The Changing Face of the USA
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 6:
“History is being written right now in America. That is always exciting. But in this case it is also dramatic. An entire country is changing before our eyes. Though he may not have started it, Donald Trump is the man who is now speeding up and steering this process in a very dangerous direction. Like a bulldozer on a rampage, he is destroying the foundations of this freedom-loving and once so self-assured nation…
“The country seems rotten, like a once mighty tree that is leaning precariously. It remains to be seen if it can weather the gathering storm or will come crashing down. In the eyes of a growing number of voters, the country’s elite, which only thinks of itself, is also rotten. It is an elite that, despite the country’s economic well-being, has starved the middle-class and robbed them of the fruits of their labor. The fact that more and more Americans are growing angry is understandable…
“Trump is the tough guy many people feel could finally change things… By ‘Super Tuesday’ at the latest, it has been clear that Trump’s message is reaching broad swaths of American voters in a way that no other Republican has been able to do, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan. Women and men, blacks and whites, young and old, rich and poor, in southern as well as northern states: everyone is getting the message.
“Trump’s success says a lot about Americans and about the state of the nation. But what can be inferred from these messages is not good. Not good for America and not good for Germany and America’s other allies.
“The country is changing… Global responsibility is being replaced by nationalist egocentricity…
“At the moment many people are asking ‘why?’ But explanations so far are at best akin to tentative attempts to describe an unknown landscape. Even in Washington, with its corps of political professionals, erudite think tanks, well-traveled diplomats and seasoned journalists, even here there are no answers to be found – only silence.
“… who is to say that this virus will stop at the party’s borders? It is also not a forgone conclusion that Hillary Clinton, should she be her party’s nominee, will be able to derail the increasingly likely Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.”
The wording is quite interesting about America’s “rottenness” or “sickness,” as this is exactly the terminology used by God about the modern House of Israel—mainly the USA and the UK—as well as the House of Judah (compare Isaiah 1:4-6; 5:24; Hosea 5:12).
Republican Contested Convention in July?
Bloomberg wrote on March 4:
“Donald Trump’s dominant performance on Super Tuesday, which included victories in seven of 11 states, has prompted a swift and sudden shift in strategy among anti-Trump forces within the Republican Party. Rather than narrow the field, many now believe the only way to stop him is for the current candidates to stay in, deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, and force a contested convention in July…
“With no clear nominee, there would be a contested convention in July. If no candidate secures 1,237 votes on the first ballot, many delegates obliged to vote for Trump would be free to back someone else on subsequent ballots… The party hasn’t faced a contested convention since 1976, and it was resolved on the first ballot…
“During a blistering speech Thursday calling Trump ‘a fraud’ who must not be president, Romney all but endorsed the strategy, encouraging major candidates to stay in the race and urging voters to back anyone but Trump…
“Given his broad base of support among voters—young and old, men and women, rich and poor, moderate and conservative—[Trump is] seen as unlikely to be overtaken by any candidate…
“The new strategy to stop Trump hinges heavily on March 15, and requires victories by Rubio and Kasich in their winner-take- all home states—Florida awards 99 delegates and Ohio awards 66 delegates…
“The idea of trying to snag the nomination from Trump at the convention has already proven controversial on the right. Figures like Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of Fox News’s parent company 21 First Century Fox, and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos argue that the GOP should rally around Trump if he continues to lead the pack. ‘Trump has earned the nomination,’ Castellanos told the Washington Post Wednesday. ‘He won it, fair and square and we should respect that. Donald Trump whipped the establishment and it is too late for the limp GOP establishment to ask their mommy to step in and rewrite the rules because they were humiliated for their impotence.’
“John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee, echoed Romney’s criticisms of Trump in a statement on Thursday, and called on Republican voters ‘to think long and hard about who they want to be our next Commander-in-Chief and leader of the free world.’
“If there is a contested convention, the chances of chaos are high…”
It is interesting that both Romney and McCain, previous Republican nominees and prototypes of the Republican establishment, have failed in their past efforts to become President.
Romney the Nominee at Brokered Convention?
The Washington Post wrote on March 6:
“Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, refused Sunday to rule out becoming the nominee again this year at a brokered convention, though he insisted he couldn’t imagine that happening. ‘I don’t think anyone in our party should say, “Oh no, even if the people of the party wanted me to be president, I would say no to it.” No one is going to say that,’ Mr. Romney said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’
“Speculation abounded that Mr. Romney was setting himself up for a surprise nomination last week when he unleashed a brutal denouncement of front-runner Donald Trump, urging voters to support anyone but the billionaire real estate mogul in upcoming primaries to force a contested convention this summer in Cleveland, Ohio.”
Republicans Revolt Against GOP Establishment
The New York Times wrote on March 4:
“From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear.
“In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr. Romney four years ago rebelled against his message and plan… The furious campaign now underway to stop Mr. Trump and the equally forceful rebellion against it captured the essence of the party’s breakdown over the past several weeks: Its most prominent guardians, misunderstanding their own voters, antagonize them as they try to reason with them, driving them even more energetically to Mr. Trump’s side…
“Steve Forbes, the publisher and two-time Republican presidential candidate, summed up the mood… ‘Parties,’ he said, ‘don’t usually commit suicide,’ suggesting the party was well on its way with Mr. Trump. The problem, for figures like Mr. Forbes and Mr. Romney, is that Mr. Trump’s supporters seem profoundly uninterested at the moment with the image, expectations or traditions of the Republican Party… They are, in many cases, hostile to it… Voters have not taken kindly to the recommendation [by Mr. Romney], describing the request as a patronizing directive from an elite figure who thoroughly misunderstands their feelings of alienation from the political system…
“Conservative talk radio shows lit up Friday with incensed callers who said they were ‘livid,’ ‘mad’ and ‘on the verge of tears’ as they listened to Mr. Romney scoldingly describe what he called Mr. Trump’s misogyny, vulgarity and dishonesty, and urged them to abandon him… In interviews across the country, Republican voters suggested that Mr. Romney’s move was presumptuous and described him as out of touch and ineffectual… Frustrated Republicans seized on Mr. Romney’s status as a party insider who was insulated from the realities, indignities and rage of average Americans headed to the polls this year…”
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Attacks Trump
The Local wrote March 6:
“Germany’s Vice Chancellor [and economy minister] Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday that US billionaire Donald Trump, frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, poses a threat to peace, social cohesion and prosperity. Gabriel labelled the brash real estate mogul a ‘right-wing populist’ who, like Marine Le Pen of France and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, promises voters unsettled by globalisation a return to a protected ‘fairytale world’.
“Whether Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen or Geert Wilders—all these right-wing populists are not only a threat to peace and social cohesion but also to economic development,” the centre-left Social Democrat told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.”
Foreign Diplomats Voicing Alarm about Trump
Reuters reported on March 7:
“Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials.
“Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump’s statements…
“U.S. officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign. U.S. allies in particular usually don’t want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins.
“Senior leaders in several countries… have already made public comments criticizing Trump’s positions…
“There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts. ‘European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump’s rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic,’ said a senior NATO official…”
European Far Right Groups Are Looking at Trump
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 4:
“The list of groups and individuals supporting Donald Trump’s candidacy reads like the Who’s Who of the international extreme right: The leader of the Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders, the founder of France’s Front National Jean-Marie Le Pen, the head of Italy’s Lega Nord Matteo Salvini, Greece’s Golden Dawn party, as well as the Ku Klux Klan and the black supremacists of the Nation of Islam in the US… Trump’s radical statements on issues near and dear to the extreme right, such as illegal immigration – but also his delivery and tone – have hit a nerve with Europe’s far right….
“Trump, however, is not supported by all groups on the far right. More established parties, such as Norway’s Progress Party, which is part of the government there, or Denmark’s People’s Party, the country’s second largest party, have distanced themselves from Trump… they deem him simply too controversial and too far to the right.
“That same split is apparent in France, where Trump has been endorsed by the founder of Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen, but not by his daughter, current Front National leader Marine Le Pen…
“Trump’s status as a political outsider has only added to his appeal among Europe’s far right… Trump is the perfect study in political campaigning in the 21st century… Trump’s efforts at reaching out to particular groups in society, notably the working class and people who feel left behind by globalization can be easily applied to a European context as well.”
Legal Trouble for Hillary Clinton?
LawNewZ reported on March 3:
“The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server just took a very significant turn, legally speaking… the U.S. Department of Justice (likely through a federal judge) granted immunity to Clinton’s aide Bryan Pagliano who helped set-up her privately maintained email server. We checked in with our legal sources from former federal prosecutors (both Republicans and Democrats) to Washington D.C. insiders, most agree that the immunity deal is a serious step in the FBI’s investigation for several reasons…
“Pagliano’s immunity is likely the result of what’s called a ‘proffer.’ A proffer is an agreement between a prosecutor and a witness to provide information about a crime, with the assurance he won’t be prosecuted. It’s kind of like a sneak peak of what the prosecutors will get if the witness ends up giving testimony… Generally speaking, the government is not going to offer immunity unless the information they are getting in return is beneficial to their investigation…
“However, it is important to note, an immunity deal doesn’t necessarily mean someone will end up getting indicted… While immunity agreements are somewhat routine in federal investigations, not all federal investigations involve the Democratic presidential front runner. So every step along the way does matter… Whether Clinton’s campaign will admit it or not, an immunity deal is, at the very least, a clear indication that the FBI is moving forward with their investigation at a very rapid pace.”
The Latest “Wisdom” of Pope Francis
Newsmax wrote on March 4:
“Pope Francis referred to an ‘Arab invasion’ during a speech to a French Christian group this week, adding that Europe has been enhanced by previous influxes of people. The pontiff also noted that Europe has seen many invasions over the course of its history… Europe has been facing huge waves of migrants and asylum seekers, many of them from Syria and Iraq…
“‘Today we can talk about an Arab invasion,’ the Roman Catholic leader said in the comments dated Thursday. ‘It is a social fact.’
“L’Osservatore Romano reported the pope hastened to add Europe has always been able to ‘go forward and find itself enhanced by the exchange among cultures,’ after saying that Europe is the ‘only continent that can bring about a certain unity to the world.'”
The Bible clearly states that Europe will try to bring unity to the world, but this attempt will end up in chaos and war.
Macedonia Closes Borders
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:
“Macedonia has closed its borders completely to migrants, a police official has said. This makes it the fourth nation [in addition to Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia] to do so in just a day, effectively shutting off the path used by many refugees to cross Europe.
“This decision leaves more than 400 people with nowhere to go in a no man’s land between Serbia and Macedonia, refusing to return to Macedonia and barred entry to Serbia.”
German AfD Condemns Cameron
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:
“The MEPs from Germany’s populist Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) party face expulsion from its conservative alliance in the European Parliament that includes British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party. Following a meeting on Tuesday evening, the European Conservative and Reformists Group (ECR) released a brief statement about its two AfD members Beatrix von Storch and Marcus Pretzell… which read: ‘The ECR Bureau met this evening and has invited the AfD to leave the ECR Group before March 31, otherwise a motion will be tabled to expel them at its next meeting on April 12.’… no reasons were given…
“But von Storch and Pretzell apparently won’t go quietly. In a scathing statement posted on her Facebook page, von Storch condemned the ECR meeting as a ‘farce.’… ‘German and British representatives presented themselves as lackeys of Merkel and Cameron.’…
“The AfD sees the threat… as a cynical strategic move that would benefit… the German chancellor and the British PM – ahead of crucial domestic votes for the two leaders. The AfD is currently polling in double figures in all three states holding regional elections this Sunday – Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate – so it could help Merkel to see them damaged in public.
“Meanwhile, Cameron, who is campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union in a referendum this summer, is likely to be keen to cut ties with the AfD… According to the AfD, Cameron needs a ‘rotten compromise to deceive his voters in the referendum on the Brexit one last time.’ ‘Cameron can’t achieve substantial reforms of the European agreements… So why should he work together with the AfD, the only party in Germany that is working towards substantial reforms of the European agreements?’ The pair also accused the British PM of wanting German tax money to be able to fund ‘short-term referendum gifts’ for British voters.
“The ECR, which represents 75 MEPs, was born of the uncertainty over the EU… The group’s stated aim is ‘urgent reform’ of the EU, while many of the AfD’s positions suggest a complete re-ordering of the bloc. The ECR was founded in 2009 as a more skeptical conservative alternative in the EP to the European People’s Party group (EPP), which includes Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and which has 216 MEPs.”
German AfD on the Rise
The Local wrote on March 9:
“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party risks a drubbing at key state elections Sunday as voters punish the German leader for her liberal refugee policy, while the right-wing populist AfD eyes major gains as it scoops up the protest vote. More than 12 million voters are due to elect three new regional parliaments… in the so-called Super Sunday polls. The elections are the biggest since a record influx of refugees to Germany, and disgruntled voters are expected to seize on the opportunity to hit the ruling coalition where it hurts…
“Merkel has been under intense pressure to change course and shut Germany’s doors after 1.1 million refugees — many of them Syrians — arrived in Europe’s biggest economy last year alone. But she has resolutely refused to impose a cap on arrivals, insisting instead on common European action that includes distributing refugees among the EU’s 28 member states… public opinion towards her stance was divided, and AfD has capitalised on the darkening mood…
“In what could be a preview of Sunday’s polls, local election results published Monday in Hesse show support for AfD reaching 13.2 percent, propelling it to become the third biggest party in the western state. Although the upstart party has seats in five regional parliaments and is represented in the European Parliament, it has so far made its biggest gains in former communist eastern states that still lag western Germany in jobs and prosperity. But its inroads into western states have sparked alarm in a Germany mindful of its Nazi past…
“Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned voters that ‘we have a lot to lose if we deal carelessly with social stability and democracy’. Merkel herself described AfD as a ‘party that does not bring society together and offers no appropriate solutions to problems, but only stokes prejudices and divisions’, while Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble branded them a ‘shame for Germany’.
“Some 142 civic groups, including police unions, Jewish and Muslim organisations and aid groups, also published a joint appeal urging voters to turn up at the polls as a show of strength ‘against all forms of hate, racism, prejudices or violence’.”
Somehow, this fight of the German political establishment against the AdF reminds us of and seems to mirror the fight of the American Republican establishment against Donald Trump.
Is ECB Chief Mario Draghi to Be Fired?
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 10:
“He’s done it again. Believe it or not, ECB chief Mario Draghi has lowered interest rates yet again. The benchmark refinancing rate now stands at zero-point-zero percent, meaning the expropriation of savers isn’t only continuing – it’s getting worse.
“The central bank’s controversial asset-purchasing program will be expanded. Instead of buying bonds worth 60 billion euros ($66.8 billion) per month, the ECB is now going to purchase 80 million euros’ worth. The program will now also entail buying corporate bonds. The bogus monetary policy of Mario Draghi continues.
“The problem for Europe’s top guardian of the euro is that none of his previous measures has had a tangible, positive impact. On the contrary, inflation, which Draghi has wanted to push up by printing more and more money, still hovers around zero. And the eurozone economy isn’t really picking up much either…
“The owners of the huge amount of cheap money available have been looking for other ways to invest as you can’t just let it rest under your pillow. The result is that big bubbles are in the process of forming, whether in the real estate market, the art market or elsewhere.
“So, what exactly is pushing Draghi to pump even more money into markets, if his plan has failed miserably thus far?… And why does he stubbornly stick to an inflation target of little under 2 percent? It pretty much looks like an artificial target now…
“What Draghi is doing comes close to running amok. Cheap money destroys trust in the long term and makes people addicted. It also prompts eurozone governments to delay required reforms. The patient isn’t healed automatically by administering a greater dose of the same medication. The redistribution of money from the north to the south is continuing.
“For highly indebted eurozone nations such as Spain, Portugal or Greece, Draghi’s policy is a blessing. For the eurozone as a whole the iceberg is approaching the eurozone’s Titanic fast… the Italian would be well-advised to take his leave soon.”
EU Deal with Turkey Under Attack
Deutsche Welle wrote on March 9:
“EU parliamentarians across party lines have expressed grave reservations about a deal aimed at curbing migration to Europe. Many questioned whether the agreement with Ankara violated international conventions…
“The EU-Turkey deal lauded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a possible ‘breakthrough’ in the refugee crisis met with sometimes massive criticism after being presented to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. The deal… would see Ankara take back migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross to Europe. In return, the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee for everyone that had been forced to return to Turkish soil.
“In addition, Turkey is to receive billions of euros in financial aid to care for the migrants and refugees, and has been promised additional concessions such as visa-free access to the EU for Turkish citizens… Some EU parliamentarians slammed the agreement with Turkey as an inhuman trade-off…
“Guy Verhofstadt, the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group… said the deal gave Erdogan ‘the keys to the gates of Europe’… [He] said the agreement meant that Turkey had too much control over who was classed as a refugee and thus allowed to enter the EU. A Kurd from Iraq, for example, could be denied access to the EU… He also predicted that the deal would backfire, with migrants looking for other routes to the EU, such as through Italy, Albania, Malta or Bulgaria.
“Parliamentarians also warned about giving too many concessions to Turkey and its increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under fire for recent government takeovers of opposition media and attacks on Kurds [note the next article].
“Several conservative politicians, on the other hand, supported the plan.”
Turmoil in Turkey after Government’s Dictatorial Measures Against Freedom of Press and Religion
Reuters reported on March 5:
“Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Saturday to disperse protesters outside the country’s biggest newspaper [“Zaman”] after authorities seized control of it in a crackdown on a religious group whose leader the government accuses of treason.
“A court on Friday appointed an administrator to run [Zaman]… Rights groups and European officials condemned the takeover, seeing it as proof the government silences dissident views… European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted the takeover was ‘yet another blow to press freedom’…
“In Berlin, Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German Bundestag and a senior lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said: ‘Not only the violent action against a critical newspaper, but also the fact that the government takes over the whole paper is a severe blow by the Turkish leadership against the freedom of press.’
“Critics have accused the European Union of largely turning a blind eye to Turkey’s worsening rights record because it needs its help curbing the record flow of refugees and migrants…
“Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the raid on Zaman and its sister publications amounted to a ‘government takeover.’ It is ‘nothing but a veiled move by the president to eradicate opposition media and scrutiny of government policies,’ said Emma Sinclair-Webb, HRW’s senior Turkey researcher.”
God does not have many good things to say about end-time Turkey, biblical Edom.
Big Brother not only in Turkey: FBI Spying on US School Children
Salon wrote on March 6:
“Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and ‘western corruption’ as potential future terrorists, warning that ‘anarchist extremists’ are in the same category as ISIS and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to ‘suspicious’ countries are more likely to commit horrific violence.
“Based on the widely unpopular British ‘anti-terror’ mass surveillance program, the FBI’s ‘Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools’ guidelines, released in January, are almost certainly designed to single out and target Muslim-American communities. However, in its caution to avoid the appearance of discrimination, the agency identifies risk factors that are so broad and vague that virtually any young person could be deemed dangerous and worthy of surveillance, especially if [he or] she is socio-economically marginalized or politically outspoken. This overwhelming threat is then used to justify a massive surveillance apparatus, wherein educators and pupils function as extensions of the FBI by watching and informing on each other.
“The FBI’s justification for such surveillance is based on McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing. This model has been widely discredited as a violence prevention method, including by the U.S. government, but it is now being imported to schools nationwide as official federal policy…
“According to the FBI’s educational materials for teenagers, circulated as a visual aide to their new guidelines, the following offenses constitute signs that ‘could mean that someone plans to commit violence’ and therefore should be reported: … ‘Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps’; and ‘Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).’…
“‘Animal Rights Extremists and Environmental Extremists’ are placed alongside ‘white supremacy extremists’, ISIS and Al Qaeda as terrorists out to recruit high school students. The materials also instruct students to watch out for extremist propaganda messages that communicate criticisms of ‘corrupt western nations’ and express ‘government mistrust.’…
“The agency warns that online gaming ‘is sometimes used to communicate, train, or plan terrorist activities.’ Encryption, ominously referred to as ‘going dark,’ is often used to facilitate ‘extremism discussions,’ the agency states. In reality, encryption is a commonly used form of protection against government spying and identity theft and is often employed to safeguard financial transactions…
“The document and supplementary educational materials warn of a broad array of threats, including anti-abortion and white supremacist extremists. The Jewish Defense League is listed alongside Hizbollah and Al Qaeda as an imminent danger to young people in the United States… Cultural and religious differences, as well as criticisms of western imperialism, are repeatedly mentioned as risk factors for future extremism…”
This mass surveillance plan reminds us of dictatorial practices in Nazi Germany or in former East Germany under Russian control. The Obama Administration’s claim of preserving liberty and freedom has become a joke… and a dangerous one at that. At the same time, deeply disturbing comments from the Republican side are also of grave concern.
FBI’s Case Against Apple Fraudulent?
The Guardian wrote on March 9:
“Edward Snowden, the whistleblower whose NSA revelations sparked a debate on mass surveillance, has waded into the arguments over the FBI’s attempt to force Apple to help it unlock the iPhone 5C of one of the San Bernardino shooters. The FBI says that only Apple can deactivate certain passcode protections on the iPhone, which will allow law enforcement to guess the passcode by using brute-force.
“Talking via video link from Moscow to the Common Cause Blueprint for a Great Democracy conference, Snowden said: ‘The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone. Respectfully, that’s bull…’
“Snowden then went on to tweet his support for an American Civil Liberties Union report saying that the FBI’s claims in the case are fraudulent.”
In its report from March 7, the ACLU explained that the FBI could easily unlock the iPhone, concluding that the FBI was acting fraudulently:
“The FBI wants us to think that this case is about a single phone, used by a terrorist. But it’s a power grab: law enforcement has dozens of other cases where they would love to be able to compel software and hardware providers to build, provide, and vouch for [a] deliberately weakened code… If they win, future software updates will present users with a troubling dilemma. When we’re asked to install a software update, we won’t know whether it was compelled by a government agency (foreign or domestic), or whether it truly represents the best engineering our chosen platform has to offer.
“In short, they’re asking the public to grant them significant new powers that could put all of our communications infrastructure at risk, and to trust them to not misuse these powers. But they’re deliberately misleading the public (and the judiciary) to try to gain these powers. This is not how a trustworthy agency operates. We should not be fooled.”
Nancy Reagan Died
NBC News wrote on March 6:
“Nancy Reagan, one of the most high-profile and influential first ladies of the 20th century, has died. She was 94. The cause of death was congestive heart failure… ‘We remain grateful for Nancy Reagan’s life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again,’ President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement. Barbara Bush, another influential former first lady, said in a statement: ‘Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family.’…
“Reagan was an actress when she met Ronald Reagan in the early 1950s, then an actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, according to a White House bio… They wed on March 4, 1952. Daughter Patti was born in October of that year and son Ron followed in 1958. Reagan already had a daughter, Maureen, and an adopted son, Michael, from his marriage to actress Jane Wyman. Their marriage lasted 52 years, until Ronald Reagan’s death in 2004.
“While Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975, Nancy Reagan worked with numerous charitable groups, and spent hours visiting veterans, the elderly, and the emotionally and physically handicapped… When her husband became president of the United States, First Lady Reagan continued her interest in these groups, and arguably became best known for her ‘Just Say No’ program fighting against drug abuse among youth.
“When Ronald was shot in 1981 by a would-be assassin, Nancy rushed to his side immediately, and later endured his nearly decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years she broke with fellow Republicans in backing stem cell research as a way to possibly find a cure for Alzheimer’s.”
Newsmax added on March 6:
“As Reagan’s wife, political partner and adviser, she became one of America’s most potent first ladies… Some critics lambasted Nancy Reagan as a meddlesome ‘dragon lady,’ derided her anti-drug campaign and ridiculed her for consulting an astrologer to schedule presidential events.
“President Reagan called this view of his wife ‘despicable fiction,’ saying in 1987: ‘The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady – there is nothing to that.'”
Vaccination Requirements in Jewish Camps
Even though taking the “politically correct” approach that vaccinations for children is a “must,” JTA nevertheless admits the following in its article of March 3 [we omitted the article’s polemic comments and those highly disputable opinions from doctors of the drug industry requiring vaccinations]:
“Some Jewish camps… stick to state vaccination laws, many allowing for personal or religious exemptions. California… joined West Virginia and Mississippi as one of only three states that outlaw personal or religious vaccine exemptions after passing a contested bill last summer… In 2014, the prominent Orthodox Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky called vaccines a ‘hoax.’ JTA found last year that a range of private Jewish day schools had low student vaccination rates due to the personal or religious exemption [beliefs]…
“Tamarack Camps’ announcement [not to allow any unvaccinated children to attend their camps] immediately started an online dispute. Dr. David Brownstein, the medical director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, Michigan — the upscale heart of Detroit’s Jewish community — called the policy ‘draconian’ in a blog post the next day. ‘Perhaps Camp Tamarack is unaware that over $3 billion has been awarded by the Federal Government to children and adults injured by vaccines,’ Brownstein wrote. ‘I would like to see where Jewish law says it is safe to inject a neurotoxin into a baby or any living being.’…
“Tamarack Camps’ decision also caused a bit of a stir in and around the metro Detroit Jewish community. Dr. Kathy Erlich, a Jewish pediatrician against strict vaccine laws who worked in the camp’s medical clinic, resigned. And Miller, who wrote about Tamarack’s decision for Time, said at least one family left the camp over the policy.”
“Israel’s First Transgender Beauty Pageant Slated for May”
JTA wrote on March 3, 2016:
“Nearly 30 transgender Jews and Arabs auditioned Thursday at a Tel Aviv club for a place in the Miss Trans Israel pageant… Finalists will compete at a pageant in May, and the winner will represent Israel at the Miss Trans Star International pageant to be held in Spain in August.
“Israel is widely considered the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, and gays openly serve in its military… at least one openly transgender soldier is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
“However, in the halls of government, gay Israelis have long faced a firewall of religious parties that have blocked pro-LGBT legislation. Gay couples cannot marry, adopt children or have surrogate pregnancies in Israel, though the government does recognize adoptions and gay marriages performed abroad.”
New Survey on Divided Israel
JTA wrote on March 8:
“Coming just three years after Pew’s much-discussed study of Jewish-Americans, the Israel study depicts a country divided by religion and ethnicity, where Jews of opposing religious outlooks rarely associate and marriages that cross the Jewish-Arab divide almost never happen.
“Israel is 81 percent Jewish and 19 percent non-Jewish, according to the survey. Among the Jews, half are secular…
“Forty-eight percent of Jewish-Israelis agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel.’ Slightly fewer (46 percent) disagreed or strongly disagreed. Support for removal draws largely from right-wing Israelis. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of self-identified right-wing Jews agreed that Arabs should leave Israel, as did 71 percent of religious Zionists and 59 percent of the haredi Orthodox. Among left-wing Jews, 10 percent said yes to forcible transfer…
“Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Americans say ‘Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully,’ according to Pew’s 2013 survey, while only 43 percent of Jewish-Israelis feel similarly. Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Israelis say God gave Israel to the Jews, a view that even 51 percent of non-Orthodox Israelis endorsed. Only 40 percent of Jewish-Americans agree…
“Israelis are also more religious than Jewish-Americans. More than a quarter of Israelis attend weekly services, compared to about one-tenth of the Americans. Half of Jewish-Israelis believe in God with absolute certainty, compared to one-third of Jewish-Americans, and nearly half of Jewish-Israelis don’t handle money on Shabbat, while almost all Jewish-Americans do…
“Israelis vary widely in their religious observance. Most religious Israelis pray daily, while their secular counterparts can go years without setting foot in a synagogue. One quarter of Jewish-Israelis say they observe no religious traditions… Nearly all Jewish-Israelis attend a Passover seder and almost two-thirds keep a kosher home, including one-third of secular Israelis. By contrast, only 22 percent of Jewish-Americans keep a kosher kitchen. Four-fifths of Israelis, including two-thirds of secular Jews, refrain from eating pork. Nearly half of Israel’s Russian-speaking Jews (47 percent) do eat pork…
“On the whole, Jewish-Israelis maintain a broad definition of who is a Jew. Solid majorities believe someone can deny God’s existence, work on Shabbat, harshly criticize Israel and still be Jewish. But an overwhelming majority draws the line at believing in Jesus as the messiah. Only 18 percent of Jewish-Israelis — and 19 percent of haredim — say a Jew can believe in Jesus and remain Jewish. In the United States, fully one-third of Jews say belief in Jesus is compatible with being Jewish…”
As JTA reported on March 8, the survey has been strongly criticized by governmental officials and others as being inaccurate, but Alan Cooperman, the Pew study’s lead author, stands by the results.
Shocking–Scientific Paper Being Retracted because of Reference to the “Creator”
The Independent wrote on March 4:
“The paper… was written by a team of four researchers, three from Huazhong University in China, and one from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Published in the PLOS ONE journal, the fairly conventional study looked at the mechanics of how we grasp things, and involved the measurement of the hand movements of 30 participants…
“In the opening sentences of the study, it claims the link between muscles and hand movements is the product of ‘proper design by the Creator.’ Later, it says human hand coordination ‘should indicate the mystery of the Creator’s invention,’ and concludes by again claiming the mechanical architecture of the hand is the result of ‘proper design by the Creator.’
“Naturally, the multiple references to intelligent design in a reputable journal like PLOS ONE have stoked anger in the scientific community, and many people, including researchers who work as editors for the publication, are now calling for it to be retracted…”
The Independent then published the following Update:
“The journal has now announced the paper will be retracted.
“Commenting on the website, it wrote: ‘The PLOS ONE editors have followed up on the concerns raised about this publication… In light of the concerns identified, the PLOS ONE editors have decided to retract the article, the retraction is being processed and will be posted as soon as possible. We apologize for the errors and oversight leading to the publication of this paper.'”
This is again ample testimony of a God-defying abominable practice of scientists and the influence which they have on gullible people. A world, being held captive by Satan, is of course not permitted to consider the possibility that God might have created man. In God’s inspired and infallible book, the Bible, it is declared that those scientists are “fools” and lack spiritual discernment and understanding, and we are warned not to believe their false and blasphemous teachings of the atheistic or agnostic hypothesis of evolution.
Does It Pay to Beg?
Daily Mail reported on March 4:
“The next time you’re despairing at the state of the world, here’s what you need to do. Catch a train to Wolverhampton, and sit down on a patch of damp pavement opposite the church of St Peter’s Collegiate. You’ll need to wrap up warm, and remember to bring a plastic cup. Make yourself a cardboard sign, nothing fancy, then go and sit cross-legged and wait. Within minutes, your spirits will be lifted by the overflowing milk of human kindness.
“That’s what I did on Thursday, following reports that a beggar in the West Midlands town was earning £300 to £500 a day. I couldn’t believe this to be true. In London, maybe, but Wolverhampton? Where the average salary is £18,500? Ridiculous! Yet no sooner had I plonked myself down at 7.50am than I saw how it might be possible…
“You may think me cynical — a London professional posing as homeless. But I was genuinely trying to understand why people with homes — and presumably with a fighting chance of getting a job — instead choose to beg in the cold. And, of course, all the money I raised has gone to a local Wolverhampton homeless charity (I paid for breakfast myself).
“Of course, many homeless people have genuine reasons for being on the streets. They often have dreadful background stories — drug addiction, domestic abuse, mental health issues and countless other problems. But there is a worrying rise in rogue beggars, people who aren’t actually rough sleeping, who have dawned upon the depressing truth that you can make more money on the streets than toiling away for the minimum wage of £6.70 an hour.
“This week, it was reported that only one in five beggars is genuinely homeless, while many are doing it to top up their benefits or even incomes from work. The Mail ran a story about a man who was caught on film clambering back into his £40,000 Audi sportscar, after a day begging in Newquay, Cornwall. In another case, a conman pretended to be an ex-paratrooper to earn £5,000 over six months by begging in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, last year. One woman admitted begging after leaving her office job each day to pay for a new kitchen. Then there’s the claim by a local Labour councillor that one beggar pretending to be homeless was making up to £500 a day — the equivalent of £2,500 a week — on the streets of Wolverhampton…
“The advice from experts and homeless charities is typically not to give money to beggars as it perpetuates the root problems of alcohol, drugs and dependency. John Bird, the founder of the Big Issue, wrote very passionately in this paper how giving money ‘locks the beggar in a continuing downward spiral of abject dependency and victimhood, where all self-respect, honesty and hope are lost.’ Mr Bird, who has dedicated his life to helping Britain’s homeless — estimated to number 3,569 — is no doubt right…
“I’m sorry to say, begging involves a lot of deception. For example, if you have raised enough money to buy yourself breakfast after just ten minutes, you can’t truthfully carry on claiming to be hungry… One bizarre man came over to loiter with me, moaning that he was being kept waiting in the cold by a student he was due to meet. He then said he was going to a gay bar later on. Perhaps he thought I was a rent boy. I shuddered to think what might happen to vulnerable young men in this situation. I shuffled off, fast… at the rate of money I was making — £12-£13 an hour — I’d have enough to check into a hotel by the evening, and buy myself a decent bottle of Cabernet Shiraz…”
