the biggest rival to Renzi's Democratic party, the "No" campaign also capitalised on Renzi's declining popularity, a sluggish economy and the problems caused by tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Northern League said Renzi should resign immediately and called for early elections.

"God willing it's over. A new era starts tomorrow I hope," he had said earlier in the day.

Populist triumph

The No vote represents a major victory for Five Star leader Beppe Grillo, who had urged Italians to follow their gut instincts.

Renzi's backers believed they were voting for overdue change.

Outside a polling station in Rome, business owner Raffaele Pasquini, 37, told AFP he had voted "Yes" in the interest of his two-year-old son.

"We are voting to try and change a country that has been stalled for far too long," he said.

With the euro dipping on the news of Renzi's exit, further market turbulence looks inevitable, at least in the short term.

And some analysts fear a deeper crisis of investor confidence that could derail a rescue scheme for Italy's most indebted banks, triggering a wider financial crisis across the eurozone.

After the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the No vote is likely to be interpreted as another victory for populist forces and a potential stepping stone to government for Grillo's Five Star.

But the campaign was not just about popular discontent with the state of Italy. Many Italians of a similar political bent to Renzi had deep reservations about the proposed changes to the constitution.

Under the proposals, the second-chamber Senate, currently a body of 315 directly-elected and five lifetime lawmakers, would have been reduced to only 100 members, mostly nominated by the regions.

The chamber would also have been stripped of most of its powers to block and revise legislation, and to unseat governments.

Austria's far-right Norbert Hofer concedes

in election re-run

By Allen Cone UPI

Right-wing Austrian Freedom Party presidential candidate Norbert Hofer gestures during a TV interview at the Hofburg palace after polls closed Sunday in the re-run of the Austrian presidential elections run-off in Vienna, Austria. Hofer conceded to Alexander Van der Bellen. Photo by Christian Bruna/European Pressphoto Agency

VIENNA, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Far-right candidate Norbert Hofer conceded defeat against independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen in a re-run election Sunday.

Official results are not expected until Monday, but exit polls announced by state broadcaster ORD showed with Van der Bellen with 53.6 percent of the vote compared with 46.4 for Hofer. Polls before Sunday's vote suggested the result was too close to call.

In May, Van der Bellen, a former Green Party leader, defeated Hofer by little more than 30,000 votes in a tightly fought contest decided by mail-in ballots. But Hofer and his party challenged the results and they were annulled because of concerns of how the ballots were handled.

"I am incredibly sad it didn't work out," Hofer wrote in a concession statement on Facebook. "I would have loved to look after Austria. I congratulate Alexander Van der Bellen to his success and ask all Austrians to stick together ... We are all Austrians, no matter what we decided today. Long live our home Austria."

Patience, Mr Hofer, you are a young man and politics is like a pendulum, the further left Austria swings, the further right it will swing back eventually. And it will probably be sooner rather than later.

The Austrian president's role is largely ceremonial but a victory by Hofer would have made Austria the first nation with a far-right head of state in Western Europe since the end of World War II.

Hofer, the 45-year-old candidate for the anti-immigration Freedom Party, campaigned on an anti-immigration platform. He first suggested Austria could follow Britain's vote to leave the European Union with a referendum of its own but later said to change the bloc into a purely economic association.

Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economist whose parents spent time in a refugee camp before they settled in Austria, backs liberal migration policies and is an outspoken supporter of gay marriage.

On Sunday, after casting his ballot, Van der Bellen said the Austrian election was "of significance for all of Europe."

"Outside of Austria, the election is perceived as something that does not only concern us Austrians," he said.

30,000 Counter-March in Indonesia's War on Christianity

Tens of thousands march in Indonesia to support first Christian governor after ‘blasphemy’ protests

    People attend a rally calling for national unity and tolerance in central Jakarta, Indonesia 
    December 4, 2016. © Darren Whiteside / Reuters

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, to show national unity and call for tolerance after a 200,000-strong Muslim rally demanded the arrest of the city’s first Christian governor for alleged blasphemy.

Crowds holding up ‘We are Indonesia’ signs and waving red-and-white national flags flooded the streets of Jakarta on Sunday, filling a major traffic circle downtown, AP reported.

The rally reportedly was organized in response to two massive protests staged in the past month by hardline Muslim conservatives against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, nicknamed ‘Ahok’ – the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta and the first Christian to hold the post in 50 years.

According to Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono, roughly 30,000 people attended the rally.

The ‘Parade of Indonesian Culture,’ as the unity demonstration was dubbed by its organizers, featured traditional dances from Sabang in the country’s westernmost Aceh region to Merauke in its easternmost Papua region.

Political leaders from President Joko Widodo’s pro-government coalition also attended the rally to promote unity in the ethnically diverse country.

“We have to fight to materialize the aims of our independence. That will not happen if we are scattered, blaspheming, humiliating each other and no longer trust each other,” Surya Paloh, chairman of the National Democratic Party, was quoted as saying by AP.

“Our main enemies are stupidity and poverty. Therefore, we ask the current government to work harder and persistently on fulfilling the people’s aspirations,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, saw at least 200,000 people call for the arrest of Governor Purnama, who has been accused of disrespecting the Koran – a charge that could put him in prison for five years.

“Let’s defend our religion,” Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) – a hardline Islamist group – said at the rally in a speech quoted by AFP. “Stop all forms of religious blasphemy and put all violators on trial.”

It's not about defending Islam, it's is about attacking Christianity. 

Purnama got into trouble when he used a quote from the Koran in a speech about his political opponents, who he accused of misinterpreting the verse to urge people to vote against him. The Governor has since apologized for his remark, saying that he had intended to criticize his opponents, and not the holy book itself.

It appears Ahok quoted the Quran correctly but is being accused of blasphemy by those who quoted it incorrectly for political purposes. Those are the people who should be on trial for blasphemy. 

Cudos to the organizers of today's parade. To pull together such an extensive cultural event in a couple days is quite extraordinary.

Antiestablishmentarianism Hits Africa; President Concedes Gracefully

The marbles have spoken: Gambians party after voting out 22yr ruler in shock election upset

    Supporters of president-elect Adama Barrow dance on a poster of incumbent President Yahya
    Jammeh during celebrations of Barrow's election victory in Banjul, Gambia, December 2, 2016.
   © Thierry Gouegnon / Reuters

Gambians are dancing on the streets after they dropped their marbles and voted out the long-term autocratic president Yahya Jammeh in a shock election, making former UK-based security guard Adama Barrow the new president of Gambia.

Barrow gained 45.5 percent of the vote, which is cast by putting a marble into a colored drum for the choice candidate, against Jammeh's 36.7 percent, according to Reuters. 

   A poll worker counts votes cast by marbles after the close of voting during the presidential
   election in Banjul, Gambia, December 1, 2016. © Thierry Gouegnon / Reuters

Jammeh, who had ruled Gambia for 22 years, conceded defeat in the election on state television Friday night and vowed not to contest the result in a phone call to Barrow.

"Allah is telling me my time is up and I hand over graciously with gratitude toward the Gambian people and gratitude toward you," Jammeh said to the president-elect, as reported by AP.

Election Commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai earlier told reporters that Jammeh would accept defeat, adding that it's "very unique" that the president would do that after so many years in power, according to All Africa.

This would be the first peaceful transition of power in the West African nation’s history since it gained independence from the UK in 1965.

The news has brought massive crowds onto the streets of the Gambian capital, Banjul, dancing and cheering in an impromptu celebration of Barrow’s victory.

Before the election Jammeh, who previously vowed to rule the nation for "a billion years," predicted he would win the vote.

He gained power in 1994 as a result of a coup and has been accused by rights groups of human rights violations including torture and forced disappearances of political opponents and journalists.

Jammeh’s government shut down access to the internet and international calls on the evening before the election, prompting an outcry that it was a tactic to suppress freedom of expression. They also warned that no protests would be allowed after the election.

If Gambia is like most African countries we can assume that the President makes considerably more money than his salary would allow. Perhaps he's decided it's time to just chill-out and enjoy all the money he's stashed away in Swiss banks. At any rate, his stepping down might be the biggest act of democracy Gambia has ever seen. Let's hope and pray Barrow tolerates no corruption and brings about some prosperity for his people.

Amnesty International called the blackout “unjustified” and a “crude attack on the right to freedom of expression in Gambia.”

    Supporters of president-elect Adama Barrow celebrate Barrow's election victory in Banjul, 
    Gambia, December 2, 2016. © Thierry Gouegnon / Reuters

Barrow, 51, has two wives and five children and has vowed to bring the country back from the brink and restore human rights and true democracy in the nation. Eight opposition parties united behind Barrow during the campaign.

Barrow is a real estate agent and previously worked as a security guard at British retailer Argos in a north London store. He is also reported to be a fan of Arsenal football club.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has taken to Twitter to congratulate the small African nation on its momentous decision.

    Gambia is the smallest country in Africa, just a sliver carved out of Senegal.

Islam Attempts to Bury Christianity in Indonesia

It is absurdly easy to rile up a Muslim crowd, all you have to do is mention the Quran and people go berserk. Muslim political opponents to the Christian Ahok, Governor of Jakarta, are inciting the  crowds in order to sway the judiciary, which is not very difficult it appears. Their goal is not

only political gain but the end of political power by a Christian. Indonesia is not officially a

Muslim country, but that is just a matter of time, and not a lot of time at that.

Islam, like sin, is progressive!

Hundreds of thousands protest for arrest of Jakarta governor accused of blasphemy

By Stephen Feller 

Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, at center, is escorted by Indonesian officers as he arrives at the Indonesian Attorney General Office on Dec. 1. Purnama is accused of blasphemy due to statements made during a campaign speech in late September. The governor will be tried for the offense and could receive up to five years in prison if found guilty. Photo by Bagus Indahono/European Pressphoto Agency

JAKARTA, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The second protest of Jakarta's governor was almost as big as the first, making clear some residents in the city want to see Basuki Tjahaja Purnama jailed for allegedly insulting the Quran.

A protest Friday morning against Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, drew about 200,000 people to Indonesia's national monument accusing the Christian governor of not respecting Islam and committing blasphemy by suggesting his opponents in a political race were using religion to trick them.

In early November, roughly the same amount of people gathered to protest Ahok after he said in a speech that candidates running against him were lying when they claimed the Quran says Muslims should not vote for non-Muslims to rule them.

Ahok has since been investigated by the government for committing blasphemy, and was just served an official report on the investigation. He is expected to be tried for the crime. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in jail.

Ahok is close with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, but the president said he would not intervene because the case is already being handled by the courts.

Remarkable New Treatment for Prostrate Cancer May Never Be Realized

Shocking method cures man's prostate cancer,

doctors still 'figuring out how this works'

    © Alexandra Beier / Reuters

An experimental prostate cancer therapy could revolutionize treatment. By “shocking” tumors with large amounts of testosterone and then depriving it of the same hormone, doctors from Johns Hopkins University halted the progression of the disease.

A man with advanced prostate cancer decided to try an unconventional method, and he’s probably glad he did. Doctors from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore “shocked” his tumors with large amounts of testosterone, and he has been cancer free since.

The study was led by Professor Sam Denmeade, who told the Telegraph: "We are still in the early stages of figuring out how this works and how to incorporate it into the treatment paradigm for prostate cancer.”

However, if the results from the test hold up through future testing, it could completely change how prostate cancer is treated. Traditionally, prostate cancer is treated by depriving the cancer of testosterone, because it was thought that the male hormones stimulate and fuel cancer cells, EurekaAlert! reported.

The test took 47 men through at least three cycles of exposing the cancer cells to extremely high doses of testosterone followed by a period of low levels of testosterone, which were caused by a drug that stopped the production of testosterone in their testicles. This treatment is currently known as bipolar androgen therapy (BAT).

Doctors used prostate specific antigen (PSA), a blood marker used to track prostate cancer levels in the men, to study the trajectory of the disease as it was treated. Denmeade said that the PSA levels fell for the majority of the 47 men, with one man with no trace of PSAs in his body.

Calling the results “unexpected and exciting,” Denmeade is planning to take the study to the next level.

"If we find testosterone is superior then we would hope to move on to larger trials. Our problem is this is not a drug that is owned by a pharmaceutical company; it is generic testosterone. So moving forward is going to be difficult due to issues with finding funds to run a bigger trial," he said.

I have complained about this before, the extraordinary cost of human trials and the funding by pharmaceutical companies whose only interest is in profit not patient outcomes is an absurd way to run a pharmacological research system. There must be a better way.