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Muslims crack down on freedom of religion in Kashmir

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From the National Catholic Register. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

The sharia court in Muslim-majority Kashmir has no constitutional or legal authority. But its recent verdict ordering the expulsion of five Christians from the troubled Indian side of Kashmir has sent alarm bells ringing among Christians in India.

Apart from ordering the expulsion of the Christians, the court also directed the government of Jammu and Kashmir to take over the management of the Christian missionary schools besides monitoring their activities.

Those ordered to be expelled include Father Jim Borst of the Dutch Mill Hill Missionaries, who has been based in Kashmir since 1963.

“This is much more than conversion. It is humiliating and certainly threatening for us,” Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar told the Register Jan. 27, reacting to the verdict.

Srinagar is the capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is nestled in the Himalayas.

On Jan. 19, the court ordered the expulsion of Father Borst, along with two Protestant pastors and their wives, accusing them of “luring the (Kashmir) valley Muslims to Christianity.”

The verdict focused more on Pastor Chander Mani Khanna of the Protestant All Saints Church at Srinagar and pronounced him guilty of conversion. The pastor of the Church of North India had been arrested in November by state police on the dubious charge of “fomenting communal trouble” after Muslim groups pressed charges against him. Though the civil court released him on bail, the sharia court went ahead with its own trial.

“Khanna and his associates have been found guilty of spreading communal disaffection and were involved in immoral activities. They are ordered to be expelled from the state,” deputy grand mufti of Jammu and Kashmir, Nasir-ul-Islam, said Jan.19 while reading the verdict of the sharia court.

Father Borst, a well-known retreat preacher, runs the Good Shepherd School at Pulwama. The school had been partially burnt during widespread protests against the desecration of the Quran in the United States during the 9/11 anniversary in 2010.

I think it says something about a religion when the only way they can stop people from leaving their faith is through coercion and violence.

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Stimulus-funded power grid project has cyber security vulnerabilities

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From Fox News. (H/T Dad)

Excerpt:

A multibillion-dollar stimulus push to modernize the nation’s power grid is raising cybersecurity concerns, as the Department of Energy’s official watchdog reports that dozens of grant recipients came to the table with inadequate security plans.

The finding comes amid new warnings about cybersecurity threats, and a rash of international cyber attacks.

The power grid program in question is in the Energy Department, and received a $3.5 billion infusion in the 2009 stimulus package. That money was awarded to 99 recipients, with individual grants ranging up to $200 million.

In a January report, the inspector general for the Energy Department found “shortcomings” in those recipients’ cybersecurity plans.

Though the projects are still being developed, the report noted that “existing gaps … could allow system compromise before controls are implemented.”

In one instance, the report said an unnamed recipient had never conducted a “formal risk assessment” — without which, “threats and weaknesses may go unidentified and expose the recipient’s systems to an unacceptable level of risk.”

The IG report said 36 of the 99 cybersecurity plans were “lacking” in at least one area. Though the Energy Department told the recipients to update their plans, the report found “the initial weaknesses had not always been addressed.”

No one spends someone else’s money as wisely as they spend their own money.

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Pennsylvania begins drug testing welfare recipients

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From Fox News. (H/T Dad)

Excerpt:

Pennsylvania officials are wading into the controversial territory of drug-testing welfare recipients, testing out a new program Republicans say is meant to prevent beneficiaries from getting a “free ride.”

After a federal judge blocked a much broader drug-test rule in Florida, Pennsylvania is taking a more careful approach. Instead of mandating drug tests for all welfare recipients, Pennsylvania plans to randomly test only those with a felony drug conviction within the past five years and those on probation for such offenses.

[…]Proponents have argued it’s not unreasonable for the government to require drug tests in exchange for payment, just as some employers do.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least three dozen states proposed bills pertaining to drug tests for welfare and food stamp recipients. Arizona and Missouri have joined Florida in passing drug-test bills, though theirs were more narrowly tailored.

As Pennsylvania tests its approach, other states are moving forward. Indiana’s House recently approved a drug-test bill for welfare recipients, as did a Virginia House committee.

Opponents of measures like this think that although a person who works to pay taxes should be drug-tested, people whom the government pays not to work should not be drug-tested.