Saturday, October 31, 2020

In the news, Monday, October 19, 2020


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OCT 18      INDEX      OCT 20
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from Financial Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH, business and economic newspaper in London, UK

US charges Russians over hackings including French ruling party
The US has charged six Russian military intelligence officers with a hacking spree that included France’s ruling party, the Olympics and the UK government lab that investigated the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

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from The Living Church
Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)

FACING EPISCOPAL CHURCH DECLINE – THE LATEST NUMBERS
The Episcopal Church has published new statistics from the annual parochial reports, covering 2019. They build on what we have hitherto learnt and give us a significant steer as to what is likely to happen in the future. Occurring in the time of COVID-19, they make deeply challenging reading. But, alongside the tough message of the numbers, there are ways to go forward hopefully. With the latest figures, we now have almost two decades-worth of data since serious decline set in around 2000. This means we can make substantive judgments on future trends. What I say builds on Dr. Jeremy Bonner’s important chapter on TEC in the work, Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present (Routledge, 2017), which goes up to 2010-11. There are four key metrics: members, average Sunday attendance, baptisms, and marriages. ... The current period has been likened to wartime. And in the suffering and deep disruption, that analogy makes sense. What is rarely also noted is that the Second World War was a time of significant spiritual renewal for Anglicanism. It was the age of C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers and T.S. Eliot. Churchgoing was probably more vigorous in the late 1940s and 50s than for much of the 20th century. The Third Reich and Cold War made talk of sin and death meaningful and made people yearn for redemption. COVID-19 is extremely tough, but out of this death could come new congregational life.

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from Military.com
News & Media Website

President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill authorizing the Congressional Gold Medal for the legendary all-volunteer jungle fighters of World War II known as "Merrill's Marauders." In a statement Saturday, Trump said he was approving the award for the soldiers of the Army's 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) in "recognition of their bravery and outstanding service in the jungles of Burma during World War II." The Marauders were formed in 1943 out of the vision of Maj. Gen. Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell, who saw the need for "long-range penetration" units to combat the Japanese in Burma, now Myanmar. He named Merrill, a brigadier general, to lead the missions, code-named "Galahad." Although fully operational for only a few months, the Marauders gained a reputation for fierce fighting and endurance on long-range marches across forbidding terrain. About 3,000 soldiers volunteered for the unit; eight survive today.

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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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from Washington Policy Center
Educational Research Center in Seattle, Washington

Capital gains income tax background information
As we wait for the Governor’s 2021-23 budget proposal due in December and the 2021 Legislative Session, discussions of imposing a capital gains income tax continue to intensify. Since there appears to be some confusion about what type of tax this is and the motivations for it, here is important background information to consider.

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