Pelosi: When Human Life Begins Has ‘No Basis’ in Public Policy; Swedish bishop wants to remove crosses from church...more

Nancy Pelosi: When Human Life Begins Has ‘No Basis’ in Public Policy  ...“No, listen, I want to say something to you,” Pelosi said. “I don’t know who you are, and you’re welcome to be here, freedom of this press. I am a devout practicing Catholic, a mother of five children. When my baby was born, my fifth child, my oldest child was six years old. I think I know more about this subject than you, with all due respect.”

“So it’s not a human being, then?” the reporter asked.

“I do not intend to respond to your questions, which have no basis in what public policy is that we do here,” Pelosi said...

South Carolina hit by torrential rainfall, eight dead  ...The storm had dumped more than 20 inches (50 cm) of rain in parts of central South Carolina since Friday, the National Weather Service said. The state climatologist forecast another 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm) through Monday as the rain began to slacken...

Don’t Panic: Why Technophobes Have Been Getting It Wrong Since Gutenberg  ...Although our apprehension about new tech seems to grow increasingly dire, fear has gone hand in hand with technological advancements throughout history. “It’s interesting to see the lament of each generation overwhelmed by the next new tool,” technology forecaster Paul Saffo said in a 2006 interview. “I can show you passages from scholars of Germany in the 1480s lamenting the fact that they are overloaded with all this stuff to read because of the printing press.”...

Why Ancient Rome Matters to the Modern World Failure in Iraq, debates about freedom, expenses scandals, sex advice … the Romans seem versions of ourselves. But then there’s the slavery and the babies on rubbish heaps. We need to understand ancient Rome, but should we take lessons from it?

Ancient City of Palmyra at Risk of Complete Destruction by Islamic State

Swedish bishop wants to remove crosses from church and mark direction of Mecca to make it more inviting for Muslims ...The bishop wants to temporarily make the Seamen’s Church available to all, for example by marking the direction of Mecca and removing Christian symbols, as is already done in common prayer rooms at airports and in some hospital chapel...

2011: The church in Sweden has become increasingly progressive. In 1958, it allowed its first female priests, and two years ago ordained its first openly gay bishop, Eva Brunne, and gave priests the right to wed same-sex couples.

Correcting the New York Times’s Absurd Vision of the Modern Man Love it.