This is the moment evangelical leaders laid their hands on Donald Trump’s back as they prayed over him in the Oval Office.Evangelical pastor Rodney Howard-Browne led a prayer circle alongside his wife Adonica in the White House and then shared the image on Facebook.President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence can be seen closing their eyes and bowing their heads in the solemn moment. The group were invited to pray with Trump during a meeting with members of The Office of Public Liaison.Others pictured included Jack Graham, the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and Michele Bachmann, the former Republican congresswoman from Minnesota. 

Mr Howard-Browne, who is from South Africa but came to America in 1987 after a ‘calling from God’, described the moment as ‘surreal’ and ‘humbling’.
He wrote: ‘Yesterday I was asked by Pastor Paula White-Cain to pray over our 45th President – what a humbling moment standing in the Oval Office – laying hands and praying for our President – Supernatural Wisdom, Guidance and Protection – who could ever even imagine – wow – we are going to see another great spiritual awakening.
Mr Howard-Browne’s teachings on the concept of ‘holy laughter’ – an outpouring of joy caused by the Holy Spirit – helped to inspire the Toronto Blessing, which many believe to be an instance of mass blessing which took place in 1994.
Johnnie Moore, a former senior vice president at Liberty University, a large evangelical university in Virginia, was also at the meeting.
He told CNN that they used to also pray with Obama, but with Trump it is different.

‘When we are praying for President Trump, we are praying within the context of a real relationship, of true friendship,’ he said.
‘He was also in good spirits,’ Moore said. ‘He was as strong and focused as I have ever seen him. It was as if he was entirely above the fray.’
President Trump put his Christian faith at the front and center of his campaign for the presidency, and made a particular point of appealing to evangelicals.
At dozens of his rallies he proudly read out polls showing strong approval ratings from the evangelical community, and thanked them for their support.
It was Trump’s positioning of himself as a defender of the faith – at one point vowing ‘to protect Christianity’ – that saw him ultimately defeat Ted Cruz to become the Republican nominee.
And this latest image attracted a lot of support on social media.

Writing on the Facebook post, Melinda S. Wiley wrote: ‘Thank you Jesus! Cover Your President Lord! Anoint him and fill him with the Holy Spirit for Your will to be done! Hallelujah! Thank you Abba!’
Tammie Rogers added: ‘Praise God fill him Jesus with your spirit keep your hands on him. It’s time we have a president that puts America first and belief in the almighty God the one one that can change everything.
‘Thank you pastors and for obeying God and surrounding our President with all your prayers, and thank you President Trump for allowing them to pray for you.
‘I get goose bumps thinking what God is going to do.’
But not everyone was convinced by the show of faith. Kenneth Averell said: ‘Lord help us all. How anyone sees Trump as the savior of the evangelicals is beyond me.
‘Doesn’t have a Christian bone in his body. Doesn’t attend church. Multiple divorces. Adultery. Literally about every single commandment he’s broken.
‘We’re all sinners, but c’mon, the evangelical right is choosing this guy to lead their ‘spiritual awakening’?’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4688194/Evangelical-pastor-prays-Donald-Trump-Oval-Office.html#ixzz4mf0rtRcC
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Source: Evangelical pastor prays over Donald Trump in Oval Office | Daily Mail Online

PARIS (AP) — Paris authorities evacuated nearly 2,800 migrants Friday from ever-expanding makeshift street camps in the French capital, as Europe contends with an upsurge in new arrivals crossing the Mediterranean.In heavy summer heat, groups of primarily African men and a few families lined up to board buses with a mixture of relief and apprehension. “We Need Dignity” read a handwritten sign next to a mattress stretched across cobblestones and surrounded by litter.The migrants in the La Chapelle neighborhood on Paris’ northern edge were taken to temporary shelters in the Paris region where they will be given medical checkups and guidance, police said. City Hall says it is the 34th such operation in the past two years.Tents, sleeping bags and rudimentary cardboard structures housing migrants have sprung up on sidewalks and boulevards in the area, angering some residents even as others come to offer food and blankets.City authorities estimate that dozens of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East pour in daily to Paris. Many continue on to the port of Calais to try to cross to Britain, but many stay in Paris in hopes of finding unofficial work or to seek asylum.Such unauthorized camps “present serious risks for the security and health of their occupants as well as neighborhood residents,” Paris police said in a statement.About 350 police and 100 other officials and aid workers took part in Friday’s operation. Police said the migrants will be given “proposals for orientation” to other sites scattered around France where they can try to seek legal paths to residency. Some may eventually be deported.Arrivals have grown this summer around Europe, notably as more people are taking the risky sea journey from Libya. More than 2,000 have died.Top European officials have tried this week to agree on solutions, notably to help Italy help cope with the tens of thousands of people arriving on its shores.European Council President Donald Tusk called Friday for U.N. sanctions against migrant smugglers illegally taking people to Europe – notably in Libya, where lawlessness has allowed a lucrative trade in smuggling African migrants northward.Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that would-be migrants should be stopped at the EU’s outer borders and sent back to their homelands after being rescued and given any care needed. Kurz has previously suggested that some NGOs rescuing migrants on the high seas might be in collusion with human smugglers.In France, a farmer has attracted nationwide attention with a video appearing to show police forcing underage migrants to go back to Italy. The national human rights watchdog urged the interior minister Friday to investigate the situation.President Emmanuel Macron’s government is expected to announce new measures to cope with the migrant crisis next week.A center opened last year in northern Paris to help asylum seekers has provided temporary shelter for 12,000 people but is not large enough to care for everyone.

Source: News from The Associated Press

Vatican police have broken up a gay orgy at the home of the secretary to one of Pope Francis’s key advisers, it has been reported.The flat belonged to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse.Reports in Italy claim the occupant of the apartment is allegedly the secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio – a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope.

Coccopalmerio heads the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and was said to have once recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop.
The explosive claims were made in the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.
It is the latest scandal to hit the Vatican and comes after its finance chief Cardinal George Pell was charged with historical sexual offences.
Pell has protested his innocence and said he was looking forward to having his day in court after a two-year investigation, ‘leaks to the media’ and ‘relentless character assassination’. Police have not revealed details of the charges against the 76-year-old, citing the need to preserve the integrity of the judicial process.

In March the Vatican was hit with a wave of lurid accusations of misbehaving priests across Italy with scandals involving orgies, prostitution and porn videos.
The claims were embarrassing to the Vatican, which under Pope Francis has attempted to demand high standards of the clergy.
Francis has tried to clamp down on unethical behaviour ever since being made Pope in 2013 and has often spoken out against the pitfalls of ‘temptation’.

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Source: Vatican police ‘break up gay orgy at apartment’ | Daily Mail Online

President Trump has a new target in his war of words with “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski: their NBC bosses.“Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!” Trump tweeted at 9:20 am Saturday.It’s the latest salvo in the battle between Trump and the cable television hosts, which erupted Thursday when Trump tweeted about the pair.“I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!” Trump tweeted Thursday.The social media sniping with the “Morning Joe” anchors sparked bipartisan criticism, and Brzezinski fired back by posting a picture of a cereal ad about ‘little hands.’
Trump began his Saturday morning online with a tweet of support for cable news anchor Greta Van Susteren, who was fired from MSNBC Thursday.

“Word is that @Greta Van Susteren was let go by her out of control bosses at @NBC & @Comcast because she refused to go along w/ ‘Trump hate!’” President Trump tweeted at 8:59 a.m.

The former Fox News host’s MSNBC show lasted just six months. AdWeek reported she had the No. 30-rated cable news show. Her main competition at 6 p.m., Fox Newser Bret Baier, ranks No. 5.

The Tweeter-in-Chief also took a slam at CNN in his Saturday-morning tweet storm.

“I am extremely pleased to see that @CNN has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism. It’s about time!” he wrote at 9:12 am Saturday.

The embattled network was forced to retract a story about the Russian scandal last week, prompting three staffers to resign.

Source: Trump takes aim at ‘NBC bosses’ in feud with Joe and Mika | New York Post

CANNES — CNN boss Jeff Zucker says despite Donald Trump’s war on the network and what the president says is “fake news,” he is certain that CNN maintains the trust of its viewers, as it extends into digital brands to attract a younger audience.Speaking at Cannes Lions, he said, “CNN has been around for 37 years, our trustworthiness today is the same as it was a year ago, before people in high offices started questioning it. We know that through our own brand research. Just because somebody says you are not trustworthy, that doesn’t mean it is so … CNN’s brand equity is built over 37 years doing hard work in very dangerous places … those who rely on CNN trust CNN more than ever.”He appeared on a panel with YouTube star Casey Neistat, who attracts nearly 6 million viewers a day and who just signed a deal to produce an original video brand and a daily news show for CNN. The network, which acquired Neistat’s mobile video sharing app Beme for a reported $25 million earlier this year, is banking on Neistat’s appeal to entice millennials to tune in.Zucker said, “The world has changed — we can all get news 24/7 from any device, any outlet … but we want to tell different stories in different ways, and add to the news. We are not going to attract new viewers by just feeding CNN onto different platforms.“Everybody has an iPhone, everyone can be a reporter now. Everybody can tell a story from every part of the world. Why places like CNN matter is that it is still important to bring them together, put context around it and explain it.”He added that CNN and other media organizations need personalities like Neistat: “The way that CNN would traditionally tell a story is so different from the way Casey and Beme would tell a story, both are incredibly valuable, both will find their audiences, and that is what I think the new CNN is about, being a multi-platform company that reaches many different audience members on many different platforms.”Talking about Neistat’s appeal to CNN, he noted, “He does great work, he has a huge following and he can reach a different market that CNN never could.“We have hundreds and hundreds of reporters and people who can tell video stories and stand there with a microphone and a trench coat and tell a story, but we don’t have Casey.“I think that’s what is missing, not just from CNN, but all the legacy television news broadcasters who think it’s enough to take a video report and put it on a platform where young people go. It just doesn’t work.”

Source: Jeff Zucker: Viewers trust CNN ‘more than ever’ | Page Six

Let’s call this one “‘F***!’ news.”We’re told CNN flew into a panic on Friday after it accidentally aired a fake National Enquirer cover during Jake Tapper’s broadcast.Tapper did a segment on his “The Lead” show about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s claim that Donald Trump tried to blackmail them with a hit piece in the National Enquirer.During the piece, it showed a cover from the tabloid, which seemed to be about a scandal involving GOP senator Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi Cruz.Unfortunately, the cover is — literally — fake news.The cover — which has the headline “Heidi Cruz: Betrayed by Cheating Husband!” and promised details on a “sordid threesome, sleazy love letters and sensational photo proof — has never appeared on the National Enquirer, according to sources at the magazine.It seems that it may have been created as clickbait.

Source: CNN screws up — again | Page Six

Almost as soon as Donald Trump was inaugurated president, the hosts on MSNBC’s Morning Joe began pushing a narrative that the president could very well be criminally insane. The president, whom these hosts regularly remind viewers is tasked with overseeing America’s nuclear arsenal, is mentally “unbalanced,” “unhinged,” and obviously suffers from “mental illness.”  “He keeps getting worse,” Dr. Joe Scarborough said. “Mentally, he keeps getting worse. This is a man in decline.” “There’s an unwritten rule in

Source: Montage: The Doctors on Morning Joe Have Diagnosed Donald Trump as a Sociopath :: Grabien News

Mark Zuckerberg has claimed Facebook is “the new church” and the social network can take on the role that religion once did in giving people a sense of community.The billionaire boss said groups on Facebook could give people a sense they are part of “something bigger than ourselves” akin to a religious congregation.Facebook passed 2 billion users this week — meaning almost one in three of the global population are signed up.And its founder said people could find “purpose and support” online that previous generations found by going to church.Zuckerberg has recently been pushing the idea of communities as Facebook’s new mission and last week said it would be the company’s focus from now on.In a speech in Chicago, he said only 100 million Facebook users are part of what he called a “meaningful community.”This meant they were part of a group on Facebook that involved regular interactions with other people.Zuckerberg said he wanted the 100 million figure to rise to 1 billion.He said: “If we can do this, it will not only turn around the whole decline in community membership we’ve seen for decades, it will start to strengthen our social fabric and bring the world closer together.”“As I’ve traveled around and learned about different places, one theme is clear: Every great community has great leaders. Think about it. A church doesn’t just come together. It has a pastor who cares for the well-being of their congregation, makes sure they have food and shelter.”“Leaders set the culture, inspire us, give us a safety net, and look out for us.”Zuckerberg has denied he has ambitions to run for president, but he recently went on a week-long listening tour of America that looked like a political campaign.In a recent interview with CNN, he said connecting people is not enough and that Facebook has a responsibility to manage its communities.

Source: Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is ‘the new church’ | New York Post

A tourist who flew all the way to New York to buy a dress for her wedding wound up getting jilted by a phony Airbnb listing — and was left unable to afford her dream gown.“The one I really want I can’t get,” lamented bilked bride Malissa Blackman, 36.Blackman traveled from her home in Barbados and expected to be staying in a swank rental at 400 Fifth Ave. in Midtown with her mom, two sisters and two bridesmaids.ADVERTISINGBut when she got there, the doorman broke the bad news to her that the digs she’d shelled out $2,000 to use for five nights didn’t exist — and that they weren’t the first people to turn up at the address.“I’m on the street thinking, what the hell? Where are we going to go?” she said.A concierge confirmed to The Post that at least two other groups had shown up looking for the bogus beds this year — including a family of six from Spain and Argentina.Modal TriggerBlackman tries on a dressRichard Harbus“Those poor families come here and then they have nowhere to stay,” said Aguedo Avias.“I tell them I can help them find a hotel, but that the building doesn’t allow Airbnb and no one in the building has a listing on Airbnb.”Blackman then had to cough up another $2,600 for last-minute hotel rooms — exactly what she’d planned to blow on a wedding dress.She saw a gorgeous dress from her favorite designer Hayley Page the next day that would have been perfect for her November nuptials with fiancee Heath.It featured layers of tulle and a “lovely back with lots of straps on it” — but at $2,500, the frock was now out of her price range.She spent the day in tears.“Because of the money situation, we said we’d have to go with a cheaper one,” said Blackman, who is herself a wedding planner back in Barbados.Blackman contacted Airbnb to report the scam and ask for a refund Wednesday, but the site told her she wasn’t eligible — the conman had tricked her into clicking on a fake Airbnb site, so all the fraud happened off its territory.Blackman, a newbie to the room-rental service, said that after contacting the seller over the app, she then emailed the supposed apartment owner.He responded with an “airbnb.com” link to click through for the booking. It took her to what appeared to be the real deal — but she didn’t notice it actually said “airbnb.com-listining-online31215.info.”“For me, who’s never booked Airbnb before, I’d never have known I was not dealing with Airbnb,” she said.An Airbnb spokesman responded that Blackman went against warnings on the site telling users not to email with hosts or transfer money off the platform, and provided screenshots that show her messaging with the fraudster right next to one such alert.But he acknowledged the site’s software isn’t supposed to allow users to share direct email addresses in the first place, and the safeguard failed. He added the listing has been removed, and that it wouldn’t have been there if anyone else had reported it for fraud in the past.“The moment a fake listing is reported, it’s removed. We are investigating the situation at this address and our team is working hard to constantly strengthen our defenses and stay ahead of fraudsters,” said Press Secretary Peter Schottenfels.After The Post inquired about Blackman’s story Friday, Airbnb said it will refund her after all — contrary to its previous missives to the heartbroken bride.But Blackman said it was the first she’d heard of it and by then it was too late, anyway — her trip was almost over and she had already made arrangements to buy a $975 dress.Fortunately, she’s now falling in love with the strapless lace number and she’s looking forward to walking down the aisle in it later this year.She’s just bummed that she wasn’t able to enjoy her Big Apple shopping spree her fellow wedding planner pals had planned out for her.“I feel like from the minute we landed I was so excited and then it just went from one thing to the next … I was bursting out in tears instead,” she said.

Source: Bride can’t afford dream wedding dress thanks to Airbnb scam | New York Post

WASHINGTON — YOU know who is really sick and tired of Donald Trump winning, to the point where they beg, “Please, Mr. President, sir, it’s too much”? Democrats. The Democrats just got skunked four to nothing in races they excitedly thought they could win because everyone they hang with hates Trump. If Trump is the Antichrist, as they believe, then Georgia was going to be a cakewalk, and Nancy Pelosi was going to be installed as speaker before the midterms by acclamation. But it turned into another soul-s

Source: Donald Skunks the Democrats – The New York Times

My husband, Miguel, and I were sipping lattes in a south Florida resort, feeling exhausted and exhilarated, one newborn each in our arms. Just three weeks earlier, our sons had been born via surrogate and this was our first “outing” since the boys had left the hospital.Suddenly, an older gentleman walked up to us. “Beautiful babies,” he said. “Which one of you is the dad?”“We both are,” we responded in unison. I braced for what might come next. But the man simply turned and offered a smile: “Mazel tov!” he exclaimed, “my nephew and his partner did exactly the same thing.” ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement (1 of 1): 0:02When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June 2015, it was seen as a historic victory, one that would finally put gay and straight couples on an equal footing. But in my experience, the real equalizer for gay couples is parenthood.According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, 10 percent of LGBTs are married, while 10 percent of same-sex male couples and 24 percent of lesbian couples are raising children. And while marriage absolutely conveys certain rights, parenthood offers a path to societal acceptance that feels both revolutionary — and a revelation.Back on our first date about six years ago, Miguel and I discovered we are both twins — and would one day like to have twins of our own. But, both being close to 40, we were part of a generation that assumed gay people couldn’t have kids. The limits of biology and stigmas of HIV and homophobia made fatherhood seem impossible.Then, as the years passed, gay parenthood suddenly became viable, as reproductive technologies intended for infertile straight couples were embraced by gay ones eager to form families of their own.Suddenly, Miguel and I had an unexpected path into mainstream society.Assimilation is not something we necessarily had desired, but it actually felt good.We decided to go the surrogacy route — a process that can take years and cost more than $100,000 even without a guaranteed result. Miguel and I aren’t rich, but we devoted our savings and energy in order to achieve our dream.The process wasn’t without its doubts. Friends and family questioned our ability to successfully parent, and I felt a homophobic subtext to their comments. “These kids are going to need a woman around them,” they’d say.Having been raised by a single mom myself, their concerns weighed on me. And yet, we progressed, and by 2016 our surrogate was pregnant.In November, two weeks before the twins were born, Miguel and I married. It was a joyous occasion, but this ceremony, surrounded by our small, supportive family network, did far less to advance LGBT equality than our new parenthood status soon would.With two children, we would be barrier breakers, forcing the world to confront our version of a family.In the small-town hospital where our twins were born, we were nervous that the nurses wouldn’t accept us as the parents, given that our twins were born to a woman neither of us was married to. But instead, they embraced us and gave us a room to share with the boys, an entitlement the hospital automatically affords heterosexual couples.At our building in the Upper East Side, I worried that we’d be judged or even shunned by my fellow residents and the doormen. Instead, my neighbors have invited the boys to play dates, while doormen constantly comment on how fast our kids are growing.I fretted most about the reaction from heterosexual dads, but even this has surprised me.Last month at a playground, Miguel and I cautiously bonded with an alpha-male dad-bro and his son. The father clearly had little experience with gay men, but he opened up as we shared our children’s recent milestones (solid foods, new teeth, a few words) and pushed them on swings. “Hope to see you again,” he said as he finished up.While most interactions have been positive, integrating as a gay parent can be exhausting and even scary. Every day, my husband and I have to “come out” as our sons’ fathers to the world — at doctors’ offices and baby stores and official government agencies that stumble (and then correct) their words when we register for a shot or a stroller or a Social Security card. But, as a result, society is being forced to treat families like mine the same as any other.I’m not saying there won’t be major struggles for us in the future. And I certainly don’t think all gay people should become parents, or even marry for that matter, to feel equal. But it has been surprising to find myself at the age of 45 — a half-black, half-Jewish, gay man — finally accepted, simply because I now have a new identity that transcends all others.I’m a dad. Nothing is more equalizing than that.

Source: Why gay parenthood is more important than gay marriage | New York Post

Reporters at the New York Times could soon be “vulnerable” to the ax. If the ongoing round of voluntary buyouts being offered to editing staff does not get enough takers, the Gray Lady could begin another round, NYT Executive Editor Dean Baquet recently warned his top department editors.“Up until now, the company had not indicated that layoffs would happen if targeted numbers weren’t achieved,” Grant Glickson, president of the NewsGuild, told Media Ink.As part of the NYT’s ongoing restructuring of its editing ranks, 109 copy editors have had their jobs eliminated. There are estimated to be about 50 new jobs available in the restructured editing operation that the Times envisions for its digital- and video-oriented future.When the downsizing was first revealed in late May, a memo from Baquet and Managing Editor Joe Kahn portrayed the cuts as a “streamlining” of the editing process and indicated that some of the savings would be used to hire up to 100 more journalists.But in a mid-June meeting with department heads, Baquet admitted that journalists could be targeted in a new round of layoffs once the editing ranks are culled.–– ADVERTISEMENT ––“I just attended a department head meeting with Dean and the rest of the staff,” Metro Editor Wendell Jamieson said in a June 15 memo to his own staff. “While much of the buyout discussions have focused on editors, the buyouts are also available to reporters. Dean made it clear that, should the Times find itself in a layoff situation, reporters will also be vulnerable.” The memo eventually made its way to the NewsGuild, where it triggered a new uproar.The NewsGuild blasted the decision by Times management to do away with copy editors — and potentially expand its layoffs to reporters. “This proves what we have suspected all along,” said Glickson. “The Times ‘restructuring’ of the newsroom is really about the bottom line and not about making the editing process more efficient, as they claim.”The process is speeding along, however, despite the union’s objections. Interviews for copy editors to apply for the new positions are expected to conclude June 27. They are being conducted by 14 top editors — Jamieson, Monica Drake, Nancy Gauss, Steve Kenny, Marc Lacey, Patrick LaForge, Dean Murphy, Caroline Que, Carolyn Ryan, Karron Skog, Dick Stevenson, Archie Tse, Vivian Toy and Susan Wessling. The interview committee will meet June 28 and June 29 to decide who will be called back for a second interview.The second interview process is expected to end by July 10.The buyout window closes July 20 — so there will be a 10-day period in which copy editors who have essentially been job eliminated can then “volunteer” for a buyout.Said one insider, “If you don’t have a job after the interview process is complete, you really have no choice but to take the buyout.”

Source: New York Times bloodbath could include reporter jobs | New York Post

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court enters its final week of work before a long summer hiatus with action expected on the Trump administration’s travel ban and a decision due in a separation of church and state case that arises from a Missouri church playground.The biggest news of all, though, would be if Justice Anthony Kennedy were to use the court’s last public session on Monday to announce his retirement.To be sure, Kennedy has given no public sign that he will retire this year and give President Donald Trump his second high court pick in the first months of his administration. Kennedy’s departure would allow conservatives to take firm control of the court.But Kennedy turns 81 next month and has been on the court for nearly 30 years. Several of his former law clerks have said they think he is contemplating stepping down in the next year or so. Kennedy and his clerks were gathering over the weekend for a reunion that was pushed up a year and helped spark talk he might be leaving the court.”Soon we’ll know if rumors of Kennedy’s retirement are accurate,” one former Kennedy clerk, George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr, said on Twitter Friday.When the justices take the bench Monday, they are expected to decide the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, which was excluded from a state grant program to pay for soft surfaces on playgrounds run by not-for-profit groups. The case is being closely watched by advocates of school vouchers, who hope the court will make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in states that now prohibit it.Missouri has since changed its policy under Republican Gov. Eric Greitens so that churches may now apply for the money.Also expected in the next few days, though there’s no deadline by which the court must decide, is a ruling on whether to allow the administration to immediately enforce a 90-day ban on visitors from six mostly Muslim countries.Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, could play a pivotal role in both the travel ban and church playground cases.In all, six cases that were argued between November and April remain undecided. Three of those, all involving immigrants or foreigners, were heard by an eight-justice court, before Gorsuch joined the bench in April.If the eight justices are evenly divided, those cases could be argued a second time in the fall, with Gorsuch available to provide the tie-breaking vote.

Source: Associated Press

In a year that he would like to forget, which included his acrimonious divorce to Amber Heard, Johnny Depp appeared at a Q&A at the new Cinemageddon stage at Glastonbury. Introducing his 2004 film The Libertine, about a 17th-century poet who notoriously drank himself to an early death, the 54-year-old chose to discuss American politics.”I think [Donald] Trump needs help,” he said. “There are a lot of dark places he could go.” 

He added: “I’m not insinuating anything – by the way this will be in the press and it will be horrible – but when was the last time an actor assassinated a president?”

Responding to loud cheers, Depp said: “Don’t worry, I’m not an actor, I lie for a living.”

Speaking about The Libertine, which was maligned by critics, Depp said: “It’s a film that needs to be seen.”

Depp has been working with organisers on the latest addition to Glastonbury’s expansive site, which boasts the biggest screen in the UK and will show films to festivalgoers sitting in remodelled vintage cars.

He helped come up with the showings of the films on Thursday night of the festival, which, in addition to The Libertine, included Withnail & I, and Dead Man, and is curated by the film-maker Julien Temple.

Depp hoped that by giving the film a fresh airing at Glastonbury, people would be able to see it – and its protagonist, John Wilmot – in a new light. He said in a statement:

“This is one of those films that got lost in the shuffle. It’s a film that a lot of people on which worked very hard, and one that I am very proud of. The second Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot, is a man that everyone deserves to know more about. He wasn’t just some drunken jester. He was a sublime wit in the court of King Charles II and an individual of great literary importance.”

In the crowd for The Libertine was former Chancellor Ed Balls, who told The Telegraph that he had never seen The Libertine.

Source: Johnny Depp slams Donald Trump at Glastonbury and asks: ‘When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?’