We begin with extensive coverage on the US Supreme Court’s “historic,” “landmark” and “watershed” decision on same-sex marriage; report on Israel’s reaction to the Vatican’s treaty with the Palestinian Authority; and point out that most Muslim countries reject Iran and its agenda.

 We continue with the terrible state of affairs in Greece and the dire financial situation in Puerto Rico; speak on ongoing futile attempts to silence Donald Trump and his resolve to fight back; and we conclude with the mysterious death of a popular doctor openly opposed to the vaccination of children.

Supreme Court RULES on Same-Sex Marriage

The Associated Press wrote on June 26:

“Gay and lesbian Americans have the same right to marry as any other couples, the Supreme Court declared Friday in a historic ruling deciding one of the nation’s most contentious and emotional legal questions… The vote was narrow – 5-4…  [with Kennedy’s usual swing vote supporting it. Kennedy also wrote the majority opinion.]

“In praise of the decision, President Barack Obama called it ‘justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.’…  [The four dissenting  judges] accused their colleagues of usurping power that belongs to the states and to voters, and short-circuiting a national debate about same-sex marriage. ‘This court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us,’ Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in dissent. Roberts read a summary of his dissent from the bench, the first time he has done so in nearly 10 years as chief justice… [He said:] ‘… do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.’

“Justice Antonin Scalia said he was not concerned so much about same-sex marriage as ‘this court’s threat to American democracy.’ He termed the decision a ‘judicial putsch.’ Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also dissented…

“Speaking a few minutes later at the White House, Obama praised the decision as an affirmation of the principle that ‘all Americans are created equal.’…”

Opposition… But to What Extent?

Newsmax wrote on June 26:

“Franklin Graham, the president of… Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said that the Supreme Court did not define marriage and therefore cannot re-define it… ‘God gave us marriage. Period. And God doesn’t change his mind,’ Graham told Fox Nation.

“’If pastors are going to be forced to provide marriage services for gay couples, I’m not going to do it… ‘Long before our government came into existence, marriage was created by the One who created man and woman — Almighty God — and His decisions are not subject to review or revision by any manmade court. God is clear about the definition of marriage in His Holy Word: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24) …’

“Earlier reports state that many Christian evangelicals say they would refuse to obey a decision allowing gay unions. ”

Breitbart wrote on June 26:

“President Obama reacted quickly to the Supreme Court decision to redefine marriage today, sending out a message on Twitter. ‘Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else,’ he wrote on his Twitter account. He signed his message with the hashtag ‘#LoveWins.’”

Some demonstrators at the court doorsteps, cheering the decision of the Supreme Court, were carrying signs, saying “Our Fight Against the Bible.”

 BBC News reported on June 26:

“Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called the ruling ‘an out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny’… Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, a state where marriages licenses will now be issued to same-sex couples, said the justices ‘have imposed on the entire country their personal views on an issue that the Constitution and the Court’s previous decisions reserve to the people of the States.’”

Mashable.com wrote on June 28:

“Texas is doubling down on the fight against Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. On Sunday, state attorney general Ken Paxton issued a statement calling the SCOTUS ruling ‘lawless’ and declaring that county clerks could refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing religious objections…

“Paxton’s statement follows a declaration from Texas governor Greg Abbott on Friday that he, too, would continue to fight the SCOTUS ruling. Texas is hardly alone in refusing to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling. Both Louisiana and Mississippi have said they will wait on issuing licenses. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal issued a statement echoing Gov. Abbott’s statement and Alabama governor Robert Bentley, no stranger to the battle over issuing same-sex marriage licenses, is also digging in to fight the ruling.”

However, this approach was tried before when states adopted same-sex marriages, and it failed. Sadly, the “law of the land” does not seem to allow religious objections for county clerks…

Deutsche Welle added on June 28:

“The Supreme Court has attempted to ‘unwrite the laws of nature and the laws of nature’s God’ with its decision, said Huckabee. Huckabee urged people to flout the decision, and he compared doing so to President Abraham Lincoln ignoring a 1857 high court decision that black people could not be citizens.

“Huckabee also derided President Obama for what Huckabee saw as flip-flopping on the issue, pointing out that the president opposed gay marriage until 2012: ‘He was either lying in 2008 or he’s lying now, or God has rewritten the Bible and only Barack Obama has gotten the new edition.’…

“Many of the Republican candidates took to social media to vent their frustration… Not every Republican was disappointed, however. Former Republican Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, changed his Facebook profile picture to display the rainbow stripes associated with gay pride following the ruling…”

Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s adulterous conduct is hardly an endorsement for any moral cause in the matter of marriage. In addition, the justices re-defined the clearly expressed will of America’s founding fathers, to totally rewrite the Constitution… which they have no authority to do. But it is now the “law of the land,” altering and redefining the plain language of the Constitution and holding that the Constitution states that marriage is between a man and a woman–and a man and a man–and a woman and a woman… and what else? It seems that only a constitutional amendment could change the legal status quo… and this is extremely unlikely to occur.

 The concept that we are all equal and we are all free to marry whom we want has potentially devastating consequences, if viewed on its face value: Does this mean a father can marry his daughter? Does this mean, a brother can marry his sister; a man can marry five women; or a woman can marry five men? Obviously, the issue that two transgender people can marry each other has now been answered in the affirmative. But what about bestiality and other abnormal sexual practices?

 Obama’s and Clinton’s “Evolving” Opinions

The Associated Press reported on June 28:

“When President Barack Obama praised the Supreme Court’s watershed same-sex marriage ruling, he held it up as evidence that a ‘shift in hearts and minds is possible.’ Obama may well have been describing his own public trajectory on gay unions — a complicated path that took him through opposition and ambivalence to enthusiastic embrace…

“Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign jumped on the Supreme Court decision, changing its red campaign logo to a rainbow colored H, releasing a gauzy video of gay wedding ceremonies, and blasting out supportive tweets aimed at building its campaign list. In a fiery speech Friday night to Democratic activists in Northern Virginia, Clinton said that ‘love triumphed in the highest court’ and declared: ‘We can sum up the message from the court and the American people in just two words: Move on.’

“But like Obama, such expressions of support mark a remarkable shift for Clinton, who opposed gay marriage for more than two decades as a first lady, a U.S. senator and a presidential candidate. Just three months ago, Clinton’s position was that while she personally supported gay marriage the issue was best left for individual states to decide — a policy stance held by most of the Republican presidential field. ‘It has been an evolutionary process,’ said Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group. But he said Obama now stands as one of the great champions of gay rights, up there with the likes of Harvey Milk. As for Clinton, he said, ‘she connects with gay people on a level that is beyond explanation.’…

“By 2004, as [Obama] ran for the U.S. Senate, he said he opposed gay marriage for politically strategic reasons, saying Republicans would exploit the issue, and he advocated instead for gay civil unions. In his 2006 book, ‘The Audacity of Hope,’ he cited his own faith as a reason to oppose same-sex marriage…

“He came out firmly for same-sex marriage in 2012 and called for it in his second inaugural address. But earlier this year, his former top strategist, David Axelrod, wrote that Obama had feigned opposition to gay marriage for most of his political career, grudgingly taking Axelrod’s advice that African-American religious leaders and others would oppose him if he let it be known he supported gay marriage. ‘If Obama’s views were ‘evolving’ publicly, they were fully evolved behind closed doors,’ Axelrod wrote. Obama disputed the account…

“Clinton’s path into the embrace of the gay community has been similar. She backed her husband’s Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, described marriage between a man and a woman as a ‘fundamental bedrock principle’ in a 2004 Senate floor speech, and dodged the question when asked in 2007 whether she agreed with Gen. Peter Pace, then the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, that homosexuality was immoral. But as secretary of state, Clinton emerged as a champion of gay rights, declaring that ‘gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights,’ at a 2011 conference in Geneva.”

True politicians have spoken…

 The US Supreme Court under Kennedy Plays God

Breitbart wrote on June 26:

“The day after declaring Obamacare magically rewritten and that the lawsuits against discrimination in housing require no proof of actual discrimination, the Supreme Court found a unicorn in the 14^th Amendment. By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to privacy under that aforementioned 14^th Amendment (adopted in 1868, when every state in America criminalized sodomy) requires that every state in America grant marriage licenses to men who want to marry men and women who want to marry women, and that every state recognize such licenses from every other state…

“As our Supreme Rulers, the Supreme Court can declare what they want to declare, since rule of law died long ago… But this decision is particularly galling to those who believe words have meaning and that government is not God… Government is God, a dignity-conferring institution capable of making moral that which religion teaches is sinful, logic teaches is worthless, and societal experience teaches is societally counterproductive.

“Naturally, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has made it his lifelong work to read same-sex rights into the Constitution (this, after all is the man who once wrote, based wholly on the authority of the voices in his head, that the Constitution mandates ‘respect’ for sodomy), delivered the majority opinion…

“Kennedy quotes everyone from Confucius to Cicero on the importance of marriage. Then, begrudgingly, he admits, ‘It is fair and necessary to say these references were based on the understanding that marriage is a union between two persons of the opposite sex.’ He adds, patronizingly, that the view that such a definition is the only definition ‘has been held – and continues to be held – in good faith by reasonable and sincere people here and throughout the world.’

“But those people are wrong, because Justice Kennedy says so… Kennedy and the Court now contend that the intent of those who want to change marriage is a defining feature here, and that since people are born gay, this is their only path to happiness…

“Kennedy’s case is simply that to be against same-sex marriage is bigotry: ‘It demeans gays and lesbians…’

“For thousands of years, everybody got it wrong. For hundreds of years, every American state got it wrong. Today, the vast majority of the planet’s population gets it wrong, and so do hundreds of millions of Americans. But their wrongness is ‘manifest.’ Why? Because Kennedy says so.

“But he goes even further: he explains that rights emanate not from God or nature, but from the wise oligarchs of the government, who can reinterpret rights as they see fit… Which means that since the government is God, it can change the definition of fundamental rights and institutions at whim… It does not matter whether religious Americans stand for traditional marriage because of their religion or because of secular concerns. They are… to be considered legal bigots…

“The majority opinion drew [four] dissents… ‘Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us. Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be,’ [Chief Justice] Roberts writes, in a line that would have been far more convincing before he rewrote Obamacare in favor of how it should have been written according to him…”

The US Supreme Court’s recent decisions have been strictly political in nature and, in fact, have nothing to do with the law or the Constitution. That is the sad and shameful state of affairs in the United States of America.

 The Fall and Decline of America—Orthodox Christians to Become Persecuted Exiles in the USA

Time wrote on June 26:

“No, the sky is not falling — not yet, anyway — but with the Supreme Court ruling constitutionalizing same-sex marriage, the ground under our feet has shifted tectonically. It is hard to overstate the significance of the… decision — and the seriousness of the challenges it presents to orthodox Christians and other social conservatives. Voting Republican and other failed culture war strategies are not going to save us now.

“Discerning the meaning of the present moment requires sobriety, precisely because its radicalism requires of conservatives a realistic sense of how weak our position is in post-Christian America. The alarm that the four dissenting justices sounded in their minority opinions is chilling. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia were particularly scathing in pointing out the philosophical and historical groundlessness of the majority’s opinion. Justice Scalia even called the decision ‘a threat to democracy,’ and denounced it, shockingly, in the language of revolution…

“But when a Supreme Court majority is willing to invent rights out of nothing, it is impossible to have faith that the First Amendment will offer any but the barest protection to religious dissenters from gay rights orthodoxy. Indeed, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito explicitly warned religious traditionalists that this decision leaves them vulnerable.

“… we have to accept that we really are living in a culturally post-Christian nation. The fundamental norms Christians have long been able to depend on no longer exist… This is the new normal… The Supreme Court has now, in constitutional doctrine, said that homosexuality is equivalent to race. The next goal of activists will be a long-term campaign to remove tax-exempt status from dissenting religious institutions. The more immediate goal will be the shunning and persecution of dissenters within civil society.

“… social and religious conservatives must recognize that the… decision did not come from nowhere. It is the logical result of the Sexual Revolution… orthodox Christians must understand that things are going to get much more difficult for us. We are going to have to learn how to live as exiles in our own country…

“So many Christians… have no clue how far things have decayed in our aggressively secularizing world…  four Supreme Court justices [were] in effect declaring from the bench the decline and fall of the traditional American social, political, and legal order. We live in interesting times.”

 The Signs of the Time—Facebook, Google, Apple and Others All in Support of Gay Marriage

On June 27, gadgets.ndtv.com wrote the following:

“Facebook has introduced a new feature that lets users show off their support for marriage equality by superimposing a rainbow over their profile picture. CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally announced the Celebrate Pride tool on his personal page following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry.

“In another post Zuckerberg said, ‘Our country was founded on the promise that all people are created equal, and today we took another step towards achieving that promise. I’m so happy for all of my friends and everyone in our community who can finally celebrate their love and be recognised as equal couples under the law. We still have much more to do to achieve full equality for everyone in our community, but we are moving in the right direction.’…

“Other IT bigwigs such as Apple, Google, Uber and Salesforce too have voiced their support for gay marriages on social media channels throughout the day. On Twitter, you can automatically make a tiny rainbow heart appear in your tweet by including the #LoveWins hashtag.”

 American Jews Strongly in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage

 JTA wrote on June 28:

“American Jews are among the most supportive religious groups of same-sex marriage. Some 77 percent of American Jews expressed support for same-sex marriage, according to data gathered in 2014 by the Public Religion Research Institute. Some 47 percent of American Jews polled said they ‘strongly favor’ allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, and 30 percent said they ‘favor’ it.

“Thirteen Jewish groups, among them organizations representing the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative streams, were among the 25 groups that joined the amicus brief filed by the Anti-Defamation League in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that  legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

“The only religious group to be more supportive of same-sex marriage are Buddhists at 84 percent, with 48 strongly favoring and 36 in favor. Seventy-seven percent of religiously affiliated also support same-sex marriage, with 45 strongly in favor and 32 in favor.”

Nothing to be proud of….

 JTA wrote on June 26:

“The notion that the decision would propel a broader debate about LGBT rights concerned the Orthodox Union, which in a carefully worded statement noted that it adhered to the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, but also recognized ‘that no religion has the right to dictate its beliefs to the entire body politic.’”

.. a “carefully worded statement,” indeed.

 Tax Exemption in Jeopardy Because of Biblical Belief?

 JTA wrote on June 30:

“Bob Jones University, the private Protestant college in South Carolina, lost its tax-exempt status in 1983 when the Supreme Court ruled that its policies banning interracial dating on campus were ‘wholly incompatible with the concepts underlying tax exemption.’

“Orthodox Jewish organizations, several of which publicly dissented from the Jewish community’s broad endorsement of the high court’s decision, now worry that similar consequences could befall Jewish organizations that decline to recognize gay marriage. ‘It remains to be seen whether gay rights advocates and/or the government will seek to apply the Bob Jones rule to all institutions that dissent from recognizing same-sex marriage,’ Nathan Diament, the Washington director for the Orthodox Union, said in an email.

“The groups point to an exchange in April between Donald Verrilli, the Obama administration solicitor general, and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who asked whether a school could lose its tax-exempt status if it opposed gay marriage? ‘I don’t think I can answer that question without knowing more specifics, but it’s certainly going to be an issue,’ Verrilli replied…

“How much of an issue is what is now exercising Jewish groups. Will Jewish schools lose their tax-exempt status if they don’t recognize gay couples? Could they become ineligible for government grants? Or face discrimination lawsuits for teaching the traditional Jewish perspective on homosexuality?…

“Marc Stern, the counsel for the American Jewish Committee, which also filed an amicus brief in favor of same-sex marriage, said immediate consequences were unlikely at the federal level. But on the local and state levels, there would be challenges, Stern said, especially in areas where the gay community has a strong political presence. ‘Will a state or city official take the decision to remove a tax exemption? In San Francisco, it’s a possibility. In New York City, it might happen,’ said Stern, who pointed out that he was speaking as a legal analyst and not expressing the AJC’s views….”

These concerns are not far-fetched or overblown. Mark Oppenheimer writes the biweekly “Beliefs” column for The New York Times. Time magazine published one of his opinion pieces on June 28, advocating the revocation of tax-exemption for churches and religious institutions which do not support same-sex marriages. 

Native Americans Say “No” to Gay Marriage

The website of thefederalistpapers.org published the following article just prior to the US Supreme Court decision:

“In the cultural battle over ‘same-sex’ marriage, one of the American groups overlooked in the debate is the Native American population.  Organized along ancestral tribes, these groups form a diverse, yet significant portion of the U.S. population… Tribal laws of the two largest Native American tribes in the United States prohibit gay marriage, as do the laws of nine other smaller tribes.

“The Navajo and Cherokee Nations, the first and second largest tribes respectively, together have about 600,000 members. The nine smaller tribes that ban gay marriage have another 350,000 members. These tribes all either define marriage as between a man and a woman or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage…

“Since 2011, six of the eleven tribes revisited and upheld their preexisting legal definitions of marriage as between a man and a woman… Native American bans on gay marriage will remain in effect because federally-recognized tribes have the right to establish their own laws and are not subject to the U.S. Constitution.

“These Native American tribes have thought through this issue and their statements are clear, concise, and legally binding as CNS News explains: For example, the Cherokee Nation Marriage and Family Protection Act of 2004 defines marriage as ‘a civil contract between one man and one woman’ and states that ‘no marriage shall be contracted…between parties of the same gender.’ Title 6 of Chickasaw tribal law states that ‘a marriage between persons of the same gender performed in any jurisdiction shall not be recognized as valid and binding in the Chickasaw Nation.’ …

“The question, at this point, is whether homosexual rights bullies will eventually [focus on] on these Native American tribes as they have done to various Christian businesses around the nation. It is doubtful such challenges could be successful.  But, that may not stop these extremist radicals from trying to foist their ‘gender confusion’ onto Native Americans as well. Native Americans have endured far worse in their past and survived.  They will probably overcome this threat to their way of life as well.”

Israel Unhappy with the Vatican

AFP wrote on June 26:

“Israel’s… foreign ministry expressed its ‘regret regarding the Vatican decision to officially recognise the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a state, in the agreement signed today,’ spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement. ‘This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the PA to return to direct negotiations with Israel,’ he said.

“The accord, a treaty covering the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, was the first since the Vatican recognized the Palestinian state in February 2013. The treaty, which took 15 years of negotiations to complete, was agreed in principle last month and bitterly condemned by Israel as a setback for the peace process. The Vatican’s recognition of the state of Palestine followed a November 12 vote in favor of recognition by the UN General Assembly. Vatican officials have described it as reflecting the Church’s desire to see the conflict in the Holy Land resolved by a ‘two-state’ solution.

“The Vatican has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1993 but has yet to conclude an accord on the Church’s rights in the Jewish state which has been under discussion since 1999. ‘We also regret the one sided texts in the agreement which ignore the historic rights of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and to the places holy to Judaism in Jerusalem,’ Nahshon said… ‘Israel will study the agreement in detail, and its implications for future cooperation between Israel and the Vatican.'”

Iran Rejected by Most Muslim Countries

Newsmax reported on June 28:

“Iran is viewed poorly… by Muslim-majority countries… Unfavorable views of Iran predominate in several Muslim nations in the Middle East — 89 percent in Jordan, 64 percent in Turkey, 58 percent in Lebanon, and 57 percent in the Palestinian territories.

“In Lebanon, 95 percent of Shiite Muslims have a favorable view of Iran, the nation with the world’s largest Shiite population, but just 5 percent of Sunni Muslims… have a favorable view of Iran.

“In Asia, seven nations have an unfavorable view… including mostly Muslim Malaysia (47 percent vs. 34 percent favorable) and Indonesia (41 percent vs. 36 percent favorable).

“Muslim Pakistan has a favorable view of Iran — 57 percent of respondents feel that way, while 16 percent have a negative view…”

The Joke with Greek Bailout Funds

The Huffington Post wrote on June 26:

“In 2010 and 2012, Greece accepted bailout deals from European creditors totaling hundreds of billions of euros in order to prevent the collapse of the Greek banking system. The funds kept Greece from a potential default that would force it out of the eurozone, but most of the enormous sum of money involved in the bailouts ultimately didn’t end up funding public services or directly going to the Greek people.

“Instead, as The New York Times reported in 2012, much of the bailout funds went back to the same creditors who gave Greece both the bailouts. This resulted in a situation where the so-called troika of the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission were effectively lending Greece money so it could pay off the debt it already owed them. As a senior adviser to Germany’s Deutsche Bank told the Times then, the troika ‘is paying themselves.’

“At the time, the bailouts stopped a potential ‘Grexit,’ or Greek withdrawal from the eurozone, and quelled fears that Greece’s collapse could have a disastrous domino effect throughout the eurozone. But some economists say it did very little to actually put the nation on a path to growth…

“The first bailout largely went to paying off the private creditors that held Greek bonds and were owed debt payments, notes The Washington Post. This removed some of the danger that if Greece defaulted on its loans, it would lead these French and German banks to bankruptcy and in turn have a negative impact on Europe’s financial system. However… the bailout may have set up the Greek economy for a fall…

“In exchange for lending the funds, the creditors required Greece to institute strict austerity measures that many economists blame for holding back the country’s economic recovery. It also set up a stringent schedule of debt payments for Greece to meet with its creditors, but the country didn’t experience the growth predicted by the IMF that would have potentially given it the funds to pay these debts.

“This year’s debt crisis negotiations have focused around a June 30 deadline for Greece to pay the IMF 1.6 billion euros, with additional payments owed to the ECB in July and August… large amounts of the 7.2 billion euro tranche of bailout funds potentially released in these negotiations would quickly recirculate back to the creditors who lent it…”

David Cameron Prefers Greece to Leave the Eurozone

The Guardian wrote on June 26:

“David Cameron told a fellow EU leader that it ‘might be better’ for Greece to withdraw from the eurozone to allow it to fix its economy…

“The note, a leaked account of a private discussion between the prime minister and one of his European counterparts about his EU reform demands, indicates that Cameron made his remarks in an informal part of the meeting. The note says: ‘On Greece, the PM wondered if it was wise for Angela Merkel to allow the discussion with Greece to take place at PM level and mused that it might be better for Greece to leave the eurozone in order to sort its economy out – though also accepted that there were major risks in that too.’

“The prime minister’s remarks may cause some irritation among eurozone leaders who are fighting to avoid a Greek default, which could lead to its exit from the euro… The British prime minister’s suggestion that Greece might be better off outside the euro may revive criticism of Cameron among some eurozone countries for lecturing them on the single currency, which Britain decided not to be part of….

“Sir John Holmes, Britain’s former ambassador to France, told BBC… in 2012 that EU leaders were resentful of Cameron’s interventions. Holmes said: ‘Other leaders find David Cameron’s lectures rather irritating.’”

Keep Greece in Eurozone?

The Local wrote on June 28:

“This weekend there have been long lines at ATMs throughout Greece, following the collapse of talks on Saturday to reach agreement on austerity measures put forward by Greece’s creditors. The Greek prime minister’s decision to refer the measures to the Greek electorate in a referendum next Sunday precipitated the failure of the talks…

‘France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, earlier urged Greece and other nations to do whatever they can to keep Greece in the 19-nation bloc that uses the euro currency. Valls said on Sunday that ‘we don’t know — none of us — the consequences of an exit from the eurozone, either on the political or economic front. We must do everything so that Greece stays in the eurozone.’”

Schäuble: Greece Will Stay in Euro…

 The Local wrote on June 30:

“Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that Greece will stay in the eurozone even if the Greek public vote ‘no’ on July 5^th… The MP said that those present were surprised by Schäuble’s comments as many were now working under the assumption that plans would be put in place to facilitate Greece’s exit from the single currency… On Monday and early Tuesday an increasing number of politicians in Germany were already calling for Greece to be gently ushered out of the euro.”

…Or Will it?

Breitbart wrote on June 30:

“Greece has failed to make the payment to the International Monetary Fund which was due at midnight Brussels time (11pm London, 6pm E.S.T.). If the IMF declares the non-payment a default then Greece becomes the first developed European country in 71 years of the IMF to join the club of defaulters, enjoying the illustrious company of the likes of Sudan, Zimbabwe and Somalia.

“At the same time as the possible default, the second European bailout package has now expired and tomorrow [Wednesday] Greece, for the first time in five years, will operate without a financial safety net…

“The IMF does not have to declare failure to pay a default, it can just cover its eyes and wait to see if a solution arises, so negotiations will continue. The real drop dead date is the 20 July when payment is due to the European Central Bank (ECB). If default has not been declared before that date and payment to the ECB is not forthcoming then Eurogeddon is upon us…

“Whatever happens in the next hours, days and weeks Greece has never been closer to falling out of the Eurozone.”

A Week of Huge Uncertainties

The Associated Press wrote on June 28:

“Greece’s parliament voted early Sunday in favor of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ motion to hold a July 5 referendum on creditor proposals for reforms in exchange for loans, with the country’s future in the eurozone looking increasingly shaky.

“Tsipras’ surprise call stunned Greece’s international debt negotiators, and the country took a big step closer to falling out of the euro currency union after fellow eurozone member states refused to extend its bailout program past its expiry date on Tuesday, leaving Greece on the brink of financial chaos.

“In the streets of Greece, worried people queued outside banks for cash from dawn to dusk after Tsipras’ announcement in the early hours of Saturday, after billions of euros had already been emptied in the preceding weeks…

“The radical left-wing leader accused the creditors of using blackmail and ultimatums against his proud but struggling people…

“If Greece’s banks collapse, the government would have to support them itself. Penniless, it would have to revert to printing a new currency, effectively drawing the country out of the euro union…”

Markets Suffering….

 The Guardian wrote on June 29:

“Markets suffered across Asia on Monday as Greece shut down its banks for a week ahead of an increasingly likely debt default… Turmoil in Asia had been widely expected after the failure of 11th-hour talks in Europe over the weekend raised the possibility of a Greek exit from the Eurozone.

“More than $35bn was wiped off the Australian stock market in the first hour of trading on Monday as investors braced for what could become a torrid week. Earlier the euro dropped more than 3% to 133.80 yen, its lowest level for five weeks. The common currency fell as much as 1.9% to $1.0955, its lowest level in almost a month…”

Is It Merkel’s Fault?

The Huffington Post wrote on June 29:

“If Greece leaves the eurozone in the coming days, it will be the result of decisions made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, more than any other institution or leader… The country is the single largest creditor in the series of bailout payments that the troika has provided to Greece since 2010. As such, Germany under Merkel’s leadership has been the lead architect of the loans-for-austerity policy Europe has used to manage the Greek debt crisis. Germany is also the euro monetary union’s largest economy and, arguably, its most powerful voice on the international stage…

“Under Germany’s leadership, the eurozone nations have insisted that Greece make rapid fiscal adjustments in order to pay off its mammoth debts in a timely fashion. Greece claims — and many economists agree — that it will never be able to repay the debt it currently owes the troika of creditors, and that continuing to try to do so is preventing the country from recovering economically…

“As such, analysts believe that if Greece leaves the eurozone, history will treat Merkel as the European leader who is most to blame…”

Merkel—the Villain of the Greek Drama?

The Washington Post wrote on June 30:”

“Her critics call her the villain of the Greek drama, a taskmaster forcing a bankrupt nation to its knees. But even as the Greeks reach their breaking point, the leaders of Europe are lining up behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel… Europe needs the deep pockets of its economic powerhouse, Germany, in case a broader financial crisis erupts from a Greek exit from the euro. And if there’s a revolt brewing so far, it’s against Tsipras, while Merkel is enjoying a surprising level of support… Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, for instance, has been a long-standing critic of Merkel’s tight fiscal line for Europe. But on Tuesday, he defended her, saying any effort to blame Berlin for a pending Greek tragedy is ‘a convenient alibi that doesn’t correspond to reality.’…

“French President François Hollande, who is, like Tsipras, a leftist, has nevertheless backed Merkel’s conservative stance. While calling for continued dialogue, he echoed the German consensus that Athens cannot dump austerity and keep the euro. And some of the harshest criticism of Tsipras is not coming from the Germans at all, but from nations such as Spain and Portugal that endured painful cuts and have begun to emerge from their financial black holes. Their leaders, not coincidentally, also have strong opponents on the left who would be empowered if Tsipras is seen to be a success.”

…Or Is It also the Fault of the German Media and the German Public?

The Local wrote on July 1:

“‘No more billions for the greedy Greeks’ or ‘Merkel shoots down new proposals from Athens’: these are just a couple of the bold headlines Germans have digested with their morning coffee in recent months. In a country still massively reliant on traditional forms of media – newspapers, and above all television – for its news, these headlines matter.

“In a 2015 survey, Reuters found that the country’s biggest online news source, Spiegel Online reaches just 16 percent of the population – despite 89 percent of people having access to fast internet. By contrast, large numbers continue to read newspapers and watch the two big TV news shows – ARD’s Tagesschau and ZDF’s Heute – which reach 52 and 38 percent of Germans, respectively.

“… the upshot for Greece has been a German Chancellor anxiously listening to the petulant voices coming from the talkshow armchairs and the tabloid rage of Bild against the spendthrift Hellenic Republic. Because those are the voices that will inform the largest single bloc of voters – the older people who will form the base for the next round of general elections. That meant prescribing the same tough medicine for Greece as seemed to be working in countries like Spain, Portugal and Ireland in the years following the financial crisis…

“The Sueddeutsche Zeitung pointed out on Wednesday that ‘alongside the politicians the people also bear responsibility’ for what has happened… The only way this can become a success story is if Merkel finally exhibits the flexibility and dedication that she’s been rightly demanding of the Greeks for five years,’ the SZ concludes.

“But the only way Merkel will be able to do that is by freeing herself from the fear of the media and the German people’s verdict – and on past form, that’s unlikely to happen.”

…and also Puerto Rico?

Chicago Tribune reported on June 28:

“Puerto Rico’s governor believes the U.S. territory’s $72 billion public debt is unpayable, a spokesman confirmed late Sunday, adding another blow to a world financial system already struggling with a possible default by Greece…

“Puerto Rico’s constitution dictates that the debt has to be paid before any other financial obligation is met. If Garcia seeks to not pay the debt at all, it will require a referendum and a vote on a constitutional amendment…

“Puerto Rico’s governor recently confirmed that he had considered having his government seek permission from the U.S. Congress to declare bankruptcy amid a nearly decade-long economic slump. His administration is currently pushing for the right for Puerto Rico’s public agencies to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9. Neither the agencies nor the island’s government can file for bankruptcy under current U.S. rules…”

 If Puerto Rico Defaults

Marketwatch reported on June 30:

“U.S. investors would actually have much more to lose in a potential Puerto Rican default than in a Greek default. The reason is that Puerto Rico’s bonds are trading in the U.S. municipal bond market, while the vast majority of Greek debt is in the hands of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and eurozone countries.”

Don’t Mess with Donald Trump

Politico wrote on June 26:

“Donald Trump sent a letter to Univision CEO and president Randy Falco on Friday informing him that ‘no Univision officer or representative’ is allowed to use his Trump National Doral, the resort and golf club immediately adjacent to Univision offices in Miami…

“The move is the latest in a public dispute that started Thursday when Univision announced it would end its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is co-owned by Trump and NBCUniversal, based on what it described as Trump’s ‘insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants’ during the launch of his presidential campaign. Trump later announced that he would sue Univision for breach of contract and defamation, and accused Univision of defaulting on an ‘iron-clad’ $13.5 million contract, which he said it had no right to terminate.

“In the letter, Trump writes to Falco, ‘Please be advised that under no circumstances is any officer or representative of Univision allowed to use Trump National Doral, Miami—its golf courses or any of its facilities. Also, please immediately stop work and close the gate which is being constructed between our respective properties. If this is not done within one week, we will close it.’ In a post-script, Trump added: ‘Please congratulate your Mexican Government officials for having made such outstanding trade deals with the United States. However, inform them that should I become President, those days are over. We are bringing jobs back to the U.S. Also, a meaningful border will be immediately created, not the laughingstock that currently exists.’

“Shortly after publication of this item, a Univision spokesperson told the On Media blog that the following directive had been sent to all employees: ‘As part of this decision, [Univision Communications Inc.] employees should not stay at Trump properties while on company business or hold events/activities there.’

“Trump accused Univision of capitulating to pressure ‘put on them by various sources in Mexico.’ ‘The Mexican government is putting pressure on Univision to get me to stop exposing the weaknesses the U.S. has at the southern border,’ he said during the interview, citing his claims that U.S. leaders were ‘incompetent’ on trade with Mexico, allowing the country to take advantage of the U.S., and that the southern border ‘is a sieve’ that ‘illegals are pouring through…’”

CNN reported on June 29 that “NBC Universal, under pressure from an array of Hispanic groups, is severing its business ties to presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Miss USA pageant, scheduled for July 12, will no longer air on the network. Nor will the Miss Universe pageant, scheduled for next January. Both pageants were, until now, jointly owned by NBC and Trump… Trump told CNN correspondent Athena Jones that he may sue NBC… Trump is also the face of NBC’s ‘The Apprentice.’… On Monday, the network indicated that it wants to keep ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ going, but without Trump as the host.”

With these attempts to silence Trump, the opposite may be achieved. It appears that he will go full steam ahead… Note the next article.

 The Hill wrote on June 28:

“GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump says the Obama administration is making the U.S. ‘look like we’re beggars,’ as they pursue a long-term deal on Iran’s nuclear program… ‘The Persians … are very good negotiators… They’re dealing with fools…, ’ he said, adding that Obama is ‘not a negotiator.’…

“Speaking to reporters in Vienna on Saturday, Secretary of State John Kerry said both sides still have ‘very tough issues’ to deal with before striking a deal. Trump likened the talks… to the prisoner swap the administration made with the Taliban for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl… ‘We get Sgt. Bergdahl, the traitor, and they get five leaders that they’ve wanted for years, and they’re out now on battlefield trying to kill everybody, including us,’ according to Trump… ‘It’s a very sad time for the country as far as I’m concerned,’ he said.”

 Trump Sues Univision for 500 Million Dollars in Damages

Breitbart wrote on June 30:

“GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision after it terminated its contract to carry the Miss USA pageant, scheduled for July 12.

“In a news release, Trump’s team announced: ‘Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish.  While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16, 2015 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation’s presidency…

“‘Nothing that I stated was different from what I have been saying for many years. I want strong borders, and I do not support or condone illegal immigration. There is a high level of crime occurring in this country due to unchecked illegal immigration. This is a major security issue for the United States… I have great respect for Mexico and love for the Mexican people and their tremendous spirit!…'”

CNN pointed out that they had reviewed the contract, and that the law suit for breach of contract is by no means frivolous.

NBC Cuts Ties with Trump, but not with Sharpton?

Newsmax wrote on June 30:

“Conservatives are calling foul on NBC for cutting ties with Donald Trump on Monday while keeping the Rev. Al Sharpton as a host on its sister cable network MSNBC… Al Sharpton… has called Jews white interlopers…”

Of course, Al Sharpton has made many derogatory comments pertaining to whites, playing the “race card” whenever he gets a chance.

 … and Now Macy’s

Bloomberg reported on July 1:

“Donald Trump has announced he is severing his ties with Macy’s due to ‘pressure being put on them by outside sources.’ The real estate tycoon and presidential candidate issued a statement on Wednesday terminating his relationship with Macy’s, the same day the retail giant said it would phase out its line of Trump menswear.

“Trump said like NBC, which cut ties with Trump on Tuesday, Macy’s is caving to pressure… ‘Clearly, NBC and Macy’s support illegal immigration, which is totally detrimental to the fabric of our once great country. Both Macy’s and NBC totally caved at the first sight of potential difficulty with special interest groups who are nothing more than professional agitators, who are not looking out for the people they purport to represent, but only for themselves. It is people like this that are actually running our country because our leaders are weak and ineffective.’…

“Trump said he’s fine with losing the clothing line, much of which is made in China and did not always meet his standards. ‘While selling Trump ties and shirts at Macy’s is a small business in terms of dollar volume, my principles are far more important and therefore much more valuable,’ he said. ‘I have never been happy about the fact that the ties and shirts are made in China, and should I start a new product line somewhere in the future, I would insist that they are made in America.  I was never satisfied with manufacturing my product in China, but because of what they’ve done in terms of devaluing their currency, it is very hard for other companies to compete and make such apparel in the United States. These are the kinds of issues I am committed to addressing. Securing our border, negotiating trade deals that benefit the United States and bringing jobs back to America is my top priority.’”

Macy’s decision to phase out Trump products might back-fire. According to Newsmax, dated July 1, “GOP 2016 presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Donald Trump are rising in national polls among GOP primary voters. While Bush holds 19 percent of the vote among Republican voters, Trump holds 12 percent, making them the only Republican presidential candidates to have a double-digit showing in the poll, Business Insider reports.” Trump also holds second place in New Hampshire and Iowa among likely participants of Republican voters, according to Breitbart, dated July 1.

Mysterious Death of Anti-Vaccine Doctor

CBS/AP reported on June 27:

“Authorities say Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, who published research based on the medically disproved claim that vaccines cause autism, has been found dead in an apparent suicide in North Carolina. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued this week that Bradstreet died of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest… His body was found by a fisherman. The sheriff’s department said Tuesday that a handgun was also pulled from the river…

“Bradstreet ran a clinic in Buford, Georgia. He also owned Creation’s Own, a maker of dietary supplements, which he also prescribed… agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, aided by the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, raided the Bradstreet Wellness Center last week. The FDA did not reveal to the paper why agents had searched Bradstreet’s office.

“Bradstreet’s family is now raising funds online to investigate his death, including ‘an exhaustive investigation into the possibility of foul play.’…

“In 2009, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims…  found Bradstreet’s research claiming causation between autism and environmental mercury exposure, which were published in non-peer-reviewed journals, and his testimony about links between a young patient’s autism and his MMR vaccination, to be unconvincing and unsupported by evidence…”

This article operates from the wrong assumption that causation between vaccination and autism has been “medically disproved.” This is clearly a false statement, and an opinion of just one court to the opposite is hardly convincing. The mysterious death of the doctor promoting the opposite raises at least an eyebrow. Whether the truth will ever come to light may be doubtful.

Europe’s Shift to the Right

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 19:

“Denmark’s elections resulted in a narrow yet decisive success for the country’s right-wing…

“Among the ones, who were up in Copenhagen all night celebrating victory, was Michelle Mork Hansen, a young politician with Denmark’s ‘Conservative Youth’ movement. She said that the outcome of the election was a ‘huge success’ for various right-wing parties in the country, adding that it would send a clear signal about Denmark’s position and outlook within the greater framework of the EU: ‘The ever-growing resistance against the European Union and a clear feeling among the population that most of our laws are directly dictated by Brussels have created a re-birth among the Danish right wing parties. The fact that Denmark is now fighting for the reintroduction of border controls has also been used as a symbol by the right wing throughout the election campaign along with the ever-rising amount of refugees entering our country,’ she said.

“Hansen’s observations bear the hallmarks of a movement that seems to be sweeping across many parts of Europe. Euroskeptic, right-leaning parties made gains across the continent, and predictions for upcoming elections in other EU nations have been confirming this trend. It would appear that Europe is largely turning to the right – and the reason for this is Europe…

“A lot of Europeans are not happy with the way things are going in Europe… ‘Throughout Europe, the right-wing parties have very charismatic and strong leaders, epitomized by Nigel Farage in the UK, Marine Le Pen in France and Kristian Thulesen Dahl here in Denmark, whose personalities and public speaking abilities seem to be drawing in the votes more than their party manifestos,’ [Hansen] said…”

In spite of or even because of right-wing charismatic euro-skeptics, the European unification process will continue, and a core Europe will emerge, consisting of ten nations or groups of nations. However, Israelite countries like Great Britain and even Denmark, Finland or Sweden might not be part of core Europe. The verdict on Greece is still out (Greece being a non-Israelite country, which is prophesied to have at the very least strong ties to Europe). While an overwhelming majority of Germans is in favor of a Grexit, most Greeks want to stay in the Eurozone. And while Angela Merkel is experiencing more and more resistance from her own party to loan Greece more money—especially from the “Euro-Man,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (see Bild Online, June 24)—she is reportedly determined to do whatever she can to keep Greece within the Eurozone. According to the EUObserver, dated June 19, “Viktor Orban, the Hungarian PM, has said only ‘strong’ leaders, not institutions, can create stability in Europe.” As Angela Merkel is undoubtedly not the kind of leader whom many envision and hope for, a strong leader, identified as the “beast” in the book of Revelation, will arise soon in Europe.

11^th Hour for Greece

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 24:

“As the 11th hour of bailout talks approaches, will Greece and its creditors agree on a bailout deal?… It only took an hour for eurozone finance ministers to call an end to crisis talks on Wednesday. The summit was expected to pave the way for a ‘final deal’ ahead of Greece’s impending deadline to repay the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 1.6 billion euros ($1.79 billion) by June 30… However, widening rifts continue to postpone a deal between Greece and its creditors – European Central Bank (ECB), EU, and IMF – with the latter taking the harshest stance against the Greek government’s proposals…

“IMF chief Christine Lagarde said…  she did not want Greece to exit the eurozone, but added that if that did occur, she did not believe it would to an ‘explosion’ of the eurozone… Addressing lawmakers ahead of an EU summit slated for Thursday and Friday, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the monetary union had a ‘moral obligation’ to help Greece with a bailout deal. Renzi’s view runs contrary to a strain of public opinion in some countries…

“If an agreement is reached, it would unlock 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds, allowing Greece to avoid a default on its IMF loan, which would likely force the country to exit the eurozone and possibly even the EU.”

Breitbart took a different stance on the matter, writing on June 24:

“The Greek farce continues its record-breaking run. After 43 last ditches, 28 eleventh hours and 17 late-night drinking sessions in the Last Chance Saloon, the comedians in Brussels and Athens are rehearsing their latest routine.

“The joke, of course, is on the taxpayers of Europe. For Grexit remains a remote contingency, at least for as long as the politicians can contain the situation by throwing other people’s money at a problem they manufactured. If the markets explode, that would be another matter. Barring meltdown in the markets, Brussels – which in this context is also an alias for Berlin – simply will not permit Greece to leave the Eurozone…

“Brussels knows only one law: ever-closer integration. If Greece departed the Eurozone, that would represent disintegration and that must not happen at any price…

“Which brings us to the crunch point. If the infatuated integrationists of Brussels will go to such extreme lengths, draining the European Central Bank and destabilising the European and wider economy, for the petty purpose of keeping basket-case, parasitic Greece within the Eurozone, how desperate would they become if there was the slightest prospect of Britain leaving the EU altogether?

“Britain is a net contributor to the EU, a nuclear power with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, an economy with a growth rate over the past year of 2.4 per cent compared with 1 per cent in the Eurozone…

“The European Union could not survive the departure of Britain… Yet if Britain had representative leaders, honest media and real political will we could successfully demand any concessions – including full treaty change… If we held their feet to the fire they would squeal for mercy. That, along with the benefits of Brexit, is what we must bring home to our fellow citizens between now and the referendum.”

However, this conclusion is overly optimistic or pessimistic, depending on the view point. The Bible strongly indicates that Britain WILL leave the EU sometime in the future, and it is not specified whether Greece will stay within the Eurozone. But we know that in the future, there will be ten nations or groups of nations (apparently comprising Eurozone members), which will lead Europe. This means that some of the current 19 Eurozone members WILL have to leave.

Greece—No Breakthrough

AFP wrote on June 25:

 “Eurozone finance ministers’ talks broke up without an agreement on a Greek debt deal on Thursday, Finland’s Alexander Stubb said, with sources saying they were likely to meet again on Saturday.”

It was also reported that Greece will not vote over the weekend, and that no deal is expected—if at all—before Monday, June 29, just prior to the deadline of July 1, when the current EU assistance program for Greece runs out.  If that happens, then many commentators feel that Greece will be bankrupt by Friday, July 3.

David Cameron Changes His Mind… Again

BBC News reported on June 25:

“David Cameron has accepted it may not be possible to change the EU’s treaties before the UK’s in/out referendum on the EU, the BBC understands. The PM has argued instead for an ‘irreversible lock’ and ‘legally binding’ guarantees that EU law will at some point in the future be changed to accommodate Britain’s aims. As recently as January Mr Cameron said he would be demanding ‘proper, full-on treaty change’.

“Eurosceptics and those who want to leave the EU altogether have always been suspicious that agreements between political leaders can be later undermined in the courts. They believe that legal or treaty changes are necessary to deliver the prime minister’s negotiating objectives – in particular to free Britain from the EU’s commitment to build an ‘ever closer union’ of nation states and to ensure that benefits such as tax credits be withheld from migrants who have been in the country for less than four years.

“David Cameron’s critics may fear that the formula he is now using is a watering down of that commitment and will demand to know who would interpret any legally binding agreement reached between the UK and the rest of the EU. Downing Street insists, however, that it is simply a reflection of the fact that any treaty change will require a time consuming ratification process in 28 different countries involving parliamentary votes as well as referendums in France, Ireland and Denmark…

“Mr Cameron also discussed EU reform with Council President Donald Tusk, who said the substance of the UK’s proposals would be considered ‘but only in a way which will be safe for all Europe’. Mr Tusk warned that the fundamental values of the 28-member bloc ‘are not for sale and so are non-negotiable’.

“The PM’s official spokeswoman said… ‘ever closer union’ was not a principle Britain was attached to.”

Ireland’s Contingency Plan in Case of Brexit

The Guardian wrote on June 17:

“The Irish government is preparing contingency plans in the event that Britain leaves the European Union, Ireland’s foreign minister has said… Britain is Ireland’s largest trading partner and a Brexit would have damaging ramifications for its economy. A recent report by the Open Europe think tank predicted that Britain leaving the EU could cost Ireland a permanent loss of 3.1 per cent and even in the best case scenario it would still lose 1.1 per cent of GDP…

“Former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern warned Mr Cameron that Ireland would not support treaty change – a key demand of Mr Cameron’s in his drive to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU…”

Northern Ireland’s Persecution of a Christian Pastor

TheBlaze reported on June 19:

“An evangelical pastor in Northern Ireland is under fire and will be prosecuted after calling Islam ‘satanic’ and claiming that its doctrine was ‘spawned in hell’ during a controversial 2014 sermon that streamed over the Internet. Pastor James McConnell, 78, of Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast, Northern Ireland, made his comments — which included calling Islam ‘heathen’ — in a sermon delivered last May.

“‘The Muslim religion was created many hundreds of years after Christ. Muhammad, the Islam Prophet, was born around the year A.D. 570, but Muslims believe that Islam is the true religion,’ he preached. ‘Now, people say there are good Muslims in Britain. That may be so, but I don’t trust them.’ McConnell continued, ‘Islam’s ideas about God, about humanity, about salvation are vastly different from the teaching of the holy scriptures. Islam is heathen. Islam is satanic. Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.’

“He initially defended his comments, but relented and apologized for offending anyone after a public outcry; the police were subsequently called to investigate him for a potential hate crime… A representative for the Public Prosecution Service in North Ireland told the BBC that McConnell had violated the Communications Act 2003 and that his offence was ‘one of sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive.’

“But McConnell — who retired from Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle following the controversy — isn’t backing down, proclaiming in an interview that he is ‘not going to be gagged.’ ‘The police tried to shut me up and tell me what to preach. It’s ridiculous. I believe in freedom of speech. I’m going to keep on preaching the gospel,’ he said… ‘I have nothing against Muslims, I have never hated Muslims, I have never hated anyone. But I am against what Muslims believe.’ McConnell continued, ‘They have the right to say what they believe in and I have a right to say what I believe.’

“As TheBlaze previously reported, Ashers Baking Company in Northern Ireland was also recently convicted of discrimination after refusing to make a cake with a message supporting gay marriage.”

 Certainly, his choice of words should have been different. We don’t even know what he meant with his claim that Islam’s doctrine was “spawned in hell.” Still, it is an alarming sign when “Christian” governments attempt to silence those who preach what they understand to be the biblical teaching, while no Muslim or Islamist is prosecuted by those governments for ridiculing the Bible, libeling the Judeo-Christian religion, and blaspheming Jesus Christ.

 Little Boy Decided to Be a Girl… Mother is Proud About It!

On June 20, The Daily Mail published an article with the following headlines. One does not need to read the article—the headlines say it all:

 “Proud mother backs her ‘brave’ transgender 9-year-old son as he prepares to go back to school dressed as a girl and wearing a blonde wig. Sam Hughes [the proud mother] says son Joseph has made own choice to go to class as a girl. Has been dressing in girls’ clothes for ages and even painting his nails. When he puts on blonde wig he transforms from Joseph into Ellie-Jo. Has now decided he’ll take the big step of returning to school after summer as a girl.”

 Sickening…. 

 Luther’s Anti-Semitism

The Times of Israel reported on June 18:

“Germany’s top Jewish leader urged Protestants to confront and condemn anti-Jewish teachings of Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation. Speaking at a conference in Berlin last week, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said he hopes for a clear sign from the Protestant Church condemning Luther’s anti-Jewish writings, ahead of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

“In his voluminous 1543 text ‘On the Jews and their Lies,’ Luther called Jews a ‘base’ people and urged faithful Protestants to burn down synagogues and drive Jews from their homes. Luther was responsible for regulations barring Jews from working or living in his region.

“Nikolaus Schneider, former council president of the Protestant Church in Germany, told Schuster during a public discussion at the June 10 conference that the church has begun to confront Luther’s anti-Jewish sentiments, adding he was he was fairly sure the council would issue a declaration on the matter in time for the anniversary…

“In 1517, Luther disseminated his Ninety-Five Theses condemning various church practices. According to some, he posted the theses on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. But while Luther took church leaders to task on their abuses, it has taken too long for Protestants to take Luther himself to task, critics have said.”

There can be no doubt that after Luther had tried unsuccessfully to convert Jews to Christianity, he propagated the persecution of Jews and other Sabbath keepers. One of his infamous works was titled: “Against the Jews and All Those Who Keep the Sabbath.” Some have said that Hitler carried out what Luther had recommended.

“Europe’s Jews Decry ‘Beast’ of Anti-Semitism Overtaking Continent”

The Times of Israel wrote on June 24:

“European Jewry is all in the same boat, and that boat is slowly but surely sinking. That, at least, was the impression from a roundtable conversation Tuesday at the Jerusalem Press Club with leaders from 25 of the continent’s Jewish communities.

“During the hour and a half lunch in a picturesque hall overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City, even those leaders who claimed their countries are without anti-Semitism today were pessimistic about the future of Europe. The obliviousness to a looming Nazi regime pervasive in 1930s Jewish communities was referenced, as were the increased Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) efforts that have taken over Scandinavia and elsewhere.

“The 30-odd leaders were assembled under the banner ‘A Time for Action’ for the fifth Israeli Jewish Congress (Hakhel) Gathering and Solidarity Mission to Israel of senior European Jewish leaders…

“Musician Peter Gyori, the vice president of the Jewish Community of the Czech Republic, said his country doesn’t suffer from anti-Semitism, nor are there any calls for BDS. He said he can be openly Jewish, and appears widely on radio and television. But he has no utopian illusions. ‘I know that if something would happen to me, nobody would protect me,’ said Gyori.

“For her part, Gkratsiela Sofia Bourla, wife of the president of the Greek Jewish community, Moses Constatinos, said she cannot believe leaders, such as the delegates from the Czech Republic and Portugal, who say their countries do not have any anti-Semitism. ‘I think the beast is sleeping in their countries,’ said Bourla.

“Continuing with anti-Semitism as beast imagery, the Serbian Jewish community’s president Ruben Fuks said no one is dealing with the monster itself… ‘Seeing what’s around, how the beast is waking up, raising its ugly head, I’m worried,’ said Fuks.

“Born in Ostend, Belgium, in 1939 and hidden as a child during the Holocaust, Baron Julien Klener, the immediate past president of the Consistoire Israelite de Belgique, said he too is anxious in today’s Europe…”

Germany’s Latest Scandal

The Guardian wrote on June 22:

“German authorities have released al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour without charge, after he was detained on Saturday by police at Berlin’s Tegel airport on an Egyptian arrest warrant.

“Questions remain as to why the German authorities arrested Mansour at the behest of Egypt’s military regime in the first place, and why they waited until he was at the point of leaving Germany to do so. There was considerable confusion over the warrant, which a German government spokesman said on Monday came via Interpol’s ‘red notice’ system, though both Mansour and Interpol said no such red notice exists against his name. According to police spokesman Meik Gauer, the arresting officers at Tegel airport were answerable only to the federal police headquarters, not to Interpol. There also remains a question mark over why the police officers felt obliged to detain Mansour, given that Germany does not have an extradition agreement with Egypt… For that reason, legal commentators have suggested the warrant could not have been executed without consultation with the government.

“Last year, an Egyptian court convicted Mansour in absentia of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011 and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Mansour rejected the charges, calling them ‘a flimsy attempt at character assassination’… MPs across Germany’s main political parties had voiced concern over his detention…

“Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was criticised by opposition parties and rights groups for hosting the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, on a state visit this month. During the visit, the German industrial group Siemens signed an €8bn deal with Egypt to supply gas and wind power plants. Since Sisi took power in 2013 and won a presidential election the following year, courts in Egypt have issued scores of death sentences against Muslim Brotherhood members including the group’s leadership.”

Die Zeit commented on June 22 that Germany did everything wrong in the matter. In arresting Mansour, Germany angered the Arab world which does not have any great sympathy for the Egyptian government, while upholding the popularity of Mansour (showing again the ridiculousness of the notion, taught by some, that Egypt may be the “king of the south” and the leader of Arab nations.). But Germany also gave the impression to the corrupt Egyptian government that Mansour would be extradited to Egypt, angering the Egyptian government when he was set free. Die Zeit stated that part of the reason for Germany’s debacle is the fact that the German government does not seem to have any cohesive course of action towards Egypt at this point. But this is just one more example of increasing failures in Angela Merkel’s leadership.

NSA in Hot Water Again

The Telegraph wrote on June 24:

“Documents published online by WikiLeaks show that the US wiretapped three French presidents, including current leader François Hollande.

“A note dated May 22, 2012 and classified as ‘Top Secret’  shows that French president François Hollande had ‘approved holding secret meetings in Paris to discuss the eurozone crisis, particularly the consequences of a Greek exit from the eurozone’. Mr Hollande also arranged in a meeting with then-French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on May 18, just days after he had taken office, to hold secret meetings with Germany’s opposition Social Democratic Party. Mr Ayrault warned the president to keep the meetings secret to avoid ‘diplomatic problems’, with the cable explaining he meant ‘what could happen if Angela Merkel, German chancellor, finds out that Mr Hollande is going behind her back to meet with the German opposition’.

“The note said that after earlier talks with Mrs Merkel in Berlin, Mr Hollande had complained that nothing of substance was achieved and that the chancellor was fixated on Greece, ‘on which he claimed she had given up and was unwilling to budge’. This, the note said, made Mr Hollande ‘very worried’ for Greece and the Greek people, who he said may react by voting for an extremist party…”

The Globe and Mail added on June 24:

“The United States allegedly spied on three successive French presidents by eavesdropping on their phone calls, according to a new set of documents released by WikiLeaks that will reignite the controversy over American surveillance of its European allies. The revelations prompted outrage in Paris. President François Hollande called the reports ‘unacceptable’ and convened meetings of top legislators and security officials on Wednesday to discuss the controversy. In another sign of displeasure, the U.S. ambassador was also summoned to the French foreign ministry, the Associated Press reported.

“… A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council released a statement Tuesday evening saying the U.S. is ‘not targeting and will not target the communications of President Hollande.’ The statement did not address the allegations that the U.S. had spied upon Mr. Hollande and his predecessors in the past…

“As in Germany two years ago, French politicians were quick to express outrage about the revelations. But the subsequent experience in Germany has shown that lawmakers may not be quite as shocked as they first sound…  Michèle Alliot-Marie, a former defence and foreign affairs minister under Mr. Chirac and Mr. Sarkozy, told a local television channel that France was well aware of the U.S. ability to intercept conversations. ‘We are not naive, the conversations that took place between the defence ministry and the president did not happen on the telephone,’ she said. ‘That being said, it does raise the problem of the relationship of trust between allies.’”

Especially when the allies involve the USA.

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 24:

“US President Barack Obama has promised to stop ‘unacceptable practices’ after a row over eavesdropping on French leaders… Obama made a similar pledge to Germany in 2013 after former CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked confidential information about the extent of the US National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance. The documents showed that the NSA has tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.”

 The text of a famous song comes to mind: “It’s only words…”

Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare Tax Subsidies

Newsmax reported on June 25:

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide availability of tax subsidies that are crucial to the implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, handing a major victory to the president. The court ruled on a 6-3 vote that the 2010 Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, did not restrict the subsidies to states that establish their own online healthcare exchanges. It marked the second time in three years that the high court ruled against a major challenge to the law brought by conservatives seeking to gut it. Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy and the court’s liberal members in the majority.

“Justice Antonin Scalia took the relatively rare step of reading a summary of his dissenting opinion from the bench. In his reading of the statute, ‘it is hard to come up with a reason to use these words other than the purpose of limiting credits to state exchanges,’ Scalia said. ‘We really should start calling the law SCOTUScare,’ he added, referencing the court’s earlier decision upholding the constitutionality of the law. SCOTUS is the acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States… [He also wrote: “Under all the usual rules of interpretation, in short, the Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.”]

“The question before the justices was whether a four-word phrase in the expansive law saying subsidies are available to those buying insurance on exchanges ‘established by the state’ has been correctly interpreted by the administration to allow subsidies to be available nationwide. Roberts wrote that although the conservative challengers’ arguments about the plain meaning of the statute were ‘strong,’ the ‘context and structure of the act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase.’”

This is the second time that in regard to Obamacare, the US Supreme Court, under Bush-appointee Chief Justice John Roberts, made a strictly political decision, based on novel arguments, in order to reach a political result. Three years ago, the US Supreme Court, under Roberts, ruled that the individual mandate was a tax, even though the Obama Administration had argued that it was not a tax, but a fine. If it had been a fine, the mandate would have been unconstitutional. Now, the Supreme Court found that plain wording referring to the state (not the federal government), which has been used at least seven times in the law, does not mean what it clearly says—even though the Obama Administration never raised this issue. Sadly, the US Supreme Court has become a political institution, driven to and fro with the wind of political expedience, seemingly operating from the premise: The desired political end justifies the means of legal “interpretation.”

Germany’s Low Opinion of the USA

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 24:

“The USA is losing face among the German citizenry. In an interview with DW, USA expert Karsten Voigt talks about how this loss of respect came about…: ‘The slide toward a negative opinion began with former President George W. Bush’s wars in the Middle East. Many people believe that the Americans contributed to the instability of many countries in the region, and that the war in Iraq and the conflict in Syria have only exacerbated the problem. The military intervention in Libya, though originally a European idea, is often blamed on the Americans as well. To that, add Edward Snowden’s revelations, and the whole of the NSA affair…

“‘The laws that were enacted to fight terrorism after 9/11 contain many aspects that are constitutionally troubling. It was expected that all of these laws would be repealed by the Obama administration. That has happened in part, due to Congress limiting the powers of the intelligence services… The Patriot Act and Guantanamo are also viewed critically, and the practice of systematically torturing detainees to glean information about terror networks is especially controversial. In America, 58 percent of those polled support such tactics, in Germany, 68 percent are opposed to them…’”

The Local added on June 24:

“More than half of Germans (53 percent) said they did not believe the United States government respects the personal freedoms of its people… The poll also showed that 45 percent of Germans polled had negative views of the US, compared to 50 percent who had positive views. This was the most pessimistic outlook expressed by any of the western European countries surveyed…

“German support for the United States has plummeted over the 15 years since 2000, when nearly 80 percent of respondents in Germany said they felt favourable towards the US…”

Clinton vs. Trump

Newsmax reported on June 19:

 “GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has fired back at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton after she hinted that rhetoric he used during his campaign launch could ‘trigger’ a violent event, such as the shooting at the church in Charleston, South Carolina. Clinton said in an interview Thursday, ‘Public discourse is sometimes hotter and more negative than it should be, which can, in my opinion, trigger someone who is less than stable… I think we have to speak out against it,’ Clinton added. ‘Like, for example, a recent entry into the Republican presidential campaign said some very inflammatory things about Mexicans. Everybody should stand up and say that’s not acceptable.’

“Clinton was referring to comments Trump made during his speech when he described illegal immigrants from Mexico as criminals and ‘rapists.’ On Friday morning, Trump posted a video on Instagram responding to Clinton’s comments… ‘Wow, it’s pretty pathetic that Hillary Clinton just blamed me for the horrendous attack that took place in South Carolina. This is why politicians are just no good. Our country’s in trouble,’ he said in the short clip titled, ‘Hillary Clinton reaches new low.’…

“Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Trump said the real estate tycoon, who canceled a sold-out campaign event in the state after the shooting, sends his prayers and condolences to the people of South Carolina. ‘At this time of national sorrow, a responsible leader should be focused on uniting and healing the country,” said Sam Nunberg… ‘Mr. Trump believes that Hillary Clinton does not have any credibility when she blames words for violence. This is the same politician who lied to the world after she failed to take proper steps to secure the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and falsely blamed the radical Islamic attack on a YouTube video. This is the same person who illegally deleted her emails after getting a subpoena from the U.S. Congress.’

“Nunberg added it is ‘totally inappropriate’ for Clinton to use the tragedy to attack a political opponent. ‘She must be nervous about something,’ he said, hinting that Clinton must feel threatened by Trump’s entry into the presidential race.”

With Trump’s entry into the field, the fight for the White House has really begun. To underestimate Trump might be a big mistake for any of the other presidential candidates. It was suggested that Trump might very well win the first debate in August among the Republican candidates.

In this context, Newsmax wrote on June 17: “Much of what Donald Trump says ‘resonates’ both inside and outside the Republican Party, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Wednesday, and what he says ‘throws a monkey wrench’ in the predictability most candidates rely on…  While Trump has come under some fire over statements he made concerning the Mexican border and immigrants in his campaign announcement on Tuesday, ‘there are a lot of folks who look at the Mexican border the way he pronounced it yesterday,’ Steele said.  ‘I think that affords him the opportunity to not only be on that stage, but to say something that is going to make the party very uncomfortable over the next few months… It’s a real problem going into the early debates if he’s on that stage… The argument will be framed by Donald Trump, not by Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or others.’”

Clinton Has Something in Common With Trump

Breitbart wrote on June 24:

“A new Fox News poll has Trump in second place to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as a favorite for the Republican nomination. Trump jumped seven percentage points since the previous poll prior to his formal announcement. The top ten candidates and likely candidates per the Fox News poll results were as follows: Jeb Bush – 15%; Donald Trump – 11%; Ben Carson – 10%; Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) – 9%; Scott Walker – 9%; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) – 8%; Mike Huckabee – 6%; Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) – 4%; Carly Fiorina – 3%; Rick Santorum – 3%. Tied at two percent are Chris Christie, John Kasich, Rick Perry, and Bobby Jindal… George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are both tied at one percent at the bottom of the poll.

“Trump also placed high in a Citizens United poll released Wednesday… He also trailed Bush at second place in a recent Suffolk University Poll of New Hampshire voters.

“However, the bad news for Trump is that the poll showed he had something in common with Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. ‘More than twice as many say Trump is not honest and trustworthy as think he is (64 percent vs. 30 percent). That gives him an honesty score of negative 34,’ Fox News reported. ‘Clinton’s honesty score is negative seven.  Less than half of voters — 45 percent — rate her as honest.  That’s unchanged from earlier this year, but down from a record 54 percent who said she was honest in 2014.  A 52-percent majority says Clinton is not honest.’”

However, on June 24, Newsmax wrote about a totally different perspective:

“Donald Trump has the guts to say what other Republican presidential candidates can’t or won’t say — and that gives the billionaire developer an edge in the race to capture the 2016 GOP nomination, veteran political consultant Dick Morris said. ‘Telling the truth should not be a rare commodity in politics, but in fact, it’s a totally rare commodity and to have someone who actually does tell the truth like that is extraordinary,’ Morris said…”

Thanks to President Obama–Israel Is All Alone

Washington Free Beacon wrote on June 19:

“By the summer of 2013, President Obama had convinced several key Israelis that he wasn’t bluffing about using force against the Iranian nuclear program. Then he failed to enforce his red line against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad—and the Israelis realized they’d been snookered. Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, recalls the shock inside his government. ‘Everyone went quiet,’ he said in a recent interview. ‘An eerie quiet. Everyone understood that that was not an option, that we’re on our own.’

“… it’s clear that Israel has been on her own since the day Obama took office… Obama’s unending criticism of Israel… provide an opening for radicals to go even further. The diplomatic rupture endangers Israel in another way… Now, with the United States about to clear the way for Iranian nukes and flood the Iranian economy with cash, Israel is all the more at risk.

“… The alliance has faltered to such a degree that Oren is morose. He wonders whether Israel is in the same precarious position it was in 1967, before the Six Day War, or in 1948, when it came close to never being born. Neither option is comforting… But whatever happens, thanks to Michael Oren, history will know that an inexperienced and ideologically motivated president drove a lethal wedge between the United States of America and the young, tiny, besieged Jewish State.”

There can be no doubt that under the presidency of Barak Obama, the relationship between the USA and Israel has drastically deteriorated.

Most Israelis Don’t Have Confidence in President Obama

The Times of Israel wrote on June 24:

“Israelis have increasingly lost faith in US President Barack Obama, with the commander-in-chief taking a greater hit to his image in the Jewish state than in any other country in the world… Confidence in Obama slipped in Israel from 71% in 2014 to 49% in 2015, while half of Israelis said they have no confidence in the president’s leadership in international affairs…

“The findings reverse a several-year trend of rising support for Obama in Israel, amid increasingly cool relations between the two states over US foreign policy in the Middle East and tensions between the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Iran’s nuclear program… 80% of Israelis disapprove of how Obama is dealing with Iran’s nuclear program…

“Obama’s dour image in the Jewish state didn’t affect America’s standing in Israel, with a firm majority of Israelis still enamored of Uncle Sam. Eighty-one percent of Israelis view the US in a favorable light, compared to 18% unfavorable — one of the highest favorable ratings of all countries quizzed — although there is a wide gap between Israeli Jews (87% favorable) and Arabs (48%)…

“By contrast, America’s image is mostly negative in the region, with most Jordanians (83%), Palestinians (70%), Turks (58%) and Lebanese (58%) giving the US a thumbs down. Additionally, 82% of Palestinians had no confidence in Obama’s foreign policy…”

Terrible Situation in Sudan

On June 23, dpa reported the following:

“At a United Nations-run displaced people’s camp in South Sudan’s capital Juba, white tarpaulin tents reach as far as the eye can see… Such camps are home to more than 130,000 people in South Sudan, mainly in the north, where people have massively fled fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel leader, Riek Machar.

“The 18-month conflict has killed tens of thousands and sent about 2 million people fleeing to UN camps, to the wilderness and to neighbouring countries. Some 4.6 million people, in a total population estimated to number between 10 million and 12 million, are classified as ‘severely food insecure’ by the UN…

“Camps in Juba are meanwhile trying to stem the spread of cholera… UN planes or helicopters are frequently unable to fly to crisis areas because the government does not grant them permission to take off…”

New Little ICE AGE for Britain?

 The Express wrote on June 24:

“Britain could face colder than average winters with a plunge in solar activity threatening a new ‘little ice age’ in the next few decades. Climate experts warn the amount of light and warmth released by the sun is nosediving to levels ‘not seen for centuries’. They fear a repeat of the so-called ‘Maunder Minimum’ which triggered Arctic winter whiteouts and led to the River Thames freezing 300 years ago.

“The Met Office-led study warns although the effect will be offset by recent global warming, Britain faces years of unusually cold winters… James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, said the effects may be felt as soon as this winter. He said: ‘Solar activity levels, or solar flux, are currently estimated to be at their lowest for the last 100 years. We will head into another rapid decline throughout the remainder of the upcoming year. On the basis of past solar activity levels it is an inevitability that solar and sunspot activity will continue to fall off the charts in the coming years and decades, including the upcoming winter period of 2015/16’…

“The coldest winter ever recorded in 1684 occurred during the last Maunder Minimum period and saw the River Thames in London freeze over. Maunder Minimum is named after the English astronomer Edward Walter Maunder who noticed fewer sunspots were observed between 1645 and 1715.

“Professor Scaife said: ‘During the Mander Minimum period there were runs of cold winters including 1684 which was the coldest winter recorded. There are signs that solar activity has been dropping over the past decade with a one in five chance of it reaching a similar low by around 2050.’”

How the Pope’s Encyclical Was Prepared and Published

The Washington Post wrote on June 20:

“[The pope’s encyclical] marked the latest blow for those seeking to stop the reform-minded train that has become Francis’s papacy. It is one that has reinvigorated liberal Catholics even as it has sowed the seeds of resentment and dissent inside and outside the Vatican’s ancient walls.

“Yet the battle lost over climate change also suggests how hard it may be for critics to blunt the power of a man who has become something of a juggernaut in an institution where change tends to unfold over decades, even centuries. More than anything, to those who doubt the human impact of global warming, the position staked out by Francis in his papal document, known as an encyclical, means a major defeat…

“Papal advisers say Francis signaled his intent to draft a major document on the environment soon after assuming the throne of St. Peter in March 2013…

“In April, the [Chicago-based Heartland Institute] launched an ‘open letter’ to the pope, signed by more than 100 scholars and theologians, arguing that climate-change models ‘provide no rational basis to forecast dangerous human-induced global warming, and therefore no rational basis for efforts to reduce warming by restricting the use of fossil fuels or any other means.’

“[Some believe] that ‘between a quarter and a third’ of the signers were Catholic.

“… the pope sought to build on the progressive environmental platforms established by his immediate predecessors, Benedict XVI and John Paul II. For advice, he turned to a number of scientific advisers who support the consensus that human activity is warming the Earth. They included Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, [a professed atheist and] founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany…”

Some claim that Pope Francis is not a politician, and that he is not afraid to speak his mind. But the way in which his encyclical was prepared and published was clearly a political act.

Great Powers Failed to Act to Help Persecuted in Nazi Germany

The Associated Press reported on June 21:

“Pope Francis on Sunday denounced what he calls the ‘great powers’ of the world for failing to act when there was intelligence indicating Jews, Christians, homosexuals and others were being transported to death camps in Europe during World War II. He also decried the deaths of Christians in concentration camps in Russia under the Stalin dictatorship, which followed the war… He also cited what he called the ‘great tragedy of Armenia’ in the last century. ‘So many died. I don’t know the figure, more than a million, certainly. But where were the great powers then? They were looking the other way,’ the pope said.

“In today’s world, he told the young people: ‘Everything is done for money.’ He criticized those advocating peace while manufacturing or selling arms. Francis reiterated his view that conflicts in the world today are tantamount to ‘a Third World War in segments.’”

It is also true, however, that the big Christian churches, especially the Catholic Church, looked the other way and did very little, if anything, to oppose Nazism and to help those who were persecuted under the Nazi Regime. Quite to the contrary, they engaged in political maneuvering to help the Nazis stay in power. As Klaus P. Fischer pointed out in his excellent work, “Nazi Germany… A New History” (on page 363):

“… the institutions of the church, both Protestant and Catholic, failed tragically in mustering the sort of Christian courage it would have required to stop the Nazis from committing their unspeakable crimes against God and humankind. Such institutional failure of nerve, ESPECIALLY ON THE PART OF THE VATICAN,  will forever be a stain on the historical record of Christianity.”

Ramadan — an Interesting Dilemma

The Independent wrote on June 14:

“As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, and British Muslims prepare for four weeks of fasting during daylight hours, a perennial debate on changing the Ramadan observance times in northern regions has sprung up again. Dr Usama Haswan, an Islamic researcher from anti-extremism group Quilliam, has said that it would make more sense for Muslims in the UK to follow Mecca timings, as daylight lasts much longer this far north than it does in the Middle East.

“In Mecca, daylight during Ramadan usually lasts from around 12 to 13 hours. In the southern part of the UK, it typically lasts around 16 hours or more, and the timings mean that observers will have to wake up at around 4am if they want to eat in the morning. As the start of Ramadan is based on the first sighting of the new moon, it comes earlier and earlier each year. For the last few years, however, it has occurred during summer, meaning a much longer fasting time. This year, Ramadan will begin on 18 June.

“… things get worse the further north you go. In Aberdeen, more than 500 miles north of London, daylight will last for around 18 hours during Ramadan. And elsewhere in northern Europe, such as the far north of Sweden, the sun may only set for a couple of hours a day, if at all. In Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost town, the sun has not set this month – and it’s not going to go down before August…

“There is no agreed-upon standard – some Muslims choose to observe Mecca time, others observe the timings of their own country. Mohammed Kharaki, a spokesman for Sweden’s Islamic Association, said the organisation had this week issued guidelines that said Muslims should fast between the times that the sun was last clearly seen to rise and fall – despite this concession, this could well amount to a 19-hour fast…

“However, even with a lengthy fast for British Muslims, the vast majority are adamant that they will observe it, no matter how difficult it is.”

Of course, the Bible does not prescribe such a fast at all—perhaps for the very reasons which are explained in the article above. The only enjoined fast takes place once a year, during one day, the Day of Atonement (known by Jews today as Yom Kippur), from sunset to sunset, which is always observed in the autumn.

 “Conservatives for Britain” Prefer Possible Brexit

Newsmax reported on June 13:

 “The number of lawmakers in Prime Minister David Cameron’s party to join a group pushing for Britain to leave the European Union unless it obtains major changes to its terms of membership has jumped from 50 to 110 in a week, a newspaper said on Saturday. One in three of Cameron’s 330 lawmakers, including some ministers, have joined ‘Conservatives for Britain’ (CfB), which is also backed by 13 members of the upper house and 12 members of the European Parliament, the Telegraph reported…

“Cameron angered some in his party at the start of the week when he suggested ministers who did not back his EU strategy, which envisions Britain remaining in a reformed EU, would have to quit the government. He later said he had been misunderstood and that his warning to ministers only applied to the EU negotiation period and not the referendum campaign itself where many Conservatives feel they should be allowed to vote according to their own conscience, rather than following the party line…”

Whether David Cameron will be able to reach agreements with the EU which will satisfy Britain’s euro-skeptics remains to be seen.

Europe Prepares for State of Emergency

Reuters reported on June 15:

“Greece and its creditors hardened their stances on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, prompting Germany’s EU commissioner to say the time had come to prepare for a ‘state of emergency’.

“Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored pleas from European leaders to act fast. Instead he blamed creditors for Sunday’s breakdown of the cash-for-reform talks, the biggest setback in long-running negotiations to unlock aid. He said his government had a responsibility to defend Greece’s dignity and would resist demands for further pension cuts… Athens now has just two weeks to find a way out of the impasse before it faces a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it out of cash, unable to borrow and dangling on the edge of the currency area…

“Despite the deepening crisis, Tsipras is going ahead with a planned visit to Russia from Thursday, the day euro zone finance ministers hold a crucial meeting to review the standoff with Greece. He is due to stay till Saturday, attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg and meet President Vladimir Putin. EU officials said that without improved Greek proposals by Thursday, the Eurogroup session would be very tough and was likely to present Greece with an ultimatum…

“Although some economists still believe that, as in past crises, a last-minute fix will be found to avoid default, European politicians sound more determined than before to resist compromising with demands they consider unreasonable. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis retorted in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper that a deal could be reached quickly if Merkel took part in the talks. ‘I rule out a “Grexit” as a sensible solution,’ Varoufakis said. ‘But no one can rule out everything. I can’t even rule out a comet hitting Earth.’”

And both might strike…

The New York Times wrote on June 17:

“It is the current doomsday scenario for Europe… Although Europe is better positioned to deal with a crisis than it was a few years ago, when Greece last teetered, there is simply no precedent for a country’s leaving the eurozone. And the big test may be only weeks away.

“Relations between Greece and its lenders have descended into a bitter standoff. The impasse is increasing the chances that Greece and its creditors will fail to forge a deal by the end of the month, when a pile of debt comes due and its current bailout expires.

“Many in Europe still believe that some sort of agreement will be reached at the last minute… But the war of words — and the apparent distance between both sides’ positions — is reducing hopes for a breakthrough…

“Optimistic analysts contend that markets would soon steady themselves after the initial shock of Greece’s crashing out of the euro. Much has changed, they say, since 2011 and 2012, when Greece’s problems spilled over into other countries… There are grounds for such confidence. Private investors and banks no longer have large holdings of Greek government debt, meaning their losses would be minimal if the country were to default. Instead, Greece’s debt is now mostly owed to other governments and official entities…

“Perhaps the biggest difference between the last Greek crisis and now is the stance of the European Central Bank…

“Some analysts are looking beyond the immediate financial repercussions of Greece’s leaving the eurozone… If Greece were to fall out of the eurozone, it would establish a dangerous precedent — and show that the euro is only for certain countries…”

… which, of course, it clearly is, showing again the concept of a Europe with two speeds or a core Europe of influential major countries, leading the rest of Europe. In addition, according to a new poll which was published on Wednesday, “58 percent of [German] people would prefer it if Greece simply left the Euro. Just 28 percent of Germans thought that Greece should remain in, while 14 percent had no opinion” (The Local, June 17, 2015).

The Guardian added on June 18:

“Greece is facing a full-blown banking crisis after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke down in acrimony and recrimination on Thursday evening, bringing the prospect of Greek exit from the eurozone a step nearer.

“Some €2bn of deposits have been withdrawn from Greek banks so far this week – including a record €1bn yesterday – triggering fears that a breakdown in talks would spark a further flight of funds. The German leader Angela Merkel, French president François Hollande and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to stage an emergency EU summit on Monday as a last critical attempt to prevent Greece going bankrupt. A representative of the European Central Bank told the meeting it was unsure whether Greek banks would have the funds to be able to open on Monday.”

 German Prosecutor Chickens Out

The Local wrote on June 12:

“Germany’s chief prosecutor has dropped a probe into the alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone by US intelligence agencies, his office said Friday… The suspected surveillance and rampant online spying by the US… badly strained US-German relations.

“The German chief prosecutor Harald Range said he had put an end to his year-old probe, citing a lack of hard evidence that would stand up in a court of law. ‘The Chief Federal Prosecutor has closed the investigation over suspected spying on a mobile phone used by the chancellor by US intelligence services .. because the allegation cannot be proven in a legally sound way under criminal law,’ a statement said.

“Media reports in October 2013 said that the NSA had tapped Merkel’s mobile phone – a claim Washington appeared to confirm later when US officials said the cellphone was no longer a target… The German prosecutor’s office on Friday said that the ‘vague’ US comments did not legally amount to proof of past spying activity.”

This was to be expected, of course, but the rationale for the decision not to prosecute appears to be a pitiful, unconvincing and cowardly cop-out. This announcement comes on the heels of a meeting between President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, with the publication of some friendly smiling faces and the exchange of political niceties… all of this in an effort to portray unity and harmony between them and their two countries.

America’s Future as a Third World Country?

On June 15, the website of creators.com published the following article by Pat Buchanan:

“Over three decades, [the] border [with Mexico] has been a causeway into the USA for millions of illegal immigrants who are changing the face of America… All sides of this quarrel have been using the figure of 11 million people here illegally. In her new best-seller, ‘Adios, America!,’ Ann Coulter makes a compelling case that the real figure is close to 30 million. If that is true, and if the next president embraces amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, that will mean the end to America as the Western nation we have been, and the beginning of America’s life as what Ann calls, unapologetically, a ‘Third World hellhole.’…

“Between 80 and 90 percent of those coming are from Third World nations. On average, they have higher illegitimacy rates than native-born Americans, higher drug use rates, higher rates of obesity, spousal abuse and child abuse, higher rates of disease, lower test scores and higher dropout rates, and higher crime and incarceration rates. Children of immigrants are more gang-oriented. And Third World immigrants consume more per capita in social services than they pay in taxes. Hence they contribute to fiscal deficits at every level of government…

“Among the myths or lies drummed into the heads of Americans is that we have always been a ‘nation of immigrants,’ and ‘diversity,’ i.e., racial, ethnic and religious diversity, ‘is a strength.’ But America in 1970 was a white nation with a black minority of about 10 percent…

“Is ethnic, racial and religious diversity truly a ‘strength’? Why then has the most diverse region of Europe, the Balkans — with its Serb, Croat, Albanian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Turkic peoples, and Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic religions — had the bloodiest history?…

“If diversity is a strength, then why are Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen falling apart? Why are Sunni and Shiite, Palestinian and Israeli fighting?… As racial, ethnic and religious hatreds pull people apart and create terrorists all over our disintegrating world, why would we make ourselves ever more diverse?…”

Trump IS Running After All

Breitbart reported on June 16:

“Real estate mogul and businessman Donald Trump announced he’s running for president at a private event in his own Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City on Tuesday in front of dozens of reporters and media outlets. Trump took the stage and promised to be a different type of candidate. While other presidential candidates have provided rhetoric, he promised to implement policies. ‘If I’m elected president,’ he announced, ‘we will make America great again.’

“To begin with, ‘we have to repeal Obamacare,’ he said… He promised to bring jobs back to the United States, and crack down on illegal immigration from Mexico. Trump promised to ‘immediately terminate President Obama’s executive order on immigration.’ … ‘I would build a great wall on our southern border,’ he added, “and I will have Mexico pay for that wall…’ [He later clarified that he would do so by taxing Mexico heavily for their goods imported into the USA.]

“He also promises to beef up the military by finding ‘the guy, the Gen. Patton or Gen. MacArthur’ to lead it. He also vows to get tough with Iran. Unlike Secretary of State John Kerry, Trump says he knows how to negotiate a good deal.

“He also took a jab at Jeb Bush. ‘Education has to be local,’ Trump said, announcing he’ll staunchly oppose Common Core. Bush, who just announced yesterday, has supported Common Core…

“When his financial statement is filed, Trump says, it will show he has $9.240 billion in assets. His net worth, after all debt, he says, is upward of $8.7 billion…”

He also stated that America has become a Third World country [compare the previous article], and that the American Dream is over, but that he would revive it as the “best jobs President that God ever created.” He would tax American firms heavily, such as Ford, which manufacture their products in Mexico or other foreign countries and then import them into the USA. And he said this:

“They [Mexico and other foreign countries] are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs and they are bringing crime, and they’re rapists. Some, I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting. They are not sending us the right people. It’s coming all over South and Latin America and it’s coming probably from the Middle East. But we don’t know because we have no protection and we have no competence. We don’t know what is happening and it has got to stop and it has to stop fast.”

He also stated: “We have people who are morally corrupt. We have people who are selling our country down the drain,” adding that US unemployment has risen sky high, even past 20 percent, challenging government figures that put it at under six percent. “Don’t believe the 5.6 percent,” he said.

The reaction to Trump’s announcement and speech was overwhelmingly negative. As could be expected, Democrats and left-liberal commentators blasted him, being anxious and eager to find “inconsistencies” in his address and his “rambling” and “bizarre” speech and charging him with defamation of the worst kind against American immigrants. Many Republicans blew into the same horn, but a few Republicans [including Sean Hannity] and a few conservative commentators [including Rush Limbaugh] were more reserved, giving him credit for an understanding as to what many Americans are looking for, feeling his comments might “resonate” with the GOP, and stating that he might not be a candidate who could or should be easily dismissed.

CBS commented that “It was a speech that drew immediate scorn online from a series of Republicans, who fear Trump will turn an otherwise serious Republican primary contest into a circus. The Democratic National Committee was just as sarcastic on Twitter…

“Meanwhile, based on guidelines recently announced by the television networks, Trump could play a prominent role in the upcoming nationally televised Republican debate in August. Those who rank in the top 10 in national polls, and Trump currently does, although he’s close to the bottom, will earn a place on the debate stage. That could place Trump in a debate alongside leading candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who formally launched his candidacy on Monday.

“Trump also said he would not renew his contract with NBC for his reality show, ‘The Apprentice.’ He cannot appear on the network and run for president at the same time.”

Newsmax wrote about Trump on June 15:

“Donald Trump has become one of the most well-known Americans… His grandfather Friedrich and grandmother Elisabeth were born in Germany and emigrated to the United States. Their son Fred Trump married Donald Trump’s mother Mary Ann MacLeod, who was born in Scotland and met Donald Trump’s father during a vacation trip to New York… While Donald Trump did inherit wealth from his father, he is personally responsible for accumulating the great bulk of his fortune. Trump’s father built affordable rental housing, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. He had a net wealth estimated at between $250 million and $400 million at the time of his death, but his four surviving children were heirs. By 2011, Donald Trump’s business dealings had boosted his fortune to $2.4 billion, according to Forbes… Trump’s parents sent him to a military school, New York Military Academy, when he was 13 years old…  Trump’s oldest sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, served as a federal appeals court judge. She was nominated for the post by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Prior to that, she had a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.”

Bild Online summed it up this way: “The whole world laughs at Trump’s speech.” At the same time, Trump seems to be serious. Time will tell what this may mean for America, the political landscape and its standing in the world.

Gun Violence in the USA

The Huffington Post wrote on June 12:

 “More than two-thirds of all homicides in the United States are gun-related. Of the 16,121 homicides reported in 2013, 11,208 were caused by gun violence. Including suicides, nearly 34,000 people died in gun-related incidents in 2013…

“Suicide is the leading cause of gun-related deaths across the country in recent years. Of the 33,636 firearm deaths in 2013, more than 21,000 were suicides. In fact, suicide accounted for more than half of gun-related deaths in all but one state with the most gun violence. In three states — Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming — suicide accounted for more than 80% of all firearm deaths.

“… states with the highest rates of suicide often have the strongest culture of gun ownership in the country… While federal gun laws are uniform across the country, state regulations vary, offering more lax or more strict approaches to firearm use. Seven of the 10 states with the most firearm deaths in 2013 have enacted stand your ground laws… many states with these laws likely also have laws that make it easier to possess firearms and buy ammunition.

“In fact, none of the states with the most gun violence require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Gun owners are also not required to register their weapons in any of these states. Meanwhile, many of the states with the least gun violence require a permit or other form of identification to buy a gun.

“Gun-related homicides were also relatively frequent in the states with the most gun violence. Nationally, there were 3.61 homicides per 100,000 people. Seven of the 10 states with the most gun violence reported homicide rates higher than the national rate… In 2013, Louisiana reported nearly 10 homicides per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country…

“The poverty rate in eight of the 10 states with the most gun violence was above the national rate of 15.8%. Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas, the states with the four highest poverty rates in the country, were among the states with the most gun violence. Educational attainment rates also tended to be lower in states with the most gun violence. The share of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree was lower than the national rate of 29.6% in all 10 states on this list.”

A tragic testimony regarding a country which still believes the lie that guns and wars can produce peace and happiness. Only Christ’s return will bring a fundamental change of heart, the abolishment of guns, war and poverty, and the establishment of true education for all.

New US Supreme Court Decision on Abortion Highly Troublesome

The Associated Press reported on June 15:

“The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from North Carolina to revive a requirement that abortion providers show and describe an ultrasound to a pregnant woman before she has an abortion. The justices left in place an appeals court decision that said the 2011 North Carolina law was ‘ideological in intent’ and violated doctors’ free-speech rights. The North Carolina law would have required abortion providers to display and describe the ultrasound even if the woman refused to look and listen — a mandate that the court found particularly troublesome.

“North Carolina is among 23 states, mostly in the South and the Midwest, which passed laws dealing with the administration of ultrasounds by abortion providers, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research institute that supports abortion-rights…

“Tami Fitzgerald, the executive director of the NC Values Coalition and a supporter of increased restrictions on abortion, said it made no sense to her that federal judges would block a woman’s access to what she described as life-saving information. ‘In any other medical procedure, doctors would have a duty to disclose all of the relevant information, and, yet, a procedure as destructive and life-changing as abortion is held to a lower standard,’ Fitzgerald said.”

In addition, the court’s finding that the law violated the doctors’ right of free speech does not make any sense at all, in the context.

Gay “PRIDE” Parade in Tel Aviv

 The Times of Israel wrote on June 12:

“Some 180,000 people marched through Tel Aviv’s streets Friday in the city’s 17th annual Gay Pride Parade, the nation’s largest and oldest gay pride event… The event has become one of Tel Aviv’s most popular annual festivals. Streets and stores have been decorated with rainbow flags for days. Thousands of Israelis flocked to the city center to observe the parade, filling cafes and restaurants along the route to capacity.

“‘Welcome to all our guests from abroad to the gay-friendliest city in the world,’ Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai declared at the event’s launch Friday morning. ‘We’ve been through a lot,’ he added. ‘In 17 years, we’ve achieved a different reality in this city, and also in Israel. I want to tell all the politicians, there is still a great deal of legislation that has to be passed to accept the gay community. We will continue to walk this path, and to support the pride parade.’

“The theme of this year’s parade was focused on transgender rights. Events like the parade are key to advancing recognition for the transgendered, Tel Aviv activist Elisha Alexander said earlier this week… This year’s celebration featured Eurovision song contest winner and LGBT rights representative Conchita Wurst, who was to perform at Charles Clore Park after the march.”

Eurovision song contest winner Wurst, appearing as a lady with a full beard, represents the wide-spread recognition and acceptance of the LGBT community with its aggressive agenda. That Tel Aviv is labeled as the “gay-friendliest city in the world” is remarkable.

God says to ancient and modern “Jerusalem” and “Judah”: “… they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves” (Isaiah 3:9).  He also says: “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; She and her daughter had pride , fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy, And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit” (Ezekiel 16:49-40).

This warning should ring loud and clear in the ears of those who proclaim different standards.

Same-Sex Marriages in Latin America

 The New York Times wrote on June 14:

“In ruling after ruling, [Mexico’s Supreme Court] has said that state laws restricting marriage to heterosexuals are discriminatory. Though the decisions have been made to little public fanfare, they have had the effect of legalizing gay marriage in Mexico without enshrining it in law… the Mexican court’s rulings have added the country to a slowly growing list of Latin American nations permitting same-sex unions.

“Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil already allow same-sex marriage. Chile plans to recognize same-sex civil unions this year; Ecuador approved civil unions in April; and Colombia grants same-sex couples many of the same rights extended to heterosexual married couples…

“The shift in Mexico, the second largest country in Latin America after Brazil, is the product of a legal strategy that advocates used to bypass state legislatures, which have shown little inclination, and often hostility, to legalizing gay marriage. In 2009, Mexico City, a large liberal island in this socially conservative country, legalized gay marriage — a first in Latin America. There have been 5,297 same-sex weddings there since then, some of them couples coming to the city from other states… The Supreme Court upheld Mexico City’s law in 2010, adding that other states had to recognize marriages performed there…

“[The Supreme Court’s ruling] allows gay couples who are denied marriage rights in their states to seek injunctions from district judges, who are now obligated to grant them… The Roman Catholic Church, often an influential force socially and politically in a country that is 83 percent Catholic, objected to the ruling, saying the court had flouted two millenniums of convention…”

The Catholic Church’s sincerity is of course being questioned even by many professing and practicing Catholics, since homosexual pedophiles are active within the priesthood and are being shielded from prosecution by the Church hierarchy, even though a few priests allegedly guilty of active misconduct and their superiors who chose to stay silent were urged to resign by the Vatican. One former archbishop will even be tried by the Vatican State for pedophilia… a case of first impression (see article below).

Debate Continues in Germany

The Local wrote on June 12:

“Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, voted on Friday in favour of a resolution calling for full marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples. The debate followed a referendum in Ireland in which the population voted massively in favour of allowing same-sex marriage… Although the Bundesrat did not vote for a draft law, the move increases pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to confront more conservative voices in her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – and the more strongly religious Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU).

“Currently, homosexual couples can enter a civil partnership (‘Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft’, registered life partnership) in Germany and enjoy most of the same rights as married couples following a series of test cases in the Supreme Court. But there remains stiff opposition in the Bundestag, the lower and more powerful house of parliament.

“The Bundesrat, composed of representatives from the largely left-wing state governments, is easy to bring on side. But the CDU-CSU dominates the Bundestag, and is mostly against ‘marriage for all’. Pro-gay marriage Social Democratic Party (SPD) MPs would also be forced to vote against any bill that came up for debate under their coalition agreement with the CDU-CSU…

“Rheinland-Pfalz minister-president Malu Dreyer and member of the Bundesrat said after the vote ‘nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.’”

Breitbart added on June 13:

“… campaigners [in Germany] say this is not enough and ordinary marriage should be redefined to cover same-sex couples… While the mainland United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and others have redefined marriage in recent years, Germany sits alongside Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and others who have split same sex unions off into a separate idea of a civil procedure. Well behind with Europe’s progressive agenda are nations like Poland and the rump Ukraine, who do not recognise gay marriage at all.”

Will Germany follow suit and recognize same-sex marriages, or will the country stand strongly in opposition? It is to be expected that the German government, in true political fashion, will end up agreeing with those who seem to have the strongest support.

Portland “Pride” Parade 2015

This week, Oregon Live reported the following:

“Pride Northwest chose recently appointed Gov. Kate Brown as grand marshal of the 2015 Pride Parade, a fitting honor for the nation’s first openly bisexual state leader. It won’t be Brown’s first time in the parade, and she wasn’t invited just because of her LGBTQ identification. Pride Northwest President Debra Porta said organizers have always invited Oregon governors to the parade, but Brown will be the first to participate…

“This year’s parade is expected to be the biggest ever in Portland, she added, shattering the attendance records set in previous years. The two-day Pride Festival will bring vendors, live music and representatives from local organizations to the waterfront…”

Is this a “ fitting honor” for the nation’s first openly bisexual state leader to participate as grand marshal? Fitting? Yes! An honor? That is the question.

Vatican to Try Former Archbishop over Child Abuse Charges

Deutsche Welle reported on June 15:

“Former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski is to stand trial on accusations of paying for sex with minors and possessing child pornography. The case is the first of its kind in the Vatican… The former priest [is] the first person to be tried after Pope Francis introduced anti-paedophilia laws in the Vatican penal code in July 2013.

“The 66-year-old former Polish archbishop was the Vatican ambassador… in the Dominican Republic for five years until 2013, when local media accused him of pedophilia. Wesolowski allegedly dressed in casual clothes, including a baseball cap and visited a beach area where he picked up poor child prostitutes. The former clergyman was then recalled from his position as the Vatican’s ambassador in 2013 and defrocked by a Vatican tribunal. He was convicted last year. The pope then ordered a criminal investigation, following which police found material indicating child pornography on his computer. Officials at the Vatican said at the time that Wesolowski could face up to 12 years in jail.

“If convicted, he would most probably not spend time in the Vatican’s prisons, which consist of only a few rooms. There was a chance the accused would be sent to Italy, which, according to an agreement with the Vatican, houses the holy city’s prisoners. Wesolowski could also be sent to his native country Poland or extradited to the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials told journalists.

“The case is the first high-profile incident since the 2012 trial of Paolo Gabriele, a papal butler accused of stealing and leaking former Pope Benedict XVI’s private papers. Gabriele was later pardoned.

“The Vatican also announced the resignation of two senior US clerics on Monday. Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche stepped down after they were accused of failing to act on repeated warnings that a priest in the archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minnesota was a danger to children…

“Abuse victims’ network SNAP welcomed the Vatican’s initiatives, but remained apprehensive about the future. ‘After centuries of abuse and cover up done in secrecy…evidently one pope has seen fit to oust one archbishop for complicity in clergy sex crimes….But it’s only a very tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror,’ SNAP’s Southern Minnesota chief Frank Meuer told the AFP news agency.”

Pope’s New Encyclical Leaked to the Public… Pope Speaks of Unprecedented Worldwide Destruction and Paints Apocalyptic Picture

The Independent wrote on June 15:

“The Pope warned that the world is heading for ‘unprecedented destruction’ unless mankind confronts climate change and reforms the way it treats the planet, as the most eagerly anticipated papal document in living memory was leaked.

“In a 192-page encyclical on global warming that looks set to define his tenure, the Pope paints an apocalyptic picture in which the world’s poorest are the biggest victims of a web of environmental, human, financial and ethical degradation that puts the entire planet at risk. In an extraordinarily frank document, the Pope lambasts rich countries for ‘looting’ the world and takes aim at bankers and climate sceptics for accelerating its decline. He warns that the world is facing widespread crop failure, economic ruin, mass migration and the destruction of entire eco-systems. ‘If the current trend continues this century we could witness climate change unlike anything seen before and the unprecedented destruction of eco-systems, with serious consequences for all of us,’ he writes.

“Pope Francis has spent months working on the encyclical, the contents of which has been the subject of eager anticipation in the Vatican and environmental circles. It is the encyclical, or papal letter, aimed at everyone in the world, regardless of religion. Environmentalists hope his strident warnings will encourage right-wing climate sceptics – particularly US Christians – to rethink their position.

“The Vatican reacted with fury to the leak on Monday night, accusing the magazine responsible [of a] ‘heinous act’ that amounted to ‘sabotage against the pope’. [In the meantime, the final version of the encyclical was published, and no discrepancy between the leaked draft and the final version has been pointed out so far.] In the encyclical, titled  ‘Laudato Sii’, or ‘Praised Be’, the Pope quotes Patriarca Bartolomeo of the Eastern Orthodox Church as saying: ‘A crime against nature is a crime against ourselves and a sin against God’.

“And he is withering about the financial system… ‘The economic powers shall continue to justify the current world system, in which speculation and the aim for financial returns to prevail that tend to ignore each context and the effects on the environment and on human dignity. So clearly it reveals that environmental, human and ethical degradation are intimately connected,’ he wrote.

“Although the first ever encyclical on the environment concentrated heavily on the natural world, the pope repeatedly linked climate change with the plight of the poor. Pope Francis is also extremely concerned about the prospect of mass migration of animals, plants and humans as global warming means they cannot function in their traditional habitat.

“He calls for a new global political authority tasked with tackling the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions. Although he accepts that there may be some natural causes of global warming, the pope lays most of the blame for climate change squarely at the feet of mankind… The pope is very critical of anybody who stands in the way of tackling the problem of global warming – whether they are merely indifferent or actively sceptical. ‘The attitudes that stand in the way of a solution, even among believers, range from negation of the problem, to indifference, to convenient resignation or blind faith in technical solutions,’ he wrote.

“The letter to the world’s 1.2bn Catholics is aimed at influencing the debate ahead of crucial United Nations talks in Paris in December at which world leaders have pledged to agree [on] decisive action to curb global warming. The pope hopes that adding a moral dimension to the scientific arguments – together with the support of the huge number of Catholics around the world – will raise the ambition of world leaders to agree [on] a meaningful deal at the talks.

“The encyclical is likely to anger some sections of America, who are sceptical about the presence of climate change and mankind’s role in it…”

The New York Times wrote on June 15:

“Bishops around the world have been sent instructions on how to spread the pope’s message to the world’s more than one billion Catholics. Journalists accredited with the Vatican are supposed to receive official copies on Thursday morning so they can review the contents before the embargo is lifted at midday, after a news conference…

“In one section, Francis writes: ‘Numerous scientific studies indicate that most of the global warming of the past decades is due to the concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide and others), emitted especially because of human activities.’… In other chapters, Francis… pointedly disputes the idea that population control and contraception are solutions to the planet’s limited resources…

“He also calls for assertive government action, as well as better cooperation between governments, while saying progress has been too slow in addressing climate change… Massimo Faggioli, an associate professor of theology and the director of the Institute for Catholicism and Citizenship at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic college in St. Paul, Minn., said Francis ‘has always been very consistent that there is a role for citizens, but there is also a role for government in solving problems, and even for global governance.’ He added: ‘This will be particularly difficult for American Catholics,’ referring to those Catholics who believe that the church teaches against relying on governments to solve social problems.”

The Guardian added on June 16:

“Francis… called for a new global political authority tasked with ‘tackling … the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions’. His appeal echoed that of his predecessor, pope Benedict XVI, who in a 2009 encyclical proposed a kind of super-UN to deal with the world’s economic problems and injustices.

“At the start of the draft essay, the pope wrote, the Earth ‘is protesting for the wrong that we are doing to her…’ He immediately makes clear, moreover, that unlike previous encyclicals, this one is directed to everyone, regardless of religion…

“Francis is likely to want to influence Republicans in Washington with his remarks. Most Republicans on Capitol Hill deny climate change is a man-made phenomenon and have staunchly opposed regulatory efforts by the Obama administration. The encyclical will make for awkward reading among some Catholic Republicans… While many Republicans have praised the pope, it will not be unprecedented for them to make a public break with the pontiff on the issue of global warming.”

The Huffington Post wrote on June 17:

“GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush criticized Pope Francis on Tuesday after a draft of his encyclical on climate change was leaked by an Italian newspaper… ‘I hope I’m not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don’t get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope,’ Bush said…

“Other Republicans came out against the pope after he first spoke on climate change in January… Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told a radio station earlier this month the church shouldn’t weigh in on scientific matters. ‘The church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists…’, he said.

“… several Republican presidential hopefuls have question[ed] climate change and its origin. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has said ‘humans are not responsible for climate change in the way some of these people out there are trying to make us believe.’ Business mogul Donald Trump has called global warming a ‘hoax.’ Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has compared climate change activists to ‘flat-Earthers.’”

The Catholic Church has always cooperated with worldly governments and it has many times—far more often than not—influenced them to do its bidding. This collaboration has brought much more harm than good, and the Pope’s proposed human “global governance” is a very dangerous affair, no matter what the circumstances, “justifications” or intentions might be. Please note also the Church’s unchanged unbiblical stance on population control and contraception.

Mexico—a Country Infested with Demons?

 CNA wrote on June 16:

“Can a country with deep Christian roots like Mexico find itself at the mercy of demons? Some in the [Catholic] Church fear so. And as a result, they called for a nation-wide exorcism of Mexico, carried out quietly last month in the cathedral of San Luis Potosí. High levels of violence, as well as drug cartels and abortion in the country, were the motivation behind the special rite of exorcism… the first ever in the history of Mexico.

“But how can an entire country become infested by demons…?  ‘To the extent sin increases more and more in a country, to that extent it becomes easier for the demons to tempt (people),’ Fr. Fortea told CNA. The Spanish exorcist warned that ‘to the extent there is more witchcraft and Satanism going on in a country, to that extent there will be more extraordinary manifestations of those powers of darkness.’”