Headlines around the world

Brazilian football team's plane crashes in Colombia. 
In our prayers.

-----------------------------
SenseOfEvents  and Instapundit report there is a large wildfire in eastern Tennessee.

and yes, the National Guard is there helping local responders.

Also in our prayers. I lived in New Mexico the summer when there were many fires nearby, but we didn't make it into the news because Los Alamos burnt down.

---------------------
How dare you cause scandal by questioning the Pope!

heh. you mean like St Athanasius did?

Via Father Z.

The problem with the rant is that, contrary to what this guy is claiming, the pastoral instructions are not an "ex cathedra" proclamation, so yes, they can be questioned.

Indeed, contrary to his claim, the Bishops' meeting did not advise on the questionable changes, and even intervened to have them removed from the final document... but then they were added as a footnote no one noted, and then the Pope (or more probably his proxies) wrote a very very long document hoping no one would notice those parts in the middle of his muddled writing.

Even the NCReporter (a liberal catholic paper) admits this:

One group of bishops, led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, would like to see a pastoral solution that would allow a penitential process leading to Communion for such Catholics, but this is opposed by others, perhaps a majority, who feel that this would violate church doctrine.

and then there is this:

The Pope has said that communion is not only for good Catholics. Francisco says

Uh, Paul begs to differ.

this could lead to an open schism in the church.

and no, despite the MSM's breathless reports, every remark made by the Pope in a conversation on an airplane, usually taken out of context, are not church dogma: They are merely his opinions, which is why the schism hasn't happened yet.

and why I still use my airconditioner.

Sigh. In our prayers.

----------------------------------

Tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer?  they are discussing a newer cheaper drug that works as well as Tamoxifen.

And this might be good for those who have the breast cancer gene.

But even there, the actual number of cases prevented not as impressive as you think:

in a previous study of 1700 women:

 251 women from the tamoxifen group versus 350 from the placebo group developed breast cancer

so it's a 30 percent decrease, but a lot still got cancer. And there are side effects, including osteoporosis and uterine cancer, and mentioned is the depression side effects and the effect on libido etc.

Surgery is another option, of course.

which might be why the NYTimes had an article on the going flat activists last week...

Angela Jolie call your office

----------------------------

German intelligence hires a German guy who is an Islamic convert and  discovers he is planning bomb attacks there.

Making converts and then using them to kill is a lot more dangerous for countries, which is why, although the Maute group was probably behind the bom left near the US Embassy in Manila, the photo suggests that the Manila cops worry about our '"reverts"  helped them.

Merkel responds to worried Germans by hugging a young refugee.

Uh, Ms Merkel: It's not the refugees, or even the Muslims: It's this:

There are an estimated 40,000 Islamists in Germany, including 9,200 ultra-conservative Islamists known as Salafists, the head of the BfV told Reuters news agency earlier in November.

well, maybe it's not pc to screen refugees, but at least you should start screening government employees...


-------------------------

StrategyPage on what's going on in Syria.

Had Islamic terrorists like al Qaeda and ISIL not gotten involved the Assads would probably have been defeated by now. But the Islamic terrorists had made so many enemies in the region and internationally that the rebels got distracted and the Assads took advantage of the situation. The Assads had something else going for them. They are ruthless and don’t care what the rest of the world thinks.

ISIL does atrocities and gets the headlines, but Assad is responsible for 80 percent of the civilian casualties in the area.

so who do you back? It's like the choice between Hitler and Stalin in WWII: you go after the one who is behind the attacks on you right now, not the one that might nuke you sometime in the future.

Sigh. Also in our prayers.

---------------------------