The Fight Against ISIS—While the Innocent Die

The Independent wrote on May 2:

“At least 52 civilians, including seven children, have been killed in air strikes by the US-led coalition in Syria, according to a monitoring group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights branded the operation on Friday a ‘massacre’, claiming innocent people had become casualties of the hunt for Isis militants. Rami Abdulrahman, who founded the UK-based group, said Friday’s strike saw the highest civilian death toll in a single attack by US and Arab forces since they started operations in Iraq and Syria last year… So far 52 civilians, including seven children and nine women have been confirmed dead, from six families, the Observatory said… US-led strikes had reportedly killed at least 66 civilians in Syria from the start of the raids on 23 September until Friday, which brought the total to at least 118…

“Analysts have disagreed on the impact operations by the United States, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have had against Isis and other extremists. Militants’ advances appear to have been slowed but Isis’ power in its strongholds has not been substantially weakened. Britain has not joined air strikes in Syria…

“A third of the population has been made homeless in the four-year civil war and more than 220,000 people have been killed. Almost 4,500 of those fatalities were in April alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documented the deaths of at least 950 civilians, 760 rebel fighters, 1,200 foreign Islamist militants and 750 regime soldiers.”

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Texas Shooting at Anti-Islam Conference

Newsmax/AFP reported on May 4:

“Far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who addressed participants at a [cartoon contest and art exhibit held for depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in Texas] before a shooting erupted outside the event, believes he is on a mission to stop the ‘Islamization’ of the West. Reviled and supported in equal measure for his anti-Islamic rhetoric, the 51-year-old firebrand has become a divisive figure in the Netherlands, which prides itself on its long but fading tradition of consensus politics and multi-cultural tolerance…

“In Texas on Sunday, he told the meeting organised by the right-wing American Freedom Defence Initiative that ‘we are here in defiance of Islam… Today, too many of our Western leaders want us to shut up,’ he told the gathering. Shortly after he left, two gunmen drove up to the conference centre and began shooting at a security guard. The two attackers were subsequently shot dead by police…

“Wilders… has no hesitation branding the Koran a ‘fascist’ book. He wants to ban the Koran, halt Muslim immigration, and tax headscarves…”

JTA wrote on May 5:

“The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on a Texas building housing an exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad organized by an anti-Islamic organization… The statement threatened future attacks… The keynote speaker was the anti-Muslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who late last month spoke on Capitol Hill at the invitation of Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Louis Gohmert, R-Texas.”

Deutsche Welle added on May 6:

“Geert Wilders… proposed posting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad – considered blasphemous by many Muslims – in the Dutch parliament following a shooting in Texas… ‘I am going to request parliament to exhibit the same cartoons as those that were displayed in Garland,’ Wilders told news agency AFP Wednesday. ‘I want to send a message that if you use violence to suppress free speech, the only effect is that we’ll do it even more,’ Wilders said, adding, ‘We must show we’ll not be intimidated.’ He concluded: ‘I don’t want to provoke, but at the same time, we must show that we’re standing for freedom of speech.’”

Keep Bombing… Whom?

The Independent wrote on May 3:

“The Saudis are bombing Yemen because they fear the Shia Houthis are working for the Iranians. The Saudis are also bombing Isis in Iraq and… Isis in Syria. So are the United Arab Emirates. The Syrian government is bombing its enemies in Syria and the Iraqi government is also bombing its enemies in Iraq. America, France, Britain, Denmark, Holland, Australia and… Canada are bombing Isis in Syria and Isis in Iraq, partly on behalf of the Iraqi government (…Shia militias) but absolutely not on behalf of the Syrian government.

“The Jordanians and Saudis and Bahrainis are also bombing Isis in Syria and Iraq because they don’t like them, but the Jordanians are bombing Isis even more than the Saudis after their pilot-prisoner was burned to death in a cage. The Egyptians are bombing parts of Libya because a group of Christian Egyptians had their heads chopped off [by Isis]. The Iranians have acknowledged bombing Isis in Iraq – of which the Americans (but not the Iraqi government) take a rather dim view. And of course the Israelis have several times bombed Syrian government forces in Syria but not Isis…

“The Sunni Saudis are bombing the Shia Yemenis and the Shia Iranians are bombing the Sunni Iraqis. The Sunni Egyptians are bombing Sunni Libyans… and the Jordanian Sunnis are bombing Iraqi Sunnis. But the Shia-supported Syrian government forces are bombing their Sunni Syrian enemies and the Lebanese Hezbollah – Shia to a man – are fighting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Sunni enemies, along with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and an ever-larger number of Afghan Shia men in Syrian uniforms.

“… just take a look at Saudi Arabia’s latest request to send more Pakistani troops to protect the kingdom (and possibly help to invade Yemen), which came from the new Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman (34)… But the Saudis added an outrageous second request: that the Pakistanis send only Sunni Muslim soldiers. Pakistani Shia Muslim officers and men (30 per cent of the Pakistani armed forces) would not be welcome…

“And then, of course, there are the really big winners in all this blood, the weapons manufacturers. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin supplied £1.3bn of missiles to the Saudis only last year. But three years ago, Der Spiegel claimed the European Union was Saudi Arabia’s most important arms supplier and last week France announced the sale of 24 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar at a cost of around £5.7bn. Egypt has just bought another 24 Rafales…”

Iran Can’t Be Trusted

Western Journalism reported on April 30:

“Iran deceiving the West on its nuclear program is nothing new… Today Reuters reported that Great Britain has informed a United Nations sanctions panel of the existence of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms. ‘The existence of such a network could add to Western concerns over whether Tehran can be trusted to adhere to a nuclear deal due by June 30 in which it would agree to restrict sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief,’ Reuters reported…

“The UK government informed the Panel on 20 April 2015 that it ‘is aware of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network that has been associated with Iran’s Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA) and Kalay Electric Company (KEC)’, the Panel of Experts said in its annual report… KEC is under U.N. Security Council sanctions while TESA is under U.S. and European Union sanctions due to their suspected links to banned Iranian nuclear activities…

“This is the second time in five months that the U.N. Panel has been informed about illicit nuclear activities by Iran during the current negotiations with the six world powers. In December of last year, Foreign Policy published a similar report about a U.S. delegation informing the U.N. Panel of experts about Iranian procurement agents who had been increasing their efforts to illicitly obtain equipment for the IR-40 research reactor at the Arak nuclear complex…

“[An] article by the Free Beacon detailed how the U.S. Administration kept information about shipments of missile components from North Korea to Iran secret from the U.N. Panel that monitors sanctions violations by Iran.”

Ongoing Hostility Between President Obama and Israel

On April 16, 2015, israpundit.org published a write-up by Rabbi Spero, stating the following:

“Just last month, Barack Obama published classified information showing the world photographs of Israel’s hidden nuclear site, and its inner workings. It was his gift to Iran, Hamas, and ISIS. This puts Israel and her citizens, not just Mr. Netanyahu, at great risk. But, Obama had his people darken out all the information on that page regarding the nuclear sites of other countries.

“At a meeting at the White House in 2009, Obama stated early-on that ‘it’s time to put daylight between Israel and America’… Last month, Obama again singled out Israel by crudely questioning Israel as a democracy… He wants to break the historic bonds between America and Israel.

“… he has taken Hizb’allah and Iran off our list of terror organizations…

“What Mr. Obama wants above all else is to strip Israel of David’s city, its eternal capital, Jerusalem, and hand the ancient, historic city to Islam. Obama knows that whoever controls and manages historic Jerusalem can lay claim to the Land’s entirety. Jerusalem is the heart and pride of Israel…

“Obama’s inner identity is tied to Islam… His father and stepfather were Islamic, as is his family back in Kenya and Indonesia. His brothers are active Islamists. He was raised on the Koran in Islamic countries, and attended Islamic madrassa and grew up with its attitudes, sights and sounds, aspirations and narrative, likes and dislikes. As I grew up to favor Israel, he grew up to dislike it…

“The Marxism Obama was fed, from very early on, made him viscerally dislike successful Western countries, such as America, Israel, and Britain. He was taught they were colonizers and imperialist… As with America, the next two years will be difficult, for Obama has set his antagonistic sights on America and Israel… as well as its citizens. Obama has spent the last 50 years waiting for these next two.”

Strong words… And the next two years will indeed show how antagonistic President Obama will prove to be towards American and Israeli values. Maybe he was placed here to fulfil biblical prophecy to accelerate America’s downfall.

Israel’s New Hard-Line Government

The Associated Press reported on May 6:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed the formation of a new coalition late Wednesday, putting him at the helm of a hard-line government that appears to be set on a collision course with the U.S. and other key allies. Netanyahu reached a deal with the nationalist Jewish Home party shortly before a midnight deadline, clinching a slim parliamentary majority and averting an embarrassing scenario that would have forced him from office. But with a government dominated by hard-liners that support increased West Bank settlement construction and oppose peace moves with the Palestinians, he could have a hard time rallying international support. Controlling just 61 of 120 parliamentary seats, the narrow coalition could also struggle to press forward with a domestic agenda.

“After Netanyahu’s Likud Party won March 17 elections with 30 seats, it seemed he would have a relatively easy time forming a coalition and serving a fourth term as prime minister. But the six-week negotiating process, which expired at midnight, turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated as rival coalition partners and members of the Likud jockeyed for influential Cabinet ministries…

“The coalition talks stalled this week when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a longtime partner of Netanyahu’s, unexpectedly stepped down and announced his secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party was joining the opposition. That left Netanyahu dependent on Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, a former aide who has a rocky relationship with Netanyahu. With Bennett driving a hard bargain, the talks stretched throughout the day and well into the night before Netanyahu called President Reuven Rivlin, as required by law, to announce the deal…

“Analysts do not expect the new government to last long or accomplish much. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the centrist Zionist Union, called the coalition ‘a national failure government.’ He said it was ‘an embarrassing farce’ and ‘the narrowest in Israel’s history.’…

“Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox partners, Shas and United Torah Judaism, are bent on reversing reforms passed by the last government. Those reforms sought to end an unpopular system that granted the ultra-Orthodox exemptions from compulsory military service…”

No More Special Relationship Between USA and the UK

The Financial Times wrote on May 1:

“Britain’s nail-biting election, and the fragile coalition government it seems likely to produce, are confirming many of Washington’s worst fears about the country’s dwindling influence in the world. Once the US’ most reliable ally, the UK is now seen as a distant player in the crisis over the Ukraine and the euro, has introduced swingeing cuts to its military and recently rebuffed Washington by joining a China-led bank.

“On top of that, the Obama administration is waking up to the prospect that the next government in London could be even more inward-looking as it grapples with Britain’s membership of the European Union and strong support for Scottish independence. US officials say they still value close intelligence and military ties with the UK, but at times sound almost dismissive about the current British government’s reluctance to play a bigger role in the world…

“The fabled ‘special relationship’ between Washington and London has always contained an element of hype that played to Britain’s postcolonial quest for relevance. Successive US administrations have valued Britain’s role as a bridge between North America and the EU, as a mediator within Nato and as a reliable supporter in times of crisis. ‘Until recently, Britain was very much our most trusted, dependable and capable ally,’ says Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to Nato and third-ranking official at the state department, who worries that Britain might soon no longer play a ‘central role in global affairs… It is very striking the way that Angela Merkel has become the undisputed leader of Europe,’ he said…

“The frustrations in Washington with Mr Cameron’s government burst into the open last month when a senior US official accused the UK of ‘constant accommodation’ of China… Mr Obama himself has also been accused of looking to disengage from parts of America’s traditional role in the world and one former senior US official said that the president had not been helped by Mr Cameron’s international reticence. He pointed to Margaret Thatcher’s famous warning to George HW Bush after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 that he should not ‘go wobbly’… The former US official continued: ‘Obama has at times looked lost and it would have helped him to have a stronger British prime minister who could have given him some direction.’”

Cameron On Course to Win

Thomson/Reuters reported on May 7:

“British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives are on course to win the most seats in parliament but will be just shy of an outright majority, an exit poll showed on Thursday after voting closed in a national election. The poll put the Conservatives on 316 seats and the main opposition Labour Party on 239. The Scottish National Party (SNP) is set to win 58 seats, all but wiping Labour out in its former Scottish stronghold.

“The centrist Liberal Democrats, who have governed in coalition with the Conservatives for the past five years, will get just 10 seats in the 650-seat Westminster parliament, according to the poll released by national broadcasters. However, the combined total of 326 for the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats indicated that Cameron should be able to stay in office, maybe with the support of another small party… Cameron’s Conservatives campaigned on a promise to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU before holding a referendum by 2017 on whether to stay in the bloc or leave.”

USA Today reported on May 7:

“If the exit poll from Britain’s election Thursday proves reasonably accurate, the expected frenetic political horse-trading to form a new government likely will be avoided… The projected Conservative seats still would not be quite enough for Cameron to secure an outright majority in the House of Commons, but it would be close. And it would be more than the 307 seats Cameron’s party secured in 2010, when the Conservatives were forced into a coalition with Nick Clegg of the centrist Liberal Democrats to form a governing majority in the 650-member House of Commons.

“Backroom deals and alliances with smaller parties further out of the political mainstream might probably still occur, but the Conservatives should find it easier to get over the 326 line — perhaps by partnering again with Clegg and the anti-immigrant, European Union-bashing United Kingdom Independence Party. Earlier projections of a stronger showing by left-center Labour suggested it would take days, possibly weeks to form the next government. Now it may all be wrapped by the weekend with a pretty red ribbon on top.”

Baltimore Charges Unsustainable… Based on Politics and Crowd Control

Newsmax reported on May 2:

“Criminal charges filed Friday against six Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray were based on ‘politics and crowd control,’ not justice, renowned civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz tells Newsmax TV. ‘This is a very sad day for justice . . . Today had nothing to do with justice. Today was crowd control. Everything was motivated by a threat of riots and a desire to prevent riots,’ Dershowitz said… ‘The mayor outrageously said we’re going to get justice for the victim, the family and people of Baltimore, never mentioning the defendants. Under our Constitution, … the defendants… are presumed innocent, they need due process of law, and the mayor and the state attorney have made it virtually impossible for these defendants to get a fair trial. They have been presumed guilty.’

“Dershowitz made the comments hours after Baltimore’s top prosecutor, State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, announced criminal charges against six cops who were suspended after Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury while in custody in a police van. The charges came nearly two weeks after Gray’s death, which sparked riots that caused millions of dollars in damage and left dozens injured. The stiffest, second-degree, ‘depraved heart’ murder charge was lodged against the [black] driver of the van. The others face charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault and illegal arrest.

“But Dershowitz… said the case will very likely be thrown out for lack of evidence… ‘There’s no plausible, hypothetical, conceivable case for murder under the facts that we now know them… Nobody wanted this guy to die, nobody set out to kill him, and nobody intentionally murdered him. ‘The worst-case scenario is a case for involuntary manslaughter or some kind of reckless disregard… This is a show trial…

“Dershowitz added that the charges did not meet the criteria for justice in the United States. ‘It may have been the criteria in Rome, for Fidel Castro, in Iran, and in other countries, but in our country you don’t base indictments on what impact it’s going to have on the crowd,’ he said. ‘You base it on a hard, neutral, objective view of the evidence, and it doesn’t look like that was done here . . . They have invited a mess… They’ve overplayed their hand, it’s unlikely they’ll get any convictions in this case as a result of this, and if they do, there’s a good possibility it’ll be reversed on appeal and will just postpone the riots for months ahead.’”

Legalizing Three-Way Marriages in the UK?

The Daily Mail wrote on May 1:

“Green party leader Natalie Bennett has revealed she is open to the idea of legalising three-way marriages. Party members could get the chance to formulate policy to permit so-called polyamorous relationships, which would allow more than two people to enter into marriages or have civil partnerships. Ms Bennett said the Greens had already led the way in calling for the liberalisation of marriage laws and is ‘open’ to going further…

“David Robertson, from the Free Church of Scotland, contended the idea. He said: ‘Natalie Bennett is of course just being consistent. Given her presuppositions and philosophy, why shouldn’t “marriage equality” extend to multiple people who “love each other”? We warned that the redefinition of marriage would not end with same-sex marriage and were ridiculed and abused as being ridiculous. It gives us no pleasure to know that we were right.’

“The Green Party… proposes ‘mandatory HIV, sex and relationship education – age appropriate and LGBTIQ inclusive – in all schools from primary level onwards… It also suggests considering a reduction in the 12-month blood donation deferral period for men who have sex with men, based on individual risk assessment where the donor is identified to be not at risk of passing infections into the blood supply.”

Let this be a warning for other countries, including the USA, where same-sex marriages are legal or where they are considered of becoming legal.

“If He Says He Is a Woman, Then He Is a Woman…”

The Hill reported on May 2:

“Bruce Jenner got support from a surprising quarter on Saturday: Rick Santorum. ‘If he says he’s a woman, then he’s a woman,’ Santorum, the former GOP senator from Pennsylvania, said… Jenner, the former Olympic gold medalist and reality television star, announced last week that he identified as and was transitioning to a woman. Santorum, who is considering a second straight bid for the Republican nomination, has long had a reputation as a staunch social conservative. ‘My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody,’ Santorum said.

“Santorum did add that ‘these are tough issues’ for both businesses and society, including the question of whether Jenner could use a women’s bathroom. Santorum has been one of the GOP’s most strident opponents of gay marriage over the years, at one point comparing the issue to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Last month, Santorum said he wouldn’t attend a gay wedding – something other potential GOP candidates have said they would.”

“Hillary Clinton Believes She Is a God”

Breitbart reported on May 2:

“In a candid interview, Nigerian bishop Emmanuel Badejo has responded bluntly to Hillary Clinton’s recent assertion that religious beliefs ‘have to be changed’ in order to give women access to reproductive health care. ‘If these values are not precious to Hillary Clinton, I think she has no right at all to call for a change in religious values and religious beliefs,’ he said. ‘I believe there are three groups of people in this world: those who believe in God, those who do not believe in God, and those who think they are gods. Hillary Clinton I think is one of those who thinks she is a god,’ said Badejo, who is Director of Communications for the African Bishops.”

It is amazing that Catholic Bishop Badejo would equate those who believe they can change God’s spiritual law with those who believe they are “gods.” The Roman Catholic Church has changed consistently God’s spiritual law and His values, by replacing the Sabbath with Sunday, God’s annual Holy Days with holidays such as Christmas and Easter which have their origin in paganism, and God’s prohibition against killing with the concept of a “justified” war, just to list a few examples. The time will come when a Pope will sit in the future Temple of God in Jerusalem, claiming to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), and when he sets “his heart as the heart of a god” (Ezekiel 28:6), but then realizes that he is just a man, and not a god (verse 9).

The Russian Rehabilitation of Evil Stalin

AFP wrote on May 5:

“Since President Vladimir Putin took power in 2000, there has been a growing chorus of Russians who take a positive view of the Soviet tyrant’s role in history… The palpable change… has particularly come into stark focus in the run-up to Russia’s celebrations of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in WWII… In February, Russia unveiled a monument to the watershed 1945 ‘Big Three’ Yalta summit that features Stalin along with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill, despite objections from Crimean Tatars, an ethnic group persecuted under his rule…

“‘Stalin’s rehabilitation is being steadily implemented,’ Nikita Petrov, a historian at Memorial, Russia’s most prominent rights organisation, told AFP. ‘It’s a sign of unlearnt history lessons, a reluctance to look at yourself and honestly admit that we took the wrong path and that our country committed a host of crimes against its own people and the people of neighbouring states.’ He said officials, who are nostalgic for the superpower status of the USSR, have consciously been promoting Stalin as a tough leader who led the Soviet Union to victory in WWII and presided over the country’s industrialisation. Those sentiments are now shared by many everyday Russians…

“45 percent of respondents said in March that sacrifices sustained by people under Stalin were justified by the country’s ‘great goals’, up from 27 percent in October 2008. On top of that, the number of those who viewed Stalin negatively fell to 20 percent from 43 percent in April 2001… According to Petrov of the Memorial rights group, which is dedicated to honouring the memory of Stalin-era victims, about ten million people died of starvation, more than five million were displaced, and about six to seven million were arrested for political reasons. Many analysts warn that unless Russians get the Stalin cult out of their system history may repeat itself.”

Stalin was a brutal mass murderer… no better than Hitler. Russia’s positive view of him is alarming and frightening indeed.

The German Navy Gets Involved

Deutsche Welle reported on May 2:

“The German navy has sent two ships as part of efforts to prevent migrants from dying in the Mediterranean. The EU was spurred into action after a migrant ship capsized, killing around 800 people a few weeks ago… The frigate is equipped with a radar system that would allow it to locate migrant boats as far as 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. It would also be capable of picking up up to 100 people in distress. The combat support ship, on the other hand, is equipped with a military hospital and has the capacity to treat 250 people for two days… a German army source… said that the two German ships would not be tasked with trying to catch human traffickers who take money from would-be migrants…

“France and Britain are among EU countries that pledged during last month’s Brussels summit to send more ships to the Mediterranean [to] cope with the problem. The leaders also agreed to triple funding for the Triton border protection mission. The conflicts in Syria and Libya have contributed to a major increase in the number of migrants attempting the crossing…”

“European Army One of the Main Goals for EU”

SputnikNews.com reported on May 3:

“Creating a European army remains one of the main goals for [the] EU, but it is important to start strengthening the union’s security system now, Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday. A European army is a long-term goal, while for now the most important thing is to gradually strengthen the European Defense Community, she said.

“Answering a question on the goals of strengthening the European Defense Community, von der Leyen said that the Ebola outbreak and Islamic State organization’s attacks on Yazidis demonstrated that in case of crisis, Europe needs to be more flexible and quick in providing a response.”

Germany Remembers Dachau

AFP wrote on May 3:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Sunday that society must ‘never close its eyes’ to anti-Semitism as she joined Holocaust survivors to mark 70 years since the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau… American forces liberated the Dachau camp on April 29, 1945 and discovered on arrival the unspeakable horror that had led to the death of around 43,000 people from starvation or disease…

“US President Barack Obama paid tribute Wednesday to the more than 200,000 Jews, gays, Roma, political opponents, the disabled and prisoners of war who were imprisoned at Dachau from 1933…”

The Associated Press wrote on May 3:

“Merkel thanked survivors for sharing memories of suffering that is ‘beyond our imagination,’ which she said help young people today ‘connect naked numbers and data with faces, names and individual lives.’ And she stressed the importance of ensuring that today’s youth do not turn to extremism. All in Germany must ‘make unmistakably clear that Jewish life is part of our identity; that discrimination, marginalization and anti-Semitism can have no place here, that they must be fought with determination and the full force of legal means,’ she said.

“Abba Naor, a Lithuanian-born former Dachau prisoner who now lives in Israel… recalled an SS guard ordering the killing of a new-born Jewish boy in December 1944 and reports that some SS commanders were ‘loving fathers who played with their children after they had driven thousands into the gas chambers… If you think the Nazis were inhuman, then you’re wrong,’ he said. ‘They were humans like you and me. And that is what is so terrible.’”

The German NSA Scandal… Is Getting Worse

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 5:

“The Austrian government has filed suit due to suspicions that Germany’s BND spying agency, in collaboration with the NSA, may have spied on its authorities and companies… German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her country’s intelligence agency on Monday against suggestions that it illegally assisted the US in spying on politicians and companies in Europe, including France’s Airbus, the main competitor of America’s Boeing aircraft manufacturer. [Subsequently, the French aviation giant Airbus has announced that it would file a criminal complaint.]

“But the BND affair does not promise to go away quietly and has shown how dangerous it could prove for the ‘untouchable’ Ms. Merkel and her Christian Democrats (CDU). Sigmar Gabriel, the vice-chancellor from coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), broke a Berlin taboo on Monday by discussing a personal conversation he had with the chancellor over the matter… He hedged his comments, however, by adding that if [Merkel’s] allegations turn out [not] to be true, ‘it would be a big strain of the faith of the economy in governmental behavior.’

“Gabriel’s move was deemed a ‘clever’ one by analysts – a way to put responsibility on Chancellor Merkel and her CDU as his party continues to trail them in the polls – while stopping short of openly challenging her.”

On Tuesday, Gabriel added in parliament that the CDU has been in power for over 10 years and are therefore responsible. Der Spiegel Online said that the harmony between the two partners is over, and Bild Online spoke of an open rift between the two coalition parties. According to Deutsche Welle, dated May 6, “A poll released Wednesday found that 62 percent of respondents… believe the affair has damaged Merkel’s credibility.”

De Maiziere “Knew Nothing”!

The Local wrote on May 7:

“Merkel’s close ally, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière… emerged from a closed-door grilling by a parliamentary oversight panel, denying any wrongdoing while he ran her office and oversaw intelligence matters. ‘As chancellery chief of staff in 2008 I knew nothing about search terms from the US side or … similar things for the purpose of industrial espionage in Germany,’ he told reporters…

“… de Maiziere was accused of misleading parliament over the ‘BND affair’… Opposition politicians harshly disagreed with the latest comments by de Maiziere, who was last week caricatured as a liar with a Pinocchio nose in Germany’s best-selling newspaper Bild…

“Domestically, the scandal presents a rare threat to the broadly popular Merkel… Now facing allegations of hypocrisy, Merkel has softened her statement to say friends ‘shouldn’t’ spy on each other, while stressing the importance of US intelligence cooperation in the face of terrorist threats… For now the affair shows no sign of abating…”

De Maiziere is famous for his proclaimed “innocence.” He has weathered several scandals in the past, when his integrity, honesty and competency were severely questioned.

BND Cuts Spy Data Feed to NSA

The Local wrote on May 7:

“The foreign intelligence agency BND this week stopped sharing Internet surveillance data with the US National Security Agency (NSA), passing on only fax and phone intercepts… Berlin now demands that the NSA provide a justification for each online surveillance request, reported the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, public broadcasters NDR and WDR, and national news agency DPA…

“‘This is definitely a dramatic step,’ said Green party lawmaker Konstantin von Notz, who serves on a parliamentary panel investigating the NSA’s surveillance activities… , charging that the [German] government was unable ‘to protect German and European interests’… The ‘BND affair’ has rattled the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel and caused a rift in her ‘grand coalition’ government with the centre-left Social Democrats…”

“Animals Will Waste Away”

The Washington Post  wrote on May 6:

“… on California’s sprawling Carrizo Plain, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles,… the drought is turning hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland into desert.

“Without grass, long-legged kangaroo rats cannot eat. And as they go, so go a variety of threatened animals that depend on the keystone species to live…

“Endangered kangaroo rats are just one falling tile in the drought’s domino effect on wildlife in the lower Western states. Large fish kills are happening in several states as waters heated by higher temperatures drain and lose oxygen. In Northern California, salmon eggs have virtually disappeared as water levels fall. Thousands of migrating birds are crowding into wetlands shrunk by drought, risking the spread of disease that can cause huge die-offs.

“As the baking Western landscape becomes hotter and drier, land animals are being forced to seek water and food far outside their normal range. Herbivores such as deer and rabbits searching for a meal in urban gardens in Reno are sometimes pursued by hawks, bobcats and mountain lions. In Arizona, rattlesnakes have come to Flagstaff, joining bears and other animals in search of food that no longer exists in their habitat…

“About 4,000 mule deer have vanished from a mountain range near Reno since late last year, probably because of drought…

“Chinook salmon are in great danger… For two years, only 5 percent of their eggs have survived winter and spring migrations because the cold water their eggs need to survive drains from rivers and reservoirs…

“Smelt are at the lowest number ever recorded in the state. They are a major forage fish, feeding other fish and birds in the marine ecosystem…”

The warning in Hosea 4:3 comes to mind: “… the beast of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.”

The Armenian Genocide Through the Turks

While many countries and leaders have recognized and labeled as genocide the slaughter of Armenians through the Turks, President Obama once again refused to use the term.

On April 23, The Washington Post wrote this:

“As he has for the last six years, President Obama on Thursday marked the day set aside to commemorate the mass killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire without using the word ‘genocide.’… The statement… was again a bow to NATO ally Turkey, which has denied what took place was genocide… Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu [had] said that any use by Obama of the term would have a ‘detrimental effect’ on U.S.-Turkish relations…

“Turkey, the democratic successor to the Ottomans, has long denied what took place during the early days of World War I constituted a genocide. The word was first coined in 1943, at least partly referring to the Armenian tragedy but most commonly associated since then with the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany…”

The Huffington Post wrote on April 23 about the facts, clearly establishing that Turkish behavior was genocide:

“In 1915, more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically annihilated by Ottoman-era Turkish authorities. Men, women and children were massacred, deported and condemned to death marches into the Syrian Desert where they died of thirst and starvation. No final rites, no burial — an assault on the dignity of a dignified and proud people. This indisputable tragedy of history has been acknowledged by innumerable scholars and historians, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and no less than 53 Nobel Laureates. The European Parliament and Pope Francis recently joined the chorus that honestly labels this horrific chapter of Turkey’s history a genocide.

“Hopelessly infected by the disease of denial, modern-day Turkish authorities have now made it clear they were never going to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the Genocide with anything approaching candor, honesty or the most minimal degree of self-reflection… In Turkey, anyone who uses the word ‘genocide’ to describe the massacre of the Armenians is subject to criminal punishment under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code…”

Even German President Gauck—after a long time of silence by German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel,—has now, for the first time, publicly used the word genocide.

Deutsche Welle reported on April 24:

“[During an] ecumenical ceremony in Berlin on Thursday evening… German President Joachim Gauck… referred to the massacres as genocide… In the run-up to discussions in the German parliament, the leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany declared the killings to have been genocide… Turkey has fiercely lobbied to stop countries recognizing the 1915 massacres as genocide… On Thursday, it recalled its ambassador in Vienna over a condemnation of the killings as genocide by Austrian lawmakers…

“Genocide was defined by the UN in 1948 as ‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.’ More than 20 countries – France and Russia among them – have so far recognized the Armenian killings as genocide.”

However, Der Spiegel Online added on April 23:

“A total of 22 countries officially define the massacre that took place as such, although Germany, which is home to a large Turkish population, is not one of them… There are only rough estimates of the number of Armenians, Jews, Greeks and Yazidis who converted to Islam in order to prevent death or oppression at the time…

“At the time, Russia was standing in wait at the borders. The Ottomans, led by the Germany military, suspected the Armenians were collaborating with the Russian enemy… The Armenians were expelled. Officially, it was called deportation, but the reality is that the Armenians were sent on death marches into the desert where they starved, were attacked and murdered…”

Now discussions in the German parliament have begun to decide whether or not to refer to the massacre at least “indirectly” as genocide. So, America and Germany seem to be partners again–on the issue of being “careful” for political gain.

On April 24, The Local pointed out the politically-motivated conduct of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who insisted on Friday that “calling Armenian massacres genocide risks belittling the Holocaust, after President Joachim Gauck broke a taboo by using the word on Thursday…

“Steinmeier has come in for fierce criticism this week, with one high profile politician comparing him to Germany’s First World War leadership. Both Gauck and Bundestag (German parliament) president Norbert Lammert condemned the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces a century ago as a ‘genocide’, the first time Germany has officially used the term… Germany also has a three-million-strong ethnic Turkish population deriving from a massive ‘guest worker’ programme in the 1960s and 1970s…”

Sadly, Israel does not fare any better.

The Washington Post wrote on April 24:

“…Israel and the United States… don’t recognize what happened a century ago as a ‘genocide.’ The reason for this skittishness is nationalist politics… For decades, the stubborn Turkish position compelled the United States, a staunch ally, to avoid ruffling Ankara’s feathers. The same was true for Israel, which, ironically until Erdogan’s rise, had close political and military ties to Turkey…

“Israel has  a conspicuously close relationship to Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority state that, like Armenia, emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Israel  imports 40 percent of its oil from Azerbaijan and exports a considerable supply of weapons and defense systems to Baku. Armenia and Azerbaijan do not get along, and still feud over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan that the two countries battled over shortly after winning independence in 1991.

“Last week, after the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman said it was an example of European double-standards — since Armenia has yet to atone for its alleged role in deadly massacres in the 1990s. There are multiple, complicated layers of history here, but Israel knows what’s clearly in its interest. Azerbaijan, petro-rich and perched on Iran’s border, is a useful friend — at least more so than tiny, land-locked Armenia…”

But Israel will become bitterly disappointed about Turkey, when that country will collaborate with Europe against Israel. So, it’s all about politics and personal advantages. What a crying shame!!!!

Turkey Will Not Forgive!

Newsmax reported on April 24:

“Turkey on Friday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for referring to genocide during commemorations of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians during World War I. The Turkish foreign ministry said that ‘we reject and condemn . . . [Putin’s] characterization of 1915 events as genocide despite all our warnings and calls.’ …  The foreign ministry also condemned French President Francois Hollande, who attended the ceremony in the Armenian capital Yerevan. ‘Turkey rejects and condemns France’s unfair and biased approach,’ it said…

“In a separate statement, the Turkish foreign ministry lashed out against ‘unfounded accusations’ directed by German President Joachim Gauck, who characterized the 1915 killings as genocide and acknowledged that Germany bore partial blame for the bloodletting… ‘Turkish people will not forget or forgive German President Gauck’s statements,’ it added.

“Earlier this month, Pope Francis drew Turkey’s wrath after describing the 1915 killings as ‘the first genocide of the 20th century.’ Turkey summoned the Vatican ambassador in Ankara over the remarks and recalled the Turkish envoy to the Holy See…

“President Barack Obama on Thursday described the killings as ‘terrible carnage’ but avoided the term ‘genocide.’…  Ankara also criticized Obama’s statement, which it said reflected a ‘unilateral point of view,’ and added, ‘We reject the discriminating and biased understanding of justice.’…”

America’s Descent into the Abyss of Sexual Perversion

CNN wrote on April 23:

“It’s only April, but 2015 may be remembered as the year the term ‘transgender’ fully entered mainstream consciousness. In January, President Obama condemned the persecution of ‘people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,’ becoming the first president to utter the word in a State of the Union address…

“Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity — their internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman — differs from what’s typically associated with their sex at birth. Some transgender people alter their bodies through hormones and or surgery, although many don’t…

“Now, between ‘Transparent’ and other shows, recognition from Obama and tabloid headlines about Jenner, the national conversation around gender identity appears to have reached a new level… For relatives and friends who are used to seeing someone as male or female, gender changes can be hard to accept. Transgender people have long been misunderstood and persecuted — as recently as 2012, the American Psychiatric Association classified them as having a mental ‘disorder.’…

“In December, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that transgender people will receive federal protection from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…”

Judaism is not behaving any better, as the next article shows.

Abominable Jewish Twisting of the Bible

The Time of Israel, dated April 24, wrote the following:

“For Judaism, all this talk of transgender is old hat.

“In rabbinic literature, Judaism has held an ongoing 2,000-year conversation on the subject of gender, and terminology for the transgendered appears hundreds of times in the Midrash, Mishnah and Talmud. Even the biblical creation of the world could be interpreted through a transgender lens…

“In the midrash Bereshit Rabba, a biblical expositive text on the book of Genesis redacted around the 5th century CE, Rabbi Yirmiya Ben Lazar said that at the time God created the first man, He created him ‘androgynous.’ As stated in Genesis 1:27, ‘God created him in His image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.’

“The midrash continues that according to Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachman, when God created the first man, ‘He created him with two faces and sawed them apart, and made them with two backs here, and two backs there.’

“Most streams of progressive Judaism accept and welcome the transgender community with open arms. There are a growing number of transgender rabbis who are spearheading the creation of new and innovative rituals, or the changing of existing liturgy to reflect more inclusive language.

“But the question of halacha vis-a-vis the Orthodox transgender community is much more complicated, and often fraught with emotional turmoil… for many, if not most, in the transgender community, surgery and cross-gender hormones are an integral part of their transition. These steps… present serious halachic problems, including ‘the prohibition of sirus — castration/sterilization, which is a Biblical prohibition for men (Leviticus 22:24) and at least a Rabbinic prohibition for women (Even HaEzer 5:11). Authorities understand the forbidding of cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5) as including any procedure (including hormonal treatments) that leads to the appearance of another gender. Bodily mutilation is one of the other difficult issues…”

Let us be clear. According to the Bible, God created first a man, Adam, and then He created a female, Eve, out of the rib of the man. Eve was to be a helper to the man. By no stretch of the imagination can one twist the Scriptures to say that God created the human being as a transgender. In addition, the very concept of “transgender” is an abomination in the eyes of God.

American Jews and Buddhists Overwhelmingly in Favor of Same-Sex Marriages

JTA wrote on April 22:

“Jews are overwhelmingly supportive of same-sex marriage, according to a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute… 47 percent said they strongly favor allowing same-sex couples to marry legally and 30 percent said they favor it. Nine percent of respondents said they oppose gay marriage, and the same percentage said they strongly oppose it…

“After Buddhists, Jews were more likely than any other religious group to support gay marriage. Among the survey respondents, 84 percent of Buddhists favored gay marriage, followed by Jews and the religiously unaffiliated, 77 percent; mainline Protestants (Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Unitarians), 62 percent; and Catholics, 61 percent.

“Those opposed to gay marriage outnumbered supporters among Jehovah’s Witnesses, with 75 percent opposed; Mormons, 68 percent; and white evangelicals, 66 percent.

“Overall, support for same-sex marriage rose sharply from 2003, when Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage. Then, less than one-third of Americans supported gay marriage and 59 percent opposed. By early 2014, 53 percent supported gay marriage and 41 percent were opposed…

“Politically, gay marriage had support levels in 2014 of 64 percent among Democrats, 57 percent among independents and 34 percent among Republicans. The 2014 survey also showed a significant age gap, with 69 percent of millennials supporting gay marriage compared to 37 percent of those age 68 and older.”

This shows that many Buddhists, Jews, mainline Protestants and Catholics, especially the younger generation, have been drifting away more and more from godly standards, as revealed in the Bible.

The Change in Politicians on Same-Sex Marriages to GET More Votes

The New York Times wrote on April 26:

“Rick Santorum said he would never attend a same-sex wedding. Marco Rubio said he might attend one. Scott Walker actually went to a same-sex wedding reception… Ted Cruz said he is firmly opposed to gay marriage, but would be comfortable if his daughter were gay.

“Republican presidential candidates are struggling to adjust to a rapidly changing legal, political and cultural landscape this primary season…  Once a winning primary issue as well as a powerful wedge issue wielded against Democrats, opposing same-sex marriage has grown far more complicated for Republicans… it looms as a liability with general election voters, particularly independent ones, who are more supportive of same-sex marriage than more conservative Republicans…”

Of course, Hillary Clinton stated as late as 2004 that “heterosexual marriage is a fundamental bedrock principle of civilization.” Now she “evolved” into endorsing same-sex marriages (SSM).

Stupid Same-Sex Couple Decision by Oregon Judiciary

Breitbart wrote on April 26:

“An Oregon judge has awarded Lesbian couple Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer $135,000 for ‘emotional damages’ in a lawsuit against Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes Bakery. They are a Christian couple who declined to provide a wedding cake to the same-sex couple in 2013. In their lawsuit, the two women claimed they felt ‘mentally raped’ as part of a list of 88 symptoms of emotional distress they experienced at being refused a cake.

“The long list of symptoms included ‘acute loss of confidence, doubt, excessive sleep, felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful, high blood pressure, impaired digestion, loss of appetite, migraine headaches, pale and sick at home after work, resumption of smoking habit, shock, stunned, surprise, uncertainty, weight gain and worry’…

“The award will reportedly bankrupt the seven-member Klein family and force Sweet Cakes by Melissa Bakery to shut down. The Kleins’ lawyer, Anna Harmon, said that the damages awarded were not limited to the sale of business assets, but would be taken out of their personal funds. The important thing to realize is this,’ Harmon said, ‘This is real money that Aaron and Melissa are going to have to pay that otherwise would be used to pay their mortgage and feed their kids.’…

‘This past February, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) announced that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery must pay the lesbian couple damages for refusing to sell them a wedding cake. BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said there was sufficient evidence that the bakers discriminated against the same-sex couple.

“A GoFundMe crowdfunding page in support of the bakery had been set up, but was deleted after the judge’s ruling Friday, since GoFundMe’s terms of service do not allow fundraising for people found in violation of the law.”

We really DO need some “no-nonsense judges” in this country. What an atrocity in the “religious” land of the “brave and the free,” purporting to guarantee free speech and freedom of religion, while suppressing and punishing religious convictions, which are based on the Bible (!). No wonder God is ANGRY with the USA, calling it an “ungodly nation” (Isaiah 10:6).

Christians Pledge Civil Disobedience in Same-Sex Marriage Cases

Fox News wrote on April 28:

“‘We will not obey.’ That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage. ‘We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,’ read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. ‘We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.’…

“The signees are a who’s who of religious leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, National Religious Broadcasters president Jerry Johnson, Pastor John Hagee, and Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association… And that means the possibility of Christians – people of faith – engaging in acts of civil disobedience.”

US Economy Not That Good!

Bloomberg wrote on April 29:

“The world’s largest economy sputtered to a near-halt in the first quarter, choked by a slump in U.S. business investment and exports that dimmed hopes for a meaningful short-term rebound. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.2 percent annualized rate after advancing 2.2 percent the prior quarter…

“The figures come as Federal Reserve policy makers meet, and the weaker-than-forecast reading signals officials will be in no rush to raise interest rates. While the economy is likely to bounce back from the temporary restraints of harsh winter weather and delays at West Coast ports, the harm caused by the plunge in fuel prices and stronger dollar will probably prove longer-lasting… Stocks fell as investors awaited the Fed’s statement. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.6 percent to 2,102.14 at 12:12 p.m. in New York.”

Anger in Baltimore and Elsewhere

Newsmax and AFP wrote on April 29:

“Thousands of young protesters marched through downtown Baltimore and demonstrated in New York on Wednesday demanding justice for an African-American man who died of severe spinal injuries sustained in police custody. In contrast to Monday, when violence erupted and stores were looted, the rally that started at Baltimore’s main train station was good-natured and included black and white demonstrators…

“The 2,000 National Guard personnel who have flooded the city this week kept a low profile, although authorities have said they are primed to swoop should the march spark unrest like that which flared following the funeral of Freddie Gray, 25, on Monday. His death was the latest instance in the United States of a black man succumbing at the hands of police — a situation that has stirred resentment among African Americans who believe they are the victims of police brutality.

“That anger sparked coast-to-coast demonstrations in major US cities after a white policeman shot dead an unarmed black teenager in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson in August. Baltimore authorities urged calm and warned that they would again enforce a citywide curfew beginning at 10:00 pm (0200 GMT Thursday) and lasting until 5:00 am. Tuesday night’s curfew was largely respected…

“Amid the violence on Monday, the Baltimore Orioles postponed two Major League Baseball games against the Chicago White Sox and opted to bar fans from Wednesday’s contest at Camden Yards. The 8-2 victory for the home team was played before empty stands.

“Among the many startling images to emerge from the riots in the city was that of an infuriated mother hitting her teenage son repeatedly for joining the demonstrations on Monday and dragging him away.”

The mother was hailed as a hero and a shining example on numerous left-liberal and conservative TV stations, calling her conduct appropriate “tough love.” It appears that for the time being, Child Protection Services wisely decided not to raise their voice to condemn spanking and physical punishment of children…

No Public Transportation on the Sabbath?

The New York Times wrote on April 25:

“Israelis frustrated with the lack of public buses on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays hijacked the Facebook page of the transportation minister during Passover… The minister, Yisrael Katz, derisively dismissed the ride-seekers as leftist sore losers after conservatives’ success in elections last month…

“As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to stitch together a new governing coalition that is expected to be made up of rightist and religious parties, a continuing struggle over Israeli identity is in the balance. The debate over transportation is part of a larger one over a so-called nationality bill that seeks to redefine the relationship between Israeli democracy and Jewish character, which was among the divisive issues that helped collapse Mr. Netanyahu’s previous coalition last fall.

“Controversy over public transportation predates Israel’s establishment in 1948 — Tel Aviv once banned horse-drawn carriages from its main street on Saturdays — but recent efforts to change the status quo, in which buses are idle in all but a few places, have met stiff opposition…

“Orthodox Jews do not use motor vehicles on the Sabbath and holidays because of prohibitions on igniting fuel, creating sparks and traveling beyond certain distances… adherents to these strictures make up perhaps a fifth of Israel’s population…

“Experts on religion and state say that Israeli politicians have for decades traded control over public transportation on Shabbat — along with marriage, conversion and rules at religious sites — to the Orthodox in exchange for their support on foreign policy. While allowing transportation services could actually reduce the number of drivers violating Orthodox rules, analysts said such specifics were less important than the symbolism…”

As we pointed out in our last Update, when discussing ridiculous Jewish Sabbath restrictions, this article serves as another example of Pharisaical unbiblical rules which are clearly condemned in Scripture. As at the time of Christ, orthodox Judaism has made a burden out of the Sabbath, which was created by God to be a joy for man. But without the lead of God’s Holy Spirit, man cannot and will not understand the intent of God’s Law, including the Sabbath law.

USA Will Continue Controversial Drone Strikes in Spite of Killing Innocent People

The Daily Beast wrote on April 24:

“The accidental slaying of a pair of Westerners won’t end—or even significantly change—the American unmanned air campaign that has been responsible for thousands of deaths. The United States’ controversial campaign of drone strikes will continue despite the accidental killing of a pair of Western hostages, four U.S. officials told The Daily Beast. These sources said they don’t expect the rules governing the strikes to change significantly.

“Defense officials told The Daily Beast there was no immediate discussion to suspend their drone program, including the use of ‘signature strikes,’ which target people based on patterns of behavior, even if their identity is unclear. American contractor Warren Weinstein and Italian hostage Giovanni Lo Porto were killed in one such signature strike in January.

“Officials said that the military conducts far fewer signature strikes than the CIA, which attacked the compound in Pakistan where the two men were being held. But while acknowledging that Weinstein and Lo Porto’s deaths were tragic, defense officials described them as unavoidable. ‘It’s a war. Tragedies unfortunately happen,’ one U.S. official said…

“‘They clearly have no idea, literally no idea, of who it is that they’re killing,’ Chris Anders, the senior legislative council at the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Daily Beast. ‘And there are thousands of people who have been killed through the drone program.’ Anders noted that the administration has acknowledged eight American citizens have been killed in drone strikes, but that only one of them was knowingly targeted…

“Elaine Weinstein, the widow of Warren Weinstein, criticized U.S. intelligence agencies in a statement Thursday for what she called ‘inconsistent and disappointing’ assistance during the years her husband was held by Al Qaeda. ‘We hope that my husband’s death and the others who have faced similar tragedies in recent months will finally prompt the U.S. Government to take its responsibilities seriously and establish a coordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families.’…

“The U.S. government’s hostage rescue policy has been notoriously disjointed, with agencies withholding information from one another…”

Newsmax added on April 27:

“President Barack Obama has gotten support with the drone strike deaths of two hostages from a very unlikely source — Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. ‘I tend not to want to blame the president for the loss of life here,’ the Republican lawmaker and 2016 presidential candidate told Fox News. ‘I think he was trying to do the right thing.’… Paul’s statement seems a dramatic reversal of his attitude on drones. His past opposition to drone warfare has been well known…

“In 2013, Paul had conducted a 13-hour filibuster against CIA Director John Brennan over U.S. drone policy… Earlier this year, Paul told CNN that if a drone flies over his house, ‘They better beware, because I’ve got a shotgun’…

“However, Paul told Fox News, ‘So these people were in a war zone and probably got what was coming to them — the captors. Unfortunately, some innocent people lost their life.’”

These political maneuverings just to GET votes are so despicable. But Paul’s “dramatic reversal” might back-fire on him. War is SO wrong, and the practice of using drones to kill innocent people must be strongly condemned. There is NO excuse for such conduct.

2010 Al-Qaida Plot to Attack the Vatican

Newsmax and Reuters reported on April 24:

“The arrests of 10 people in Italy Friday linked to an al-Qaida plot to attack the Vatican and other cities represented a widening of the battle Islamic jihadists are waging against Christians around the world, terrorism experts said. ‘What disturbs me is the target, the Vatican,’ intelligence analyst Bob Baer told CNN. ‘We’re seeing a radicalization of Islam that I haven’t seen before. The Vatican is not a participant in any of the wars in the Middle East. There’s no justification that we can understand why they’re at war with the Vatican.’

“Noting the recent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Libya, Baer told Wolf Blitzer, ‘things seem to be getting worse rather than better’…  the Vatican attack was planned for March 2010 as part of ‘a big jihad in Italy,’ said Mario Carta, head of the police unit on the case. Pope Benedict XVI was serving at the time. He was succeeded in March 2013 by Pope Francis. ‘We don’t have proof, we have strong suspicion,’ that Pope Benedict was a possible target, Carta said…

“Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that the issue was in the past and that Friday’s disclosures were not a matter for concern. However, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said: ‘We are all afraid because we don’t know what can happen.’”

The Miracle of Fatima—A Huge Fraud

On April 27, Zenit reported the following:

“Pope Francis is expected to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal) in 2017 on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary… On May 13th, 1917, three shepherd children: Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto were visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary. After several months, almost 30,000 people witnessed ‘The Miracle of the Sun’, a phenomenon in which the sun spun and changed colors. The sign was promised by the Virgin Mary so that the faithful would believe. St. John Paul II credited the Blessed Mother with saving his life from an assassin’s bullet on May 13th, 1981. He later placed the bullet in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.”

IF the three children actually witnessed something, it was clearly NOT the “Virgin Mary,” as Mary, the mother of Jesus, is dead and awaiting the resurrection from the dead with all the other faithful servants of God who likewise died over the centuries and Millennia (Hebrews 11:13). Jesus is the ONLY one who has been raised from the dead to glory and immortality (1 Corinthians 15:22-24). The “apparition” and subsequent phenomenon of the “miracle of the sun,” if true, would have to be ascribed to demonic activities.

“Eurozone Slams Door on Greek Hopes”

The EuObserver wrote on April 24:

“Greece is no closer to agreeing a new deal with its eurozone creditors after the latest round of talks broke up acrimoniously, with one fellow minister describing the meeting as a ‘complete communication breakdown’… Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was on the receiving end of heavy criticism at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Riga. The meeting broke up on Friday lunchtime… without agreement on an economic reform package that would allow the remaining €7.2 billion of Greece’s bailout programme to be paid out…”

The Telegraph added on April 24:

“Time is running out for Greece, officials have warned at a crucial eurozone meeting in which finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was heavily criticised for stalling over urgent measures needed to release vital financial aid… Greece’s current €240bn programme expires at the end of June. Before then, the Greek government is trying to unlock the remaining €7.2bn to prevent the country from bankruptcy. Watchers had long given up hope of a deal being struck at today’s finance ministers’ meeting in Riga…

“Germany, the chief funder of eurozone bailouts, has taken a hard-line approach to Greece’s financial woes this year and officials have repeatedly expressed concern that Greece isn’t doing enough to meet its bail-out requirements… As the stalemate risks running into another month, the risk of a Greek default rises along with an exit from the single currency.”

The Financial Times wrote on April 24:

“Months of mounting tensions between Greece and its creditors boiled over at a high-level EU meeting on Friday with eurozone finance ministers angrily accusing their Greek counterpart of backtracking on commitments and failing to grasp the deep differences that still divide them…

“The contentious session undermined claims by Greek officials that a Thursday meeting in Brussels between Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, and Angela Merkel, his German counterpart, had narrowed the differences. The claims briefly sent the euro rallying in morning trading, but those gains evaporated after news of the differences emerged…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 27:

“Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras may be ready to compromise with the EU and introduce reforms… Tsipras was finally ready to negotiate after he spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem in separate phone calls on Sunday. He then met Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis, causing the media in Greek to speculate that Varoufakis would be slowly removed from the position of chief negotiator in Greece’s talks with its creditors… ‘They want his head,’ said a headline in the Greek daily Ta Nea…

“Experts say that Prime Minister Tsipras will need to make tough choices, like cutting pensions and reducing public spending to convince his financers. If he does not agree, the country could default on its payments, but if he agrees to the reforms, he could face opposition from radical leaders in his own Syriza party. The toughest challenge for Tsipras would be to get support from the parliament on implementing pension cuts. However, advisors say Tsipras should decide on spending cuts through a referendum to solve the problem.”

Der Spiegel Online added on April 27:

“… new Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos categorically rules out his country exiting the euro zone and supports calls for German reparations payments in connection with Nazi war crimes… Although Greece is under tremendous financial stress, with the government now forcing hospitals, universities and public agencies to hand over their savings to the central bank, Pavlopoulos stated that his country would fulfill all of its obligations…

“After last week’s meeting of the Euro Group once again failed to deliver an agreement, most EU politicians do not share this view…

“Pavlopoulos clearly denied threats from other Greek politicians to confiscate property in Greece owned by the German state… The Greek president said the seizure of German property was not a consideration…”

New Scandal in Merkel’s Government… NSA Snooping and German Hypocrisy

The Local wrote on April 27:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office has known since 2008 of US economic espionage targeting European companies… but did not react, Bild said Monday, citing intelligence agency documents… The report is potentially embarrassing for the German government, which has always portrayed itself as a victim of spying by its allies, notably the United States.

“Germany reacted with outrage at revelations in 2013 by fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden that the NSA was conducting massive Internet and phone data sweeps, including in Germany. The revelations, which included claims the NSA tapped Merkel’s mobile phone, strained ties between Washington and Berlin.

“The documents cited by Bild refer to NSA attempts to keep tabs on telephone numbers and email addresses at EADS, the aerospace and defence group now known as Airbus and Eurocopter, which now goes by the name of Airbus Helicopters…

“‘It was definitely known for years in the chancellery that the NSA tried, with German help, to monitor German companies,’ Bild quoted an unidentified source from the Bundestag (German parliament) NSA inquiry committee as saying. ‘It is unlikely and would be highly unusual if the head of the chancellery would not have been informed about such an occurrence,’ the source added…

“German news weekly Spiegel reported last week that the NSA spied on European companies for years with the help of German intelligence. The American agency is believed to have provided the BND with mail addresses and mobile phone numbers which were then monitored by the Germans on behalf of the United States, Spiegel Online reported.”

The Local wrote on April 29:

“The government has been accused of lying to the Bundestag (German parliament) after it emerged last week that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office knew German spies were conducting economic espionage on behalf of the Americans. ‘We have no knowledge of alleged economic espionage by the NSA or other US agencies in other countries,’ the Interior Ministry wrote to the Bundestag on April 14th in response to a question from the opposition Linke (Left Party). Statements of this kind are signed off by the whole government.

“But it emerged last week that Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) had been spying on German and European companies on behalf of the NSA. Further, officials at the Chancellery, which is responsible for overseeing the BND, knew about the economic espionage and did nothing.

“The Chancellery knew as early as 2010 that the NSA had asked the BND to target firms including arms companies EADS and Eurocopter, both since merged into Airbus.The NSA provided the BND with email addresses , phone numbers and other ‘selectors’ (identifying information) belonging to the company’s employees and asked the Germans to monitor their communications. A press release from the government last week said that the Chancellery was ‘now checking whether parliamentary answers in this case remain totally valid’…

“Linke MP Jan Korte told Der Spiegel on Wednesday that ‘the parliamentary answer from April 14th is very clearly a lie’. He wouldn’t believe ‘one more word’ from the government relating to spying, he said.

“The latest twist in the scandal puts Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière under pressure, as he was head of the Chancellery from 2005-09 and ultimately responsible for supervising the spies. Mass-circulation tabloid Bild singled de Maizière out for a broadside on Wednesday, saying that he was ‘lying in black and white’ [the German said: “Sie luegen wie gedruckt,” a very strong accusation] and illustrating the story with a picture of the minister with Pinnochio’s long nose…”

Deutsche Welle reported on April 29:

“De Maiziere… said on Wednesday the accusations were ‘untrue’ and could be disproved by documents, which needed to remain secret…

“Opposition Greens parliamentary co-leader Anton Hofreiter told the newspaper Rheinische Post: ‘Either the BND under Chancellor Merkel has gotten fully out of control or the government has lied to the public’… The opposition Pirate party leader in the North Rhine-Westphalia state assembly in Düsseldorf, Joachim Paul, said on Wednesday his party would ask Germany’s federal prosecutions office to press charges against Chancellery and BND officials. If there was suspicion of NSA economic espionage and the Chancellery was informed of this, then it would amount to treason, Paul said.”

The Local added on April 30:

“German intelligence services spied on top French officials and the European Commission on behalf of the American spy agency NSA, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung… A spokeswoman for the German federal government refused to comment when contacted by The Local on Thursday, saying only that it would answer to the parliamentary committees responsible for overseeing the spies in due course…

“Thursday’s revelations are likely to be the most damaging on a diplomatic level, in so far as they affect relations with one of the Federal Republic’s most vital allies.”

That the German government and highly controversial Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière would deny the accusations surprises no one. That the tiny opposition of the Left, the Greens and the Pirate Party will have any substantial  influence in the matter is doubtful—rather, it is to be expected that criminal charges, if they were to be filed, would be immediately dismissed. But it remains to be seen how the German press is going to act and react, since left-liberal and conservative papers alike have begun to smell blood.

Hungary’s Maverick Leader

The Guardian wrote on April 29:

“Hungary’s nationalist rightwing leader, Viktor Orbán, has threatened to reintroduce the death penalty, outlawed in the European Union.

“The prime minister also reinforced his reputation as the EU’s main maverick with a powerful anti-immigration manifesto that equates migrants with terrorists, says immigrants are taking Hungarians’ jobs, recommends internment camps for illegal immigrants and states they should be forced to work.

“[Orban is a] persistent critic of the EU, who holds up Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as a model leader…”

But things will change in Hungary, insofar as the relationship with Russia is concerned, as it is very possible that Hungary will become part of the final ten core nations or groups of nations, leading Europe.

TWO Magma Chambers Underneath the Giant Volcano of Yellowstone National Park

Science wrote on April 23:

“Underneath the bubbling geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits a volcanic hot spot that has driven some of the largest eruptions on Earth. Geoscientists have now completely imaged the subterranean plumbing system and have found not just one, but two magma chambers underneath the giant volcano…

“Scientists had already known about a plume, which brings molten rock up from deep in the mantle to a region about 60 kilometers below the surface. And they had also imaged a shallow magma chamber about 10 kilometers below the surface, containing about 10,000 cubic kilometers of molten material. But now they have found a deeper one, 4.5 times larger, that sits between 20 and 50 kilometers below the surface… the deeper chamber does mean that the shallow chamber can be replenished again and again…”

Bild Online added that this new discovery is a time bomb for a natural catastrophe with unimaginable consequences for the entire globe. An eruption would be 1,000 times stronger than the one at Mount St. Helen in 1980.

Huge Earthquake Kills Thousands of People

The Huffington Post reported on April 25:

“A devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday killed more than 1,800 people, caused a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest and left a wake of destruction across the broader region… The earthquake [was] the worst to hit Nepal in over 80 years…

“Powerful tremors also rocked neighboring countries, killing 34 in northern India, six in Tibet and two in Bangladesh, as well as two Chinese citizens on the Nepal-China border…

“Nepalese authorities struggled to assess the full scale of the damage across the remote Himalayan nation, with communications systems down in many areas. ‘We are totally cut off from most parts of our country,’ Nepal Disaster Management Authority official Ram Narayan Pandey told Reuters. Many feared the worst. ‘Almost the entire country has been hit,’ Krishna Prasad Dhakal, the deputy chief of mission at Nepal’s Embassy in New Delhi, warned.”

Following powerful aftershocks, The Associated Press wrote on April 27: “The official overall death toll soared past 4,000, even without a full accounting from vulnerable mountain villages that rescue workers were still struggling to reach two days after the disaster.”

Deutsche Welle reported on April 28: “The United Nations has said the earthquake that hit Nepal on the weekend has affected 8 million people. The death toll has passed 5,000 and could rise sharply as aid workers struggle to reach remote villages.”

The Telegraph added on April 28 that “the country’s Prime Minister said the death toll could reach 10,000.”

Bizarre Jurassic Dinosaur Gives Plenty of Headaches to Evolutionists

The Guardian wrote on April 28:

“Fossil hunters in Chile have unearthed the remains of a bizarre Jurassic dinosaur that combined a curious mixture of features from different prehistoric animals. The evolutionary muddle of a beast grew to the size of a small horse and was the most abundant animal to be found 145 million years ago, in what is now the Aysén region of Patagonia. The discovery ranks as one of the most remarkable dinosaur finds of the past 20 years, and promises to cause plenty of headaches for paleontologists hoping to place the animal in the dinosaur family tree.

“’I don’t know how the evolution of dinosaurs produced this kind of animal…’ said Fernando Novas at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires… What’s surprising is that in this locality the most bizarre dinosaur is not the exception, but the rule. It is the most abundant animal we find,’ he added.

“… the animal belongs to the theropod group of dinosaurs, which includes the carnivorous tyrannosaurs and velociraptors. But unlike its meat-eating cousins, Chilesaurus had switched diets and become a vegetarian…”

Or maybe, it was the other way around: Vegetarians became meat-eaters. For more information, please read our new booklet, “Heavens and Earth… Before and After the First Man.”