Stalin Glorified in Modern Russia

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 22:

“As the 80th anniversary of the Hitler-Stalin pact and the beginning of World War II approaches, the Russian state has unleashed a massive media exercise… The campaign aims to convince the Russians and the world that the calamity of 1939 was of Western making, and that the Poles and the Baltic states, who were victims of aggression, were in fact as bad as the occupiers and had made their own deals with the Nazis… [Putin wants to picture Stalin’s actions as] a boisterous celebration of the pact and resulting conquests, especially the USSR invading Poland together with the Nazis in September 1939 and occupying Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the summer of 1940…

“Since Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and its invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014, Putin’s actions have been frequently compared to those of Stalin… [Putin] continues to forge ahead with creating and imbuing the Russians with his own version of the country’s history, identity and patriotism. In it, state authority is always right and righteous — whether exercised by the tsar, the general secretary or the president. The noblest civic duty is to unquestionably accept this authority’s judgement and be ready to die when it orders you to. The Second World War, with its immense and heroic sacrifice by the peoples of the Soviet Union, has for the last five years served as the ultimate propaganda justification for Putin’s ‘Fortress Russia’ isolation policy. Glorification of Stalin’s cynicism and aggression as ‘pragmatism’ and ‘defense of national interests’ serves this purpose well…”

Putin views Stalin as his great hero. That should tell us a lot.

Condemning the German-Russian Treaty

The EUobserver wrote on August 23:

“Five EU states have issued a statement condemning a World War 2-era German-Russian treaty which divided Europe, but Russia has defended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

“The treaty, signed between Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and his Nazi German counterpart, Joachim von Ribbentrop, on 23 August 1939 ‘sparked World War 2 and doomed half of Europe to decades of misery’ the foreign ministries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania said on Friday (23 August), the day of its 80th anniversary.”

Hitler’s and Stalin’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement

Politics wrote on August 22:

“Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed a Nazi-Soviet non-aggression treaty known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement… From the very beginning of the Second World War until the Nazi invasion of the USSR in June 1941, the Soviet Union was on the same side of the war as Hitler. Everyone remembers Hitler invading Poland on September 1st 1939. A lot of people conveniently forget that the USSR invaded Poland from the east only a few weeks later. Indeed, Soviet and German troops staged a joint parade at Brest, along their newly defined frontier.

“The Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland meant that 200,000 square kilometres of Poland and over 13 million Polish citizens found themselves under the yoke of Soviet oppression. A quarter of a million Polish prisoners of war found themselves in Soviet camps, not German ones. Many were massacred at Katyn in 1940. The German Gestapo and Soviet NKVD even held a series of conferences on how to cooperate in the oppression of occupied Poland.

“The alliance was economic as much as geopolitical. The amount of trade between the two nations during the 1939-1941 period was staggering. Massive amounts of raw material flowed from the USSR to Nazi Germany, including 1.6 million tons of grain and 900,000 tons of oil. The fascist army that invaded France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was literally fed by communist grain. Bomber planes over London were fuelled by communist oil.

“In return, Stalin received a low interest loan from Germany for the equivalent of billions in modern money and bought technology and manufactured goods…

“Stalin invaded Finland, as it was firmly assigned by the treaty to the Soviet sphere of influence. Finland, greatly outnumbered and outgunned, fought the Red Army to a standstill, but had to eventually concede defeat and give up various border regions to Soviet control. The region of Karelia remains under Russian control to this day, a testimony to the lasting impact of the pact…

“What is now the nation of Moldova was carved off from Romania in 1940. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were ‘given’ to the USSR by this agreement… these three Baltic states were forcibly annexed into the USSR in 1940. Soviet occupation in the three Baltic states was fierce – both in its original 1940 incarnation and when they were re-occupied in 1944. It stayed that way until 1991… The borders of Poland, Romania, Finland, and Belarus are affected by the treaty. Karelia is still in Russia. Many cities that were once Polish are now in Ukraine or Belarus.

“[In 1990], Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all re-asserted their independence.”

It is entirely possible that for a short time, a similar pact will be entered into between Russia and the unified core nations of the EU, under German leadership.

Unprecedented Amazon Wildfires

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 23:

“With a record number of fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, international leaders are joining forces to call for action to stop them… But such calls for action from outside Brazil, have been met with rebuttal and even mockery from within…

“Colombia, home to part of the northern Amazon, said it was already working to contain the fires as they headed towards its territory… Paraguay and Bolivia are also battling separate wildfires that have devastated large areas of their rainforests.

“In Brazil itself, federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the massive wildfires in the Amazon region… Nearly 73,000 fires were recorded between January and August, compared with 39,759 in all of 2018… This number is the highest since records began…”

Business Insider wrote on August 22:

“More than 70,000 fires have been recorded this year in the rainforest, which produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen — threatening its future, the billions of plants and animals that call it home, and possibly the entire planet’s health… Earlier this week, the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, 2,000 miles from the rainforest, was plunged into darkness as smoke from the fires obscured the sun.”

AFP wrote on August 24:

“Hundreds of new fires are raging in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil… some 1,663 new fires were ignited between Thursday and Friday… The new data came a day after [far-right leader] Bolsonaro authorized the deployment of the military [44,000 troops] to fight the fires and crack down on criminal activities in the region… Environmental specialists say the fires have been accompanied by increasing deforestation in the Amazon region, which in July quadrupled compared to the same month in 2018…”

The EUObserver wrote on August 28:

“A spokesperson for Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has said the country will accept foreign aid to extinguish Amazon fires. Bolsonaro earlier declined €18m from the G7 states [while insisting on an apology from Macron for alleged insults]… The Brazilian spokesman said his country must have full control of foreign grants and that outside help must not impinge on its sovereignty.”

Children playing with fire…

Worldwide Fires

The Sun wrote on August 27:

“SHOCKING new satellite images show there are now MORE wildfires raging across Africa than in the flame-ravaged Amazon. More than one million square miles of forest in the Congo Basin are now ablaze in an area known as the Earth’s ‘second green lung.’… In a period of two days last week Angola had roughly three times more fires than Brazil…

“The stats revealed there were 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 fires in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, compared with around 2,200 recorded fires in Brazil. Like the Amazon, the African forests absorb CO2 and are sanctuaries for hundreds of endangered species… The Congo Basin covers an area of 3.3 million square kilometres in several countries, including about a third in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the rest in Gabon, Congo, Cameroon and Central Africa…”

According to the Bible, worldwide catastrophes such as these will increase in unparalleled fashion.

Israel Strikes Iranian Killer Drones in Syria and Lebanon

Reuters wrote on August 24:

“Israeli aircraft on Saturday struck Iranian forces near Damascus that had been planning to launch ‘killer drones’ [armed with explosives] at targets in Israel…

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had thwarted the planned Iranian attack. ‘Iran has no immunity anywhere. Our forces operate in every sector against the Iranian aggression,’ he said on Twitter…

“Iran and Hezbollah are helping President Bashar al-Assad in the eight-year Syria war. Russia, which is also aiding Assad, has largely turned a blind eye to the Israeli air strikes… On Thursday, Netanyahu hinted of possible Israeli involvement in a series of blasts in the past few weeks that have hit weapon depots and bases belonging to paramilitary groups in Iraq, many of them backed by Iran.”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on August 25:

“Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun blasted Israel on Sunday after two drones, one being armed, crashed in the Lebanese capital of Beirut early Sunday morning…

“Israel and Hezbollah fought a deadly 33-day war in 2006, which came to an end under UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war and Beirut regularly accuses Israel of violating its airspace with fighter jets and drones.”

Aoun called the Israeli drone attacks on the capital of Beirut and in the Qusaya a ‘declaration of war… that entitles us to resort to our right to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity’…”

Palestinians Determined to Wipe Out Israel

Breaking Israel News wrote on August 22:

“In a video… Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said while addressing a terror rally at the Jalazone village near Ramallah that: ‘We shall enter Jerusalem – millions of fighters!’ along with the ‘entire Islamic nation.’ The PA chairman added that: ‘every building built by the Zionist occupation will be destroyed.’ The statements were made while the crowd chanted ‘To Jerusalem, we march, martyrs by the millions!’…

“The proud Holocaust denier also claimed that Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinians. He went on saying that ‘the entire Palestinian nation will enter Jerusalem as millions of fighters, along with the Arab, Islamic, and Christian nations.’… The video was uploaded to the PA’s leader’s Facebook page on August 10, 2019.”

This reminds us of the warning in Zechariah 14:2. The situation in the Middle East will deteriorate much more.

War between Israel and Iran?

On August 28, the Drudge Report linked to the following article which was originally published by endoftheamericandream:

“Are we about to see World War 3 erupt in the Middle East?… if a full-blown war erupts between Israel and one of her neighbors, it is likely to become a multi-front war almost immediately.  But at the core, this is a conflict between Israel and Iran…

“Missiles are not flying directly back and forth between Israel and Iran yet, but at this point a state of war essentially exists, and many are deeply concerned about what is going to happen next. In particular, it looks like Hezbollah could launch a large scale attack against Israel at any moment, because their leadership is absolutely furious that the Israelis just hit their headquarters building in Beirut… Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are now at their highest point since the 2006 war…

“This is an extremely serious situation.  Israel is literally on the brink of war with Hezbollah, and many feel that such a war is inevitable… Ultimately, nothing is going to be able to stop the massive war that is coming to the region.  The Iranians and all of their allies have a religiously-fueled hatred for Israel that most people living in the western world will never understand, and they are absolutely obsessed with permanently destroying the nation of Israel as it exists today…

“This can definitely be described as a time of ‘wars and rumors of wars’, and the situation on the ground is extremely fluid right now…”

The Algemeiner and Reuters wrote on August 28:

“Hezbollah will respond with a ‘surprise’ strike against Israel after drones crashed in Lebanon, but a new war remains unlikely, the Iran-backed movement said, amid heightened fears of a full-scale confrontation between the longtime adversaries.”

We read in the Bible that Israel will receive a wound in a coming military confrontation, prior to the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

Nearly 900,000 Asylum Seekers Living in Limbo in EU

The Guardian wrote on August 25:

“Close to 900,000 asylum seekers in the EU are waiting to have their claims processed… Women, men and unaccompanied children are living for years in uncertainty, with numbers of pending applications for international protection almost unchanged from two years ago when 1.1 million migrants were ‘stuck’ in the continent. ‘Living in limbo is now the norm for those seeking protection,’ said Karl Kopp of Pro Asyl, Germany’s largest pro-immigration advocacy organisation. ‘Limbo means living in the miserable Greek EU hotspots, or being trapped and pushed back at the borders…’

“Eurostat figures have revealed a backlog of 878,600 requests at the end of 2018, with Germany having the largest share of pending requests (44%), ahead of Italy (12%). The figure comes despite the number of migrant arrivals in Europe practically halving in the last two years. Factors leading to the continuing backlog include new laws from right-leaning governments and an increase in the number of rejections, leading to lengthy appeals processes… The rejection rate for asylum requests in Europe has almost doubled in three years… In Italy, rejections were at 80% at the start of 2019, up from 60% the previous year as the populist government also removed key forms of protection.

“The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has in 2019 rejected three-quarters of family reunification requests from Greece, where migrants live in the overcrowded camps of Athens and Lesbos… Experts point out how some governments in recent years, especially in Italy and Germany, have accelerated evaluation procedures for asylum requests, which appears to have caused an increase in rejections because high-speed procedures are not carried out with as much thoughtful evaluation. ‘The agenda of the rightwing extremists is now the agenda of the mainstream…,’ said Kopp…

“… Those who stay after rejection are at risk of suddenly becoming illegal immigrants…”

Reading this, it is hypocritical for Europeans to condemn the USA for its immigration policy.

US-German Ties at Absolute Low… with Potentially Dangerous Consequences

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 21:

“Never since the founding of postwar Germany have relations between Berlin and the United States been as fragile as they are today. There is virtual radio silence between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Donald Trump… ‘There is a crisis in the U.S. German relationship of a type that I would never have expected to occur in our time,’ says Nicholas Burns, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO…

“Germany has become the antithesis to Trump’s America… Trump is openly calling for the European Union to split up. He is publicly encouraging the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson, to embark on a hard Brexit. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, traveled to London last week to communicate that the U.S. would ‘enthusiastically’ support a decision by the UK to leave the EU with no deal.

“Trump has shaken the relationship between the Germans and the Americans in ways that extend far beyond politics. The U.S. is more unpopular with Germans than ever before… 85 percent of Germans view the relationship with the U.S. as negative or very negative… Many now see the U.S. as a bigger problem than China and Russia…

“From a German perspective, conversations with the president are mostly just seen as futile… Trump is being faced with a German chancellor who clearly wants to go down in history as his opponent…

“It has now become normal for Merkel not to ask for a meeting with Trump when she visits the U.S… For Trump, Germany is a ‘flyover country’ when he visits Europe… he has not paid a single visit to Berlin…

“[US ambassador] Grenell has shown that he is primarily interested in garnering headlines… prompting Martin Schulz, who was the head of the Social Democrats at the time, to say that the ambassador was behaving like a ‘right-wing extremist colonial officer.’ Grenell then gave an interview to the right-wing news portal Breitbart in which he made it sound like he was hoping for a Trump-style right-wing revolution in Europe… No U.S. ambassador in recent German history seems to have been so isolated… Merkel made it clear in no uncertain terms how little regard she has for Grenell… German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hasn’t had a significant conversation with Grenell in almost one year…

“Trump and Grenell are astonishingly similar. Both are happy to dish it out, but they are highly sensitive when they are the subject of attacks. Like Trump, Grenell also has a penchant for right-wing conspiracy theorists… Like Trump, Grenell is also a virtuoso at self-promotion…

“In Berlin, many are still holding out hope that the good old days of trans-Atlantic cooperation can resume once the Trump era has passed. But that could prove illusory. ‘The U.S. won’t remain the way it is under Trump, but it will also never be the same as it was before him again,’ says [Sigmar] Gabriel. The fact is that the Democrats agree with many of the points where Trump is critical, and Washington would remain an uncomfortable partner even if a Democrat is elected into the White House next year. Trump, in all his brutal openness, has made it clear that the U.S. is no longer willing to pay for Europe. The Democrats are also raising the question of military spending…

“Trump has become a convenient excuse for the Germans. Whatever he says is rejected almost reflexively. This is true for both the military mission in the Strait of Hormuz and NATO’s 2-percent target. The Germans need to finally get over the idea that they can remain a kind of giant Switzerland in the middle of Europe forever…

“Robert Kagan, a former adviser to two Republican presidential candidates who now works at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington… wrote that the German question, which led to two world wars and millions of deaths, could return… ‘Trump is actually fanning the flames of nationalism … again and again by supporting basically nationalist parties in Europe,’ Kagan told DER SPIEGEL. ‘He’s clearly destroying the global free trade regime by pursuing protectionist American policies which are directly harming Germany…’”

First of all, we do not believe that there will be an America after Trump. And however Germany will manifest itself on the world scene, it will, together with other core European countries, become as antagonistic towards the USA as it never has been since the end of World War II. It will also be part of a powerful European army in opposition to the USA. Or does the next article reflect a change in the German-US relationship?

Friendship between Trump and Merkel?

The Local wrote on August 26:

“US President Donald Trump showered Chancellor Angela Merkel with praise at the G7 Summit… ‘She is a brilliant woman, and she understands exactly where everything is, she knows it before most people,’ said Trump… The comments came during a relaxed reunion between the pair. It’s a stark contrast to previous meetings when relations have appeared frosty. After Trump was asked about the G7 losing its only female leader, Merkel said in English: ‘I’m still here,’ prompting laughs from reporters. Trump then predicted that the Chancellor, who plans to step down from politics after her term ends in 2021, may surprise everyone and might be around ‘for a long time’.

“When asked by a reporter if the Chancellor had invited Trump to Berlin, Merkel said she had done so ‘on previous occasions.’ Trump then said he is planning to ‘maybe soon’ go to Germany for a state visit… ‘I have German in my blood,’ he added – at which point Merkel laughed. Trump does indeed have ancestors who hail from Kallstadt, a small wine-growing town in the far western state of Rhineland-Palatinate…

“Trump has not yet been on a bilateral visit to Germany since taking office in January 2017. By contrast, he has already visited France and the UK two times. He is also traveling to Poland for the second time next weekend… Compared to Trump’s predecessors, his absence from Germany is unusual. Less than five months after his inauguration, Barack Obama travelled to Dresden to meet Merkel in June 2009, before the two travelled together to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar.”

Even though Trump and Merkel displayed a unified front before journalists and exchanged some niceties, nothing will change. The relationship between the two powers is bound to deteriorate drastically. And Merkel will not be around “for a long time.”

Queen Approves Suspension of U.K. Parliament

The Week wrote on August 28:

“Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday approved British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s request to suspend Parliament until mid-October, leaving lawmakers little time to try and block Britain from crashing out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without a divorce settlement. Johnson asked the queen to end the current session of Parliament in preparation for a Queen’s Speech, typically a formality to lay out a government’s legislative agenda.

“The queen’s approval was not unexpected, as she has refused to get involved with politics throughout her reign. Unlike dissolving Parliament to hold new elections, MPs don’t get a vote on prorogation. Parliament was scheduled to return from summer recess next week, and opposition lawmakers have reportedly been working on a plan to prevent Johnson’s no-deal Brexit. Opposition leaders bitterly denounced the move.”

The EUObserver added on August 28:

“Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other British opposition leaders have agreed not to call for a confidence vote on prime minister Boris Johnson in early September in order to create a care-taker government. Instead, they will work on legislation to make a no-deal-Brexit illegal. The opposition leaders also agreed to organise an alternative parliament in case Johnson forced a delay in recalling MPs until after Brexit day on 31 October.”

The Sun added that “Today’s move caused the pound to drop against the dollar as markets jittered amongst the uncertainty.”

Boris the Dictator

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 28:

“The British prime minister wants a hard Brexit, no matter the cost. He didn’t even hesitate to suspend Parliament. It’s the kind of move you’d expect from a military dictatorship… Now a weakness in the British political system — rooted in its archaic traditions and heritage — is coming back to haunt the country. It exposes the lack of a modern, written constitution that could block such arbitrary acts.

“‘Take back control’ was one of the main slogans of the Brexit campaign three years ago. Voters at the time probably didn’t imagine that meant handing over absolute power to Johnson… No one argued the goal was to allow an unelected prime minister — who would likely never get a parliamentary majority — to determine the fate of Brexit, and thus the entire country, on his own…

“Parliament is to be due to go on break as early as September 10, then return shortly before the Brexit deadline. This tight timeframe makes it impossible for the majority of MPs to have their say… Johnson is the most dangerous politician to have moved to Downing Street in decades…”

Boris Johnson–From Trump Hater to Trump Lover

Bloomberg wrote on August 24:

“In December 2015, Boris Johnson joked that he wouldn’t go to some parts of New York because of the risk of meeting Donald Trump, a man of ‘stupefying ignorance.’ How times change… Both men came to power with populist messages…

“Trump is toxic in the U.K…. so Johnson also needs to be careful not to appear to be too cozy with the U.S. leader… But there may eventually be a quid pro quo for the ‘fantastic’ trade deal Trump has dangled. Trump’s trade talks rarely prove speedy. He remains locked in a trade war with China and a revised accord with Canada and Mexico dragged on for over a year and is stalled in Congress. An agreement with the U.K. could be years in the making and Trump drives a hard bargain — whether he likes you or not…

“There are also important differences in their world view [even though Johnson’s world views are quite flexible]. Johnson favors immigration, Trump famously doesn’t. The U.K. is signed up to the Paris climate agreement whereas Trump pulled out. And while the U.K. shares Trump’s concerns about access to Chinese markets, Johnson believes they should be addressed by giving the World Trade Organization more teeth. Trump is more concerned at blunting the WTO’s teeth…”

America Is Losing (Again)

The Week wrote on August 23:

“Saudi Arabia and America’s Yemen war is now on the verge of collapse…

“Historically, Americans have shown a remarkable ability to deny outright military failure. We killed millions of civilians in North Korea and North Vietnam in an effort to turn, in the first case, stalemate into victory and, in the second, defeat into stalemate. Both efforts ultimately failed. In our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, we initially claimed victory, inasmuch as we ousted the Taliban, killed Osama bin Laden, overthrew Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, and precipitated the fall of Moammar Gadhafi. The failure in each case [was] to ‘win the peace’…

“Over the past four decades, we have pursued a variety of different strategies to maintain a dominant position in the Middle East… None of these have delivered anything resembling ‘victory,’ nor even stability. It’s well past time to admit these are goals we simply don’t know how to achieve and conduct a foreign policy in a duly chastened spirit, rather than make further millions pay the price for our inability to acknowledge our limits.”

The Bible says that God will destroy America’s pride of and in its power. America won World War II. It has won NO WAR subsequent to World War II.

Trade War Is Getting Worse–China Retaliates against the “Chosen One”

Daily Mail wrote on August 23:

“China hit back at President Donald Trump in the latest volley in the growing trade war – slapping tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. products and causing an immediate drop in stock futures. The move comes after Trump… has defended the trade war and called himself the ‘chosen one’ to take on China…

“The official Xinhua News Agency said Friday the tariffs of 10% and 5% take effect on two batches of goods Sept. 1 and Dec. 15… Trump previously announced plans to raise tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports on Sept. 1 but postponed a portion of that to Dec. 15.”

Even though some niceties were exchanged during the G-7 summit, nothing has changed. New tariffs on Chinese goods become effective on September 1, which means that goods will become more expensive for American consumers, as Fox News correctly pointed out in their telecasts on August 27. They also hinted at the prospects of a recession, due to Trump’s trade war with China.

In regard to his declaration that he is the chosen one, Der Spiegel Online wrote: “The Messiah in the Oval Office,” and then asked: “Has Donald Trump completely lost it? And who is protecting him from himself?” Later, Trump stated, due to the heat he got for his comment of being the “chosen one,” that it was just a joke. The video of the event clearly shows, in context, that it was NOT a joke but that it reflects, sadly, his true state of mind.

Trump ORDERS American Businesses to Close Operations in China; Increases Tariffs on Chinese Goods

Reuters wrote on August 23:

“President Donald Trump said on Friday he was ordering U.S. companies to look at ways to close their operations in China and make more of their products in the United States instead…

“China… holds $1.11 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. For many products sold in the United States, there are few alternatives to Chinese production, and shifting production for major goods produced there could take years and be expensive. American companies could also sue the U.S. government in response to any order to shutter plants in China.

“… companies like Boeing Co, Apple Inc and General Motors Co… are both big U.S. contractors and have large business interests in China… They would resist any pressure to close their facility there, given the size and importance of the Chinese market…”

The Week wrote on August 23:

“[Trump’s] attacks sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling down 623 points for the day, marking it and the other two major indexes’ fourth straight weeks of declines.”

Does Trump Have the Power to Order Businesses to Move Out of China? Maybe!

Breitbart wrote on August 24:

“While speaking to reporters on Friday, President Trump stated that he has ‘the absolute right’ to order American businesses not to do business with China. Trump said, ‘Well, in 1977, we had an act passed, a national emergency act. I have the absolute right to do that. We’ll see how that goes, but I have the absolute right.’”

Vox wrote on August 24:

“The Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) allows the president of the United States to regulate commerce during a national emergency… And as there has not yet been a national emergency declared with respect to Chinese trade, Trump’s present abilities to govern economic interactions with China are limited to measures like tariffs…

“IEEPA allows a US president to declare a national emergency… Congress can vote to end the state of emergency, but the president can veto such a vote. Without a veto-proof majority in Congress, this president could use this tool to take a range of economic actions against countries with whom he takes issue… A state of emergency has existed against Iran since the 1979 hostage crisis, for example, and that state of emergency has allowed executive branches over the past decades to levy sanctions against Iran and individual Iranians…

“Trump is the first president to date to use IEEPA to justify the imposition of tariffs… Were he to declare an emergency in order to limit economic interactions with China, Trump still would lack the authority to pull existing investments out of China… However, he would be able to prevent future US funds from being transferred there and could create conditions that would make it so difficult to do business with China that firms would be heavily encouraged to relocate…”

So, from a PRACTICAL standpoint, the potential avenues of the US Presidency are enormous. For example, Trump declared that German cars pose a threat to national security.

Trump’s “Ominous” Announcement—Wanting to Stay Beyond 2025?

The Independent wrote on August 23:

“Donald Trump has issued an ominous warning to his opponents amid mounting speculation a looming recession could cost him the 2020 presidential election, saying ‘I always find a way to win’…

“In a series of outrageous and increasingly erratic outbursts, the 73-year-old attacked any Jews who vote Democrat instead of Republican as ‘disloyal’ to Israel and threatened to rip up part of the constitution in order to rescind birthright citizenship…

“‘Let me tell you. In six years – or maybe 10 or maybe 14, right? – in six years, when I’m not here, the New York Times goes out of business very quickly.’ While the president has joked with increasing frequency about continuing as president beyond 2025 – when he would be required by the constitution to step down – his latest reference displayed no clear indication he was attempting be humorous…

“Previous examples of Mr Trump’s flirtation with unlimited term limits include a June tweet in which he floated the idea American voters could demand he stay at the White House beyond 2025… The following month… he wrote: ‘When I ultimately leave office in six years, or maybe 10 or 14 (just kidding)…’  The president has previously suggested he only jokes about remaining as president beyond two terms in an effort to provoke liberals, while critics have suggested he does so with a view to gradually normalising the concept among voters.”

As we have stated before, we do believe that Trump is the last President of the USA, as unbelievable as that may sound to some. And we have made it clear that we believe that Trump will be re-elected in 2020. Please view our StandingWatch program, titled, “Donald Trump–America’s Savior or Destroyer?”

Living in Berlusconi’s Shadow

Foreign Policy wrote on August 25:

“Italy has always been at the cutting edge of political innovation. The Papal States were trialing Christian theocracy for centuries before others caught on; fascism inspired Nazism. And—most telling of all today—Silvio Berlusconi’s billionaire buffoonery preempted his later imitators… by decades…

“An often overlooked aspect of Berlusconi’s career was his astonishing ability to cast himself as a victim and as a martyr. ‘We’re persecuted by the judges,’ he claimed as he pondered entering politics in July 1993, when a corruption scandal was sweeping away the First Italian Republic. Berlusconi frequently compared himself to Jesus because of what he called ‘political show trials.’ ‘I’m the most persecuted man in all of history,’ he once said. Any criminal accusation (and there were many) was turned to his advantage, making him appear the long-suffering savior of an ungrateful nation: ‘I put up with everything and sacrifice myself for everyone,’ he said in 2006.”

D-Day for Italy

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 28:

“Italy’s populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and the center-left Democratic Party (PD) have put aside their traditional differences to form a new government and prevent new elections. Five Star (M5S) said the coalition would be led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who had resigned following the collapse of the coalition government between M5S and the far-right Lega earlier this month…

“[Current Interior] Minister Matteo Salvini… who triggered the crisis on August 8 when he withdrew his party from the governing coalition with M5S, said the new set-up was fragile and unlikely to last. ‘So we have to wait six months or a year to win? We’re in no hurry,’ he said. Some political pundits have warned a M5S-PD deal could play into Salvini’s hands in the long run, should the new accord come undone in the coming months.”

The Week added on August 28:

“Matteo Salvini, who serves as both Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, will likely be sidelined by the deal, stripping his anti-immigrant League party of its power.”

Salvini’s Supporters Furious

The Telegraph wrote on August 27:

“Matteo Salvini’s allies have called for supporters to take to the streets in protest as Italy inches towards forming a new government that could shut him out of power for years… Mr Salvini’s party, the League, is furious, pointing out that the party won 34 per cent of the national vote in May’s European parliament elections and that it was polling as high as 39 per cent earlier this month. ‘Let’s hope that if a Democratic Party-Five Star government is formed, the people will rise up as soon as possible,’ said Alessandra Locatelli, a League minister.

“‘A government made up of Five Star and the Democrats will not correspond to the sentiment of the people,’ said Mr Salvini, who remains as interior minister and deputy prime minister in the lame duck administration…

“When he withdrew his support and declared the coalition dead this month, Mr Salvini’s hope was that the country would go to new elections, which would likely have crowned him prime minister as the head of a hard-Right coalition with the Brothers of Italy party. Giorgia Meloni, the head of Brothers of Italy, condemned the prospect of a Democratic Party-Five Star government, saying that it was contrary to the votes of millions of Italians.”

Interesting and frightening times for Italy.

Where Is the Catholic Church Going vis-à-vis the Jewish People?

The Algemeiner wrote on August 23:

“First Things is a conservative Catholic magazine with an intellectual influence beyond its small circulation. Its ‘ecumenism’ once meant outreach to evangelical Protestants, but also to Jews open to interfaith dialogue. Yet today, First Things is having an identity crisis not boding well for the future of Catholic-Jewish rapprochement.

“A manifesto published earlier this year, ‘The Dead Consensus,’ announced that the GOP, for the welfare of America, must embrace wholeheartedly the Trump era ‘nationalist’ foreign policy…

“First Things also ran a review that was sympathetic to Pope Pius IX’s 1858 decision to sanction the kidnapping and Catholic upbringing of a Jewish child, Edgardo Mortara, who had been secretly baptized by his teenage Catholic nurse. Authored by Dominican Professor of Theology at Boston’s St. John’s Seminary, Romanus Cessario, the article not only launched a pre-emptive attack on Steven Spielberg’s planned film about the Mortara case, but offered a spiritual encomium to Pius IX for green lighting the Mortara kidnapping…

“Alas, if First Things gives credence to Cessario’s preaching of a return to absolutist Catholicism, it has become the last thing that American Jews should embrace.”

We must watch the direction in which the Roman Catholic Church is heading.

Catholic Church Allowing for Salvation Apart from Christ?

Breitbart wrote on August 26:

“The Vatican has created a special committee to draw out the principles contained in the controversial Abu Dhabi document, signed last February by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar. The text was subsequently criticized by prominent theologians for ‘devaluing the person of Jesus’ and ‘undermining the gospel itself’ since it seemed to propose that God willed the existence of a plurality of religions just as he wills a plurality of sexes, races, and languages, rather than willing that all people find their salvation in Jesus Christ…

“At a later date, the pope seemed to walk back that passage, but he never requested to have it amended and the entire statement reads today just as it did last February. The joint declaration will now be the foundation and reference point for a committee set up for its implementation.”

The Bible teaches that we can ONLY inherit salvation through Jesus Christ. There is NO other way.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

Italy in Turmoil… Matteo Salvini the new “Il Duce”?

The Wall Street Journal wrote on August 20:

“Italy’s government collapsed, plunging the economically fragile country into deeper political turmoil…

“Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation in a speech to the Senate on Tuesday, blaming far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for causing a political crisis…

“If Italy holds early elections, Mr. Salvini could become the first leader of a major EU nation who comes from a self-described populist party to the right of Europe’s mainstream conservatives. Mr. Salvini [is] an avowed admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin…

“Mr. Conte, a nonparty premier… attacked Mr. Salvini for undermining the government in which Mr. Salvini has served as interior minister since June 2018. Mr. Salvini said on Aug. 8 that he wanted to ‘ask the Italians if they want to give me full powers.’ Some critics pointed out that Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini used a similar phrase to demand power in 1922…”

This ends Italy’s 65th government since World War II and Italy’s 14-month-old populist government.

AFP wrote on August 20:

“With his ‘Italians first’ rallying cry and his tub-thumping against Islam and illegal migrants, Matteo Salvini’s stint as Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister made him the country’s most popular and controversial politician… His blunt language has reminded some Italians of the Mussolini era in the 1920s and 30s, when minority groups were persecuted…

“Salvini has forged alliances with other far-right Europeans like France’s National Rally and Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders…

“Although happy to talk about his two children — 14-year-old Federico and Mirta, five — Salvini is less happy to discuss his complicated love life. His then girlfriend, model and TV presenter Elisa Isoardi, broke up with him in an announcement on Instagram last November… His children come from previous relationships, one with ex-wife Fabrizia Ieluzzi, a political journalist, and the other with former girlfriend Giulia Martinelli.”

Interestingly, Mussolini was also well known for his licentious lifestyle.

 The Guardian wrote on August 20:

“Conte… criticised the minister’s use of religious symbols in his constant campaigning across Italy, describing it is as ‘offensive to the faithful.’ Salvini kissed a rosary and retaliated in his response to Conte in the Senate, saying ‘I’ll ask the Madonna for protection for as long as I live’.”

Further parallels with Mussolini are striking. In order to appeal to the masses, Mussolini would pretend to be a devout Roman Catholic (which he clearly was not). Pope Francis recently criticized Salvini sharply for his Hitler-like rhetoric, which criticism Salvini dismissed.

In addressing the immediate future of Italy, the Guardian wrote on August 20:

“The president, Sergio Mattarella, is now calling the shots [and] has three options: immediately dissolve parliament and call a snap election; begin consultations with parties to see if a new parliamentary majority can be formed; or install a caretaker government to at least pass Italy’s budget for 2020.”

The Guardian added on August 22:

“Italy’s president has given the country’s main political parties four more days to negotiate the formation of an alternative government after [its] collapse… [He] said… that the crisis must be ‘resolved quickly’ and that without a solid majority the only other option would be new elections. [He] said he will host new consultations on Tuesday in order to ‘make the necessary decisions’.”

No Deal Brexit

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 18:

“A no-deal Brexit would jam British ports, leading to shortages in food, medicine and fuel, the latest United Kingdom government report suggested on Sunday. Leaked to the Sunday Times, the forecast warned that 85% of lorries using the main crossings between England and France ‘may not be ready’ for French customs. The report… said disruption at ports could last for three months, prompting a decrease in the fresh food supply. It says this could potentially lead to panic buying.”

Breitbart wrote on August 16:

“Johnson has insisted Britain will leave the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a deal, arguing that the ‘backstop’ arrangement to keep goods flowing smoothly between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland in the U.K. would bind his country to European trade rules and must be dropped from the Brexit agreement.

“Austria’s Brexit negotiator… accused Britain of failing to offer feasible alternative solutions to the Northern Ireland border issue… He noted that any new agreement would still need approval from British lawmakers and this is far from certain.”

Johnson announced that he is sure that Europe and Germany will buckle to avoid a no-deal Brexit. He may be wrong.

Reuters and the Algemeiner wrote on August 20:

“Johnson’s demand that the European Union reopen the Brexit divorce deal was rebuffed on Tuesday by the bloc, which said the UK had failed to propose any realistic alternative to an agreed insurance policy for the Irish border. After more than three years of Brexit crisis, the United Kingdom is heading towards a showdown with the EU as Johnson has vowed to leave the bloc on Oct. 31 without a deal unless it agrees to renegotiate the divorce terms…

“Britain’s pound, sensitive to the prospects of a no-deal departure, promptly fell to near three-year lows against the euro and the US dollar.”

Deutsche Welle added on August 22:

“French President Emmanuel Macron put the brakes on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s bid to reopen Brexit negotiations, saying on Thursday that there was not enough time to find a new withdrawal agreement by the October 31 divorce deadline.”

Gibraltar Defies the USA

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 18:

“Gibraltar authorities have rejected a US warrant to seize an Iranian tanker that was previously detained by UK troops…

“Gibraltar’s Supreme Court… lifted the detention order on Thursday, citing Iran’s guarantees that the ship ‘was never destined to an EU-sanctioned entity.’”

Gibraltar officials said that US sanctions against Iran did not apply in the EU.

EU to Oppose Trump?

Project Syndicate wrote on August 19:

“With Donald Trump due to visit Europe again for the G7 summit later this month, European leaders have run out of options for dealing with the US president. They have tried to charm him, persuade him, ignore him, or agree to disagree with him… The only alternative, therefore, is to oppose him…

“It is important to call these actions what they are: the personal decisions of an… individual, not the result of legislative action or the outcome of any semblance of public deliberation. Remarkably, 230 years after its constitution was adopted, the United States suffers from one-man rule… He must be opposed, not appeased… his… actions… will increasingly threaten Europe’s economy and security… Any enemy of the Union – such as Johnson, Italy’s Matteo Salvini, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – is therefore a friend of Trump…

“Europe’s leaders… should recognize that a significant majority of Americans also oppose Trump’s… behavior…”

Trump Cancels Trip to Denmark

BBC News wrote on August 21:

“Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says she is ‘annoyed’ at Donald Trump’s decision to cancel his visit after being told Greenland was not for sale. ‘Our preparations were well under way,’ she said, adding she had been looking forward to meeting the US president… Mr Trump was scheduled to visit on 2 September at the invitation of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II.

 “[Fredriksen] said despite this, the US was one of Denmark’s closest allies, and that the president’s two-day visit would have been an ‘opportunity to celebrate Denmark’s close relationship to the US’…

“While praising Denmark as a ‘very special country’, Mr Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that his planned visit would no longer go ahead because Ms Frederiksen had ‘no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland’.

“The cancellation of what was considered an important state visit in Denmark was described as a ‘farce’ by the leader of the populist Danish People’s Party, Kristian Thulesen Dahl…

“Former foreign minister Kristian Jensen said Mr Trump’s move had resulted in ‘total chaos’. Pia Kjaersgaard, the populist former speaker of the Danish parliament, said it showed a ‘complete lack of respect’, adding: ‘Rude behaviour to the Danish people and the Queen, who invited him.’

“Danish royal expert and historian Lars Hovbakke Sorensen said the whole episode was ‘very strange… This is a violation of all traditions and etiquettes…’”

The Guardian wrote on August 21:

“So what do people in Denmark think about Trump’s decision to call off his trip to the country? Not much, it seems – with one former Danish foreign minister comparing Trump to ‘a clown in a circus’…”

Trump’s behavior disassociates the USA from even most of its closest European allies.

Trump—King of Israel and Second Coming of God?

Sputnik News wrote on August 21:

“US President Donald Trump has once again demonstrated his uncanny knack for riling up social media after he thanked American conservative author and radio host Wayne Allyn Root for declaring him ‘the greatest president for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world.’ In a recent tweet, the US president quoted Root as saying that the ‘Jewish people in Israel’ love Trump ‘like he’s the King of Israel’ and ‘like he’s the second coming of God’, though ‘American Jews don’t know him or like him.’ ‘Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words,’ Trump wrote, describing the praise heaped upon him simply as ‘wow!’”

Trump’s approval of such blasphemous descriptions about him is very dangerous. Note Acts 12:20-23.

Trump had tweeted before that American Jews who vote for Democrats are guilty of “total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty”. Over 70% voted for the Democrats in the last presidential election, and nearly 80% voted for Democrats in the Midterm election.  

JTA reported on August 21:

“Mainstream and left-wing Jewish groups called out President Donald Trump as ‘dangerous’ and displaying ‘textbook anti-Semitism.’… Meanwhile, the Republican Jewish Coalition [representing less than 20% of American Jews] defended Trump’s comments.”

“I am the Chosen One”

“President Trump, when asked about his ongoing trade war with China, deemed himself ‘the chosen one’ when talking with reporters outside the White House on Wednesday. As Trump put it, when it comes to dealing with China’s trade practices, ‘somebody had to do it.’ He then added ‘I am the chosen one’ as he looked up to the sky.”

In fact, he spread his arms and looked up to heaven. There was no mistaking the fact as to what he was indicating. This is QUITE serious!

Rift with Israel?

The Washington Post wrote on August 17, in regard to Netanyahu’s decision to bar entry of two US congresswomen, following the “advice” of Trump:

“For decades, Israel held a special place in American politics, with almost universal support. That has eroded over the past several years but seemed to disintegrate this week in a way that some fear could do irreparable damage… many hawks on Israel have found themselves in a position of having to release statements criticizing a nation they have long defended… Numerous Democrats said they worried about the long-term effects of politicizing the U.S.-Israel relationship…

“Israel is the greatest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, with the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding in 2016 outlining $38 billion in military aid for the next 10 years. Typically, Congress approves the funds on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis — but with Democrats such as Sanders [who is Jewish] calling that into question, the future is uncertain… A Pew survey released in April showed that the Israeli government was viewed negatively by 51 percent of Americans…

“Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic, with 71 percent in 2016 voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and 24 percent voting for Trump, according to exit polls… Many American Jews also have viewed Netanyahu as problematic and oppose some of his policies and his abandonment of a two-state Middle East solution… [One commentator said:] ‘This is a strategic blunder of epic proportions that Netanyahu and his advisers have made, turning Israel into a branch of the Republican Party. This is a tiny little country in a very bad neighborhood that needs all the friends it can get.’”

It was reported that Nancy Pelosi stated that the good relationship between the USA and Israel would continue regardless or in spite of Trump or Netanyahu. On the other hand, “Senior Democratic members of Congress are said to have launched discussions to formally censure the U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Jerusalem’s envoy in Washington over Israel’s decision to bar entry to [the two] congresswomen,” according to Breitbart.

Jordan Warns Israel over “Violations”

Fox News wrote on August 18:

“Jordan summoned Israel’s ambassador on Sunday in protest over what it called ‘violations’ at a Jerusalem holy site sacred to Muslim and Jewish people. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that the country delivered a ‘decisive letter’ to Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Amir Weissbrod, a letter that included a call ‘to immediately cease all Israeli violations and all Israeli attempts to change the historical, legal status’ at the site.

“Last week, a day of riots at the Jerusalem holy site, which Muslims have referred to as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and Jews have referred to as the Temple Mount, left at least four Israeli police officers and several Muslim and Jewish people injured, in the worst bout of fighting there in months…

“The diplomatic protest came days after Israel’s Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan told a radio station that the country should work toward Jews being allowed to pray at the holy site… Jordan’s foreign ministry reportedly expressed ‘the kingdom’s strong condemnation’ over Erdan’s statements. Jordan said the site was a ‘place of worship for Muslims only.’… Jewish people have been allowed to visit the site but are banned from praying there.

“Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi tweeted on Sunday, “Met… EU (European Union) ambassadors to stress urgency of effective Int’l (international) steps against Israel’s violations of Holy Sites in occupied… Jerusalem. These violations & others seeking to change status quo in Holy Sites violate Int’l law, deepen tensions.’”

Europe might in fact intervene here. Europe’s anti-Semitism and its antagonism towards Jewish rites are well-known and become more and more manifest. Note the next article.

Europe Moves Forward with Banning Traditional Slaughter of Animals

Politico wrote on August 20:

“From September 1, the French-speaking region of Wallonia will be the second Belgian authority after Flanders to ban halal and kosher slaughter…

“While traditional slaughter without stunning has already been banned in EU countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia, Belgium is turning into a critical test case of where the line lies in European law between animal welfare and religious freedom… This debate, though, has not always been exclusively about animal welfare.

“For some, there is a sense that far-right politicians in Flanders used animal suffering as a Trojan horse to push a populist anti-Muslim agenda… stating that the Muslim community was being targeted, with Jews left as the ‘collateral damage.’… Belgian Muslims and Jews feel like they are in the same boat… The gulf between animal rights activists and religious communities… could hardly be more stark.”

Al Aqsa and the Third Temple

Israel Today wrote on August 13:

“Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to reignite the situation primarily by issuing urgent warnings that Israel plans to divide the sacred plateau in preparation for rebuilding the Jewish Temple… The alleged conspiracy of the Jews against the Al Aqsa Mosque was first utilized a century ago by the Nazi-affiliated Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini… the Mufti sought to convince the Arab world that the Jews intended to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque and replace the Dome of the Rock with the Third Temple…

“By the late 1920s, clashes between Jews and Arabs near the Western Wall had increased greatly. On September 23 and 24, 1928, rioting Arabs attacked Jewish worshippers on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. The Mufti took advantage of the riots, claiming that the Jews were trying to seize control of the Temple Mount. He presented the British authorities with what he insisted was conclusive evidence that the Jews were trying to destroy Al Aqsa, which by that time Muslims had deemed their third holiest site.”

On the other hand, many Jews and evangelical Christians feel that the Third Temple would have to be built on exactly the place where Al Aqsa stands today.

The Red Heifer and the Third Temple

Israel Today wrote on August 7:

“… without the Red Heifer, the Temple can’t be rebuilt… Jews and Christians share the belief that when the Messiah will arrive, he will enter the Temple. So, for him to come, there must be a Temple… there are still enough who are doing everything they can to make all the necessary preparations for the building of the Third Temple, and that includes breeding red heifers and practicing the ceremonial burning of the calf.

“The Temple Institute has recently done just that: Experimenting with the meticulous rabbinic rituals surrounding the red heifer. The effort includes burning a dead cow on a kind of a wooden altar. Into the burning fire were also thrown cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet-dyed wool. The experiment was designed to check the amount of ash produced, and whether it would be enough to purify every Israelite living today.

“According to the Jewish Voice news portal, Prof. Zohar Amar of the Department of Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University took part in the experiment and described it as an historical moment. ‘For 2000 years we have been waiting for this moment,’ said Prof. Amar…”

Even though a red heifer is not a biblical requirement and prerequisite for animal sacrifices and the building of the Third Temple, this is what many (but by far not all) Jews believe.

Christians Celebrate “Jewish” Holidays… Why?

JTA wrote on August 19:

“On Aug. 10 and 11, many Jews worldwide observed the religious holiday of Tisha B’Av by fasting, praying and reading Bible passages related to the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians. Religious Jews have kept Tisha B’Av for centuries as a day of communal mourning. But this year they were joined by a growing number of evangelical Christians who now observe the holiday to lament the historical persecution of Jews by the church. The new Christian Tisha B’Av calls for penance for past misdeeds — most especially by growing Christian support for the state of Israel…

“Christians have observed Jewish holidays dating to the days of the New Testament, and holidays such as Pentecost, based on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, have remained fixtures on the Christian calendar.

“But today’s evangelicals and Pentecostals have built upon this long-standing practice in a distinctly modern way: by fusing religious observance, general support for Israel and public denunciations of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Christians are not only reviving Jewish holidays and practices in their own faith in recognition of the Jewish roots of Christianity. They also are responding to the seismic events in modern Jewish history, most especially the horrors of anti-Semitism, some of it perpetrated by Christians…

“One early pioneer, educator G. Douglas Young… denounced ‘supersessionism,’ the historical Christian teaching that God’s covenant with the Jewish people had been superseded by a new covenant with the church… Billy Graham also attacked anti-Semitic beliefs… Evangelicals in his orbit encouraged Christians to observe Jewish feast days to get in touch with the Hebrew roots of their faith…

“In 1979, hundreds of Christians — mostly American and European — celebrated the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in Jerusalem. The organizers chose Sukkot to gather in Jerusalem alongside Jews as a symbolic fulfillment of a prophecy in Zechariah that in preparation for the end of time, people from all nations ‘will go up year after year [to Jerusalem] to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.’

“The next year, a much larger group gathered to celebrate this feast… Christian Zionists used the second annual Feast of Tabernacles gathering to inaugurate the International Christian Embassy, the largest Christian Zionist organization operating today. This movement has blossomed since 1980…

“The ramifications for this could be huge, especially in the United States. Conservative evangelicals are the largest and most influential constituency in the Trump era… when it comes to Israel, and their success in deepening and broadening Christian Zionist activism through interreligious cooperation will define the future of U.S. support of Israel. This growing solidarity could have enormous political ramifications…”

These ramifications might include a collaboration between Israel and the USA under Trump to build the prophesied Third Temple on the Temple Mount.

“Our Socialist President?” – The Curse of Trump’s Trade War

The Week wrote on August 19:

“Railing against socialism.. is probably sound campaign strategy for the president. It’s also wildly duplicitous, as his administration’s own attempts to ameliorate the damage of his trade war are themselves the sort of redistribution critics of socialism decry…

“Many American farmers… have opposed the president’s trade war and the bailout Trump has offered to band-aid the damage… Federal funds may enable them to stay afloat in the short term, but the long-term disruption of trade patterns Trump has inflicted will be felt for years to come…

“Trump’s trade war is… making America more socialist, not less. By upending farmers’ trade relations, he is keeping them from the work they’d like to do. The subsidies are ‘substantial, but we cannot overstate the dire consequences that farmers and ranchers are facing in relation to lost export markets,’ Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau Federation said when the redistribution program was announced. Instead of payouts, Duvall insisted, farmers would prefer an ‘end to the trade war’ and ‘restor[ed] markets.’…”

Trying to Wish the Recession Away…

The Independent wrote on August 18:

“Donald Trump’s top economic adviser is scrambling to play down fears of a looming recession – after financial markets dropped sharply last week. Larry Kudlow predicted the economy will perform well in the second half of 2019, and said consumers are seeing higher wages so they can spend and save more… However, he played down fears of a recession in 2007 – just months before the worst financial crash since the Great Depression.

“… consumer confidence has dropped more than six per cent since July… Kudlow also defended the president’s tariffs on goods coming from China – despite his known opposition to them before joining Mr Trump’s administration.”

Obviously, Larry Kudlow is not the financial expert one should be listening to. Trump echoed Kudlow’s assessment, denying that there would be any recession. However, the signs of the times are grim and foreboding.

Many Business Economists Concerned about Coming Recession in 2020 or 2021

The Associated Press wrote on August 19:

“A number of U.S. business economists appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of President Donald Trump‘s economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021.

“Thirty-four percent of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report being released Monday, said they believe a slowing economy will tip into recession in 2021. That’s up from 25% in a survey taken in February. Only 2% of those polled expect a recession to begin this year, while 38% predict that it will occur in 2020. [To be clear, this means that 74% economists expect a recession in the U.S. in 2020 or 2021]…

“The financial markets last week signaled the possibility of a U.S. recession, adding to concerns over the ongoing trade tensions and word from Britain and Germany that their economies are shrinking…

“As a whole, the business economists’ recent responses have represented a rebuke of the Trump administration’s overall approach to the economy…”

“See No Recession, Hear No Recession, Speak No Recession.”

Agora Financial wrote on August 19:

“… this president finds himself in the strange position of praying the Federal Reserve can keep inflating the ‘big, fat, ugly bubble’ he was denouncing on the campaign trail in 2016 — at least long enough to ensure his reelection in 2020… Interest rates might be too low for cuts to make a difference. And the Fed’s balance sheet might be too big now to get blown up fivefold as it was from 2008–2014. That’s the bad news. The worse news is that rate cuts and renewed money printing might reinflate the ‘big, fat, ugly bubble’ — only to set us up for an even bigger collapse down the road.”

Money Week wrote on August 20:

“One of the more reliable recession indicators has signalled that a downturn is on its way. Earlier last week, after years of hovering threateningly on the threshold, the US yield curve finally inverted… when the curve inverts – namely, longer-term yields are below shorter-term ones – it implies that investors are very pessimistic… they expect low inflation, or even deflation, which tends to go hand in hand with recessions.”

cnbc wrote on August 21:

“The spread between the yield on the 10-year Treasury note and that of the 2-year note on Wednesday turned negative for the second time in one week, a recession warning that flashed for the first time since 2005 on Aug. 14.”

The Independent wrote on August 20:

“Donald Trump has said he will continue with his trade war with China even if it means the United States falling into recession. The president stressed that he thought the US was ‘very far’ from a recession but acknowledged that his administration was discussing a payroll tax cut, something that had previously been denied. He also called for further cuts in interest rates, saying: ‘If the Fed would do its job we would have a tremendous spirit of growth .. you would see a burst of growth like you’ve never seen before.’”

Really?

Germany Warns of Worldwide Recession

The Associated Press wrote on August 19:

“Germany, Europe’s industrial powerhouse and biggest economy, with companies like Volkswagen, Siemens and BASF, may be entering a recession, according to a gloomy report from the country’s central bank Monday — a development that could have repercussions for the rest of the eurozone and the United States… Deutsche Bank went further Monday, saying ‘we see Germany in a technical recession’…”

Syrians in Germany May Lose their Asylum Status

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 18:

“German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a tough response to Syrian refugees who leave Germany for holidays in their home country. ‘If somebody, a Syrian refugee, regularly takes holidays in Syria, he cannot honestly claim to be persecuted in Syria,’ Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag weekly. ‘We would have to strip him of his refugee status,’ he added…

“German officials are currently unable to deport people to Syria as the Middle Eastern country is considered unsafe. The ban is set to expire at the end of 2019, although there is an option to prolong it…

“Some 780,000 Syrians have migrated to Germany in recent years, fleeing the civil war, which started in 2011. The Syrian regime, led by President Bashar Assad, now controls most of Syria. The fighting and airstrikes continue in the nation’s northwest… Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives in the conflict.”

Stephen Miller’s Tough Stance on Immigration

The Washington Post wrote on August 18:

“Stephen Miller, Trump’s 33-year-old senior adviser… is writing the central plot of his presidency… In Trump, Miller has found a champion for his ideological goals. He is the singular force behind the Trump administration’s immigration agenda…

“Miller secured tighter immigration rules that can disqualify green-card applicants if they are poor or deemed likely to use public assistance, cutting off a pathway to U.S. citizenship for those immigrants who could become a burden on taxpayers, or ‘public charges.’ …

“He is dismissive of Kushner’s more moderate immigration views and efforts to forge compromise, other senior officials say, and Miller has questioned how much the president’s son-in-law knows about the topic…

“Miller urged the president to… end… the U.S. family-based immigration model, which the White House calls ‘chain migration.’… Miller helped devise the ‘zero tolerance’ prosecution effort with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions… During a span of six weeks, border agents took children away from migrant parents and sent the adults to court for prosecution. At least 2,600 families were separated until public outrage forced the president to back down.

“Miller defended the separations and had encouraged the president to enact them — telling others in the West Wing they would prove to be a migration deterrent. Trump soon realized it was a ‘PR nightmare’… and blamed Miller. The president also grew frustrated with Miller over the botched implementation of the travel ban in the first weeks of the administration. Miller is among the few administration officials who continue to defend zero-tolerance separations today, insisting the approach would have worked if the policy had continued.

“Miller is obsessed… with boosting deportations. Early in the tenure, he tried to persuade Kelly, as DHS chief, to deport anyone here illegally. Kelly wanted to focus on criminal felons, frustrating Miller…”

As long as Miller has a free hand and the ear of the President, we can expect even worse things to happen in the immigration field.

Further Lawsuits Against Trump’s New Public Charge Immigration Rule

The Hill wrote on August 20:

“New York State… on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against proposed new rules expanding the kinds of public aid immigrants can potentially be denied a green card for receiving… Connecticut and Vermont’s respective state attorneys general [also filed]. Thirteen other states [Fox News says, more than 15 states] had already filed a suit against the proposed change last week.

“The rule would add Medicaid and food stamps to the list of programs whose past recipients could be deemed a ‘public charge,’ potentially jeopardizing their ability to become citizens…

“[New York’s attorney general] argues that [the proposed rule] contravenes ‘a century’s worth of case law,’ writing that, historically, immigrants who rely on noncash benefits cannot be considered public charges. ‘Finally, the rule fundamentally misunderstands that these non-cash programs are designed to help immigrants who arrive in this country with limited means move out of poverty and achieve upward mobility.’”

NBC News added on August 20:

“Under the new rule, officials can deem immigrants seeking to change their legal immigration status and who are enrolled in publicly funded programs such as food stamps and public health insurance as a ‘public charge,’ meaning they will likely use public benefits in the future. Once labeled a ‘public charge,’ immigrants would be denied green cards, visas and other forms of legal immigration status…

“Many families eligible to receive public benefits have dropped out of certain government programs or barred themselves from applying for assistance since a draft of the ‘public charge’ rule was leaked last year…

“In the lawsuit [the three attorney generals] say the administration arbitrarily extended the ‘public charge’ bar in a way that violates equal protection rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution…

“Over 60 lawsuits have been filed to block the public charge rule, including by New Mexico, Colorado, Rhode Island, Maine, Maryland and Massachusetts, said [New York attorney general Letita] James during a press conference Tuesday morning.”

Fox News added:

“The rules would go into effect in October [on October 15], but the legal challengers seek a nationwide injunction blocking enforcement until the cases are fully litigated.”

Inasmuch as these new rules are fundamentally wrong and unbiblical, let us all pray that they will be overturned.

Further Dangerous Trump Immigration Rules and Proposals

The Guardian wrote on August 21:

“The Trump rule change on detaining immigrant families will be published this week in the Federal Register, and would take effect 60 days later, the New York Times reports… Under the new rule, the administration would be free to send families who are caught crossing the border illegally to a family residential center to be held for as long as it takes for their immigration cases to be decided. Officials said families cases could be resolved within three months, though many could drag on much longer. (If past experience is a guide, it could last for YEARS.)

“Trump administration officials… said that many of the families would be detained until they were either released after being awarded asylum or they were deported to their home countries… Currently the government may not detain children for more than 20 days unless they are detained in a state facility. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two largest facilities designed to house families, both in Texas, aren’t licensed to house children beyond 20 days. ‘To circumvent that requirement,’ the Journal wrote: ‘The new set of rules would enable the Department of Homeland Security to create its own licensing system, effectively allowing the government to house families in any of its detention facilities through their court proceedings, until they are either granted asylum, paroled into the US or deported.’… The rule is expected to be challenged in court, but adds to the raft of anti-immigration measures Trump is attempting to enforce.”

The Week reported on August 21:

“President Trump hasn’t given up on his plan to end birthright citizenship. Trump said… last October that he planned to sign an executive order ending the right of citizenship to every child born in the United States, and although he never ended up doing so, 10 months later, he once again said he’s considering it. ‘We’re looking at that very seriously,’ Trump said Wednesday…

“When Trump raised the idea of ending birthright citizenship by way of an executive order last year, he drew plenty of criticism from his fellow Republicans, including then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said the president ‘obviously’ can’t do that, considering it’s a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment and the ‘14th Amendment is pretty clear.’ Trump quickly shot back at Ryan, claiming the speaker was commenting on an issue he ‘knows nothing about.’ Trump also insisted that the 14th Amendment doesn’t actually cover birthright citizenship and that it ‘will be ended one way or the other.’”

As we mentioned before, Trump’s dangerous anti-immigration measures are intended to change the very fabric of American ideals and goals… but in no way for the better.

The End of a Love Affair—Trump Trashes Fox News

Mediaite wrote on August 18, 2019:

“President Donald Trump went on a tear against Fox News… Trump said, ‘Fox is a lot different than it used to be…And I’m not happy with it… I think Fox is making a big mistake because, you know, I’m the one that calls the shots on that — on the really big debates. I guess we’re probably planning on three of them…’

“He went on to give shout-outs to Fox News personalities like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs and Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro and ‘even Greg Gutfeld.’”

AFP added on August 18:

“[Trump said:] ‘Watching Fake News CNN is better than watching Shepard Smith…”

Shepard Smith has been a constant critic of Donald Trump, and so have been other highly profiled and popular Fox moderators. Smith, who is openly gay, famously said in 2015 when Trump was running for the Presidency: “Somebody needs to come up and remind them [Trump and his supporters] what this nation is and what we’re about and how we dream and the way we were founded and what our Constitution is. He’s not representing any of that. He’s representing the worst, darkest part of all that is America.”

The Daily Beast wrote on August 20:

“Toward the end of his Fox News broadcast on Monday evening, Special Report anchor Bret Baier responded to President Trump’s recent criticism of the network’s polling, which shows him trailing every major Democratic candidate in hypothetical head-to-head matchups… ‘Fox has not changed,’ Baier said…

“‘We have a news side and an opinion side. Opinion folks express their opinions. We do polls.’ After explaining that Fox’s polls reflect the reality of the race at this moment, the anchor said, ‘Mr. President, we’ve invited you on Special Report many times. We’d love to have you back on. You’ve talked to George Stephanopoulos and Chuck Todd. Come on back. Me, Chris Wallace, the news side cover it fair, balanced, and unafraid.’”

Russia’s Nuclear Catastrophe None of Our Business?

The Daily Beast wrote on August 20:

“Russia has told the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization that the nuclear-reactor explosion at a White Sea missile test site in early August is none of their business. The news came as two additional Russian monitoring stations designed to warn about nuclear radiation threats have gone silent after the mysterious Aug. 8 blast at the site this month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Four monitoring stations are now down, which is alarming experts who suspect Russia is attempting to cover up what really happened and keep details about the weapon being tested under wraps…”

Putin’s remarks reflect the sayings of a true dictator and despot who does not care about the lives of others.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.

US Threatens to Withdraw Troops from Germany

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 9:

“The United States is considering withdrawing some of the US troops stationed in Germany, with Poland mooted as a possible new deployment, the US ambassador to Germany has said. The threat of withdrawal comes amid ongoing differences between Berlin and Washington over Germany’s contribution to NATO and a current spat caused by the German refusal to take part in a US-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf.

“‘It is actually offensive to assume that the US taxpayer must continue to pay to have 50,000-plus Americans in Germany, but the Germans get to spend their surplus on domestic programs,’ US Ambassador Richard Grenell told the DPA news agency, in comments carried widely by German media on Friday. His remarks come after the US ambassador to Poland, Georgette Mosbacher, tweeted that her country would be happy for the American troops in Germany to move there instead…

“Germany is the European country where most US troops are posted, with 35,000 soldiers deployed there along with 17,000 American civilians employed by the US military. Some 12,000 German civilians also work in jobs connected with the deployment. Rumors that the US might be considering a partial pullout of troops from Germany have long been rife, with the US administration under Donald Trump often voicing anger that Berlin is not contributing enough to NATO. Germany intends to spend 1.36% of GDP on defense this coming year, an amount that, while marking a strong increase, is still well under NATO’s 2% goal for member states. Although the government says it wants to increase the current figure to 1.5% by 2024, the financial planning for 2023 envisages spending only 1.24% of GDP on the military.

“Grenell’s comments come shortly after Germany sparked Washington’s ire by refusing to take part in a US-led operation in the Strait of Hormuz to protect trading vessels from Iranian aggression and rejecting a US request to send ground troops to fight the extremist group ‘Islamic State.’ They also come ahead of Trump’s twin trips to Europe at the end of August — with neither trip including a visit to Germany.

“The first will take Trump to the G7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz, where he will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The second, from August 31 to September 3, will see him visiting Denmark and Poland. Among other things, both these countries share Washington’s opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that has been strongly promoted by Germany.”

DPA added on August 9:

“Germany is host to the largest number of US troops in Europe and has the largest contingent of US troops abroad after Japan. US command centres for its troops in Europe and Africa are in Stuttgart and the most important US air base in Europe is at Ramstein in the south-west of the country. The southern state of Bavaria is home to one of the largest US military exercise grounds in Grafenwoehr.”

The German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on August 9 that even though the cost of deployment is now mainly borne by the US Armed Forces, the German government annually allocates about 50 million euros, and Germany has passed more than 100 properties to the American Armed Forces at no charge, which spared the US an estimated sum of almost 600 million euros per year.

The Algemeiner and Reuters wrote on August 10:

“U.S. complaints about Germany’s defense spending pre-date Trump but relations with the United States have deteriorated since he became president… It is believed the United States also has nuclear warheads in Germany.”

The once more or less friendly relationship between the US and Germany is deteriorating by the week, if not by the day. Core Europe under German leadership will react by building their own powerful united army with nuclear weapons.

Russia’s Nuclear Catastrophe

AFP wrote on August 12:

“Russia’s nuclear agency chief on Monday confirmed that five scientists killed last week were developing ‘new weapons’ and vowed to continue testing despite the explosion… The explosion caused a spike in radiation levels… The missile was being tested on a platform at sea when its fuel caught fire and caused an explosion… Several staff were blown into the sea by the blast… The military did not initially say that the accident involved nuclear equipment… But the nearby city of Severodvinsk recorded elevated levels following the accident and panicked residents rushed to buy iodine to counteract radiation…

“Last month, 14 Russian navy officers were killed in a fire on a top-secret nuclear-powered submersible in circumstances that have not been fully revealed.”

The most recent incident has been compared to the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Nuclear catastrophes like these, caused by unscrupulous power-hungry war-mongering politicians and corrupt governments, will ultimately contribute to the prophesied destruction of mankind, if it weren’t for the fact that Jesus will return in time to stop man’s Satan-inspired madness and save some from utter annihilation and extinction.

The Dayton Ohio Murderer and Satanism

The Daily Mail wrote on August 9:

“Connor Betts gunned down nine people and injured dozens more in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday. Now DailyMail.com has obtained chilling notebook scrawls by the 24-year-old who had an appetite for murder, drugs and Satanism…

“Betts’ rambling contributions, written around 2017, include a Satanic pentagram with the words ‘Hail Lucifer’ and numerous references to death and murder. The warped loner declares himself a servant of ‘evil incarnate’ and rants about everything from schizophrenia to satanic rituals and massacres.

“The pages read in part: ‘I am the servant of the serpent evil incarnate, flesh consumer, light destroyer, fueled by hate, rage my strength, distrust my shield’… ‘I am Azrael and this is my human Connor’… ‘Beasts of darkness called upon from fiery pits. Armies massing, soon to shed blood,’ it reads.”

Clearly, we are dealing here with a deranged murderer who gave himself over to and was used by Satan and his demons to carry out his despicable and cowardly acts. Scientists, medical doctors and “experts,” the police, governmental agencies and the media simply do not understand what is going on, and so they try to “interpret” any involvement with Satanism as just a symptom of a “sick” mind. Nothing could be further from the truth. View our StandingWatch program, title, “Is There No Solution to Violence and Mass Shootings?”

El Paso Mass Murderer Driven by Hate of Mexicans

The Associated Press reported on August 9:

“The man accused of carrying out last weekend’s deadly mass shooting at a Walmart in the Texas border city of El Paso confessed to officers while he was surrendering and later explained that he had been targeting Mexicans, authorities say… Twenty-two people were killed and about two dozen were injured. Most of the dead had Hispanic last names and eight were Mexican nationals.

“Authorities believe that shortly before the attack, Crusius posted a racist screed online that railed against an influx of Hispanics into the U.S. The document parrots some of President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric about immigration, but the writer said his views predate Trump’s rise and that any attempt to blame the president for his actions was ‘fake news.’ Many El Paso residents, protesters and Democrats have blasted Trump over his incendiary words, blaming Trump for inflaming political and racial tensions throughout the country… Authorities say Crusius drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to carry out the shooting in the largely Latino border city of El Paso…”

This murderous attack was apparently carefully planned, and his hatred developed over time. Satan is the murderer from the beginning. It is clear to us that he was behind this attack.

Evangelicals and their God-Given Right to Bear Arms?

The Week wrote on August 11:

“For those who profess to follow the Prince of Peace, the support for sensible gun control regulations might seem like a proper Christian response to the ongoing slaughter of innocent Americans… Yet, in the wake of the deadly attacks in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton that left more than 30 dead, conservative religious leaders instead are doubling down on what they argue is their ‘God-given right’ to bear arms, a message the NRA has been all-too-happy to promote…

“41 percent of white evangelicals own a gun… Influential evangelical leaders have supported gun ownership and advocated for its growth among fellow believers. After a gunman murdered 26 worshippers at a rural Southern Baptist church in Texas in 2017, Jeffress told Fox News he felt particularly safe preaching at First Baptist Dallas knowing that so many of his congregants brought guns with them to church. In 2015, following the massacre in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people, Jerry Falwell, Jr., exhorted students during a convocation at Liberty University to get concealed weapons permits and carry guns on campus…

“Around the world, various countries have shown that tough gun laws can diminish and even prevent gun violence. God help the nation that won’t take similar steps for its own citizens.”

Regarding the highly controversial subject of gun violence, please see our recent StandingWatch program, tilted, “Is There No Solution to Violence and Mass Shootings?”

The Past Persecution of Jews in Rome and throughout Italy

Times of Israel wrote on August 7:

“[The] Arch of Titus [in Rome is] the first-century structure associated with tragedy in Jewish history. It was built in 81 CE in honor of Titus, the Roman emperor who viciously put down a Jewish rebellion, leading to the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70. We felt especially moved to be there on the 17th of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the breach of the walls of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, initiating the siege that led to widespread death and destruction among the Jews, and the fall of the holy site three weeks later on Tisha b’Av (the 9th of Av)… Most poignant was witnessing the famous carvings on the arch marking the triumphal procession of the Roman soldiers, carrying off the spoils of war, including sacred items from the Temple. The largest shown is the menorah, carved in deep relief. One shudders to imagine the scene depicted on the arch, showing some of the estimated 200,000 Jews who were captured in Jerusalem and brought to Rome to be sold into slavery, as they were being marched past hostile, taunting crowds.

“… the nearby Colosseum [is] the most dramatic and popular symbol of the Roman Empire, completed in the year 80 by Titus, and ‘financed with the spoils of the Jewish War of 70,’ according to a visitors’ guide at the site. It was there that up to 75,000 people would fill the largest of the empire’s amphitheaters to witness a full day of animal hunts, public executions and fight-to-the-death contests between gladiators.

“Throughout our visit to Italy, we learned of the ghettos where Jews were confined and mistreated, of the centuries of persecution Jews suffered from the Church, and, in the 20th century, from the fascists and Nazis…

“We came away with a deeper appreciation of how, over time, Italian Jews were able to withstand periods of prejudice and persecution from the Church, as well as from fascism and racial laws from the Mussolini government in the 1930s that contributed to Nazi deportations during World War II. About 15 percent of the 44,500 Jews living there at the time were murdered in the Holocaust… the remaining Jewish population, believed to be about 45,000, faces the great challenge of maintaining Judaism and Jewish life in an open society with dramatic levels of assimilation…”

Sadly, we will experience very soon in Italy and throughout continental Europe renewed gruesome persecutions of Jews and especially of those Christians who will be viewed as “Jewish,” due to their observance of God’s commandments such as keeping the weekly Sabbath, God’s annual Holy Days or the abstention from unclean meat, while refusing to keep paganized “Christian” holidays such as Christmas or Easter. This is described in the Book of Revelation as the opening of the fifth seal. Many will compromise and try to “assimilate” to keep alive, thereby accepting the “mark of the beast,” but in doing so, they will incur the seven last plagues of the wrath of God.

Turmoil and Violence on the Temple Mount

The Times of Israel wrote on August 11:

“Clashes broke out between Muslim protesters and Israeli police forces on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount holy site on Sunday, during a period of peak religious tensions over the confluence of Jewish and Muslim holy days… Sunday marks both the start of Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday commemorating the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, and the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av, when Jews mourn the destruction of the temples that once stood on the Temple Mount and other disasters in Jewish history…

“On Friday, the Muslim Waqf trust, which oversees the site, urged Muslim worshipers to crowd the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount to keep Jews from visiting, after police said they would consider allowing non-Muslims to visit the holy site… Likud Knesset Member Yehudah Glick, another Temple Mount activist, called the Waqf’s move a “cheap provocation.”

The Associated Press wrote on August 11:

“Jewish extremists have called for destroying the [Al-Aqsa] mosque and rebuilding the Biblical temple… The compound is in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip…

“Israel views all of Jerusalem as its unified capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israeli-Palestinian tensions have spiked following President Donald Trump’s decision in 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy there.”

Reuters and The Algemeiner wrote on August 11:

“Israeli police fired sound grenades to disperse Palestinians during confrontations on Sunday outside Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque where tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers gathered for the Eid al-Adha holiday… Facing off with police in the packed compound outside Islam’s third-holiest site, Palestinians chanted, ‘With our soul and blood we will redeem you, Aqsa.’…

“Revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, the site of two biblical Jewish temples, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, the area is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…”

Changing the Status Quo?

The Algemeiner wrote on August 13:

“Israel’s interior security minister endorsed changing the status quo on the Temple Mount in an interview on Tuesday, calling it an ‘injustice’ that Jews are allowed to enter the holy site but are prohibited from praying…

“Erdan — a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — declared that the status quo should be changed ‘in order that Jews in the future can pray on the Temple Mount, which is the holiest place to the Jewish people…’”

This occasional violence on the Temple Mount, which would increase if the status quo is changed, is nothing in comparison to that kind of turmoil which will ensue when the Jews begin to build the Third Temple and offer animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount. Dozens of Scriptures teach the fact that the Jews will begin to build a Temple prior to Christ’s Return. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People” and “How Can We Know that Christ’s Return Is Near?” 

Palestinians the Modern-Day Canaanites?

The Times of Israel wrote on August 13:

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas… contended that Palestinians are the original inhabitants of the region [of the West Bank] according to the Biblical history… ‘We are the Canaanites,’ he added…

“Abbas’s reference to the Canaanites, an ancient people who predated the Israelites’ settling of Canaan, according to the Biblical narrative, came in response to recent comments by Netanyahu that Palestinians only recently arrived in the area… Netanyahu said in early July that the ancestors of the Palestinians came from the Arabian Peninsula… [appearing] to back the theory that the biblical Philistines came from somewhere other than the Middle East… Abbas also said that despite the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the city belongs to the Palestinians.”

Abba’s comments regarding the Canaanites do not give him any favors. Canaan was the son of Ham, one of the three sons of Noah. Shem was white, Ham was black, and Japheth was yellow. From the website, “Got Questions?”, under “Who were the Canaanites?”:

“The Canaanites are mentioned over 150 times in the Bible. They were a wicked, idolatrous people… Canaan was cursed because of his… sin against Noah… The land of Canaan was the land God promised to give to Abraham’s descendants… The Canaanites are described in the Bible as a large and fierce people, not easily defeated, so the Israelites would need divine help to come against them, defeat them, and take their land away. God promised Moses and Joshua that help…”

Omar and Tlaib Refused Entry to Israel–Netanyahu Takes Big Loss in Following Trump’s Advice

NBC News wrote on August 15:

“Netanyahu… had to make Israel look bad to make Trump happy. In doing so, he handed his critics around the world pallets full of rhetorical ammunition…

“The move was deemed bad enough for Israel — harmful enough to that country — that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is usually as close to Netanyahu as his suit, softly but publicly disagreed with it.

“… as Omar and Tlaib made plans to visit Israel and Palestinian territory this month, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, said that they should not have a problem gaining entry.

“Trump didn’t agree. ‘It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit,’ Trump tweeted Thursday morning… ‘They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds.’”

As far as we know, that is the first time in American history that an American President is asking a foreign country to deny entry of American members of Congress. The many critics of Israel were given ample opportunity now to question Israel’s democracy.

The Plight of Migrants in the Mediterranean Sea

Fox News wrote on August 9:

“Richard Gere on Friday boarded a Spanish humanitarian ship that has been stuck in the Mediterranean Sea for more than a week because no European government will welcome the 121 migrants who are aboard. In a bid to draw attention to the standoff, Gere boarded the Open Arms some 27 nautical miles off Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island. The vessel, which faces a fine of up to 1 million euros if it enters Italian waters, has been idle for eight days…

“Italy’s firebrand Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is popular for his hardline stance against migrant arrivals and who this week plunged Italy into a political crisis, mocked Gere on Twitter… Such standoffs have persisted over the last 14 months since Italy’s populist government took office and Salvini became interior minister…

“He… raised the stakes this week by winning parliamentary approval for a new security decree that increased fines on ships entering Italian waters without permission to 1 million euros from 50,000 euros. Migrant arrivals in Italy are down dramatically to some 4,042 so far this year, down 78% from last year’s 18,897 and 96% from 96,847 in 2017. Many migrants continue to arrive on their own in Lampedusa, often from Tunisia, despite Salvini’s campaign against humanitarian rescue ships.”

Standoff over Stranded Immigrants Temporarily Resolved–Salvini Strongly Criticized

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 15:

“The latest standoff over immigration in the Mediterranean appeared to be resolved on Thursday after six European Union countries agreed to take in asylum-seekers who are stuck on a rescue vessel off Italy. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the move in an open letter to far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who refused to allow them to disembark. ‘France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg have told me that they are ready to welcome the migrants,’ Conte wrote in the letter.

“Some 150 people were picked up by the Spanish charity ship, Open Arms, off the coast of Libya in early August. They were taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa, but have been stuck on the vessel for two weeks after being blocked from docking.

“The Italian premier also strongly criticized Salvini in the letter, saying that the minister is focusing too much on migration and reducing the complex issue to a simple solution of closing ports in order to score political points. ‘If we really want to protect ‘national interests,’ we cannot limit ourselves to representing positions of absolute stubbornness,’ Conte said.”

Salvini becomes more and more popular in Italy, as the next article shows. Will Europe finally intervene and do something about this dangerous development, also in light of Salvini’s inhumane conduct towards migrants? Or will other European countries embrace Salvini by moving themselves to the extreme right?

Salvini Demands New Elections

In reference to Italy’s political crisis, as mentioned in the article above, Fox News elaborated on August 9:

“Italian Deputy Prime minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the country’s largest nationalist party, demanded a snap election Thursday — a move that almost certainly dooms the fragile governing coalition and could see Salvini’s party move from a coalition partner to Italy’s sole governing party… Salvini needs at least 40 percent of seats in an election to form a government. If the League does not achieve that, it could ally up with the right-wing Brothers of Italy or former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia… to get over the line…

“Should that go as Salvini hopes, and the League govern by itself, it would certainly shift the country even more to the right on issues such as immigration, E.U. relations and taxes — and mark a significant win for the right-wing, nationalist-populist movement sweeping through the continent since the 2015 migration crisis.”

Salvini and Berlusconi… what a combination! Deeply concerning parallels to Italy under right-wing nationalist “Il Duce” Benito Mussolini come to mind. Bild Online quoted financial experts as saying that an Italian government under confrontational Salvini would also mean an economic catastrophe for Europe. Italy—the third-greatest economy in Europe—is already the European country with the second-highest debt, after Greece, with virtually no economic growth. Analysts feel that Salvini’s current politics as Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are largely responsible for Italy’s precarious situation.

Pope Warns Against Salvini

The Washington Post wrote on August 9:

“Pope Francis called for a united Europe in an interview published by Italian daily La Stampa on Friday, saying recent political rhetoric has echoed that of Nazi Germany. ‘I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934,’ he said… It is not the first time the pontiff has made such remarks, but his comments published Friday came as Italy’s populist government appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

“In January 2017, in response to a question about populism, Francis told Spain’s El Pais that before World War II, there was ‘a people who were immersed in a crisis, who were searching for their identity until this charismatic leader came and promised to give their identity back, and he gave them a distorted identity, and we all know what happened.’… But if he’s now trying to appeal to Salvini, his calls may not find a receptive audience. Salvini has openly criticized the pope…”

It is interesting that the relationship between Mussolini and the Popes was very contentious.

The “Double Talk” of Boris Johnson—the Political Chameleon

The Week wrote on August 10:

“Husky and blond, he’s a larger-than-life character who spouts Shakespeare and Latin but can’t seem to comb his unruly hair or arrive anywhere on time… Twice divorced, with four kids by the wife he left last year, he has another child out of wedlock, and at least one of his mistresses had an abortion. When he moved into 10 Downing Street last week, he brought his current flame, the PR agent Carrie Symonds, 31, and the two became the first unmarried couple ever to live in the prime minister’s residence. A brilliant and wildly entertaining writer and speaker, Johnson has been a columnist, member of Parliament, mayor of London, and foreign minister, yet his policy achievements are thin. The British regard him either as a buffoon or as a refreshing rebel against political correctness… Yet no matter his sins, he always manages to get a pass…

“During the campaign leading up to the 2016 referendum on leaving the EU, Johnson recognized that many Britons felt deep resentment over the erosion of national identity and unimpeded influx of foreign labor. So he abandoned his pro-Europe, pro-immigration mayoral persona and broke with his party leader, then–Prime Minister David Cameron, to become the face of Vote Leave. ‘Johnson’s a political chameleon,’ says his biographer, Sonia Purnell. ‘There are no core beliefs, no values, just instincts.’… But when Leave won and Cameron resigned, Johnson appeared shocked and paralyzed. He withdrew from the running for prime minister, and compromise candidate Theresa May won. May surprised many by appointing him foreign minister, and Johnson made a mess of it.

“… when May presented a deal that would keep the U.K. closely bound to the EU, he resigned in protest. That stance positioned him as the hard-Brexit favorite to succeed May when she resigned without an agreement last month… Johnson insists that he will renegotiate a deal with Brussels that gets rid of the dreaded ‘Irish backstop.’ This is the provision that requires the U.K. to stay in the EU customs union as long as necessary to avoid a hard border between EU-member Ireland and the U.K. region Northern Ireland. The EU says May’s deal can’t be changed…

“If there is no better deal, Johnson says he will crash the U.K. out of the union with no deal by the October 31 deadline — an option many warn would cause economic chaos and a British recession… With his ‘record of double-talk, about-turn, and mendacity,’ says The Guardian‘s Simon Jenkins, Johnson can be relied upon only to deliver something other than what he promised.”

Interesting times for Britain are awaiting us…

Boris Johnson: EU Same Goal as Hitler to Create European Superstate

Breaking Israel News wrote on August 12:

“In an interview with the Telegraph back in 2016, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that ‘the European Union is pursuing a similar goal to Hitler in trying to create a powerful superstate.’ He also warned [that] although politicians in Brussels are implementing ‘different methods’ than those of the Nazi dictator, they both have the same goal of a united Europe under one authority… In the same interview, Johnson explains: ‘The euro has become a means by which superior German productivity is able to gain an absolutely unbeatable advantage over the whole eurozone.’…

“Eitan Meir, of the pro-Israel Im Tirtzu organization, said: ‘EU has an unhealthy obsession with Israel. They are certainly one of the largest funders of propaganda used to undermine the state of Israel. They are behind all of the NGOs waging legal warfare against Israel in Gaza and are behind the NGOs accusing Israel of ethnically cleansing the Negev of Bedouins’…

“Some lesser-known recipients of EU funding include the Ma’an Network, who published a video showing terrorist attacks against Israelis, accompanied by a Hebrew song with the lyrics ‘I will clean my country of every Jew’… The European governing body funds a wide array of Antisemitic and pro-BDS organizations including Miftah,  EIDHR and The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)…”

The double-talk of the EU and their real anti-Israel politics will become much clearer as time progresses.

Most Brits for No-Deal Brexit

Breitbart wrote on August 11:

“The poll by Opinium published on Saturday revealed that a no-deal Brexit had a 17-point lead over the next most popular option, cancelling Brexit… 46 per cent of respondents said [Boris Johnson]  should ‘go ahead with Brexit on October 31st even if it means leaving with ‘no deal”’.

“Just 12 per cent back Mr Johnson delaying Brexit for a third time ‘until we can negotiate a deal that can pass the House of Commons’, and less than one-third, 29 per cent, said he should ‘cancel Brexit and decide to remain in the European Union after all.’…

“The poll also revealed that Britons are becoming increasingly convinced that the UK will leave the EU on the planned exit date, with 61 per cent believing that Mr Johnson will make good on his promise, up from 53 per cent two weeks ago…

“Johnson is expected to return to the House of Commons in September after the summer recess to face the Remainer-dominated parliament and likely calls for a vote of no-confidence in the government in order to thwart Brexit. Reports that Mr Johnson would ignore calls for him to step down appear to have the backing of the public.

“The Opinion poll also revealed that 40 per cent of respondents would want the prime minister to refuse to resign, and for him then call a snap General Election after October 31st to ensure the UK leaves the EU by that date — even in a clean break. Just 29 per cent said he should step down so another government could be formed to stop a no-deal Brexit.

“Lord Jonathan Sumpton, a former Supreme Court Judge, said last week that Prime Minister Johnson was legally entitled to ignore a vote of no confidence and call an election even after a no-deal Brexit.”

Brexit is prophesied to happen… in God’s due time.

Third Party Countries the Winners in the US-China Trade War

Quartz wrote on August 9:

“The US-China trade war continues to accelerate. America has put 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, and is slated to add an additional 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion. China currently collects tariffs between 5% and 50% on about $113 billion of US imports…

“Quartz analyzed the trade flows of product categories affected by the Chinese and US tariffs. The data show that the winner of the US-China trade war so far is neither the US or China. It’s third-party countries… who have stepped in to the void and found new buyers in the US and China…

“Australia has been the biggest beneficiary of the trade war… Most of the increase has been from exports of natural resources to China. With China imposing tariffs on imports of petroleum gases and gold from the US, Australia has been filling the gap for China. The Chinese imports of Australian cotton saw strong growth, as US cotton exports to China declined…

“Similar to Australia, Switzerland dramatically increased its gold exports to China. Switzerland also increased its exports to US, though to a smaller extent. It exported an additional $25 million of electronic devices… while Chinese exports to the US in that category dropped by $190 million…

“Mexico has replaced China as the US’s largest trading partner in the first half of 2019. The US now buys more data processing and storage devices as well as electric wire and fiber optic cables from Mexico…

“Brazil has benefitted from the reduced US agricultural exports to China. Now China goes to Brazil for soybeans and cotton…

“Canada has seen its exports to both US and China grow since tariffs kicked in. Canadian computer chips and circuit boards as well as industrial molds are replacing Chinese ones in the US market. Canadians are also selling more soybeans to China than before, though that still pales in comparison to the drop in US purchases.”

US-Chinese Trade War Benefits Europe

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 13:

“European Union economies would benefit from the trade diversion… The European Union is expected to see an additional income of €1.5 billion, if the US goes ahead with the 10% tariffs. Italy with €183 million would be the biggest beneficiary followed by France (€129 million) and Germany (€94 million).

“If China retaliates with a further 10% tariff on US goods, the EU would see additional revenue of €1.7 billion. Germany would be the biggest gainer with €323 million in additional income. Italy(€231 million) and France (€168 million) would also significantly benefit from the Chinese retaliation…

“But increased exports from the EU to the US are likely to further strain the bloc’s ties with Washington as they would enlarge its trade surplus with the US. Trump has threatened tariffs on EU goods over the trade surplus…”

The Bible does not indicate that China will become the world’s most powerful economic country, but it clearly shows that American influence and power will decline. The markets reacted positively when the USA announced that new tariffs on certain Chinese consumer items including cell phones, laptop computers, computer monitors, video game consoles, certain toys, and certain items of footwear and clothing would be delayed until December 15, while other products were being removed from the new China tariff list altogether. About $300 billion in Chinese goods will be subject to the tariff on Sept. 1 as planned.

Axios wrote on August 13:

“The threat of a crashing stock market and higher Christmas shopping prices appears to have spooked the Trump administration, despite the president’s false insistence that China pays the cost of tariffs directly into the U.S. Treasury.”

So, Trump may have indeed recognized that his dealing with China was not working and that it was harming US consumers, but then, who knows? Note the next article.

Trump’s Deficit Economy

Project Syndicate wrote on August 9:

“In the new world wrought by US President Donald Trump, where one shock follows another, there is never time to think through fully the implications of the events with which we are bombarded. In late July, the Federal Reserve Board reversed its policy of returning interest rates to more normal levels, after a decade of ultra-low rates in the wake of the Great Recession. Then, the United States had another two mass gun killings in under 24 hours, bringing the total for the year to 255 – more than one a day. And a trade war with China, which Trump had tweeted would be ‘good, and easy to win,’ entered a new, more dangerous phase, rattling markets and posing the threat of a new cold war.

“… the Fed action spoke volumes. The US economy was supposed to be ‘great.’ Its 3.7% unemployment rate and first-quarter growth of 3.1% should have been the envy of the advanced countries. But scratch a little bit beneath the surface, and there was plenty to worry about. Second-quarter growth plummeted to 2.1%. Average hours worked in manufacturing in July sank to the lowest level since 2011. Real wages are only slightly above their level a decade ago, before the Great Recession. Real investment as a percentage of GDP is well below levels in the late 1990s…

“If it takes trillion-dollar annual deficits to keep the US economy going in good times, what will it take when things are not so rosy?

“The US economy has not been working for most Americans, whose incomes have been stagnating – or worse – for decades…The Trump tax bill made matters worse by compounding the problem of decaying infrastructure, weakening the ability of the more progressive states to support education, depriving millions more people of health insurance, and, when fully implemented, leading to an increase in taxes for middle-income Americans, worsening their plight… the enormous Trump fiscal deficits have led to huge trade deficits… as the US has had to import capital to finance the gap between domestic savings and investment.

“Trump promised to get the trade deficit down, but his profound lack of understanding of economics has led to it increasing, just as most economists predicted it would. Despite Trump’s bad economic management and his attempt to talk the dollar down, and the Fed’s lowering of interest rates, his policies have resulted in the US dollar remaining strong, thereby discouraging exports and encouraging imports. Economists have repeatedly tried to explain to him that trade agreements may affect which countries the US buys from and sells to, but not the magnitude of the overall deficit… Trump believes what he wants to believe, leaving those who can least afford it to pay the price.”

The USA is in big trouble. Its economy is in a bubble which will burst soon. So is the inflated housing market. Recession, if not depression, will be the consequence.

Indication of a Coming Recession

The Washington Post wrote on August 14:

“U.S. stocks tumbled at open Wednesday after the inverted yield curve, one of the most reliable indicators of a recession, sparked a new wave of investor fears, erasing the short-lived bump from Tuesday’s trade easing. For the first time since 2007, the yields on short-term U.S. bonds eclipsed those of long-term bonds. This phenomenon, which suggests investors’ faith in the economy is faltering, has preceded every recession in the last 50 years. Recessions typically come within 18 to 24 months after the yield curve inverts…”

npr agreed, stating on August 14:

“Stocks are falling sharply Wednesday on deepening worries over a slowdown in the global economy. The Dow has dropped more than 600 [our note: the market dropped 800] points, or 2.5%… Germany posted negative growth in the latest quarter, and China’s industrial output fell to a 17-year low.

“An even bigger worry: The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell below 2-year Treasuries for the first time since 2007…  Such an inversion in yields has a strong track record of predicting a recession, especially the longer it continues. Each of the last seven recessions, dating back to 1969, were preceded by the 10-year falling below the 2-year.”

Reuters and The Algemeiner wrote on August 15:

“Oil fell by three points to below $58 a barrel on Thursday, extending the previous session’s 3% drop, pressured by mounting recession concerns…”

The Dow Jones recovered somewhat on Thursday, until the next drop. Please view our new StandingWatch program, titled “America’s Fragile Economy–the Calm before the Storm!”  

Government Leads in the Wrong Way…

The Week wrote on August 13:

“The U.S. budget deficit grew to $867 billion for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, an increase of 27 percent compared to this time in 2018, the Treasury Department reported Monday. The deficit for fiscal year 2018 was $779 billion. The fiscal year ends on September 30, and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget predicts by that point, the deficit will reach $1 trillion for the year.

“Experts say the 2017 Republican tax plan, which included $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, is one reason why the deficit is growing so much. Spending is also up, and while tax revenue increased by 3 percent since October 1, federal spending is up 8 percent. Spending is only going to continue to increase, as a two-year budget deal signed into law by President Trump this month will raise spending by $320 billion.”

When the government spends without discretion, the subjects will follow that bad example. Note the next article.

The USA – a Debtor Nation?

The New York Post wrote on August 11:

“More consumers nationwide are falling behind on their payments and filing for bankruptcy to resolve overwhelming debt loads… And unmanageable debt is also forcing more companies to file for bankruptcy, triggering a wave of job cuts…

“Meanwhile, record American household debt, near $14 trillion including mortgages and student loans, is some $1 trillion higher than during the Great Recession of 2008. Credit card debt of $1 trillion also exceeds the 2008 peak. Americans are spending heavily, again — and often recklessly, say analysts…

“Dick Bove, a financial strategist at Odeon Capital Group in New York [said that] ‘I feel very confident — unfortunately — that there will be increases in bankruptcies.’”

Some may end up in debt due to unforeseen circumstances, through ungodly conduct of others and through no fault of their own. However, the Bible warns against going into debt, due to reckless spending to fulfill one’s greed and desires. Many Americans have never learned how to live within their means. But the Bible says, “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). This warning is directed at the US government as well. After all, US national debt which is owed by the government is over 22 Trillion dollars.

Further Outrageous Immigration Restrictions for LEGAL Immigrants!

Deutsche Welle wrote on August 12:

“US President Donald Trump’s administration announced a new set of rules on Monday aimed at blocking legal immigrants who need public assistance from receiving permanent residency or citizenship… In order to apply for a green card (a permanent residency permit) or citizenship, applicants must prove that they are not a ‘public charge’ or burden on the state… Under the new regulations, this means that immigrants using the government-run health program Medicaid, housing assistance, food stamps or other public benefits for a certain period of time will be disqualified.

“Immigrants who are seeking to come to the US legally will also be blocked from entering the country if they are deemed likely to need public assistance. The rules will not apply to children receiving public benefits or pregnant women who are on Medicaid. Programs including emergency medical assistance, homeless shelters or disaster relief are also excluded from the rules change.

“The change could impact the 22 million legal residents who are not yet citizens… The rules change has also raised concerns that immigrants will no longer seek help or assistance in order to not jeopardize their green card or citizenship applications. In a statement, the White House said the new rules were aimed at targeting ‘large numbers of non-citizens and their families’ who use benefits. However, an analysis of census data carried out by the Associated Press found that immigrants make up only a small portion of those receiving benefits in the US and access those services at a much lower rate than US citizens.”

The Washington Post wrote on August 12:

“The new policy for ‘Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds’… sets new standards for obtaining permanent residency and U.S. citizenship… The Trump administration will broaden the public charge definition to encompass not just those primarily dependent on public assistance programs, but anyone who uses a public benefit, including publicly funded health care programs including Medicaid, food stamps, other nutrition-related programs, or housing assistance…

“Factors that can count against a green card applicant include having ‘a medical condition’ that will interfere with work or school; not having enough money to cover ‘any reasonably foreseeable medical costs’ related to such a medical condition; having ‘financial liabilities;’ having been approved to receive a public benefit, even if the individual has not actually received the benefit; having a low credit score; the absence of private health insurance; the absence of a college degree; not having the English language skills ‘sufficient to enter the job market;’ or having a sponsor who is ‘unlikely’ to provide financial support…

“Immigration advocates expect the rule to draw an immediate flurry of lawsuits…”

npr wrote on August 12:

“A preliminary draft published last year drew more than 260,000 comments. Many of the comments expressed outrage that the administration would penalize immigrants for using benefits that they are legally entitled to receive… Under the rule, green card and visa applicants can be denied not merely for being ‘primarily dependent on the government for subsistence,’ as in the past, but if they are likely to need public assistance ‘at any time.’…

“The new rule would apply not retroactively but to future applicants for green cards and visas. Past use of most benefits would not be held against the applicant, and neither would the use of such benefits by dependents and other family members…” Adding on August 13, npr quoted acting immigration chief Ken Cuccinelli as saying: “The new rule will go into effect Oct. 15, and only government aid used after that point will be assessed.”

However, this seems to contradict what is expressed in the next article.

Axios added on August 12:

“The new rule will go into effect 60 days after it is published in the register [which will be on August 14]. At the same time, the Trump administration is planning to find ways to force immigrant sponsors to pay the government back for any use of public benefits by the immigrants they’ve sponsored. Trump gave government agencies 90 days to implement such rules in a May memo.”

Words fail! This is INCREDIBLE!!!!!! This is NOT in line with the American dream but resembles policies employed in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia and China. God condemns such inhumane practices and curses a country which engages in them.

Trump’s Betrayal of America

The Week wrote on August 13:

“Under the new policy, federal authorities will use ‘aggressive’ wealth tests to reject residency or citizenship for an immigrant ‘because he or she is likely at any time to become a public charge’ — receiving food stamps or other taxpayer-funded welfare state benefits…

“This is a betrayal of America’s historic promise: The immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island a century ago did not, for the most part, come here on private yachts or in first-class berths. They came here to build new lives for themselves, and in the process, helped build their new country…”

The Los Angeles Times added on August 13:

“Under the new rules, the Department of Homeland Security has redefined a public charge as someone who is ‘more likely than not’ to receive public benefits for more than 12 months within a 36-month period. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will now weigh whether applicants have received public assistance along with other factors such as education, income and health to determine whether to grant legal status.”

First Lawsuit Filed

The Hill wrote on August 14:

“Two California counties on Tuesday filed the first lawsuit against the Trump administration’s new ‘public charge’ rule… The National Immigration Law Center said it will sue the administration…New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) announced Monday that she would sue over the rule, while California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) vowed to fight the rule.”

The 23-page complaint filed by the City and County of San Francisco and Santa Clara is an eye-opener regarding the appalling nature of the reinterpretation of the public charge concept. It would include, inter alia, non-emergency Medicaid, Medicare Part D subsidies, credit history and credit scores and the mere application for benefits, even if they were denied.

It would even include all those legal residents who apply for changes or “adjustment” of status (for instance, green card holders applying for citizenship or retuning to the USA after a 180-day absence) or extensions of visas, requiring of them to prove that they have not received enumerated public benefits and are unlikely to receive them in the future. Until now, it had been the universal rule, as understood by the INS and numerous court decisions, based on “the plain statutory meaning, historical usage, and case law, and extensive consultation with benefit-granting agencies,” that the “public charge” requirement does not include non-cash benefits such as Medicaid, housing assistance, food stamps, etc.

The complaint concludes that the new policy is not only harmful, but that it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and unlawful. Assuming that the matter will end up before the US Supreme Court, it will have to be seen how their politically motivated judges will decide.

As this matter could have great negative consequences for members of all of the Churches of God, as well as their families, it would be advisable to pray to God that He intervenes and prevents the enforcement of this new rule.

Suicide of Epstein Fishy and Suspicious

The Washington Examiner wrote on August 10:

“Many reactions to the Saturday morning suicide death of alleged sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein expressed suspicion around the circumstances of his death. Epstein allegedly killed himself in his cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center early Saturday morning…

“His death follows the unsealing of 2,000 pages of documents on Friday that implicated many other high-profile individuals in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring.”

The Huffington Post had reported on August 9 that “[a]nother batch of documents [was] expected to be released in the coming weeks…”

The Week added on August 10 about his previous “suicide attempt”: “Epstein… previously found in his cell in July semi-conscious with marks around his neck from what two sources said may have been an attempt to hang himself, while other sources suggested he may have faked, or actually been the victim of, an attack.”

Fox News reported on August 10:

“President Trump added fuel to the conspiracy theories surrounding multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent suicide on Saturday when he retweeted a post that implied former President Bill Clinton was linked to Epstein’s death. The tweet came from self-described comedian Terrence K. Williams who echoed many on social media in suggesting a connection between the Clintons and Epstein… Williams’ video argued that ‘for some odd reason, people with information on the Clintons end up dead and they usually die from suicide.’”

JTA wrote on August 11:

“Jail guards failed to check Jeffrey Epstein in his cell every 30 minutes per procedure… In addition, the jail had transferred his cellmate and allowed Epstein to be housed alone in a cell just two weeks after he had been taken off suicide watch, a violation of regular procedure…”

Doubts galore. It reminds us of the alleged suicide by former Nazi Deputy Chancellor or Fuehrer Rudolf Hess in a Russian prison in Spandau, Germany,  in 1987.  He was the only inmate. After his death, the prison was demolished. Very few doubt that the Russians killed him.

Straight Parade Denied

The Washington Times wrote on August 11:

“Modesto city officials [in Northern California] denied an application by the National Straight Pride Coalition for an Aug. 24 event at Graceada Park. Organizer Don Grundmann had estimated 500 people would attend. The group says it supports heterosexuality, Christianity and white contributions to Western civilization.

“Opponents argued the rally would promote hatred of LGBTQ people and minorities. City spokesman Thomas Reeves says the permit request was denied over safety concerns, because the group lost its liability insurance and the parks department determined the event wasn’t consistent with park use. However, Reeves says the city would allow the rally at a downtown plaza if the group proves it has insurance by Tuesday.”

We wonder whether the organizers of gay pride parades always have liability insurance. How biblical values have been turned upside down in this world ruled by Satan.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer

These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.