First, LET THE STONE PREACH.
It is not at all an uncommon thing to find in Scripture stones bid to speak; great stones have been rolled as witnesses against the people; stones and beams out of the wall have been called upon to testify to sin. I shall call this stone as a witness to valuable truths of God of which it was the symbol. The river of our thought divides into six streams.

1. First, the stone rolled must evidently be regarded as the door of the sepulcher removed. Death’s house was firmly secured by a huge stone; the angel removed it, and the living Christ came forth. The massive door, you will observe, was taken away from the grave, not merely opened, but unhinged, flung aside, rolled away! And now death’s ancient prison is without a door! The saints shall pass in, but they shall not be shut in, they shall tarry there as in an open cavern, but there is nothing to prevent their coming forth from it in due time. As Samson, when he slept in Gaza, and was beset by foes, arose early in the morning, and took upon his shoulders the gates of Gaza—posts and bars and all—and carried all away, and left the Philistine stronghold open and exposed, so has it been done unto the grave by our Master, who, having slept out His three days and nights according to the divine decree, arose in the greatness of His strength, and bore away the iron gates of the sepulcher, tearing every bar from its place.

The removal of the imprisoning stone was the outward type of our Lord’s having plucked up the gates of the grave—posts, bars, and all, thus exposing that old fortress of death and hell, and leaving it as a city stormed, and taken, and bereft of power. Remember that our Lord was committed to the grave as a hostage. “He died for our sins.” Like a debt they were imputed to Him; He discharged the debt of obligation due from us to God on the cross; He suffered to the full the great substitutionary equivalent for our suffering, and then He was confined in the tomb as a hostage until His work should be fully accepted. That acceptance would be notified by His coming forth from vile imprisonment, and that coming forth would become our justification! “He rose again for our justification.” If He had not fully paid the debt, He would have remained in the grave; if Jesus had not made effectual, total, final atonement, He would have continued a captive. But He had done it all! The “It is finished,” which came from His own lips, was established by the verdict of Jehovah, and Jesus was set free. Mark Him as He rises—not breaking out of prison like a felon who escapes from justice, but coming leisurely forth like one whose time of release from jail is come. Rising, it is true, by His own power, but not leaving the tomb without a sacred permit—the heavenly officer from the court of heaven is deputized to open the door for Him by rolling away the stone; and Jesus Christ completely justified, rises to prove that all His people are in Him completely justified, and the work of salvation is forever perfect!

Read it all.

Resurrezione di Cristo
Pieter Paul Rubens,1616
Galleria Palatina,Palazzo Pitti, Firenze
Happy Easter 🔔💙🔔@Asamsakti pic.twitter.com/8wfXWGjNOh

— Lucia Tassan Mangina🐦🇪🇺#FBPE (@LuciaTassan) April 4, 2015

God of hosts,
who so kindled the flame of love
in the heart of your servant George
that he bore witness to the risen Lord
by his life and by his death:
give us the same faith and power of love
that we who rejoice in his triumphs
may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Wishing a very happy and blessed #StGeorgesDay to all as #England celebrates its patron saint. #SaintGeorge is a saint who has meant so much to so many around the world over centuries, and whose life exemplifies the strength, courage and faithfulness that we all aspire to today. pic.twitter.com/Z7B2xIAuGr

— Archbishop Angaelos (@BishopAngaelos) April 23, 2024

So how did England end up with St George as its patron saint, instead of any of these? Of course St George, as everybody knows, never came anywhere near England. Though the precise historical basis of his legend is disputed, the roots of his story lie in the eastern Mediterranean, with the earliest sources for his life dating from the fifth and sixth centuries. Even here there’s some disagreement about the details of his life, but he’s said to have served as a soldier and suffered martyrdom when he refused to renounce his faith.

For the first 1000 years or so of his history, St George was much more popular in Eastern Christianity than in the West. His name was known in early medieval England, but only as one among many other saints (even Ælfric tells his story – minus the dragon, which was a later addition to the legend). His popularity in this country is mostly a product of the later Middle Ages, boosted first by the Crusades, which brought an increasing interest in military saints, and later by a story that St George had miraculously aided the English army at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

As a soldier-saint George became associated with all the aristocratic parade of Christian chivalry, beloved of medieval knights and kings. Edward III founded the Order of the Garter under the saint’s patronage in the 14th century, helping to encourage a link between George and the English monarchy. St George’s popularity was also growing elsewhere in Europe in the later Middle Ages; he was included as one of the “Fourteen Holy Helpers”, a group of widely-venerated saints whose aid was sought against all kinds of disasters. In medieval legend, George was sometimes known as “Our Lady’s knight”, because one version of his story told how the Virgin Mary brought him back from the dead to fight the dragon.

By the 15th century lavish celebrations were taking place in various parts of England in honour of St George’s feast day.

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Today in #history: George of Lydda (Saint George) is executed for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. (303 CE). #SaintGeorgesDay pic.twitter.com/goFkOi68MR

— World History Encyclopedia (@whencyclopedia) April 23, 2024

“On Easter Day all of us who were imprisoned for religious convictions were united in one joy of Christ. We were all taken into one feeling, into one spiritual triumph, glorifying the one eternal God. There was no solemn Paschal service with the ringing of church bells, no possibility in our camp to gather for worship, to dress up for the festival, to prepare Easter dishes. On the contrary, there was even more work and more interference than usual. All the prisoners here for religious convictions, whatever their denomination, were surrounded by more spying, by more threats from the secret police.
Yet Easter was there: great, holy, spiritual, unforgettable. It was blessed by the presence of our risen God among us — blessed by the silent Siberian stars and by our sorrows. How our hearts beat joyfully in communion with the great Resurrection! Death is conquered, fear no more, an eternal Easter is given to us! Full of this marvelous Easter, we send you from our prison camp the victorious and joyful tidings: Christ is risen!”

–Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way (Revised Ed.), [Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995], p. 87. The letter was transcribed by Archpriest George Cheremeteff (d. 1971)

C.F.W. Walther’s marvelous Easter hymn invites all people to join in the praises of Christ Jesus the Lord. By His resurrection, the Word of God made flesh has freed us from the prison of sin, death, and the devil. #SharperIronhttps://t.co/wxhus3wloK

— KFUO Radio (@KFUOradio) April 18, 2024

As I am in the US for the first time in many years, I find myself longing for the simplicity of Maua, Kenya, during Easter time. There Easter has none of the commercial trappings we find here. As I enter grocery stores, discount stores, and department stores I am shocked at the amount of space taken by the Easter candy, bunnies and stuffed animals, baskets, decorations, and new spring clothing. These items take more space than any grocery store has for all their goods in Maua.

I recently read that an estimated $2 billion will be spent on Easter candy this year in the US. Two billion dollars to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who asked us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, house the homeless, care for the sick and imprisoned, and welcome the stranger.

Read it all.

Happy #Easter! One of the most important Christian holidays, Easter commemorates the Resurrection of Christ – shown in this Rubens drawing pic.twitter.com/fTtmhTl0yv

— British Museum (@britishmuseum) April 16, 2017

pic.twitter.com/6a2QHQJuAb

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 14, 2024

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank thee for thy servant George Augustus Selwyn, whom thou didst call to preach the Gospel to the peoples of New Zealand and Melanesia, and to lay a firm foundation for the growth of thy Church in many nations. Raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land evangelists and heralds of thy kingdom, that thy Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

17 October 1841: consecration of George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), Curate @windsorchurches (St John the Baptist), @lambethpalace Chapel, to be first bishop of the newly-created Diocese of New Zealand (part of the Province of Australasia). #anglican #181years 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/6qeCK5QuKy

— AustralianAnglican (@AustAnglican) October 17, 2022

Eternal God, the whole cosmos sings of thy glory, from the dividing of a single cell to the vast expanse of interstellar space: We offer thanks for thy theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who didst perceive the divine in the evolving creation. Enable us to become faithful stewards of thy divine works and heirs of thy everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
"The Phenomenon of Man" 1955 https://t.co/EESxPHOalG pic.twitter.com/Ml3P6adAIF

— Nicholas P Schiavone (@NickSchiavone) April 4, 2024

This is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without contrition. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His son: ‘ye were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Today the Church of England commemorates Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran Pastor, Martyr

He died #OTD in 1945, executed in Flossenbürg concentration camp

Image: Window in St Lawrence University’s Gunnison Memorial Chapel pic.twitter.com/qx1HUHU9lx

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 9, 2024

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, who gavest grace to thy servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him: Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive thy word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today marks the death in 1945 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian. His courage in the face of evil was unshakeable and his constant prayer for peace unmovable.

"We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God." pic.twitter.com/z9gDPFniZD

— Ninefold Kyrie (@Gda1238) April 9, 2024

Degrees in philosophy and religious studies are to be “phased out” at the University of Kent, it was announced last week.

Courses in anthropology, art history, health and social care, journalism, music, and audio technology are also to be dropped, in part because the university believes that it can no longer compete in these specialisms, but more generally because of recent “financial challenges including the fixed tuition fee, rising costs, and changes in student behaviour”.

The changes are part of its Kent 2030 plan, “which brings together a range of improvements based on suggestions from our students”, a press release circulated last week says. Students on the courses to be phased out will be taught and supervised until the end of their degrees.

Read it all.

Degrees in philosophy and religious studies are to be “phased out” at the University of Kent, it was announced last week https://t.co/pHmnywcy8G

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 28, 2024

Less than a year after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan following the US’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal, President Joe Biden vowed the country that once harboured Osama bin Laden would “never again . . . become a terrorist safe haven”.

Yet a surge in international terrorist threats linked to Afghanistan is raising alarm among governments that the country that once sheltered the masterminds of the September 11, 2001 attacks is again becoming a hotspot for jihadi groups with global ambitions.

Western officials blamed Islamic State-Khorasan Province, the Afghan-based affiliate of the Middle Eastern extremist group and bitter enemy of the Taliban, for last week’s attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 137 people.

The Taliban has fought a bloody counterinsurgency campaign against Isis-K since coming to power, but analysts said the jihadist group gained substantial strength following the US withdrawal and more recently has ramped up its international activity. Isis-K was also linked to bombings in Iran in January that killed nearly 100 people, an attack on a church in Turkey the same month, and a foiled plot last week to attack Sweden’s parliament that authorities said may have been directed from Afghanistan.

Read it all.

Recent terrorist attacks by Isis-K are raising alarm that Afghanistan is again becoming a hotspot for jihadi groups with global ambitions.

https://t.co/4J2IqZWKrC

— Mike Walker (@New_Narrative) March 27, 2024

Mark Kelly of Recorded Future, a cyber-security firm, says his company is aware of about 50 hacking groups in China, including private firms working for the mss or People’s Liberation Army. There are undoubtedly many more. Mr Kelly describes China’s cyber-espionage efforts as “orders of magnitude” greater in scale than those mounted by Russia or North Korea.

As the indictment shows, they are surprisingly devolved. Some of them specialise in spying on different parts of the world, says Nigel Inkster, a former deputy head of Britain’s spy agency, mi6. They have considerable leeway to do as they wish, he says: “I’m not even sure that there is any kind of formal political clearance mechanism.” Much of their work is subcontracted to private firms. Last month a huge online dump of documents from one such company, i-Soon, showed its involvement in large-scale cyber-snooping on behalf of a variety of government agencies.

The West’s anxieties, not least about the hackers’ theft of corporate data, are becoming increasingly manifest. In January the head of the fbi, Christopher Wray, said that China’s state-sponsored hackers outnumbered his agency’s cyber-personnel by “at least 50 to one”. He added that China’s hackers are laying the groundwork for a possible Chinese strike, “positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities.”

Read it all.

The West’s anxieties about Chinese cyber-espionage are becoming increasingly manifest. But if it hopes that naming, shaming and sanctions will dissuade the spooks, it is likely to be disappointed https://t.co/MnQGij3lds 👇

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) March 27, 2024

Daniel Kahneman, an Israeli American psychologist and best-selling author whose Nobel Prize-winning research upended economics — as well as fields ranging from sports to public health — by demonstrating the extent to which people abandon logic and leap to conclusions, died March 27. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by his stepdaughter Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker. She did not say where or how he died.

Dr. Kahneman’s research was best known for debunking the notion of “homo economicus,” the “economic man” who since the epoch of Adam Smith was considered a rational being who acts out of self-interest. Instead, Dr. Kahneman found, people rely on intellectual shortcuts that often lead to wrongheaded decisions that go against their own best interest.

These misguided decisions occur because humans “are much too influenced by recent events,” Dr. Kahneman once said. “They are much too quick to jump to conclusions under some conditions and, under other conditions, they are much too slow to change.”

Read it all.

Daniel Kahneman, who changed psychology and economics forever, dies at 90.

Thanks for everything.

We remember him in 10 great quotes: pic.twitter.com/kiyhC2kCo3

— Wisdom Theory (@wisdom_theory) March 27, 2024

People in Senegal have been voting for a new president in a delayed election after weeks of political unrest.

Long queues of voters were witnessed across the country as they flocked to choose from 17 presidential candidates.

After he voted, outgoing President Macky Sall warned candidates against making premature claims of victory.

The election had been due to take place last month but Mr Sall postponed it, triggering deadly opposition protests and a democratic crisis.

Read it all.

Senegal election: Voters choose new president after political crisis https://t.co/Sv73kCCfbn

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 24, 2024

A major commuter bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a container ship, causing vehicles to plunge into the water and halting shipping traffic at one of the most important ports on the US East Coast.

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said two people had been rescued from the scene, one of whom was seriously injured. Authorities were looking for up to seven people who are believed to be in the water, although it was unclear if that included the two who were rescued.

The early morning disaster at the Francis Scott Key Bridge will cause huge disruption — both for shipping at one of the busiest ports on the US East Coast and on the roads — after severing a key link on the major highway encircling Baltimore.

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Vital Baltimore bridge collapses after being struck by ship https://t.co/JcDeInK9tR via @business pic.twitter.com/595cjxTpzz

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) March 26, 2024

The US faces a Liz Truss-style market shock if the government ignores the country’s ballooning federal debt, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned.

Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the mounting US fiscal burden was on an “unprecedented” trajectory, risking a crisis of the kind that sparked a run on the pound and the collapse of Truss’s government in the UK in 2022.

“The danger, of course, is what the UK faced with former prime minister Truss, where policymakers tried to take an action, and then there’s a market reaction to that action,” Swagel said in an interview with the Financial Times.

The US was “not there yet”, he said, but as higher interest rates raise the cost of paying its creditors to $1tn in 2026, bond markets could “snap back”.

Read it all.

FT Exclusive: US debt is on an 'unprecedented' trajectory that could lead to a Liz Truss-style market shock, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned https://t.co/JLiKKeQE9z pic.twitter.com/ljX3OpInL1

— Financial Times (@FT) March 26, 2024

I had not read Thielicke for many years until I recently discovered a book of his that I had never heard of: Nihilism: Its Origin and Nature, with a Christian Answer. This work is stunning, for it identifies the problem at the center of our contemporary culture: a collapse in the cultural consensus about what it means to be human. The book’s context is the anthropological challenges posed by Nazism and Marxism in the twentieth century, but its argument offers insights for today.

At the heart of the problems of his day Thielicke saw the rejection of two basic principles: the idea that human beings had an end, a telos; and the notion that limits were good. In short, what it meant to be human was up for grabs. In practice, this made human beings anything that their will could achieve, given the technological possibilities available in any given time or place. And that was a key component of nihilism.

We have witnessed amazing technological advances since the 1940s. The transformation of humanity from a given, limited, teleological essence to a potency whose limits and ends are merely technical problems to be overcome is now complete (at least in the cultural imagination). Ironically, human technical brilliance has served to make human beings into nothing of any great significance. We are the only creatures on the planet who are intelligent and intentional enough to have abolished ourselves.

Read it all.

This is fantastic from @firstthingsmag https://t.co/IS26rEGPG6

— Scott Howard (@ConservaMuse) March 18, 2024

Almighty God, who willest to be glorified in thy saints, and didst raise up thy servant Gregory the Illuminator to be a light in the world, and to preach the Gospel to the people of Armenia: Shine, we pray thee, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth thy praise, who hast called us out of darkness into thy marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

#OTD March 23, 332:(traditional date)
Gregory the Illuminator, who converted a nation before Constantine even embraced Christianity, dies. A missionary to his homeland of Armenia, he converted King Tiridates, and much of the kingdom followed suit. Soon Christianity was… pic.twitter.com/fIjfTq2RTg

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) March 23, 2024

As perhaps the ultimate job with purpose, careers in the church are enjoying a second coming.

In a world of zero-hours contracts and corporate greed, doing God’s work is an increasingly attractive option for those seeking a meaningful role making a difference to communities locally and worldwide. Two factors have combined to resurrect interest in church employment.

Firstly, ageing congregations and the rapid rise in female employment means there are fewer volunteers to take on local roles. A recent study suggested the average age of the church’s worshipping community was 61, but many congregations’ members are still in employment and unable to volunteer….

Secondly, modernising moves such as the Church of England’s £30 million net-zero carbon programme and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have aligned the church to corporate workplaces, making it simpler for those with transferable skills to make the move into ministry.

Read it all (subscription).

'ageing congregations & the rapid rise in female employment means there are fewer volunteers to take on local roles

…With one in five churches missing people in key positions, some parishes are moving certain roles… to paid support staff'@thetimes https://t.co/x9dldFTerM

— Rebecca (Bex) Chapman (@bexchapman3boys) March 22, 2024

The Princess of Wales says she is in the early stages of treatment after a cancer diagnosis.

In a video statement, Catherine says it was a “huge shock” after an “incredibly tough couple of months”.

But she sent a positive message, saying: “I am well and getting stronger every day.”

Details of the cancer have not been disclosed, but Kensington Palace says it is confident the princess will make a full recovery.

Read it all.

Everyone at Westminster Abbey wishes The Princess of Wales well following the news of her cancer diagnosis.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, said: 'In the face of this news, it is our hope that Her Royal Highness will feel sustained by the love that… pic.twitter.com/mtBkNyF5tx

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) March 22, 2024

Gunmen in Nigeria opened the New Year 2024 by killing 14 Christians on their way home from a midnight church service. The attack rocked the country’s Christian community, still reeling from a Christmas Eve massacre that claimed the lives of 130 believers. These attacks are just the latest in a disturbing trend of increasing violence against Christians in Nigeria, which some are calling a genocide.

Since the year 2000, 62,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria, prompting President Trump to place Nigeria on its list of violators of religious freedom. Biden removed Nigeria from the list, and last year alone, more than 8,000 Christians were killed.

In a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, between January 2022 and January 2023, 8,400 Christians were abducted, 840 of whom never returned alive from captivity. Many of these abductions have been attributed to the military and the police, some to Islamic Terror Jihadists, while others have been attributed to Fulani militias, who are also accused of having killed 600 captives. Priests and seminarians have been abducted, churches destroyed, Christian communities have been sacked, and millions of Christians and targeted Muslims have been displaced, either becoming internally displaced people (IDPs) or crossing international borders to become refugees.

Read it all.

Violence in Nigeria against Christians by groups like Boko Haram is continuing unabated. @Brooklynmonk https://t.co/hoRvPzBTcg

— Providence (@ProvMagazine) March 21, 2024

The provincial proposal being advocated by CEEC and the Alliance would involve the exercise of geographical episcopacy as it would involve bishops having responsibility for particular geographical areas. I have previously made this point in a theoretical description of what a conservative third province (the ‘Province of Mercia’) might look like.

‘Like the existing provinces of Canterbury and York, the new province would consist of parishes, deaneries, archdeaconries and dioceses. The number of dioceses that would initially be formed would obviously depend on how many parishes opted to join the new province, but one possible pattern would be for there to initially be four dioceses, one in the Southwest, one in the South and Southeast, one in the Midlands and East Anglia, and one in the North. Chaplaincies in Europe would come under the diocese for the South and Southeast.

Each diocese would initially have one bishop and one of these would be the archbishop of the province. There would be no fixed archiepiscopal diocese and the office of archbishop would subsequently be held by the senior bishop of the province.

A parish church in each diocese would be the cathedral. This would contain the bishop’s chair and would be used for diocesan services such as the enthronement of the bishop, ordinations, and the renewal of ordination vows on Maundy Thursday. The diocese would be named after the location of the cathedral and the incumbent would carry the title Dean. There would be no cathedral chapter and when not being used for diocesan services the cathedral would act as a normal parish church.’

As can be clearly seen in this description the geographical nature of episcopacy would be maintained in such a provincial arrangement. Bell’s suggestion that the geographical nature of the episcopate precludes a provincial solution is therefore mistaken.

Read it all.

I have just posted a new blog post, 'Geographical episcopacy – a further response to Charlie Bell.'https://t.co/5qMh71WfIv

— Martin Davie (@MartinBDavie) March 11, 2024

To maintain and expand military families as an asset for the sustainment of the All-Volunteer Force, it is critical to address declining likelihood to recommend military service. The proportion of active-duty family respondents who were likely to recommend military service has dropped by nearly half from 2016, when
it was 55% to just 32% in 2023.

Furthermore, the proportion who were unlikely to recommend military service has more than doubled from 15% in 2016 to 31% in 2023.

Read it all.

The results of the 2023 Military Family Lifestyle Survey are here! Join the #BlueStarFamilies researchers in our virtual Data Deep Dive event on March 21st from 1 — 2 PM ET. Our team will break down this year’s findings. https://t.co/9jDWLo0n7e

— craig newmark (@craignewmark) March 14, 2024

First the cartel cut its teeth with drug trafficking. Then avocados, real estate and construction companies. Now, a Mexican criminal group known for its brutality is moving in on seniors and their timeshares.

The operation is relatively simple. Cartel employees posing as sales representatives call up timeshare owners, offering to buy their investments back for generous sums. They then demand upfront fees for anything from listing advertisements to paying government fines. The representatives persuade their victims to wire large amounts of money to Mexico — sometimes as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars — and then they disappear.

The scheme has netted the cartel, Jalisco New Generation, hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak publicly, via dozens of call centers in Mexico that relentlessly target American and Canadian timeshare owners. They even bribe employees at Mexican resorts to leak guest information, the U.S. officials say.

Read it all.

“Over 5 years, American timeshare owners were bilked out of $288 million. The real number is most likely $350 million, as about 20% never register a complaint.”

A Mexican Drug Cartel’s New Target? Seniors and Their Timeshares https://t.co/DAKwfJwE37

— Dan Beucke (@DanBeucke) March 21, 2024

The U.S. has fallen out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time since a global ranking began in 2012, due in large part to a drop in happiness among younger adults.

Americans fell to 23rd place in happiness, down from 15th a year ago, according to data collected in the Gallup World Poll for the World Happiness Report 2024. Costa Rica and Lithuania were among the countries that reported being happier than Americans, according to the annual survey, which asks respondents to rate their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible life for them. Nordic countries dominate the top 10, with Finland at the top.

In the U.S., self-reported happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for young adults. Americans 30 years and younger ranked 62nd globally in terms of well-being, trailing the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Guatemala. Older Americans ranked 10th.

Read it all.

Those 30 and under are the U.S.’s least happy age group, a decline attributed to their feeling worse about their lives https://t.co/tJGFb317Z5 https://t.co/tJGFb317Z5

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 20, 2024

“The challenge we are having is a lack of interest by federal prosecutors to charge illicit marijuana cases,” said Ray Donovan, the former chief of operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “They don’t realize all the implications. Marijuana causes so much crime at the local level, gun violence in particular. The same groups selling thousands of pounds of marijuana are also laundering millions of dollars of fentanyl money. It’s not just one-dimensional.”

The expansion into the cannabis market is propelling the rise of Chinese organized crime as a global powerhouse, current and former national security officials say. During the past decade, Chinese mafias became the dominant money launderers for Latin American cartels dealing narcotics including fentanyl, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. The huge revenue stream from marijuana fuels that laundering apparatus, which is “the most extensive network of underground banking in the world,” said a former senior DEA official, Donald Im.

“The profits from the marijuana trade allow the Chinese organized criminal networks to expand their underground global banking system for cartels and other criminal organizations,” said Im, who was an architect of the DEA’s fight against Chinese organized crime.

U.S. law enforcement struggles to respond to this multifaceted threat. State and federal agencies suffer from a lack of personnel who know Chinese language and culture well enough to investigate complex cases, infiltrate networks or translate intercepts, current and former officials say. A federal shift of priorities to counterterrorism after 2001 meant resources dedicated to Chinese organized crime dwindled — while the power of the underworld grew.

And the shadow of the Chinese state hovers over it all….

Read it all.

Officials estimate the value of the illegal marijuana market grown in Oklahoma at somewhere between $18 billion and $44 billion a year.

Investigators have found links to foreign mafias and say that more than 80% of the groups are of Chinese origin. https://t.co/A4WKYfaCet

— ProPublica (@propublica) March 16, 2024

Silence. Last September, when I visited a makeshift hospital in Adré, Chad, where young Sudanese refugees were being treated for acute malnutrition, that was all I heard: an eerie silence.

I had tried to prepare myself for the wails of children who were sick and emaciated, but these patients were too weak to even cry. That day, I saw a 6-month-old baby who was the size of a newborn and a child whose ankles were swollen, and whose body was blistered, from severe malnourishment.

It was equal parts newly horrific and tragically familiar.

Twenty years earlier I had visited the same town and met with Sudanese refugees who fled violence in Darfur, where the janjaweed militia, with backing from Omar al-Bashir’s brutal authoritarian regime, carried out a genocidal campaign of mass killing, rape and pillage.

Read it all.

Even after aid groups designated Sudan's humanitarian crisis to be among the world's worst, little attention or help has gone to the Sudanese people.

The world’s silence and inaction need to end, and end now.

My piece in the @nytimes ⬇️https://t.co/ie90VMmIzX

— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) March 18, 2024

Increasing the number of stipendiary priests in the diocese of Truro is the “top operational priority”, the Acting Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, who is the Bishop of St Germans, said this week.

His comments followed claims by the campaign group Save the Parish Cornwall (STP) that the number of stipendiary priests in the diocese had fallen to 38, and that there were 19 vacancies to be filled. The group says that the diocese is “struggling to recruit new priests to undertake the unrealistic roles proposed by the restructuring plans — in particular ‘oversight ministers’ . . . in giant benefices”.

A diocesan spokeswoman said this week that there were 58 stipendiary clergy in post at the end of last month, including incumbent-status clergy, assistant curates, and archdeacons. In addition, eight new appointments had been made in the past three months. The plan was to increase the number of stipendiary clergy to about 85, “dependent on clergy being attracted to our posts”.

Read it all.

Increasing the number of stipendiary priests in the diocese of Truro is the “top operational priority”, the Acting Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, who is the Bishop of St Germans, said this week https://t.co/Xg8Zz5KOH7

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 15, 2024

Two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is restructuring and expanding the country’s military in anticipation of a conflict with NATO within the next 10 years, Estonia’s foreign and military intelligence chiefs said in an interview on Wednesday.

Contrary to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expectation of seizing the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in a matter of days, the first months of the invasion revealed profound shortcomings in Russian military planning as poorly equipped troops foundered in the face of fierce resistance by the Ukrainian armed forces. Experts as well as U.S. and foreign officials were quick to declare the Russian army a paper tiger.

“The Kremlin often claimed it had the second-strongest military in the world,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech last June. “Today, many see Russia’s military as the second-strongest in Ukraine.”

But as the war enters its third year, Putin is looking increasingly confident. His main political rival, Alexei Navalny, is dead; vital U.S. military aid to Ukraine is stalled in Congress; and Russia has shifted its economy to a war footing, fueling defense production and economic growth in defiance of international sanctions.

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Moscow is rebuilding its military in anticipation of a conflict with NATO in the next decade, Estonian officials warn. https://t.co/Xun0nsVFtd

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) March 15, 2024