The following sermon was preached by Father Gordon Reid, whose parish, St. Clement's in Philadelphia, hosted the Society for mass of our Fifth Annual Conference.
What is to Prevent Us?
The following sermon was preached by Society Convener, Mother Erika Takacs, at the closing mass of the Fifth Annual Conference of the Society of Catholic Priests. It is a fitting inaugural post for the new SCP Blog: Tracts for These Times.


Babies are popular and so are baby showers! Today I start a series of videos showing you how to create a successful baby shower.
The first step is to decide what theme your baby shower will be. I chose a Safari or Jungle themed as the mommy-to-be is having a boy.
The first video will show you how to make the invitation. The themed colors are green, chocolate brown, yellow and orange.
I made the custom wide ribbon wrapping for the cake with fabric and ribbon. I covered the banner stakes with curling ribbon. The banner is made of chocolate metallic paper and I got the "baby" from the New arrival cricut cartridge. The bear was purchased at a local store. It took a lot of hours but I think it came out really cute.
If you go to my Youtube Channel you can find easy instructions on how to make a diaper cake. I followed the same principles here.
Another cute cake for a baby girl… Yes, I know… it seems everybody is having girls 🙂 so here goes another request. The link to the SVG for the baby bootie is www.cuteasafox.com Thanks!


Also known as the Krebs cycle or the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the citric acid cycle is at the center of cellular metabolism. It plays a starring role in both the process of energy production and biosynthesis. The cycle finishes the sugar-breaking job started in glycolysis and fuels the production of ATP in the process. It is also a central hub in biosynthetic reactions, providing intermediates that are used to build amino acids and other molecules. Citric acid cycle enzymes are found in all cells that use oxygen, and even in some cells that don't. This metabolic pathway is illustrated using protein structures from the Protein Data Bank.


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text:
Google entering cloud gaming market with Stadia
'RUSHED OUT THE DOOR':The platform's announced 12 launch titles are underwhelming, an analyst said, adding that Stadia would 'live or die by its content'
AFP, SAN FRANCISCO
Ever-expanding Google is to become a gaming company tomorrow with the launch of its Stadia cloud service that lets people play console-quality video games on a Web browser or smartphone.
The Internet giant hopes to break into the global video game industry expected to top US$150 billion this year with cloud technology that could broaden audiences attracted by rich new features as well as ease of access with no more need for consoles.
However, analysts said Stadia's outlook is uncertain as its faces rivals, such as PlayStation Now, in an emerging and highly competitive market.
Stadia plays into a trend in which content — ranging from blockbuster films to work projects — lives in the cloud and is accessible from any device.
"All of these new services are merely pointing out that we don't need sophisticated hardware in the home to access entertainment," Wedbush Securities Inc equity research managing director Michael Pachter said.
Google last month sold out of "Founder's Edition" kits, which are priced at US$129.
Each kit contains a Stadia controller and a pendant-shaped Chromecast Ultra wireless connection device that plugs into TV sets.
Stadia games are playable using Google Chrome Web browser software on computers.
It also works with Google-made Pixel smartphones from the second-generation onward, and on TVs.
Stadia Pro subscriptions, priced at US$10 a month in the US, are to be available in 14 countries in North America and Europe.
However, analysts said Stadia could wind up as another "bet" that Google walks away from if it fails to live up to expectations.
"Stadia will live or die by its content," Ovum Ltd senior analyst George Jijiashvili said. "The announced 12 launch titles are underwhelming."
Subscribers would be able to buy games that are to be hosted at Google data centers, but some free games would be available to subscribers, starting with Destiny 2: The Collection.
Stadia on smartphones would work with Wi-Fi connections rather than rely on mobile telecom services.
Being able to play without lags or interruptions is paramount to gamers, and flawed Internet connections could cause frustration. Internet speed will also determine how rich in-game graphics can be.
Some promised features, such as integration with YouTube, would not be in place at launch.
"Stadia appears to be rushed out the door before fully ready and, worryingly, Google is risking falling short on its promises," Jijiashvili said.
"These shortcomings, however, would be easily overlooked if Google can deliver a very reliable and high-quality game streaming service," he added.
Google appears committed to doing just that, Ubisoft Entertainment SA senior vice president of partnerships Chris Early said.
The French video game giant has been working with Google and its games are among titles coming to the service.
"From what I have seen, their plans are too deep; they are too good, and they are too invested," Early said. "They are not calling it quits any time soon."
He expects a long launch period, during which Google will beef up Stadia.
"If there is a one-day problem at launch, it isn't the end of the world; it isn't even close," he said, stressing the potential for Stadia to let people play without investing in consoles.
However, Pachter questioned whether subscriptions were the right approach.
Taiwan's digital diplomacy gets a kickstart
'Whole world' could learn from Taiwan's transparent vote-counting: US academic

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Within the framework of the European Research Council (ERC) project "The Dark Side of the Belle Époque. Political Violence and Armed Associations in Europe before the First World War" (http://www.dissgea.unipd.it/erc-prewaras, PI prof. Matteo Millan), the Università degli Studi di Padova – Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World – and the École Française de Rome (EFR) will be holding an international workshop in Rome (EFR) on 23 January 2019. This scientific event aims to create an original dialogue, both comparative and transnational, around a topic that is relatively new for the period 1870-1914, namely armed groups. This subject will be considered in relation to political violence and with a relatively flexible geography: Euro-Mediterranean spaces, understood in a broad sense. By focusing on armed groups and their forms of legitimization, action and organization, the study of political violence can empirically deepen our knowledge of the so-called "State monopoly of legitimate violence". Armed groups and their forms of legitimacy were not unrelated to the power of the State, even though these groups were not integrated into national armies (at least, not directly). The main question to be addressed is the relationship between armed groups and the legitimate use of violence, by analyzing similarities, differences, transfers and their influences on the social world at large (associations, coteries, clans, the nation, etc.), throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region between 1870 and 1914.
The key topics to be analysed and discussed will be the relationship between public and private dimensions, the legal framework (gun licenses, self-defence, etc.) and political violence. Forms of militarization and para-militarism will be also examined, as will forms of mobilization and association. Furthermore, attention will be paid to the fears and emotions related to the dominant conceptions of social order, to the emergence of forms of organized violence and to the metamorphosis of the uses of the monopoly of legal violence. When examined in relation to armed groups, the Euro-Mediterranean spaces will allow us to better understand how the legal approach laid at the heart of imperial dynamics interacting with various forms of nationalism in arms. These questions can be addressed through an analysis of specific case studies corresponding to particular armed groups, but also through studies based on related topics. For example, thematic analyses might concern the arms trade in the EuroMediterranean region. The list is open, the key point being to explain how the proposed papers can shed light on the political violence perpetrated by armed groups, on their actors and practices, forms of sociability and rituals, symbols and languages, which will help us to better understand the complexity of the phenomenon.
Applications (an abstract of 500 words indicating the research question, case-study and/or topic, sources and methodology, plus 200 words introducing the author) must be submitted by 10 September 2018 to the following address: romain.bonnet@unipd.it . At the beginning of October 2018, the organizers will inform the applicants of their choice. Toward the end of 2018, papers of around 8,000 characters (including spaces) will be circulated among the participants. English, French and Italian will be the languages used. Accommodation for the participants on the nights before and after the workshop (22-23 and 23-24 January 2019) will be provided by the organizers, along with a contribution to cover travel expenses.


Hizb ut-Tahrir, (HT) the pro-jihadist organization meeting this weekend in suburban Chicago, has been waging a below-the-radar campaign to recruit Americans for decades. While HT (the "Party of Liberation") says it is committed to advancing radical Islam by nonviolent means, it advocates violence (see here, here and here) and its prominent alumni include terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Abu Musab Zarqawi along with suicide bombers.
The open nature of this weekend's Khalifa (Caliphate) Conference in Chicago under the Hizb ut-Tahrir banner indicates that the group has decided to enhance its recruiting efforts among U.S. Muslims. Until late last year (when it publicly called on American Muslims to boycott the November election) HT had operated in secret or through front organizations here.
Zeyno Baran, who has extensively researched HT, points out here (see especially pages 20 to 23) that HT doctrine "seeks to emulate the steps by which the Prophet Muhammad established the Caliphate" in three stages. In the first stage, HT seeks to build a party, cultivating a small number of supporters to engage in recruitment and propaganda. In the second (which HT would appear to be entering now in the United States), it begins to educate and visit Muslims in their homes in order to recruit a larger group of people to join HT and support its revolution. Finally, HT (having won the support of Muslims) moves to establish a sharia-ruled Islamic government.
Hizb ut-Tahrir activists in the United States have generally taken a low public profile following the 9/11 attacks, avoiding the vitriolic, hate-America rhetoric coming from HT activists abroad like this, this and this.
In California, a small group of Hizb ut-Tahrir cadres began recruiting in the early 1990s. They set up an organization in Walnut, (located in eastern Los Angeles County) called the Islamic Cultural Workshop (ICW). The organization published Khalif'ornia magazine, which later became Khalif'ornia Journal. Although ICW and the Khalif'ornia publications are no longer in existence, their writings offer the closest thing to a comprehensive body of ideological and religious literature produced by HT's American supporters.
The publications devote considerable attention to translations of HT literature on everything from "Separation of Church and State" to "A draft Constitution of the Islamic State."
The Khalif'ornia Journal states that its "direct objective" is to teach Muslims "that we must reestablish the Khalifah in the Muslim World, where Islam will be applied in every aspect of life and be carried to the world." The publications devote considerable attention to translations of HT literature on everything from "Separation of Church and State to "A draft Constitution of the Islamic State." Jews and Christians are depicted as inferior beings and the United States is portrayed as constantly conspiring against Muslims.
According to the July/August 1992 issue of Khalif'ornia, for example, "the Jews and Christians are kuffar [infidels] and their belief in Allah is totally distorted."
The January-June 1998 edition included an article titled "The American Revolution" which likened the Founding Fathers of the United States to "tyrant dictators" of the Muslim world "who have no regard for the welfare of the Ummah [Muslim nation.]" The same edition contained an article titled "Revisiting the Middle East" which tried to make the case that Saddam Hussein was really a U.S. "agent" brutalizing his people to serve Washington's interests.
Other articles published in Khalif'ornia emphasized anti-American and anti-Israel themes and attacked Arab leaders for negotiating peace agreements with Israel. The July/August 1993 edition included an article noting the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and suggested that PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat might also be assassinated for negotiating the Oslo Accords with Israel: "We, the Muslim Ummah, pose a similar question to Yassir Arafat, 'How does it feel to be a traitor, O Arafat?' "
Another recurring theme was the importance of jihad. The December 1995 edition of Khalif'ornia declared that "Jihad is impossible … without an organized military machine," adding that: "The Islamic state must form an army capable of offensive attacks. The army is an integral part of delivering the message of Islam to the world."
Another issue of Khalif'ornia urged Muslims to "annex all the Islamic wilayah (provinces) stretching from Europe to China. Let us then see the U.S. try to meddle in our affairs." The same edition included a front-page editorial declaring that "Muslims need swords, not candles" in protecting Iraqis from U.S. military airstrikes and Palestinians from Israeli "oppression" and denounced Muslim leaders who invited Jewish and Christian clerics into mosques to express solidarity with besieged Bosnian Muslims.
When President George H.W. Bush provided humanitarian assistance to starving Somalis in the early 1990s, Khalif'ornia portrayed it as part of a Western conspiracy to enslave Muslims: "The Western capitalist nations never lost their imperialist behavior. What has changed is the form of their imperialism. The aid programs are designed to cripple the Ummah into a mode of dependency and thus we remain slaves to the imperialists."
"Nobody nowadays can say that this agreement is legally binding upon the French people. This is so, because the agreement was signed by an occupied people or prisoners of war under the Nazi occupation. The same thing applies to the people of Palestine who signed the agreement with Israel. Legally speaking, their signature will not be binding on the others, since they are occupied. You can expect that they will sign such an agreement under pressure from their occupier (Israel.) We cannot give their signature to Israel."
Even if Palestinians were willing to compromise with Israel, "it would not be binding" on other Muslims, Hilal said, because "Those who gave away Muslim lands were not delegated by Muslims to give away those lands." Any effort to compromise with Israel, Hilal emphasized "will cause more bloodshed" in the long run.
HT supporters also formed a group called the Workshop for Awareness on Islam and Enlightenment (WAIE). It had a Washington, D.C. mailing address and telephone contact numbers in Northern Virginia. Its Internet domain was registered by a software developer named Adil Elkiyari whose Maryland-based company, transinfocom, is no longer in business.
WAIE had a booth at the August 31-September 2, 2002 conference staged by the Islamic Society of North America at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
WAIE also sponsored several lectures at the University of Maryland College Park together with the Muslim Students Association. A flyer advertising a February 6, 2002 address by Ossama Hazim, WAIE president, declared that "The Islamic State's foreign policy is the call to Islam. As such, it does not recognize so-called International Law, United Nations or other International Organizations that contradict Islam." A "State may not be partly Islamic. Gradual implementation of parts of Islamic Law is not acceptable."
A November 2002 leaflet accessed from the WAIE website declares that "Palestine, much like many other Muslim land [sic], has been occupied by the jews [sic]. Islam rules that Muslims next to that land must fight the jews until they are repelled away from the land of Muslims."
Muslim rulers, the leaflet added, "are the de-facto protectors of the Jewish State," the WAIE leaflet said. "It is therefore a prerequisite for Jihad that Muslims stand up to these rulers and knock their regimes down."
To see select quotes from the historic 1994 Hizb ut-Tahrir rally in London's Wembley Arena, see here.
Beware-Hizb supports terrorism and sahria law!!!
They tell us over and over and over what their intentions are and how they will implement it. They will stop at nothing to circumbent our constitution and replace it with sharia law.
What more proof do Americans need to understand the full depth of this 1400 year threat. ???
Yes, the West has been in their cross-hairs for centuries!
Hizb Ut Tahrir weapon Is Ideas , Let Us Discuss These Ideas , : America has run out if Ideas .. even these Ideas , if they have any thinhg worth , they have no resonance on the ground , Freedome ? yes of the pwerfull and Balck water and Bill gates .. Hapiness ? where and who ?
I can see the US turning into the Gaza strip with people blowing themselves up in public on daily basis. If we don't stop it, it will get out of control. Unfortunately, something tells me it won't happen - they will use our own Democracy to do what they want.