Trump Posts 46-Minute Speech to Social Media, Claiming American Elections Are Under Assault

Currents News Staff

In a 46-minute speech posted to Facebook and Twitter, President Donald Trump reiterated claims of voter fraud and irregularities that he says took place during what he called a ridiculously long November 3 election.

“If we are right about the fraud, Joe Biden can’t be president,” he said Dec. 3.

“We used to have what was called Election Day,” he continued. “Now we have Election days, weeks and months, and lots of bad things happened during this ridiculous period of time.”

At one point President Trump used a chart to show how he went from leading by a lot in Wisconsin, to losing by a little. He claims there’s evidence that the election results are wrong, particularly in swing states.

“Dozens of counties in the key swing states have more registered voters on the rolls than they have voting age citizens,” he said.

This speech also took place on the same day President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani appeared before the Michigan House oversight committee. Giuliani is alleging that Democrats led a concerted effort to steal the election across the country, including in Detroit where Biden won by a large margin.

“This is a swindle. It’s a con job. It’s a theft of an election,” he said, “and it was carried out by the same method in the city of Detroit. It’s not the first one they stole. And it’s not the last one they’re going to steal unless we do something about it.”

Meanwhile, on Dec. 2, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department had, so far, not seen fraud on a scale that would change the outcome of the election. Recounts in Wisconsin and Georgia also didn’t change the results.

Georgia’s election implementation manager Gabriel Sterling, who is Republican, had this to say:

“I mean it’s looney tunes. It’s the president’s literally coming to Georgia to campaign for the same two senators that his two former lawyers were filing lawsuits to contest the election with the same claims the president made in his very long, 46-minute video yesterday that have already been debunked. I’m speechless. That’s the best I got right now.”

How the Martyred Maryknoll Sisters Inspired This Woman to Become a Missionary in El Salvador

Currents News Staff

Pope Francis spoke about the four missionaries from the United States who were brutally murdered 40 years ago in El Salvador. Just as the Holy Father said, one woman from Pennsylvania did transform her life and that of her family.

Melissa Altman moved her entire family down to El Salvador to continue their work as a lay missioner, since she was so inspired by the good work of Maryknoll Sisters Ita Forde and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan.

Melissa joined Currents News to discuss her ministry and life in the Central American country.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can get involved with the Maryknoll lay missionary work, head on over to MKLM.ORG

Cardinal George Pell Reflects on Life in Prison and Forgiveness After Release

By Jessica Easthope

Cardinal George Pell is back in Rome after being released from prison in April.

For 404 days Cardinal Pell sat, isolated in a prison cell, wrongly convicted of sexual abuse based on a single testimony against him.

“I was quite incredulous initially because I never believed that would happen, and not just my people, but many independent lawyers also told me. The case that was referred to the judges, I thought, was ridiculous. Totally implausible in a great cathedral,” Cardinal Pell said of the case.

During his time in prison, Cardinal Pell wrote of his suffering in a diary he has decided to make public. He also wrote to other prisoners about their shared experiences.

“I tried to write to all the prisoners, respond to all the prisoners, and hardly anybody else. One or two others I replied to,” he said.

Reflecting on the worst period of his life Cardinal Pell says what got him through was the support from his family and his church.

“Pope Francis supported me strongly through all these troubles. I had a very pleasant meeting with him, and I’m very grateful for his support and for the support of Pope Benedict,” Cardinal Pell said.

While in prison, Cardinal Pell’s reputation was shattered, his future was uncertain, but his faith never wavered.

“The Christian package works. Jesus’ teachings are true and bear fruit and give life, give you strength. The importance of forgiveness, of struggling to forgive, is good for peace of heart and peace of mind,” said Cardinal Pell

The first volume of Cardinal Pell’s diary, “Prison Journal” will be released on December 15.

Currents News full broadcast for Wed, 12/2/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

A grim warning from the White House corona taskforce as we find out when the first vaccine batch will be delivered to New York.

Marking World Aids Day and remembering those we lost at a Mass at Saint Augustine’s Church in Park Slope.

A hidden treasure trove of history and faith inside a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

White House Coronavirus Task Force Warns of Nationwide Health Risks This Winter

Currents News Staff

A dramatic, dire assessment from the White House Coronavirus Task Force to states was written in a weekly report:

“We are in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; a further post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care overall.”

Doctors nationwide are bracing for the worst.

“Every doctor’s worst fear is that patients come to us and we can’t give them the best care,” said Jason Mitchell, Chief Medical Officer at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, “we can’t give them everything we need to take care of them.”

Urgency, also felt on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers resume talks about getting Americans some sort of financial relief soon.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s working on a bill that would include more small business funding, and an extension of the federal unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of the year.

“In the last several days, Democratic leaders have shown a new willingness to engage,” said McConnell.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that President Trump would sign McConnell’s bill.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has laid out priority groups – medical workers and long-term care facility residents – for the first wave of vaccines, expected to reach states before christmas.

“I think states are getting ready,” said Eric Toner, Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. ”They’ve been working on their plans now for a couple months.”

On Dec.2, the United Kingdom approved Pfizer Biontech’s vaccine, the first western country to sign off on a COVID-19 vaccine.

Workers Rights Organization Helps Employees Fight Wage Theft as Similar Cases Skyrocket Amid COVID

By Emily Drooby

Fourteen workers in New York City are out $29,000 — wages they say were stolen.

Osmar Cruz is one of them, claiming he’s owed for almost two months of work and that he and his colleagues were fired after speaking up.

“We have nothing in our pockets, and we really need the money,” he told Currents News.

Desperate for help, he and others turned to the Worker’s Justice Project, a Brooklyn-based immigrant workers’ rights organization.

Osmar came to the U.S. five years ago.

“Some people are crying because they don’t have anything to feed their families,” he explained.

Worker’s Justice Project says wage theft has become prevalent during the pandemic. Before they used to see about four cases a week, now they see at least 12. it’s happening at all kinds of jobs: delivery, construction and domestic work.

Worker’s Justice Project put together a protest for Osmar and his colleagues outside of 430 East 58th Street, where the workers earned their wages. It’s a luxury building that pierces the sky.

“Our families, our children, they’re asking for food and we don’t have anything,” Osmar said, “and now it’s the holidays they’re asking for their gifts and we don’t have anything to give them. So that’s why we are protesting.”

They’re protesting for their money, and for their jobs back.

In this case the workers say Cassway Contracting hired a subcontractor, Mario Infante, and he hired them. The workers are holding both accountable for the money.

Speaking to Currents News, the subcontractor said Cassway also owes them a large sum of money, adding that as a small company waiting for it has been very difficult.

Cassway contracting has yet to return a request for comment.

But they did answer the workers – calling them during the protest – to set up another call, essentially the first step of negotiations.

Worker’s Justice Project tells Currents News this is a step in the right direction, but the hard work is not yet done. They’ve still got negotiations ahead of them, and if those fall through, potentially more protests. That means more time before these workers get the money they so desperately need.

A Look at How the Vatican’s DREAM Program Is Making Access to AIDS Treatment Possible Amid Pandemic

Currents News Staff

“This center shows us that there are always people ready to stop and show compassion, who do not yield to the temptation to say, ‘There is nothing to be done,” or ‘It’s impossible to fight this scourge.’ Instead, you have set about finding solutions,” Pope Francis said Sept. 6, 2019.

The DREAM program was born in 2002 and is directed by the Community of Sant’Egidio. It offers anti-retro-viral therapy to people who can’t afford it, or have a hard time finding transportation to access it. DREAM has allowed for the births of 130,000 healthy babies in Africa, children of people with the virus.

The program offers a new public health model based on health education and the participation of beneficiaries to form a new culture: AIDS is no longer a death sentence, but a problem that can be treated. At the same time, patients recognize that access to treatment is free and a right.

“In Africa, people thought it was impossible to do antiretroviral therapy as was done in the West, for various reasons: prejudice, cultural motives, etc.,” Paola Germano General Coordinator, for the DREAM program told Currents News. “We showed this wasn’t true, and we fought to introduce free antiretroviral therapy. These are people who could not have afforded medical treatment on their own.”

More than one year after the pontiff’s visit — in the middle of an unrelenting pandemic — the main challenge continues to be guaranteeing universal access to medication, especially in rural areas.

“HIV was and is still a pandemic. COVID-19 is a pandemic, and we’ll have other pandemics in the future,” Paola Explained. “Being able to continue to work to set up programs like that of the Community of Sant’Egidio, which creates structures and a new health culture in countries means offering a possibility to everyone to not be unprepared.”

Right now the DREAM program is active in 10 countries. With 50 centers and 28 laboratory clinics, it has helped millions of people.

A Look Into the Warehouse Holding Artifacts and History of the Brooklyn Diocese

By Jessica Easthope

On a dead-end street in Bushwick there’s a hidden treasure trove of history and faith. This warehouse isn’t sacred, but all of the things that make a church holy are housed in this building.

“You’re talking history here. All of these objects were devotional donations from people of generations ago, I feel like a custodian of the heritage of the diocese,” said Monsignor John Bracken. the former Vicar General and current Director of the Office of Patrimony. He oversees it all.

Whenever a church in the Diocese of Brooklyn closes, undergoes a renovation or makes a change, whatever the church doesn’t need goes to the warehouse. The warehouse, which used to be an auto repair shop, is now home to everything from the functional to the sacred. Among the statues, pews, stained glass windows and doors are some truly special items.

But that’s how the statues get there, but how they go is more complicated. All of the items are photographed, documented and appraised. Churches can take what they want in exchange for donations. Some are bigger than others, there are even items that make their way across the world.

“To deal with the effects of the earthquake in Haiti, we were able to send pews. We recently donated some bells to Haiti, and we used to have a statue of Our Lady of the Skies, and it is now in Costa Rica,” Monsignor Bracken said.

When there’s no longer a need for them, churches give everything from their most precious statues to even the collection baskets, but not anyone can take them — they stay within the church community.

“We don’t want things that were given as devotional items by people of generations ago to wind up in the wrong places. That would be sacrilegious to see some of our beautiful artwork in places that are inappropriate,” said Monsignor Bracken.

Though the items are removed from their original sacred places, for Monsignor Bracken their holiness remains. Some objects date back decades, others even longer, but each holds a special piece of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

“Being able to take something that was so meaningful to people who lived 100 years ago, to place it in the home of a church, where it will be venerated again, means that the history continues. The river of faith continues to flow here richly in Brooklyn,” said Monsignor Bracken.

Monsignor Bracken is confident every item will find a home someday. Until then, they sit in the place where history and faith collide.

Rudy Giuliani Holds Hearing in Arizona, Claiming Election Fraud Allegations in the State

By Jessica Easthope

A panel of legislators listened to President Donald Trump’s campaign attorney, Rudy Giuliani, lay out election fraud he says took place not only in Arizona, but in other battleground states.

“This election was the subject of a conspiracy that goes back before the election, that was hatched by the crooked leaders of the Democratic party,” said Giuliani.

“It’s not just Arizona that has been conned,” he continued, “the people of Arizona taken advantage of and their right to vote taken away from them. It’s the people of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Nevada that we know of.”

On Monday Nov. 30, Giuliani called in an expert to testify that the Dominion manufactured ballot machines people cast their votes on could have been subject to hacking or manipulation.

‘The voting systems in the U.S. and Arizona by Dominion and other machines were built to be manipulated,” testified cybersecurity expert Colonel Phil Waldron. “They’ve been used in elections around the world with questionable results, and we believe those same questionable results are present in this election.”

He wasn’t the only one who testified. For nearly 11 hours, many others explained why they too thought Arizona’s elections were possibly compromised. But a representative for Dominion said any manipulation of votes and such widespread fraud would have been impossible.

“If any electronic interference had taken place, the tally reported electronically would not match the printed ballots,” said Michael Steele, a company representative.

Joe Biden ended up carrying Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, or three tenths of one percent of the vote, with 11 electoral votes up for grabs. Giuliani says the American people have been robbed of their rights, urging the state to throw out the results of the election.

“If your right to vote has been taken away so is mine,” he said. “We have an illegitimate election.”

On Dec. 1, Attorney General Bill Barr said the Justice department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Joe Biden won by more than one tenth of one percent, which according to state law doesn’t justify an automatic recount. In addition to being declared the winner in Arizona, Monday was also the first day projected winner Joe Biden was given access to president trump’s daily intelligence brief.

Currents News full broadcast for Tues, 12/1/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

It’s still not over – President Trump’s campaign attorney, Rudy Giuliani, continues the fight – laying out his case of voter fraud in Arizona.

Will a new bipartisan proposal on Capitol Hill break the stalemate over a coronavirus relief bill?

And on this Giving Tuesday – how you can make Christmas brighter for every boy and girl in the Brooklyn Diocese.