April 8 and 9, 2016


News Clips For The Day


http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2016/04/07/Modern-male-DNA-without-Y-chromosome-genes-from-Neanderthals/3451460053267/

HOME / SCIENCE NEWS
Modern male DNA without Y chromosome genes from Neanderthals
"We’ve never observed the Neanderthal Y chromosome DNA in any human sample ever tested," said researcher Carlos Bustamante.
By Brooks Hays
April 7, 2016 at 3:17 PM

Photograph -- Modern males don't carry Neanderthal DNA in their Y chromosome. Photo by life_in_a_pixel/Shutterstock


PALO ALTO, Calif., April 7 (UPI) -- The human genome features ancient fragments of Neanderthal DNA. New research, however, suggests the Neanderthal equivalent of the modern male Y chromosome is no more.

Geneticists at Stanford were able to determine that Y chromosomes of modern males -- the chromosome passed exclusively from father to son -- are without Neanderthal genes.

Previously, only DNA from the fossils of Neanderthal women or from mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mothers to all their children. Researchers say this is the first study to examine a Neanderthal Y chromosome.

"We've never observed the Neanderthal Y chromosome DNA in any human sample ever tested," Carlos Bustamante, professor of biomedical data science and of genetics at Stanford's School of Medicine, said in a news release. "That doesn't prove it's totally extinct, but it likely is."

Researchers aren't sure if the absence happened by chance or can be explained by evolutionary circumstances. It may be, Bustamante said, that genes in the Neanderthal's Y chromosome were incompatible with human genes.

"The functional nature of the mutations we found, suggests to us that Neanderthal Y chromosome sequences may have played a role in barriers to gene flow, but we need to do experiments to demonstrate this and are working to plan these now," Bustamante said.

The new analysis of the human and Neanderthal Y chromosomes also allowed scientists to pinpoint the evolutionary split of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Previous estimates had the lineages diverging between 800,000 and 400,000 years ago.

The new findings -- published in the American Journal of Human Genetics -- put the divergence at 550,000 years ago.


Related UPI Stories

Ancient DNA fragments found in modern humans
Spanish fossils offer earliest genetic evidence of Neanderthals
Neanderthal diet: Only 20 percent vegetarian
Humans and Neanderthals interbred 100,000 years ago



GENE FLOW, ETC. --

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091009012945AAsLojd

Ashish · 7 years ago -- Best Answer: Gene flow happens when organisms move into or out of a population. That process brings in new genes to the gene pool or takes genes out of the gene pool. Memory trick: Picture something flowing into the pool like a river.

Genetic drift happens when a population gradually accumulates changes, becoming more and more adapted to the environmental conditions. So the population gradually becomes different than the way it used to be.


emucompboy · 7 years ago -- Gene flow (formerly known as migration): Individuals immigrate into a population, bringing new alleles and possibly new genes with them. Or, individuals emigrate from a small population, taking their alleles with them.

Genetic drift: chance events change the allele frequencies in a population, e.g. forest fire kills half the heath hens, but it kills all of the ones that have black feathers. A special case of genetic drift is "founder effect" in which a limited number of individuals start a new population that is reproductively isolated from the "parent population." This new population will have different allele frequencies from the parent population and may not even include its full gene pool.

Both of these mechanisms change allele frequencies in population, and that's what evolution is. "Founder effect" is an especially important mechanism in the development of new species.


EXCERPTS:
UPI -- “Previously, only DNA from the fossils of Neanderthal women or from mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mothers to all their children. Researchers say this is the first study to examine a Neanderthal Y chromosome. "We've never observed the Neanderthal Y chromosome DNA in any human sample ever tested," Carlos Bustamante, professor of biomedical data science and of genetics at Stanford's School of Medicine, said in a news release. "That doesn't prove it's totally extinct, but it likely is." …. "The functional nature of the mutations we found, suggests to us that Neanderthal Y chromosome sequences may have played a role in barriers to gene flow, but we need to do experiments to demonstrate this and are working to plan these now," Bustamante said. The new analysis of the human and Neanderthal Y chromosomes also allowed scientists to pinpoint the evolutionary split of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Previous estimates had the lineages diverging between 800,000 and 400,000 years ago. The new findings -- published in the American Journal of Human Genetics -- put the divergence at 550,000 years ago.”


My thoughts on this are that since new genes can enter a population either through males or females, and by both mechanisms mentioned here, the fact that there are no Y chromosome lineages found so far doesn’t mean that there was no interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis resulting in children. In modern humans there are genes that are transmitted only through females or, on the other hand males, and both cause physical and evolutionary changes called sex-linked genes. These Yahoo answers didn’t mention spontaneous mutation as a cause of evolution, either. It’s my understanding that a new mutation, though it occurs spontaneously, may be better suited to the environment and therefore come to dominate.

I wonder if there is any way to prove conclusively this chicken and egg question. I think there are scientists as well as ordinary citizens, especially racially biased people, who simply don’t want to believe that we “intelligent” humans would ever have interbred with an “inferior” species. Call it rape if you like, but I think it, more likely than not, did occur, otherwise there would be no Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA found. I also think the two species were indeed more like “races” than species, as many scientists now believe, and they would not necessarily be “repulsed” by interbreeding. Besides, we humans even today are not always picky about who we will accept for sexual purposes. White slave owners usually considered themselves to be “superior” to all blacks, but they freely took them as concubines and sired children.



http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/colorado-loss-reveals-chaotic-overwhelmed-trump-campaign-n552781

POLITICS Colorado Loss Reveals Chaotic, Overwhelmed Trump Campaign
by BENJY SARLIN
APR 8 2016, 7:43 AM ET

Photograph -- Cruz aims to keep Trump from a clean sweep in NY as Democratic race heats up 3:13
Play -- Trump Reveals Plans to Pay for Border Wall 1:26
Play -- Cruz Predicts Trump Would Lose By 'Double Digits' to Clinton 1:10
Play -- Cruz Says Trump Is 'Very Angry' After Wisconsin Loss 0:49
Related: Infighting, Frustration Rile Trump Campaign, Sources Say


ARVADA, Colo. — Colorado is not going well for Donald Trump.

After a shake-up at the top this week in which Trump empowered Paul Manafort to manage the campaign's troubled delegate operation, Sen. Ted Cruz swept a third straight Congressional District convention Thursday night. All three delegates selected were listed on a slate put forward by the Cruz campaign.

Trump aides concede that Colorado is not a promising state, but the level of disorganization at Thursday's event suggested problems that ran deeper than the top-line results.

"[TRUMP'S] OUR ONLY HOPE AGAINST HILLARY, THAT LYING CROOKED WITCH"
Addressing the audience, Trump's new Colorado state director Patrick Davis told supporters to vote for the three pro-Trump delegate candidates on a glossy brochure the campaign distributed.

"Look for them on the back when you vote Donald Trump!" Davis said. "He's going to make America great again!"

There was only one problem: Two of the three names weren't listed on the ballot.

"That's a good question," Davis told reporters after his speech when asked why they were left off.

There were, however, three pro-Trump delegates on the ballot who weren't sanctioned by the campaign. One of them, Cully Marshall, made his case for Trump in a poem.

"He's our only hope against Hillary, that lying crooked witch," Marshall said. "He's going to build that wall and make Hillary El Chapo's personal…" He trailed off.

After some digging, Davis returned with a solution to the mystery of the missing delegates. One of the delegates had failed to pay the necessary fee to get on the ballot. He assumed the other was left off for similar reasons.

"Administrative error," he said.

To be fair to Davis, who is a veteran operative in the state, he didn't have much time to get the campaign up to speed. He only joined Tuesday, right as a Trump aide assigned to the state, James Baker, was let go by the campaign. By the time he showed up for work, Cruz had already swept the six delegates in two Congressional District conventions over the last week.

In some ways, Thursday's performance was an improvement: The campaign didn't even distribute brochures with delegate slates in those two events.

"Honestly, we didn't have this level of sophistication last weekend," Davis said, explaining the previous lack of flyers. "Had we, it might have been a different result."

Helbis Varangot, the one official Trump backer on the ballot for delegate, had plenty of complaints about the way the campaign handled the run-up to the event.

"They haven't been here in Colorado," she said. "[Baker] disappointed all of us. He didn't do what he was supposed to do so he got fired. He told the campaign he was organizing, he never set foot in Colorado as far as I can tell."

A source close to the campaign said Baker, who was also working on efforts in other states, was in Colorado at the time of his firing.

The Cruz campaign, in stark contrast to Trump's operation, showed up ready to roll with a slate of six favored supporters, three delegates and three alternates.

Regina Thompson, Cruz's grassroots director in the state, said she began organizing for the campaign eight months ago in anticipation of the convention and helped secure delegates to the state and district conventions at the March 1 caucuses.

"The process is what the process is — seeking out supporters, getting people to attend caucuses, texts, emails, one-on-ones," she said.

Cruz's state effort was driven entirely by volunteers, but the campaign used robo-polls to identify prospective supporters for its delegate slate. Cruz will address the state convention in person on Saturday.

Advisers to Trump argue that the lack of focus on Colorado is a strategic decision, given that the state's political lean and complicated convention process favors Cruz.



EXCERPT -- “There were, however, three pro-Trump delegates on the ballot who weren't sanctioned by the campaign. One of them, Cully Marshall, made his case for Trump in a poem. "He's our only hope against Hillary, that lying crooked witch," Marshall said. "He's going to build that wall and make Hillary El Chapo's personal…" He trailed off. After some digging, Davis returned with a solution to the mystery of the missing delegates. One of the delegates had failed to pay the necessary fee to get on the ballot. He assumed the other was left off for similar reasons. "Administrative error," he said.”


Well, this is the latest from the Trump camp. They are stumbling over their own feet. The poem is kinda funny, though vulgar.



SANDERS, THE POPE, AND PASS -- THREE NEWS ARTICLES AND ONE BIO OF PASS CHANCELLOR


http://www.npr.org/2016/04/08/473495847/bernie-sanders-accepts-an-invitation-from-the-pope

Bernie Sanders Accepts An Invitation From The Vatican
ASMA KHALID
April 8, 201611:20 AM ET

Photograph -- NPR's Don Gonyea spotted this poster at Bernie Sanders' Buffalo field office in New York. Sanders has often praised Pope Francis for his focus on economic inequality. Don Gonyea /NPR


Bernie Sanders will be taking a few days off the campaign trail to attend a Vatican conference about social, economic and environmental issues.

The day after a debate in New York next week, Sanders will travel to Rome for the event.

In an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Sanders said he was "a big, big fan of the pope."

"He has played an unbelievable role, unbelievable role in injecting a moral consequence into the economy," Sanders said. "He's talking about the idolatry of money, the worship of money, the greed that's out there."

In a statement from his campaign, Sanders praised the pope for focusing on income inequality — the defining issue of his own presidential campaign.

"Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome 'the globalization of indifference' in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment. That is our challenge in the United States and in the world," Sanders said in a statement.

No meeting between Sanders and Pope Francis has been scheduled.

Sanders, who is Jewish, has often praised the current pope. He previously referred to Francis as a "socialist," in an interview obtained by The Washington Post. "When (Pope Francis) talks about wealth being used to serve people, not as an end in itself, I agree with that," Sanders said in the interview.

Sanders and Francis often speak about the economy in nearly identical ways. In 2014, the pope took to Twitter with this message:

Inequality is the root of social evil.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 28, 2014

Francis is sometimes described as a "liberal" pope for his views on immigration, income inequality and the death penalty; but, Catholic teaching straddles political affiliation, particularly because of the Church's stance on same-sex marriage.

With his public statements, Francis seems to have emboldened the church's social justice wing, and Democrats are widely embracing him. Last year, a number of big-city Democratic mayors (Boston's Marty Walsh and New York's Bill de Blasio) attended a Vatican conference on climate change.

For Sanders, the trip's timing is also fortuitous, coming just ahead of the New York and Pennsylvania primaries (April 19 and April 26 respectively).

Both states have sizable Catholic populations — a mix of traditionally Democratic white working class voters and a smaller, but growing, Hispanic community.

The Pew Research Center estimates one-third of people in the New York City metro area identify as Catholic, and similarly, about a quarter (26 percent) in Philadelphia.

Many of those Catholics lean left — 46 percent surveyed by Pew in New York and Pennsylvania identify as Democrats.

For a full breakdown of New York Catholic demographics, you can sift through the data on the Pew website.

The Pennsylvania information is available here.

Correction
April 8, 2016
In a prior version of this story we said that when he visited the U.S. last year, Pope Francis "met briefly with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who defied a court order to issue marriage licenses for gay couples." That was a mischaracterization. The Vatican has said Davis was one of "several dozen" people who came to the Vatican's embassy in Washington to greet the pope. According to the Vatican, the pope did not discuss with Davis the actions she had taken and was not signaling support for what she had done.



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sanders-accused-discourtesy-seeking-vatican-155923152.html;_ylt=AwrB_nDaMghXqsQAhQBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTBsY2xzZWFmBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzYw--

Sanders’s Vatican Invitation Sparks Accusation of ‘Discourtesy’
Bloomberg
By John Follain, Mike Dorning
April 8, 2016 -- 7 hours ago

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s plans to attend a Vatican-sponsored conference put him in the middle of a diplomatic row as a senior Vatican official accused Sanders of showing "monumental discourtesy" in seeking an invitation and for putting a political cast on the gathering in Rome.

Sanders, whose foreign policy experience is under attack by rival Hillary Clinton, said Friday he was “very excited” about being invited to a conference on economic and social issues hosted by a pontifical academy. It will put him at the seat of the Roman Catholic Church just four days before the New York primary.

However it has also inserted Sanders into a dispute among Vatican officials. The president of the academy said Friday that Sanders didn’t follow proper protocol by failing to contact her office and that his presence threatens to make the event political. The academy’s chancellor said he arranged the invitation and defended the Vermont senator.

“Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons,” Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the conference Sanders will attend, said in a telephone interview. “I think in a sense he may be going for the Catholic vote but this is not the Catholic vote and he should remember that and act accordingly -- not that he will.”

‘Categorically Untrue’

Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, disputed Archer and said the characterization of the invitation is “categorically untrue. The invitation came to the senator from the Vatican."

Sanders’s travel to the Vatican following a debate with Clinton and just before the primary injects into the Democratic nominating contest the agenda of Pope Francis, one of the most popular world leaders whose papacy is especially admired by the political progressives who play an outsized role in Democratic primaries.

Archer’s public complaint feeds into criticism by Clinton of Sanders’s inexperience in diplomacy and dealing with foreign institutions, a central role of the U.S. president.

Archer said that while she “quite liked” Sanders’s program on paper, his failure to contact her first is a breach of protocol. “The president of the academy organizing this event has not been contacted with monumental discourtesy,” she said, referring to herself.

First Move

Sanders “made the first move two or three days ago,” Archer said. She did not know whom he or his representatives contacted about what she called “this little workshop.” Archer added: “His use of it is clearly a pretext. There are just 20 academics and there will be nothing of policy relevance.”

However Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the chancellor of the Academy, speaking on the phone from New York, said he extended the invitation to Sanders, though he declined to say who initiated the contacts.

“We are interested in having him because we have two presidents coming from Latin America, I thought it would be good to have an authoritative voice from North America,” Sanchez Sorondo said. Asked when he when the invitation was extended, he said, “Quite some time ago.”

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa are listed as speakers at the event on the academy’s website. Sanders is not listed as a speaker.

Respect for Pope

Sanders earlier on Friday said, “this is an invitation from the Vatican, from a pope that I have enormous respect for in term of the level of consciousness that he’s raising on the need to have morality in our economy."

The office of the pope moved quickly to distance the pontiff from Sanders’s visit. Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said Sanders had been invited “not by the pope but by the pontifical academy of social sciences.” Lombardi told the Italian news agency Ansa: “For the moment there is no expectation that there will also be a meeting with the pope.”

Francis has raised the Catholic church’s emphasis on issues of poverty, environmental stewardship and aid to refugees. The pope already has played a role in this year’s election through criticism of anti-immigrant policies embraced by Republican candidates.

Foreign Tours

Presidential candidates including Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 made tours of foreign capitals to respond to criticism of inexperience though in both cases they traveled to multiple countries and waited until after they had clinched their party’s nominations.

The invitation was announced Friday by Sanders and by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the conference. It was made public on the same day Francis released a document calling for the church to be more welcoming and less judgmental and signaling a path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion.

The conference Sanders will attend marks the 25th anniversary of an encyclical by Pope John Paul II that criticized excesses of unfettered capitalism.

Foreign leaders including Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Bolivian President Evo Morales also will attend the conference, as will international development economist Jeffrey Sachs, according to a statement released by the pontifical academy.

‘Not Christian’

Francis injected himself into the U.S. presidential campaign in February when he responded to a journalist’s question about Republican Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S. southern border to prevent immigrants from crossing illegally.

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the Pope responded. He demurred when asked if Catholics should vote for Trump.

"As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that," Francis responded.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-to-visit-vatican-city-take-brief-break-from-new-york-campaign-trail/

Bernie Sanders, a "big fan of the pope," to visit Vatican next week
By REENA FLORES CBS NEWS
April 8, 2016, 8:57 AM

Photograph -- Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Clinton, Sanders feud intensifies in New York


Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is scheduled to make a trip to the Vatican next week, taking a brief break from campaigning in New York just days ahead of the state's April 19 primary.

Sanders will speak at a conference on social, economic, and environmental issues, hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS). The meeting will take place on April 15, on the 25th anniversary of an encyclical released by Pope John Paul II that addressed those topics.

"I was very moved by the invitation," Sanders said in an MSNBC interview Friday. "I am a big, big fan of the pope. Obviously there are areas where we disagree, on women's rights or gay rights, but he has played an unbelievable role - an unbelievable role - of injecting a moral consequence into the economy."

The Vermont senator, who is Jewish, has expressed admiration for the pope in the past, noting that his primary campaign platform focusing on wealth and income inequality aligns well with Pope Francis' own messages on greed.

"He's talking about the idolatry of money - the worship of money, the greed that's out there, how our whole culture is based on 'I need more and more and more,'" Sanders said. "I worry about veterans sleeping out on the street or elderly people who can't afford their prescription drugs, and he's trying to inject the sense of morality into how we do economics."

While PASS extended the invitation to Sanders, a senior Vatican official later criticized the Democratic candidate for showing "monumental discourtesy" in obtaining the invite.

"Sanders made the first move, for the obvious reasons," Margaret Archer, president of the academy hosting the conference, told Bloomberg in an interview Thursday. "I think in a sense he may be going for the Catholic vote but this is not the Catholic vote and he should remember that and act accordingly -- not that he will."

Michael Shank, who handles communications for the Sanders adviser scheduling the Vatican trip, dismissed the Bloomberg report as "incorrect."

Shank provided CBS News with the PASS invitation sent to Sanders, dated March 30.

"On behalf of the President, Professor Margaret Archer, the Organizers, and as Chancellor, I am very happy to invite you to attend the meeting on 'Centesimus Annus: 25 Years Later,'" read the letter, from a PASS official.

Sanders will leave for Rome the night of April 14, after the Democrats' scheduled New York debate.

The state's primary, where 247 delegates are at stake in a tightening Democratic race, is scheduled less than a week later.

Asked whether the campaign is worried about leaving New York so close to the state's nominating contests, Sanders spokesperson Michael Briggs told CBS News that the senator will still "be in New York in the days leading up to the primary before this short trip and the days afterward."

CBS News' Kylie Atwood and Katiana Krawchencko contributed to this report.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_Academy_of_Social_Sciences

Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) was established in January 1994 by Pope John Paul II and headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican. It operates much like other academies worldwide, but has the special task of entering into dialogue with the Church. Its scientific activities are organised and focused to promote this dialogue.

History[edit]

PASS is one of the Pontifical academies at the Vatican in Rome. It was established to promote the study and progress of the social sciences, primarily economics, sociology, law, and political science. Through appropriate dialogue it offers the Church elements useful to the development of its social doctrine, and it reflects on the application of that doctrine in contemporary society. PASS, which is autonomous, maintains a close relationship with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.[1]

Edmond Malinvaud was the first president of the academy (1994-2004). In 2014 Pope Francis appointed Professor Margaret Archer president. PASS is headquartered in the Casina Pio IV, together with its sister academy the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, at the heart of the Vatican Gardens. The Chancellor of both academies is currently Msgr. Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelo_S%C3%A1nchez_Sorondo

Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo (born 8 September 1942) is an Argentine Catholic bishop and the current Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Having issued a long set of various publications in the sciences, he's also earned several honors such as the Légion d’Honneur of France in 2000.

. . . . Decorations and honours

He was decorated as Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Italian Republic (1999), official of honour of the Légion d’Honneur of France (2000), Grão Mestre da Ordem de Rio Branco of Brazil (2004), official of Austria (2004) and knight of Chile (2006). He was appointed Chaplain Grand Cross of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George in 2006 by Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria and Vice-Grand Prior of the Order in 2008.



http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-vatican-idUSKCN0X5257

Related: ELECTION 2016, POLITICS, POPE
Papal official denies report Sanders invited himself to Vatican
Politics | Fri Apr 8, 2016 2:42pm EDT

Photograph -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders waits to talk to reporters in New York City April 8, 2016. REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself.

"I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event.

He said it was his idea to invite Sanders.

A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first.

"This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer.

An invitation to Sanders dated March 30, which was emailed to Reuters, was signed by Sorondo and also included Archer's name.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella in Vatican City and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Toni Reinhold)


EXCERPTS:

NPR -- “Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome 'the globalization of indifference' in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment. That is our challenge in the United States and in the world," Sanders said in a statement. No meeting between Sanders and Pope Francis has been scheduled. ….
"Pope Francis has made clear that we must overcome 'the globalization of indifference' in order to reduce economic inequalities, stop financial corruption and protect the natural environment. That is our challenge in the United States and in the world," Sanders said in a statement. No meeting between Sanders and Pope Francis has been scheduled. …. Last year, a number of big-city Democratic mayors (Boston's Marty Walsh and New York's Bill de Blasio) attended a Vatican conference on climate change. For Sanders, the trip's timing is also fortuitous, coming just ahead of the New York and Pennsylvania primaries (April 19 and April 26 respectively). …. Many of those Catholics lean left — 46 percent surveyed by Pew in New York and Pennsylvania identify as Democrats.”

Yahoo -- “Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s plans to attend a Vatican-sponsored conference put him in the middle of a diplomatic row as a senior Vatican official accused Sanders of showing "monumental discourtesy" in seeking an invitation and for putting a political cast on the gathering in Rome. …. Archer said that while she “quite liked” Sanders’s program on paper, his failure to contact her first is a breach of protocol. …. The office of the pope moved quickly to distance the pontiff from Sanders’s visit. Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said Sanders had been invited “not by the pope but by the pontifical academy of social sciences.” Lombardi told the Italian news agency Ansa: “For the moment there is no expectation that there will also be a meeting with the pope.”

CBS -- “Sanders will speak at a conference on social, economic, and environmental issues, hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS). The meeting will take place on April 15, on the 25th anniversary of an encyclical released by Pope John Paul II that addressed those topics. "I was very moved by the invitation," Sanders said in an MSNBC interview Friday. "I am a big, big fan of the pope. Obviously there are areas where we disagree, on women's rights or gay rights, but he has played an unbelievable role - an unbelievable role - of injecting a moral consequence into the economy." …. "He's talking about the idolatry of money - the worship of money, the greed that's out there, how our whole culture is based on 'I need more and more and more,'" Sanders said. "I worry about veterans sleeping out on the street or elderly people who can't afford their prescription drugs, and he's trying to inject the sense of morality into how we do economics." …. Michael Shank, who handles communications for the Sanders adviser scheduling the Vatican trip, dismissed the Bloomberg report as "incorrect." Shank provided CBS News with the PASS invitation sent to Sanders, dated March 30. "On behalf of the President, Professor Margaret Archer, the Organizers, and as Chancellor, I am very happy to invite you to attend the meeting on 'Centesimus Annus: 25 Years Later,'" read the letter, from a PASS official.”

Reuters -- “U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak at an April 15 Vatican event by the Vatican, a senior papal official said on Friday, denying a report that Sanders had invited himself. "I deny that. It was not that way," Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo told Reuters in a telephone interview while he was traveling in New York. Sorondo, a close aide to Pope Francis, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting the event. He said it was his idea to invite Sanders. A Bloomberg report quoted Margaret Archer, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Sanders had broken with protocol by failing to contact her office first. "This is not true and she knows it. I invited him with her consensus," said Sorondo, who is senior to Archer. An invitation to Sanders dated March 30, which was emailed to Reuters, was signed by Sorondo and also included Archer's name.”


This is not the first time that reports of conflict within the Vatican have emerged since Pope Francis was elected. Some Catholics, rather than being liberal Democrats like the 46% in the Pew Report poll are quite conservative socially, religiously, and economically. The rightfully infamous Koch faction has power across the world rather than merely in the US. President Archer sounds absolutely hostile to Sanders, though she says she likes his ideas “on paper.” She goes on to accuse him of weaseling his way into the Vatican for purely political reasons. The original interview with her done by Bloomberg, which according to a quick search on the Net is not considered to be politically biased, as CNN and FOX are, clearly was published with no research beforehand. Yahoo picked it up as it was originally, but NPR, CBS and REUTERS put the lie to it, as proven by disclaimers from the Chancellor and copies of the original invitation which was dated March 30, and not within the last few days as Archer said. The Chancellor of PASS essentially called the President a liar, and he outranks her in the hierarchy. Besides, I trust Sanders as an honest man. He will speak at the conference along with two presidents of Latin and South American countries. There is nothing odd about his being among that group.

It would be nice if Sanders were to meet the Pope, but he probably won’t. If he is attending a Vatican conference, though, it seems most likely that he is there by invitation. The Pope did have some things to say about Trump’s promise to deport all the Mexicans and put a huge wall on the border. He said that if Trump does do that he is “not a Christian.” I must say, some of our far right fundamentalist Christians are, to me, also not Christian in the things they do and say. I think Christians should pay more attention to the sermon on the mount and less on strict obedience and whether or not people are “saved.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/terror-in-molenbeek-schaerbeek-brussels-belgium-islamophobia/

What role does Islamophobia play in terror attacks?
By CHRISTINA CAPATIDES CBS NEWS
April 8, 2016, 6:47 PM

Photograph -- gettyimages-518539266.jpg, Mourners pray during the funeral of Loubna Lafquiri, one of the victims of the March 22 attacks in Brussels, at the Cinquantenaire Mosque, April 1, 2016. LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Photographs -- gettyimages-457884794.jpg, People attend a protest march against Islamophobia, on October 26, 2014 in Brussels. NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Photograph -- gettyimages-477232098.jpg, A Muslim women wearing a hijab walks past a graffiti near the European institutions in Brussels, June 15, 2015. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


Days after the deadly Brussels attacks, which killed 32 people at the city's airport and a metro station, right-wing demonstrators appeared at a memorial to denounce the country's Muslim community. A week later, police had to intervene when similar right-wing protesters squared off against anti-racism demonstrators. The confrontations underscore an important, though perhaps uncomfortable, question: to what extent does Islamophobia contribute to the atmosphere of isolation that breeds violent radicals?

"When you have no life objectives, no long-term objectives, you try to find your quest for self elsewhere," explains Tewfik Sahih, a lifelong resident of Schaerbeek, Brussels, the neighborhood in which the bombs used in the Paris and Brussels attacks were made. "Many people feel discriminated [against] here. Some citizens here don't feel part of the national community."

Experts tell CBSN that many of Belgium's disenfranchised Muslims feel more loyalty to their nuclear communities than their country. So, even if they don't necessarily agree with how certain members of their neighborhood or mosque choose to lash out, they might not be inclined to report those people to the authorities either.

"The mafia protects itself. Hooligans with soccer clubs don't betray themselves as well. It's very much a group mentality where you don't betray," explains Michael Privot, director of the European Network Against Racism. "The Muslim community feels really under siege. They are victims themselves of hate crimes. So, if you want to really help them make the change from within ... you have to give them breathing space ... open space for them to build a future."

As it currently stands, most Moroccan and Turkish immigrants live in what is known as the "poor croissant" of Brussels. And the conditions in those neighborhoods offer little hope for social or economic success.

"In Molenbeek, one young person of Moroccan background out of two is unemployed. One family of Moroccan origin [out of two] is below the poverty line. You see, it's dire," says Privot. "Schools are ghettoized. ... You have a whole generation of youngsters, aged 15 to 25, that have no skills because they didn't receive proper support. Not from parents and not from the state. Those young guys are living in Brussels, which is one of the most competitive cities [in the world], but without skills to find a job in their own city."

The actions of the few then spawn a vicious cycle for the many, according to Privot. The societal factors that contributed to the radicalization of the Brussels and Paris attackers are heightened by the fact that they executed attacks. Discrimination against Muslims in neighborhoods like Molenbeek and Schaerbeek worsens. It becomes even harder for members of those struggling communities to find jobs. And perhaps worst of all, it excludes them even further from the Belgian mainstream.

"There is an increase in polarization within the majority community, and a sense of exasperation towards Muslims," Privot said in the aftermath of the March 22 attacks on a Brussels airport and metro station.

"This is really in the mainstream. It's the man and woman on the street who decides to take justice in their hands and insult someone. ... A few months back, people would not resort to insults. Now, people do resort to racists slurs. You really see and feel the tensions within the society. So, this is one more nail in the coffin of social cohesion."

"Terror in Brussels: Hiding In Plain Sight" airs on CBSN at 8 PM ET on Monday April 11.


EXCERPTS -- “Days after the deadly Brussels attacks, which killed 32 people at the city's airport and a metro station, right-wing demonstrators appeared at a memorial to denounce the country's Muslim community. A week later, police had to intervene when similar right-wing protesters squared off against anti-racism demonstrators. The confrontations underscore an important, though perhaps uncomfortable, question: to what extent does Islamophobia contribute to the atmosphere of isolation that breeds violent radicals? "When you have no life objectives, no long-term objectives, you try to find your quest for self elsewhere," explains Tewfik Sahih. …. Experts tell CBSN that many of Belgium's disenfranchised Muslims feel more loyalty to their nuclear communities than their country. So, even if they don't necessarily agree with how certain members of their neighborhood or mosque choose to lash out, they might not be inclined to report those people to the authorities either. …. It's very much a group mentality where you don't betray," explains Michael Privot, director of the European Network Against Racism. "The Muslim community feels really under siege. They are victims themselves of hate crimes. So, if you want to really help them make the change from within ... you have to give them breathing space ... open space for them to build a future." …. "This is really in the mainstream. It's the man and woman on the street who decides to take justice in their hands and insult someone. ... A few months back, people would not resort to insults. Now, people do resort to racists slurs.”


Whenever groups are concentrated together in unmixed housing as the Islamic groups in Belgium and France have been, it causes defensiveness on group lines. This is very similar to the relationship of whites in the US to both the black and Hispanic communities. We have the term “white flight,” referring to the sifting over time toward “ghettoization.” Some Asian groups have been harassed as well, and now we have relatively new Islamic refugees to add to the mix, who wear strange clothing and pray in large groups on the sidewalk. A few Muslim men in the US have actually committed “honor killings” to “cleanse the family” of the stain of a daughter’s shamed when she went against her father’s wishes and dated a young of her choice, especially a non-Islamic man.

Both groups, Christians and Muslims, are behaving badly. There is a stubborn war of mutual hostility and competition that is going on, and we are very likely to have even worse violence as time goes on. Whatever Muslims or Christians feel about being disrespected; violence, taunts, and racial slurs are totally unacceptable. Do we need laws to prevent these hostilities before they become violence? See thefire below.


https://www.thefire.org/misconceptions-about-the-fighting-words-exception/

Misconceptions About the Fighting Words Exception
By Sean Clark
September 20, 2006


The "fighting words" exception to the freedom of speech is widely misunderstood and abused by college administrators. This is, in part, due to the twisted legal path that the doctrine has been down over the last six decades.

The original fighting words doctrine was born out of Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942). Chaplinsky, a Jehovah’s Witness, was convicted of disturbing the peace for yelling at a local sheriff, “You are a God damned racketeer” and “a damned Fascist” and for further remarking, “the whole government of Rochester are Fascists or agents of Fascists.” The Supreme Court upheld his conviction, creating a narrow category of speech—“fighting words”—that did not enjoy the protections of the First Amendment. The fighting words doctrine, as originally announced in Chaplinsky, found that two types of speech were not protected—words that by their very utterance inflict injury, and speech that incites an immediate breach of the peace.

It is the former category that has spawned most of the confusion. Campus censors frequently cite this to legally justify policies that prohibit offensive or indecent language, even though subsequent case law has effectively invalidated this portion of Chaplinsky’s holding.

Seven years after the decision, the Supreme Court began to limit the Chaplinsky holding. In Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U.S. 1 (1949), the petitioner, a preacher, was convicted of disturbing the peace for delivering a fiery speech to a large, restless crowd in which he denounced various political and ethnic groups. In invalidating his conviction, the majority stated:

[The] function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech, though not absolute, is nevertheless protected against censorship or punishment. (Internal citation omitted.)

The Court refused to find that Terminiello’s speech fell within the fighting words exception. Over the next few decades, the Supreme Court continued to narrow the fighting words doctrine and to extend First Amendment protections to offensive or vulgar speech.

The Supreme Court was once again confronted with defining fighting words in Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971). Cohen, the petitioner, was convicted of disturbing the peace for wearing a jacket with “Fuck the Draft” emblazoned on it into a courthouse. In invalidating his conviction, the Court ruled that offensive language did not constitute fighting words. The majority held that fighting words were only “those personally abusive epithets which, when addressed to the ordinary citizen, are, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke violent reaction.”

The very next year, in Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518 (1972), the Court cited Cohen and stated that speech that is “vulgar or offensive…is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.” Then, the very next term, the Court reaffirmed this stance in Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (1973) by finding that the pronouncement “we’ll take the fucking street later” did not constitute fighting words.

In assessing the fighting words doctrine at this point, it is important to note the speech involved in Gooding. While assaulting a police officer, Gooding shouted, “White son of a bitch, I’ll kill you.” “You son of a bitch, I’ll choke you to death.” and “You son of a bitch, if you ever put your hands on me again, I’ll cut you all to pieces.” If this speech doesn’t constitute fighting words, one would be hard-pressed to think of speech that would qualify.

Gooding was the nail in the coffin—if the fighting words exception has any real vitality left at all (and many commentators, including Nadine Strossen, think it is essentially dead) the Supreme Court has effectively limited the exception to only include abusive language, exchanged face to face, which would likely provoke a violent reaction.

It now seems clear that lewd, vulgar, or profane speech doesn’t fall within the fighting words exception. But someone forgot to tell college administrators, who continue to try to use the fighting words doctrine to punish and censor students. This is probably because the Supreme Court has never expressly overruled its holding in Chaplinsky. Either as the result of confusion or bad faith, many administrators ignore the modifications made by the Supreme Court and use the original holding as a legal justification to censor offensive, vulgar, and profane speech. One example of this can be found at UNC-Charlotte, where the fighting words harassment policy bans “terms or gestures widely recognized to be derogatory references to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other personal characteristics.”

Administrators would be wise to know that attempts to use the fighting words doctrine to justify censorship have been roundly rejected. Federal courts have refused to use the fighting words doctrine as a justification to uphold university speech codes that regulate offensive or indecent language. See Dambrot v. Central Michigan University, 55 F.3d 1177 (6th Cir. 1995); UWM Post, Inc. v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 774 F. Supp. 1163 (E.D. Wis. 1991); Doe v. University of Michigan, 721 F. Supp. 852 (E.D. Mich. 1989). In Papish v. Board of Curators of the University of Missouri, 410 U.S. 667 (1973), the Supreme Court found that a student newspaper cartoon depicting a policeman raping the Statue of Liberty under the headline “Mother Fucker Acquitted” was protected speech, and a federal appeals courts invalidated, on free speech grounds, a punishment for a fraternity that hosted an “ugly woman” contest featuring a performer in blackface. Iota Xi Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity v. George Mason University., 993 F.2d 386 (4th Cir. 1993). These cases demonstrate, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that public colleges cannot constitutionally punish indecent or offensive speech merely by branding the speech “fighting words.”

Unfortunately, either knowingly or unknowingly, administrators still to this day attempt to use the fighting words doctrine to justify punishing students for offensive speech. But those decisions often take place behind the closed doors of a disciplinary committee hearing or are used as a “bargaining chip” to force students to submit to mandatory “tolerance” education or face a higher punishment.

These unfortunate abuses offer yet another example of why you must know your rights. Educate yourself, find local attorneys or professors to host free speech seminars, bring in outside speakers to discuss the First Amendment, and get a free copy of FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus.



EXCERPTS -- The original fighting words doctrine was born out of Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942). …. The fighting words doctrine, as originally announced in Chaplinsky, found that two types of speech were not protected—words that by their very utterance inflict injury, and speech that incites an immediate breach of the peace. It is the former category that has spawned most of the confusion. Campus censors frequently cite this to legally justify policies that prohibit offensive or indecent language …. The majority held that fighting words were only “those personally abusive epithets which, when addressed to the ordinary citizen, are, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke violent reaction.” …. One example of this can be found at UNC-Charlotte, where the fighting words harassment policy bans “terms or gestures widely recognized to be derogatory references to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other personal characteristics.”


Okay, so if only insults delivered face to face can be banned as “fighting words,” I wonder where concepts like “disturbing the peace” and “hate crimes” come in? Some Conservative and liberal individuals as well have recently called for a Constitutional Convention for the modification of parts of the law, to suit more modern times. Maybe we need to modify the Constitution in this matter, also. It’s clear that with issues like racial/religion/gender conflicts that end in violence becoming too common, we need to do something that is both effective and constitutional. Hostile behavior based on group identity can only cause things like violence, whether it’s jihad or simple bullying. It’s all so hurtful that we can only lose our position as a civilized society.