Building its Army!

On October 12, 2016, Der Spiegel Online reported that the four countries with the biggest European armies will be working together more closely, after Britain is out of the way. These countries are France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The article continued that the EU Treaties allow this to happen

Steinmeier Warns of Deteriorating World Order

Deutsche Welle wrote on October 8:

“Writing in the mass-market newspaper Bild, Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said that tensions between Washington and Moscow have created a situation that is ‘more dangerous’ than the Cold War. ‘All options need to be considered’ in light of recent atrocities in Syria, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman has said, when asked about the possibility of fresh sanctions against Russia… Steinmeier penned an opinion piece published Saturday warning that relations between the US and Russia have reached a new low. ‘It’s a fallacy to think that this is like the Cold War. The current times are different and more dangerous,’ Steinmeier wrote in a 214-word guest column published by Bild, Germany’s largest circulation newspaper.

“The Ukrainian crisis, Syrian conflict and a lapse in nuclear material cooperation between the former Cold War adversaries are listed by Germany’s top diplomat as reasons for the dangerous environment. He laid the blame mostly on Russia for ‘provoking’ a new Cold War but, unlike the Cold War-era, in which the US and Russia had ‘red lines and respected them’, the new multi-polar environment has more regional conflict making geopolitics ‘more unpredictable.’…”

Russia’s Further Provocations

Reuters wrote on October 8:

“Russia has moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday, adding it was part of routine drills… ‘The deployment not only increases tensions in the region, but also possibly violates international treaties which limit deployment of ballistic missiles of range of over 500 kilometers,’ [Lithuania’s] Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told a news briefing in Vilnius… Some modifications of the Iskander can hit targets 700 km (450 miles) away, putting the German capital Berlin in range of Kaliningrad, Linkevicius said.”

Attempted Terror Attacks by Refugees in Germany?

The Local wrote on October 8:

“German police were carrying out a huge manhunt Saturday for a 22-year-old Syrian suspected of planning a bomb attack, after finding ‘highly explosive’ materials in his apartment. Security has been boosted at Berlin’s two airports and at train stations in the capital. The suspect, Jaber Albakr, could have had ‘an Islamist motive’, police sources told AFP. German news agency DPA, citing security sources, reported that Albakr had links to the Islamic State (IS) group. Police said ‘several hundred grams’ of an ‘explosive substance even more dangerous than TNT’ were found in Albakr’s apartment in the eastern city of Chemnitz, about 260 kilometres south of Berlin. ‘Even a small quantity of this substance could have caused enormous damage,’ police said…

“Albakr had been under surveillance for some time, with the magazine Focus reporting that he was suspected of plotting to attack an airport. Two of his associates were arrested close to Chemnitz’s railway station while a third was taken into custody in the city centre…

“Albakr was living in a neighbourhood of Chemnitz whose communist-era housing estates are home to many recently arrived refugees… German police said previously they had identified 523 people who posed a security threat to the country, around half of whom were known to be currently in Germany. On September 21 German officials said a 16-year-old Syrian refugee had been arrested on suspicion of planning a bomb attack in the name of IS. The youngster, thought to have been radicalised only recently, was detained in a special forces operation at a shelter for asylum seekers in the western city of Cologne, police and prosecutors said. Initial information gathered from the teenager’s mobile phone showed that he had expressed an ‘unmistakeable willingness’ to carry out an attack, Klaus-Stephan Becker of the Cologne police told reporters.

“A week earlier, German police detained three men with forged Syrian passports accused of being IS militants and labelled a possible ‘sleeper cell’ with links to the assailants behind the November attacks in Paris. More than 200 police took part in pre-dawn raids in northern Germany to detain the men, suspected of either plotting an attack or awaiting orders to commit one. German authorities have urged the public not to confuse migrants with ‘terrorists’, but have acknowledged that more jihadists may have entered the country among the nearly one million asylum seekers who arrived last year.”

Syrian Terror Suspect Found Dead in Cell in Germany

BBC News reported on October 12:

“A Syrian migrant suspected of planning a bomb attack on a Berlin airport has killed himself in his prison cell in Leipzig, Germany, officials say.

“Saxony’s state justice ministry said Jaber al-Bakr was found dead and that an investigation had been launched.

“He had been turned in to police on Monday by three Syrian refugees after being on the run for two days.

“German police had been watching him for months, but failed to arrest him when they raided his flat on Saturday.

“Since his arrest, Jaber al-Bakr, 22, had been on hunger strike and was under round-the-clock surveillance, news website Der Spiegel reported.”

Cholera in Haiti

Deutsche Welle reported on October 8:

“Cholera outbreaks have killed at least 13 people in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. Nearly 900 people have died in Haiti with thousands homeless due to the storm, which is now battering the US southeast… The flood water mixed with sewage, which has likely caused the cholera outbreak. The disease causes severe diarrhea and can kill within hours if a patient doesn’t receive medical treatment.

“… Before Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released a loan of $8 million (7.14 million euros) to the United Nations Children’s Fund to deal with a worsening cholera epidemic in the country. ‘In 2016, almost 27,000 cholera cases have been reported in Haiti, and over 240 people have died. Hurricane Matthew is feared to significantly worsen the situation and increase the risk of a larger outbreak,’ CERF said in a statement on Friday.”

Pope Sad About Marrying Nuns

Newsmax wrote on October 7:

“Pope Francis was upset to hear that two former nuns had married in a civil ceremony in Italy, Vatican Deputy Secretary of State Archbishop Angelo Becciu said Friday. ‘How much sadness on the pope’s face when I read him the news of the two married “nuns”!’ Becciu tweeted.

“Federica and Isabel were joined in a civil union in northern Italy last month, taking advantage of a law passed this year that offers homosexual couples legal recognition — one of the last countries in the West to do so. The pair, who did not give their surnames, told La Repubblica on Friday that they had fallen in love while serving as missionaries in the West African country Guinea-Bissau. Federica, 44, comes from Italy and Isabel, 40, comes from South America. They said they could have done what other nuns did and live together in a convent while hiding their relationship, but said this would have been ‘false’. ‘There are many such cases where priests or nuns hide their relationships with men or women,’ the pair were quoted as saying, adding that they had received no help when they left their religious order…

“The Italian Bishops Conference came out firmly against the government’s Civil Union bill, arguing that it undermined the status of traditional families. The Church teaches that homosexuality is not sinful but homosexual acts are, and that homosexuals should try to be chaste. However, Pope Francis said in June that Christians and the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness from gay people for the way they had treated them.”

Flashback: “Seattle Children’s Hospital Will Open a Clinic for Transgender Youth”

The Family Policy Institute wrote on September 26:

“Doctors trained in ‘transgender care’ will provide puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy, and mental health support to children struggling with their gender identity. The Gender Clinic will refer children seeking sex reassignment surgery to other medical providers. The clinic… will serve children between eight and 21 years old.

“Seattle Children’s claims that treating transgender children early in life allows them to better integrate into society, despite growing evidence that treating gender dysphoria with puberty blockers and hormone therapies can irreversibly harm young children. In a statement entitled ‘Gender Ideology Harms Children,’ the American College of Pediatricians outlines the risks associated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone therapies.

“Puberty blockers prevent a child from beginning puberty. Children using puberty blockers find their growth and fertility inhibited, sometimes permanently. Their sexual organs never fully mature, leaving them deprived of the ability to reproduce and without the physical characteristics associated with either sex. Heartbreakingly, this can leave them feeling as if they belong to neither biological sex.

“There are also health risks associated with these treatments. Puberty blockers decrease bone density and may hinder brain development. Cross-sex hormone therapy increases the risk of high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, and cancer. Dr. Paul McHugh, the former psychiatrist in chief at John Hopkins Medical Center, likened these medical interventions to ‘child abuse,’ noting that ‘close to 80% of such children would abandon their confusion and grow naturally into adult life if untreated.’ Other research summarized by the American Psychiatric Association suggests as many as 98% of boys and 88% of girls who struggle with gender dysphoria as children will no longer identify as the other gender after finishing puberty.

“Troublingly, the majority of adolescents who will stop identifying as the other gender may be unable to revert to their biological sex if they received puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatments. The American College of Pediatricians warns that ‘children and adolescents are incapable of making informed decisions regarding permanent, irreversible and life-altering medical interventions.’

“We agree. Activist doctors shouldn’t encourage children to undergo unnecessary and potentially harmful and irreversible medical treatments – and that’s exactly why the news about the Seattle Children’s Gender Clinic is so concerning.”

Piers Morgan Evaluates the Second Presidential Debate

The Daily Mail reported on October 10:

“I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say that last night’s debate was the most sickeningly squalid spectacle in the history of US politics. To see the remaining two candidates for the presidency trading blows about sexual assault and rape was so unedifying it defies any parody Saturday Night Live might ever come up…

“It’s hard to imagine any ‘October surprise’ that could possibly suit Hillary’s agenda more than this… Yet there was one huge problem: her husband Bill, sitting just a few yards away in the front row.

The world knows him as a brilliant politician, but also as a serial seducer of epic proportions who, while he was President of the United States, even had sexual relations with a young intern in the Oval Office. In comparison to Bill, many view Trump as a choirboy when it comes to women.

“Earlier last night, Trump hosted a press event with four women: Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Kathy Shelton. Broaddrick claimed Bill Clinton raped her when he was Arkansas attorney general, and that Hillary intimidated her into silence when her husband launched his own bid to be president. Willey was a former White House volunteer aide who alleges Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her during his first term as president. Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment.

“Shelton was a 12-year-old rape victim whose attacker was defended by Hillary Clinton in her lawyer days. A tape later emerged showing Hillary chuckling when talking about the case and suggesting she knew her client was guilty. She used a legal technicality to get him a substantially reduced sentence…

“It was a prurient, distasteful and thoroughly self-serving stunt by Trump to sit among these women in front of the world’s media shortly before the debate started. And then take them to the actual debate itself and sit them right in the front row, feet away from Hillary. It also proved to be an extremely effective form of ugly politics. Hillary knew they were there. So did Bill. And so did the world…

“When Hillary went after Trump for his sex tapes, he instantly flew back at her about these women. ‘If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse,’ Trump jabbed. ‘Mine were words, his were actions. Bill Clinton was abusive to women, Hillary Clinton attacked those women, attacked them viciously.’ It was devastatingly brutal to watch, but as he doubtless hoped it would, it stopped the sex tape debate in its tracks. Hillary had nowhere to go but meek retreat. ‘I’m reminded,’ she said, ‘of what my friend Michelle Obama advised us all: When they go low, you go high.’…

“I’m not so sure about that, Mrs Clinton. I think the world’s women were more of the ‘when they go THIS low, deliver the fatal blow’ mind-set. But she couldn’t and Trump knew it. Emboldened by this knowledge, you could see his confidence levels rise for the rest of the debate as he scored valuable points against her over issues like emails, Benghazi, Obamacare and Iraq. Hillary held her own but she was nowhere near as comfortable or dominant as she was in the first debate. By the end, it was clear that Trump had won the real battle. Far from being finished, he had sent a firm message to his supporters and indeed to those in the Republican Party itching to ditch him, that he is still alive and kicking in this race…

“As for what happens next, who… knows? The truth about this extraordinary election is that nobody really has a clue what will happen in the next 24 hours, let alone 29 days.

“Trump, Hillary’s supporters insist, is a disgusting, bigoted, women-hating, Hitler-esque monster who couldn’t possibly be elected president. The problem is that’s not what vast swathes of Middle America actually think. They still see Trump as their billionaire Robin Hood, albeit with rather more personal flaws. And they loathe Hillary because to them, she’s the walking, breathing, smirking personification of the very Establishment they believe is conspiring to wreck their lives. They are also, as we’ve seen from the reaction to last night’s debate, well aware that when it comes to defending the rights of women against sexist, misogynist creeps, it’s probably best not to be called Clinton.”

Donald Trump in Hot Water

The Telegraph wrote on October 8:

“Donald Trump’s chances of winning the US election were dealt a severe blow on Friday night after the emergence of a video in which he… uses lewd and sexually aggressive language… The billionaire businessman took the rare step of apologising for any offence he might have caused, describing the filmed conversation from 2005 as ‘locker room banter’. He added Bill Clinton, the former president, had said ‘far worse’…

“Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump’s rival for the White House said: ‘This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president..’ Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House and most senior Republican, said he was ‘sickened’ by what he heard and banned him from a political event in Wisconsin. Reince Preibus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee,  slammed the party’s presidential candidate in a statement Friday night. ‘No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.’ … In the video, Mr Trump is recorded talking about an unnamed woman to Billy Bush, who was a host for Access Hollywood, a TV entertainment show… The footage was taken several months after Mr Trump married his third wife, Melania Trump, in January 2005…”

The Daily Mail added that “Billy Bush is the nephew of former president George H.W. Bush, and first cousins with George W. and Jeb Bush.”

The New York Times added on October 7:

“In the video, from 2005, Mr. Bush can be heard laughing as Mr. Trump describes in vulgar terms his efforts to seduce a married woman… Mr. Bush, 44, issued a statement on Friday evening, writing: ‘Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago — I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along.’”

The Huffington Post wrote von October 7:

“Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the GOP presidential primary earlier this year, called the remarks ‘reprehensible’ on Twitter. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another former Trump primary rival, echoed the sentiment. Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ presidential nominee four years ago, condemned his successor’s remarks as ‘vile degradations.’ Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the 2008 GOP nominee, denounced Trump’s ‘offensive and demeaning,’ adding that the GOP nominee ‘alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences.’… Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Trump’s comments ‘vulgar, egregious and impossible to justify.’”

Deutsche Welle added on October 8:

“Donald Trump’s running mate and closest ally Mike Pence has slammed Trump’s comments on groping women. With outrage mounting against Trump, the ex-reality TV star said there was ‘zero chance’ of him quitting the race. Pence, who is the Republican candidate for vice president, said on Saturday he ‘cannot defend’ Trump’s vulgar remarks caught in a 2005 video…

“Trump’s wife Melania, who married the billionaire only months before the video was recorded, urged the public to accept his apology. ‘The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know,’ she said in a statement. At the same time, she defended her husband, saying he had ‘the heart and mind of a leader… I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.’”

Trump declares war on GOP, says ‘the shackles have been taken off’

The Washington Post wrote on October 11:

“Donald Trump declared war on the Republican establishment Tuesday, lashing out at House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and other GOP elected officials as his supporters geared up to join the fight amid extraordinary turmoil within the party just four weeks before Election Day.

“One day after Ryan announced he would no longer campaign on Trump’s behalf, the GOP nominee said as part of a barrage of tweets that the top-ranking Republican is ‘weak and ineffective’ and is providing ‘zero support’ for his candidacy. Trump also declared that ‘the shackles have been taken off’ him, liberating him to ‘fight for America the way I want to.’

“Trump called McCain ‘foul-mouthed’ and accused him with no evidence of once begging for his support…

“’I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people, that I can tell you . . . especially Ryan,’ Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel. He said if he is elected president, Ryan might be ‘in a different position.’

“In perhaps the most piercing insult, Trump said his party is harder to deal with than even Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, whom conservatives loathe….

“By backing away from Trump, Ryan and his allies were hoping to insulate themselves and their majorities on Capitol Hill from the baggage weighing down the nominee’s flagging campaign. For many, the breaking point was the 2005 video. But they are suddenly dealing with another problem: an impulsive and bellicose businessman with an army of loyal supporters willing to exact retribution against elected officials they feel have abandoned them. The rift could have profound ramifications for the Republican Party as a whole, shattering any sense of unity and jeopardizing its chances of holding onto the Senate and even, potentially, the House.”

Russia Defends Trump

Newsmax wrote on October 7:

Russia’s government lodged a formal complaint last month with the United Nations over a top U.N. official’s condemnations of Donald Trump and some European politicians, diplomats told The Associated Press, an intervention that underscores the unusual links between the Republican presidential nominee and the Kremlin…

“Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, issued a verbal ‘demarche’ to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a private meeting on Sept. 13… Churkin angrily protested a pair of speeches by [Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights] that denounced ‘demagogues’ and specifically targeted Trump and several populist leaders in Europe, even likening their tactics to Islamic State propaganda…

“Paul Manafort, a Trump campaign manager, resigned this summer over revelations about his work for Ukraine’s former, Moscow-backed president and other pro-Russian officials…

“Zeid concentrated on Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders, who opposes asylum for refugees and, similar to Trump, immigration from Muslim countries. Wilders also advocates closing mosques and Islamic schools, and outlawing the Quran. Zeid also criticized by name the pro-Brexit head of the U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage, who appeared with Trump at an August rally; Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico; Austrian presidential candidate Norbert Hofer; French nationalist leader Marine Le Pen; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban; and Czech President Milos Zeman.”

Hillary Clinton in Hot Water

Newsmax reported on October 7:

“Hillary Clinton told bankers behind closed doors that she favored ‘open trade and open borders’ and said Wall Street executives were best-positioned to help reform the U.S. financial sector, according to transcripts of her private, paid speeches leaked Friday. The leaks were the result of another email hacking intended to influence the presidential election. Excerpts of the speeches given in the years before her 2016 presidential campaign included some blunt and unguarded remarks to her private audiences which collectively had paid her at least $26.1 million in speaking fees. Clinton had refused to release transcripts of the speeches, despite repeated calls to do so by her primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“The excerpts were included in emails exchanged among her political staff, including Campaign Chairman John Podesta, whose email account was hacked. The WikiLeaks organization posted what it said were thousands of Podesta’s emails. It wasn’t immediately clear who had hacked Podesta’s emails, though the breach appeared to cover years of messages, some sent as recently as last month.

“Among the emails was a compilation of excerpts from Clinton’s paid speeches in 2013 and 2014. It appeared campaign staff had read all Clinton’s speeches and identified passages that could be potentially problematic for the candidate if they were to become public.

“One excerpt put Clinton squarely in the free-trade camp, a position she has retreated on significantly during the 2016 election. In a talk to a Brazilian bank in 2013, she said her ‘dream’ is ‘a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders’ and asked her audience to think of what doubling American trade with Latin America ‘would mean for everybody in this room.’

“Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has made opposition to trade deals a cornerstone of his campaign…

“The excerpts include quotes from an October 2013 speech at an event sponsored by Goldman Sachs, in which Clinton conceded that presidential candidates need the financial backing of Wall Street to mount a competitive national campaign…

“In an April 2013 speech to the National Multifamily Housing Council, Clinton said politicians must balance ‘both a public and a private position’ while making deals…”

Europe’s Future

The Christian Science Monitor wrote on October 1:

“Across the Continent, the basic question – what is Europe? – is being asked in living rooms, corporate suites, and government cubicles with more urgency than at any time since World War II. Buffeted by fundamental changes – the decision by Britain to leave the EU, the continuing torrent of refugees, the inexorable rise of far-right political parties, and the threat posed by a resurgent Russia – the EU is confronting a historic crisis of cohesion and identity.

“Many experts fully expect the EU to survive. They believe this is simply the latest in a recurring cycle of challenges. Others think the EU will be a weakened and much less unified bloc of nations in the future – and possibly a much smaller one as well.

“While comparisons of the current period are made with the run-up to World War II, when a depression made Europe ripe for fascism, or with the disruptive globalization that preceded World War I, many dismiss the notion that Europe is about to face anything as cataclysmic. But there is no doubt that Europe finds itself at a hinge moment – one that will have significant implications for the world’s largest trading bloc as well as for the Western world and the kind of democracy it espouses…

“Later in the fall, Austrian voters could very well elect the EU’s first far-right head of state…

“While German residents debate the philosophical underpinnings of Europe, bureaucrats in Brussels are working out the details of something that will hold far more practical implications for the future of Europe – Britain’s pending divorce from the EU. The EU just held its first summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sept. 16 to discuss where the bloc is going from here, without the British leader, new Prime Minister Theresa May.

“In their vote to leave the EU in June, most who were in favor of leaving weren’t motivated by the desire to dismantle Europe. Instead they were driven by a heady mix of defiance and pride over issues of identity and sovereignty and frustration over their own economic plight… Britain, of course, has always been a hesitant European partner. It joined the bloc only in 1973, after its empire was largely a footnote in history and its economy was reeling from deindustrialization. Under leaders from Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher, Britain has always had a fraught relationship with continental Europe.

“But the decision to definitively leave the EU surprised even the ‘Leave’ campaign… Various opinion surveys from Denmark to Finland showed desire for similar referendums plummeting after Brexit… the risk of copycat exit movements remains, especially if populists gain ground in countries where euroskepticism is highest…

“Europe… has been shaken out of complacency, given a glimpse into the consequences of not responding to the issues Europeans care most about. That includes fortifying exterior borders to make Europe more secure, bringing order to the refugee crisis, generating jobs (especially for European youth)…

“As populism has grown across the West, many fault mainstream politicians for failing to respond – for either just pandering to the populist vote or for failing to convince Europeans to believe in the EU decades after peace has held… eventually politicians will have to integrate the economic system further…The question of unity lies at the heart of the problems facing mainstream politicians in Europe, who have to balance national interest against the greater good of the EU project…

“After successive terrorist attacks by Islamist-inspired perpetrators – in France, Belgium, and this summer in Germany for the first time – Muslims have said that they feel pushed away. This could become one of Europe’s biggest problems, as alienation breeds radicalization… Many residents feel insecure… and refugees and asylum-seekers have played a role in the terror hitting Europe. Bans on burqas – and burkinis at beaches in France – epitomize the public debate playing out…

“Germany’s Angela Merkel, whose leadership is crucial to the future of Europe… faces rising opposition [at home]. Last month, her center-right party lost elections to the populist Alternative for Germany in her home district in northeastern Germany…“German author Andre Wilkens… believes Germany is central to Europe’s future…”

According to the Bible, out of the EU and the Eurozone, ten nations or groups of nations will arise very soon, and they will give their power and authority to a charismatic political leader of German (or Austrian) descent. Indeed, Germany and Germany’s leadership are central and crucial to Europe’s future. Please read our free booklet, “The Ten European Revivals of the Ancient Roman Empire.”

Hungarians Reject EU Migrant Policy in an Invalid Referendum

Deutsche Welle wrote on October 2:

“Citizens in Hungary have voted in a controversial referendum to reject the European Union’s plan to distribute migrants across the bloc. However, data from the National Election Office’s special referendum website suggest the number of voters was less than 50 percent, invalidating the result…

“More than 98 percent… rejected the EU’s migrant quota, while 1.7 percent voted in favor of it… Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the results needed to be taken into account by EU decision-makers. ‘Thirteen years after a large majority of Hungarians voted at a referendum to join the European Union, today Hungarians made their voices heard again in a European issue,’ Orban told a news conference in the capital, Budapest…

“Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, have vehemently opposed accepting migrants. Hungary has refused to accept even one of the 1,294 refugees allotted to it and has instead filed a legal case against the EU, together with Slovakia.”

Aleppo Under Siege

Reuters reported on October 1:

“Russian war planes struck rebel-held areas north of Aleppo on Saturday as the [Syrian] army shelled the besieged old quarter in a major offensive… Russia was reported on Friday to be sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its air campaign as the United States said it had not yet given up on finding a diplomatic resolution. The latest strikes come 10 days into a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011…

“The army, aided by hundreds of Iranian-backed militias who have arrived in Aleppo, have backed up the air campaign with a ground offensive on several frontlines to break rebel defenses inside the city… Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov… criticized Washington’s failure to separate moderate rebel groups from those the Russians call terrorists…

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the war… said warplanes struck a field hospital in the heavily bombed rebel-held al Sakhour district in the second such strike on one of four such medical facilities targeted in the last few days… Hundreds of people have been killed in the bombing and many hundreds more wounded, with little access to treatment in hospitals that lack basic supplies… Washington, Britain and other allies have condemned the Russian bombing campaign, with the U.S envoy to the U.N. last week calling Russia’s actions in Syria ‘barbarism’ not counter-terrorism…

“Russia joined the war exactly a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shi’ite militia from Lebanon and Iraq.”

Deutsche Welle added on October 1:

“British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Moscow risked becoming an international pariah if its bombing continued. But Moscow and Damascus appear unperturbed by Western outrage over the relentless bombardments [which] UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced as ‘war crimes.’… Casualties are mounting on both sides of the divided city. About 1.2 million people are facing daily rocket fire by the rebels, while 250,000 civilians are under siege by the Syrian army in the east of the city, which is held by rebels…

“The medical charity Doctors Without Borders has described the indiscriminate bombing of eastern Aleppo by Syrian and Russian forces as a ‘bloodbath.’… Aleppo was Syria’s largest city and commercial hub before civil war broke out in 2011. The city has been divided into government and opposition sectors for the past four years.”

Why Does Russia Support Assad?

Deutsche Welle wrote on October 1:

“For over five years now – but especially since Russia launched its airstrikes in 2015 – many world leaders have asked why the country continues to stand by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Theories abound, but none of those really explains Russia’s massive engagement and its willingness to eat the monetary, military and diplomatic costs.

“One theory is that President Vladimir Putin wants to maintain Syria’s port of Tartus as Russia’s only direct access to the Mediterranean Sea. Another is that Putin wants to show that he is willing to counter all civil society uprisings and revolts and that by supporting Assad he is sending signals to opposition movements in Russia. Or maybe Putin is striving for political stability in the Middle East in order to prevent extremists from spreading to Russia and neighboring countries. The prevailing theory, however, is that Putin wants to prove that Russia is a superpower just like the United States…

“A year ago, Russia began its airstrikes on Syria. The attacks targeted everyone who was labeled a ‘terrorist’ by the governments of Russia and Syria…  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the airstrikes have killed almost 9,500 people – including at least 3,800 civilians, 900 of whom were children…

“Russia’s open entry into the war was harshly criticized by officials from the United States and EU – including German leaders. ‘Anyone… who drops bunker-busting bombs on residential buildings is committing war crimes,’ Omid Nouripour, of the Greens, told the  public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. Nouripour also accused Russia and the Assad regime of ruthlessness in their fight for the eastern part of Aleppo…”

Russia Warns of Nuclear World War III

The Sun wrote on October 5, 2016:

“A RUSSIAN newspaper fears a Third World War with the US over Syria. Tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets predicts a ‘direct military confrontation’ on par with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US suspended contact with Russia over Syria on Monday. Secretary of State John Kerry has been enraged by  airstrikes on rebel-controlled areas of Aleppo…”

Metro.co.uk wrote on Oct. 4, 2016:

“As tensions rise in the Middle East, an official TV channel in Russia has issued a chilling warning that war with the West could be imminent. Zvezda, a nationwide TV service run by the country’s Ministry of Defence, said last week, ‘Schizophrenics from America are sharpening nuclear weapons for Moscow.’… Both Russia and NATO are still in the position to unleash global-scale nuclear attacks – and the weapons are armed and ready…

“What would a nuclear blast actually do?… What observers fear is a military or political confrontation which builds up tensions around a nuclear missile attack – possibly leading one side to fire.

“Hydrogen bombs would destroy most civilian buildings in a 10-mile radius (based on a 20-megaton weapon exploding 3.3 miles above the ground)… The effects on people nearby would be even more frightening, with a blast killing thousands or millions instantly, followed by poisoning from radioactive fallout from the blast.

“Witnesses of the Hiroshima attack said that people near the centre of the blast ‘vanished’. … William Burchett said, ‘Of thousands of others, nearer the centre of the explosion, there was no trace. They vanished. The theory in Hiroshima is that the atomic heat was so great that they burned instantly to ashes – except that there were no ashes.’”

The Federalist Paper Project wrote on October 5:

“[Zvezda] breathlessly reported that underground nuclear bunkers had been built to house 12 million people – enough to house the entire population of Moscow… Russia’s nuclear stockpile is the largest in the world with 8,400 warheads compared to America’s 7,500…

“The Russians have also launched a nationwide civil defense training exercise in preparation for an all-out war with the West. The Independent reports: “Lasting three days, the exercise being run by the Ministry for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) will involve 200,000 emergency personnel and the co-operation of 40 million civilians.”

“In their doomsday broadcast, they told viewers that the United States would ‘Face terrible, tectonic’ consequences if they took action against the Syrian regime.”

Flashback: Russia’s New Naval Doctrine Endangers Georgia

On September 8, 2016, Georgia Today wrote the following:

“Due to the strained relations between the West and Russia, including an ongoing economic war between the EU and the USA and Russia via a sanction policy and ever worsening confrontation between NATO and Russia via the constant flexing of ‘military muscles’ between competing forces, there is many a thing a little country like Georgia has to think of. In that scope, one of the dangerous ‘combat zones’ is thought to be the Black Sea Basin…

“The Russian policy-makers seek to regain the status-quo through domination in the basin by controlling three key points: Crimea, the mouths of the Danube and the Bosphorus [sic].

“Considering the latest events, Russia has partially achieved its strategic goals – first occupying and then annexing Crimea and reinforcing military positions in the peninsula, with the creation of the so-called ‘Mediterranean Task Force’ within the Black Sea Fleet, and detachment of combat ships and boats for the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf region to pursue its second objective of obtaining control over the Bosphorus…

“With this reinforcement of its naval forces, Russia is not so far away from securing the third pillar of its strategy – the mouth of the Danube. Before that, however, in order to better reinforce its presence in the Black Sea basin, the Russian authority announced that 30 new ships are to be added to the Black Sea Fleet… Georgia is in a dangerous position due to… its sea ports that Russia will need badly to establish its hegemony…”

Outrageous Obamacare Penalizes Hard-Working Americans

The Washington Free Beacon wrote on September 26:

“Nearly 8.1 million taxpayers paid $1,694,088,000 in Obamacare penalties for not having health insurance in 2014, the first year the penalty was in effect, according to the most recent data from the Internal Revenue Service. ‘Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act required that individuals must have had health care coverage, qualified for a health coverage exemption, or made a shared responsibility payment with a tax return,’ the IRS said…

“IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told lawmakers in 2015 that preliminary data from the IRS found that approximately 7.5 million taxpayers paid a total of $1.5 billion in penalties. This means about 560,000 more taxpayers paid about $200 million more in penalties than was previously reported.

“In 2014, individuals were required to pay either a flat penalty of $95 for each uninsured adult or one percent of their household’s adjusted gross income in excess of the threshold for mandatory tax filing, whichever is greater. In 2016, those penalties rose to a flat fee of $695 or 2.5 percent of the AGI measure.

“Around four million individuals are estimated to pay $4 billion in penalties this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The budget office projects that $5 billion will be collected each year from 2017 to 2024… Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) [said:] ‘Obamacare penalizes taxpayers who can no longer afford insurance that Obamacare made unaffordable… The legacy of Obamacare is skyrocketing premiums, unaffordable deductibles, the destruction of the individual insurance market, and tax penalties on Obamacare’s victims.’”

This “penalty” or “tax,” which was unconstitutionally held by the US Supreme Court to be constitutional, is really a shameful governmental and judicial attack on the freedom and liberty (and the money) of hard-working American citizens.

Israel Has the Bomb… and Shimon Peres Helped Develop It

Daily Mail wrote on October 2:

“The secret of whether Israel has the nuclear bomb has finally been exposed – after former president Shimon Peres admitted from beyond the grave that he helped develop an atomic weapons programme. Israeli leaders have always refused to admit having a nuclear arsenal, preferring to keep enemies in doubt.

“But in a remarkable interview recorded just before his death last Thursday at the age of 93, the veteran statesman not only confirmed the nuclear capability – but also admitted that he was its architect. The candid confession follows decades of speculation over whether Israel had managed to build a bomb at its Dimona plant in the Negev desert, which officials insist is used simply for scientific research…

“Peres, one of the founding fathers of Israel in 1948, revealed he persuaded President Ben Gurion to develop a nuclear reactor in 1955, fearing a threat from neighbouring Iran… It is understood, although unconfirmed, that the country’s first bomb was created in 1966…

“Israeli media are forbidden from reporting on their country’s nuclear ambitions, and politicians refuse to discuss it. Yet external observers estimate that the country has about 80 nuclear weapons.”

From this it follows that at this point, Israel is apparently the only country in the Middle East which possesses nuclear weapons. But countries like Iran and others are very desirous of obtaining the bomb.

USA Today Breaks a 34-Year Old Tradition

On September 30, 2016, USA Today published the following article by its Editorial Board:

“In the 34-year history of USA TODAY, the Editorial Board has never taken sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them… We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach. Until now. This year, the choice isn’t between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences. This year, one of the candidates – Republican nominee Donald Trump – is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.

“From the day he declared his candidacy 15 months ago through this week’s first presidential debate, Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents. Whether through indifference or ignorance, Trump has betrayed fundamental commitments made by all presidents since the end of World War II. These commitments include unwavering support for NATO allies, steadfast opposition to Russian aggression, and the absolute certainty that the United States will make good on its debts. He has expressed troubling admiration for authoritarian leaders and scant regard for constitutional protections…

“A list prepared by NBC details 124 shifts by Trump on 20 major issues since shortly before he entered the race… In a Wall Street Journal column this month, Robert Gates, the highly respected former Defense secretary who served presidents of both parties over a half-century, described Trump as ‘beyond repair.’… His proposals for mass deportations and religious tests are unworkable and contrary to America’s ideals…

“The Editorial Board does not have a consensus for a Clinton endorsement. Some of us… believe she’d serve the nation ably as its president. Other board members have serious reservations about Clinton’s sense of entitlement, her lack of candor and her extreme carelessness in handling classified information…”

The article paints a really bad picture of Donald Trump, and we did not even quote most of the rather outrageous statements. On the other hand, the article is far too condescending towards the many serious problems associated with Hillary Clinton. It then asks the question, “Where does that leave us?” The answer should be obvious. The USA is left with a terrible future, no matter who will win the Presidency. That is WHY members of the Church of God do not… or ought not… vote in presidential elections like the next one.

Germany Highly Critical of Trump

Deutsche Welle wrote on October 1:

“In an internal paper drawn up by the German Economy Ministry, experts say the US economy would suffer if Donald Trump were elected president. The weekly news magazine Spiegel quoted the paper as saying that the United States could expect ‘a shrinking GDP, fewer jobs and higher unemployment’ if the Republican candidate were to triumph in November.

“… the Economy Ministry reports that his plans would violate both US and international law. The experts, who directly advise Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the possible 2017 chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats (SPD), wrote that Trump’s ideas were ‘impossible to put into practice’ and ‘no basis for a realistic economic policy.’ The criticism is the latest instance in which prominent German government officials and employees have voiced dismay at Trump.

“Trump is massively unpopular in Germany and most of Europe… German politicians, including Gabriel, were extraordinarily frank in criticizing the Republican. ‘Trump has no plan for the United States – to say nothing of the great challenges of international politics,’ Gabriel said on Tuesday in the wake of the first US presidential debate…  Other SPD and left-wing politicians echoed those sentiments. That was hardly surprising. After all, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, of the SPD, went so far as call Trump a ‘preacher of hate’ in August.

“What’s remarkable is how much criticism Trump has attracted from German conservatives. ‘You have to look at his character, and that promises nothing good,’ Norbert Röttgen, the chairman of the Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in an unusually blistering statement after the debate. He is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union.

“But Spiegel also reported that… Markus Ederer, the state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, has met with Trump advisers to talk about foreign policy issues, particularly NATO. Trump has been critical of the status quo within the military alliance and has called for members, including Germany, to bear more of the costs for the joint defense, insinuating that US troops could be withdrawn from Europe if his demands weren’t met…”

Germany would clearly prefer Hillary Clinton to become the next American President. However, since the relationship between the USA and Europe, under German leadership, will drastically deteriorate in the near future, Germany might not get her wish.

New York Times Hypocritical on Trump Tax Issue?

Breitbart wrote on October 2:

“The New York Times has excited the Clinton campaign and the rest of the media with a revelation that Republican nominee Donald Trump declared a $916 million loss in 1995 that might have resulted in him not paying taxes in some subsequent years [some claim, for 18 years]. The implication, reinforced by CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union on Sunday morning, is that Trump ‘avoided’ paying taxes, when in fact his tax liability was zero.

“But the Times itself has ‘avoided’ paying taxes — in 2014, for example. As Forbes noted at the time: ‘… for tax year 2014, The New York Times paid no taxes and got an income tax refund of $3.5 million even though they had a pre-tax profit of $29.9 million in 2014. In other words, their post-tax profit was higher than their pre-tax profit…’

“New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani defended Trump on Sunday, telling NBC News’ Meet the Press that Trump was a ‘genius’ in business who was simply doing what the tax code allows every American to do by counting losses against tax liabilities, and bouncing back from failure to success. That would include the New York Times — which, however, is still struggling.

“As Jazz Shaw of HotAir.com notes, the Times — or whoever was its source — likely obtained Trump’s tax document illegally. The ongoing IRS scandal, in which the federal government targeted conservative organizations, involved several cases in which the agency illegally shared taxpayer information with other branches of government, and in one case leaked taxpayer information to a conservative organization’s political opponents. In 2008, the confidential tax information of Joe ‘the Plumber’ Wurzelbacher, who emerged as a critic of then-Sen. Barack Obama, was leaked illegally by an Ohio state official…

“The news comes just a few weeks after in early September the New York Times’ executive editor Dean Baquet said he would go to jail to print Trump’s tax returns, even if he obtained them illegally… He made the remark during a Harvard University forum Sunday, when he was asked about the legal risks tied to publishing a leaked or hacked copy of Trump’s taxes…

“Washington Post editor Bob Woodward…  also said he would go to jail too over it. ‘Some things you have to do. Dean is exactly right. This defines Donald Trump,’ Woodward said.”

These hypocritical statements of intent to commit crimes are outrageous.

Zero Hedge wrote on October 2:

“With the leaked 1995 Trump tax returns ‘scandal’ focused on the billionaire’s yuuge ‘net operating loss’ and how it might have ‘legally’ enabled him to pay no taxes for years, we now discover none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton utilized a $700,000 ‘loss’ to avoid paying some taxes in 2015… While not on the scale of Trump’s business ‘operating loss’, Hillary Clinton… like many ‘wealthy’ individuals is taking advantage of a legal scheme to use historical losses to avoid paying current taxes.”

Such hypocritical conduct by the New York Times and Hillary Clinton is outrageous. The Bible tells us to pay our taxes, but it does not command us to pay “taxes” which we don’t owe.

Deaconesses in the Early Church

Catholic Culture wrote on September 29:

“Nearly two months after Pope Francis instituted a commission to study women and the diaconate, L’Osservatore Romano has published an article on deaconesses and the early Church. Carlo Carletti, an archaeology professor at the University of Bari, said that the starting point for any examination of the topic is Romans 16:1, in which… Paul refers to ‘our sister Phoebe, a deaconess.’

“Of the 30 inscriptions that refer to deaconesses, said Carletti, 25 have been found in Asia Minor (in modern-day Turkey). Carletti attributes this geographical concentration to the legacy of Paul, who included women in his missionary activity.”

The Bible does indeed provide for the ordination of women as deaconesses, but not for the purpose of preaching. Paul makes it very clear that women are not to preach in church, and they are not to be ordained as elders or ministers, pastors or bishops.

Pope Celebrates with Assyrian-Chaldean Diaspora

Zenit reported on September 30:

“The final official stop on Pope Francis’ first day in Georgia was a visit to the Church of St. Shemon Bar Sabbae to meet with the Assyrian-Chaldean community. He was welcomed by the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans… [Francis] proceeded in procession to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament among the faithful of the Assyrian-Chaldean diaspora. After a song and a prayer in Aramaic, the Pope recited a Prayer for Peace.”

Some ancient Assyrians can be found today in diverse areas, but most live in Germany and Austria. Please read our free booklet, “Germany in Prophecy.”

Pope Francis and “Jewish” Holy Days

Zenit reported on October 1:

“Pope Francis has sent a message to Riccardo De Segni, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Rome, the most ancient in the world, on the occasion of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah…), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), celebrated this month.

“Rosh Hashanah begins Sunday evening and concludes Tuesday. Yom Kippur begins the evening of Oct. 11, and Sukkot the evening of Oct. 16. ‘I am particularly glad to convey my warmest wishes to you and the Jewish community of Rome. My sentiment extends also to Jewish communities throughout the world, in the hope that the upcoming festivities may be harbingers of abundant blessings to all. May the Almighty grant peace and the tireless wish to promote it. In His eternal mercy, may He grant hope and serenity in our times and strengthen the cordial bonds of friendship between us.’”

Note that the Jews erroneously keep the Feast of Trumpets (“Rosh Hashanah”) on two days, whereas the Bible only commands the celebration of one day.

Poland Rejects Ban on Abortion Bill

The Telegraph wrote on October 6:

“Poland’s parliament has voted to reject a bill proposing a near-total ban on abortion, inflicting the first serious defeat on the country’s ruling socially conservative government since it came to power last year.  An overwhelming majority of MPs voted to kill the bill on Thursday morning after a passionate and at times chaotic debate that had been continued from the previous night. However, the ruling Law and Justice party has said it will continue to pursue a tightening of the country’s abortion law, though not to the degree outlined in the now dead bill.

“The bill would have tightened Poland’s already strict abortion law by outlawing the practice, even if the pregnancy was the result of rape and incest, and would have imposed tough prison sentences on anybody who carried out a termination. [The bill] had won the unofficial backing of Law and Justice, which has always portrayed itself as a guardian of Roman Catholic values and the Church’s position in majority Catholic Polish society.

“But the proposed legislation triggered huge public anger. On Monday, an estimated 100,000 women took to the streets in a series of protests across the country, while many more went on strike, in a demonstration of outrage caught the government off guard, prompting a U-turn.  Scores of Law and Justice politicians decided to reject the bill on Thursday, many of them reversing their earlier decision to approve it during its first reading in parliament in September…

“The rejection of the bill came as a bitter blow to its proponents. ‘A nation that kills its own children is a nation without a future,’ said Joanna Banasiuk, an advocate of the bill. ‘What has happened? This is the same project that recently received the enthusiastic support of the state.'”

Gender Theory To Destroy Marriage

On October 2, Breitbart reported:

“On Saturday, Pope Francis called gender theory a ‘great enemy’ of marriage, adding that the ideology of gender is part of a global war of ideas out to destroy traditional marriage… Francis said that today we are witnessing a ‘global war to destroy marriage’ in which gender theory places a key role, fighting ‘not with weapons, but with ideas.’…

“The Pope has been an outspoken critic of LGBT agitators’ efforts to impose same-sex marriage and theories of gender fluidity that divorce gender from biological sexual differences… It is unacceptable that ‘international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish “marriage” between persons of the same sex,’ he said… Efforts to cancel out sexual differences based in anatomy are a symptom of a sick society…

“… the American College of Pediatricians issued a position paper warning that gender ideology is harmful to children. Failing to identify with one’s biological sex signals a psychological disorder,… the physicians argued… ‘When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body…’”

Please see our Q&A in this issue about the biblical viewpoint on the transgender debate.

“The FBI Investigation of EmailGate Was a Sham”

On September 25, The Observer published the following article by John Schindler, “a security expert and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer. A specialist in espionage and terrorism, he’s also been a Navy officer and a War College professor”:

“From the moment the EmailGate scandal went public more than a year ago, it was obvious that the Federal Bureau of Investigation never had much enthusiasm for prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her friends. Under President Obama, the FBI grew so politicized that it became impossible for the Bureau to do its job – at least where high-ranking Democrats are concerned…

“Redacted FBI documents from that investigation… revealed that Hillary Clinton either willfully lied to the Bureau, repeatedly, about her email habits as secretary of state, or she is far too dumb to be our commander-in-chief. Worse, the FBI completely ignored the appearance of highly classified signals intelligence in Hillary’s email, including information lifted verbatim from above-Top Secret NSA reports back in 2011. This crime, representing the worst compromise of classified information in EmailGate – that the public knows of, at least – was somehow deemed so uninteresting that nobody at the FBI bothered to ask anybody on Team Clinton about it.

“This stunning omission appears highly curious to anybody versed in counterintelligence matters, not least since during Obama’s presidency, the FBI has prosecuted Americans for compromising information far less classified than what Clinton and her staff exposed on Hillary ‘unclassified’ email server of bathroom infamy.

“This week, however, we learned that there is actually no mystery at all here. The FBI was never able to get enough traction in its investigation of EmailGate to prosecute anybody since the Bureau had already granted immunity to key players in that scandal. Granting immunity is a standard practice in investigations, and is sometimes unavoidable. Giving a pass to Bryan Pagliano, Hillary’s IT guru who set up her email and server, made some sense since he understands what happened here, technically speaking, and otherwise is a small fish. The wisdom of giving him a pass now seems debatable, though, since Pagliano has twice refused to testify before Congress about his part in EmailGate, blowing off subpoenas. Just this week the House Oversight Committee recommended that Pagliano be cited for contempt of Congress for his repeated no-shows. That vote was on strictly partisan lines, with not a single Democrat on the committee finding Pagliano’s ignoring of Congressional subpoenas to be worthy of censure.

“Now it turns out the FBI granted immunity to much bigger fish in the Clinton political tank. Three more people got a pass from the Bureau in exchange for their cooperation: Hillary lawyer Heather Samuelson, State Department IT boss John Bental, and – by far the most consequential – Cheryl Mills…  Mills served as the State Department’s Chief of Staff and Counselor throughout Hillary’s tenure as our nation’s top diplomat. Granting her immunity in EmailGate, given her deep involvement in that scandal – including the destruction of tens of thousands of emails so they could not be handed over to the FBI – now seems curious, to say the least, particularly because Mills sat in on Hillary’s chat with the Bureau regarding EmailGate.

“This was in fact so highly irregular that Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight Committee, pronounced himself ‘absolutely stunned’ by the FBI’s granting of immunity to Cheryl Mills – which he learned of only on Friday… Not to mention that Mills has a longstanding and well-deserved reputation in Washington for helping the Clintons dodge investigation after investigation… ‘The whole thing stinks,’ explained a retired FBI senior official who professed dismay about the state of his former employer. ‘This was impossible in my time, unthinkable,’ he rued…

“How exactly Cheryl Mills got immunity, and what its terms were, is the long-awaited ‘smoking gun’ in EmailGate, the clear indication that, despite countless man-hours expended on the year-long investigation, James Comey and his FBI never had any intention of prosecuting Hillary Clinton – or anyone – for her mishandling of classified information as secretary of state. Why Comey decided to give Mills a get-out-of-jail-free card is something that needs proper investigation. This is raw, naked politics in all its ugly and cynical glory. Corruption is the tamest word to describe this sort of dirty backroom deal which makes average Americans despise politics and politicians altogether…

“Most intriguing… is the revelation that Hillary was communicating with President Obama via personal email, and he was using an alias. The alias he used with Hillary, and apparently others, was withheld by the FBI… What is odd… is the fact that Obama previously told the media that he only learned of Hillary’s irregular email and server arrangements from ‘news reports.’ How the president failed to notice that he was emailing his top diplomat at her personal, clintonmail.com address, not a state.gov account, particularly when they were discussing official business, is something Congress may want to find out – since certainly the FBI won’t…

“For Hillary Clinton, winning that election may be a legal necessity to protect her from prosecution. Congress, animated by these latest revelations of illegality and corruption, will now pursue her with vigor, while an FBI in the hands of Donald Trump seems likely to show an interest in EmailGate which the Bureau never possessed under President Obama…”

The following sentence demands repetition: “Corruption is the tamest word to describe this sort of dirty backroom deal which makes average Americans despise politics and politicians altogether.” And they have every right to do so.

“State Department Aided and Abetted Clinton Email Cover-Up”

Newsmax wrote on September 25:

“There was a cover-up when it came to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and the State Department ‘aided and abetted that cover-up,’ Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the House’s Select Committee on Benghazi, said Sunday. Gowdy said that arrangement went on to allow Clinton to keep her emails for two more years after she left office… ‘The Department of Justice gives out any immunity. The FBI doesn’t immunize anyone… Someone in the Department of Justice had to decide to pass out these immunity agreements…’

“Political commentator Charles Krauthammer… said he thinks Gowdy is ‘absolutely right’ with his claims… ‘All you had to do was issue a subpoena and since it came from the Department of Justice . . . it was understood from the beginning by the Department of Justice and the White House, the legacy of the president was going to hang on her winning reelection and that there was no way they were going to prosecute her.’”

President Obama Supports Saudi Arabia and Vetoes Bill

The Associated Press reported on September 23:

“President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. The move sets Obama up for a possible first veto override by Congress. Both chambers passed the bill by voice vote. The House sent Obama the bill just before the 15th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Obama says the bill would ‘upset longstanding international principles regarding sovereign immunity.’ The bill would have given 9/11 families the right to sue in U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 men who carried out the attacks were Saudi nationals.”

Congress Overrides President Obama’s Veto

Newsmax reported on September 28:

“Republicans Wednesday cheered the congressional override of President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation that would allow families of Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia over the attacks — with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani congratulating legislators for ‘righting that terrible wrong.’ ‘President Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act was an insult to the families of those we lost on 9/11,’ Giuliani said… ‘The failure of Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine, who was obviously afraid to show up to work today and stand with these Americans, is a disgrace… ‘I will never forget that tragic day, nor the thousands who were lost… ,’ said Giuliani, who governed the city during the attacks…

“Both the House and the Senate voted decisively to reverse Obama’s decision to scuttle the legislation, handing him the first override of his presidency. Democrats in both chambers abandoned President Obama and joined Republicans in large numbers despite warnings from the president and top national security officials that flaws in the bill could put U.S. interests, troops, and intelligence personnel at risk.

“The Senate vote was 97-1. The House vote a few hours later was 348-77. Lawmakers said their priority was the 9/11 victims and their families, not Saudi Arabia…”

Obama’s Legacy–Populism

The National wrote on September 22:

“In his final address to the United Nations, United States president Barack Obama warned the assembled leaders that the liberal world order was under threat from what he called ‘crude populism’. In words which could apply equally to Donald Trump, the Republican candidate to succeed him as president, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Mr Obama said that some were arguing that the future favours the strong man. ‘History shows that strong men are then left with two paths: permanent crackdown, which sparks strife at home, or scapegoating enemies abroad, which can lead to war.’

“In some ways Mr Obama is ending his two terms in the White House in the same way he began. He set out to open a new page in the Middle East, reversing the Bush era’s imperial expansion, and with a view to make peace with Iran and reset relations with Russia. So joyous was the mood in Europe at that time that the president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of his fine words. He would be shocked to learn that the legacy of his administration may turn out to be something quite other than what he set out to do – the rise of populism around the world…

“In a forthcoming book, What Is Populism?, politics professor Jan-Werner Muller argues that not all attackers of the status quo are populists. Real populists are [those] who claim that they, and only they, represent the people… while their opponents are dupes or traitors, and the country is better off without them… This is not to say their arguments are without merit. The American political landscape is manipulated by huge corporations and wealthy individuals with vast lobbying power.

“Abroad, the ‘strong men’ denounced by Mr Obama are not doing too badly. Mr Putin has perfected what the Russians call the “political technologies” to stay in power and manage the challenges of low oil prices and sanctions far better than predicted. Hungary, where prime minister Victor Orban’s ‘Christian-national’ state is denounced in Brussels as a violation of European values, is the darling of the bond dealers.

“Populism stole up on the world during Obama’s presidency. It is not what he wanted… but that may be the legacy of his time in office.”

Trump Greatly Honored

Breitbart wrote on September 23:

“Donald Trump responded late Friday afternoon to the announcement that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he would be voting for him. ‘I am greatly honored by the endorsement of Senator Cruz. We have fought the battle and he was a tough and brilliant opponent,’ Trump responded in a press release Friday afternoon. ‘I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again.’

“After not endorsing Trump during his speech at the Republican National Convention, Cruz decided to announce he would be voting for the Republican nominee via Facebook on Friday. ‘After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump,’ Cruz wrote. ‘I’ve made this decision for two reasons,’ he continued. ‘First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word. Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable…'”

Kirk Douglas Compares Donald Trump with Hitler

JTA wrote on September 21:

“Actor Kirk Douglas suggested he sees similarities between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler, in an op-ed published months before his 100th birthday. ‘I have always been deeply proud to be an American. In the time I have left, I pray that will never change,’ Douglas wrote in the article… While not mentioning the Republican nominee by name, the Jewish actor quoted directly from a recent speech by Trump, in which he argued for ideological screening tests for potential immigrants. ‘These are not the American values that we fought in World War II to protect,’ Douglas wrote.

“The 99-year-old actor, who starred in countless Hollywood hits beginning in the 1940s, compared Trump’s policy proposals to those of Hitler, saying the Republican nominee’s words ‘could also have been spoken in 1933,’ the year the Nazi leader became Chancellor of Germany. ‘I’ve also lived through the horrors of a Great Depression and two World Wars, the second of which was started by a man who promised that he would restore his country… to its former greatness,’ Douglas wrote, drawing links to Trump’s slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’

“In the op-ed, Douglas recalled the challenges his parents faced, when moving to the U.S. from Russia, as certain groups, including Jews, ‘felt the stigma of being treated as aliens, as foreigners who would never become “real Americans.”’”

Flashback – Donald Trump of German Descent?

Bustle wrote on February 29, 2016:

“… the Trump surname has actually quite a few branches throughout central and southern Germany…

“In fact, one such Drumpf named Hanns was a lawyer back in 1608… he lived in the village of Kallstadt during the Thirty Years’ War. The village was burned down about five times and 40 percent of the villagers were killed. One of his surviving descendants was a winegrower named John Philip Trump…

“Donald Trump’s own grandfather, Friedrich, had regained the last name Drumpf… altering it upon his relocation to the U.S. He entered in 1885 during the height of German-to-U.S. migration… He… eventually returned to Germany to get married. Though he later attempted to repatriate with his wife, Germany… accused him of dodging the draft, sending him back to the U.S. from whence he came…”

The First American Presidential Debate—Trump Lost, and Clinton Won

On September 28, Piers Morgan wrote the following for MailOnline:

“Hillary Clinton won. No ifs, no buts, she had the better of Donald Trump in last night’s eagerly awaited first presidential TV debate. Yes, I know most online polls had Trump winning, but to believe that is to look at a black sky and say the sun’s out. Clinton stayed cool, calm, collected and rode Trump’s aggression and bombast with skill and good humour… It was the best I’ve seen Clinton perform in any debate and a reminder that she remains a formidable candidate.

“By contrast I thought Trump, by his own debate standards, was disappointing…  For a man who has displayed a rare marketing genius in this race for hammering home simple, powerful messages, Trump’s rhetoric was oddly lacking in clarity. He let her off the hook about her biggest vulnerability – the email scandal. ‘I made a mistake,’ she said, trying to head it off at the get go. To which I expected Trump to reply, ‘No, you did it deliberately to conceal classified material from the American people’ and then go hard after her about the FBI’s damning verdict that she was ‘extremely careless.’ Instead, he rambled for a bit until the debate moved on…

“Incredibly, Trump never even mentioned Hillary’s recent disgraceful ‘basket of deplorables’ slur, the controversy-mired Clinton Foundation, the Benghazi terror attack or her lucrative ties to Wall Street. All of which have been hugely popular themes at his stump rallies and would have been easy home runs for him both with the audience in the room and the tens of millions watching at home.

“It wasn’t all bad for Trump by any means. He was strong in the first half hour, especially on the economy where he won the argument with Clinton.

“… overall Trump did a perfectly competent if not compelling job. He got through the 90 minutes without making a serious gaffe. He demonstrably wasn’t the hideous Hitler-like monster as many in the media have absurdly been trying to caricature him in recent weeks. Clinton, for all her artful jabbing and ducking, never landed a killer KO punch that might have depth-charged his whole campaign. There was no smoking factual gun, no ferociously sweaty Nixon-esque face, no ‘You’re no Jack Kennedy’ zinger to change the whole complexion of the race. Trump can therefore dust himself down, comforted by the knowledge that he got beaten on points not had his lights turned out.

“I suspect he will be very different at the second debate in ten days-time. More direct, more brutal, more effective… There’s plenty of time for him to sort himself out and work out a new game plan to take Hillary down in the next two match ups… But this will have been a big wake-up call for him. Trump doesn’t like losing. Which is why even when he loses, like last night, he defiantly pretends he hasn’t.

“Hillary and Bill are two of the most experienced political bruisers in America and for them both, this presidential race is the final ride at the biggest of all rodeos. I doubt Trump will lose any support after this debate, but I doubt he’ll gain much from the large group of undecideds either…

‘What we didn’t see last night is how Hillary would react to proper punches landing about issues where she has real vulnerability – delivered with surgical precision by a candidate who has spent the past 16 months knocking opponents over like Mike Tyson in a sparring session. As you always told me on Celebrity Apprentice, Mr Trump: ‘Go hard, or go home.’”

One of the most embarrassing moments for Trump was when he rambled regarding the highly controversial wording of the moderator’s question pertaining to the “birther movement” and his support of the “lie” that Mr. Obama was not born in the USA. He gave NO plausible answer for his “sudden change of heart,” and that was such a pitiful performance.

German Press: Trump Lost

Deutsche Welle wrote on September 27:

“The first Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump debate attracted major attention in the German media. And commentators were nearly unanimous in concluding that the Democrat came out on top. The headline in the news magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ could hardly have been less ambiguous. ‘Hillary Clinton gives Donald Trump a clinic,’ wrote the editors…

“The headline in the ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ newspaper was equally sarcastic: ‘The bar was set low, but Trump knocked it down…  the Republican definitely had his worst debate performance of the entire election season while the Democrat had perhaps the best one of her entire career.’…

“‘At times, Trump seemed liked a badly raised child,’ wrote the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ (FAZ) newspaper…

“The vast majority of Germans and German journalists would prefer to see a Clinton rather than a Trump presidency, and there was an unmistakable note of schadenfreude at Trump’s perceived poor performance… the FAZ wrote [:] ‘After this encounter, the Clinton campaign should pick up speed. All the way to the White House? The United States’ allies and partners around the world surely would have no complaints, if that were the case.’”

How Trump Became “the Winner”

Deutsche Welle wrote on September 27:

“Trump has said he won the first presidential debate after a number of online polls determined him the winner. But, as DW’s Social Media team found out, most voters were strident Trump supporters. After a record 80 million people tuned in to watch the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the general verdict was that Clinton came out on top. A CNN/ORC snap poll showed that 62 percent of respondents declared Clinton the winner, against 27 percent for Trump. This was the only poll that gathered a sample of respondents that was representative of the American public…

“Meanwhile, in numerous polls conducted on social media by news organizations, including Deutsche Welle, Trump came out the outright victor. Other news organizations, such as CNBC, Time magazine and ABC News, also saw similar results on their social media polls. Deutsche Welle’s Social Media team investigated who was voting in the polls and found that an overwhelming number were stringent Trump supporters. Such online polls are completely open to anyone and, unlike scientifically conducted polls, do not seek a representative sample of respondents.

“As it turned out, Trump supporters jumped on to these online polls and voted in droves after pro-Trump groups on online community websites such as Reddit and 4chan posted links to around 70 different online polls… Trump shared the results across his social media feeds. The former real estate mogul also told Fox News on Tuesday morning, ‘I won every single poll other than CNN, and not many people are watching CNN.’…

“DW’s Carl Nasman told DW News that these results matter, ‘because the average social media user doesn’t know that these polls are not scientific and might confuse them for something that is conducted in a scientific manner.’”

Trump Is Right on China

Forbes wrote on September 27:

“Everyone knows the U.S. has lost jobs to China. Everyone knows China has become the world’s manufacturer. But not everyone knows how they did it… China’s biggest and most effective tool is and always has been its currency. China ascended to the second largest economy in the world over the past two decades by massively devaluing its currency… China trashed its currency for economic advantage—and it worked, big time. And it worked because the rest of the world stood by and let it happen.

“For the next decade, the Chinese pegged its currency against the dollar at 8.29 yuan per dollar (a dollar buys 8.29 yuan). With the massive devaluation of the 1980s into the early 1990s, and then the peg through 2005, the Chinese economy exploded in size. It enabled China to corner the world’s export market, and suck jobs and foreign currency out of the developed world. This is precisely what Donald Trump is alluding to when he says ‘China is stealing from us.’

“China’s economy went from $350 billion to $3.5 trillion through 2005… And because they’ve undercut the world on price, they’ve become the world’s Wal-Mart (sellers to everyone) and have accumulated a mountain for foreign currency as a result. China is the holder of the largest foreign currency reserves in the world, at more than $3 trillion dollars (mostly U.S. dollars). What do they do with those dollars? They buy U.S. Treasuries, keeping rates low, so that U.S. consumers can borrow cheap and buy more of their goods—adding to their mountain of currency reserves, adding to their wealth and depleting the U.S. of wealth (and the cycle continues).

“… the Chinese economy has ascended to the second largest economy in the world now—on pace to the biggest soon… China’s currency is a bigger threat, at this stage, than just the emergence of China as an economic power… The current global imbalances are the underlying cause of the global financial crisis, and China’s currency is at the heart of it… Historically that’s a recipe for disaster, economically and geopolitically.”

Exorcism and Paganism in the USA

The Telegraph wrote on September 26:

“Pope Francis… appears to have no problem reminding Catholics that ‘Satan is real’… In the US, over the last decade, television shows depicting reported paranormal events and possession as well as books and films about exorcism and the supernatural have proliferated in the cultural mainstream… ‘Reliance on pagan activities can create a situation in which evil is invited in,’ observes [a Catholic “exorcist”].  In his experience, the most common occult activity is using a Ouija board to summon the dead… ‘evil can be invited in directly or indirectly. A lot of people have contacted me and said something like, “We were playing with a Ouija board and all of a sudden our friend starting speaking in this crazy language that we didn’t understand. And strange things started happening – things moving in the house.”’

“Other pagan activities could include séances, and mediums; reading Tarot cards; casting spells and curses through witches and warlocks, and worshipping Satan and other demons. [Some believe] that such activities are in full force in the US.”

However, the “exorcisms” practiced by the Roman Catholic Church must be rejected. Some of the reasons for this rejection are stated in the article:

“In [a Catholic exorcist’s experience], a possessed person always has a tribe of demons, not just one. And sometimes not just demons but the disembodied spirits of dead human souls are attached to the afflicted person as well. Dead souls will always reveal their names when asked and that is one way to differentiate them from demons… the reaction of a disembodied spirit and the reaction of a demon are very different most of the time… ‘Most of the time a demon’s goal is to take the person to Hell that they are attached to. The demon wants the person to commit suicide. In the case of demonic possession, a suicide would be viewed as a state of diminished capacity under Church doctrine.’ The Rite is conducted in Latin, the most hated language to demons… the exorcism process takes a minimum of six months… One of [this particular exorcist’s] most difficult cases was a man who had been the subject of multiple curses and occult activity while he was still in the womb. According to Church doctrine, until a person reaches the age of seven, he cannot exercise free will.”

All of this [including the false concept of “dead souls”; “hell”; the length of time for “exorcisms”; demon possession in the mother’s womb; no free will by a person under seven, etc. etc.] is totally contradicted by the Bible. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World” and “The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

Fox 12 Oregon reported on September 27:

“… a local satanic group just got the go-ahead to hold an after-school program at Sacramento Elementary School in the Parkrose School District. Organizers say their goal isn’t to encourage devil worship, but to offer children an alternative to a Christian group that also meets there.”

Divorce and Mixed Marriages Highly Responsible for Lack of Religion

The Washington Post wrote on September 27:

“Two widely recognized trends in American society might have something to do with each other. Divorce rates climbed to the highest levels ever in the 1980s, when about half of all marriages ended in divorce. And in the present day, Americans are rapidly becoming less religious. Since 1972, the share of Americans who say they do not adhere to any particular religion has increased from 5 percent of the population to 25 percent.

“Could those two trends be related? A new study from the Public Religion Research Institute says yes. The children of divorced parents have grown up to be adults of no religion. People whose parents divorced when they were children are significantly more likely to grow up not to be religious as adults, the study found. Thirty-five percent of the children of divorced parents told pollsters they are now nonreligious, compared with 23 percent of people whose parents were married when they were children…

“Andrew Root, a professor at Luther Seminary… was not surprised to hear about the study’s findings… Root said churches are not doing enough to speak directly to the concerns of children in those situations, so the kids lose faith in the ability of the church to help them. He said that when the divorce rate climbed in the 1980s, many members of the clergy, especially mainline Protestant pastors, stopped speaking out against divorce so as not to alienate struggling congregants…

“The new study, which asked many questions about nonreligious Americans’ beliefs about faith, touched on other consequences of parents’ marriages as well. It showed, as other research has demonstrated, that children raised by parents who have two different religions, grow up more likely to have no religion at all.”

Germany Sues Turkey

The Washington Post wrote on September 26:

“German state-funded broadcaster Deutsche Welle has filed a lawsuit against the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports in a development that could have wider implications for relations between the two countries. DW announced Monday that it had taken the decision after a videotaped interview it conducted with Turkish Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic on Sept. 5 was allegedly confiscated by Turkish authorities the same day. Turkey first denied those allegations. But DW stuck to its claims and gave the ministry repeated deadlines to hand over the material before it took legal steps Monday.

“According to DW, its host discussed issues, such as the recent coup attempt, ‘press freedom and the status of women.’ Turkish officials insisted that the footage should not be aired, before confiscating the tapes, the German channel said…

“The German government has backed the efforts undertaken by its international broadcaster to get back its footage… Relations among Turkey and European countries, including Germany, are increasingly strained. Turkey complains that Europe has not made a significant effort to condemn the July coup attempt, and has protested being tasked with absorbing Syrian refugees without being granted the concessions it had hoped for from the European Union…

“Germany is a particular case, nonetheless: About 3 million Turkish immigrants live in the country. Half hold Turkish citizenship and are allowed to vote in Turkish elections. Turkish citizens living in Germany voted overwhelmingly for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AKP) party in elections last year. The importance of Erdogan’s AKP to Turkish immigrants living in Germany has worried politicians in Europe’s economic powerhouse. German authorities have noticed a rise in violent clashes between Turkish AKP supporters living in Germany and Kurdish immigrants or members of the Gulen movement — tensions that have mainly spilled over from Turkey, officials said. Erdogan has publicly accused the Gulen movement (named after self-exiled, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen) of organizing the July coup attempt and has arrested thousands of its alleged members in Turkey.

“Turkish citizens started arriving in Germany as “guest workers” at the beginning of the 1960s. Originally invited with the goal of filling job vacancies, many of them never returned to their country of origin. Tensions became particularly apparent in June, when the German Parliament recognized the Armenian ‘genocide’ — a decision that resulted in Turkey’s withdrawing its ambassador to Germany. Other nations have also described the massacre of 1 million to 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as a genocide, but none of them are home to such a significant Turkish minority as Germany…”

Even though Turkey will collaborate with the EU over issues pertaining to the future rejection of the USA and the state of Israel, it is highly unlikely that Turkey will ever become a member of the EU.

“Italy Lays out ‘Vision’ of EU Army”

The EUObserver wrote on September 26:

“Italy has laid out plans for the creation of a ‘European force’ that goes beyond Franco-German proposals on defence integration.  It said in an informal paper… that the EU should create a ‘powerful and usable European Force that can also be employed in support to Nato or UN operations’”.

Russia’s Growing Influence Across Asia

Express wrote on September 26:

“Russia has sent a chilling warning to the West that its influence is spreading across Asia with the announcement of a two-week military drill with Pakistan. For the first time in modern history the two Cold War enemies will be conducting training exercises together… The exercise will take place in a mountainous area in the eastern Punjab province of Pakistan, intended to demonstrate to the world the shifting alliances in South Asia and the resurgence of Russian influence in the region. The exercise also sends a message of defiance to America, which has also seen relations with Pakistan cool over recent years… last year Pakistan bought four Mi-35 attack helicopters from Russia in the first military deal of its kind between them…

“The military exercise comes as troops in Russia’s far east performed a test launch of the Iskander-M missile system. The weapon, a mobile ballistic missile system, is designed to hit targets on the ground targets at from more than 300 miles away… [it] could hit targets as far away as eastern Germany, the entire Baltic region and Poland, as well as parts of Sweden. But experts say the targets it will cover can be struck by longer-range Russian missiles anyway.

“Relations between Russia and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War in recent months. Both sides have ramped up their defence spending, missile programmes and defensive shields as Europe enters what many observers believe is a new Cold War.”

Philippines Wants Closer Ties with Russia and China

Flipborad.com wrote on September 25:

“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday that he’s interested in offering trade alliances and long-term land leases to China and Russia. Duterte said he realized he’d be ‘crossing the Rubicon’ with the U.S., his country’s close ally and former colonial ruler. ‘I am not really going to break ties’ with the U.S., Duterte said, but he indicated he’d be willing to forge closer economic relationships with the other side of ‘the ideological barrier.’

“The Associated Press reports that Duterte would be offering countries in China and Russia the ability to lease land in the Philippines for more than a century. Duterte told reporters that he would be traveling to China soon and would meet with President Xi Jinping. He also said he’d already opened up a conversation with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking with him during a summit in Laos earlier this month…

“Asked by a reporter what he meant by crossing the Rubicon, he said it was ‘a point of no return.’ He said the problem was that the Philippines’ mutual defense treaty with the U.S. does not guarantee that Washington will come to the Philippines’ defense if it is attacked because the U.S. president would need the approval of Congress…

“The U.S. and its former colony have a long and complicated relationship. The U.S. recognized the Philippines’ independence and established diplomatic ties in 1946, and both nations signed a mutual defense treaty in 1951. The U.S. has traditionally been the Philippines’ largest foreign investor. For decades, the U.S. maintained large military bases there, but amid growing anti-American sentiment, the Philippines voted to push the U.S. bases out in the early ’90s.

“More recently, the U.S. military presence in the Philippines has grown again — although permanent bases have not returned — as some Filipino leaders have grown increasingly wary about the conflict over the South China Sea. But since Duterte took office this summer, he has called for the withdrawal of U.S. military advisers and said the Philippines will no longer conduct joint patrols with the U.S. Navy. He has also insulted President Obama and the U.S. ambassador in Manila.

“Duterte has prompted international criticism for pursuing a harsh crackdown on the drug trade in the Philippines, one that has left thousands of people dead. Some of Duterte’s headline-grabbing insults have been defiant reactions to criticism — real or hypothetical — over an initiative that many say violates human rights. But as Michael Sullivan recently reported for NPR, the president and his bloody war on drugs remain popular within the Philippines.”

Violence at Joseph’s Tomb

JTA wrote on September 22:

“Rioting Palestinians attacked Israeli soldiers and worshippers visiting Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus in the West Bank… The Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at the soldiers guarding the [700] worshippers, as well as at the tomb… No damage or injuries were reported…

“The tomb is located in an area of the West Bank that is under the exclusive military and civilian control of the Palestinian Authority. On Sept. 1, an Israeli soldier was shot by live fire that came from the nearby Balata refugee camp while protecting worshippers at the site.

“Joseph’s Tomb is also holy to Muslims and Christians. Israeli Jews must receive permission to visit the purported burial place of the Jewish patriarch; the visits must be coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces. Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the site was to remain under Israeli control, but the Israeli army evacuated the premises in October 2000 during the second intifada and the tomb was burnt down by Palestinians. It was renovated and restored, but then torched and vandalized again last October. Jewish worshippers… make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the refurbished site.”

“Former Israeli President Shimon Peres Dies”

Deutsche Welle wrote on September 28:

“World leaders are paying tribute to the former Israeli president and prime minister, who has died at the age of 93 after suffering a stroke two weeks ago. He was the last surviving founding father of the state of Israel… Peres’ body will lie in state at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Thursday before a state funeral in Jerusalem on Friday. Pope Francis, US President Barack Obama, and Prince Charles are among the dozens of foreign dignitaries expected to attend…

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed ‘deep personal sadness,’ calling Peres a ‘man of vision.’ German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid tribute to Peres as an architect of the ‘unique friendship between Israel and Germany’ after World War II…

“Born in Poland in 1923, Peres emigrated to what was then British-mandated Palestine when he was 11. He served as prime minister for eight months after the assassination of Premier Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and also for a brief term between 1984 and 1986… He later was elected Israel’s ninth president, serving between 2007 and 2014.

“Together with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 ‘for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East’ after signing the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords, which envisioned an independent Palestinian state.”

New Discoveries About Petra

Haaretz reported on September 25:

“Recent excavations at Petra have revealed a startlingly advanced irrigation system and water storage system that enabled the desert city’s people to survive – and to maintain a magnificent garden featuring fountains, ponds and a huge swimming pool…

“Petra is perhaps best known for its sandstone canyon that leads directly to Al Khazneh, The Treasury, seen in the climax to ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ where the hero archaeologists, played by Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, ride out of the canyon and into the Treasury in their quest for the Holy Grail.

“However, 2,000 years ago, Petra was renowned for completely different reasons. It was one of the most famous water stops in the Middle East, where camel caravan routes linked distant cities. Now archaeologists are discovering the Nabataean capital, situated in the southwestern deserts of Jordan, once was adorned with an exquisite, artificially irrigated garden. It featured paths likely shaded by vines, trees and date palms, and grasses, which were cultivated next to a huge, 44-meter wide swimming pool…

“The intricate system of channels, ceramic pipelines, underground cisterns and water tanks, which also filtered the water, allowed the people of Petra to cultivate crops, harvest fruit, produce wine and olive oil as well as build a lavish garden with a monumental open air pool in the middle of the desert…

“The gardens were practically a miracle. Petra only gets 10 to 15 centimeters of rain a year (now in the era of climate change, it may get even less). That’s just 4 to 6 inches. Without developing techniques to channel, purify and even pressurize and store water, Petra could not have existed. As was done in Jerusalem too, for instance, the people of Petra carved out channels, reservoirs, and cisterns from the solid rock, even ‘tanks’ that purified water. Practically every drop of rain that fell around Petra was collected and conserved, and springs were channeled to pipes that emptied into literally hundreds of cisterns carved underground, ensuring a reliable supply of drinking and bathing water in the heart of the desert, regardless of the season…

“The citizens of Petra not only knew how to work with water, they were also masters at masonry. The very name Petra, which means ‘Mass of Rock,’ summons up visions of stone. And Petra was indeed a city of stone, unlike any other in the Roman world. The Nabataeans painstakingly carved their houses, tombs, and temples out of the solid rock. The red sandstone mountains in which Petra was nestled were perfectly suited for this, and by the first century C.E., a monumental city had arisen in the middle of the desert.

“Perhaps the most visually stunning testimony of the Nabatean mastery over stone is the Treasury, an imposing structure carved out of a massive cliff. The structure was named after the huge stone urn that crowns the building and that supposedly stored gold and precious stones. The urn is actually made out of solid stone. However, whatever Steven Spielberg imagined, the structure does not lead into a deep labyrinth that hides the Holy Grail. Instead the Treasury holds a relatively small hall once used as a royal tomb…”

Do Animals Mourn Their Dead?

On September 21, Deutsche Welle published an article with the following introduction:

“Whales, chimps, dogs – animals seem to suffer when they lose a beloved companion or offspring. Do animals understand death, and do they grieve like humans? Or are we just projecting our understanding on their behavior?”

Deutsche Welle continued by publishing an interview with “Frans de Waal, a Dutch primatologist and ethologist. He is professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University psychology department in Atlanta, US, and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He works mostly with chimpanzees and bonobos and is author of several books including ‘Chimpanzee Politics’ and ‘Our Inner Ape.’”

We are bringing you the following excerpts from Professor de Waal’s statements:

“Typical grieving happens with mothers and offspring in mammals. Usually, you find grieving with animals who have individual attachments… All mammals have these bonds to some degree, all birds as well, as birds are very often pair-bonded. If the partner dies, they are very affected by it… There was the dog Hachiko in Tokyo in Japan. After his boss died, the dog came to the train with which he normally arrived – for about 10 years. Whenever you have attachments, be it between a dog and a human or a cat and a human, you can have grieving…

“‘Mourn like humans do’ is a big statement. They are distressed. With primates like chimpanzees, it is not unusual that if one of the primates in a group dies the others stop eating for a couple of days. They become completely silent, they stare at the body for a long time, they try to revive the body… If it is a very important partner like your best friend or your offspring then it can last much longer, it may last for years. I knew a female who lost an offspring and for months was sort of crying about it. It has a very long-term effect…

“With primates we often have the impression that they specifically remember the individual… The one thing about death that primates certainly understand is the permanency. That once an individual is dead, they don’t move anymore, they’re dead…

“Some bonobos found a very dangerous snake in the forest and were very scared of it, poking it with sticks. At some point, the alpha female, which is dominant over the male, took the snake by the tail, hit it against the ground and killed it. From that moment on, the young bonobos picked up the snake, hung it around their necks, walked around with [it] and started to play with it. That indicates that they know that it’s a dangerous animal that you should be very careful of – but once it is dead, you can play with it…

“Some birds who mate for life sometimes even stop eating and die if their partner dies. This is true for geese but also for many songbirds, they have long-term bonds… I would say [the same about] elephants, because they go back to the bones of the ones that they have lost. If an elephant dies… the other elephants inspect the bones of the dead elephant if they can find them. I’m not sure, though, if anyone has done research on whether the elephants return just to any bones or bones of specific individuals that they have known… They go back to the bones, a bit like us going to a graveyard.

When asked, “Do some animals also bury their dead by digging a grave?”, he answered:

“No, they don’t dig a grave. It is possible that they throw stuff over their dead in order to cover the body. That appears to be like an anti-predator defense, in a sense that a smelling body would attract predators and scavengers. But I don’t know if they do that systematically.”

When asked, “Digging a grave is a typically human thing then?,” he answered:

“Yes, that’s for sure.”

These statements are in agreement with our teaching in our free booklet, “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man!”