Hasta La Gadget!

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The bishop of Providence, Rhode Island doesn’t see eye to eye with Pope Francis when it comes to homeless people.

In a February interview with “Scarp de’ tenis,” a Milan-based street magazine, the pope advocated for giving alms to people who are homeless. A month later, Rhode Island Bishop Thomas J. Tobin posted a message on Facebook discouraging the practice.

“Help is always right,” Pope Francis said in response to a question about almsgiving. He qualified that by saying: “Certainly, it is not a good thing just to throw a few coins at the poor. The gesture is important, helping those who ask, looking them in the eyes and touching their hands. Tossing the money without looking in the eyes, that is not the gesture of a Christian.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Tobin echoed the pontiff’s sentiment but urged against giving money to homeless people altogether.

“It is a practice that enables a few dishonest individuals to prey upon the compassion of others to ask for money, even when they don’t have legitimate needs,” Tobin said in a three-point argument.

The bishop’s warning that “dishonest individuals” prey on the kindness of strangers parallels an argument Francis said he’s heard before.

“There are many arguments to justify oneself when you do not give alms. ‘But what [if] I give money and then he spends it on a glass of wine?’” the pope told the Milan newspaper. “If a glass of wine is the only happiness he has in life, that is fine.” 

The Argentinian pope has demonstrated a deep affinity for those who are homeless and disenfranchised. He has on a number of occasions opened the doors of the Vatican to homeless people, invited them to Mass and recently celebrated his 80th birthday by dining with several homeless individuals.

”People who live on the streets understand immediately if there is true interest on the part of the other person or when there is, I do not want to say that sentiment of compassion but certainly of suffering,” Francis told Scarp de’ tenis.

Tobin didn’t refer to the pope’s interview comments in his post, and a spokesperson for the bishop told the Associated Press the Facebook message wasn’t intended as a response to Pope Francis.

Tobin even included a quote from the pontiff to back up his argument. “Pope Francis has said: ‘The great danger, or temptation, when aiding the poor, is falling into an attitude of protective paternalism that, at the end of the day, does not allow them to grow,’” the bishop wrote.

Francis addressed the issue of paternalism in his comments to Scarp de’ tenis, saying almsgiving should never be about “offloading one’s own sense of guilt.”

“It is touching, looking at our inner poverty that the Lord understands and saves,” the pope said. “Because we all have inner poverty.”

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WASHINGTON ― Evelyn Farkas, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia until 2015, blasted White House press secretary Sean Spicer Friday after he peddled a misleading conspiracy theory about her role in gathering information on connections between President Donald Trump and Russia.

Spicer spent much of his Friday press conference repeating a claim that has become popular in conservative circles in recent days: that Farkas “revealed” that the administration of former President Barack Obama was spying on Trump, as the new president has repeatedly claimed without evidence.

Farkas replied to Spicer in a tweet:

A Snopes investigation has already debunked Spicer’s talking point, noting that Trump supporters appear to be conflating a Farkas appearance on MSNBC with a New York Times report quoting current officials.

This is a developing story.

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Even strong relationships are susceptible to marriage mistakes, particularly if the marriage is relatively new, according to Pastor John Gray of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Pastor Gray often counsels couples and newlyweds in matters of marriage, and he says there are three particular marriage mistakes that are toxic enough to tear two people apart.

MISTAKE #1: Holding your spouse hostage to past mistakes.

People make mistakes. When your partner says or does something that offends you, it’s important not to harp on that mistake in the future. Instead, Pastor Gray says, you must give your spouse the opportunity to learn and grow. “That can mess up a young marriage because nobody knows how to do it right at the beginning,” he points out.

MISTAKE #2: Assuming married life won’t be different from dating.

What does a little piece of paper end up changing? A lot, says Pastor John. “When you engage another human being willingly with the opportunity to walk away, which is what dating is, there’s less pressure,” he explains. “When you get married, now you’re saying, ‘I’m building with this person.’ … There will be tension.”

MISTAKE #3: Telling your business to your parents.

Pastor John calls this one of the biggest mistakes young married couples make. “Lady, if he offends you, don’t tell your mama. Because when he ends up apologizing and getting it right, and you’re healed from it, the mother still remembers it,” Pastor John says. “Keep your business to yourself.”

Pastor John’s new series, “The Book of John Gray,” premieres Saturday, April 15, at 10 p.m. ET, but you can  watch the first episode in full now on WatchOWN.tv.

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It took President Donald Trump a few days to decide who to blame for the collapse of the Republicans’ Obamacare replacement bill.

But by Thursday, it was clear he had settled on the House’s ultraconservative Freedom Caucus. What’s more: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who once all but disowned Trump, has signaled that he approves of the president’s crusade.

Trump broadcast his decision on his favorite medium, tweeting what seemed like a threat of electoral retaliation against Freedom Caucus members.

“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” he wrote.

He followed up with slightly milder tweets calling out several of the faction’s members.

If Reps. Mark Meadows (N.C.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Raul Labrador (Idaho) “would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform,” Trump tweeted.

The president intermittently criticized the House Freedom Caucus in the days after he and Ryan withdrew the health care bill ahead of a House vote scheduled for last Friday. 

But he had also publicly blamed congressional Democrats, despite never reaching out to them. And many people understood his tweet instructing people to watch a specific Fox News show to be tacit disapproval of Ryan, as the host called on the speaker to resign.

Trump’s steady volley of comments aimed at the Freedom Caucus suggest that he has finally homed in on the recalcitrant group of conservatives as the culprits for the health care debacle ― and decided to make them the focus of his persuasion efforts. 

New reporting has revealed that Trump’s tweets about the Freedom Caucus were not a case of spontaneous venting. Senior aides, including chief strategist Steve Bannon, encouraged the president to target members of the group, according to The New York Times. 

“There has been a stricter imposition by aides to make sure there is a strategic imperative behind his posts” ever since Trump used Twitter to accuse former President Barack Obama of wiretapping several weeks ago, the Times reported, citing conversations with “two people briefed on the process.”

These advisers apparently believe Trump must chasten the Freedom Caucus and re-establish credibility with it ahead of negotiations over the budget and other matters, the Times added.

The Times’ account is consistent with an earlier report that Bannon had advised the president to keep a “shit list” of the Republican lawmakers who had defied him. And when the White House was still trying to win hardliners, Bannon apparently believed he could dictate terms to the Freedom Caucus. 

“This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill,” he reportedly said.

What makes Trump’s latest maneuver so interesting, however, is that Ryan ― who Bannon tried to oust while running the ultraconservative Breibart site ― appears to back it. 

Asked to respond to Trump’s Twitter barrage aimed at the Freedom Caucus, Ryan simply told reporters, “I understand the president’s frustration.”

“I share frustration,” he added.

That suggests the new strategy is not a showdown between the fiscally moderate nationalists embodied by Bannon and pro-immigration reform fiscal conservatives like Ryan. Rather, it seem to be a tactical alliance against the smaller group of hardline fiscal conservatives that populate the Freedom Caucus.

Whether the ad hoc anti-Freedom Caucus coalition will work is another question, of course. On paper, it looks like an uphill climb ― even with Trump and Ryan working together. The group’s 30-odd members hail from deeply conservative, safe Republican districts and enjoy the backing of financially flush outside groups like Heritage Action.

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