Matthew 27

Posted on by depatridge

Arlin Sorensen's Thoughts on Scripture

Matthew 27 has Jesus arrested and in custody.  “When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death”.  Judas Iscariot has betrayed Him into their hands, and now they want to continue their mission to kill Him and take away His threat to their power.  They drag him before Pilate accusing Him of all sorts of lies.  “Are you  the King of the Jews”?  This was the area they focused on – trying to get Jesus to declare Himself a political rival to the governor.  But “he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed”.

The religious leaders focused on building a frenzy in the people that were there to kill Jesus.  And rather than do what was right, or even what his…

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Lava Jato and Mani Pulite: Will Brazil’s Corruption Investigation End Up a Wash?

Posted on by depatridge

GAB | The Global Anticorruption Blog

Pop quiz:

Which corruption investigation was preceded by a massive outcry against corruption, was advanced by federal prosecutors making liberal use of the plea bargain, implicated hundreds of politicians (including former and current heads of state), raised serious questions about the role of the independent judiciary, and ultimately resulted in a dramatic political crisis that led to the replacement of a long-standing populist regime with a conservative government bent on reform?

If you guessed Brazil’s Lava Jato (English: Car Wash), you’d be correct.

But if you answered Italy’s Mani Pulite (English: Clean Hands), you’d also be right.

The similarities between the two anticorruption investigations and subsequent prosecutions are no coincidence. In 2004, Brazilian Judge Sérgio Moro, currently responsible for Lava Jato, penned an essay praising the Clean Hands operation, calling it “one of the most impressive judicial crusades against political and administrative corruption,” lamenting Brazil’s failure…

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