As for the GOP's likely candidate, Donald J Trump, he's brash, he is often unrefined, he says what is on his mind at any given moment, and he lacks government experience. His likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, comes with her own baggage as well, and in fact, to many, her vast government experience is seen as a hindrance, not a benefit.

Millions of voters view her as a card-carrying member of the ruling "establishment" – corrupt, compromised and untrustworthy, as the first (likely) presidential candidate who is actively under criminal investigation by the federal government.

But Clinton has another negative against her as well: the fact that she's a promoter of GMOs, and that one of the corporations that has her in their back pocket is Monsanto. As reported by Global Research, a Canada-based think tank, Clinton's views on GMOs are quite at odds with those of the current first lady, Michelle Obama, who reportedly insists that all White House meals be organic.

The 18-year-old runner, who was born in Thailand as a male but identifies as a female, qualified and competed in the Class 3A girls' sprints, capturing third place in the 200-meter preliminaries and fifth place in the 100-meter.

Earlier this year, the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) adopted a policy allowing schools and school districts to make up their own rules regarding transgender athletes. According to the Chilkat Valley News, the Haines Borough School District policy allows transgenders to compete in district programs and activities as the gender they identify with.

"For the purposes of gender identification for interscholastic activities, the district will consider the gender identity based on the student's consistent declaration of gender identity, their actions, attitude, dress and mannerisms. Everybody doesn't understand, and that's OK," said principal Martin. "But you still have to show respect, and we work together and we talk about things and we try to make it respectful for everybody."

This time, however, reporters didn’t need to break through a barricaded but unguarded residence — the FBI simply left the door unlocked after its initial investigation. Actually, make that two doors — the apartment’s front and back doors were not only left unlocked, they weren’t barricaded, even with the ubiquitous yellow crime scene tape.

And just like San Bernardino — when a slew of reporters rummaged through the shooter’s belongings — media crews made a mockery of the FBI in live time, snapping pictures, pushing items around, tweeting in real time pictures from Mateen’s bathroom. Pure sensationalist gawkery on display.

As an independent media narrator of a well-assembled video of this farce wryly queried, “I’m starting to think this is actually part of a social experiment to prove how many people are not paying attention — or just watching Dancing With the Stars and football, and just don’t care.”

And on the eve of that vote, Mr Walesa delivered a scathing criticism of the 28-country bloc saying Europe is in crisis because there are no shared values. He said: “Europe, this European construction, has no foundation. We rejected Christianity, we rejected ideologies like communism and now, there’s nothing left. What can we expect from societies when each of them has different foundations?”

Veteran Polish statesman Mr Walesa said he believes the EU must be reformed or a new organisation created. He said: “I’m rather more in favour of repairing what we already have. What's the use of starting all over again? But we need to do it, repair the EU, in a more efficient and transparent way. We have to explain things better to people; they need to understand what we're doing and why it exists. What we've got now is mistrust, suspicions, bureaucracy, dissatisfaction and trickery, because we don't have any solid foundations.”

Mr Walesa, warned Germany, France and Italy "should have a contingency scenario prepared to put in place 15 minutes after the EU falls apart”. The Nobel Peace Prize winner said he believes Germany should lead a reformed EU if Britain votes to leave or consider creating a new organisation. The 72-year-old said: “Germany in particular must calculate what would be better for development of the EU: do we create a completely new organisation or do we fix the old EU?”

“It’s up to the Germans to decide because they are the leaders and they must also decide with whom they want to build. After the current EU falls apart, a new union must be created, but it must be thought out much better in order to avoid the kind of problems we have now. Whoever wants to join it, can join, while those who don’t, can just say ‘no thanks’.”

His comments come as leading politicians from member states have said Brexit could be a great opportunity.

Of course it is true that we are still in the early chapters of this new crisis and that there is much, much more damage to be done, but let us not minimize the carnage that we have already witnessed. In general, there have been three major waves of financial panic over the past 12 months. Late last August we saw the biggest financial shaking since the financial crisis of 2008, then in January and February there was an even bigger shaking, and now a third “wave” has begun in June. Not all areas around the globe have been affected equally by each wave, but without a doubt this new financial crisis is a global phenomenon.

Let’s talk about China first. The Chinese economy is the second largest on the entire planet, and since this time last year Chinese stocks are down an astounding 40 percent… Unfortunately for China, their economy just continues to slow down, and George Soros is so alarmed by this and a potential “Brexit” that he has been selling off stocks and buying enormous amounts of gold in anticipation of an even bigger global downturn.

Japan has the third largest economy in the world, and over the past year Japanese stocks are down a total of 26 percent from the peak… Personally, I have been extremely alarmed by what has been happening in Japan lately. Japanese stocks were down almost 500 points last night, and overall the Nikkei is down a whopping 1,800 points so far in June.

Germany has the fourth largest economy in the world, and over the past year their stocks have fallen 19 percent from the peak of the market… The key thing to watch for in Germany are serious troubles at their biggest bank.

The fifth largest economy on the planet belongs to the United Kingdom, and since last June their stocks have fallen about 13 percent… One week from today, the “Brexit” vote will be held in the UK, and if they vote to leave the EU that could have very serious economic and financial implications for them and for the rest of Europe as well.

France has the sixth largest economy in the world, and over the past year French stocks are down 20 percent from the peak of the market… The French economy is really struggling these days, and we have not heard much about it in the US media, but there have been tremendous riots in major cities in France in recent weeks.

Italian stocks are down a staggering 32 percent from the peak of the market. That means approximately a third of all stock market wealth in Italy is already gone… Earlier this year, I wrote about the horrifying collapse of the Italian banking system that has greatly accelerated since the start of 2016. It looks like virtually all of their big banks will ultimately need to be bailed out, and this threatens to become a far bigger crisis than the crisis in Greece ever was.

And let us not leave off the ninth largest economy in the world. Not too long ago, CNN ran an article entitled “Brazil: Economic collapse worse than feared”. So not only are they admitting that the ninth largest economy on the globe is collapsing, they are also admitting that it is even worse than what the experts had anticipated.

US stocks did crash last August, but then they recovered. Then they crashed again in January, but then they recovered again. Now US stocks have been taking another tumble here in June, but we are being assured that there is nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, the underlying numbers for the US economy just continue to get worse and worse and worse.

We have not seen global stock declines of this nature since the great financial crisis of 2008, but much worse is still to come. I would love to be wrong about that last part. It would be wonderful if the worst was now behind us and good times for the global financial system were ahead. Unfortunately, every single indicator that I am watching is telling me just the opposite.

“I believe that the European Union is in the process of collapsing on itself for one simple reason. The two pillars on which it’s founded – Schengen and the euro – are in the process of crumbling,” Le Pen told Marie De Douhet of RT France in an exclusive interview. “So they’re in a sort of mad downward spiral in which they’re capable of anything today to try and keep this building standing.”

The leader of France’s hard-right Front National party believes the collapse is not a matter of “if” but “when,” saying the EU “shines from the light of a dead star” while its leaders are struggling to play for time “at the cost of billions trying to hold this structure up.”

Marine Le Pen has been a vocal supporter of the UK leaving the European Union, a move that the National Front hopes would inspire a similar “Frexit” campaign. According to a March poll, 53 percent of French citizens surveyed would like to hold a Brexit-like referendum on France’s membership in the EU.

When asked if she feared any consequences for a “Frexit,” or Brussels’ retribution if it should go through, Le Pen said, “If France leaves the European Union, the European Union no longer exists.”

The remissions got a bad name in the Middle Ages because unscrupulous churchmen sold them for large sums of money. But now indulgences are being applied to the 21st century. But a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that paradise was not just a few mouse clicks away.

"You can't obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine," Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Indulgences these days are granted to those who carry out certain tasks – such as climbing the Sacred Steps, in Rome (reportedly brought from Pontius Pilate's house after Jesus scaled them before his crucifixion), a feat that earns believers seven years off purgatory.

But attendance at events such as the Catholic World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, a week-long event starting on 22 July, can also win an indulgence. Mindful of the faithful who cannot afford to fly to Brazil, the Vatican's sacred apostolic penitentiary, a court which handles the forgiveness of sins, has also extended the privilege to those following the "rites and pious exercises" of the event on television, radio and through social media.

"That includes following Twitter," said a source at the penitentiary, referring to Pope Francis' Twitter account, which has gathered seven million followers. "But you must be following the events live. It is not as if you can get an indulgence by chatting on the internet."

In its decree, the penitentiary said that getting an indulgence would hinge on the beneficiary having previously confessed and being "truly penitent and contrite". Praying while following events in Rio online would need to be carried out with "requisite devotion", it suggested.

Bayes says he has been “profoundly changed” by encounters with lesbian and gay Christians in recent years, including within his own family. He says the “hard fact is that the Church has played, and still plays, no small part in bruising and breaking” LGBT Christians. “I wanted to express my sorrow to this small and faithful congregation for the way in which Christians treated them,” he said. “I have come to believe that we need to change the Church.”

“My views on the few explicit biblical texts on ‘homosexual practice’ are open not closed - particularly as we continue to engage with the dialogue between texts and contexts.” Bayes is one of a dozen prominent Church figures - including two bishops, a former bishop, the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and two archdeacons - to contribute to a book calling for the evangelical members of the Church to move to a stance of “affirming” people in same-sex relationships.

Baye’s comments are likely to anger traditionalists from the Church of England and could further inflame tensions with Anglican leaders in Africa, who are firmly against accepting homosexuality on Biblical grounds. In many African countries and elsewhere, active homosexuality remains a crime.