Giving a speech at your Bar Mitzvah is an important rite of passage for young Jewish men. Duncan McAlpine Sennett of Portland, OR used his opportunity to talk about what really matters to him – supporting gay marriage. LINK

Pope Francis is undergoing a popularity surge comparable to the way Barack Obama was greeted by the world in 2008. And just as President Obama has been a disappointment for America, Pope Francis will prove a disaster for the Catholic Church. My fellow Catholics should be suspicious when bastions of anti-Catholicism in the left-wing media are in love with him. LINK

When I was a little boy, I didn’t know the difference between a cemetery and a seminary. But now I do. The cemetery is where they bury dead people. The seminary is where they bury truth. LINK

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A truck that contained highly radioactive material that could be used by terrorists to create a ‘dirty bomb’ has been found but the lives of the thieves who stole it could be in danger. The highly radioactive material was found in an empty parking lot about a kilometer from Hueypoxtla, a small farming town of about 4,000 people – close to where it was originally stolen. LINK

A lorry driver died today as gusts of up to 140mph battered Britain in a hurricane-force storm and more than 120,000 homes were left without power. The most serious coastal tidal surge for 60 years was predicted and forecasters feared the worst is yet to come during tonight’s high tide at about 10pm.  LINK

His set list focused on material from “Yeezus,” the Chicagoan’s abrasive sixth album. Dancers held him aloft as he unleashed primal screams during “I Am a God,” one of the project’s most confrontational selections. Three supplemental musicians added pleasing accents to prerecorded backing tracks. LINK

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wo weeks ago, the liberal Center for Media and Democracy kicked off a national campaign to reveal the identities of anonymous contributors to conservative groups in an effort to unseat the GOP governor here. Now the group may have to answer embarrassing questions about its own finances. LINK

With a pillar of fire stretching up into the clouds, this spectacular image captures the moment a volcano erupted in remote Russia. The stream of lava rose up to a kilometre above the summit of Klyuchevskoy, one of the active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula in the east of the country. LINK

According to the report, the “firearm-related murder and non-negligent homicide” rate was 6.6 per 100,000 Americans in 1993. Following the exponential growth in the number of guns, that rate fell to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2000. LINK

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Same-sex couples are taking advantage of Hawaii’s newfound aloha for gay weddings. Six couples at a Waikiki resort tied the knot early Monday, exchanging vows side-by-side with one another in front of a few hundred guests shortly after midnight, while even more couples watched and waited their turn. LINK

Reports out of Rome say the Pontiff will visit Israel in late May, and his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning seemed to encourage such speculation. As NCR reports, Netanyahu gave Francis a book his father wrote on the Spanish inquisition. Thanks, I guess. But it had a nice inscription: “To his holiness, Pope Francescus, a great shepherd of our common heritage.” From the Israeli government photo, it looks like Francis also got a nice menorah in time for the holidays.

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh slammed Pope Francis’ stance on social justice in his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” calling the document “pure Marxism” on his show. LINK