America’s and Europe’s Serious “Concerns” About Israel

On August 12, dpa wrote the following:

“The United States on Monday said it has ‘serious concerns’ about Israel’s approval of more than 1,000 new homes in Palestinian areas ahead of the launch of new peace negotiations. ‘We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity,’ State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.”

Netanyahu Challenges Europe

The Times of Israel wrote on August 12:

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the European Union’s new anti-settlement directives Monday in a meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who was on an official visit to Israel…. ‘I have to say, on a sad note, that I think Europe — the European guidelines by the EU — have actually undermined peace.’…

“The day before, President Shimon Peres met with the German foreign minister and called on the EU to halt the implementation of the measures, saying that when the future borders are determined between Israel and a Palestinian state, the issue of settlements will be solved… Earlier Sunday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state will be determined by the two sides, and not by the European Union.”

Israel Facing Total Isolation

Bloomberg wrote on August 12:

“U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace mission to the Middle East is semi-quixotic, if not wholly quixotic. I doubt he’ll reach his goal of negotiating a final-status agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The two sides haven’t even agreed yet to the topics they’ll discuss in negotiations…

“There are some early signs that Netanyahu is realizing the price his country may one day pay for its settlements, in particular those near Palestinian population centers. He met recently with some of Israel’s leading manufacturers, who expressed their worry that their products may one day be boycotted in Europe, a worry he shares. Kerry, capitalizing on this anxiety, has warned Netanyahu in recent weeks that if the current peace talks bear no fruit, Israel may soon be facing an international delegitimization campaign — in his words – ‘on steroids’…

“Kerry thinks the one thing Netanyahu fears as much as Iran’s nuclear program is the growing power of the international movement that seeks to isolate, scapegoat and demonize his country…

“Although Netanyahu is worried that the campaign to make Israel appear to be an illegitimate state could hurt the country’s robust economy, he is said to be even more worried that this campaign will erode Israel’s ability to defend itself. The theory is simple: A country seen as illegitimate, not only by the powerful Arab lobby at the United Nations but also by Western powers, will have little standing if it is forced to retaliate against sustained attacks from groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which remain committed to Israel’s extermination. Netanyahu thinks that the campaign to delegitimize Israel could force Western powers to rein in Israel, or at the very least, rush to condemn it before it has the chance to defend itself.

“Netanyahu’s two fears are related. Israel will find it increasingly difficult to one day act against the Iranian nuclear program if it is hobbled by the hostility of the international community…

“So, when the European Union recently issued guidelines that will restrict its members from (among other things) funding research conducted on the far side of Israel’s 1967 borders, these politicians decided, in their wisdom, that Israel should engage in a partial boycott of the EU. They’re demanding that Israel withdraw from a lucrative EU-sponsored research-funding program to protest the settlement exclusion guidelines.

“Netanyahu also finds the new EU guidelines reprehensible (and they are, in fact, highly problematic, potentially placing settlers in the far-flung Jewish colonies of the West Bank in the same category as Jewish residents of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City). But he understands that he can’t win a fight with the entire EU if it decides to enact a partial boycott of his country… Threats directed at Israel from Europe, the continent whose cruelty and hatred helped create a need for a Jewish national refuge in the first place, may… bolster Israel’s far-right…”

Israel will end up in total isolation. The USA or the UK won’t be able to help it, and continental Europe will ultimately invade the country, as the Bible clearly predicts.

Glenn Beck and the Lost Tribes of Israel

In a recent TV program, widely-known moderator Glenn Beck stated his belief that the United States of America and Great Britain are among the descendants of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel. A pertinent portion of the program can be watched on YouTube. A longer version can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkKFcl3fOU . In the program, Beck also pointed out that the ancient Assyrians settled in Western Europe, including Germany.

Glenn Beck is right on these points. For more information, please read our free booklets, Germany in Prophecy; Europe in Prophecy; and the Fall and Rise of Britain and America.

Iran’s True Intensions

The Washington Times wrote on August 13:

“Newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has picked his defense minister [Hossein Dehghan. In 1982], after Israel invaded Lebanon, sparking a decade-long civil war, Mr. Dehghan was sent to Lebanon to help establish a military wing for Hezb’Allah, the Iranian-backed Shi’ite political movement.

“The following year he was appointed the commander of IGRC forces in Lebanon. Shortly afterwards, the IGRC received orders from Tehran to attack multinational peacekeeping forces in Beirut. On October 25, 1983, a Shi’ite suicide attacker detonated a truck bomb at the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241; simultaneously, another suicide bomber blew up the French paratroopers’ barracks in Beirut, killing 58 soldiers… The order to carry out the attacks was transmitted, and the funding and operational training provided, with the help of the Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon under the command of Hossein Dehghan…”

Turmoil in Egypt… Again

The Associated Press reported on August 14:

“In Egypt’s bloodiest day since the Arab Spring began, riot police Wednesday smashed two protest camps of supporters of the deposed Islamist president, touching off street violence that officials said killed nearly 300 people and forced the military-backed interim leaders to impose a state of emergency and curfew.

“The crackdown drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West… and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as the interim vice president in protest – a blow to the new leadership’s credibility with the pro-reform movement.”

Der Spiegel Online added on August 14:

“Horribly battered corpses lie in the streets, and there are more than 1,000 injured. The government sought to bring calm to Cairo by clearing the Morsi camps, but now the entire country is under a state of emergency. Residents fear a ‘war between two Egypts.’”

We warned that this would happen. Please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”  

Irreconcilable Differences

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on August 15:

“The three most important institutions that ensured the country’s cohesion and stayed out of politics — the military, the Islamic Al Azhar University and the Coptic Church — were parties in the putsch this time. Morsi’s supporters are now disputing their integrity and view these institutions as political enemies. The basis for possible consensus in Egypt has collapsed.”

Handelsblatt wrote on August 15:

“The bloodbath on the Nile … is a scandal. A scandal for the country, but also a scandal for international diplomacy… But warnings or expressions of concern are insufficient because what is beginning in Egypt is a serious drama — a vicious cycle of lasting violence.”

Even though news commentators are saying now that nobody could have foreseen these recent developments, we did warn from the outset that this would happen. Please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.” 

America’s Failed Diplomacy

The Christian Science Monitor wrote on August 14:

“Since the military coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency on July 3, the Obama administration has bent over backwards not to call it a ‘coup.’ The reasoning behind this decision was that Egypt’s military is the most powerful force in the country and that alienating and punishing them for their action would both undercut US influence and create the conditions for a broad military crackdown…

“So while principled talk about ‘democracy’ and getting militaries out of politics is one thing, the world of realpolitik is something else. While emissaries from Obama danced around the ‘coup’ question, the US government refused to announce a cut off in the Egyptian military’s $1.3 billion annual subsidy, and continually urged restraint and reconciliation. These decisions led to odd rhetorical constructions from the US government, as when State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki was pressed last week on whether the Obama administration thought Egypt’s military had carried out a coup. ‘We have determined that we do not need to make a determination,’ she said.

“Today, the military… delivered the military’s own determination: We’re going ahead and doing it our way. This morning Obama White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said that the US is opposed to the state of emergency declared by Egypt’s military, which gives it sweeping powers, much as a state of emergency after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981 formed the backbone of the military-backed Mubarak dictatorship that prevailed until 2011. Mr. Earnest said the US believes today’s actions will make achieving ‘stability’ more difficult. He also said that the US is not ready to determine whether Egypt has had a military coup. He said Egypt’s interim rulers have promised a swift creation of a democracy and ‘it’s a promise we’re going to encourage them to keep’…

“A cycle of violence, with the military calling the shots, is all but assured for the foreseeable future. Elections, let alone free and fair ones, this year? Not likely to happen. Forming a national consensus on a revised constitution any time soon? Also hard to imagine…

“It’s a truism that you can’t please everybody. But in the case of Egypt, the US has pleased precisely no one. And the Arab world’s most populous country is heading into a period of turmoil likely to dwarf the troubles of the past few years.”

The New York Times added on August 14:

“Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday condemned the Egyptian military’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters… Mr. Kerry, who was speaking on behalf of a vacationing President Obama, did not disclose any specific American response to the crackdown and left without taking questions from reporters. For Mr. Obama, who was wrapping up a round of golf on Martha’s Vineyard as Mr. Kerry stepped before the cameras, the upheaval in Egypt put him in an awkward but familiar place: on vacation, confronting a wave of bloodshed in the Middle East…

“A spokesman, Josh Earnest, said Mr. Obama had been briefed Wednesday morning on the situation… He said, however, that the administration did not plan to shift its policy, which is to keep open lines of communication to Egypt’s generals and maintain the flow of American military aid. Mr. Earnest declined to label the military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi a coup, a designation that could prompt a cutoff of $1.5 billion a year in aid…

“The United States has walked a fine line in dealing with the Egyptian military… ‘The outcome of the current Egyptian crisis will determine how America is seen in the Muslim world for years,’ said Bruce O. Riedel, a former intelligence officer and adviser to the administration who is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ‘If it looks like the U.S. effectively colluded in a counterrevolution, then all the talk about democracy and Islam, about a new American relationship with the Islamic world, will be judged to have been the height of hypocrisy,’ Mr. Riedel said. However horrifying the images from Cairo, analysts said, the president faces the same conundrum he has had since early 2011, when President Hosni Mubarak was forced out in a mass uprising: the United States, even with its aid, has little leverage over events there…”

In other words, who cares what America says and does…? And America’s ill-conceived actions and lack thereof make matters only worse…

America’s Middle East Policy—a Lot of Empty Words

The Washington Post wrote on August 15:

“Put it this way: President Obama’s Egypt policy is about as effective as his Syria policy. And for the first time Wednesday, with the number of dead and injured mounting, one could almost envision Egypt’s descent into out-and-out civil war.

“Obama was briefed, said nothing and went back to golf. Secretary of State John Kerry took a break from his fruitless obsession with the nonexistent ‘peace process’ to condemn the violence, but took no questions and had no policy announcement. This, in a nutshell, is the White House’s approach to the Middle East — the absence of any policy and a lot of empty words.

“Sam Tadros, a Egyptian expert at the Hudson Institute who is also affiliated with the Hoover Institution, is not optimistic… The question now is what can be done and what role the United States should play. Tadros is blunt: ‘As to outside powers, I am afraid it is too late now…’

“In a sense, then, Obama might as well play golf. He’s dropped the ball on Egypt and the entire region, leaving the United States with few options and the Egyptian people to a bloody future in the short run and a repressive authoritarian junta in the longer run. This is a policy failure of the highest order.

“Isolationists on the right and left argue that the United States has no interest in places like Egypt. But without U.S. leadership, what follows in places such as Egypt and Syria is a humanitarian and geopolitical nightmare that doesn’t stay within one country’s borders. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah must be gleeful to see the United States so weakened and insignificant.”

It would not be fair to just blame the military for the violence. The Muslim Brotherhood is clearly provoking and committing violence as well, as they did from the outset. Both sides are to blame. Of course, in this world of Satanic violence and a total lack of worship of the TRUE and ONLY God, there are NO solutions. It will take the return of Jesus Christ to bring peace and end the violence.

On a “Working Vacation…”

NBC News reported on August 15:

“President Barack Obama strongly condemned  Egypt’s interim government Thursday, saying the United States was canceling a planned joint military operation in protest over violent clashes that left at least 525 dead.

“He also called on Egypt’s army-backed interim government, which took power after the July 3 ouster of elected president Mohammed Morsi, to cancel the month-long state of emergency it imposed after Wednesday’s bloodshed. ‘The cycle of violence needs to stop,’ he said in Martha’s Vineyard where he is on a working vacation.”

On August 15, the Huffington Post reported Obama’s condemnation with the following headline:

“’We strongly condemn attacks’… that we are paying for.”

Der Spiegel Attacks Obama

The Local wrote on August 15:

“The German government summoned the Egyptian ambassador on Thursday morning over the deadly crackdown on protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi…. A foreign ministry spokeswoman said: ‘On the orders of Foreign Minister [Guido] Westerwelle, the ambassador was told the position of the German government in no uncertain terms.’… In the face of rising violence, magazine Der Spiegel attacked Barack Obama accusing him of being ‘powerless’ to stop the fighting and failing to take a clear position on the conflict. The US government provides $1.3 billion in annual aid to Egypt’s military.”

Obama Administration Complicit in Egypt’s Bloodshed

The Editorial Board of the Washington Post wrote on August 14:

“Before the July 3 coup in Egypt, the Obama administration privately warned the armed forces against ousting the government of Mohamed Morsi, pointing to U.S. legislation that requires the cutoff of aid to any country where the army plays a ‘decisive role’ in removing an elected government. Yet when the generals ignored the U.S. warnings, the White House responded by electing to disregard the law itself. After a prolonged and embarrassing delay, the State Department announced that it had chosen not to determine whether a coup had taken place, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry declared that Egypt’s military was ‘restoring democracy.’

“Because of those decisions, the Obama administration is complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown… The military’s disregard for these appeals [by the Obama Administration] was logical and predictable: Washington had already demonstrated that its warnings were not credible…

“This refusal to take a firm stand… is as self-defeating for the United States as it is unconscionable. Continued U.S. support for the Egyptian military is helping to push the country toward a new dictatorship rather than a restored democracy…”

Relationship between USA and Russia Deteriorating Further

BBC News wrote on August 8:

“Several analysts in Russian newspapers see the decision by US President Barack Obama to cancel his visit to Moscow next month as a sign that ties between the White House and the Kremlin are set to deteriorate further. Some say that Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to the fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden is the reason for the crisis in bilateral relations. Others, however, point to stalled negotiations on nuclear arms reduction and the lack of progress on other important issues for the past several years. According to one commentator, problems between Washington and Moscow have now become ‘strategic and long-term’, while another writes that the US has ‘struck Russia off its priority list’’’.

The paper then quoted the following excerpts from several Russian commentaries:

“After President Obama publicly said that the issue of Snowden’s extradition was extremely important and fundamental, it became impossible to reduce the scale of this problem between Russia and the USA. Figuratively speaking, the head of the White House has climbed up a high fence from which he can no longer jump down… The meeting (with Russian President Vladimir Putin) would have been meaningless anyway, as no progress has been achieved on any issue (in bilateral relations)… Even in 2008, during the war with Georgia, there were problems in (US-Russian) relations. Now these problems have become strategic and of a long-term character…”

Lavabit Website Shuts Down—Is the Handwriting on the Wall—and Has America Been Found Wanting…?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 9:

“The latest casualty of the American government’s online surveillance program seems to be Lavabit, the email service supposedly used by Edward Snowden to protect himself against National Security Agency (NSA) snooping. In a dramatic letter posted on Lavabit’s website Thursday, Ladar Levison, the company’s owner and operator, announced that he had decided to shutter the site rather than become ‘complicit in crimes against the American people.’

“Although it didn’t include any mention of the NSA, Edward Snowden or government surveillance, the letter seems to refer to a court order asking for cooperation in the US government spy programs: ‘I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on — the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.’…

“At Wired, Kevin Poulsen speculated that Levison had been served with either a National Security Letter (which comes with a gag order) or a ‘full-blown search or eavesdropping warrant.’ If this is the case, it marks the first time that an American company has chosen to shut down instead of cooperating with such a request from the American government. In the wake of Lavabit’s announcement, another American online company, Silent Circle, shut down its encrypted email service because, according to a blog post, it sees ‘the writing on the wall.’…

“Levison announced in his letter that he is ‘preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ — he has created a Legal Defense Fund for this purpose — and that, if possible, he will re-form his service as an American company. But he ends his letter on a grim note that would likely have sounded paranoid a few months ago: ‘I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.’”

If all of this is correct, then we must ask whether we are facing the danger of dictatorial intimidating dictatorship in the United States… We have warned for years that our individual liberties and freedoms are gradually being eroded and chopped away….

The Media Abrogated Their Duty

The Huffington Post wrote on August 13:

“The New York Times secured an interview with Edward Snowden for the first time since he ousted himself as the leaker of NSA documents in June. The brief Q-and-A appeared Tuesday alongside a lengthy profile of Laura Poitras, the filmmaker who, along with Glenn Greenwald, has been the journalist most at the center of the Snowden saga. Both pieces were written by reporter Peter Maas.

“In one portion of the interview, Snowden talked about why he turned to Poitras and Greenwald, instead of the Times or the Washington Post: ‘After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power — the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government — for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly. The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period.’”

This assessment seems to be absolutely correct.

President Obama’s Attempts to Deal with Fallout from US Spying Activities “Destined to Fail”

Business Insider wrote on August 13:

“In the wake of seemingly endless leaks from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, President Obama’s attempt to manage the political fallout seems destined to fail. On Friday, Obama announced that he would form a ‘high-level group of outside experts’ to review intelligence and communications technologies. This group, Obama said, would be ‘independent’ — able to step back freely — to review surveillance technologies and ‘consider how we can maintain trust of the people.’

“It only took the weekend for much of any trust in that group to fade. On Monday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed that yes, the review group would happen. He also confirmed that, yes, he would be establishing it. This is the same James Clapper who gave false information to Congress when asked whether the NSA was collecting data on Americans. He later apologized.

“Perhaps most interesting in Clapper’s statement on Monday is the absence of wording used on Friday: independent, and outside. In an expanded statement, the White House said the group would present their interim findings to his office, and the final report would go ‘through the Director of National Intelligence.’ ‘In practice — not theory — Clapper gets to chop the draft of the interim and final reports, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would — again, in practice — assist in selecting the members of the review group,’ Robert Caruso, a former assistant command security manager in the Navy and consultant, said in an email.

“This arrangement is sure to arouse suspicions, with many Americans showing distrust after leaks of previously unknown spying programs. Even Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a veteran politician and national security hawk, admitted as much to Fox News Sunday… ‘Young Americans do not trust this government,’ McCain said…”

There can be no doubt that due to the American government’s questionable and controversial conduct, trust of many American citizens in their government has been eroded and destroyed… And without trusted and trustworthy leadership, a country is doomed to fall…

Germany Spying and Being Spied On…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 12:

“German intelligence services cooperate closely with the NSA, but the country is also a target of US surveillance, as a document seen by SPIEGEL makes clear. The spy software XKeyscore is operated from a facility in Hesse, with some of the results landing on President Obama’s desk… Lawmakers in the German parliament, the Bundestag, have… expressed an interest in the group of buildings near Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt. The campus houses one of the most important European branches of the National Security Agency (NSA)…

“Germany is a special place for the NSA, in many respects. Few other countries are the source of as much data for US intelligence agencies, much of which comes from the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence agency. At the same time Germany itself, despite all friendly assurances to the contrary, is also a target of the surveillance. According to a ‘secret’ summary among the documents obtained by Snowden, which SPIEGEL was able to view, Germany is one of the targets of US espionage activity… the European Union is also one of the targets of American surveillance… Only the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — referred to as the ‘five eyes,’ together with the United States — are seen as true friends, largely off-limits in terms of espionage, and with which there is an open exchange of information…

“More than six weeks after the scandal began, the German government is still waiting for answers on what exactly the NSA is doing in — and against – Germany… The Americans are hardly likely to admit to the German government what exactly the group in Griesheim is doing and whether the Americans there also have targets in Germany under surveillance. Former NSA Director Michael Hayden told SPIEGEL that ‘the damage for the German-American relationship is huge.’…”

Der Spiegel Online added on August 13:

“Chancellery chief Ronald Pofalla’s appearance before a parliamentary committee on Monday was supposed to pacify public misgivings in the wake of the NSA spying scandal. But his announcement of a German-American no-spying agreement raised far more questions than it answered… The core of Pofalla’s message was simple: The American intelligence agency and its British counterpart adhere to German law and have agreed in writing to do so. Pofalla went on to say that the rights of millions of Germans have not been violated, ostensibly in response to recent criticism by the opposition Social Democrats. The data that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, has handed over to America’s National Security Agency pertained to reconnaissance abroad and not to German citizens, he assured the panel.

“It was a peculiar sort of political spectacle… Pofalla painted a picture of a harmonious world of German-American intelligence cooperation. And it’s this collaboration, he said, that has prevented terrorist attacks on German and US soldiers in Afghanistan…

“The BND and the NSA have agreed on pursuing a brand-new ‘no-spy pact.’… Yet the establishment of such a no-spying agreement implies that espionage has been allowed up to now, an unwitting confirmation of the information in the documents leaked by Snowden… The no-spying agreement isn’t likely to make the NSA scandal disappear. On the contrary, Berlin will be faced with new questions: What should comprise such a pact? Will it only pertain to the work of foreign intelligence agencies? Or will it address the interests of citizens whose Internet data flow through American servers and can potentially be captured and cached? None of this has been definitively answered, all written assurances to the contrary.

“Pofalla obviously anticipated what new questions might be raised by the envisaged agreement. It was he who carefully said that the US agency would not have made the offer, ‘if their assurance that they would abide by the law were not true.’ This is twisted logic — logic that only Pofalla himself could explain. But an explanation never came. Just like at his last appearance before the committee, the Chancellery chief declined to take any questions. After Item 15, Pofalla exited without a word.”

Pofalla acted as proverbial politicians would act. But it appears that Germany has played a very dubious and hypocritical role in the spying activities. It will have to be seen whether Angela Merkel’s political survival and her victory in the September election are in jeopardy. Until recently, most were convinced that Merkel would win, but the recent revelations could perhaps change all of this. However, it does not appear that her challenger, Peer Steinbrueck, is a very convincing alternative to many Germans, and the fact that his own party had a finger (if not both hands) in the spying pie does not help him either.

Britain and Spain Battle Over Gibraltar

Deutsche Welle reported on August 12:

“Britain is considering taking legal action against Spain over stringent border checks imposed at the border with Gibraltar. It is the latest in an escalating row between the two countries and the disputed territory. Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman said on Monday that tighter checks by Spanish officials at the border of the contested territory are ‘politically motivated and totally disproportionate.’… Also on Monday, several British warships set sail for the Mediterranean in what the defense ministry stresses was a routine exercise. However, one of the ships is set to dock in Gibraltar later this week.

“Last week Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the country would consider introducing a 50 euro ($66) tax to enter or leave Gibraltar… It is the latest in a string of spats going back decades between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar, the territory known as ‘The Rock’. The diplomatic disputes are frequently sparked by disagreements over fishing rights around the British outpost, which Madrid wants to reclaim as its own.

“Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has long argued that it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty. Britain refuses to do so against the wishes of the territory’s residents. In 1969, Spain closed the frontier crossing with Gibraltar, which is just 6.8 square kilometers in size (2.6 square miles) and home to about 30,000 people. It was fully reopened only in 1985.”

Der Spiegel Online added on August 12:

“Britain is dispatching warships to Gibraltar. The frigate HMS Westminister is due to set sail on Tuesday and three other vessels left on Monday. The British government played down the move as being part of a long-planned military exercise. But Spanish media said the plan for HMS Westminster to stop at Gibraltar was an intimidating move by Britain…

“Madrid argues that Gibraltar doesn’t belong to Europe’s Schengen zone of passport-free travel and that the checks are a legal and proportionate step to prevent money laundering and smuggling of tobacco and other products from Gibraltar… Spain’s El Pais newspaper reported that Madrid is also seeking support from current UN Security Council president Argentina in its dispute with Britain. Both countries have similar complaints about Britain, with government officials in Buenos Aires currently seeking to reclaim the British-controlled Falkland Islands.”

The Washington Times added on August 13:

“Gibraltar, the 2.5-square mile tip of the Iberian Peninsula that juts into the narrow strait between Spain and North Africa, guards the gateway to the Mediterranean.”

The Chicago Tribune wrote on August 12:

“HMS Westminster, a British Royal Navy warship set sail for the territory on Monday as part of an annual Mediterranean military exercise… It evoked the 16th century naval rivalry between the two countries in which the English repelled an attempt by the Spanish Armada to try to invade England in 1588 and the Spanish defeated an English ‘Counter Armada’ the following year.”

The Bible indicates that ultimately, Britain will lose Gibraltar (to Spain) and the Falkland Islands (to Argentina). God said that Britain will be given the “doors of their enemies,” but it would later lose them again. Gibraltar is most certainly such a door—a “narrow strait between Spain and North Africa, guard[ing] the gateway to the Mediterranean,” as one of the articles above points out.

European Recession Likely Over

The Associated Press reported on August 13:

“The recession that’s gripped the eurozone since late 2011 is likely over… economic growth among the 17 countries that use the euro inched up 0.2 percent from April to June compared with the previous quarter.  The increase is slight. But it would end six straight quarters of a debilitating recession — the longest to afflict the single-currency bloc since its creation in 1999.  And it would represent an encouraging sign for other economies… as the eurozone is the world’s biggest trading bloc…

“The strongest economy, Germany, is expected to post quarterly growth of 0.6 percent, thanks to its high-value exporters. Others continue to languish under the burden of austerity policies… ‘While welcome news, much of the return to growth is likely to be driven from Germany, which is likely to be cold comfort to countries like Spain, Italy and Greece buckling under crippling levels of debt and unemployment,’ said Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets.

“Few economists think the indebted countries can start producing German-style levels of growth in the coming years. Burdens from expensive public financing and unemployment will likely continue to weigh on their economies.  Yet for many people, even a mild improvement is cause to celebrate, however tentatively, and a suggestion that the darkest days are in the past.”

The Bible shows that continental Europe will recuperate and become the most powerful economic enterprise in the world.

Near Death-Experiences Just Function of the Brain?

The Washington Post wrote on August 12:

“You feel yourself float up and out of your physical body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelopes your field of vision. Rather than an ascent into the afterlife, a new study says these features of a near-death experience may just be a bunch of neurons in your brain going nuts. ‘A lot of people believed that what they saw was heaven,’ said lead researcher and neurologist Jimo Borjigin. ‘Science hadn’t given them a convincing alternative.’

“Scientists from the University of Michigan recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in nine anesthetized rats after inducing cardiac arrest. Within the first 30 seconds after the heart had stopped, all the mammals displayed a surge of brain activity that had features associated with consciousness and visual activation. The burst of electrical activity even exceeded levels during a normal, awake state. In other words, they may have been having the rodent version of a near-death experience’…

“Near-death experiences have been reported by many who have faced death, worldwide and across cultures. About 20 percent of cardiac arrest survivors report visions during clinical death, with features such as a bright light, life playback or an out-of-body feeling…

“When the heart suddenly stops, ongoing blood flow to the brain stops and causes death in a human within minutes. A likely assumption would be that, without a fresh supply of oxygen, any sort of brain activity would go flat. But after the rats went into cardiac arrest, [George] Mashour and his colleagues saw the opposite… [such as] heightened communication among the different parts of the brain, actively seen in an awake state, but often lost during anesthesia. In the rats, this connectivity went above and beyond the levels seen during the awake state — which could possibly explain the hypervivid, ‘realer-than-real’ perceptions reported close to death…”

These discoveries would make a lot of sense, as we know that “near-death” experiences are not real. Nobody’s soul departs at the time of death and goes to heaven. It must also be emphasized, however, that those “experiences” do not occur every time, when a patient has congestive heart failure and is resuscitated.  It should not be ruled out, of course, that some of these “experiences” are demonic delusions, but this could hardly be the explanation for all of them.

Again… California Leading the Nation… Away from the Bible

The Washington Times wrote on August 12:

“California has enacted the first law in the nation that will require public schools to accommodate students based on their self-declared ‘gender identity’ in addition to their biological sex. The law means that biologically female students can use boys’ bathrooms, and biologically male students can join all-girls’ sports teams.

“The law, signed Monday afternoon by California Gov. Jerry Brown and sponsored by California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, is intended to assist transgender children navigate school from kindergarten to 12th grade, as their preferred gender. Major gay-rights groups supported the law, saying it builds on a national movement to end discriminatory practices based on gender identity and gender expression.”

AFP added on August 13:

“Transgender students in California public schools will be able to choose which bathrooms to use and which sex-segregated sports to play, according to new legislation passed. The bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown would allow students to be treated as their chosen gender rather than that listed on their official documents… The California Catholic Conference objected to the law… California, the most populous US state, has been at the forefront of a nationwide debate on gay, lesbian and transgender rights.”

Will California become a modern example of the conduct and fate of “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner as these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, [which] are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7)?

Our Liberal Laws, Juries and Judges… Cloned Horses

Reuters reported on August 13:

“A U.S. horse association soon will be required to add cloned horses and their offspring to its prestigious registry, a federal judge in Texas ruled on Monday. The decision could encourage cloning and open the way for the animals to participate in lucrative horse races… A jury last month ruled that the horse association violated anti-monopoly laws by banning cloned animals… No other horse breeding registry allows cloned animals, although the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association allows cloned horses to compete in rodeos…

“The quarter horse association, which has a registry of 751,747 animals, stated in court that it is a private organization and has the right to decide its membership rules… Cloning is the creation of an animal that is an exact genetic copy of another, with the same DNA. A cloned sheep named Dolly produced in Scotland drew international attention when she was shown to the public in 1997. Since then, cloning of agricultural livestock such as cattle and pigs as well as horses and sheep has become more common although it is still a small portion of total livestock production.”

Maybe for now… But where will it all lead? Scientists are toying with the idea of cloning mammoths and perhaps, from certain DNA samples, vicious extinct animals such as aggressive sable-tooth tigers or dinosaurs. And insofar as private organizations are concerned, our liberal legal system does apparently NOT allow them anymore to decide its own membership rules. As we mentioned before, individual liberties and freedoms are becoming more and more targets of governmental manipulation and erosion.

Fires Will Worsen

The Verge wrote on August 12:

“In June, the Black Forest wildfire in Colorado wiped out 500 homes in 48 hours and ultimately took two lives. Yet the catastrophe actually ranked as one of the smaller fires authorities have had to contend with this year. 100,000-acre wildfires have become a yearly occurrence — a worrying development in and of itself — and now NASA is raising warning flags about where things may be headed…

“Last week, NASA released new animations projecting how dry conditions may worsen in the decades ahead, leading to greater risk of fire across the Great Plains and upper Midwest US… NASA says even worse conditions await the Mountain West and other regions where fires already burn. The data is sourced from NASA’s own instruments and extensive knowledge of fire distribution across the planet.”

The Bible prophecies worsening fires for the USA and other countries.

The Difficult American-Russian Relationship

The Associated Press reported on August 7:

“In a rare diplomatic snub, President Barack Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month. The decision reflects both U.S. anger over Russia’s harboring of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and growing frustration within the Obama administration over what it sees as Moscow’s stubbornness on other key issues, including missile defense and human rights. Obama will still attend the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but a top White House official said the president had no plans to hold one-on-one talks with Putin while there…

“White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Russia’s decision last week to defy the U.S. and grant Snowden temporary asylum only exacerbated an already troubled relationship. And with few signs that progress would be made during the Moscow summit on other agenda items, Rhodes said the president decided to cancel the talks… Obama’s decision to scrap talks with Putin is likely to deepen the chill in the already frosty relationship between the two leaders. They have frequently found themselves at odds on pressing international issues, most recently in Syria, where the U.S. accuses Putin of helping President Bashar Assad fund a civil war. The U.S. has also been a vocal critic of Russia’s crackdown on Kremlin critics and recently sanctioned 18 Russians for human rights violations.

“For its part, Moscow has accused the U.S. of installing a missile shield in Eastern Europe as a deterrent against Russia… Putin also signed a law last year banning U.S. adoptions of Russian children, a move that was seen as retaliation for the U.S. measure that cleared the way for the human rights sanctions… Even as Obama scraps plans to meet with Putin, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are preparing for meetings in Washington on Friday with their Russian counterparts. Snowden’s status is expected to be a main topic of conversation.

“The lower-level meetings with Russia underscore that the U.S. cannot completely sever ties with the Kremlin. Russian transit routes are critical to the U.S. as it removes troops and equipment from Afghanistan. And despite deep differences over Syria’s future, the White House knows it will almost certainly need some level of Russian cooperation in order to oust Assad. Still, some congressional lawmakers have called for Obama to not only scrub the Moscow summit but also demand that Russia forfeit its right to host the G-20 summit. Others have spoken of boycotting next year’s Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi.”

Ultimately, the relationship between Russia and the USA will be completely severed.

How to Deal with Putin?

The Associated Press reported on August 8:

“From the civil war in Syria to missile defense and gay rights, the Obama administration can’t seem to figure out how to deal with Putin… The latest disappointment — Russia’s embrace of a fugitive who leaked US secrets — pushed President Barack Obama to cancel a one-on-one summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month…

“The two nations are at odds over the civil war [in Syria]. Russia has shielded Syrian President Bashar Assad from international sanctions and provided him weapons, despite an international outcry… Russians have a long-standing beef about the US missile defense system planned for Europe, dating back to the Reagan administration’s disputes with the Soviet Union… Americans object to the way Russian leaders have tried to silence critical voices…

“Russia… expelled the US Agency for International Development, which had promoted democracy and civil societies in Russia for two decades… the US is criticizing Russia for an official crackdown on gay rights. A new Russian law imposes fines and up to 15 days in prison for people accused of spreading ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’ to minors… And it bans gay pride rallies. Russian officials say the law will be enforced during the 2014 Olympics in the city of Sochi.”

USA Left Snowden No Choice

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 2:

“Edward Snowden has been granted asylum for one year in Russia in a move that threatens to further strain Russian-American relations… In Washington, politicians are outraged… The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘Edward Snowden knocked on many doors in recent weeks. There were plenty of expressions of sympathy for the young man who, with his betrayal of secrets, shed light on the scope of American spying programs. But despite all the excitement over the obsessive spying, no one wanted to open the door for Snowden. Now, it is Vladimir Putin of all people who has taken blatant pleasure in playing the role of a champion of freedom of opinion and human rights by letting the American stay in Russia for a year. But it’s also the same Putin who has taken considerable pleasure in taking political opponents out of action with flimsy charges…’

“The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the largest newspaper in the populous Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia, writes: ‘Snowden is out of the intermediate world of the Moscow airport and has now entered Russia. Russia of all places, a country that is anything but a flawless democracy. A country in which a former intelligence agent rules the country with an iron fist. But to blame the whistleblower for all this would either be malicious or naïve. Snowden had no other choice. Go back to the States? The fate of WikiLeaks informant Bradley Manning shows what happens to people there who uncover government misconduct. Not a single country that could claim to be democratically flawless offered Snowden asylum.’

“In an editorial, WDR Radio, one of Germany’s largest public broadcasters, states: ‘Rarely since the end of the Cold War have relations between Moscow and Washington been as frosty as they are right now. A considerable amount of that is attributable to President Barack Obama’s manic attempt to persuade Putin to extradite NSA expert and whistleblower Snowden… The US president has made petty revenge a leading principle of his policies. Obama wanted Snowden to be extradited at any cost. Obama didn’t hesitate in having his attorney general write a letter to Moscow with logic as follows: We Americans are even willing to forego our classic instruments of torture and the death penalty if you, the Russians, just extradite Snowden to us.

“‘The letter couldn’t have been more telling in terms of Obama’s position towards unwelcome whistleblowers and possible betrayers of secrets. To expose himself to an ice cold Machiavelli like Putin with such a laughable position of self-revelation like that speaks volumes about the way in which Obama conducts foreign policy beyond his brilliant speeches. If the US president now also commits the error of playing the role of the offended prima donna and not appearing at the G-20 summit in September, then we can forget about relations between Washington and Moscow altogether…’”

Manning’s Sentencing a “Stain” on Obama’s Legacy and America’s Global Reputation

The Washington Times wrote on August 7:

“A military judge on Tuesday scaled back the maximum time that Bradley Manning could serve behind bars, from 136 years to 90 years, after ruling that many of his charges were related enough to be combined… The cut doesn’t mean Manning will get out any time soon… The 25-year-old will more than likely spend the remainder of his life behind bars at one of the nation’s most notoriously tough prisons, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas…”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on August 5:

“By using the Espionage Act to punish Bradley Manning, the Obama administration has shown how far it will go to intimidate leakers. His sentencing is a stain on the president’s legacy and on America’s global reputation. It was never an issue whether Bradley Manning violated US law. Manning pleaded guilty to 10 charges at the beginning of his military trial. The maximum sentence for those charges was 20 years in prison — an intolerable sentence, but unlikely to be the extent of his punishment.

“… Prosecutors have brought in the big guns — and invoked the Espionage Act, which was passed in 1917 in reaction to fears of German spies and saboteurs. It is political despotism to use this act in a trial that has to do with neither espionage nor sabotage. It means the defense can no longer argue that the defendant harmed no one, that he acted in the public interest. It deprives Manning of the only basis to justify his actions and the opportunity to avoid a guilty verdict.

“This is why the appropriate reaction to this verdict would be to reverse it. It would be overzealous, both from a legal and political standpoint, to pass judgment on Manning as a warning to other possible politically motivated offenders. The 25-year-old soldier, a man who is unconvincing as a heroic figure and burdened with complexes, is the most recent casualty in a hysterically prolonged ‘war on terror.’

“The Manning trial isn’t the first instance in which the United States under President Barack Obama has demonstrated its willingness to do everything it takes to prevent the spread of unwelcome truths. Former President Richard Nixon tried to use the Espionage Act to put the leaker of the Pentagon Papers — about the planning of the Vietnam War — behind bars. With a guilty verdict against Manning, Obama has now prevailed where Nixon failed.

“This injustice… will define Obama’s presidency in the long term… The reputation of the United States is at stake, along with its credibility as a country where freedom also means confrontation with the truth… Leaks are necessary for the fight against abuses of power. Manning’s leaks uncovered war crimes, albeit ones that have remained unpunished. His leaks revealed, at an early juncture, the disorientation of the US’s Afghanistan operations. And the cables from US embassies, far from being high-level gossip, showed how eagerly those in power deceived their own people.

“Obama must pardon Manning so that more whistleblowers do not find themselves compelled to seek refuge in the even darker realm of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Political lawbreakers like Nixon and Iran-Contra conspirators like former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane were pardoned. After all, there’s honor among thieves. Now it’s also time to pardon someone willing to call a thief a thief.”

It is highly unlikely that President Obama will pardon Manning. This is clearly not part of his agenda or within the interest of his Administration. What we are seeing in the USA is a continuing erosion of individual liberties and freedoms and the build-up of a controlling and somewhat secretive governmental apparatus.

Washington Afraid of Attacks in Yemen

Reuters wrote on August 6:

“The United States told its citizens in Yemen on Tuesday to leave immediately and airlifted out some U.S. government personnel, following warnings of potential attacks that have pushed Washington to shut diplomatic missions across the Middle East. The poorest Arab country, Yemen is the base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and militants have launched attacks from there against the West. U.S. sources have told Reuters that intercepted communication between bin Laden’s successor as al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the Yemen-based wing was one part of the intelligence behind their alert last week.

“Britain, which has already advised for more than two years that its citizens in Yemen should ‘leave now,’ announced it was temporarily evacuating all its embassy staff… The State Department’s announcement urging Americans to leave the country follows a worldwide travel alert on Friday which prompted Washington to shut diplomatic missions across the Middle East and Africa. Some of Washington’s European allies have also closed their embassies in Yemen. ‘The Department urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately,’ the statement posted on its website said.”

Controversial American drone attacks in Yemen and the incarceration of over 50 Yemen citizens in Guantanamo Bay have contributed to the creation of a hostile atmosphere in Yemen towards the USA.

Preferential Treatment for Same-Sex Couples

Newsmax reported on August 4:

“Same-sex married partners seeking U.S. travel visas will now be recognized as legal couples under a new rule put forth by Secretary of State John Kerry, the Advocate reports. ‘One of our most important exports by far is America’s belief in the equality of all people,’ Kerry said Friday at the U.S. embassy in London announcing his decision. ‘Now, our history shows that we haven’t always gotten it right,’ but Kerry said the recent Supreme Court decision changing the definition of marriage will change that.

“The change in visa status means preferential treatment for the couples in the application process, reports the Washington Post. It also helps foreign nationals in a same-sex marriage with U.S. citizens to more easily acquire a visa. The announcement comes on the heels of a Homeland Security Department decision by Secretary Janet Napolitano to acknowledge same-sex marriage when awarding green cards.”

This is no longer just equal treatment, but now we are informed that Immigration is willing to grant preferential treatment to same-sex partners.

Berlusconi’s Conviction and the Implications for Italy and Europe

 The EUObserver wrote on August 2:

“An Italian court Thursday (1 August) upheld former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s prison sentence marking the first definitive conviction for the 76-year old politician in over 20 trials spanning almost two decades. The court of cassation, Italy’s highest court and against which Berlusconi cannot appeal, decided after a three-day hearing to uphold a prison term for tax fraud. The original sentence of four years was handed out by two lower courts last year and automatically commuted to one year under a new amnesty law. Due to his age, he is expected to be held under house arrest or do community service. Meanwhile the court said a decision to ban Berlusconi from public office should be re-examined, but it did not reject the ban.

“Berlusconi, four times Italy’s prime minister, faced charges over the years ranging from corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute, but was finally snared by the Italian justice system over deals that his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films. He reacted angrily to the ruling…

“The court ruling has been keenly watched in the rest of the eurozone, not only because of the interest in a politician who at times proved as controversial outside Italy as he was inside the country but for the wider implications of the decision. It has the potential to destabilise the three-month old government, which consists of an uneasy coalition between Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL)… analysts remain quietly nervous about Italy, the region’s third largest economy… The current government was formed to try and get the economy back on track with unemployment at 12 percent and national debt at almost 130 percent of GDP, the second highest in the eurozone.”

News reports suggest that Berlusconi’s daughter might become his “successor” in Italian politics.

Germany’s Lucrative Weapon Sales

The Local wrote on August 7:

“German arms exports to Gulf states are set to hit a new record in 2013… In the first six months alone, the country sent over €800 million worth of combat weapons to the troubled region. Germany is sending millions of euros worth of tanks and howitzers to a region where governments have been accused of using force against their own citizens in violent crackdowns against dissent…

“Merkel’s government has come under fire over the past 18 months from domestic critics who question the morality of arming governments with less-than-perfect human rights records during the upheavals of the Arab Spring.”

Europe at Odds With Israel

The Times of Israel wrote on August 7:

“Despite heavy criticism from Israel, the European Union will not cancel, modify or delay the implementation of recently published guidelines that block EU funding from Israeli institutions either located or maintaining any links beyond the Green Line, a top EU official said this week. ‘The guidelines will take effect as they are. This is how they were published [in the EU’s Official Journal], as a legal act, and that’s how it will be,’ Ambassador Andreas Reinicke, the EU’s special representative to the Middle East peace process, told The Times of Israel last week. In certain areas where the guidelines are still unclear, ‘a closer look’ at the details might… have to be taken, he allowed. But their main points will not be changed and will take effect by January 2014 as planned.

“The EU’s directive, published last month, mandates a denial of European funding to, and cooperation with, Israeli institutions based or operating over the Green Line, and a requirement that all future agreements between Israel and the EU include a clause in which Israel accepts the position that all territory over the Green Line does not belong to Israel… In the wake of the new funding guidelines, the Israeli government is currently discussing whether to participate in a multibillion-dollar scientific cooperation program under EU auspices called Horizon 2020…

“Israelis from across right to center-left on the political spectrum protested the EU’s new guidelines… not all European capitals were enthusiastic about the issuance of the funding guidelines. The German government, for instance, distanced itself from the move… But… several EU foreign ministers explicitly welcomed the funding guidelines…”

The relationship between Europe and Israel will become more and more hostile in the not-too-distant future.

Israelis Will Be Hit Hard in Next War

The Los Angeles Times reported on August 8:

“As tensions escalate along Israel’s northern border, a senior military official warned that the next war with Hezbollah would be far more painful for Israeli citizens than any previous experience. ‘What we witnessed in 2006 is the very tip of the iceberg,’ said the official, referring to the 33-day war between Israel and the Lebanese-based Shiite militia Hezbollah. In that case, a third of the country was forced into bomb shelters for a month while rockets rained down on northern Israel…

“In the 2006 Second Lebanon War, nearly 4,000 rockets were fired into Israel, killing more than 40 civilians and causing widespread devastation to property and the economy. Hezbollah is now believed to have 60,000 to 100,000 rockets that boast longer ranges, improved accuracy and larger warheads… Israeli officials fear that as many as 2,000 rockets a day could be released against all parts of Israel… only 60% of Israelis have chemical-weapons protection kits…  Nearly one-third of Israelis don’t have quick access to bomb shelters.”

Japan’s Largest Warship and 68th Anniversary of Hiroshima

CNN wrote on August 6:

“Japan on Tuesday unveiled its largest warship since World War II, an 820-foot-long, 19,500-ton flattop capable of carrying 14 helicopters, according to media reports. The ship, named the Izumo, is classified as a helicopter destroyer, though its flattop design makes it look like an aircraft carrier…

“Tuesday’s launch also came on the 68th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. Upwards of 60,000 people — according to various estimates, about one-fifth of Hiroshima’s population at the time — were killed when a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on August 6, 1945. In remembrance ceremonies in Hiroshima on Tuesday, a list of 286,000 atomic bomb victims was presented… In a speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the Japanese people to always remind the world about the consequences of nuclear war…”

Zenit added on August 6:

“Cardinal Peter Turkson is in Japan for an initiative marking the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which took place on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945…He called the atom bomb dropped 68 years ago today on Hiroshima a ‘frightful wound inflicted upon the people of Japan and the whole human family.’… Cardinal Turkson noted the popes’ warnings about the suffering brought by war, and particularly the atom bomb, most recently Pope Francis: ‘The possession of atomic power can cause the destruction of humanity. When man becomes proud, he creates a monster that can get out of hand.’”

This is very true. Sadly, mankind will ignore these warnings, and if Christ were not to intervene to cut short a terrible time of self-destruction, no human being would be saved alive. And even though China is concerned about Japan’s military ambitions, the Bible prophesies that China, Japan, Russia and other Far Eastern countries will form a military union which will be confrontational towards Western powers, especially Europe.

German President Speaks Up

The Local wrote on July 26:

“German President Joachim Gauck said on Friday he had been so deeply troubled by the NSA spying revelations that he had wondered whether it was still safe to send emails and talk openly on the phone. ‘I never thought that the fear that secure communication was no longer possible could ever arise in Germany again,’ he told the paper. But he said this was exactly what had happened in the past weeks. ‘The scandal has really troubled me,’ President Gauck told the Passauer Neue Presse regional newspaper on Friday… The state had a duty to protect citizens from the threat of terrorism, which Gauck conceded means sometimes limiting their freedom in order to keep them safe. But this must always be done with respect for the right to private communication guaranteed in Germany’s constitution, he said…

“It was up to Germany, he said, where strict data protection and privacy rules developed as a bullwark against the abuses of the Stasi and Gestapo secret services, to pass on these lessons to the rest of the world. ‘It could be that the Americans and the Germans have different perceptions of data protection. But we Germans have had to live through abuse of state power with secret services twice in our history,’ said Gauck, who himself came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. ‘That’s why we’re particularly sensitive on this issue, and that’s something our American friends, among others, are going to have to put up with.’

“The president also subtly sent a message of support to fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose revelations over the past weeks had brought the scandal to light. ‘Whoever brings [information] to the public and acts on grounds of conscience deserves respect,’ he said. In a further rare intervention into politics, Gauck demanded Angela Merkel’s government enter into binding agreements with Germany’s allies to secure these freedoms. ‘We have to make sure that even our allies’ secret services respect the boundaries we find necessary here,’ said the president…”

Understandably, many German are concerned. The position of Governor Christie (see below) would be met with consternation, and views from Libertarians such as Rand Paul or Thomas Mullen (see below) would accurately reflect how most Germans feel.

Unconcerned… Esoteric or Reckless?

Breitbart wrote on July 26:

“Sen. Rand Paul’s office shot back at criticism from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the government’s sweeping surveillance operations. Christie had said Paul’s concerns over NSA spying and the government’s use of drones was ‘esoteric’…

“‘If Governor Christie believes the constitutional rights and the privacy of all Americans is “esoteric”, he either needs a new dictionary, or he needs to talk to more Americans because a great number of them are concerned about the dramatic overreach of our government in recent years,’ Doug Stafford, Senior Advisor to Sen. Paul said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. ‘Defending America and fighting terrorism is the concern of all Americans, especially Senator Paul,’ Stafford continued. ‘But it can and must be done in keeping with our constitution and while protecting the freedoms that make America exceptional.’… 

“Christie recklessly said that those who oppose the government’s broad surveillance of all Americans should talk to widows and orphans from the 9-11 attacks. Christie’s implication is that keeping track of every cell phone call and every internet interaction by average citizens would prevent another tragedy like 9-11. Maybe it would. With the steep cost of our privacy, though, what would be the point?”

Government Security Measures Did Not Prevent One Single Terrorist Attack

On July 27, Thomas Mullen wrote the following in the Washington Times:

“Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill [which did not pass] that would have defunded the NSA’s blanket collection of metadata and limited the government’s collection of records to those ‘relevant to a national security investigation.’ It terrified New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who lashed out at those who supported the bill and libertarianism in general…

“[Libertarianism] is dangerous to the bloated national security state, which tramples the liberty and dignity of every American under the pretense of protecting them from what Charles Kenny recently called the ‘vastly exaggerated’ threat of terrorism. Chris Christie shamelessly invoked the image of ‘widows and orphans’ of 9/11 in an attempt to discredit any resistance to the federal government’s complete disregard for the Bill of Rights…

“The Fourth Amendment forbids the federal government from running programs like the NSA’s. Only an amendment that revises or repeals it can change that… Let’s not forget that none of the… security measures established since 9/11 have prevented a single terrorist attack… Flight 93 on 9/11, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber were all foiled by private citizens, the latter two after the perpetrator walked right past the government’s garish security apparatus.

“The truth is that no security measures will ever be able to make Americans 100% safe from harm. There is absolutely nothing the U.S. government could do right now to prevent Russia or China from launching a nuclear attack on the United States… the government can’t stop the next terrorist attack any more than it has stopped any previously. What it can do is continue to erode American liberty. This country is already unrecognizable as the same one that ratified the Bill of Rights…”

How Our Willingly Ignorant Mainstream Media Lost

The Guardian wrote on July 27

“Edward Snowden is not the story. The story is what he has revealed about the hidden wiring of our networked world. This insight seems to have escaped most of the world’s mainstream media, for reasons that escape me… The obvious explanations are: incorrigible ignorance; the imperative to personalise stories; or gullibility in swallowing US government spin, which brands Snowden as a spy rather than a whistleblower… Without him, we would not know how the National Security Agency (NSA) had been able to access the emails, Facebook accounts and videos of citizens across the world; or how it had secretly acquired the phone records of millions of Americans; or how, through a secret court, it has been able to bend nine US internet companies to its demands for access to their users’ data.

“Similarly, without Snowden, we would not be debating whether the US government should have turned surveillance into a huge, privatised business, offering data-mining contracts to private contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton and, in the process, high-level security clearance to thousands of people who shouldn’t have it. Nor would there be – finally – a serious debate between Europe (excluding the UK, which in these matters is just an overseas franchise of the US) and the United States about where the proper balance between freedom and security lies…

“It was always a possibility that the system would eventually be Balkanised, ie divided into a number of geographical or jurisdiction-determined subnets as societies such as China, Russia, Iran and other Islamic states decided that they needed to control how their citizens communicated. Now, Balkanisation is a certainty… no US-based internet company can be trusted to protect our privacy or data…”

US influence in the world is bound to diminish in just about every aspect of human life…

Senators Accuse NSA and Obama Administration of Breaking the Law

The Huffington Post wrote on July 31:

“The National Security Agency’s massive collection of all Americans’ phone records breaks laws without making the country safer, two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee argued Tuesday night, saying the practices must be reformed. Taking to the Senate floor, Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called on the White House to act on its own to rein in the programs. The senators criticized the administration’s intelligence leaders for ‘misleading’ the public on the controversial NSA programs and accused the administration of breaking the law.”

The Manning Conviction—a Dangerous Precedent

Der Spiegel Online reported on July 30:

“The first and most serious charge against Manning was that of aiding the enemy. In theory, the death penalty can be applied in such convictions, but the government only demanded life imprisonment for Manning, without the possibility of parole. Just life imprisonment… In the end… Manning [was convicted] on a total of 20 out of 22 charges. Guilty of espionage, guilty of theft, guilty of computer fraud…

“Responding to the conviction, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said, ‘This is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short sighted judgment that cannot be tolerated and must be reversed. It can never be that conveying true information to the public is “espionage”’…

“The messages the judge in this trial of the largest betrayal of secrets in American history is seeking to send are already clear though. The first is that no mercy will be shown for whistleblowers. The United States is pursuing and treating whistleblowers as traitors… The second is that [the judge] stopped short of creating a precedent for the erosion of press freedom in the US.  If the court had convicted Manning on charges of aiding the enemy, it would have equated publishing stories about the documents in the media with aiding the enemy…

“Still, the fact that Manning wasn’t convicted of aiding the enemy in no way diminishes the massive pressure that US President Barack Obama has applied on the media and potential future whistleblowers…”

In the past, left-liberal German magazines like Der Spiegel spoke very highly about President Obama. Such “sympathy” and “admiration” have been considerably reversed.

Newsmax and Reuters added on July 30:

“‘This is a historic verdict,’ said Elizabeth Goitein, a security specialist at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. ‘Manning is one of very few people ever charged under the Espionage Act prosecutions for leaks to the media. … Despite the lack of any evidence that he intended any harm to the United States, Manning faces decades in prison. That’s a very scary precedent,’ she added.”

Banning Exposed Obama

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 31:

“For journalist James Bamford, well known for his books on the recently heavily criticized National Security Agency, Manning’s actions did not amount to aiding the enemy. Bamford said Manning may have released many, many documents, but they were not very sensitive. Indeed, most of the documents should not have been classified as secret by the government in the first place, he said.

“Bamford told DW that in his view, Manning did a great service to the public at great personal risk. ‘The most important piece of information that I saw shows how the Obama administration, how Obama himself, lied to the American public numerous times about our attacks in Yemen…[where] the US fired cruise missiles that were loaded with cluster bombs. These cluster bombs killed many, many civilians,’ he said.

“Bamford said due to their devastating destructive force, cluster bombs are outlawed in 109 countries. ‘And when it was discovered that [the bombs] killed many women and children and destroyed a village, Obama actually denied that the US had anything to do with it,’ he added.”

“Reaffirming to the World Who We Really Are”

Michael Moore wrote the following comments in the Huffington Post, dated July 31:

“Today Bradley Manning was convicted on 20 of 22 counts, including violating the Espionage Act, releasing classified information and disobeying orders. That’s the bad news. The good news is he was found not guilty on the charge of ‘aiding the enemy.’ That’s ’cause who he was aiding was us, the American people. And we’re not the enemy. Right?…

“When you hear about how long Manning – now 25 years old – will be in prison, compare it to sentences received by other soldiers:

“Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the senior military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib and the senior officer present the night of the murder of Iraqi prisoner Manadel al-Jamadi, received no jail time. But he was reprimanded and fined $8,000…

“Sgt. Sabrina Harman, the woman famously seen giving a thumbs-up next to al-Jamadi’s body and in another photo smiling next to naked, hooded Iraqis stacked on each other in Abu Ghraib, was sentenced to six months for maltreating detainees. Spec. Armin Cruz was sentenced to eight months for abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and covering up the abuse.

“Spc. Steven Ribordy was sentenced to eight months for being accessory to the murder of four Iraqi prisoners who were ‘bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal’ in Baghdad in 2007. Spc. Belmor Ramos was sentenced to seven months for conspiracy to commit murder in the same case…

“Marine Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich received no jail time for negligent dereliction in the massacre of 24 unarmed men, women and children in 2005 in the Iraqi town of Haditha. Seven other members of his battalion were charged but none were punished in any way.

“Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate and Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson were both sentenced to 21 months for the aggravated assault of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, a father of 11 and grandfather of four, in Al Hamdania in 2006. Awad died after being shot during the assault…

“No soldiers received any punishment for the killing of five Iraqi children, four women and two men in one Ishaqi home in 2006. Among the U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by Bradley Manning was email from a UN official stating that U.S. soldiers had ‘executed all of them.’ When Wikileaks published the cable, the uproar in Iraq was so big that the Nouri al-Maliki government couldn’t grant any remaining U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, thus forcing the Obama administration to abandon its plans to keep several thousand U.S. soldiers in Iraq permanently. All U.S. troops were removed at the end of 2011.

“My guess is Bradley Manning will spend more time in jail than all of the other soldiers in all of these cases put together. And thus, instead of redeeming ourselves and asking forgiveness for the crimes that Spc. Manning exposed, we will reaffirm to the world who we really are.”

The Bradley Manning conviction and sentencing will further decrease the world’s respect for America.

Communist Ho Chi Minh Inspired by US Constitution and Thomas Jefferson?

Canada Free Press wrote on July 26:

“Talking to reporters as he stood beside Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang yesterday, Obama [said], ‘we discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson.’… Truth is Ho Chi Minh was about as inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson as Obama is…  Obama has about as much credibility in white washing Ho Chi Minh as he has in trying to portray Benghazi, Fast and Furious, the IRS and NSA as ‘phony’ scandals…

“Following Ho Chi Minh’s death in 1969, over a million Viet Nam people, many of whose relatives were put to death as dissidents by the brutal dictator fled to North America and elsewhere becoming forever known as ‘The Boat People’.  The number of people who died at sea trying to find freedom is recorded somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000…

“Chris Stirewalt, of Fox News writes, ‘But his [Obama’s] connection between the American founders and Ho shows either a massive lack of historical knowledge on the part of the president or a remarkable degree of moral flexibility.’”

With ridiculous comments like these, America is becoming more and more a laughing stock in the world.

Aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Disaster

AFP wrote on July 26:

“Halliburton Energy Services has admitted destroying evidence relating to the devastating 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico… Halliburton — which constructed the cement casing of the well at the center of the disaster — had carried out its own internal investigations following the accident in April 2010. However, results of computer simulations carried out in May and June 2010 were ordered to be destroyed and were unable to be recovered, the Justice Department said.

“In addition to a guilty plea for destruction of evidence, Halliburton has agreed to pay the maximum statutory fine and also made a separate and voluntary $55 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Eleven people died and some 4.9 million barrels of oil were sent gushing into the Gulf over a three-month period after the explosion at the offshore oil rig. It was the largest offshore oil disaster in US history, wreaking havoc on the region’s environment and economy.”

Man-made catastrophes and subsequent “denials” or “justifications” will continue and increase.

Mysterious Death of Dolphins

On July 24, wired.com reported the following:

“At least 54 bottlenose dolphins have died mysteriously in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon since January… In a normal year, that number would be closer to 22. On July 24, NOAA declared the mass die-off an ‘Unusual Mortality Event’… It’s the lagoon’s worst dolphin die-off on record, and the cause is mysterious… It’s the second time this year that NOAA has declared an Unusual Mortality Event for marine mammals in the lagoon, a 156-mile-long estuary that runs along Florida’s Atlantic coast. In April, a mass manatee die-off received the same designation. This is the third time a UME has been declared for dolphins in the lagoon. What caused the others, in 2001 and 2008, is still a mystery…”

The Bible prophesied the demise of many animals in these last days.

Man Kills Bees through “Harmless” Pesticides and Fungicides

On July 24, Quartz wrote the following:

“… the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis mellifera population that one bad winter could leave fields fallow. Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.

“Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study… scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.

“… bees that ate pollen contaminated with fungicides were three times as likely to be infected by the parasite. Widely used, fungicides had been thought to be harmless for bees as they’re designed to kill fungus, not insects, on crops like apples… Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion.

“In recent years, a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids has been linked to bee deaths and in April regulators banned the use of the pesticide for two years in Europe where bee populations have also plummeted. But… the new study shows that the interaction of multiple pesticides is affecting bee health… the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product…

“The study found another complication in efforts to save the bees: US honey bees, which are descendants of European bees, do not bring home pollen from native North American crops but collect bee chow from nearby weeds and wildflowers. That pollen, however, was also contaminated with pesticides even though those plants were not the target of spraying…”

Man’s ignorant and dangerous actions are causing the death of many animals and human beings.

Mysterious “Hum” in New Mexico, England and Scotland

Life Science wrote on July 26:

“It creeps in slowly in the dark of night, and once inside, it almost never goes away. It’s known as the Hum, a steady, droning sound that’s heard in places as disparate as Taos, N.M.; Bristol, England; and Largs, Scotland. But what causes the Hum, and why it only affects a small percentage of the population in certain areas, [remains] a mystery, despite a number of scientific investigations…

“Reports started trickling in during the 1950s from people who had never heard anything unusual before; suddenly, they were bedeviled by an annoying, low-frequency humming, throbbing or rumbling sound. The cases seem to have several factors in common: Generally, the Hum is only heard indoors, and it’s louder at night than during the day. It’s also more common in rural or suburban environments…”

“Bedevilled” is an interesting choice of words.

Europe’s Rise or Fall?

On July 26, Der Spiegel Online published an interview with British-American historian Walter Laqueur (92). Even though Laqueur incorrectly predicts the decline of Europe, he also makes some interesting, albeit contradictory comments with which we would agree. The following are some [correct] excerpts from the interview:

“Europe will likely remain influential in the future as an economic power and trading partner. But the continent still isn’t standing on its own feet politically and militarily today… the conflicts have not decreased… Keeping a low profile is easier for most Europeans than coming up with the political will to become a major political power once again… The Europeans haven’t quite understood that trying to stay out of the fray offers no protection against the consequences of global policy… I don’t think that the economic, political and military problems Europe faces are insurmountable by any means… Thanks to the short-sighted, arrogant and aggressive US foreign policy of those years, a European anti-Americanism flared up, which has remained latent on both the left and the right… 

“The collapse of the monetary union is not unavoidable. In fact, if one considers the consequential costs, I think it’s somewhat unlikely in the foreseeable future. Perhaps a rapid decline would be even better, because it would raise awareness of the need for a general overhaul of the European structure. Crises bring about solidarity, as Jean Monnet, one of Europe’s founding fathers, knew all too well… Europeans have lost the sense of clear and present danger. Once again, European leaders believe that they are out of the woods. Well, miracles happen… The rise and fall of empires are constants in history. Historians have been searching for explanations since antiquity…”

For a short time and in the not-too-distant future, Europeans will play a leading role in the entire world… and most people will be surprised when that happens. But Europe’s lead will have devastating consequences. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Israel vs. Europe

Reuters reported on July 26:

“Israel has blocked the European Union from aiding tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, in retaliation for an EU ban on financial assistance to Israeli organizations in the occupied territories. The EU imposed its restrictions last week, citing its frustration over the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in territory captured by Israeli forces in the 1967 Middle East War. The new guidelines render Israeli entities operating there ineligible for EU grants, prizes or loans, beginning next year…

“Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon had decided to suspend contacts with the EU in the West Bank… [He] has ‘frozen projects, canceled meetings, curtailed coordination and permits for Europe’s operations’ for Palestinians living in what is known as Area C, a West Bank area fully administered by Israel…  A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that due to the Israeli measures, several European humanitarian aid staff had failed to receive permits to enter the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.”

The relationship between Europe and Israel will deteriorate more and more.

Palestinian Vision of “Final Solution”

JTA wrote on July 30:

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Egyptian journalists that no Israelis, civilians or soldiers, will remain in a future Palestinian state. Reuters reported that Abbas made the statements on Monday night in Cairo, where he was meeting with interim Egyptian President Adli Mansour. ‘In a final solution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli — civilian or soldier — on our lands,’ Abbas said… The statements flew in the face of efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to keep the terms of the peace talks under wraps, according to Reuters.

“Abbas insisted that ‘East Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine’… Abbas also said that he would not approve of a settlement-building freeze in which Israel halted building in isolated settlements but continued to build in settlements in the blocs that likely will remain part of Israel under a peace agreement.”

These extreme and radical views only show that the idea that the USA could broker a “peace treaty” is just totally unrealistic.

Violence in Egypt

Reuters reported on July 27:

“Egyptian security forces shot dead dozens of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday, witnesses said, days after the army chief called for a popular mandate to wipe out ‘violence and terrorism’… The bloodshed, near the military parade ground where President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, has rocked a country already struggling with the transition to democracy two years after Hosni Mubarak was swept from power…

“Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians had poured onto the streets on Friday in response to a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for nationwide demonstrations to give him backing to confront the weeks-long wave of violence. His appeal was seen as a challenge to the Brotherhood, which organized its own rallies on Friday calling for the return of Mursi…

“European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she ‘deeply deplores’ Saturday’s deaths and urged all sides to halt the violence. There was no immediate comment from the United States, which provides Egypt with some $1.5 billion dollars of aid a year, mainly military hardware. Washington has delayed delivery of four F-16 fighters because of the turmoil. However, officials have indicated they do not intend to cut off aid to a country…”

The Times of Israel wrote on July 27:

“It’s not a civil war yet, but Friday night’s events underline the level of strife in Egypt between the Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters and the military. For now, the army still enjoys the backing of many secular groups… But as the body count rises, that impressive support will slowly, inevitably erode… The Egyptian divide is bitter…

“…it is apparent that Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi cares little about the honor of Egypt’s citizens. Unlike former president Hosni Mubarak, who could not order the army to fire on protesters, el-Sissi not only can, but is more than willing to do so. The order came down and, on Friday, we could see a change in the army’s attitude towards the protesters. The government, the new president Adly Mansour, everyone, has decided to take off the gloves and put an end to the protests in favor of ousted president Mohammed Morsi…

“The Islamist movement is determined to flood the streets of Egypt with its people, and gradually turn all those who supported the second revolution against the military… The battle is far from over. ‘Iron Man’ el-Sissi is out to crush the Muslim Brotherhood, while the Islamists are convinced that they can topple the general. If Egypt doesn’t get back on track — economically and administratively — in the next few weeks, even the army’s strong-handed policy toward the Brotherhood will not produce stability. Tensions will rise further, and the danger of full-fledged civil war will draw ever closer.”

Egypt’s future is prophesied in Scripture. Please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

Senate Supports Ongoing Further Assistance to Egypt

The Washington Times wrote on July 31:

“The Senate on Wednesday… rejected Sen. Rand Paul’s push to temporarily halt foreign assistance to Egypt and his argument that the nation no longer qualifies for aid in the wake of the military takeover earlier this month. Mr. Paul, a likely 2016 presidential contender, said President Obama and his congressional allies are openly flouting the law by continuing to send money to the Middle Eastern power and said those taxpayer funds should be redirected to the nation’s crumbling infrastructure until Egypt holds new elections. ‘When there is a military coup, the aid must end,’ the Kentucky Republican said, citing the Foreign Assistance Act…

“A bipartisan group of lawmakers… defended the Obama administration’s decision to keep sending roughly $1.5 billion in annual assistance to Egypt after the July 3 military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, the leader of the Muslim brotherhood who had been democratically elected in June 2012.”

This was to be expected. Politics reigns, while the law is being ignored, re-interpreted or circumvented.

Merkel’s Re-Election in Jeopardy?

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 31:

“The failed Euro Hawk drone project has cost German taxpayers tons of money, and the Defense Ministry sympathy – but the biggest loser could be Chancellor Merkel, who may lose re-election…

“The opposition has been calling for Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere to step down for a long time… [He] admitted that [the government] had invested more than half a million euros into the project, only to realize after 10 years of research and development that there are ‘problems that can’t be solved.’ … The political responsibility for this surely lies with the minister himself – who should therefore step down together with his close aides.

“A few gently critical words about his poor handling of the situation and his crisis management are not enough for a scandal of such scope… Moreover, stepping down would also do Angela Merkel a favor. The general election is looming on September 22 and Merkel hopes to win her third term in office. Thomas de Maiziere clinging to his job could easily turn into a dangerous risk for that ambition.”

Duke of Bavaria Entitled to British Throne?

The Local wrote on July 25:

“All eyes were on the British royals this week, while in Bavaria a direct descendant of Stuart King Charles I turned 80 in relative privacy. Yet our German of the week Franz Herzog von Bayern’s blood runs as blue as little Prince George’s… Franz is the elder brother of Prince Max of Bavaria and inherited the title of Duke as head of the Wittelsbach family– once rulers of the Kingdom of Bavaria – when his father died in 1996.

“What is still hotly-contested in some quarters of Britain is whether the Duke’s direct blood line connection to 17th-century Stuart monarch King James II of England means he has a legitimate claim to the British throne. Franz is James II’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson. The Duke’s branch of the royal family lost the throne after the Catholic James II was deposed by William of Orange in England’s Glorious Revolution. James’s elder son, also a Catholic, was passed over for the succession in favour of his daughters, Mary II and Queen Anne…

“The… aristocrat was born in Munich in 1933 to Duke Albrecht of Bavaria and his wife, the Croatian Countess Maria Draskovich, as Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Prinz von Bayern. His parents disapproved of the Nazi regime and left Germany in 1939 for the relative safety of Hungary. They lived in Budapest until Hitler invaded in 1944 and had the family arrested – along with 11-year-old Franz, forcing them to spend the rest of the war in concentration camps – until they were liberated by US troops in 1945…

“The aristocrat never married and lives alone in the large Nymphenburg palace. Around 2,500 of Bavaria’s richest, most powerful and influential guests [were] on hand to pay tribute to the Duke at his birthday party at Schleißheim palace outside Munich on Monday, an event surpassed only in pomp by the royal birth taking place in Britain.”

Pope at War with Vatican

Newsmax reported on July 29:

“The pope’s recent visit to Rio de Janeiro underscores how wildly popular he is among the faithful. But an inside Vatican source says Francis will face a continuation of his war with the Holy See’s curia — and he has ambitious plans to expose corruption and dramatically change the Church’s image.”

Pope Won’t Judge Homosexuals…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 30:

“‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?’ Pope Francis asked during an unexpectedly candid in-flight news conference on Monday. ‘We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society.’ ‘Pope Francis used a different and more benign tone than his German predecessor when he was talking about homosexual people,’ said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the LGBT program at Human Rights Watch. ‘I read his view … as a call to Roman Catholic clergy in many countries to speak up and protest when gay men or lesbian women are arrested or discriminated against by the authorities in their countries.’…

“The German wing of the international Catholic reform movement ‘We are Church’ also praised the pope’s remarks. ‘This is a major coup for gay priests who have had to cover up their sexual orientation,’ said spokesman Christian Weisner…

“By contrast, Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men who had deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis distanced himself from this position in his first news conference as pope, when he said that gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. But Francis still stopped short of rejecting the Catholic Church’s principle that homosexual acts are a sin. ‘Basically, what he said was obvious,’ wrote Germany’s center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. ‘In his press conference, the pope skillfully avoided the truly thorny issue of whether gays and lesbians can only be equal before God (as others) if they are celibate.’”

Pope Not as Liberal as He May Seem

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 31:

“Pope Francis has sparked enthusiasm with his call for greater tolerance toward gays. But it’s too soon to celebrate, says [homosexual Catholic] theologian David Berger… ‘It is incredibly naïve to liken it to a dam bursting. What are gays or lesbians to think when someone tells them: I don’t want you to be discriminated against, but you are not allowed to live out your “tendency” anyway? According to doctrine, the homosexual act is still a sin…

“‘The notion that gays shouldn’t be discriminated against is already in the catechism… Take Francis’ categoric[al] rejection of the ordination of women. “This door is closed,” he said. This shows that when it comes to liberality, the pope is committed to the old gender roles… It is common knowledge in the Catholic Church that supervisors put pressure on gay priests in order to exploit them for their own interests…

“‘While John Paul II and Benedict XVI could be gauged, that’s not possible with Francis. His theology is rather a kind of folk Catholicism of Latin American origin. Much of what is currently fascinating believers is really the Catholic version of the rites of popular evangelical sects. For example, when he asks people at his discretion to bless him before he does it himself, he is acting out a blessing rite of the Pentecostals…

“‘Benedict XVI spoke as he would have written. Almost everything he said was well thought out in every detail. Francis’s statements often contradict each other. So he first said that atheists are devils, only to say shortly later that they are just as good as Christians. Then it was up to his spokesman to correct the statements and put them into perspective accordingly. From an intellectual perspective, the election of Francis is a fiasco for the Catholic Church. But the general public is presumably already won over by his charisma.’”

Archbishop Tutu Rejects God of the Bible

The Daily Mail wrote on July 27:

“The South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he will never worship a ‘homophobic God’ and would rather go to hell than find himself in a ‘homophobic heaven’. The retired archbishop said the fight against homophobia in South Africa was similar to the campaign waged against racial apartheid in South Africa.”

Germany Proactive Partner in USA Spying Activities

The Verge wrote on July 20:

“Reports that the US National Security Agency is spying on European allies and bugging embassies have been met with strong condemnation in Germany, where chancellor Angela Merkel angrily denounced the agency’s activities earlier this month as ‘unacceptable.’ But new documents obtained by Der Spiegel reportedly show that German intelligence services actually make significant use of a powerful NSA spying program used to monitor internet communications…

“The NSA’s spying programs have struck a nerve in German citizens, many of whom still hold memories of the East German Stasi, the infamous secret police force that spied on countless innocent civilians before the fall of the Berlin Wall. But Der Spiegel says the new documents reveal that the German government has been a proactive partner in the mass-surveillance efforts…”

NBC News added on July 20:

“Der Spiegel reported that documents reviewed by its writers said Germany has shown an ‘eagerness and desire’ to aid in U.S. global intelligence gathering efforts. Another document describes Germany’s foreign intelligence service as the NSA’s ‘most prolific partner’ in its intelligence gathering efforts.”

This had been suspected for quite a while, but the hypocrisy of those involved German politicians is still dumbfounding.

German Drone Disaster

Deutsche Welle reported on July 22:

“Within a period of just days, German parliamentarians hope to conduct an investigation into the failure of the 600-million-euro Euro Hawk drone project, a process that would normally take months or even years. Nineteen witnesses will be called to testify before a special committee, which will conduct its work during parliament’s summer break, from July 22 until July 31. And with Germany’s federal elections just two months away, the planned testimony by Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere could prove politically explosive for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition government.

“The investigative committee wants to know how the defense ministry could invest 12 years and hundreds of millions of euros in an aircraft that is not even allowed to fly in German airspace due to security concerns…

“In 2005, the Euro Hawk company was established, a joint venture between the European aerospace firm EADS and America’s Northrop Grumman. The American defense company manufactured the Global Hawk, the brother of the Euro Hawk…

“The problems, which ultimately led to the Euro Hawk failure, arose out of this business arrangement. The American airspace permit for the Euro Hawk – the prototype was built in the US – was not valid in Germany and could not be obtained… And according to the German defense ministry, the American side withheld documents detailing the technical specifications of the Euro Hawk. As a consequence, it could not be proven beyond doubt that the Euro Hawk would not pose a danger to civilian air traffic…

“But regardless of what de Maiziere tells the investigative commission in his defense, he already has the reputation of not having his house in order.”

This is in addition to the fact that many Germans reject drone warfare as immoral and as being in violation of national and international law.

Further Developments in US Spying Activities

Ubergizmo reported on July 25:

“In the PRISM saga, big companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo were named, though all of them denied knowing about the program. CNET now reports, citing people familiar with the matter, that the federal government is demanding ‘major internet companies’ to hand over their users’ passwords. The report doesn’t say exactly which companies have received such requests. If we were to consider, for the sake of argument, that the government is indeed asking for passwords, what would it do with them? The obvious answer is to spy on user data such as emails, messages and other private data. It would also have full access to users’ accounts, impersonating users will become very easy.

“The report also says that the government has demanded that internet companies hand over encryption keys, a process that is used to strengthen encrypted information such as passwords. The FBI reportedly did not comment on this report, whereas Microsoft and Google are said to have declined to mention if they have received any such requests. Spokespersons of both companies said that they don’t turn over users’ passwords.”

Deutsche Welle reported on July 25:

“The US House of Representatives has rejected an attempt to limit a phone surveillance program… the White House, several senior members of Congress, and senior intelligence officials, all came out in support of the surveillance program… House Democrats and Republicans alike were split over the proposed amendment. A majority of 111 House Democrats voted for the Amash amendment while 83 were against. Among Republicans, 94 were for it and 134 against.

“In a heated debate ahead of the vote, Amash argued the Obama administration was using fear to help justify its ‘violation of rights.’ ‘The government collects the phone records, without suspicion, of every single American in the United States,’ Amash said… According to a recent poll by The Washington Post and ABC News almost three-quarters of respondents believe the NSA programs were infringing on some Americans’ privacy rights.”

But contrary to the clear mandate of the American citizens not to do so, the government will continue to spy on innocent people…

Is US Becoming the World’s Leader for the Restriction of Freedom and Liberty?

On July 21, the website rferl.org stated the following:

“Internet experts say Washington’s covert program to track the online activity of foreigners by tapping into the servers of Facebook, Google, Skype, and other U.S. companies could play directly into the hands of repressive regimes. The revelation could provide them with potentially powerful justification for existing programs that restrict online freedoms — as well as cover for implementing new measures.

“Ronald Deibert, the director of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, one of the world’s foremost research centers on how cyberspace, global security, and human rights interrelate, says the United States has now largely ceded the moral high ground on Internet freedom. ‘As countries realize that a lot of the structural power conferred on the United States and other countries comes from their ability to essentially coerce domestic telecommunications carriers into colluding with their intercept and wiretap programs, countries around the world will quickly look to rectify that by building and encouraging their own national networks and subjecting them to their own territorialized controls,’ Deibert says… ‘It is really a kind of perverse set of unintended consequences that we’re nurturing.’

“‘National Internets’ already exist in North Korea and Cuba and are reportedly being developed in Iran… In an interview with ‘The New York Times’ on July 14, Ruslan Gattarov, a lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said, ‘We need to quickly put these huge transnational companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook under national control.’… U.S. Internet companies operating in Russia and a host of other countries already face pressure from governmental bodies or law enforcement to share data. Experts say such pressure is now likely to intensify…

“Some have also expressed concern that the U.S. government’s explanation for its surveillance program — legitimate or not — could be manipulated by repressive governments: Washington has defended the program as a legally authorized method of helping to guard the country against terrorist attacks. Countries ranging from China to Belarus to Uzbekistan have previously rationalized pervasive online censorship under the banner of national security….”

It is indeed a bleak day in America’s history when the worldwide defender of liberty and freedom is now perceived as the main violator of the same and as the country, which justifies restrictions of such freedoms under the guise of national security, thereby enabling authoritarian regimes to do the same.

America’s Politics of Non-Intervention

BBC News wrote on July 23 about a letter by “the top US military officer [Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen Martin Dempsey] [who] has outlined the costs, risks and benefits of possible American military involvement in the Syrian conflict… including limited strikes and establishing a no-fly zone. But he said using force in Syria would be ‘no less than an act of war’ and could cost the US billions of dollars.”

In their analysis, BBC News wrote this:

“This is the first time the US has explicitly laid out options for using force in Syria – a glimpse of what military leaders are, presumably, advising US President Barack Obama. And the advice seems to come down on the side on non-intervention. The letter does not even attempt to address the wider challenges – of how to win UN authorisation when Russia seems dead set on blocking it; of how to secure support of war-weary Americans or reluctant allies; of the danger of further destabilising fragile neighbours; or of finding the US at war not just with Syria, but Iran and Russia.

“So, aside from quietly arming Syria’s moderate opposition, what would it take to make US intervention more likely?

“Perhaps a catastrophic clash or massacre on an extraordinary scale might shift calculations. So might the danger of Lebanon or Jordan imploding, or a large-scale use of chemical weapons, which also threatened, say, Israel or Turkey. And if a new status quo were to emerge which essentially partitioned Syria, then buffer zones in areas Assad forces no longer seemed likely to attack might seem more feasible.”

What most Americans and many others do not realize is that America has been losing its political influence and will-power to act. And as we have proclaimed for a long time, America will not win any more wars.

“Is Washington Turning Its Back on Freedom of the Press?”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 24:

“President Obama is cracking down on leakers. Both Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning face prosecution under the Espionage Act, while a New York Times reporter [James Risen] was ordered to reveal his sources or risk jail time. Is Washington turning its back on freedom of the press?…

“A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that Risen would receive no First Amendment protection safeguarding the confidentiality of his sources… The ruling could not have come at a more volatile time. In the midst of the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the Risen trial sheds further light on the Obama administration’s unparalleled clampdown on official leakers. The 118-page judgment, which sets a precedent that could create significant hurdles for investigative journalism, has dealt a further blow to First Amendment protections for reporters in the US.

“President Obama’s war on the whistleblower is now being fought on multiple fronts — in the Russian capital, where Snowden has been given temporary documents and is soon expected to leave the airport he has been holed up in for weeks, and in South America, where the American hopes to be granted asylum. The battle is also being waged in Maryland, where Bradley Manning, a former US Army private, currently faces military trial for passing documents to WikiLeaks. And last week it took hold in Virginia’s fourth circuit appeals court, where Risen is likely to be compelled to give evidence [in a case involving activities of the CIA]…

“If Risen continues to ignore the subpoena, he could face jail time… The legal landscape now facing US journalists appears to be a bleak one… The Justice Department… expressly supported the decision, with a spokesperson announcing that the next steps in the prosecution of the case were already being examined. Ironically, the statement comes shortly after the Justice Department published new guidelines for leak investigations designed to protect the interests of reporters. The revision was a response to public outcry over the department’s aggressive investigative tactics, including subpoenaing Associated Press reporters’ phone records.

“Despite the ruling, Risen has pledged to uphold his decision not to testify…”

Our respect for those who make a promise and do not break it, even if it hurts…

The Obamacare Big Brother Database

rare.us wrote on July 20:

“Would you trust thousands of low-level Federal bureaucrats and contractors with one-touch access to your private financial and medical information? Under Obamacare you won’t have any choice. As the Obamacare train-wreck begins to gather steam, there is increasing concern in Congress over something called the Federal Data Services Hub. The Data Hub is a comprehensive database of personal information being established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement the federally facilitated health insurance exchanges. The purpose of the Data Hub, according to a June 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, is to provide ‘electronic, near real-time access to federal data’ and ‘access to state and third party data sources needed to verify consumer-eligibility information.’ …

“They certainly should be; the potential for abuse is enormous. The massive, centralized database will include comprehensive personal information such as income and financial data, family size, citizenship and immigration status, incarceration status, social security numbers, and private health information. It will compile dossiers based on information obtained from the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, state Medicaid databases, and for some reason the Peace Corps. The Data Hub will provide web-based, one-stop shopping for prying into people’s personal affairs.

“Not to fear, HHS says, the Data Hub will be completely secure. Really? Secure like all the information that has been made public in the Wikileaks era? These days no government agency can realistically claim that private information will be kept private, especially when it is being made so accessible. Putting everyone’s personal information in once place only simplifies the challenge for those looking to hack into the system…

“Given the slap-dash, incoherent way Obamacare is being implemented the prospect for quality control is low. And the Obama administration’s track record of sweetheart deals, no-bid, sole-source contracting and other means of rewarding people with insider access means the Data Hub will be firmly in the hands of trusted White House loyalists. So if you think the IRS targeting Tea Party groups was bad, just wait for the Obamacare Navigators to be unleashed. ‘Trust us,’ the administration says, no one will abuse the Data Hub…”

The country is indeed in DEEP trouble.

“Vatican Bank Again at the Center of a Financial Scandal”

IB Times wrote on July 21:

“The Vatican has once again been rocked by scandal as Italian prosecutors press ahead with a money-laundering investigation of three of its top former officials that threatens the Holy See’s Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), or as it’s commonly known, the Vatican bank.

“Following the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, who was head of analytical accounting, for allegedly attempting to smuggle $26.5 million from Switzerland to Rome; Giovanni Maria Zito, a former agent who is now a Carabinieri police officer; and Giovanni Carenzio, a financial broker, in June, two more top Vatican officials have been accused, prompting their resignations. The news comes at a bad time for Pope Francis as his plans to bring the bank into line with other European banks, even agreeing to forgo the Vatican’s infamous secrecy laws, look to have taken a hit…

“This is not the first time the Vatican Bank has caused controversy in the financial sector. From 1971 to 1989, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was involved in the higher echelons of the Vatican Bank. He was allegedly involved with Mafia-linked Sicilian banker Michele Sindona and Italian banking executive Roberto Calvi, president of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed with massive debts, including around $250 million to IOR, one of Banco’s main shareholders.

“After a number of investigations by the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Justice Department, including his alleged involvement in the delivery of $14.5 million worth of counterfeit bonds to the Vatican in July 1971, Marcinkus was cleared of wrongdoing. Calvi, on the other hand, was found dead, hanging from a rope under Blackfriars Bridge in London, victim of a faked suicide. Marcinkus was wanted for questioning on the murder but sought diplomatic immunity by taking refuge in the Vatican, although not over the murder of Calvi, but instead over huge losses that the Vatican incurred by setting up fake offshore shell companies in the Bahamas. The murder was later found to have been committed by the Mafia.

“The case against the Vatican officials is still in its infancy, but formal charges are expected to be brought in the coming weeks and months by Rome prosecutors. The bank was established in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to handle the Vatican’s finances that were held in different countries — then embroiled in World War II — by religious orders, cardinals, bishops and priests. The bank is estimated to hold around $7.5 billion in assets.”

The Bible has much to say about the riches of the Catholic Church in these last days. In addition, in his remarkable book, “Secrets of the Freemasons,” Michael Bradley claims on pages 150 and 151 that “Many people feel that Calvi’s death was symbolically Masonic… The Vatican’s role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal has been used as evidence that Pope John Paul I was murdered for attempting to root out financial and Masonic corruption in the Holy See.” Bradly also says that the Vatican Bank is “personally owned by the Pope and loans money to religious projects worldwide.” 

Catholic Purgatory and Indulgences

The Guardian reported on July 16:

“In its latest attempt to keep up with the times the Vatican has married one of its oldest traditions to the world of social media by offering ‘indulgences’ to followers of Pope Francis’ tweets. The church’s granted indulgences reduce the time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory after they have confessed and been absolved of their sins. The remissions got a bad name in the Middle Ages because unscrupulous churchmen sold them for large sums of money. But now indulgences are being applied to the 21st century.

“But a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that paradise was not just a few mouse clicks away… Indulgences these days are granted to those who carry out certain tasks – such as climbing the Sacred Steps, in Rome (reportedly brought from Pontius Pilate’s house after Jesus scaled them before his crucifixion), a feat that earns believers seven years off purgatory. But attendance at events such as the Catholic World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, a week-long event starting on 22 July, can also win an indulgence.

“Mindful of the faithful who cannot afford to fly to Brazil, the Vatican’s sacred apostolic penitentiary, a court which handles the forgiveness of sins, has also extended the privilege to those following the ‘rites and pious exercises’ of the event on television, radio and through social media… In its decree, the penitentiary said that getting an indulgence would hinge on the beneficiary having previously confessed and being ‘truly penitent and contrite’. Praying while following events in Rio online would need to be carried out with ‘requisite devotion’, it suggested.”

This is so unbiblical, but people are willing to believe just about anything, and even act upon their beliefs, as long as they are not the truth.

Catholicism in Brazil

On July 17, Al Jazeera reported:

“Pope Francis will be in Brazil starting on Monday… expected to bring over a million Catholic pilgrims, mostly youth, to Brazil. It will be historic for all the obvious reasons: The first Latin American Pope, the first trip as pope to South America, neighboring his native Argentina… Brazil is ‘the world’s largest Catholic country.’ … But what exactly does that mean?…

“The total population of Brazil is 198.4 million, as of last year. Of the total population, 169.3 million identify themselves generally speaking as Christian, and of those, 123 million strictly identify as Roman Catholic (123,280,172 to be exact), while another 42 million Protestant. But it’s the fast growing evangelical/Pentecostal religions that seem to be the biggest challenges to the Catholic Church in Brazil… In short, the Vatican can still rely on Brazil to be the place of the largest pool of ardent Catholics anywhere in the world. But it’s not the absolute numbers that should concern Pope Francis, it’s the trend lines.”

And so, the Catholic Church will do something about this, trying to reverse the trend lines in its favor.

Revolution in the Catholic Church?

Deutsche Welle reported on July 24:

“Many Catholics hope Pope Francis will strengthen laymen and women in church, who have been taking on responsibilities of priests in some rural areas. That might trigger a revolution, experts say.  The Catholic Church in Latin America has a way of dealing with contradictions: Instead of discussing whether women should be allowed to be ordained to the priesthood or debating the celibate, laymen go ahead and create precedents in their religious communities. They’ve come up with new forms of church services – services without a priest. Hopes are high during this year’s World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro that Pope Francis will give more power to ordinary people in the church: the laypersons. That would ultimately change the Catholic Church…

“Many laypersons have already come up with their own solution: they simply hold church services without the support of the clerics. They pray together, break the bread, administer wine, and care little about Catholic regulations, which specify that only priests are allowed to administer the sacrament of the Holy Communion… Rebellion and revolution – that’s nothing new for Latin America: In the 1960s and 70s, Latin American liberation theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez and Oscar Romero inspired clergymen and believers all over the world. One of them was Ludwig Gerhard Müller, who now heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith…”

The Pope in Brazil—as If It’s Jesus?

The Washington Times wrote on July 24:

“Thousands of Catholic Church faithful crowded for a glimpse of Pope Francis on Wednesday, as he visited small town Aparecida, venerated Brazil’s patron saint and delivered his first public Mass on his visit to the country. ‘I have been up for almost 24 hours, most of that time on my feet and in the rain and the cold. But I don’t feel any pain. I feel bathed in God’s glory and that’s because of the pope,’ said Nacilda de Oliveira Silva, 61, in The Associated Press. ‘For me, it’s the same thing as seeing Jesus pass by. That’s how moved I feel.’”

Zenit added on July 24:

“Yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, July 23, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta presided over the opening ceremony of Rio’s WYD [World Youth Day] with thousands of young people and hundreds of Bishops who defied a subtle and persistent rain… In his homily, Archbishop Tempesta… invited young people to come out of themselves and be ready to respond to God’s plan… Several times the archbishop addressed young people as ‘morning watchmen.’”

The Bible warns of religious deception and especially of those who proclaim to be servants of Christ, speaking on behalf of Christ, or pretending to be Christ, while rejecting His words. It is also interesting that young Catholics are being referred to as “watchmen,” while the true watchmen are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news of the Kingdom of GOD—for instance, in our “StandingWatch” programs.

Obama: “Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me.”

IB Times wrote on July 20:

“President Barack Obama made a surprise visit on Friday to the White House briefing room, where he reflected on comments made last year in the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case. When Martin, 17, was shot and killed in Florida last February by Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, the president had said the teen could have been his son. Reflecting upon the statement more than a year later, Obama said, ‘Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.’”

Breitbart added on July 19:

“President Obama strongly implied that George Zimmerman profiled Trayvon Martin due to Martin’s race, despite the utter lack of evidence that Zimmerman did so. In fact, an FBI investigation into Zimmerman turned up no evidence of racial bias, and the Department of Justice has been utterly unsuccessful in providing evidence of any racially-based federal crime committed by Zimmerman…  ‘I think, to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different,’ Obama stated.

“Obama provided no evidence for that contention. Such evidence would not include the case of Roderick Scott, a black man acquitted for the killing of white 17-year-old Christopher Cervini. Scott shot Cervini after confronting him and two others robbing a car; Cervini apparently charged Scott, who shot him. Scott was acquitted. Cervini’s aunt said, ‘How can this happen to a beautiful, sweet child like that? All he wanted to do was go home. And then for them to say, he was saying, ‘Please don’t kill me. I’m just a kid,’ and he just kept on shooting him.’ No word from President Obama on [that] case.”

Rather than unifying the country, unproven allegations of racial profiling only divide the country even more.

Ignorant Americans

CBS wrote on July 23:

“A new poll finds that a majority of Americans believe that God played a part in the evolution of humans… 62 percent of Americans believe God helped create humans. Thirty-seven percent of those believe God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years while 25 percent believe human beings evolved from lesser life forms over millions of years but God guided the process. Only 21 percent believe that God did not play a part in human evolution.

“Seventeen percent of those polled were not sure if God played a part in the existence of humans… more people favored having creationism taught in schools than those that opposed. Forty percent of those polled believe that intelligent design – the belief that God created the universe – should be taught in public schools, while 32 percent opposed such teachings. Twenty-nine percent of Americans were not sure if creationism should be taught. The poll also found that those who say God played no part in human evolution rose from 13 percent in 2004 to 21 percent in 2013, an 8 percent increase.”

The truth is, the evolution theory is completely wrong, whether one believes in random chance or God’s “direction” during the alleged evolution process. But creationism is also wrong, as it does not believe in the clear teachings of the Bible either. For a better understanding, please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults.” 

Politically Incorrect Crimes in Britain

Gatestone Institute wrote on July 17:

“Great Britain is in the throes of a rape and pedophilia epidemic unlike anything the country has experienced in living memory. Many of the sex crimes are being perpetrated by Muslim child grooming gangs responsible for drugging, raping and torturing hundreds and possibly thousands of British girls. But another wave of sex crimes involves predatory Muslim taxi drivers who are raping female passengers. The number of so-called taxi rapes is snowballing to such an extent that a British judge has issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while traveling in a cab…

“Apart from a few high-profile cases, taxi rapes are rarely reported by national newspapers in Britain, apparently because the politically incorrect crimes are not deemed to be newsworthy. But a survey of stories buried deep inside local newspapers shows that taxi rapes are occurring in all parts of England, Wales and Scotland on an almost daily basis.”

Cameron’s Pride At Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage in Britain

The Telegraph wrote on July 25:

“The Prime Minister spoke of his pride at legalising same sex marriage, just a year after explicitly giving a personal guarantee to do it by 2015 to a reception for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-sexual community at 10 Downing Street. Mr Cameron told guests… that Britain was now ‘the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe’.  He added: ‘That is a great achievement…’ He said that he wanted to ‘export’ same sex marriage around the world so other countries could follow suit… In his speech he told guests four times how proud he was to have been Prime Minister when same sex marriage was legalised in Britain… Although the Queen could hardly not have given her assent to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, [Cameron]  promised… that he intended to thank her ‘personally’ for signing it at his audience with her [on Wednesday evening]…”

Britain’s New Prince Third in Line to the Throne

The Associated Press reported on July 22:

“Prince William’s wife, Kate, has given birth to a prince [George Alexander Louis] who is now third in line to the British throne… No one can tell what political and personal changes the intervening years will bring, but the baby can be expected to become the head of state of 16 countries, including Britain, Australia and Canada. The child will also eventually become Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The little prince represents a living link to Britain’s imperial history – the infant is the great-great-great-great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, who ruled at the peak of British power.”

In light of the signs of the time, it is highly unlikely that the new-born prince will ever sit on the British throne.

Japan Urges the UK Not to Leave the EU

BBC News wrote on July 21:

“Thousands of jobs with Japanese firms could be at risk if the UK leaves the EU, the Japanese government has hinted… Japan said its firms were attracted to the UK because it offered a gateway to the European market. ‘If the UK leaves the single market… that is not good news,’ the Japanese embassy told the Sunday Times… Japan said it was ‘committed to making its relationship with the EU stronger than ever before.’ It added: “’In this context, it expects that the UK will maintain a strong voice and continue to play a major role in the EU…’

“But Conservative MP Julian Brazier dismissed Japan’s concerns. He told the newspaper: ‘It’s kind of the Japanese to give us guidance on our national destiny but at a time when the eurozone is in a crisis unseen for nearly a century I’m not sure they are well qualified to see the way forward for Britain. In deciding on our national interest we may have to disappoint their expectations.’”

Although it may make sense to the UK to leave the EU, this is a prophesied development which will lead to the UK’s downfall.

Turkey in Uproar

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 23:

“Following mass anti-government protests in Turkey, Ankara is now taking revenge on its critics. Activists and demonstrators are being investigated and intimidated, while journalists are getting fired and insubordinate civil servants transferred far afield… The demolition of the park in downtown Istanbul was only the initial cause of the protests, which have continued and are now directed against the government. The protesters’ numbers have dwindled from the hundreds of thousands who had been attending the mass protests, though. Many are exhausted, but many are also afraid.

“Largely unnoticed by the public, a big cleanup has begun, in which those who opposed Prime Minister Erdogan and his administration in recent weeks are now being punished. Activists are being locked up, journalists bullied and demonstrators persecuted. The Turkish parliament has deprived the chamber of architects and engineers of its voice in urban planning projects. The Turkish education ministry has ordered schools to provide it with the names of all teachers who took part in the protests, who could now face adverse consequences…

“According to Turkish human rights organizations, the police have arrested at least 3,000 people, including children. Although some have been released, no one knows how many are still in prison… Turkish journalists have suffered from repression for years. No other country in the world has as many journalists behind bars… For the first time, the policy of intimidation is also directed against foreign journalists…  But the government’s attempts to intimidate are only fueling a spirit of resistance among some people…”

Bulgaria in Uproar

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 24:

“Forty days of anti-government protests culminated Tuesday night in an eight-hour blockade of Bulgaria’s parliament in Sofia. Police ended the siege on Wednesday morning, escorting more than 100 officials out of the building amid ongoing unrest… The blockade was the culmination of weeks-long protests and clashes with the police, triggered by a government decision to name media tycoon Delyan Peevski as head of the National Security Agency. The move was seen as evidence of private interests controlling public institutions. The government’s subsequent withdrawal of the appointment was seen as too little, too late in the European Union’s poorest country, and crowds took their outrage to the streets, demanding the cabinet’s resignation.

“An angry mob estimated by French news agency AFP to include 2,000 people surrounded the parliament building on Tuesday evening chanting slogans like ‘Mafia!’ and ‘Resign!’ as lawmakers took part in a late-night sitting to discuss a controversial budget adjustment that would raise the deficit and state borrowing limit… President Rosen Plevneliev asked both demonstrators and police to remain ‘peaceful and civilized.’… The Socialist-led government came to power in May, following the resignation of the previous cabinet amid heavy anti-austerity protests.

“Protesters in Bulgaria have now taken to the streets for some 40 days to demonstrate against the Socialist-led government and its junior coalition partner, the Turkish minority DPS party. The protests are an expression of outrage over corruption, nepotism and impoverishment in the country.”

Ban on Kosher Slaughter and Anti-Semitism in Poland

JTA wrote on July 16:

“Hundreds of comments calling on Jews to leave Poland have appeared beneath news articles in the days since the country’s parliament defeated a bill that would have reversed a ban on kosher slaughter, or shechitah, first imposed in January. ‘The ban is bad enough because it’s the result of disinformation, but it opened the door to anti-Semitism that’s very evident in these comments,’ said Piotr, who with his wife is a founding member of Czulent, an association of young Krakow Jews.

“The shechitah ban and ensuing anti-Semitic outbursts come as painful reminders that despite years of government-led projects celebrating Jewish tradition, Poland still has a long way to go…

“In January, a constitutional court, responding to a petition filed by animal welfare activists, outlawed religious slaughter in Poland. A law that would have reinstated shechitah was rejected by the Sjem, the Polish parliament, on July 12 by a vote of 222-178. On Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had no plans to reintroduce legislation to lift the ban.

“The Polish ban is not the first time a European country has put animal welfare concerns above the religious freedom of its Jewish and Muslim minorities. In 2011, a large majority of the lower house of the Dutch parliament passed a bill banning the practice, but it was scrapped by the Dutch Senate. Laws banning kosher slaughter also are on the books in Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Sweden and Iceland…

“[Poland] is the sole European country that does not offer private property restitution to [Holocaust] survivors and their heirs… Last month, a prosecutor in the northern city of Bialystok called swastikas ‘symbols of prosperity’ in explaining the refusal to investigate the painting of Nazi symbols on municipal property. Earlier that month, a Polish official said the courts were ‘powerless’ to stop a declaredly anti-Semitic political party from running in elections. In April, a survey found that 44 percent of 1,250 Warsaw teenagers polled said they would rather not have Jewish neighbors. More than 60 percent said they did not want Jewish spouses…

“Jews and Muslims are not the only ones affected by the ban, which has shut down the country’s robust export industry of kosher and halal meat. Estimates place the value of the ritual slaughter industry at more than $500 million…”

On July 23, JTA wrote the following:

“A Polish government minister asked Jewish and Muslim representatives to petition the country’s Constitutional Court to sort out conflicting laws that have led to a ban on ritual slaughter. According to a statement Monday by the office of Michal Boni, the Polish minister responsible for religious affairs, the minister asked the representatives to petition the court with regard to the 1997 Act on the Relation of the State to the Jewish Communities in Poland, which states that ritual slaughter may be performed in accordance with the needs of the local Jewish community.

“The law appears to conflict with Article 34 of the 1997 Law on the Protection of Animals, which states that ‘vertebrate animal in a slaughterhouse may be killed only after being knocked unconscious by qualified personnel.’ Muslim and Jewish religious laws require animals be conscious before their necks are cut. ‘The matter can only be settled by Constitutional Court,’ read a statement sent from by Boni’s office. According to the statement, Boni asked Piotr Kadlcik, president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, and Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, to petition the court on the issue…”

Anti-Semitism in Europe is prophesied to sharply increase and grow. But not just in Europe… see the next article.

America vs. Israel

JTA reported on July 23:

“A federal court upheld the State Department’s refusal to list ‘Israel’ as the country of birth for Americans born in Jerusalem. The 42-page decision released Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia delved into constitutional law in finding that Congress, in passing a 2002 law mandating the listing of ‘Israel’ should Americans born in Jerusalem request it, impinged on the executive branch’s foreign policy prerogative.

“President Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, have refused to implement the law, saying it violates longstanding policy that does not recognize any nation’s sovereignty in the city and leaves its status to be decided in peace talks. The request to list Israel ‘runs headlong into a carefully calibrated and longstanding Executive branch policy of neutrality toward Jerusalem,’ the court ruled.”

Same-Sex Marriages Sign of End of Days

The website rferl.org reported on July 21:

“The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has said that the legal recognition of same-sex marriage is ‘a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse.’  Patriarch Kirill told a congregation at Kazan Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square on July 21 that such recognition ‘means people are choosing a path of self-destruction.’ The patriarch criticized the states that have legalized same-sex marriage, saying that ‘some countries approve their choice in favor of sin and justify it by law.’

“Kirill also said he supports a ban on ‘homosexual propaganda’ recently signed into law by President Vladimir Putin. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993 but remains stigmatized in a country where the Orthodox Church still holds considerable influence. Gay-rights parades are forbidden…”

Even though it is very unpopular to voice this, Kirill’s statements and warnings are in line with the teachings and prophecies of the Bible.

Major Earthquakes Hit New Zealand and China

The age.com.au reported on July 21:

“A large 6.5 earthquake has hit central New Zealand, sending people diving for cover in the capital of Wellington. The quake was felt widely across the country… It is the latest in a sequence of major earthquakes that have been hitting Wellington and wider areas around central New Zealand since Thursday… Quakes measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale, 5.5 and 6.9 have all hit the Wellington area.”

CNN reported on July 22:

“Rescue teams are scrambling to reach the site of Monday morning’s strong and shallow earthquake in northwestern China that has killed at least 89 people, according to state media. Another 593 people were injured and five were believed missing after the quake tore through Gansu Province, China Daily reported… The original quake and powerful aftershocks caused roofs to collapse, cut telecommunications lines and damaged a major highway linking the provincial capital of Lanzhou to the south, according to the China Daily newspaper… According to the Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau, the quake registered a magnitude of 6.6, however the U.S. Geological Survey said it was a 5.9-magnitude tremor, which struck at the relatively shallow depth of about half a mile (1 kilometer).”

Christ warned of major earthquakes here and there, just prior to His return.

The Week in the News

We begin reporting on the rising tidal waves and tsunamis of Anti-Americanism smashing through the countries of Germany and South America, following the continuous earthquakes of ongoing revelations about the atrocious behavior of US worldwide spying activities—coupled with the realization, especially by German citizens, that their German government is unwilling to confront the US—perhaps because of passive or even quite active participation. We also report about Hungary’s warning against German leadership in Europe.

We continue reporting on the trial and acquittal of George Zimmerman, following the untimely death of Trayvon Martin. We are focusing on the fabricated story of the mass media and radical commentators pertaining to the myth of racial profiling, while most are ignoring the real, but uncomfortable crux of the matter.

We point out America’s apparent repeated and ongoing unwillingness to obey its own laws prohibiting military aid to Egypt (notwithstanding that America CLAIMS to be a nation of laws); speak of European anti-Semitism; Israel’s repeated announcements that it might attack Iran militarily; Israel’s desire to build a Third Temple; and a possible collaboration between Iran and North Korea.

We report on gay marriages in Britain and Wales; and conclude with France’s celebration of its Bastille Day on July 14, 2013, showing that the French people might be in error regarding the origin and nature of their national holiday.

Anti-Americanism on the Rise…

The Financial Times wrote on July 12:

“Outside the US, [Snowden’s] revelations have revived a narrative about the dangers of a world dominated by an untrustworthy superpower that had been dormant as debate raged instead about American decline. Already criticised for its extensive use of drones, the international image of the administration has taken another heavy hit by the documents about extensive US surveillance.

“Many Latin American governments were angered when the plane carrying Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, was diverted to Vienna airport on suspicion that Mr Snowden was on board – a tip that Spanish officials said this week came from the US. The disclosures about US surveillance in Brazil have prompted a new round of indignation in a region with a strong anti-US sentiment…”

Anti-Americanism is prophesied to increase—some, if not much of it, is due to America’s own conduct.

A Flop and Total Disaster

Deutsche Welle reported on July 13:

“German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich says he is satisfied with US assurances about spying activities. Weeks ahead of a federal election though, the opposition are not about to let the issue go.

“Neither of Germany’s main opposition parties was satisfied with the assurances Friedrich… said he received during his meetings with senior US officials in Washington on Friday. Thomas Opperman, the parliamentary floor leader of the Social Democrats, said Friedrich’s trip had not achieved much. ‘Minister Friedrich is returning empty-handed,’ Oppermann said in an interview published in the Saturday edition of the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper: ‘We have not moved a single step forward on any of the key points.’ Konstantin von Notz, the Green Party’s interior affairs spokesman described Friedrich’s trip as a complete flop…”

In a related article, dated July 13, Deutsche Welle quoted opinions and statements from German politicians and newscasters, as follows:

“The election campaign has officially begun, and the NSA surveillance scandal is emerging as a key issue along the way. Now… it will fall to the opposition parties to come up with clear proposals on how they intend to treat the matter. Furthermore… the federal government has not yet comprehended what is at stake with respect to the data scandal… the governing coalition has put too much emphasis on the fact that official German delegations were potentially the victims of surveillance, whereas the core of the issue… is that 80 million German people’s communication was being monitored.

“… what’s at stake in the NSA affair is the balance of political power between the US and Germany… Germany is letting itself be lulled by ‘security nonsense’ – a reference to claims that the NSA’s surveillance activities have been able to stop terrorist attacks… Although German media have featured much discussion and criticism of the NSA’s activities, there have yet to be any major public demonstrations in response to the disclosures in recent weeks… this ‘lethargy’ [is blamed] on the fact that, due to the nature of the intelligence agencies’ surveillance, people remain unaware of the act as it is occurring…”

Friedrich’s “results” won’t satisfy the German people. Their distrust of America and their own governmental leaders is growing. And if the “lethargy” of the Germans in this matter is criticized, what word should be used to describe the deafening silence and the appalling lack of interest of a majority of the American people? One is reminded of ancient Rome before its fall—as long as the government provides some bread and a lot of games or distractions to the people, they can be kept in ignorance and a fragile state of “happiness.”

“America Is Sick”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 16:

“America is sick. September 11 left it wounded and unsettled — that’s been obvious for nearly 12 years — but we are only now finding out just how grave the illness really is… The global spying scandal shows that the US has become manic, that it is behaving pathologically, invasively. Its actions are entirely out of proportion to the danger…

“An American government that gives its blessing to a program like Prism respects nothing and no one. It acts out its omnipotence, considers itself above international law — certainly on its own territory and even on foreign ground… Did Obama, the Harvard Law student, even believe what he was saying in his speeches about the return of civil liberties? Can someone be so cynical that they promise to heal the world, then act in such a way all the while giving the xenophobic explanation that only foreigners would be monitored?…

“The German government has shown devastating weakness. Merkel should say, ‘You are manic, and what you are doing is sick’… Instead she weighs every word to avoid annoying the Americans…”

In an accompanying article, Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 16:

“The United States has massively and systematically violated the civil rights of people who have no possibility of voting against its practices in elections. After all, the NSA and CIA and whatever the other organizations are called aren’t operating under German laws when they’re supposedly protecting the security of the free world… Europe and Germany aren’t powerless against American encroachments. The European Union’s data protection directive includes provisions to force US firms to adhere to our rules…”

The expression, “America is sick,” is quite interesting in light of an end-time prophecy about the modern house of Israel—including the USA—in Isaiah 1:5-6.

America’s Worst Nightmare

Reuters reported on July 12:

“Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published the documents Snowden leaked, said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday that the U.S. government should be careful in its pursuit of the former computer analyst. ‘Snowden has enough information to cause [more] harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,’ Greenwald said…

“‘The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen[s] to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.’… Greenwald said… that documents Snowden has tucked away in different parts of the world detail which U.S. spy programs capture transmissions in Latin America and how they work. ‘One way of intercepting communications is through a telephone company in the United States that has contracts with telecommunications companies in most Latin American countries,’ Greenwald said, without specifying which company.”

Did German Government Know?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 17:

“The German government has so far claimed that it knew nothing of the United States’ Prism spying program, revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden last month. But parts of a confidential NATO document published by daily Bild on Wednesday show that the German military, the Bundeswehr, was probably already aware of the National Security Agency’s operations in 2011.

“The document, reportedly sent on Sept. 1, 2011 to all regional commands by the joint NATO headquarters in Afghanistan, gives specific instructions on working together with the foreign data surveillance program. According to Bild, the document was also sent to the regional command in northern Afghanistan, for which Germany was responsible at the time under General Major Markus Kneip.  Should the media report be confirmed, Berlin’s claims of ignorance will prove to have been false… if it turns out that Berlin knowingly tolerated and participated in the NSA activities, many would see it as a betrayal by the government.”

The Local wrote on July 17:

“The news reports add to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of September 22 elections because she has said she only learnt through the media of the US online and telecom surveillance programme. Many Germans are angry that their emails, phone calls, web searches and other data have been captured and stored under the NSA programme, details of which were leaked by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.”

Hungary Warns Against German Leadership in Europe

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 17:

“The latest remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are unlikely to improve his fractured relations with Germany or the EU. Speaking on Tuesday, he invoked the memory of World War II to warn against German leadership of the European Union. ‘When a person reads about a rapprochement between Russia and an EU led by Germany, he looks out to see whether his children are still in the yard,’ Orbán said…

“Many people in Central and Eastern Europe are wary of any signs of closer ties between Moscow and Berlin because they remember the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact which carved up much of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence… In May, Orbán had made a remark about Nazi tanks in the context of Germany’s policy towards Hungary, drawing an unusually sharp rebuke from German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.”

Our Lying Media on “Racial Profiling”—The “Trial” of George Zimmerman

On July 13, the jury of six mostly white women found Hispanic George Zimmerman not guilty of murder or manslaughter of black 17-year old teenager Trayvon Martin. The mainstream media and radical proponents had created a nationwide circus and resorted to falsehoods and lies in order to invent and create a case of racial profiling to be able to convict Zimmerman in the eyes of the public.  Sadly, the real crux of the matter—whether we should have laws allowing us to have and use guns to shoot and kill others who are unarmed, when we are not in fact threatened, but feel that we might be (“Stand Your Ground” law)– took back stage in view of the hype and hysteria of unsupported allegations of racial discrimination and profiling. 

Breitbart wrote on July 13, before the verdict had come in:

“As we await the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who claims to have shot and killed teenager Trayvon Martin in self-defense, this seems the perfect time to reflect on the media’s cynical and dishonest role in turning a local crime into a national obsession… the mainstream media did everything in its still-potent power to not only push for the prosecution of Mr. Zimmerman (the police originally chose not to charge him) but also to gin up racial tensions where none needed to exist.

“It all started with the [black] anchor of a major television network (Al Sharpton) inserting himself in the story to spread division and hate; it continued straight through to the closing days of the trial when another major news network, desperate to keep a fabricated racial narrative alive, propagated the portrayal of Zimmerman as part of a racial group that doesn’t exist — the ‘white Hispanic.’ In-between, there has been an astonishing amount of malicious fraud and lies, all in an effort to serve a president, stir racial hatred, and influence the justice system… A small detail that the Obama administration and the media apparently missed was that the white versus black racial narrative they were preparing to invest so much into was missing just one thing: a white person…

“In their venomous zeal, the media and Democrats likely assumed that someone with the last name Zimmerman had to be white. But they were wrong, as Zimmerman is Hispanic. Never [once] to back off a good narrative, rather than use this revelation to tamp down tensions or correct their reporting, the media simply made up out of whole cloth a new racial category: the ‘white Hispanic.’… [On March 19] CNN went to extraordinary lengths to claim Zimmerman had uttered the racial slur ‘coon’ when he had not… CNN wouldn’t officially retract their defamation until April 5th, long after it was too late…

“President Obama made huge news when he stepped before the cameras, demanded action in the Zimmerman case, and famously said, ‘If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.’ In just two days, a network news anchor [Sharpton] and an American president had blasted the Zimmerman case into the nation’s top story and did so based on a racial narrative without a shred of evidence to support it. Almost every other major news outlet would now commit every journalistic sin imaginable to fabricate evidence… By late March it was widely known that George Zimmerman was Hispanic. This did not stop the Boston Globe from using its pages to describe him as ‘a white neighborhood watch captain’…

“Even though Zimmerman is Hispanic and there was no evidence of any racial motivation behind his actions, the media’s racial-hysteria was, at this point, in full bloom… Desperate to keep a non-existent racial narrative alive, during a broadcast of the PBS Newshour Gwen Ifill falsely stated: ‘Martin, who was black, was on his way to a convenience store in a mostly white gated community when George Zimmerman, who is white, shot and killed him after a disputed altercation…’ After the arrest, and as the trial date neared the following year, NBC would allow Al Sharpton to turn his primetime MSNBC show into a platform dedicated to convicting Zimmerman…”

The myths of “racial profiling” in this case continues. As Fox News reported on July 13, 2013: “‘Today, justice failed Trayvon Martin and his family,’ said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the NAACP in a statement. ‘We call immediately for the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into the civil rights violations committed against Trayvon Martin. This case has re-energized the movement to end racial profiling in the United States.’ ‘We are outraged and heartbroken over today’s verdict,’ said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, in another statement… ‘we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed.’”

Al Maurer of The Washington Times agreed with the sentiments expressed in the article of Breitbart, quoted above, and stated on July 14:

“From the beginning the media sought to play the story as white-on-black violence. It fits the narrative of the white man oppressing the black man. The only problem is that Zimmerman isn’t ‘white’; he’s Hispanic. Alter the facts… The media creates a new racial category, ‘White Hispanic.’

“For the story to work, however, the black man as victim must be innocent. Trayvon Martin was pictured as an innocent young teen. Youthful pictures of him were released; more recent ones suppressed. To fill the role of oppressor, Zimmerman had to be made to look like one. While flattering pictures of Martin were used, the most unflattering ones of Zimmerman accompanied them. Zimmerman was portrayed in the popular press as a vengeful vigilante just looking for the opportunity to shoot someone.

“As time wore on, Zimmerman didn’t appear so menacing. Martin didn’t appear so innocent… In contemporary America it is not just the media who push the narrative. The president himself commented on the case well before all the facts were known. But facts don’t matter, after all. The narrative does. Recent press reporting indicates that the Justice Department has been involved as well.

“The race-baiters Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been prominent in pushing the narrative too. Ominous warnings of riots in case of an unfavorable (i.e., ‘not guilty’) verdict were sounded… Six women had the courage to decide ‘not guilty’ when the mob screamed ‘guilty.’”

If one repeats a lie often enough, it will finally be believed as being the truth. So be careful when you are confronted with statements which are not based on proven evidence, and if you want to receive fair and objective accurate news reports from our mainstream media. In all likelihood, you will not get it.

Jury Duty and Questionable Law the Real Issue

According to the New York Post of July 14, 2013, Donald Trump made these statements: “Zimmerman is no angel but the lack of evidence and the concept of self-defense, especially in Florida law, gave the jury little other choice.” Similar sentiments were expressed by Piers Morgan, according to Beitbart, dated July 14: “I don’t critisize the jury—I critize the law that enabled them to find George Zimmerman not guilty of anything.” He added: “If George Zimmerman had not had a gun, he’d never got out of his car that night, and Trayvon Martin would still be alive.”

Maybe. But here we are getting to the crux of the matter: While the focus is detracted from the essentials and placed on concocted non-existing issues of race and racial profiling, we are really dealing here with questionable laws and the jury’s duty under the legal system to uphold these laws during their deliberations and decision-making. That is one of the many reasons why true Christians should not sit on a jury under any circumstances.

Why It Is Unlawful to Give Military Aid to Egypt

On July 12, The Washington Post published the following editorial by Senator Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Homeland Security committees:

“Egypt has undergone a coup, deposed its leader and the military has installed a new president. The situation is unpredictable, unstable and volatile. The country remains in a state of unrest… U.S. law states that we can’t send military and other types of aid to any country whose duly elected head of state is deposed by a coup. U.S. law clearly says that we cannot send such aid where the military plays a decisive role in the coup. This law allows no presidential waiver. Aid cannot be reconsidered or restored until a democratically elected government is elected.

“Yet, as President Obama has so often done with other laws and even the Constitution, he ignores it. The Obama administration has refused to acknowledge that the military takeover in Egypt is a coup. When asked directly to spell out the State Department’s definition of a coup, spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused… we have a president who denies a coup has taken place in Egypt when, by any conventional definition, it most certainly has. The president of Egypt was placed under house arrest. The military took over the television stations. The military took control of local police and all forms of local and national government.

“Still, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN, ‘If this were to be seen as a coup, then it would limit our ability to have the kind of relationship we think we need with the Egyptian armed forces.’ Thursday morning, it was reported that this relationship included delivering four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in the next few weeks in addition to the eight we sent in January. Another eight are scheduled to ship later this year… In January 2011, some of the jets we gave to President Hosni Mubarak were used to intimidate protesters — the same people whose protests helped to overthrow Mr. Mubarak and replace him with Mohammed Morsi. Not surprisingly, Gallup reported in February 2012 that 71 percent of Egyptians opposed U.S. foreign aid to their country. When both Mr. Mubarak and Mr. Morsi were overthrown, protesters held signs criticizing U.S. aid to ‘dictators.’

“It should also be noted that when the Egyptian military helped oust Mr. Mubarak — the classic definition of a coup d’etat — the Obama administration also declined to acknowledge even then that a coup had taken place. When we continued giving F-16s to Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood after Mr. Mubarak, I offered an amendment to stop military aid to Egypt. It was defeated 79-19.

“The United States has cut off weapons aid in the past after military officers overthrew civilian governments in the Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic, Fiji, Honduras and Mali. In Egypt, however, where the regimes are constantly changing, our foreign-aid policy never does. This week, I introduced legislation again that would cut off foreign aid to Egypt. We either have a nation of laws, or we don’t. If we are a nation of laws, foreign aid to Egypt should immediately end. If instead, we are now just governed by popular prejudice and unlimited executive ability to contravene the law, then perhaps we should be looking at Washington to determine whether or not a coup has occurred.”

To predict the outcome, U.S. military aid to Egypt will most likely continue… even though a coup has CLEARLY occurred WITHOUT ANY DOUBT… which, with the words of Senator Paul, would mean that ours is not (any longer) a nation of laws. This is almost ironic as, following the verdict in the Zimmerman case, President Obama issued the following statement, according to CNN, dated July 14:

“The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken…”

Egypt Might Become Even More Radical

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 16:

“After the massacre last Monday of more than 50 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Egypt has become all but ungovernable. The new unity government in Cairo is already crumbling, and now it’s the ultra-conservative Salafists who stand to benefit… Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been filled with anger and frustration. The bloody clash between Brotherhood supporters and the military destroyed any hope that a peaceful settlement could be reached…

“In this overheated mood, precisely what the military sought to prevent with its coup could in fact happen: The Islamists could become radicalized. Last week, Egyptians experienced a taste of what that could mean, when a 60-year-old Coptic Christian was beheaded and a priest was shot on the Sinai Peninsula. In a village in Upper Egypt, a mob beat a Christian supporter of the Tamarud movement to death, while other Copts were stabbed to death and about 20 houses owned by members of the religious minorities were torched…”

Europe’s Anti-Israeli Wares and America’s Silence

Al Jazeera wrote on July 16:

“Guidelines revealed on Tuesday make clear that, from next year, Israeli ‘entities’ operating in the territories will not be eligible for EU grants, prizes or loans. The measure will apply to Israeli companies, universities or other bodies operating in areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, including the Golan Heights, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. ‘The EU has made it clear that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders, other than those agreed by the parties to the Middle East peace process,’ a copy of the guidelines seen by the Reuters news agency said… The guildelines say that all Israeli groups applying for financial assistance, scholarships and funding must prove they do not operate in the occupied territories.”

The Washington Post wrote on July 16:

“Europe… never miss[es] the [chance] to display their anti-Israeli wares. The Wall Street Journal reports: ‘Israel reacted angrily Tuesday to an effort by the European Union to keep EU funds from flowing to Israeli organizations operating in the occupied territories, the latest bump in the sometimes-rocky relationship between Israel and Europe.’… Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the EU should focus on the ‘more pressing’ issues of Syria’s civil war and Iran’s nuclear program rather than Israeli settlement activity… The EU already charges customs duties on Israeli imports that originate in the occupied territories that would otherwise enjoy free-trade exemptions…

“The EU has long sought to play a role in Middle East peace talks… This is an old story for the European Union — it strives for relevance but its anti-Israeli tendencies make it particularly unsuited to play any constructive role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict… If the United States made clear that such behavior is entirely unacceptable, some of the Israel bashing might stop. Whether at the United Nations or in direct conversations with our European ‘friends,’ this should be a topic of conversation. It is evidently not…”

The global influence of the USA is diminishing. Even when America speaks, not too many listen any more. It will indeed be Europe which will speak loudly, and nations will listen and heed. It is prophesied that Europe will play a decisive role in Middle Eastern politics.

Israel May Have to Address Iran Before USA Does…

Bloomberg wrote on July 14:

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran is moving ahead toward nuclear weapons capability and warned that his country would act by itself if necessary to prevent that from happening. ‘We’re closer than the United States,’ Netanyahu said Sunday… ‘We’re more vulnerable. And therefore, we’ll have to address this question of how to stop Iran, perhaps before the United States does.’…

“Netanyahu has said Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons that would pose an ‘existential threat’ to Israel and ‘all options are on the table’ to stop it, including a military strike… Netanyahu dismissed speculation that [Iran’s new political leader] Rohani’s victory last month signals a possible change in Iranian nuclear policy… Rohani’s strategy ‘is [to] be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Smile and build a bomb,’ the Israeli leader said…”

Building the Third Temple

JTA wrote on July 9:

“No praying. No kneeling. No bowing. No prostrating. No dancing. No singing. No ripping clothes.These are the rules that Jews must abide by when visiting the Temple Mount, the site where the First and Second Holy Temples once stood, located above and behind the Western Wall in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City.

“Although the area is under Israeli sovereignty, the mount — known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif — is controlled by the Islamic Wakf, a joint Palestinian-Jordanian religious body. As the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, whose golden dome overlooks the city, the Temple Mount attracts daily crowds of Muslim worshipers…

“Rabbi Chaim Richman… is the international director of the Temple Institute, an organization based in the Old City with a singular goal: to rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem… Following the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 C.E., most rabbis adopted the position that Jewish law prohibits reconstructing the Holy Temple prior to the age of messianic redemption, or that the law is too ambiguous and that the messiah must come first.

“The Temple Institute takes a different position. ‘There are no Jewish legal barriers’ to rebuilding the temple, Richman says, only political ones. The institute isn’t shy about advocating what many see as a radical goal: replacing the mosque at the Dome of the Rock with a new Jewish Holy Temple… The organization has formulated a program for where the temple will stand and what its vessels will look like, aided by 20 men who study Temple law full-time. The products of this research — 40 ritual objects — are on display in Plexiglas cases at the institute’s headquarters in the Old City.

“Silver trumpets to be blown by priests and a wooden lyre are perched next to two deep pans with long handles — one for collecting blood from small sacrificial offerings and another for large sacrifices like the Passover lamb. In another room, mannequins with beards wear the respective vestments for deputy priests and the high priest. The high priest’s outfit, with azure weaves, gold thread and a breastplate with 12 precious stones, took 11 years of research and $150,000 to complete…

“The institute’s crowning achievement — the Temple’s golden, 200-pound, seven-branch menorah — stands outside in a case overlooking the Western Wall. Unlike art or history museums, the institute’s goal is to remove the objects from their cases and bring them to the mount for use as soon as possible… Though observant Jews pray thrice daily in the Amidah prayer for the Temple to be rebuilt, few do anything about it…

“Richman says support for the institute’s goals is growing. For him, the issue involves far more than politics, archaeology or even Jewish legal research. The Temple Institute, he says, is doing God’s work. ‘The point is that we can’t live without the Temple,’ Richman says…”

In regard to Tisha B’Av, a Jewish fast day in memory of the destruction of the Second Temple, Times of Israel wrote on July 15:

“The Talmud in Sukkah tells of the beauty of the Second Temple that Herod rebuilt. It is hard to imagine such beauty when we see the above ground Western Wall today. Erosion and time have taken its physical beauty. But underground the stones are a pristine white and appear good as new… What we see of the Wall today, is a fraction of the size of the original Wall… There is a section of floor from the Second Temple era that has been excavated… walking and sitting on the floor where our grandparents sat 2000 years ago is very powerful…

“On this Tisha B’Av, remember that we are not crying over a dead Temple. If it were so, we would have stopped crying eons ago. The stones are alive. They are kept alive by the promise that we will see a Third Temple. They are kept alive by the souls of the Jewish people yearning for their Temple to be rebuild. And they are kept alive by the tears we cry on Tisha B’Av every single year.”

North Korea’s and Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Programs

Reuters wrote on July 17:

“Stanford University’s Siegfried Hecker… said the North had ‘everything in place’ for what would be the fourth [nuclear] explosion since 2006. The impoverished country conducted its third nuclear test in February, prompting stiffer U.N. sanctions against it… Hecker said North Korea ‘needed additional tests in my opinion to miniaturize’, referring to the effort to develop a bomb small and robust enough to fit onto a delivery vehicle such as a missile…

“But China’s displeasure was an important reason ‘why I think they are hesitating now…’  China is North Korea’s most important economic and political backer, but the two are uneasy allies and tensions have grown. Some Chinese banks have frozen out North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank amid frustration in Beijing over the North’s continued pushing of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs…

“Hecker… said he was concerned about the possibility of cooperation between North Korea and Iran… Any sharing of the North’s test data would be dangerous, he said, adding: ‘That would be very, very troublesome and indeed could give the Iranian program a significant boost’… Hecker said he believed Iran had developed a nuclear weapon option. ‘Iran … has put all the things in place to be able to develop the bomb should it decide to do so,’ he said.”

“Gay Marriage” Legal in Britain and Wales

Salon.com reported on July 16:

“Britain’s lower house of parliament voted Tuesday to pass a measure legalizing gay marriage in England and Wales… ‘It’s impossible to express how much joy this historic step will bring to tens of thousands of gay people and their families and friends,’ Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, a gay rights group, said in a statement. ‘The bill’s progress through Parliament shows that, at last, the majority of politicians in both Houses understand the public’s support for equality, though it’s also reminded us that gay people still have powerful opponents.’”

The Associated Press reported on July 17:

“The French like to make fun of the British, joking about their repressed ways in matters of the heart. But when it came time to debate same-sex marriage, it was France that betrayed a deep conservative streak in sometimes violent protests — while the British showed themselves to be modern and tolerant. With little fanfare or controversy, Britain announced Wednesday that Queen Elizabeth II — hardly a social radical — had signed into law a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in England and Wales. France has also legalized gay marriages, but only after a series of gigantic protests attracting families from the traditional heartland that revealed a deeply split society.

“Official word that the queen had approved the bill drew cheers in the usually sedate House of Commons. ‘This is a historic moment that will resonate in many people’s lives,’ Equalities Minister Maria Miller said in a statement. ‘I am proud that we have made it happen and I look forward to the first same sex wedding by next summer.’ There were British political figures and religious leaders vehemently opposed to gay marriage but the opposition never reached a fever pitch, in part because the same-sex marriage bill had broad public support and the backing of the leaders of the three major political parties. In fact, it was Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of the tradition-minded Conservatives, who proposed the legislation in the first place.

“The public seemed to take it for granted that gay marriage should be a part of British life… The law was also written in a way that allowed the Church of England — which is opposed — to sidestep the controversy since it is explicitly barred from conducting same-sex marriages.”

The French Bastille Day—Truth And Error?

BBC wrote on July 13:

“When the French parade on Sunday [July 14] for their national day, they will be marking the fall of the Bastille prison-fortress on 14 July 1789. Everyone knows that. Or do they? In fact there is a surprising twist in the story of this proud Republican anniversary. Without realising it, what the French may technically be celebrating is not the storming of the Bastille but an event that took [place] exactly one year later, on 14 July 1790: the Fete de la Federation…

“There was Napoleon; then the restored Bourbons after Waterloo; then King Louis-Philippe; a brief republican interlude starting in 1848; and then the second empire under Napoleon III. Not until 1870, after defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, did France establish a lasting republican system. And even then, in the Third Republic’s first elected Assembly, there was a clear majority of members who actually favoured a return to monarchy. The forces of anti-revolutionary conservatism remained strong…

“By the end of the 1870s, the situation had moved. Most monarchists had become reconciled to the Republic; there was a Republican majority in the Assembly; so now was the time to anchor the new order with a set of national symbols. And one of the first questions was the choice of national day. After looking at various options, the left settled on 14 July. They reasoned that the taking of the Bastille was what triggered the French Revolution – the moment an angry people began to throw off its chains. But the trouble was that 14 July was also a day of bloodshed. The governor of Paris had his head cut off with a pen-knife…

“For the ex-monarchists – now late converts to the Republic – this was all too much. A national day should be a day of reconciliation, they argued, not a celebration of class hatred. And so eyes turned to the Fete de la Federation… And to mark it, the authorities organised an extraordinary outdoor event on the Champs de Mars – where the Eiffel Tower now stands… On 14 July 1790, it poured with rain. But delegations of the newly-created national guard from across France paraded through the city, led by the Marquis de Lafayette… On the Champs de Mars there was military music; oaths were made to the King, who in turn swore to uphold the decrees of the National Assembly; Mass was celebrated. And in a scene straight out of today’s celebrity culture, there was a roar of excitement as Queen Marie-Antoinette held up the baby dauphin – heir to the throne – to the crowd.

“In the words of historian Georges-Henri Soutou, it was a moment when ‘it was still possible to imagine that a new regime could be established – one that did not offend the religious sensitivities of the majority and had the support of the King.’ It did not last, of course. Within a year, the revolution was on course towards its bloody conclusion. But a century later, the Fete de la Federation had the huge distinction of being an occasion on which just about everyone – from Bourbon loyalists to proto-Socialists – could agree. For the Senator Henri Martin – who drew up the National Day law – ‘14 July 1790 is the most beautiful day in the history of France, possibly in the history of mankind. It was on that day that national unity was finally accomplished.’ Passed in 1880, the law was deliberately ambiguous. It did not say which 14 July was being celebrated. And today, of course, everyone thinks of it as Bastille Day.”

As it is so often the case with human traditions and the celebration of humanly devised holidays, we see in the observation of the “Bastille Day” a mixture between perhaps some truth and a lot of error and misconceptions.

Building the Third Temple on the Temple Mount

The Times of Israel reported on July 5:

“A government minister from a nationalist religious party called Thursday for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The statement from Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) breaks a long-standing taboo on high-ranking government officials speaking about changing the fragile status quo on the holy and contested esplanade, and will likely draw ire from official Israeli circles and anger the Arab and Muslim world… Ariel called for a third Temple to be built on the site, which today is home to the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque and is considered Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third holiest…

“The Jerusalem site was home to Judaism’s first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed, the second one in 70 CE… Last year, Jewish Home MK Zevulun Orlev also called for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, saying that removing the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque would mean that the ‘billion-strong Muslim world would surely launch a world war.’ However, he added, ‘everything political is temporary and there is no stability.’

“Jews are currently banned from praying on the Temple Mount by the Jordanian department of endowments, known as the Wakf, which administers the plaza surrounding the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.”

The Bible indicates strongly that the third temple will be built in Jerusalem, prior to Christ’s return.

Pope’s Waivers for Sainthood in Catholic Church

Thomson/Reuters reported on July 5:

“Pope John Paul II… who led the Catholic Church for nearly 27 years, and Pope John XXIII, who called the reforming Second Vatican Council, will be declared saints… The Vatican said Pope Francis had approved a second miracle attributed to John Paul, a Pole who was elected in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in 450 years and who died in 2005. His progression to sainthood is the fastest in modern times.

“The Vatican also said Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963… would be made a saint even though he has only been credited with one miracle since his death… Francis waived the customary rules requiring a second miracle after beatification… John XXIII was beatified in 2000…

“John Paul went down in history as the ‘globe-trotting Pope,’ visiting every inhabited continent in more than 100 trips outside Italy. His successor, Benedict, waived a Church rule that normally requires a five-year waiting period before the preliminaries to sainthood can even begin.”

Popes are Popes and can therefore do whatever they want—it seems.

“Vatican Issues First Text Co-Written by Two Popes”

AFP wrote on July 5:

“The Vatican on Friday issued an unprecedented religious text co-written by Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI in which the two popes… restated their opposition to gay marriage. Francis paid tribute to pope emeritus Benedict XVI in the encyclical, saying that the ex-pontiff had ‘almost completed’ the text before stepping down in a historic resignation this year and that he himself had merely added ‘further contributions.’

“Francis and Benedict, who both live within the walls of the Vatican City and wear the white papal vestments, met publicly on Friday at a ceremony in the Vatican for the unveiling of a new statue. [Zenit reported on July 5 that the statue, sculpture or monument represented “Saint Michael the Archangel, patron of Vatican City State.”] Benedict became the first pope to resign of his own free will in 700 years in February and Francis was elected to succeed him in March as the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years…

“Encyclicals are papal circular letters addressed to the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church that are intended to summarise a pontiff’s thoughts on a particular aspect of Church life. Some of them have gone down in history as significant landmarks in Church history.

“Pope Leo XII in 1891 published ‘Rerum Novarum’ in which he undertook to engage the Catholic Church in social issues, denouncing living conditions for the working class and encouraging workers to organise themselves into associations. In 1914, Benedict XV denounced the horrors of World War I in ‘Ad beatissimi apostolorum principis’ and Pius XI in ‘Mit brennender Sorge’ in 1937 condemned Nazi racism. In Paul VI’s ‘Humanae Vitae’ in 1968, Paul VI condemned all forms of contraception, while John Paul II in ‘Evangelium Vitae’ in 1995 called for opposition to laws legalising abortion and euthanasia.”

Pope Angers Establishment

ABC News reported on July 6:

“It appears Pope Francis truly wants to change the Catholic Church. He’s reforming the Vatican Bank first, but he’s also circumventing the old guard wherever he can. The establishment is up in arms… When, in autumn 2010, fresh suspicions of money laundering to the tune of triple-digit millions emerged, then Pope Benedict XVI promised stricter rules for his financial managers. In fact, though, nothing changed. In the so-called Vatileaks scandal, secret documents that had been smuggled out of the Vatican shed light on bizarre intrigues inside the papal state. Often, the Vatican Bank [IOR] played a role in those intrigues. Benedict XVI was appalled, but also overwhelmed. He failed to prevail over the powerful cardinals who backed the IOR. His resignation was the logical outcome.

“His successor is taking more decisive action. First, he fired Nunzio Scarano, the top accountant in the Vatican office that oversees Vatican property and investments, after he was accused of money laundering and corruption and arrested. Then, practically overnight, he forced out IOR Director Paulo Cipriani and his deputy. Now the bank will be led by Ernst von Freyberg, a German baron and former consultant, member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the president of the IOR supervisory board since mid-February… ‘Did we actually vote for someone who really believes in what he preaches?’ some within the Curia are now whispering.

“Once again, Francis has taken them fully by surprise. In an almost demonstrative manner, he has been excluding the Vatican apparatus in every way he can. Most recently, this happened with the trip the pope announced he would take on Monday to the island of Lampedusa in southern Italy. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, first learned of the planned trip through a papal press release. And instead of the kind of months of advance-team work used by heads of the Catholic Church for trips in the past, Francis has dispensed with that. Instead, the eccentric Argentinian pope ordered his staff to prepare a plane so that he could fly there in the morning and be back by midday… The pope has announced that he doesn’t want to meet with the mayor or other authorities. He also ordered church officials to stay away.”

Obama’s Waiver of Lack of Waiver for Egyptian Aid

JTA reported on July 5:

“When it comes to foreign assistance, American law couldn’t be clearer: A coup d’etat suspends funding, period. But that directive, which has persisted for years in federal appropriations bills, is now clashing with another congressional priority: the apparent desire to foster an alternative to Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s democratically elected Islamist president who was removed from power this week by the Egyptian military.

“In recent months, Congress has intimated that it would be happier if his secular foes in the military were running the country. But the law ties Congress’ hands. On July 3, President Obama said he would ‘review’ what the coup means for American aid…The United States provides some $1.55 billion in aid to Egypt annually, most of it defense assistance conditioned on Egypt’s observance of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Congressional leaders cited those circumstances in suggesting that the Obama administration work with the interim government. But other lawmakers… underscored that the language in the appropriations bill left virtually no wiggle room…

“Unlike many other spending provisions, the language regarding a coup d’etat does not include a presidential waiver. That leaves the Obama administration three options for working around the provision: Obtain congressional agreement to add a waiver within the next few weeks; accelerate the democratic replacement of Egypt’s interim government; or use executive privilege to work around the lack of a congressional waiver…

“The first two options are unlikely. Congress can barely agree on a budget, let alone a waiver on a sensitive issue like Egypt. And with Egypt already roiling with violence, its military would be loath to facilitate the return of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood to power through a hastily arranged election. The third option — exercising the prerogative of the president to advance foreign policy — could undercut U.S. credibility overseas, conveying an impression Obama has tried to correct: that the United States supports the powers it prefers, regardless of the will of the people.”

The Daily Caller added on July 5:

“The $1.5 billion in U.S. foreign aid slated for Egypt next year is in jeopardy after the Egyptian army deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday. Section 508 of the decades-old Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that ‘none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant to this Act shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup or decree.’ A clause in the 2011 omnibus bill strengthens the provision, excluding from American aid any nation experiencing a ‘coup d’etat or decree in which the military plays a decisive role.’

“Although events in Egypt appear to conform perfectly to these criteria, it’s unclear whether the Obama administration will cut off revenue to the strategically important nation anytime soon… the president also refused to call the takeover a coup, indicating his administration’s wariness to label events in Egypt before deciding how to proceed.

“Time reports that the $1.3 billion marked for the Egyptian military in 2014 is around 20 percent of that organization’s total budget. Without that money, the army may be unable to keep the peace should an extended confrontation develop between Morsi’s supporters and opposition activists. ‘The Egyptian military has long been a key partner of the United States and a stabilizing force in the region, and is perhaps the only trusted national institution in Egypt today,’ House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said… The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee echoed that sentiment… Their comments indicate that the administration would face little protest from congressional Republicans if they decide to ignore or circumvent the law on foreign assistance.

“But politicians from the president’s own party may be less forgiving. ‘Our law is clear: U.S. aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by military coup or decree,’ said Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the budget committee which oversees foreign aid.”

Somehow, it can be expected that Congress and the Obama Administration will be able get around the “clear language of the law” to do what they want to do–if they can agree on WHAT to do.

America Clueless on Egypt

On July 5, CNN published an editorial by Christian Whiton, former State Department senior advisor from 2003-2009:

“That’s twice Washington was caught slack-jawed amid revolution in the world’s biggest Arab-majority state. But don’t blame the Obama administration exclusively for twice being on the losing side of events in Egypt. Reality in Egypt has also eluded Beltway Republican foreign policy mavens and America’s dysfunctional and distracted intelligence bureaucracies. That makes shaping events in Egypt nearly impossible.

“The first shock for Washington came in January 2011, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians demanding secular democracy filled town squares. According to Washington and its $80 billion-per-year intelligence bureaucracy, these people did not exist in the Middle East…  Even as it became clear that Mubarak would not survive, Vice President Joe Biden said supportively, ‘I would not refer to him as a dictator.’ Of the nation that historically has been the political bellwether of the broader region, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton said, ‘We’re not advocating any specific outcome.’

“These officials should be afforded some pity. The information and advice they were getting came partially from State Department experts who are perennially wrong about major developments in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the CIA was distracted. Originally created for the crucial tasks of stealing secrets and waging political war on America’s foes, the CIA has spent the last decade becoming a second military. With what amounts to a second American air force around the globe and a ground force now focusing on arming Syrian rebels – inexplicably so for a mission that isn’t conceivably covert – the CIA drifts ever farther from helping policymakers grasp and influence foreign political developments.

“And so the first Egyptian revolution came and went. Despite being caught flatfooted before the uprising, surely officials across Washington would be excited at the emergence of a bloc in Egypt that wanted a modern democracy, wouldn’t they? Unfortunately, Washington has a way of not allowing new facts to tamper with long-held assumptions. If Egyptian secular liberals did not exist in theory then they couldn’t exist in practice.

“So when Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham went to Cairo in February 2011, they held high-profile meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, lending it credibility. According to the Wall Street Journal, Graham remarked, ‘After talking with the Muslim Brotherhood, I was struck with their commitment to change the law because they believe it’s unfair.’ Later, in April 2012, White House spokesman Jay Carney cited the McCain-Graham engagement with the Brotherhood as justification for the Obama administration’s own engagement with the Islamist group…

“Enter Egypt’s second revolution.  Is it any wonder that the Obama administration has chosen to remain reticent about the matter?  Egypt’s Islamist president is gone, but his supporters still exist and their secular opponents don’t yet appear to be more organized.  Worse still, the will for America and its allies to help them organize, and the tools to do that with, both appear to be in mothballs. So once again the most titanic political contest of our era takes a dramatic turn – one that will have an impact in every Muslim-majority nation and beyond, but with America largely on the sidelines. Washington will again leave crucial matters to chance.”

That is the picture which is being painted increasingly by Washington—when it comes to world affairs, it seems to be clueless, standing on the sidelines, leaving it to others to lead. The time when America was respected as a leader in the world is gone. See also the next article.

Obama’s Mideast Policy Ineffective

The Los Angeles Times added on July 5:

“The military overthrow of the democratically elected government in Egypt, for decades America’s most important Arab ally, has rekindled a fierce debate about whether the Obama administration’s Mideast policy has been too passive and ineffective…

“The critics, who include Democratic foreign policy stalwarts as well as Republicans, say the upheaval in Egypt, on top of the administration’s inability to stem the civil war in Syria or persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program, adds a blot to Obama’s foreign policy record. They blame, in part, Obama’s desire to reduce America’s overseas commitments after a decade of war, along with his apparent effort to pull back from a leadership position in favor of a more supporting role in the Middle East…

“Critics now say the U.S. focus on security meant the White House was unwilling to push back when Egypt’s military abused human rights, including ordering military trials for 10,000 civilians accused in connection with the 2011 protests, and when the Morsi government began trying to monopolize power. ‘Washington was embarrassingly quiet,’ said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonpartisan think tank…

“Martin Indyk, a former U.S. diplomat and advisor to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said the administration’s failure to object more loudly was a serious mistake. ‘Our failure to stand against Morsi when he began trampling on minority rights convinced the secular opposition that we were now in his corner,’ Indyk wrote in Foreign Policy magazine. ‘We appeared to be shifting our support from one authoritarian Pharaoh to the next.’…

“U.S. officials and European governments, in particular, talked about developing an international aid framework to assist Egypt’s struggling economy, but it never got off the ground. Egypt ultimately turned to Qatar for a $3-billion annual subsidy.”

Kerry on Yacht—Why These Constant Lies?

CNN reported on July 5:

“After the emergence of photographs showing Secretary of State John Kerry on his 76-foot yacht ‘Isabel’ on Nantucket Sound on Thursday, the State Department issued an embarrassing correction Friday morning, back-tracking and acknowledging that the Secretary was in fact on the yacht on Wednesday, the day the Egyptian military staged a coup against democratically-elected Egyptian President Mohamed [Morsi].  Originally, State Department officials were quick to deny a Wednesday tweet from CBS News’ Mosheh Oinounou that: ‘A CBSThisMorning producer just spotted Secretary of State Kerry on yacht in the Nantucket Boat Basin…’

“State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki issued a statement Wednesday saying ‘any report or tweet that he was on a boat is completely inaccurate. Since his plane touched down in Washington at 4 am, Secretary Kerry was working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt… He participated in the White House meeting with the President by secure phone and was and is in non-stop contact with foreign leaders, and his senior team in Washington and Cairo.’

“But overnight, photographs emerged showing Kerry on ‘Isabel’ and taking in some kayaking on Thursday… On Friday morning, Psaki issued a second statement, acknowledging that Kerry was ‘briefly on his boat on Wednesday.’…”

This is just another nail in the coffin of the lack of trust in the American government’s truthfulness.

The Important Role of Egypt’s Military

Deutsche Welle reported on July 5:

“Within two years and with the help of the army, the Egyptians have overthrown two presidents… The period between Mubarak’s fall and the election of his successor, Mohammed Morsi, was marked by continued unrest. Initially, some people welcomed the role of the army, but the Supreme Council soon found itself accused of maintaining the old power structures and of carrying out numerous human rights abuses…

“From the start, Morsi’s presidency was marked by a battle for power with the military. In August 2012, he suspended articles of the constitution which limited his power in favor of the military… Morsi’s attempts to increase his powers led to increasingly vocal protest from society and the opposition. In the course of his presidency, he found himself accused of turning Egypt into an Islamic state…

“The Egyptian army is one of the most important actors on the country’s political stage. Since the end of the monarchy in 1952, all the Egyptian presidents have come from its ranks: Mohammed Nagib, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar al-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. At the same time, it was the military which was crucial in Mubarak’s overthrow…  The military has once more played an important role and taken the upper hand in the fall of Morsi… it… announced Morsi’s arrest and appointed the president of the constitutional court, Adli Mansour, as interim president to replace him.”

On July 5, the Huffington Post published the following comment by Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Emmy-Nominated Producer/Host:

“I understand why so many (namely President Obama) are careful not to call this a coup. But whatever we call it, we must acknowledge the basic facts: A president elected in unprecedented free and fair elections was overthrown by an ever-powerful military that took its cues from an unprecedented mobilization of millions of Egyptians challenging his rule. Morsi failed at nearly everything the Egyptian people had hoped and entrusted him to do, chief among them, uniting a divided Egypt. But Egypt’s military has failed for far longer, with a lot more blood on their hands. And no one is more ruthless in suppressing the rights of others in Egypt than the American-made military.”

Egypt’s Turmoil Ongoing

Fox News and The Associated Press reported on July 10:

“Egypt ordered the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and nine others for allegedly instigating violent clashes with the military this week that left more than 50 Brotherhood supporters dead…

“Newly appointed Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi was to begin forming a Cabinet on Wednesday, and has said he will offer the Brotherhood — which helped propel Morsi to the presidency — posts in a new government. But a Brotherhood spokesman dismissed any talk of joining a military-backed administration, and said talk of national reconciliation is ‘irrelevant.’…

“Interim President Adly Mansour called for a reconciliation process called ‘One People’ to begin in Ramadan, traditionally a period for Muslims to promote unity. It called for parties and movements to hold meetings. But there was no sign the Brotherhood and its allies would attend, much like Morsi’s opponents rejected his calls for dialogue, which were dismissed as empty gestures…

“Egypt still remains deeply polarized with heightened fears of violence, especially after Monday’s shootings… Tens of thousands of Islamists massed on Tuesday for another day outside a Cairo mosque.”

Persecution of Christians in Egypt

F24 wrote on July 6:

“Violent clashes across Egypt have been taking place not just between the supporters and opponents of deposed President Mohammed Morsi of late. During times of upheaval, the Coptic Christians in Egypt always suffer abuse, and now is no exception. The Coptic community comprises roughly 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million. They belong mostly to the Coptic Orthodox Church although some subscribe to Greek Orthodoxy. The Copts live primarily in Egypt’s largest cities, Cairo and Alexandria.

“Since the beginning of the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, they have suffered constant harassment, and dozens have lost their lives to violence. Their churches have been torched. Coptic women have been beaten, forced to wear hijabs, or forcibly converted to Islam, according to human rights organizations. The Muslim Brotherhood has taken a public stance against the targeting of Copts. Not only did Morsi condemn violence against the group during his presidency, he appointed numerous Copts as ministers and advisers in his government. The main group antagonistic to the Copts has been the Salafi movement, a conservative Islamic group that recently joined the liberals in coalition against Morsi.”

The New York Times reported on July 11:

“The military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi has unleashed a new wave of violence by extremist Muslims against Christians whom they blame for having supported the calls to overthrow Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first Islamist elected leader, according to rights activists.  Since Mr. Morsi’s ouster on July 3, the activists say, a priest has been shot dead in the street, Islamists have painted black X’s on Christian shops to mark them for arson and angry mobs have attacked churches and besieged Christians in their homes. Four Christians were reported slaughtered with knives and machetes in one village last week.  The attacks have hit across the country, in the northern Sinai Peninsula, in a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, in Port Said along the Suez Canal and in isolated villages in upper Egypt.

“After Mr. Morsi’s ouster, Islamist mobs in the village of Dagala in that province looted one church, burned a building belonging to another and surrounded Christian homes, shattering their widows with rocks and clubs, EIPR said.  After one Christian man shot at the attackers from his roof, they dragged his wife from the house, beat her up and shot her. She is currently hospitalized, according to EIPR.  ‘The police came the day after the events and they didn’t do anything,’ Mr. Ibrahim said [Ishaq Ibrahim documented the violence for the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, or EIPR.] ‘People prevented the fire engines from coming in so they couldn’t do anything.’

“In the village of Naga Hassan near Luxor, Muslim mobs invaded Christian homes and set them alight while besieging other Christians in their homes. Security forces arrived to evacuate the women, but left the men, four of whom were subsequently stabbed and beaten to death, Mr. Ibrahim said…  Dozens of Christian homes were reported burned in the Naga Hassan attacks, and most of the village’s Christians have fled or are believed to be hiding in the local church.”

“NSA and the Germans ‘In Bed Together’”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 7:

“SPIEGEL reporting… indicates that cooperation between the NSA and Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, is more intensive than previously known. NSA, for example, provides ‘analysis tools’ for the BND’s signals monitoring of foreign data streams that travel through Germany. Among the BND’s focuses are the Middle East route through which data packets from crisis regions travel. In total, SPIEGEL reported that the BND pulls data from five different nodes that are then analyzed at the foreign intelligence service’s headquarters in Pullach near Munich. BND head Gerhard Schindler confirmed the partnership during a meeting with members of the German parliament’s control committee for intelligence issues.”

The EUObserver added on July 8:

“The German intelligence service (BND) has been co-operating ‘for decades’ with the US, but only within legal boundaries, a German government spokesman said on Monday (8 July)… Liberal politicians in Germany have demanded for Snowden to be granted asylum – but not the Liberal foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, who points out that the US is a democracy and the justice system there is independent, which gives no grounds for political asylum… An opinion poll carried out by Emnid end of June showed that 50 percent of Germans consider Snowden to be a hero and 35 percent would hide him in their homes.”

Trust in US at Lowest Level Since Bush

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 5:

“Ongoing revelations about the NSA spying scandal have pushed German trust in the US to its lowest level since the presidency of George W. Bush… Early in [Obama’s] first term, some 78 percent of Germans saw the US as ‘a country that could be trusted.’… A survey released late on Thursday found that only 49 percent of Germans now view the United States as trustworthy… Fully 78 percent agreed with the statement that German Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘must protest more unequivocally to the US.’

“The reputation of the United Kingdom — which was also revealed to have been engaged in tight Internet surveillance — has also suffered according to the survey. Only 63 percent of Germans now see the country as a trustworthy partner…”

The Frightening Militarization of US Police and Increasing Criminal Prosecution of US Citizens for Noncriminal Acts

The website of timesdispatch.com wrote on July 5:

“Elizabeth Daly went to jail over a case of bottled water. According to the Charlottesville Daily Progress, shortly after 10 p.m. April 11, the University of Virginia student bought ice cream, cookie dough and a carton of LaCroix sparkling water from the Harris Teeter grocery store at the popular Barracks Road Shopping Center. In the parking lot, a half-dozen men and a woman approached her car, flashing some kind of badges. One jumped on the hood. Another drew a gun. Others started trying to break the windows. Daly understandably panicked. With her roommate in the passenger seat yelling “Go, go, go!” Daly drove off, hoping to reach the nearest police station. The women dialed 911. Then a vehicle with lights and sirens pulled them over, and the situation clarified: The people who had swarmed Daly’s vehicle were plainclothes agents of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The agents had thought the sparkling water was a 12-pack of beer.

“Did the ABC’s enforcers apologize? Not in the slightest. They charged Daly with three felonies: two for assaulting an officer (her vehicle had grazed two agents; neither was hurt) and one for eluding the police. Last week, the commonwealth’s attorney dropped the charges. The agents’ excessive display of force is outrageously disproportionate to the offense they mistakenly thought they witnessed: an underage purchase of alcohol. But in a sense, Daly got off easy. A couple of weeks after her ordeal, a 61-year-old man in Tennessee was killed when the police executed a drug raid on the wrong house. A few weeks later, in another wrong-house raid, police officers killed a dog belonging to an Army veteran. These are not isolated incidents…

“They are, however, part and parcel of two broader phenomena. One is the militarization of domestic law enforcement. In recent years, police departments have widely adopted military tactics, military equipment (armored personnel carriers, flash-bang grenades) — and, sometimes, the mindset of military conquerors rather than domestic peacekeepers. The other phenomenon is the increasing degree to which civilians are subject to criminal prosecution for noncriminal acts, including exercising the constitutionally protected right to free speech…

“[Remember] the case of Jeff Olson, who chalked messages such as ‘Stop big banks’ outside branches of Bank of America last year. Law professor Jonathan Turley reports that prosecutors brought 13 vandalism charges against him. Moreover, the judge in the case recently prohibited Olson’s attorney from ‘mentioning the First Amendment, free speech,’ or anything like them during the trial. In May, a Texas woman was arrested for asking to see a warrant for the arrest of her 11-year-old son. ‘She spent the night in jail while her son was left at home,’ reports Fox34 News. The son never was arrested…

“Federal prosecutors also recently used an anti-terrorism measure to seize almost $70,000 from the owners of a Maryland dairy. Randy and Karen Sowers had made several bank deposits of just under $10,000 to avoid the headache of filing federal reports required for sums over that amount. The feds charged them with unlawful ‘structuring.’ Last week, they settled the case. Authorities kept half their money to teach them a lesson.

“‘I broke the law yesterday,’ writes George Mason economics professor Alex Tabarrok, ‘and I probably will break the law tomorrow. Don’t mistake me, I have done nothing wrong. I don’t even know what laws I have broken. … It’s hard for anyone to live today without breaking the law. Doubt me? Have you ever thrown out some junk mail that … was addressed to someone else? That’s a violation of federal law punishable by up to five years in prison.’ Tabarrok notes that lawyer Harvey Silverglate thinks the typical American commits ‘Three Felonies a Day’…

“As The Wall Street Journal has reported, lawmakers in Washington have greatly eroded the notion of mens rea — the principle that you need criminal intent in order to commit a crime… ‘What once might have been considered simply a mistake,’ The Journal explains, is now ‘punishable by jail time.’ And as 20-year-old Elizabeth Daly has now learned, you can go to jail even when the person making the mistake wasn’t you.”

The Huffington Post added on July 10:

“Despite campaign promises to the contrary, Obama has not only continued the Bush and Clinton administration policy of sending SWAT teams to raid medical marijuana growers, shops, and dispensaries in states that have legalized the drug, he appears to have significantly increased enforcement. Just two years into his presidency, Obama’s administration had conducted about 150 such raids. The Bush administration conducted around 200 medical marijuana raids over eight years. Obama has also stepped up the heavy-handed raids often used to enforce immigration laws. In 2012, his administration deported more people than in any prior year in American history. He’s on pace to deport 2 million people by 2014, a figure equal to the total number of people ever deported from America until 1997…

“In 2011, an armed team of federal agents raided the floor of the Gibson guitar factory in Nashville, Tenn. The raid made national headlines and picked up traction in the tea party movement, largely because it had been conducted to enforce the Lacey Act, a fairly obscure environmental law — not the sort of policy most people would think would be enforced by armed federal agents. The same year, a SWAT team from the Department of Education conducted a morning raid of what they thought was the home of a woman who was suspected of defrauding federal student loan programs — again, not the sort of crime usually associated with a SWAT action. (They also got the wrong house — the suspect had moved out months earlier.)

“The Obama administration has defended the use of aggressive, militaristic police actions in court. In the case Avina v. U.S., DEA agents pointed their guns at an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old during a drug raid on the wrong house. The agents had apparently mistaken the license plate of a suspected drug trafficker for the plate on a car owned by Thomas Avina. Obama’s Justice Department argued in federal court that the lawsuit should be dismissed before being heard by a jury because the agents’ actions were not unreasonable… there was a time in America when even the original tough-on-crime administration was appalled enough at the idea to hold such overly zealous drug cops accountable…”

This incredible injustice in the land of the free and the brave is most certainly an abomination in God’s eyes… But this should come as no surprise because God prophesied in His Word that we would reach the time when there is NO MORE JUSTICE in the land (compare Isaiah 59:9-15; Hosea 4:1). It appears more and more that time HAS arrived.

Largest Joint Naval Drill Ever Between China and Russia

The Washington Times reported on July 5:

“Chinese and Russian navies have partnered for the countries’ largest joint naval drill in history… Military analysts see the joint drill as yet another sign of the countries’ growing friendship… The drill… [is] aimed at giving the countries the chance to practice anti-submarine warfare and naval maneuvers at a close range. The drills are the largest in scope that China’s ever held with a foreign nation. The country has been actively building up its navy, AP reported.”

The New York Times wrote on July 10:

“An armada of Chinese and Russian warships sailed in ceremonial formation in the Sea of Japan, off the port of Vladivostok, on Wednesday in what was the high point of joint naval exercises intended to show the growing unity between [the] two countries…  State-run news media gave widespread coverage to the action, which included live firing drills…

“From Beijing’s point of view, there was a message for Washington, too: As China rapidly builds its maritime power and the United States begins to deploy more of its naval and air assets back to the Pacific Ocean as part of its new focus on Asia, China will not stand alone… ‘This shows unprecedented good relations between China and Russia,’ said Professor Wang Ning, director of the Center for Russian Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University. ‘It shows that the two countries will support each other on the global stage.’ Both countries want a more multipolar world in which the United States is less dominant, he said.”

The Bible speaks of an end-time military collaboration between Far Eastern countries, including China, Russia, Japan, India and others, which are referred to as the “kings of the East.” For more information, please read our free booklet, “Biblical Prophecy—From Now Until Forever.”

Latvia to Be 18th Member of the Eurozone

Deutsche Welle wrote on July 9:

“The European Union has officially approved Latvia as the 18th member of the eurozone, which uses the bloc’s common currency. The Baltic country is set to adopt the euro on January 1, 2014. European Union finance ministers from the 28-member bloc gave their final approval for Latvia to join the eurozone…  Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed the news… adding that it was ‘good news not only for Latvia but also for Europe and the eurozone.’”

The “Euro Zone Beast” May “Bite”

Reuters wrote on July 3:

“Portugal [and] Greece risk reawakening [the] euro zone beast… EU officials have been at pains to talk down any unrest, buoyed by the tranquility in financial markets since European Central Bank President Mario Draghi made good on his pledge last summer to do whatever it takes to protect the euro via a bond-buying program. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has spoken of the worst of the crisis being over, and the economic affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, has often dismissed ‘doomsayers’ who once predicted the euro would collapse.

“But despite the desire to project calm, EU officials quietly acknowledge that all is not well and that any number of problems could throw the region back into turmoil. ‘There are always issues simmering under the surface,’ said an EU diplomat who has been dealing first hand with the crisis since it erupted in Greece in early 2010. ‘It’s far from over. The immediacy may have ebbed away, but I think we’re all aware that under the surface, there’s still a lot of stuff that can come back to bite us.’”

We are not quoting the article because we believe that a major euro crisis will throw the region back into turmoil, or that the euro will collapse. The Bible shows otherwise. But the language used in the article is quite revealing: the euro zone is a beast that may bite. According to the Bible, it is indeed a beast—the last revival of the ancient Roman Empire, referred to as the “beast” in Scripture, which will finally consist of ten core nations or groups of nations that will in turn give their authority to a military leader who is ALSO called the “beast” in the Bible. This last revival of the ancient Roman Empire will at first be a collaboration between the Catholic Church and the states, but the ten nations or groups of nations—the “beast”–will subsequently turn against the church and “bite” it.

Croatia the 28th Member State of the EU

Deutsche Welle reported on July 1, 2013:

“Croatians are celebrating their entry into the European Union as the once war-torn nation becomes the bloc’s 28th member… At the stroke of midnight on Sunday, Croatia joined the EU, the first expansion of the bloc since 2007… The country of 4.4 million becomes just the second of the former Yugoslav states to enter the EU, following Slovenia’s entry in 2004… Serbia just learned last week that they can begin negotiations in January 2014 for their own future entry in the EU…

“Last year, Croatians voted through a referendum for EU membership, the final hurdle to Sunday’s accession to the bloc… Despite questions over timing and its economy, thousands gathered in Zagreb on Sunday to celebrate the culmination of 20 years worth of change, reform and success. Revelers were joined by 170 foreign officials, 15 heads of state, 13 prime ministers and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council. Croatia’s President Ivo Josipovic pointed to the historical significance of the occasion. ‘In the history of a nation, there are few events such as this one,’ he said.”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 1:

“As of midnight on Sunday, Croatia is officially the 28th member of the European Union, following a decade of overhaul aimed at casting off the remnants of war and Communist rule. The small Adriatic country briefly set aside its economic troubles to celebrate its accession with fireworks, cannon-fire and church bells… The country of 4.4 million people is only the second of seven countries carved out of Yugoslavia to join the EU, following Slovenia in 2004. ‘I look at the future with much optimism,’ Josipovic said, welcoming a group of seven other Balkan leaders ‘on the first European morning.’

“The festivities in Zagreb lasted well into the night and included concerts, dance performances, street parties and massive projections narrating the mostly Catholic country’s history. At midnight, EU flags were raised and customs posts were removed from the country’s borders with EU members Hungary and Slovenia. Several top EU officials were on hand for the celebration, including European Commission President Jose Barroso and EU Parliament President Martin Schulz, who spoke of a historic day. ‘It’s good when a family grows, especially our family, which is committed to the values of democracy, justice and rule of law,’ Schulz told the crowd… Croatia still has to fulfill more criteria before it will be allowed to join the EU’s Schengen Zone of border-free travel.”

Egyptian Carousel … Morsi Ousted… Now It’s the Military Again

Deutsche Welle reported on July 3:

“The Egyptian army has said that President Mohammed Morsi is to be removed from his post and that the constitution has been suspended. Fresh troops have been deployed around Cairo, with anti-Morsi protesters jubilant. Egyptian Armed Forces Commander in Chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi announced on national television on Wednesday evening that the head of the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court would act as president…

“One of the Islamist Egyptian president’s top advisers earlier on Wednesday had condemned action by the country’s army as a ‘military coup’ after an ultimatum for Morsi to forge a deal with opponents expired… Meanwhile, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the military had placed several leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood under surveillance and imposed a travel ban on them. The news agency DPA reported sources at Cairo airport as saying that a travel ban on Morsi himself was related to the president’s 2011 escape from prison during the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak…

“In a last minute statement before the deadline expired between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time (1400 to 1500 GMT), Morsi himself criticized the military for ‘taking only one side’… Opposition spokesman Mohamed ElBaradei, along with Egypt’s top Muslim cleric and a Coptic pope had met General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for talks on measures that the military threatened to impose on Wednesday. Those discussions came to an end on Wednesday evening…”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 4:

“Leaders in Europe and elsewhere have expressed dismay at the coup which saw the Egyptian military topple the country’s president on Wednesday night. Some are warning that it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ that could happen again… German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the country must return to constitutional order as quickly as possible… In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister David Cameron called on all parties to end the violence in Egypt, where nearly 50 people have been killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents since Sunday… Foreign Secretary William Hague also told the BBC: ‘We don’t support military intervention as a way to resolve disputes in a democratic system. It’s of course a dangerous precedent to do that, if one president can be deposed by the military, then of course another one can be in the future — that’s a dangerous thing.’…

“In a statement released by the White House on Wednesday evening, President Obama said Washington ‘is deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsi and suspend the Egyptian constitution.’ The president called ‘on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters.’

“The response from Turkey, where mass protests have targeted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was even stronger, not least because Morsi had been a very close ally of Ankara. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the military coup as ‘unacceptable.’ He said: ‘You can only be removed from duty through elections, that is, the will of the people. It is unacceptable for a government, which has come to power through democratic elections, to be toppled through illicit means and even more, a military coup,’ he told reporters.”

Egypt’s future is predestined and clearly revealed in the Bible. It won’t matter who is going to be in charge—the Muslim Brotherhood, President Morsi’s opponents or the military. All this nonsense and the West’s ill-conceived enthusiasm about the “Arab Spring” just cloud the real issues. For the truth and the clear understanding as to what is happening and going to occur in Egypt, and why, please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Bible Prophecy.”

Syria—a Foretaste of Things to Come?

The Blaze wrote on June 30:

“Syrian Catholic priest Francois Murad killed last weekend by jihadi fighters was beheaded, according to a report by Catholic Online which is linking to video purportedly showing the brutal murder. As The Blaze reported last week, Murad, 49, was setting up a monastery in Gassanieh, northern Syria. Last Sunday… extremist militants trying to topple President Bashar Assad breached the monastery and grabbed Murad. While earlier reports suggested Murad may have been shot to death, Catholic Online reported Saturday: ‘The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23.’

“The Catholic news service quotes local sources who report that the radical Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Al-Nusra Front, was behind the savage killing. In [a] video posted by Live Leak purporting to show the execution, dozens of men and boys are seen cheering on as three men are seated on the ground awaiting their grisly fate. The men are methodically beheaded one at a time by men holding what appears to be a simple kitchen knife after which the heads are placed on top of the bodies. According to Catholic Online, the first victim was Murad.

“A frenzy ensues, with dozens drawing out their smartphones to capture the bloody scene, as a chorus of Allahu Akbar (‘Allah is the greatest’) are  (is) sung with jihadi rapture. Several observers are seen moving within inches of the bodies in an effort to capture close-up photos.

“Catholic Online is raising alarm that western nations are providing support to the rebels who have shown a proclivity toward persecuting Christians: ‘This should make it clear to Christians around the world what jihadists are about. Make no mistake. Catholics and [other] Christians around the globe are under dire threat, particularly from the spread of militant Islam. Until the threat is recognized and taken seriously, martyrdoms like this will continue.’

“Vatican Radio reports that Gassanieh, a village with a majority Christian population, had been under attack by Islamist fighters for the past few weeks, forcing most residents to flee for safety. It quotes Custos of the Holy Land, Franciscan Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa who says, ‘The world must know that the support of gunmen by the west is helping extremists in killing Syrians. With such stances, not a single Christian will remain in the East,’ he added.

“Vatican Radio writes, ‘Fr. Mourad was just one of the many men and women… putting their faith on the front line in Syria, refusing to abandon the communities they serve, Christian and Muslim. They stay because they want to be a sign of hope, light and comfort to people in the midst of destruction.’”

God is not the author of rebellion, which is as bad a sin as witchcraft, and what is happening in the Middle East is of course not godly. Rather, Satan is the god of this world and the author of rebellion, murder, religious fanaticism and anarchy. However, God allows these events to take place to bring about His purpose, as explained in our free booklet, “Biblical Prophecy–From Now Until Forever.” 

Germans and Europeans Furious With Obama’s America

The Associated Press reported on June 30:

“Senior European officials expressed concern Sunday at reports that U.S. intelligence agents bugged EU offices on both sides of the Atlantic… The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said he was ‘deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices’ made in a report published Sunday by German news weekly Der Spiegel… Schulz said that if the allegations that the NSA bugged European Union offices were confirmed ‘it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.’…

“In Germany, where criticism of the NSA’s surveillance programs has been particularly vocal, a senior government official accused the United States on Sunday of using Cold War methods against its allies by targeting EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels… Also Sunday, German federal prosecutors said they were examining whether the reported U.S. electronic surveillance programs broke German laws… [They] said private citizens were likely to file criminal complaints on the matter, but didn’t comment on the possible legal merits of such complaints.”

Der Spiegel added on June 30:

“Europeans are furious. Revelations that the US intelligence service National Security Agency (NSA) targeted the European Union and several European countries with its far-reaching spying activities have led to angry reactions from several senior EU and German politicians… Elmar Brok, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in European Parliament added his opprobrium. ‘The spying has reached dimensions that I didn’t think were possible for a democratic country. Such behavior among allies is intolerable.’ The US… once the land of the free, ‘is suffering from a security syndrome,’ added Brok, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats. ‘They have completely lost all balance. George Orwell is nothing by comparison.’…

“A… Merkel ally in European Parliament, Markus Ferber, accused the US on Sunday of using methods akin to the feared East German secret police, the Stasi… ‘A democratic constitutional state that uses Stasi methods sacrifices all credibility as a moral authority,’ Ferber told the German daily Die Welt on Sunday. ‘It has destroyed trust.’…

“Green Party officials in Brussels are demanding far-reaching consequences. ‘This is meltdown of the constitutional state,’ said Jan Philipp Albrecht, a Green Party representative in European Parliament… and demanded that the EU open proceedings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Green Party floor leader in European Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit went even further. ‘A simple note of protest is not enough anymore. The EU must immediately suspend negotiations with the US over a free trade agreement,’ he said…”

The Associated Press reported on July 1 that “French President Francois Hollande is demanding that the United States immediately stop its alleged eavesdropping of the European Union.”

The Verge wrote on July 1:

“… a new report from German news weekly Der Spiegel provides some more insight into the size of Washington’s telecommunications dragnet, claiming that US intelligence compiles metadata on half a billion German data connections (including phone calls, emails, and text messages) every day. The report points out that the NSA’s interest in Germany is much higher than that of other EU countries like France, whose communications the NSA only logs a tenth as often.

“… the report states that the NSA’s spying efforts in Germany are comparable to the attention it spends on China, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. And pointing to one top secret document, Der Spiegel writes that Germany is considered a ‘third party foreign partner’ by the NSA, unentitled to the freedom from spying exclusively granted to the most prestigious group of US partner nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK.”

If all of these claims are true, the cold war between Europe and the USA is back, which could (!) even escalate into a hot war. The German mass tabloid, Bild, asked on July 1: “What do the Americans want from the Chancellor?”, in light of the alleged revelation that even Angela Merkel had been spied on by the Obama Administration. This made the German Chancellor very unhappy, as the next article shows.

Europe Threatens USA With Dire Consequences

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 1:

“Europeans are deeply unsettled… EU diplomats, with the active involvement of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, spent much of Monday coming up with a joint response and reaction to the possible US spying. According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, Westerwelle spoke at length with Catherine Ashton, chief of EU foreign affairs, on Monday. ‘Both were in agreement that such activity among partners and friends [is] unacceptable,’ the statement read… In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry called in US Ambassador Philip Murphy on Monday for consultations. Brussels likewise called in the US ambassador to the European Union, William Kennard…

“Merkel’s unusually sharp words seem to have opened the gates for more reactions from her cabinet in Berlin… The US, meanwhile, is biding its time. US President Obama said on Monday in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania that his government is still looking at the revelations published in SPIEGEL. He said that once that examination is complete, the US will provide its allies with all of the information they are seeking.”

If one wants to believe THAT!!!

Germans Don’t Trust Obama

In an accompanying article, Der Spiegel wrote on July 1:

“Revelations that the US has spied extensively on the EU and European countries have infuriated leaders in Brussels and Berlin — and could endanger the trans-Atlantic free-trade agreement. Important American voices are demanding that Obama come clean. Leading trans-Atlantic analysts have reacted with shock and horror…

“Sources familiar with the ongoing discussion in the White House regarding the revelations say that the Obama administration will attempt to make clear that the surveillance measures were carried out in coordination with the secret services of other countries. It remains questionable, however, whether any countries will want to admit to such cooperation. European politicians, it seems certain, will have no interest in making such an admission…

“Green Party politician Malte Spitz attracted attention over the weekend with a guest editorial in the New York Times in which he reminded readers of the demonstrations in Germany against data retention for six months in accordance with a European Union directive. ‘Given our history, we Germans are not willing to trade in our liberty for potentially better security. Germans have experienced firsthand what happens when the government knows too much about someone.’ The title of his piece: ‘Germans Loved Obama. Now We Don’t Trust Him.’”

This debacle is bound to continue; especially if European secret services collaborated with the Americans and would now be unwilling to admit this.

How Much Did the Germans Know?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 3:

“While the Chancellery appears to be outraged by the NSA’s spying tactics in Germany, the opposition doubts the revelations came as a surprise to Angela Merkel. Just how much could she have known?

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to be pretty clear with US President Barack Obama the next time she has him on the line. At least that’s a reasonable assumption, based on the anger she has expressed about American spying operations in the European Union and Germany… But others say that the chancellor will probably be friendly to Obama during their next talk, and not because this is what diplomatic conventions call for, even amid tensions. No, it’s because there is some question as to whether Berlin’s dismay about the espionage by the National Security Agency (NSA) is really as great as it claims. Could some of the indignation be feigned? Did the revelations really shock the chancellor? And if it did come as a surprise, has German counterintelligence failed miserably?

“The opposition doesn’t believe that Merkel was unaware of the situation. In an editorial for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this week, Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), openly aired the suspicion that Merkel was familiar with at least some of the spying activity. The government has vehemently rejected this accusation as crude campaign bluster. This isn’t totally unjust — the opposition has seized on the opportunity to portray Merkel as a traitor to citizens’ freedoms, a strategy that could gain support among a population particularly sensitive to data protection issues.

“The election campaign aside, there are good reasons to ask critical questions of not just the Americans, but the German government too. Intelligence expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom says that Gabriel’s suspicion is ‘at least tendentially’ correct. ‘According to my estimation, the authorities knew about this,’ he told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

“That’s because the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which is responsible for protecting government networks, compiles threat analyses for the Interior Ministry. And adversaries include ‘not only China or Russia, but also the Anglo-Saxon services,’ Schmidt-Eenboom said. Additionally, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) is familiar with the capacities of allied intelligence agencies, he added. In turn, the BND briefs the Chancellery, or more precisely its chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla, who is responsible for coordinating the intelligence agencies. He then shares this information with the chancellor when he sees fit…

“The SPD, however, cannot hide behind Merkel’s conservatives. After all, it was current opposition leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier who occupied Pofalla’s post from 1999 to 2005, in the delicate time after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when US intelligence agencies were certainly not idle. One thing is obvious: No one believed that the NSA was steering clear of Germany…”

These are indeed troubling developments, and Germany’s refusal to grant asylum to fugitive Edward Snowden might have to be seen in this light. See the next article.

“Ashamed of Germany”

The Local reported on July 3:

“Michael Grosse-Brömer, of the Christian Democratic Union’s parliamentary faction [Merkel’s party], said it had been a ‘legally founded’ decision. ‘We have clear pre-conditions for an asylum process and for asylum entitlement, and those pre-conditions were not in place for Mr. Snowden,’ he said on state TV channel ARD Wednesday morning. ‘I don’t see that the man is being pursued politically,’ Social Democratic Party interior policy spokesman Dieter Wiefelspütz [Steinmeier’s party] told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. ‘He may have breached state secrecy for reasons of conscience. He may be a hero of freedom. But that is no protection from legal consequences.’

“The Green party, which had called for Snowden to be taken in, strongly criticized the government. Leading candidates Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Jürgen Trittin released a joint statement on Tuesday evening that said, ‘Angela Merkel’s decision to deny asylum to Edward Snowden exposes all the hypocrisy of this government. It says it is outraged, but doesn’t do anything.’

“Meanwhile Katharina Nocun of the Pirate Party accused the government of putting Snowden under threat, adding that Snowden could expect inhumane treatment or even the death penalty if deported to the US. ‘Germany is even holding the door open for these human rights abuses,’ Nocun said. ‘Today I am ashamed of our government.’”

“Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, applied for asylum to 21 countries after releasing details of the scope of its surveillance activities. Most have denied him access.”

Is this so because all are involved; all have something to hide; and no one is without sin? Take France as another example.

Worldcrunch wrote on July 4:

“The revelations of the controversial U.S. domestic surveillance program PRISM have provoked massive indignation through much of Europe, but France has been rather quiet. There are two simple explanations: Paris was already aware — and does exactly the same. Le Monde has confirmed that the ‘Direction Générale de la Securité Extérieure’ (DGSE, the French secret service) systematically collects the electromagnetic signals transmitted by computers and phones in France, as well as the digital streams going back-and-forth between the French and abroad. All communications are being spied on: emails, SMS messages, phone records, Facebook and Twitter updates, which are all then stored for years.”

Guenther Grass in Hot Water—Again

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 28:

“Nobel laureate Günter Grass has become a master at stepping on his tongue lately. This week, he did it again, casting aspersions about Chancellor Merkel’s East German past. Critics have blasted Grass, pointing to the author’s own prior membership in the SS.”

This was of course an incredibly stupid and incomprehensible move by Grass, which is even more regrettable, as he did say a few more things which are worth noting. The magazine went on to state:

“Grass didn’t limit his criticism to Merkel on Wednesday. Calling her elimination of conscription ‘shameful,’ he said that the German military had devolved into nothing more than an ‘army of mercenaries that gets sent on missions abroad.’ He said it threatens to become a ‘state within a state’ as did the German army during the inter-war Weimar period.”

With that statement, Grass earned criticism from Conservatives and Liberals alike. Nobody wanted to hear that.

New Information Contradicts Denials from Tech Companies

CNET wrote on June 30:

“The Washington Post has published a new set of slides regarding PRISM, revealing more details about the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance program and how it operates. The new slides… appear to confirm that the NSA and FBI have the ability to perform real-time surveillance of e-mail and stored content.

“The slides also seem to contradict denials from tech companies such as Google, Apple, Yahoo, and Microsoft about their level of participation in the program. The program ‘uses government equipment on private company property to retrieve matching information from a participating company, such as Microsoft or Yahoo and pass[es] it without further review to the NSA,’ The Washington Post reported.”

US Postal Service Is Spying on You!

The New York Times reported on July 3:

“Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images… postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail.

“… At the request of law enforcement officials, postal workers record information from the outside of letters and parcels before they are delivered. (Opening the mail would require a warrant.) The information is sent to the law enforcement agency that asked for it. Tens of thousands of pieces of mail each year undergo this scrutiny.”

Obamacare—Major Defeat for Obama

Newsmax, The Associated Press and Reuters reported on July 2:

“The Obama administration’s move to delay until 2015 a requirement that employers offer health insurance or else face stiff penalties is yet another indication the embattled law is a failure and should be repealed, Republicans and Conservatives said Tuesday… On Tuesday, the White House made its most significant concession on the healthcare law since President Barack Obama signed it in 2010, delaying the requirement that medium and large companies provide coverage for their workers or face heavy fines.

“The law requires companies with 50 or more workers to provide affordable coverage to their full-time employees or risk escalating tax penalties if just one worker ends up getting government-subsidized insurance. Companies would have had to pay the Internal Revenue Service $2,000 for each full-time employee who did not get health coverage, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was scheduled to take full effect. Business groups have complained that the provision was too complicated…”

Still, the injustice of the implementation of this new botched law is apparent, as correctly pointed out by humanevents.com, on July 2:

“Looks like someone finally read the bill. The Obama administration is postponing the ‘employer mandate’… until 2015. The move delays implementation of at least one component of the unpopular law until after the next mid-term elections. A coincidence, no doubt.

“Individuals? You’re still on the hook… the decision prompts several questions. Among them: 1 -Can the administration unilaterally decide when and how a law is implemented?  If so, can Congress decide when and how to fund it? 2- Why is the employer mandate delayed but not the individual mandate? 3 – Why is it that the populist Obama administration acts on complaints from large companies but fights all the way to the Supreme Court to levy fines on individuals?”

Good questions!

Same-Sex Marriage—HOW “Law” Is Made

The International Business Times wrote on July 1:

“The Supreme Court denied a request by California opposition groups to block same-sex marriages on Sunday. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who handles petitions from the Western states, issued a brief statement that read: ‘Justice Kennedy denied the application on his own, without further comment.’…

“The Ninth Circuit [Court of Appeals] usually waits 25 days before acting on a case that was recently decided by the Supreme Court. But in a surprise move, a three-judge panel that included liberal jurist Stephen Reinhardt lifted a hold it had placed on a 2010 injunction ordering state officials to stop enforcing the gay marriage ban [in California]…

“Kennedy wrote Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling that required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages. Kennedy’s decision means gay marriages can resume in California.”

According to the Rasmussen Report of July 1, 2013, “The U.S. Supreme Court finished its term with big decisions on voting rights, affirmative action and same-sex marriage. Following those rulings, public approval of the court has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded in more than nine years of polling.”

Same Sex Marriage—WHY “Law” Is Made

On June 28, Canada Free Press wrote the following:

“Designated by Congress as the ‘National House of Prayer’ and often identified as the church of our national leaders, the National Cathedral in Washington DC celebrated Wednesday’s Supreme Court decisions regarding same-sex marriage by ringing its bells for 45 minutes at noon ET, followed by a celebratory prayer service that evening. After being notified of the Supreme Court’s ruling, our putative president made a congratulatory call from Air Force One to the plaintiffs in California’s Proposition 8 case, a call that was also broadcast on MSNBC, the unofficial mouthpiece for the administration.

“Welcome to American Babylon, 2013.

“Those who have been paying attention to the systematic attacks on the moral fabric of our nation understand that what is taking place in America has absolutely nothing to do with ‘equal rights’ or ‘gender equality.’ This should be especially evident in light of the fact that [confessing] homosexuals comprise a mere three percent of our population, yet have somehow managed to cause an entire nation to redefine traditional marriage between a man and a woman. How is this possible? The answer lies in the larger picture.

“America has become a captured operation. Forced acceptance of same-sex unions is part of a larger plan that was outlined and detailed nearly a century ago by Antonio Gramsci, a well-known Marxist. Through his theory of cultural hegemony, a method for a Marxist takeover of a capitalist nation like the United States was only possible from within. A key component to this takeover was – and continues to be – radically changing the culture and moral sensitivities of our country. Destroy traditional and sacred moral values based on Judeo-Christian principles and replace them with immoral and un-Godly laws and evil disguised as tolerance…

“Socialism calls for government control of industry, including the nationalization of key industries and national resources. The terms Communism and Marxism are interchangeable, and are hard-core forms of socialism… Socialism, Marxism and Communism are mere stepping stones to the larger agenda of a unified world or system of global governance… Many of the… [Communist] goals have been accomplished with little to no resistance right in front of our eyes, by our own self-proclaimed moral leadership.

“A very important aspect of those goals focuses on breaking down all cultural standards of morality, including the promotion of all forms of homosexuality, promiscuity and degeneracy as ‘normal and healthy.’ To assist with this task, all religious institutions were and are to be infiltrated by those adherent to the Marxist-Communist Mindset, the Holy Bible is to be discredited, and traditional doctrine replaced by a mandate of inclusion and tolerance of behavior which was once considered abhorrent. Removal of the Judeo-Christian obstacles in America would sufficiently soften the population to the ultimate acceptance of a global Mindset and ultimately, the subjugation to a single global authority. This process, however, could not be done overnight as the Americans of the 1950’s would never accept it or allow it to happen.

“The children of the United States were and are considered to be one of the most important ‘resources’ for the takeover of America. Accordingly, schools had to be infiltrated by the agents of the Marxists-Communist Mindset, today called the Progressives, and the minds of the children ‘prepared’ or educated in accordance with a tolerance and blind acceptance toward Marxism and Communism…

“It is no wonder that the U.S. Educational system from the 1960’s forward has promoted immorality under the guise of tolerance, and has not only allowed, but forced parents to accept curriculums of abhorrent behavior be permitted to pollute the minds of our young people. At the same time curriculums of moral corruption are being taught in our schools, the removal of God was necessary as it is antithetical to the debauchery of tolerance and acceptance. Like a cancer, this process has spread not only through our public elementary and secondary schools, but exponentially into our colleges and universities… As we are busy working multiple jobs just to put food on the table, we have been deliberately distracted away from what is being taught to our children…

“The normalization of homosexual marriage is a sin against God and nature and historically, one that does not go unpunished. We did not, however, arrive here overnight. It was in 1986, a mere 27 years ago, that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state’s rights to enact sodomy laws in the landmark case of Bowers v. Hardwick. Citing then Chief Justice Warren Burger, ‘To hold that the act of homosexual sodomy is somehow protected as a fundamental right would be to cast aside millennia of moral teaching.’ That fragile thread of morality lasted only 17 years. In 2003, the Bowers v. Hardwick was overturned by the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in other states.

“Although it was contended at the time that the latter case had nothing to do with same-sex marriage, Supreme Court Justice Antonion Scalia astutely saw through the smoke screen and during oral arguments, flatly admonished anyone who would listen that the decision would open the floodgates toward the recognition of same-sex marriage. And so it did. Legalizing same-sex sexual activity and marriage is but one of numerous attacks against America from within…”

It is so very true that before the United States of America can be destroyed by an enemy from without, it will have permitted its destruction from within. Notice the next article as well.

Altered Attitudes

Der Spiegel Online wrote on July 2:

“Two US Supreme Court rulings last week bolstering same-sex marriage are symptomatic of shifting public opinion in the West in favor of gay rights. Attitudes have changed so fast in recent years that politicians can hardly keep up…

“As of this August, 585 million people in the world will live in regions where true gay marriage exists… roughly twice as many as in August 2012. And just 12 years before that, at the turn of the millennium, gay marriage didn’t exist anywhere in the world…

“Several countries have changed their laws just in the last half year. One example is France… Three American states, as well as New Zealand and Uruguay, have also joined the ranks in 2013. But it is Brazil’s over 190 million inhabitants who account for the largest segment of that number…

“The losers in this trend, in every country, are religious forces. In France, it was conservative Catholic circles… But the resistance in France was directed at far more than just gay marriage — it was also about fundamentally questioning the legitimacy of the country’s Socialist president…

“Baptist minister and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee met the Supreme Court’s ruling with the words, ‘Jesus wept.’ But even… radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh conceded earlier this year that the gay marriage movement would no longer be stopped, saying, ‘This issue is lost.’”

Historic Pride Sabbath?

JTA wrote on July 1:

“At 5:00 P.M. this past Friday, a line of visibly excited people, many decked out in rainbow regalia, gathered outside Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Shabbat [CBST] services. Synagogues generally don’t garner lines for services, especially lines that wrap around the block. But then again, it’s not every Shabbat that you can celebrate Pride weekend with Edith Windsor and Roberta Kaplan.

“Windsor, of course, is the lesbian woman whose Supreme Court petition resulted in the historic overturn last week of the Defense of Marriage Act. Kaplan is her lawyer. Both women are CBST members. Over 600 people — including mayoral candidate Christine Quinn — came to the synagogue to celebrate the ruling; some stood outside listening in through speakers. The services were extended and included the recitation of the Hallel prayer normally reserved for holidays. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum dedicated the night to Thea Speyer, Windsor’s deceased partner, and said that, while there may be reasons not to fully celebrate the court’s decisions last week, we should still celebrate this momentous occasion. And celebrate they did. With a full choir, the synagogue was full of joy, music, and hugs.

“Kaplan and Windsor spoke together at the end of the service, comparing their efforts in securing equal rights for same-sex marriages to the efforts of the biblical daughters of Zelophehad, who fought for their inheritance rights and won. The high point of the night came at an unexpected moment. As the services started, a diminutive, elegantly dressed woman walked in slowly. No one noticed her at first, but then one person recognized the smiling [woman] as Edith Windsor, and the cheering and clapping turned into a sustained standing ovation. Her entrance felt like the triumphant return of a battle-worn hero waving to the crowd.”

It might come as a surprise to some, but many American Jews have manifested an incredible amount of liberalism and anti-biblical standards (as this can also be observed for many American Catholics and Protestants). But this is of course not true for all. Notice the next insightful article.

“Rabbi: Only Messiah Can Straighten Out Gay Ruling”

JTA wrote on June 28:

“The National Council of Young Israel wasn’t quite as eloquent as the Orthodox Union, nor as elegiac as Agudath Israel of America, but the essential view is the same. ‘We oppose homosexual marriage and are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision that strikes down portions of the Defense of Marriage Act. Pursuant to the tenets of the Jewish faith and in accordance with Torah law, we believe that marriage should only be recognized as a union between a man and a woman, just as it always has been throughout history.’…

“Orthodox rabbi… Yoel Schoenfeld… the Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills in Queens [said] that this decision… has brought humanity so low that it can only herald the End of Days. Maybe, the rabbi says… the messiah will soon come and ‘straighten us out.’”

Indeed, He will have to…

Deadly Arizona Fire

Fox News reported on July 1:

“Eighteen members of an elite Hotshots firefighting crew and one other person who were killed Sunday in an Arizona wildfire tried to protect themselves by deploying tent-like structures before they were overtaken, a state forestry spokesman says. The lightning-sparked fire, which spread to more than 8,000 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, destroyed at least 50 structures and threatened 500 people in Yarnell, a town of about 700 residents that sits 85 miles northwest of Phoenix, the Yavapai County Emergency Management said Monday… It was zero percent contained as of Monday morning local time.

“The fire killed 18 members of the 20-member of the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots crew, which were known for battling the region’s worst fires. The average age of the men in the crew was 22-years-old…  It was the most firefighters killed battling a wildfire in the U.S. in decades.”

This tragedy is truly heart-breaking, and our condolences go out to the families of these brave young men who gave their lives to protect others.

The Atlantic Wire wrote on July 1:

“It’s hard to process yesterday’s deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona… But there is one worrisome trend: fires are getting bigger and often deadlier… The number of acres burned per fire reached a new high last year… One reason for last year’s devastation was last year’s massive drought. The Southwest has been consistently dry for several years, but last year — and into this year — the drought reached levels not seen since the Dust Bowl era.

“The wildfires seen so far in 2013 largely track with the drought… As New York City’s Firemen’s Memorial says, the lost firefighters are ‘soldiers in a war that never ends.’ Yesterday’s loss is a reminder that even with our modern advantages, the war is still a struggle.”

Discovery of Australia’s East Coast

AFP wrote on July 1:

“The centuries-old skull of a white man found in Australia is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country’s east coast. The skull was found in northern New South Wales in late 2011, and police initially prepared themselves for a gruesome murder investigation. But scientific testing revealed that not only was it much older than expected, but possibly belonged to a white man born around 1650, well before Englishman Cook reached the eastern seaboard on the Endeavour in 1770…

“Australian National University expert Stewart Fallon, who carbon-dated the skull… said the test used was quite accurate for dates after 1950 but for earlier samples it was more difficult, and the two samples yielded different dates…

“Historians were cautious. ‘Before we rewrite the history of European settlement we have to consider a number of issues, particularly the circumstances of the discovery,’ archaeologist Adam Ford told the Telegraph. ‘The fact the skull is in good condition and found alone could easily point to it coming from a private collection and skulls were very popular with collectors in the 19th century.’… Dutch explorers made the earliest European landings in Cape York in Australia’s far north and western Australia in the 1600s.”

We need to be cautious with reports like these, as especially the radio-carbon method is indeed very unreliable to determine the age of a fossil.

Belgium’s Future King

The Associated Press reported on July 3:

“Belgium’s King Albert announced Wednesday that he will abdicate in favor of Crown Prince Philippe on July 21… Frail at 79, King Albert will be handing over the throne to his son Philippe, who is 53… Belgium has had six kings since it came into being in 1830; Albert is the first to voluntarily abdicate from the throne… The nation celebrates independence day on July 21 and many have said that could be an ideal day to hand over the largely ceremonial post…

“After he succeeded his devoutly Roman Catholic brother Baudouin in 1993, Albert became embroiled in a major royal scandal when he had to acknowledge the existence of an out-of-wedlock daughter… and suffered a major crisis in his marriage with Queen Paola… ‘He is not alone. Many royals around the world have extramarital children,’ [one commentator said].”

British Spying

The Guardian wrote on June 21:

“Britain’s spy agency GCHQ has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the world’s phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA).

“The sheer scale of the agency’s ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as much online and telephone traffic as possible. This is all being carried out without any form of public acknowledgement or debate. One key innovation has been GCHQ’s ability to tap into and store huge volumes of data drawn from fibre-optic cables for up to 30 days so that it can be sifted and analysed. That operation, codenamed Tempora, has been running for some 18 months.

“GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects. This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user’s access to websites.”

The Local wrote on June 22:

“German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger reacted with shock on Saturday to revelations by British newspaper The Guardian that the British spy agency GCHQ had been gathering even more communications data than the Americans. The paper published further material from whistle-blower Edward Snowden on Friday suggesting that GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables on British soil carrying email messages, Facebook posts, internet histories and calls, and shares this data with the US. ‘If the allegations are true, it would be a catastrophe,’ said Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and demanded the European Union immediately look into the matter of British spying.

“Yet while concern in Germany over recent revelations showing the extent and scope of US and British online snooping capabilities has been widespread, most people do not personally see themselves as targets… Over 70 percent of German participants in the online survey said they believed the NSA had accessed telephone and internet data in Germany, yet just 30 percent believed their own communications data had been seen by employees of the recently-uncovered US secret service Prism program. Only 9 percent thought it very probable that the Americans had been spying on them and 21 percent fairly probable…  Fifty-eight percent said they thought Germany as a nation would feel the consequences of the revelations, which 70 percent believed would be negative.”

All in all, Germans seem to still be pretty naïve, as are many Americans. On June 24, International Business Times reported: “While the [American] public is divided over the NSA PRISM program itself, a majority of those surveyed said that the program probably helped prevent terrorism.”

The relationship between Europe and the USA and Britain is bound to deteriorate over revelations like these spying activities, as the next articles show.

German “Indignation” with Britain

Deutsche Welle reported on June 24:

“First Prism, now Tempora: the British security service GCHQ has been surveying electronic communications of hundreds of millions of people. German politicians are expressing frustration and seeking information. It’s ‘like a nightmare out of Hollywood,’ says German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger with respect to the British Tempora electronic surveillance program…

“It’s not clear how many Germans were affected, but there has been severe criticism from German politicians of all parties… Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, an expert on intelligence agencies, says he’s surprised that German politicians are so indignant. He told MDR that German authorities have long known that British and US services were tapping internet and telephone connections.”

“American and British Totalitarianism Must Come to an End”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 24:

“Overzealous data collectors in the US and Great Britain have no right to investigate German citizens. The German government must protect people from unauthorized access by foreign intelligence agencies, and it must act now. This is a matter of national security…

“At the beginning of last week, we thought after the announcement of the American Prism program, that US President Barack Obama was the sole boss of the largest and most extensive control system in human history. That was an error. Since Friday, we have known that the British intelligence agency GCHQ is ‘worse than the United States’…

“We have Edward Snowden to thank for this insight into the interaction of an uncanny club, the Alliance of Five Eyes. Since World War II, the five Anglo-Saxon countries of Great Britain, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have maintained close intelligence cooperation, which apparently has gotten completely out of control. It may be up to the Americans and the British to decide how they handle questions of freedom and the protection of their citizens from government intrusion. But they have no right to subject the citizens of other countries to their control. The shoulder-shrugging explanation by Washington and London that they have operated within the law is absurd. They are not our laws. We didn’t make them. We shouldn’t be subject to them.

“The totalitarianism of the security mindset protects itself with a sentence: If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. But firstly, that contains a presumption: We have not asked the NSA and GCHQ to ‘protect’ us. And secondly, the sentence is a stupid one: Because we all have something to hide, whether it pertains to our private lives or to our business secrets…

“Thus the data scandal doesn’t pertain just to our legal principles, but to our security as well. We were lucky that Edward Snowden, who revealed the spying to the entire world, is not a criminal, but an idealist. He wanted to warn the world, not blackmail it. But he could have used his information for criminal purposes, as well. His case proves that no agency in the world can guarantee the security of the data it collects — which is why no agency should collect data in such abundance in the first place. That is the well-known paradox of totalitarian security policy. Our security is jeopardized by the very actions that are supposed to protect it.

“So what should happen now? European institutions must take control of the data infrastructure and ensure its protection. The freedom of data traffic is just as important as the European freedom of exchange in goods, services and money. But above all, the practices of the Americans and British must come to an end. Immediately.

“It is the responsibility of the German government to see to it that the programs of the NSA and GCHQ no longer process the data of German citizens and companies without giving them the opportunity for legal defense. A government that cannot make that assurance is failing in one of its fundamental obligations: to protect its own citizens from the grasp of foreign powers.”

German Spying

On June 22, npr.org reported the following:

“Revelations of widespread U.S. spying on foreign Internet communications put a damper on President Obama’s first state visit to Berlin. The German chancellor and other officials there say they want to know more about what the National Security Agency is looking at. Yet the backlash has been more muted than expected. One reason is that the German government is doing similar surveillance.

“… the U.S. is actually doing German authorities a favor — especially when Washington shares what it collects. Just like the American government, German officials quietly justify increased surveillance as necessary to protect their country from terrorist attacks… Germany’s top court also recently upheld the right of security agencies to maintain an anti-terror database containing sensitive personal information about German citizens…”

The hypocrisy involved is dumb-founding.

US Drone Spying

The Washington Post wrote on June 20:

“The FBI has received clearance from federal aviation officials to conduct drone surveillance operations in the United States… The documents provide virtually no detail on where the FBI has operated drones in U.S. airspace, for what purpose or how long the missions lasted. But they shed some additional light on the origins and extent of the FBI’s secretive drone program…

“Drones, or unmanned aircraft, are generally prohibited from flying in U.S. airspace… The Department of Homeland Security flies large surveillance drones along the borders with Canada and Mexico. Congress has directed the FAA to open domestic airspace to drones by 2015…”

Even Obama a Target of NSA

Business Insider wrote on June 22:

“Russ Tice worked as an offensive National Security Agency (NSA) from 2002 and 2005, before becoming a source for this Pulitzer-Prize winning The New York Times article exposing NSA domestic spying…

“‘In the summer of 2004, one of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a forty-some-year-old senator from Illinois… That’s who the NSA went after. That’s the President of the United States now.’ Tice added that he also saw orders to spy on Hillary Clinton, Senators John McCain and Diane Feinstein, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, Gen. David Petraeus, and a current Supreme Court Justice. That sounds like a lot of abuse of the rules that govern NSA domestic spying. And that’s exactly what Tice is claiming…”

This shows how the US spying activities are being used—and have been used—against just about any person so desired.

Snowden–Major Embarrassment for Obama

Reuters wrote on June 23:

“Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was seeking asylum in Ecuador on Sunday after Hong Kong allowed his departure for Russia in a slap to Washington’s efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.

“In a major embarrassment for President Barack Obama, an aircraft thought to have carried Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said he was ‘bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum.’…

“It was a blow to Obama’s foreign policy goals of resetting ties with Russia and building a partnership with China. The leaders of both countries were willing to snub the American president in a month when each had held talks with Obama.

“The United States continued efforts to prevent Snowden from gaining asylum. It warned Western Hemisphere nations that Snowden ‘should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him to the United States,’ a State Department official said. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely knew and approved of Snowden’s flight to Russia and predicted ‘serious consequences’ for a U.S.-Russian relationship already strained over Syria and human rights…

“Ecuador, which has been sheltering WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year, once again took center stage in an international diplomatic saga over U.S. data secrecy…

“In their statement announcing Snowden’s departure, the Hong Kong authorities said they were seeking clarification from Washington about reports of U.S. spying on government computers in the territory… A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said it had allowed the departure of Snowden – considered a whistleblower by his supporters and a criminal or even a traitor by his critics – as the U.S. request for his arrest did not comply with the law…

“The issue has been a major problem for Obama, who has found his domestic and international policy agenda sidelined as he has scrambled to deflect accusations that U.S. surveillance practices violate privacy protections and civil rights. The president has maintained that the measures have been necessary to thwart attacks on the United States…

“Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper earlier quoted Snowden offering new details about U.S. surveillance activities, including accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile phone firms and targeting of China’s Tsinghua University.”

Reuters reported on June 24:

“U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to India that it would be ‘deeply troubling’ if Moscow defied the United States over Snowden… Russian officials said Moscow had no obligation to cooperate with Washington, after it passed legislation to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Russians accused of violating human rights. ‘Why should the United States expect restraint and understanding from Russia?’ said Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of parliament.”

Reuters added on June 25:

“President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him over to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as ‘ravings and rubbish.’”

Whatever the US tries to do, it fails…

Do China and Russia Know About U.S. Nuclear War Plans?

The National Free Beacon wrote on June 26, 2013:

“Intelligence agencies in China and Russia gained access to highly classified U.S. intelligence and military information contained on electronic media held by renegade former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, according to U.S. officials… One of the biggest fears about the compromise is whether Snowden… gained access to new U.S. nuclear war plans…

“The nuclear war plans, among the most closely guarded U.S. secrets, were recently modified as a result of President Barack Obama’s shift in U.S. nuclear strategy. The president last week signed new guidance for the Pentagon limiting the use of nuclear weapons in U.S. planning and strategy. The shift is the first step in the president’s plan to cut deployed nuclear weapons by one-third to about 1,000 warheads. That plan was announced in Berlin June 19.”

An Innocent Mistake?

The Washington Post reported on June 22:

“In April 2011, Barack Obama, president of the United States, took the extraordinary step of releasing the long-form version of his birth certificate. As the New York Times wrote at the time, the idea behind the move was ‘to finally end a long-simmering conspiracy theory among some conservatives who have asserted that he was not born in the United States and was not a legitimate president.’ The certificate proved that Obama was born in Hawaii.

“Rachel Rose Hartman, a White House reporter for Yahoo! News, couldn’t possibly have missed the ‘birther’ story. It was unavoidable, after all, for an unhealthy chunk of the president’s first term. Yet: In her story yesterday on Obama’s Africa trip, Hartman managed to say that ‘he won’t be stopping in the country of his birth.’ From the context of the story, it’s clear she was referring to Kenya…

“A birther-oriented mistake of this magnitude cannot possibly be finessed, ignored or Daily Callered. So Yahoo! News went ahead and published a properly placed correction, complete with a clever save:

“‘Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the president’s birthplace. President Barack Obama makes the first extended trip to Africa of his presidency next week—but he won’t be stopping in his ancestral homeland.’

“The Erik Wemple Blog has a number of questions for Yahoo! Newsers:

“1) How on earth?

“2) Did someone forget that the president of the United States needs to be born in the United States (or fulfill other constitutional requirements)?

“3) Any editing over there?

“A spokesperson for Yahoo! News, however, said that there would be no comment beyond the correction.”

If that was an innocent mistake, then there would be a great deal of utter incompetency involved. But what if it was no mistake? Sadly, neither cowardly Republicans nor self-serving Democrats are willing to touch this hot potato—if Kenya is indeed Mr. Obama’s birthplace, the far-reaching consequences would be far too unpleasant.

Pelosi and Others in Hot Water With Catholic Church

Newsmax reported on June 24:

“A Catholic priest active in the pro-life movement said if Nancy Pelosi continues her refusal to condemn abortion, she should renounce her Catholic faith… Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, sent the House minority leader a strongly worded letter demanding she explain her position on late-term abortion.

“His letter followed Pelosi’s June 13 news conference at which Pavone contends she sidestepped the issue… Pelosi said during her news briefing, ‘As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this. I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics.’

“Addressing her comments in his letter, Pavone wrote, ‘With this statement, you make a mockery of the Catholic faith and of the tens of millions of Americans who consider themselves ‘practicing and respectful Catholics’ and who find the killing of children — whether inside or outside the womb — reprehensible. Whatever Catholic faith you claim to respect and practice, it is not the faith that the Catholic Church teaches. And I speak for countless Catholics when I say that it’s time for you to stop speaking as if it were… for decades you have gotten away with betraying and misrepresenting the Catholic faith…’”

It is not only Nancy Pelosi who is in hot water with the Catholic Church. Other US Democrats, such as Vice President Joe Biden or Secretary of State John Kerry, likewise approve of abortion, while claiming to be practicing Catholics.

Same-Sex Marriage—How the Tides Turn

The New York Times wrote von June 26:

“The Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings Wednesday expanding gay rights, ruling unconstitutional a 1996 law denying federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples and paving the way for California to legalize same-sex marriage…

“The rulings continue a rapid shift, in which public opinion and laws have become far more accepting of same-sex marriage, only a few years after a clear majority of Americans opposed it and it was legal almost nowhere. Today, same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states, not including California, and polls show that a majority of people support it.

“The decision on federal benefits was 5 to 4, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing the majority opinion, which the four liberal-leaning justices joined… Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was in the minority… The ruling overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, which passed with bipartisan support and which President Bill Clinton signed. The decision… will also raise a series of major decisions for the Obama administration about how aggressively to overhaul references to marriage throughout the many volumes that lay out the laws of the United States.

“The five-member majority in the California case was different than in the Defense of Marriage case… Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion…

“The decision on the Defense of Marriage Act does not alter any state laws governing whether same-sex couples can marry. It instead determines whether same-sex couples that are legally married in one state receive federal benefits that apply to heterosexual married couples…

“Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted sharply in the last decade. In President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, Republican strategists put ballot initiatives to ban same-sex marriage on several state ballots, believing it would help raise turnout and lift Mr. Bush’s chances. As late as 2010, polls showed that a majority of Americans opposed same-sex marriage.

“In the last three years, public opinion has flipped. Mr. Clinton has said he regretted signing the 1996 law that the court struck down Wednesday. President Obama reversed his position last year, in the midst of the presidential campaign, and said he now favored same-sex marriage.”

Time wrote on June 26:

“Seventeen years after a Democratic president signed a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down Wednesday, capping one of the fastest civil rights shifts in the nation’s history.”

ABC News reported on June 27:

“Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told ABC News he believes the Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act was appropriate…  The comments from Paul, a likely GOP presidential candidate in 2016, highlight how the [Republican Party’s] field could divide over gay marriage. Many Republicans have been unusually muted in their reactions to the Supreme Court rulings today.”

Newsmax reported on June 26:

“The U.S. Supreme Court decisions June 26 striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and refusing to rule on the merits of a challenge to California’s Proposition 8 mark a ‘tragic day for marriage and our nation,’ said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops…

“‘Today is a tragic day for marriage and our nation… The Court got it wrong. The federal government ought to respect the truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, even where states fail to do so…  Now is the time to strengthen marriage, not redefine it… When Jesus taught about the meaning of marriage – the lifelong, exclusive union of husband and wife – he pointed back to ‘the beginning’ of God’s creation of the human person as male and female (see Matthew 19)… we call upon all of our leaders and the people of this good nation to stand steadfastly together in promoting and defending the unique meaning of marriage: one man, one woman, for life…’”

Civil rights shifts, public opinion and political maneuvering do not define godly standards, nor do they alter biblical teaching. The Bible reveals that GOD created marriage and that He defines “marriage” as a union between a man and a woman, and no human law or definition can change that. It is interesting that polygamists hope now that the Supreme Court rulings will pave the way to decriminalizing polygamy and allow for multi-partner marriage, according to the Washington Times, dated June 27. So what is coming next?

Why the War in Afghanistan Is Lost

The German mass tabloid, Bild Online, stated on June 22 that the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan is lost; that the death of 3,340 NATO soldiers was in vain; and that the adventure in Afghanistan was destined to failure from the start. It also pointed out that there are no rights of women or democracy in the country, and that America’s decision to negotiate with the Taliban is, according to German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a “psychological victory” for the Taliban and an admission of defeat.

Bild gave the following five reasons why the Afghan war is lost:

Reason #1: Corrupt Partners, including President Hamid Karzai, who is not well respected by most Afghans who rather deal with the Taliban.

Reason #2: Wrong Strategy. Instead of concentrating on the war against terrorism, the West wanted to bring growth and peace to the country.

Reason #3: Tactical mistakes. President Obama announced the withdrawal of the troops by 2014. Since then, the Taliban is collecting money and weapons and is waiting to return.

Reason #4: Drugs. NATO never dealt with them. 90% of all heroin sold worldwide is originating in Afghanistan.

Reason #5: Proud Afghans. The West tried to win the heads and hearts of the Afghan people and overlooked that Afghans don’t like foreigners in their country. The armies of Alexander the Great, the British Empire and the Russians had to leave Afghanistan in disgrace. The same will happen to NATO.

America has still not learned its lesson. According to the Washington Post, dated June 24, “U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry assured India and other concerned partners in this volatile region Monday that the United States plans to continue supporting the Afghan military and to keep American forces in Afghanistan after the scheduled 2014 combat withdrawal, ‘under any circumstances.’”

Never mind the contradictory and inconsistent expressions of intent from the American government…

Egypt in Turmoil–Again

AFP wrote on June 23:

“Egypt’s defence minister warned on Sunday that the army will intervene if violence breaks out in the country where opponents of President Mohamed Morsi are planning rallies against him this month… Morsi’s opponents, who accuse him of hijacking the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime, plan a rally on June 30 to mark the day Morsi was sworn in as Egypt’s first civilian and Islamist president… Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters massed on Friday in a show of strength ahead of the June 30 protest…

“Egypt is deeply polarised. Morsi’s supporters say he is clearing institutions of decades of corruption, but his critics accuse him of concentrating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood movement. Since taking office a year ago, Morsi has squared off against the judiciary, media, police and most recently artists.

“Leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei, a former chief of UN watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, urged the president to resign for the sake of national unity… A campaign dubbed Tamarod (rebellion in Arabic) first called the anti-Morsi rally to coincide with the first anniversary of his taking office. Tamarod rapidly picked up steam, and organisers said they have collected 15 million signatures demanding that Morsi step down.”

The West applauded the Arab Spring, because politicians and governmental officials were struck with blindness.

Iran—a More Dangerous Place Than Ever Before

The Economist wrote on June 22:

“When a country has seen as much repression as Iran, outsiders hoping for a better future for the place instinctively want to celebrate along with all those ordinary Iranians who took to the streets. The smiling Mr Rohani’s public pronouncements encourage optimism, for he sounds like a different sort of president from the comedy-villain, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who precedes him. Yet even if his election bodes well for Iranians, it does not necessarily hold equal promise for the rest of the world. Iran’s regional assertiveness and its nuclear capacity mean that it is a more dangerous place than it ever was before…

“Yet the Persian lion has not lost its claws, nor has the theocracy suddenly become a democracy. Mr Rohani was indeed the most reformist of the candidates on offer at the election… The 64-year-old cleric has been a loyal servant of the Islamic Republic from its inception. For years he headed the national security council… He is constrained by a system that deemed just eight people fit to stand in the recent election and rejected 678 others (including a former president). The president’s power is limited by Iran’s other institutions, many of which are in conservative hands.

“While Iran’s politics have probably changed less than Mr Rohani’s election suggests, the balance of power between Iran and the rest of the world has been shifting in Iran’s favour for two reasons. First, thanks to heavy investment in nuclear capacity by the mullahs, and despite attempts by the West and Israel to delay or sabotage the nuclear programme, Iran will soon be able to produce a bomb’s worth of weapons-grade uranium in a matter of weeks… Iran has installed more than 9,000 new centrifuges in less than two years, more than doubling its enrichment capability. It is a short step from the 20% enriched uranium that the country’s facilities are already producing at an increasing rate to conversion into the fissile material needed for an implosion device. Although Western intelligence agencies think Iran is still at least a year away from being able to construct such a weapon, some experts believe that it could do so within a few months if it chose to—and that the time it would take is shrinking…

“But now it looks as though Iran will soon be in a position to build a weapon swiftly and surreptitiously. Should the West decide to use force, Iran could amass a small arsenal by the time support for a military strike was rallied… Despite its economic troubles, the Iranian state is a powerful beast compared with its neighbours, and is keen to assert itself abroad. The Iraqi government is now its ally. It has sway over chunks of Lebanon through Hizbullah… And it has sent Hizbullah into Syria, where its fighters have joined Iranian advisers, money and special forces to help turn the tide of the war in Bashar Assad’s favour. Ostensibly the reason why Barack Obama agreed last week to arm the rebels in Syria… was Mr Assad’s use of chemical weapons; but many believe that the greater reason was his reluctance to see Mr Assad hold on to power as a client of Iran’s…”

The article concludes with these words, perhaps without realizing that they might be prophetic, if applied to Europe—but not the USA or NATO:

“The West… has the economic and military clout to influence events in the region, and an interest in doing so. When Persian power is on the rise, it is not the time to back away from the Middle East.”

The Bible says that Europe will indeed intervene in the Middle East… with terrible consequences for the rest of the world. Please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Syrian Conflict Escalates

The Wall Street Journal wrote on June 14:

“The Kremlin criticized the U.S. decision to arm Syrian opposition fighters and said Washington’s evidence that the Syrian regime is using chemical weapons was unconvincing… President Barack Obama on Thursday authorized the U.S. to arm fighters against the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, reversing a policy of giving only nonlethal support to the country’s opposition in the two-year-old civil war. The White House cited confirmation that Mr. Assad’s regime had killed up to 150 people with chemical weapons as the reason for its about-face.

“U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron… welcomed Washington’s assessment of Syrian weapons use. The U.K. and France were instrumental in ending a European Union arms embargo on Syria, paving the way for increased European assistance to rebel forces… U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that he opposed the U.S. decision to send arms…  The Syrian government on Friday dismissed U.S. charges that it used chemical weapons as ‘full of lies,’ accusing Mr. Obama of resorting to fabrications to justify his decision to arm Syrian rebels, the AP reported…”

Der Spiegel Online added on June 14:

“The United States has shifted its course on Syria following chemical weapons revelations, but international support is limited. Germany refuses to arm the insurgents, and Russia is openly critical of President Obama… Germany says it has no plans to deliver arms to the rebels… Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said it had no information of its own about the use of deadly poison gas by the regime in Damascus.”

The Local added on June 15:

“Rainer Stinner, the FDP faction speaker, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper on Friday that he was ‘exceptionally skeptical’ that the weapons delivery would help and thinks it would cause more problems than it solves. ‘The situation in Syria is completely unclear. No one knows who is going to end up with the weapons. They could be used against our partners. There is after all the danger that the conflict expands and spills over into other countries.’ The FDP, the junior coalition partner, is also the party of Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle.”

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 16:

“The United States wants to provide additional military support to the Syrian rebels. Both sides in the conflict are already getting weapons from abroad. Will the weapons of war increase the chances for peace?… The German government… is against arming the rebels, fearing that this may lead to an escalation in the conflict… with Iran and Russia on its side, the Assad regime has no shortage of supplies…. Tehran is sending small arms and trainers, and there are rumors of Iranian fighters alongside government troops. Russia also remains a staunch supporter of Assad, supplying him with fighter jets, anti-aircraft missiles and helicopters.

“Ultimately, however, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia are all using the Syrian civil war to pursue their own ends. Syria has become an arena in which geopolitical power struggles are being played out – and it’s the Syrian people who are paying the price.”

USA Engaged in Arming Most Extreme Sunni Islamists in Middle East

The Independent wrote on June 15:

“Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region. For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.

“The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years. Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel.

“In years to come, historians will ask how America – after its defeat in Iraq and its humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan scheduled for 2014 – could have so blithely aligned itself with one side in a titanic Islamic struggle stretching back to the seventh century death of the Prophet Mohamed. The profound effects of this great schism, between Sunnis who believe that the father of Mohamed’s wife was the new caliph of the Muslim world and Shias who regard his son in law Ali as his rightful successor – a seventh century battle swamped in blood around the present-day Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kerbala – continue across the region to this day…

“[America’s] enemies include the Lebanese Hizballah, the Alawite Shiite regime in Damascus and, of course, Iran. And Iraq, a largely Shiite nation which America ‘liberated’ from Saddam Hussein’s Sunni minority in the hope of balancing the Shiite power of Iran, has – against all US predictions – itself now largely fallen under Tehran’s influence and power. Iraqi Shiites as well as Hizballah members, have both fought alongside Assad’s forces.

“Washington’s excuse for its new Middle East adventure – that it must arm Assad’s enemies because the Damascus regime has used sarin gas against them – convinces no-one in the Middle East. Final proof of the use of gas by either side in Syria remains almost as nebulous as President George W. Bush’s claim that Saddam’s Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction…

“In the Middle East, there is cynical disbelief at the American contention that it can distribute arms – almost certainly including anti-aircraft missiles – only to secular Sunni rebel forces in Syria represented by the so-called Free Syria Army. The more powerful al-Nusrah Front, allied to al-Qaeda, dominates the battlefield on the rebel side and has been blamed for atrocities including the execution of Syrian government prisoners of war and the murder of a 14-year old boy for blasphemy. They will be able to take new American weapons from their Free Syria Army comrades with little effort…”

Iran’s New President

Reuters wrote on June 14:

“Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be a sham. The 50 million eligible voters had a choice between six candidates to replace incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but none is seen as challenging the Islamic Republic’s 34-year-old system of clerical rule.”

The Washington Post wrote on June 15:

“… early returns indicate a strong showing by the most moderate of the six candidates running for president of Iran [namely] Hassan Rouhani, the only cleric in the race… After some leading reformists were barred from running and other candidates dropped out, Iranians were choosing from among six presidential contenders…

“All six presidential candidates are considered to be loyal to [supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]… Khamenei… dismissed the importance of the U.S. view on Iranian domestic politics. ‘I heard recently that someone in America’s National Security Council said that we don’t accept Iran’s elections,’ Khamenei said, an apparent reference to a comment by Secretary of State John F. Kerry. Kerry said last month that he did not expect the elections to ‘change the fundamental calculus’ of Iran’s nuclear policies, which he said are controlled by Khamenei, and not the president. ‘To hell with those who don’t accept it,’ said Khamenei.”

BBC News reported on June 15:

“Reformist-backed cleric Hassan Rouhani has won Iran’s presidential election, securing just over 50% of the vote and so avoiding the need for a run-off… Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Mr Rouhani on his victory… Ayatollah Khamenei will ratify the vote on 3 August and the new president will then take the oath in parliament. Mr Rouhani… urged the world to ‘acknowledge the rights’ of Iran. He said: ‘The nations who tout democracy and open dialogue should speak to the Iranian people with respect and recognise the rights of the Islamic republic.’…

“The US said it respected the vote, although White House spokesman Jay Carney cited concern at censorship and lack of transparency… No foreign observers monitored this year’s election and there have also been concerns that media coverage in the run-up has been unfair. Many reformist newspapers have been shut down, access to the internet and foreign broadcasters has been restricted, and journalists have been detained.”

The Local wrote on June 16:

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Saturday welcomed the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani as Iran’s new president as a vote for reforms and ‘a constructive foreign policy’”.

The same naive “hope” was expressed when Morsi was elected as the new President of Egypt, until he turned out to be a tyrannical Islamist of the Moslem Brotherhood. In  any event, notice the following insightful analysis.

Could Rowhani Deliver?

The Times of Israel wrote on June 15:

“In his public speeches, Rowhani — himself a conservative Shiite cleric –promised Iranians change both domestically and abroad. But Israeli experts on Iran said on Saturday that with no control over foreign policy and with the country’s economic situation dependent to a great extent on international decisions, the new president has precious little leeway. ‘An Iranian president largely serves as head of government for the supreme leader,’ Raz Zimmt, a research fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University told The Times of Israel. ‘He has no real prerogatives in foreign policy and his ability to provide solutions on the central issue, the economy, is limited.’…

“As secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (a position he filled from 1989 to 2005), Rowhani suspended the enrichment of uranium for two years, between 2003 and 2005. He was criticized for this during the election campaign, but repeatedly claimed that the decision was Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei‘s, not his. The United States had just invaded Iraq, and the Iranian leadership was fearful of a similar fate.

“On Friday, Rowhani brazenly declared that he was running ‘to boot out the extremists,’ indicating to Western observers that unlike Ahmadinejad, he seemed to be set on change. But Meir Javedanfar, who teaches modern Iran at Herzliya’s Interdisciplinary Center, said that paradoxically [sic] Rowhani could be put to good use by Iran’s conservative decision-makers. ‘They could have falsified the elections, but chose not to do so,’ Javedanfar said in an interview. ‘Now the regime can use Rowhani to mend bridges with the West, because the cost of sanctions has become too high.’ Zimmt said that by falsifying the elections like it did in 2009, the regime would have risked another round of widespread protests, a price hardly worth paying considering that Rowhani‘s positions are not diametrically opposed to those of Khamenei…

“Rowhani can try to convince the supreme leader to engage in negotiations with the US, but cannot initiate such a move on his own, Zimmt said. Domestically, he will likely act to release political prisoners and stress the importance of freedom of expression…

“One thing was clear on Saturday: The Iranian public wanted change, fearing the continuation of status quo or worse… ‘We won’t let the past eight years be continued,’ Rowhani told a crowd last week. But his ability to deliver on that promise seems rather limited.”

Real change in Iran won’t come… as the next article shows as well.

Syria and Iran

The Times of Israel wrote on June 16:

“Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday congratulated Hasan Rowhani on his victory in Friday’s Iranian presidential election, calling on his new counterpart to upgrade ties between the already close countries. Iran has been among Assad’s most steadfast supporters during Syria’s two-year civil war, sending Damascus arms, money and fighters. Assad said first on the agenda for the two leaders would be ‘confronting the plots of hegemony and aggression against the national sovereignty in our region in a way that reflects positively on the peoples of both friendly countries,’ according to a report carried by Syria’s state-run SANA news agency…

“While Rowhani is considered to be relatively moderate compared to his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, [his hands are tied] by the ruling clerical regime in Tehran, which will keep a tight handle on Iran’s foreign affairs. On Sunday, Britain’s Independent newspaper reported that Tehran would be sending 4,000 troops to Syria to bolster Assad’s forces, which are already augmented by fighters from the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.”

Events in Syria (biblical Aram) and Iran (biblical Elam) are of great significance in the light of biblical prophecy. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,”  “Europe in Prophecy,” and “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Prophecy.” 

Why the Uproar in Turkey?

The Globe and Mail wrote on June 15:

“Some say the nationwide protests that rocked Turkey’s government the past two weeks were only about a grove of sycamore trees in the middle of the country’s biggest city, a trifling issue for a local planning board to work out. But to the country’s unapologetic Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was much more significant, and explains why he was willing to fight a large segment of public opinion and put his decade-long rule on the line.

“For more than 200 years, on this site now known as Gezi Park, adjacent to Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, there stood grand Ottoman-era military barracks – a testament to the power of the Ottoman Empire. Then came Kemal Ataturk, the father of the Republic, who wanted to Europeanize Turkey. In 1940, his successors had the barracks razed and the trees planted in their place.

“Mr. Erdogan, the most prominent Turkish leader since Mr. Ataturk, hopes to be in power in some capacity in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern state. And, just as Mr. Ataturk ushered out the Islamic order that had dominated Turkey for 13 centuries, Mr. Erdogan and his Islamic-leaning Justice and Development Party (known as the AKP), have ushered it back in, making Islam once again a significant component of Turkish life… He wants the Ottoman barracks rebuilt to their former glory – even if they only house a shopping mall instead of troops – and a grand mosque built on Taksim Square.

“Like a modern-day Peter the Great, who oversaw the design of Russia’s capital in St. Petersburg, Mr. Erdogan is seeing to every detail of his urban masterpiece, intended to Islamify parts of the city…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 16:

“Turkish police have been using tear gas and water cannons to clear protesters from the center of Istanbul ahead of Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit on Sunday. The move has done nothing to quell people’s outrage. In a full-scale operation on Saturday night (15.06.2013), Turkish riot police in Istanbul moved in to clear both Taksim Square and adjacent Gezi Park, where thousands of demonstrators had been camping out for more than two weeks… The leader of the German Green Party, Claudia Roth, was in Gezi Park to show solidarity with the protesters. She too was appalled by the behavior of the police, and said it had given her a sense of what war was like. Desperate protesters turned to Twitter to plead for help from the United Nations. Other eyewitnesses reported arrests and violent attacks by baton-wielding police. But the governor of Istanbul, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, justified the operation. ‘We asked the demonstrators to end their protests. We only went in after we had given the warning,’ he said…

“On Sunday night (16.06.2013) Erdogan was slated to attend a big political rally in Kazlicesme, a mostly conservative-Muslim part of Istanbul, and give a speech to his supporters. All over the city center there are advertisements in which the prime minister urges his constituents to demonstrate. The people of Istanbul are furious… Erdogan’s plan… is likely to backfire. The two main protest areas have been forcibly evacuated. The demonstrators are now preparing to march.”

For more information on Turkey’s future (which is biblical Esau or Edom), please read our free booklet, “Middle Eastern and African Nations in Prophecy.”

Where Is the Proof?

The Guardian wrote on June 13:

“Two prominent Senate critics of the NSA’s dragnet surveillance have challenged the agency’s assertion that the spy efforts helped stop ‘dozens’ of terror attacks. Mark Udall and Ron Wyden, both members of the Senate intelligence committee, said they were not convinced by the testimony of the NSA director, General Keith Alexander, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, who claimed that evidence gleaned from surveillance helped thwart attacks in the US. ‘We have not yet seen any evidence showing that the NSA’s dragnet collection of Americans’ phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence,’ they said in a statement released on Thursday…

“Alexander also testified that the databases of Americans’ phones records [contain] safeguards governing its searchability to prevent the NSA from abusing it. But there is ambiguity about whether a court or any outside body must grant the NSA permission to search it.”

These assertions by the NSA director have also been echoed by Attorney General Eric Holder and an increasing number of vocal Republicans, including former Vice President Dick Cheney. However, these “defenses” are highly suspect.

Newsmax added on June 18:

“Former state court Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Tuesday that officials from the National Security Agency ‘answered questions professionally’ in their testimony before Congress — ‘but I still think it’s bogus’… He was referring to comments from Army Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA’s director, on the agency’s two surveillance programs: one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism… Alexander testified to the House Intelligence Committee that the programs have foiled 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange. ‘They can pick and choose which classified episodes they’re going to reveal,’ said Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge and Fox analyst. ‘Of course, they’re going to pick and choose the ones that make them look good.’

“In attacking Alexander’s broader testimony, Napolitano specifically cited the general’s response to a question posed by Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, the GOP chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Rogers asked whether the NSA had the “’ability to listen to Americans’ phone calls or read their emails under these two programs?’ Alexander responded, ‘No, we do not have that authority.’ Napolitano observed: ‘Of course, he doesn’t have the legal authority to [listen to] the phone calls. That’s not what the question asked. The question asked, “Does he have the practical ability to do so?” and he couldn’t answer that because the answer is “yes.” And the president and General Alexander are both saying, “trust us.” The same administration said “trust us” on Benghazi till we changed the story four times,’ Napolitano added. ‘The same administration said “trust us” on the James Rosen, Fox News search-warrant affair. The same administration said “trust us” on the IRS targeting conservatives. Why should we trust them?’ he asked Cavuto. ‘Why should we trust these people?’”

Yahoo Forced to Join PRISM Program

The Huffington Post wrote on June 14:

“Yahoo fought PRISM, and PRISM won. Court records obtained by The New York Times show that Yahoo had fought back against the National Security Agency’s broad requests for user data in 2008. The company, which provides email service to hundreds of millions of people, argued that the order violated Yahoo account holders’ constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures. The secret court didn’t buy Yahoo’s argument, and compelled the company to give the NSA digitally stored email and photos at its beck and call.

“Since the bombshell revelation of NSA’s so-called PRISM program last week, the public has learned more about how the nine participating Internet companies let the government collect broad swaths of personal information from Internet users for national security purposes. The secret 2008 decision seemed to put a dark cloud over Silicon Valley: cooperate with the government to fight terrorism abroad, or you’ll find yourself in court.

“One firm that more successfully resisted the NSA’s advances was Twitter. That’s partially because the young microblogging service has less data on users compared to Google or Facebook, according to The Verge, so it’s less desirable to government snoops. But that hasn’t stopped the company and its top lawyer, Alex Macgillivray, from fighting the government in court when it has asked for people’s private information.

“Though this case was previously known through a heavily redacted court order, it wasn’t until now that we knew Yahoo was the company behind the unsuccessful NSA challenge that would leave many companies less willing to battle the NSA on other surveillance requests. In the decision, the court had told Yahoo that their worries were ‘overblown.’

“Yahoo, like Google and Facebook, have denied involvement in PRISM. ‘Yahoo! has not joined any program in which we volunteer to share user data with the U.S. government,’ Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell wrote in a Tumblr post Saturday. ‘We do not voluntarily disclose user information. The only disclosures that occur are in response to specific demands.’

“Moving past outright denial of participation, companies such as Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook and Google are now pressing the government for permission to publish more information about the number of secret requests it receives for customers’ data.”

All of this is also shocking in light of the fact that these new revelations are contrary to what was asserted earlier, as the subsequent articles show as well.

TechCrunch reported on June 17:

“Yahoo! has disclosed the number of government requests for data it has received over the past 18 months, becoming the latest tech company to do so after the fallout from the NSA spying scandal… the company said that Yahoo! received 12,000 to 13,000 requests from FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and U.S. law enforcement agencies during the period between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013… Facebook said on June 15 that for the six months ending December 31, 2012, it had received between 9,000 to 10,000 requests for data from U.S. law enforcement agencies. During that same period Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 requests.”

How We Are Being Lied To

The Verge wrote on June 16:

“Since the story broke last week of the NSA’s secret compilation of Americans’ phone call metadata, the overwhelming response from government has been ‘nobody is listening to your telephone calls’ — that the data being collected is limited to things like phone numbers and call durations. Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, it now looks like the feds are listening. Or at the very least, they don’t require a court order just to do so.

“CNET has posted text from a Thursday House Judiciary Committee hearing at which FBI director Robert Mueller… testified that the government would need a ‘special, particularized order’ from the secret FISA court in order to target a particular individual’s phone for a wiretap. After checking to make sure the details weren’t classified, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) challenged Mueller’s statement, saying, ‘we heard precisely the opposite at the briefing the other day. We heard precisely that you could get the specific information from that telephone simply based on an analyst deciding that… In other words, what you just said is incorrect. So there’s a conflict.’”

On June 16, cnet.com added the following:

“The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed ‘simply based on an analyst deciding that.’ If the NSA wants ‘to listen to the phone,’ an analyst’s decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. ‘I was rather startled,’ said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

“Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA’s formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls. Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler’s disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.”

As was pointed out recently in the press, the spying activities of NSA, resulting in a huge collection of data, could be used or misused in case of a totalitarian government in the future. What was not mentioned is that this totalitarian government could be an occupying foreign power, as revealed in Scripture. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord”; “Is That in the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation”; and “Biblical Prophecy—From Now Until Forever.”

“Obama Tries to Ease German Spying Angst”

The Local wrote on June 15:

“The White House on Friday sought to cool German fears over a secret US Internet surveillance program, which threatens to detract from President Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin next week. Obama will speak directly to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the PRISM program that was revealed in newspaper articles last week, and point out it is purely aimed at thwarting terror attacks, a senior aide said. ‘We understand the significant German interest in privacy and civil liberties,’ said Ben Rhodes, a US deputy national security advisor, adding that Obama would point out legal and political safeguards around the program. ‘I think our point is that this is focused very specifically on one goal, which is, you know, how do we disrupt terrorist activity, how do we mitigate security threats, both to us and to Germany,’ he said. Rhodes also noted that Germany had served as a ‘staging’ area for some of the hijackers who plotted the September 11 attacks in 2001.

“The German government said earlier in the week it was sending a list of questions to the Obama administration about the program. Under the scheme, the US National Security Agency can issue directives to internet firms like Google or Facebook to gain access to emails, online chats, pictures, files and videos uploaded by foreign users. The European Union has also expressed disquiet over the program and warned of ‘grave adverse consequences’ to the rights of European citizens. Germany had earlier Friday signaled disappointment that a meeting with US Internet companies Microsoft and Google over the PRISM program had not yielded sufficient answers.”

Obama Faces More Skeptical Germany

The Local wrote on June 16:

“Barack Obama will encounter a very different Germany – one that is more powerful and sceptical – than his famous predecessor John F. Kennedy did when he delivered his famous ‘ich bin ein Berliner’ speech some 50 years ago… Candidate Obama dazzled a crowd of 200,000 people in an open air speech in 2008 some months before his historical election. He will face a more modest reception this time around as talks center on trade and secret surveillance practices, observers say.

“President Obama appears ready to try to harness some of the alliance’s bygone sparkle by timing his visit one week ahead of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s speech… Leading news magazine Der Spiegel last week featured a cover picture of Obama in Kennedy’s shadow, the tagline ‘The Lost Friend’, and an angst-ridden report about fraying ties…

“Obama nevertheless enjoys a level of support here that even Merkel, Germany’s most popular post-war leader, could envy as she seeks a third term in September elections. Last November nearly 90 percent wanted Obama re-elected. But now revelations of a global Internet snooping operation run by the National Security Agency have shocked a country where memories of systematic spying on citizens by communist East Germany’s despised Stasi are still raw.”

President Obama in Germany

The Atlantic Wire wrote on June 19:

“Barack Obama returned to Berlin today, almost five years to the day from when he delivered his famous ‘Victory Column’ speech that cemented his reputation as an international rockstar. Unfortunately, his reception this time was a lot different. An estimated 200,000 people turned out in July 2008 to see then Candidate Obama deliver an address in front of one of Germany’s most notable landmarks…

“Fast forward to 2013, and many are now saying that Obama’s reputation is ‘tarnished,’ by his recent snooping scandals, his extensions of the war on terror, and the hard luck realities of failing to deliver on all your promises… He’s ‘demystified’ and ‘no longer a superstar’ in German eyes. Now he’s just another world leader on a state visit, and whatever problems people have with U.S. policy are on his shoulders. And instead of opening up the speech to the whole city, Obama spoke in front only about 5,000-6,000 spectators, all of them invited guests…”

The New York Times reported that only 4,500 invited spectators were in attendance.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 19:

“German leaders have seemed eager to ensure that their concerns about the digital spying operation be taken seriously. Several have blasted both Obama and the National Security Agency, perhaps none as vociferously as Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. Wednesday, despite the day-long Barack-fest in the German capital, was no different. Philip Rösler, Angela Merkel’s vice chancellor and head of her junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats, said on public television that he was ‘extremely unsettled’ by the spying program. Former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the opposition Social Democrats added that, while he understood US security concerns, ‘that can’t be synonymous with mass surveillance.’

“Merkel too voiced careful criticism of the program during the pair’s joint press conference at the Chancellery. She made sure to emphasize that Germany had received important intelligence from the US which played a role in thwarting planned terrorist activity here. But, she added: ‘I made clear that, despite the necessity, the issue of balance is an important one.’

“Obama was ready for questions about the Prism program, which has been likened in both the US and German press to George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother,’ made famous in his novel ‘1984.’ Rather than trying to dodge reporters’ queries, he took time to defend the program and explain its importance for US security. At the press conference, Obama also fielded difficult questions about some additional elements of US foreign and domestic policy that many in Germany find problematic, including Washington’s policy of using drones to hunt down suspected terrorist leaders in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan, and the ongoing existence of the Guantanamo detention camp…

“Still, issuing an elaborate justification for a vast state surveillance program at exactly the same time as his wife and daughters were placing flowers at the remnants of the Berlin Wall is nothing if not ironic. East Berlin, after all, was the mother of all spy-states. Visitors to the Wall memorial learn that the state, known counter-intuitively as the German Democratic Republic, maintained a network of well over 100,000 citizen spies to keep close watch on their neighbors in addition to thousands of professional moles. Presumed enemies of the state were locked up… But it remains to be seen whether the president’s impassioned words in front of Berlin’s pre-eminent Cold War symbol will be enough to assuage deep German disappointment over the fact that Obama has failed to live up to expectations. Prior to the speech, Peter Thompson of the Guardian aptly summed up the feeling, tweeting: ‘Given PRISM will his speech become known as the “Ich bin ein East Berliner” speech?’”

The New York Times wrote von June 19:

“Yet the anticipation of the speech at the historic site was offset by attention to the dispute over the revelations of the breadth of American surveillance programs, which include both Prism, an effort to monitor foreign communications at American Internet companies like Google, as well as a vast database of domestic phone logs. The programs monitor the communications without individualized court orders. ‘We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, not just in the United States but in some cases here in Germany,’ Mr. Obama said during the news conference. ‘So lives have been saved.’  He did not provide any details…

“That news has been controversial in Germany, where both the Nazi era and the postwar surveillance in Communist East Germany have fostered deep concerns about privacy and civil liberties, and the issue was expected to loom large in the meeting of the two leaders. Ms. Merkel said at the news conference that she and Mr. Obama had talked at length about the American programs, even indicating that the topic took precedence over their discussion of subjects like the global economy and the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan. She made clear that she had expressed her own concerns, despite her stated understanding of the need for such intelligence efforts…

“Mr. Obama, repeating defenses he has made to Americans, described how he had made sure when he took office that the intelligence programs ‘were examined and scrubbed.’… Ms. Merkel looked at him he spoke beside her, expressionless but seeming to listen intently. ‘It’s necessary for us to debate these issues,’ she replied. ‘People have concerns.’”

Of course, Angela Merkel would try to carefully “defend” the US spy program (having her own election in mind in 2014), in light of revelations of German hypocrisy, as the next article shows.

German Hypocrisy

The Local wrote on June 16:

“Despite the scandal over the US Prism spy programme, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is planning to invest €100 million to improve its internet surveillance, Spiegel Online reported on Sunday. The money is to be spent on new technology and on hiring as many as 100 new employees, the service wrote. The €100 million is to be spent over a five year period, but the federal government has already released €5 million for the first phase.

“The BND is moving forward with its plans despite criticism over the US spying programme. The agency, like the US National Security Agency, wants to be sure that it can survey cross-border data traffic. The story said that German law allows for spy agencies to monitor as much as 20 percent of communication between Germany and other countries, but due to technical limitations only five percent of such traffic is being monitored. These include emails, telephone calls, Facebook postings and Skype conversations.

“In contrast to the US, which can make a record of suspicious communications, German spies have tighter restrictions. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is calling for a loosening of those regulations. Friedrich also defended the US from German criticism of the recently revealed spying program, saying ‘That’s not how you treat friends who are our most important partner in the fight against terrorism.’ He made his comments to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“Friedrich said Germany is dependent on information delivered from the US and Der Spiegel noted that there has been a considerable exchange of information between Germany and the US and that many attacks in Germany have been prevented, in part, by US information. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger sharply criticized the US actions and has called for a full explanation from Washington.”

Of course, since Germany wants to follow the lead of the USA in how to spy on their citizens, and since they are ALREADY COOPERATING with the NSA, then they WOULD try to “justify” and support these horrendous atrocities. At the same time, Britain is not doing any better.

The Independent reported on June 17:

“Britain was plunged into a diplomatic row tonight following claims that foreign politicians and diplomats were repeatedly spied upon when they attended two G20 summit meetings in London. The allegations provoked anger in Turkey, Russia and South Africa, whose dignitaries were reportedly targeted by the covert surveillance operations in 2009 while Gordon Brown was Prime Minister. The intelligence services were even said to have set up internet cafes at the summit venues which they used to read emails sent by visiting officials.”

German Reactions

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 20:

“He… managed to remind Germans why they are such big fans of this president. Even if Tuesday and Wednesday marked the first time Obama had visited Berlin as president — after fully five years in office — he was able to make it seem as though Germany and the Germans were near and dear to him… The audience ate it up. Sure there is concern in the country about Obama’s drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is widespread disgust with the mind-boggling extent of online surveillance undertaken by the National Security Agency. There is also a good bit of disillusionment stemming from Obama’s inability to close down the Guantanamo detention camp… But Germans like nothing better than to be taken seriously — and they are open to being charmed. Obama made a convincing show of doing both…

“But coming from a president that most in Germany continue to revere despite the shortcomings that have by now become obvious to all, Berliners were more apt to see the logic of proposing cuts to the nuclear arsenal in a city so marked by the Cold War. That, of course, was Obama’s intention. And he left the city having achieved the primary goal of his visit — that of putting a feel-good coat of paint on a trans-Atlantic relationship that had recently begun to show its age.

“German commentators on Thursday, however, seemed largely immune to the charm offensive.

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘(The speech) was a disappointment for those who hope for … for what actually? Clearly these phrases for the history books, which in themselves imply the claim of the US to lead the western World, don’t exist anymore… Obama used the Brandenburg Gate, he used Berlin, and he used Angela Merkel and her East German heritage to send a clear signal to Russia [regarding reduction of nuclear weapons] … The fact that this appeal to Russia was broadcast from Germany to the world shows what a central role Berlin still plays from America’s point of view in its relations with Russia.’

“Conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘Barack Obama’s visit… didn’t touch the Germans, neither warmly or coolly… The indifference with which Obama was received is not an indication that Germans don’t like Obama anymore… America has become more foreign to us… But Europeans have also become more foreign to Americans. How should Americans know and understand that which we ourselves don’t know or understand? There is still a great lack of clarity about where the partially unified, partially divided continent of Europe is headed politically…’

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… Europeans, especially the Germans, have their problems with both presidents. They despise Bush as a supposedly dim-witted cowboy. But in the meantime, they have become leery of the coldly analytical Obama, who kills suspected terrorists with drones and lets his government monitor the Internet.’

“Business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘Germany, once again, provided the TV-ready backdrop for a US president, but is the country really a partner to America?… The US government itself knows the importance of Berlin and would like to see Germany take on a greater global role…’

“Left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Obama… spoke about a lot, without saying much… he had no plan… Possibly the most important politician in the world has nothing planned. That is terrible news.’”

According to The Local, dated June 20, “The Südwest Presse… questioned the German public’s faith in Obama… ‘do the Germans trust the Nobel Peace Prize winner to lead the way to a beautiful new world?’ it asked. ‘Unfortunately the lasting impression is that he is a man of big promises and little progress,’ the paper concluded.”

Deutsche Welle (on June 19) summed it up in this way: “US President Barack Obama came, saw – but did he conquer?… US-German ties have developed, changed and matured over the years. What they most definitely are not is ‘normal.’… Germany and the United States have grown apart since 1990… Unified Germany emancipated itself rather quickly from its former protecting power, pursued its own interests, worked to push European integration, distanced itself from President George W. Bush and his war against Iraq, stands dumbfounded when it comes to Guantanamo… The United States also went its own ways after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. They withdrew troops and funds from Germany… All the while, the generation of World War II that had breathed life into the special relationship between Germany and the United States was dying out…

“In the run-up to President Obama’s visit to Berlin there was a lot of talk about a rather diffuse but growing disappointment with the man and his presidency. He was no messiah, no shining light anymore… the hopes and expectations projected onto Barack Obama – and that he had willingly projected onto himself – were as unrealistic as can be. That is why the current disillusionment with President Obama follows a specific dynamic that largely grows from disappointed love. Somehow the United States has never managed to live up to the great hopes and expectations that Germans linked to it…”

Obama Offends Catholics in Ireland

Newsmax reported on June 19:

“President Barack Obama angered some proponents of Catholic education during his visit to Ireland this week when he told a Belfast audience that towns will remain divided ‘if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs.’ An article, which subsequently appeared in the Scottish Catholic Observer carried the headline, ‘U.S. President Undermines Catholic Schools after Vatican Prefect Praised Them.’ The article said that Obama ‘made an alarming call for an end to Catholic education in Northern Ireland,’ and quoted from recent remarks of the Vatican’s Archbishop Gerhard Müller, who had said that Catholic education was ‘a critical component of the Church.’”

“Vatican to Announce John Paul II ‘Miracle’”

The Telegraph wrote on June 20:

“The Vatican has secretly attributed a mystery miracle to the late John Paul II, clearing the way for him to be declared a saint. The Holy See has yet to reveal what the miracle was or where and when it took place but Vatican sources said it would ‘amaze the world’. It concerns the ‘extraordinary healing’ of a Costa Rican woman who was cured of a severe brain injury after her family began praying to the memory of the late Polish pope, according to reports in the Italian media… John Paul II was beatified — the first step towards sainthood — in a lavish outdoor ceremony in St Peter’s Square in May 2011.

“The second miracle — which is required in order for him to be given full sainthood — reportedly occurred on the very day of his beatification… John Paul’s first attributed miracle was the apparent healing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre. Her recovery from Parkinson’s disease after praying for the late pope’s ‘intercession’ had no medical explanation, the Catholic Church maintains… ‘The canonisation of Karol Wojtyla will be the crowning glory of the recent history of Catholicism, linking the last three pontificates,’ Saverio Gaeta, who wrote a biography of John Paul II, told La Stampa newspaper.”

In case you missed it, the second “miracle” allegedly happened through the late pope AFTER his death—so supposedly, he worked this “miracle” from heaven. But the Bible condemns such beliefs which are rooted in paganism.

INS “Interprets” Rules for Conscientious Objector Status

The Huffington Post wrote on June 20:

“Margaret Doughty, an atheist and permanent U.S. resident for more than 30 years, was told by immigration authorities this month that she has until Friday to officially join a church that forbids violence or her application for naturalized citizenship will be rejected. Doughty received the ultimatum after stating on her application that she objected to the pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation due to her moral opposition to war. According to a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by the American Humanist Association on Doughty’s behalf, officials responded by telling her that she needed to prove that her status as a conscientious objector was due to religious beliefs. They reportedly told her she’d need to document that she was ‘a member in good standing’ of a nonviolent religious organization or be denied citizenship at her June 21 hearing. A note ‘on official church stationary [sic]’ would suffice, they said.

“Here’s how Doughty explained her refusal to sign the pledge: ‘I am sure the law would never require a 64 year-old woman like myself to bear arms, but if I am required to answer this question, I cannot lie. I must be honest. The truth is that I would not be willing to bear arms. Since my youth I have had a firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or in the bearing of arms. I deeply and sincerely believe that it is not moral or ethical to take another person’s life, and my lifelong spiritual/religious beliefs impose on me a duty of conscience not to contribute to warfare by taking up arms … my beliefs are as strong and deeply held as those who possess traditional religious beliefs and who believe in God … I want to make clear, however, that I am willing to perform work of national importance under civilian direction or to perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States if and when required by the law to do so.’…

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Citizenship and Immigration Services, calling the government request ‘illegal and unconstitutional.’ ‘It is shocking that USCIS officers would not be aware that a nonreligious yet deeply held belief would be sufficient to attain this exemption,’ Andrew L. Seidel, a staff attorney at Freedom From Religion Foundation, wrote after laying out a list of Supreme Court tests that suggest a rejection would be unusual and improper. ‘This is a longstanding part of our law and every USCIS officer should receive training on this exemption … Either the officers in Houston are inept, or they are deliberately discriminating against nonreligious applicants for naturalization.’”

The IRS Scandal–FBI Knows Nothing

CNS News reported on June 13:

“While testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today, FBI Director Robert Mueller could not name the lead investigator in the IRS case involving the targeting of conservative groups. It is now one month into the investigation. Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH): ‘Can you tell me who the lead investigator is?’ Mueller: ‘Off the top of my head, no.’ Jordan: ‘It’s the most important issue in front of the country in the last six weeks, and you don’t know who’s heading up the case? Who the lead investigator is?’ Mueller: ‘At this juncture, no, I do not know.’ Mueller also claimed ignorance when Rep. Jordan asked him if anyone had contacted the victims of the IRS scandal.”

IRS Has Been Targeting Religious Organizations for Many Years

Breitbart wrote on June 14:

“An article on the Fox News website delineates the intimidation tactics the IRS has used to bludgeon religious organizations and religious leaders for decades. The authors point out that the IRS targets the organizations or individuals in one of two ways: either by responding to a complaint by an anti-religious group and asking the religious group or individual to justify their non-profit status, or for the IRS to carry out the wishes of upper echelon federal government officials who find the religious perspective offensive.

“The article site various targets over the years:

“ 1. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950’s who was targeted with an audit for speaking out about civil rights;

“2. An Episcopal minister from Southern California who received a multi-year audit after excoriating President Bush for invading Iraq;

“3. The legendary evangelist Billy Graham, who was hit with an audit last fall after he supported a ballot measure in his home state of North Carolina that clashed with the White House.

“The authors close with a stinging condemnation of the IRS’s warning to religious people ‘Not to do it again.’ They write:

“‘But not do what again? Not preach about moral matters that have a political connection? That would mean that religious issues stop being religious once a politician starts talking about them. More importantly, where does the IRS get the authority to override the First Amendment? If freedom of speech and freedom of religion are to mean anything, government bureaucrats can’t be allowed to decide what rabbis, priests, imams, and pastors  can preach. Religious people can and do disagree over whether pastors, priests, or rabbis should preach about the political issues of the day. That is their right. But surely all Americans can agree — especially after the abuses that have come to light in the past week–that the time for the tax man to censor sermons must come to an end.’”

The Curse of Obamacare

The Los Angeles Times reported on June 18:

“Aetna Inc. said it would stop selling individual health insurance policies in California next month, and nearly 50,000 existing policyholders will have to find new coverage by January. The company’s announcement Monday comes a month after it opted not to participate in California’s new state-run insurance market for consumers, a key component of the new federal healthcare law… Starting in January, most Americans will be required to [have] health insurance coverage or pay a penalty.”

A reader wrote us: “[We] were going to try to get health insurance through AARP, since I am 55 now, but they said they no longer carried health insurance for the state of West Virginia as of June 1st! AARP contracted out with Aetna as well!!  Thank you Obamacare! The downfall of America is right before our eyes!”

How Much Worse Can it Get?

On June 16, today.com reported the following:

“When twin sisters Zea and Luna Weiss-Wynne, both 9, wrote a letter to President Barack Obama last year, they asked for his attention on a few things. Obama invited the sisters to join him at a reception at the White House to outline their requests in public. The girls, who asked for his support of marriage equality, spoke at the LGBT Pride Month reception Friday, which is part of the annual celebration dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The president made sure to give the third graders a turn in front of the microphone…

“Among the requests the girls outlined in their speech and their letter was… a commitment to gay marriage… The girls care about marriage equality because ‘we have two moms and they are just as good as other parents. They love us a lot.’… President Obama nodded his head and smiled as the sisters spoke to the crowd and outlined their requests… In his remarks at the event, Obama discussed various legislation he has passed that relates to the LGBT community, including a hate crimes bill, a national HIV/AIDS strategy and a policy that bans companies from denying medical care to LGBT Americans. ‘But part of the reason we’re here is because we know we’re not done yet,’ Obama said.”

This development is not restricted to the US, though. See the next article:

Europe’s Largest Gay Festival Held in Berlin

The Local wrote on June 16:

“Nearly half a million people in Berlin celebrated on Saturday the 21st annual gay-lesbian city festival – the largest gathering of its kind in Europe. Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is gay, took part in the festivities. He said the festival embodies the city’s openness to the world and its progressiveness, the Berliner Zeitung reported. The two-day festival, which wraps up Sunday evening, is expected to draw more than 400,000 spectators to the Schöneberg area of the city. Head organiser Dieter Schneider said that by Saturday afternoon the steady stream of visitors was larger than last year.”

For more information on a healthy and godly family life, please read our free booklet, “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families.”

Colorado Fire Worst in State’s History

NBC News wrote on June 15:

“Firefighters made some progress battling a massive, deadly wildfire near Colorado Springs late Friday when cooler temperatures, rain and calmer winds swept in, allowing them to increase containment to 30 percent. Mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of Colorado Springs residents were lifted… More than 38,000 people were evacuated at the peak of the blaze.

“The fire, the worst in the state’s history, has killed two people and made ashes of 419 homes… The fire raged mostly uncontrolled for days, with a burn zone covering nearly 25 square miles. One of three major fires raging in Colorado, the Black Forest fire is now the most destructive on record in the state.”

“The Birds”

Breitbart wrote on June 14:

“The mighty endangered California condor has decided to take revenge on the people of California. The birds, which have up to a nine-foot wingspan, have descended Hitchcock-style on the town of Bear Valley Springs, ripping off roof shingles, clawing at air conditioners, and, of course, coating the town in condor feces. At one rental property, condors pried open a can of white paint, coating a deck with it; bit the wiring of the air conditioning; and tore apart the screens of two sliding doors…

“But residents can’t do anything about the delinquent condors, due to federal and state regulations. In fact, the California State Fish and Game Commission recently prohibited use of lead ammunition in areas in which condors nest. Actually, about the only thing you can do to the condor in California is kill it using a wind turbine.”

Armed Drones and Government Surveillance Are Linked

On June 8, the left-wing Huffington Post published an article by Peter Scheer. The author is “a lawyer and writer [and] executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. FAC has filed suit against the Justice Department for access to classified legal memos analyzing drone strikes”:

“First came news accounts of the government’s use of armed drones in the targeted killing of suspected terrorists abroad. Then came the revelations about government surveillance programs, breathtaking in their scale, tapping into data on phone calls, emails, Internet searches and more. These activities are, in fact, linked…

“The logic of warfare and intelligence have flipped, each becoming the mirror image of the other. Warfare has shifted from the scaling of military operations to the selective targeting of individual enemies. Intelligence gathering has shifted from the selective targeting of known threats to wholesale data mining for the purpose of finding hidden threats.

“The resulting paradigms, in turn, go a long way to account for our collective discomfort with the government’s activities in these areas. Americans are understandably distressed over the targeted killing of suspected terrorists because the very individualized nature of the drone attacks converts acts of war into de facto executions — and that in turn gives rise to demands for high standards of proof and adjudicative due process.

“Similarly, intelligence activities that gather data widely, without fact-based suspicions about specific individuals to whom the data pertain, are seen as intrusive and subject to abuse. The needle-in-a-haystack approach to intelligence gathering is fundamentally at odds with Americans’ understanding of the Constitution’s promise to safeguard them against ‘unreasonable’ government searches. There is nothing reasonable about giving government secret access, in real time, to phone calls and emails of tens of millions of Americans.

“Our fear of these changes is reinforced by the absence of transparency surrounding drone strikes-specifically, the protocols for selecting targets-and intelligence operations that cast a broad net in which U.S. citizens are caught…”

Another left-wing journalist and commentator, New York Times’ Paul Krugmann, said this (according to ABC News, dated June 9):

“… there are different kinds of surveillance states. You can have a democratic surveillance state which collects as little data as possible and tells you as much as possible about what it’s doing. Or you can have an authoritarian surveillance state which collects as much as possible and tells the public as little as possible. And we are kind of on the authoritarian side.”

“Obama’s Fundamental Flaw”

The Huffington Post published a follow-up article on June 11:

“If, as the U.S. president now argues ex post facto, it was okay on balance to have the NSA (National Security Agency) monitoring process put in place, why not have that discussion with the American people in broad daylight right after he took office?… His Harvard Law School-driven government is counting on the docility of the American people… Never mind that he had advertised himself in the 2008 presidential campaign as a professor of constitutional law. We all know by now that this is just one among the many qualification boxes he ticked off in order to secure his eventual rise.

“And forget about his principled utterances as a presidential candidate about having reservations about clandestine monitoring programs being conducted on U.S. citizens. People are used to politicians fidgeting with the truth to seek higher office. What is far more disconcerting is the utter political tone deafness of Obama, the (presumed) politician. Now, he has grandiosely okayed a fundamental invasion of privacy… his fundamental flaw as a politician has been firmly established. As has happened so many times before on other issues, he excels by doing his very own opposition’s bidding. Talk about disarming yourself.”

When even the left-leaning press publishes articles like these, then we know that the Obama Administration is in big trouble. According to Newsmax, dated June 12, “actor and liberal activist John Cusack” blasted Obama and the NSA, and even extremely “Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore delivered his unsurprisingly damning verdict, tweeting, ‘the administration has now lost all credibility.’ He implied hypocrisy on the part of the president by highlighting a 2007 Obama quote: ‘that means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more (spying) on citizens…No more tracking citizens…’”

For more information and analysis, please read our Editorial in this issue, and view our recent StandingWatch program, “How Your Government Is Spying on You” and “Prism Spying and Its Consequences.”  

Reaction of Obama Administration and Further Response by Rand Paul

Please note the reaction of the Obama Administration to the revelation of their secret spying and apparently unconstitutional activities on innocent American citizens, as reported by Fox News, dated June 9:

“The Obama administration has taken a first step toward opening a criminal investigation into the purported leaking of classified documents related to the federal government tracking Americans’ phone calls and emails, a source familiar with the high-level discussions told Fox News on Saturday. The source said James Clapper, the director of U.S. national intelligence, had filed a ‘criminal report’ with the Justice Department and the FBI, which begins the process…

“The FBI and Justice Department would likely be involved in such a probe, which is expected to focus on British and U.S. newspapers including The Guardian. The British newspaper reported late Wednesday that the U.S. government had collected the phone records of millions of Verizon customers.”

Others are not easily intimidated.

As Fox News reported on June 9, “Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he wants to mount a Supreme Court challenge to the federal government logging Americans’ phone calls and Internet activities. Paul, R-Ky., a leading voice in the Libertarian movement, told ‘Fox News Sunday’ he wants to get enough signatures to file a class-action lawsuit before the high court and will appeal to younger Americans, who appear to be advancing the cause of less government and civil liberties… ‘If we get 10 million Americans saying we don’t want our phone records looked at, then maybe someone will wake up and something will change in Washington.’…

“Paul, a first-term senator and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said he disagrees with President Obama’s argument that the National Security Agency collecting 3 billion calls daily and other information [is] a modest invasion of privacy…

“Washington officials have acknowledged all branches of the federal government – Congress, the White House and federal courts – knew about the collection of data under the Patriot Act. Paul also said the government should be using a specific warrant, not a general warrant, to get the data, arguing the Fourth Amendment prevents unreasonable search and seizure. ‘The Founding Fathers didn’t want that,’ he said….”

Rand Paul, a Republican, made headlines before when he became the lonely voice in refusing to cast his vote for one particular governmental appointee, speaking non-stop for hours in the Senate, until the government broke their usual silence and showed a touch of transparency by providing a few answers to his questions.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with his view points, at least here is someone who is willing to stand up for what he believes to be right, while most politicians don’t dare, are too cowardly or just too complacent to do so… behaving as proverbial “politicians” are expected to act. But since Rand Paul is willing to stand up for his convictions, there is virtually no chance that he will become the next President of the United States in 2016. Chances are, he would not even get the necessary support from intimidated or unconcerned colleagues in his own party.

Traitor or Not?

While many Republicans and Democrats declared whistleblower Edward Snowden, who revealed the clandestine worldwide spying activities of the NSA,  to be a traitor of the country, Newsmax reported on June 12:

“Former GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul insisted on Tuesday that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not a traitor, but he fears the U.S. government may send drones or a cruise missile to kill the 29-year-old, who has fled the United States. ‘Everybody’s worried about him and what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to convict him of treason, and how they’re going to kill him, but what about the people who destroy our Constitution?’ the former Texas Republican congressman asserted. ‘What kind of penalty for those individuals who just take the Fourth Amendment and destroy it? What do we think about people who assassinate American citizens without trials and assume that that’s the law of the land? That’s where our problem is.’

“Paul said that ‘our problem isn’t with people who are trying to tell us the truth about what’s happening’ as in the case of Snowden, and he fears that the U.S. government may try to kill the former contractor. ‘I’m worried about somebody in our government might kill him with a Cruise missile or a drone missile,’ Paul said. ‘I mean we live in a bad time where American citizens don’t even have rights and that they can be killed, but the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what’s going on.’… He pointed to the case of a CIA agent who was imprisoned for acknowledging that torture takes place at Guantanamo.”

Another lonely voice, Republican Governor Rand Paul, also stated that he is reserving judgment as to whether or not Snowden is a traitor, but as reported above, he vehemently charged the Obama Administration and the NSA with breaking the law by acting illegally and unconstitutionally. According to Reuters, dated June 12, its poll revealed that “Some 23 percent of those surveyed said… Snowden is a traitor while 31 percent said he is a patriot. Another 46 percent said they did not know.”

German and European Reactions

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 10:

“29-year-old ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden has admitted to making one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history. He now faces severe consequences — but President Obama also has a lot to answer for.

“… the US’s virtual surveillance network is nearly all-encompassing — and that citizens are powerless against it… Obama now faces a huge public relations problem. Wasn’t it he who said that he welcomed the debate on government spying? And yet now he has decided to pursue the very man who triggered this debate…”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 11:

“The world has been scandalized to learn about Prism, the broad data surveillance program used by the US at home and abroad. German commentators say that both Berlin and Brussels must defend Europe from this invasion of privacy…

“Germany, which has particularly strict data privacy laws, is reportedly one of the most heavily monitored countries in the surveillance program… European politicians are also worried about the surveillance…The scandal has revealed state surveillance of a previously unimaginable scope by the US both at home and abroad…

“Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘It may be that US citizens can defend themselves under the US Constitution. But that doesn’t apply to foreigners. Facebook users in Germany have as little protection from the US Constitution as those in Afghanistan. Germany is the country in Europe whose telephone and Internet communications are being spied on the most intensely by the US… The only good thing about the NSA spying is that it exposes the principle tenet of domestic security that has been used to justify the rebuilding of the security system since Sept. 11, 2001: That those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear. This is simply a stupid idea.’…

“Left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: ‘Basic civil rights around the world, which are taken for granted far too naively in Western democracies, are being placed under attack by state “security architecture” such as the US spying program Prism…’

“Conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘Whether it’s with Facebook, Google, Yahoo or Microsoft — user confidence has been shaken… all users should be asking whether they themselves, and especially their personal data, are in good hands with these companies.’”

On June 11, der Spiegel Online published a Commentary by German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger:

“With its Prism spy program, the US has crossed the line… On the weekend, President Obama reacted by saying that it is impossible to have 100 percent security and 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. I don’t share this view. The more a society monitors, controls and observes its citizens, the less free it is. In a democratic constitutional state, security is not an end in itself, but serves to secure freedom…

“We should remember that the strength of the liberal constitutional state lies in the trust of its citizens. Constitutional guarantees protect this trust and pursue two objectives: to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent or those who are unjustly suspected of a crime against wrongful actions by the government. These are precisely the tenets Germany adopted in 1949 from the tradition of the American Constitution of 1776 — namely that in a free and open democratic process, it is important to avoid the impression that the protection of basic rights is not being taken seriously enough…

“The suspicion of excessive surveillance of communication is so alarming that it cannot be ignored. For that reason, openness and clarification by the US administration itself should be paramount at this point. All facts must be put on the table…”

AFP wrote on June 12:

“The EU has warned President Barack Obama’s administration of ‘grave adverse consequences’ to the rights of European citizens from a huge US Internet surveillance programme, officials said Wednesday.

“Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, wrote a letter on Monday to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding ‘swift and concrete’ answers about the spy scheme when they meet in Dublin on Friday… Her questions to Holder include whether EU citizens were targeted by the US programmes, whether Europeans would be able find out whether their data has been accessed, and whether they would be treated similarly to US nationals in such cases. The EU official also warned that the European Parliament ‘is likely to assess the overall transatlantic relationship also in the light of your responses’”.

Deutsche Welle wrote on June 12:

“The US government is using ‘American-style Stasi methods,’ Markus Ferber, a member of the European parliament, told Reuters, referring to the former communist East German secret police. ‘I thought this era had ended when the [German Democratic Republic] fell.’”

The EUObserver wrote on June 12:

“The German government is demanding explanations from the US after it emerged that its secret spying programme Prism collected more information from Germany than any other EU country… Data privacy is a very sensitive topic in Germany and the cluelessness of Merkel’s government about the affair may become an issue in September’s elections… The ministry of interior is working on a questionnaire for the US government to find out the extent and the legal basis for the collection of data from Germany…  Similar information requests will be sent to Internet firms such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Apple, which were targeted by Prism, but which deny that US security staff got unlimited access to their servers…

“German data protection chief Peter Schaar said on the WDR public broadcaster that Prism amounts to ‘almost total surveillance.’… The German opposition is also outraged by the news…  ‘This looks to me like it could become one of the biggest data privacy scandals ever,’ Greens leader Renate Kuenast told Reuters.”

These are strong words and reactions. America is really doing everything imaginable to make themselves unpopular in the eyes of the world.

Secrecy also in the UK

Mail On Line wrote on June 7:

“David Cameron is to attend a meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group tonight – but will not say who he meets. The Prime Minister will take part in a debate on the global economy with an unknown group of ministers, business leaders and academics from around the world.

“But his attendance at the heavily-guarded event is certain to spark controversy after Mr Cameron once promised to lead the ‘most open and transparent government in the world’.”

Prime Minister Cameron sounds and behaves just like President Obama. As Deutsche Welle reported on June 6, “On his first day in office President Obama vowed to create the most open government in history. But after five years his administration has brought more espionage cases against leakers than all other presidents combined…”

A New Monarchy for Germany?

The Local wrote on June 6:

“Germans might not know it, but they desperately need the moral guidance of a re-instated royal family, the great-great grandson of the last Kaiser, Prince Philip Kiril of Prussia [said]… ‘Subconsciously, I think young Germans wants something they can orientate towards,’ said Prince Philip. The 45-year-old father of six may work as a Protestant vicar, but he has become one of the loudest voices out of those who want to see Germany revive its monarchy. Second in line to the throne Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918, Prince Philip believes that a royal family with divine right conferred by God could offer Germany what it is missing. ‘When a leader answers to himself, and not God, an atheist-led country ends in disaster. Look at Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin,’ he told The Local. Religion, ‘tames the selfishness naturally present in all of us.’

“For the prince, a country guided by politicians and a ceremonial president means not only is there no strong family to look up to, nor is there anyone to rally up enthusiasm for family life. ‘A presidential head of state is not enough…what Germany needs is moral guidance and a friendlier face,’ which, he added, ‘people do not get, and shouldn’t expect, from politicians.’ Indeed, this appears to be what [an] increasing amount of young Germans want, after a survey for news agency DPA revealed last month that as many as one in three 18-24-year-olds would like the Kaiser back on the throne…  ‘Looking up to a king or queen would be much better for Germany’s young people than to pop stars or football players,’ Prince Philip said. He lamented that people were putting too much value on consumerism and material goods…

“He cited the increasingly popular face of European royalty as being partially responsible for boosting interest among younger Germans…  For the prince, a presidential head of state simply does not cut it. Being voted in ‘doesn’t deign them the same respect’ as a king, who is chosen by God. This is why he thinks his career as a protestant vicar would mix well with being royal. ‘All people are born equal but some are born to lead, and others to follow. This is not a human made concept, but a God-made one.’ …

“Eventually, the country will need more than its finances and infrastructure being taken care of. It needs spirituality and religion and… God, Prince Philip added…”

This renewed interest in European monarchies, especially among Germans and Austrians, is worthwhile noticing. Revelation 17:9-10 speaks of the last ten leaders of the final revival of the Roman Empire as “ten kings.” Whether this is just a reference to ten “rulers,” who will give their power and authority to the beast, or ten literal “kings” or “emperors,” will remain to be seen.

Equal Rights for Gay Unions in Germany

The Associated Press reported on June 6:

“Gay rights campaigners won a victory over the German government Thursday as the country’s top court ruled that homosexual couples in civil unions should receive the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that treating the two forms of partnership differently for tax purposes violates the country’s guarantee of equal rights.

“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right government had long resisted granting the same tax benefits to gay couples in civil unions. Those unions – officially certified by a notary and carrying similar rights and duties to wedlock – are widely accepted by Germany’s gay community as equivalent to marriage…

“Married couples in Germany are able to jointly declare their taxable incomes, which can significantly lower their overall tax burden especially when one partner has higher pay… The court ordered the government to retroactively amend the relevant laws dating back to 2001, when civil union status was first introduced by a previous center-left government… The government vowed it will seek to get the necessary legislation passed by this fall to implement the court decision…

“Granting more rights to homosexual couples is relatively uncontroversial among the wider public in Germany…”

This development might look, at first glance, as being in total contradiction with the previous article. But this only seems to be the case. As we suggested, it is very likely, based on a Scripture in Daniel 11:37, that the prophesied “beast” in the book of Revelation—the last leader of the final revival of the ancient Roman Empire–may be homosexual. We read in Daniel 11:37 that he “does not regard the desire of women.” The Elberfelder Bible translates that he does not care for the love of or towards women (“Frauenliebe”). This could be a reference to other than normal sexual preferences. The commentary of Henry speaks of “unnatural lust” in the context (compare Romans 1:24-28).

But longing for the return of a godly-appointed monarch who would allegedly give moral guidance and be a good example of strong family life, and supporting homosexuality is not viewed by most Germans as a contradiction. They know that other “respected” European and Roman emperors were homosexuals, while they were “married” and had children. In addition, many Germans had no problem with electing a homosexual foreign minister and a homosexual mayor of Berlin.

Gay Lobby in the Vatican

Newsmax wrote on June 11:

“Pope Francis has acknowledged the existence of a ‘gay lobby” in the Vatican and says he is consulting advisers on what to do about it.

“Speaking informally to a confederation of religious groups from Latin America and the Caribbean, he said…:  ‘The “gay lobby” is mentioned, and it is true, it is there… We need to see what we can do.’… Rumors over the existence of such a group in the Vatican have circulated for years and the extent of the problem is thought to have partly influenced Benedict to resign. But until now, successive popes never have publicly acknowledged it.

“Some Catholics believe such a lobby pervades much of the Church in the West, weakening its proclamation of the Gospel and compromising the Church’s integrity and authority.  They also blame bishops for not speaking out more forcefully against such groups… Informed Vatican sources tell Newsmax that Francis has been holding a series of brainstorming sessions with Vatican-based cardinals and other senior Vatican officials on how to reform the Curia.”

The homosexual lobby in the Vatican will not like any such reforms, and it will have to be seen what they will do to prevent the pope from going through with his intentions.

Aachen—the New Rome

The Local wrote on June 11:

“In 786 AD Charlemagne dreamed of creating a ‘new Rome’ when he ordered the construction of the Church of St. Mary and its Palatinate chapel in his main residence of Aachen. He thus laid the foundations for one of the most important buildings in Europe, making the city the focal point of his Roman empire in 800 AD.

“The cathedral is of universal importance in terms of art and cultural history. 30 German kings were crowned there over a period of 600 years (936-1531), and the cathedral treasury is one of the finest in Europe… Since the Middle Ages, Aachen Cathedral has been one of the leading pilgrimage sites in the Christian world because of its famous reliquaries – the four holy shrines.

“Charlemagne was buried in the palatinate chapel following his death in 814. His ancient sarcophagus can be found in the central drum of the Gothic chancel.”

Our recent series in our Q&As on the ten revivals of the Roman Empire sheds more light on Charlemagne and the city of Aachen.

Obama’s Newest “Change”: Now Morning-After Pills for Girls of Any Age

Newsmax wrote on June 10:

“The federal government on Monday told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. But the decision isn’t likely to end President Barack Obama’s troubles with the issue, as anti-abortion advocates are certain to be unhappy with the reversal.

“The Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling. Last week, the appeals court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided… The government had appealed the judge’s underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency contraceptives… be made available without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

“It asked the judge to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge declined, saying the government’s decision to restrict sales of the morning-after pill was ‘politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent.’ He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available…

“It appears the Justice Department has decided it might lose with the appeals court and then would have to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court, The New York Times noted… Obama can expect to see a renewed political debate on the issues at a time when his administration already is beset with multiple scandals and controversies, the Times noted. The president, who has two young daughters, said last year he felt uncomfortable with the idea of them being able to obtain the drug without a prescription.

“The morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no effect.”

Rather than teaching young girls (of any age) not to have sexual relationships outside (future) marriage, this now makes it easier for unmarried girls of any age to sin, thinking they can get away with it. Surely, this world has it upside down and backwards.

Obamacare and IRS Absurdities

The Washington Post wrote on June 12:

“It is reassuring that amid so much government dysfunction, the Internal Revenue Service has resolved the question of when and whether to tax tanning beds under the Affordable Care Act… Obamacare… calls for a 10 percent sales tax every time some pale face exposes himself to potentially harmful, cancer-causing rays, thus affecting everyone’s health-insurance premiums… But, wait, there’s an exception:  If such beds are offered as part of a gym or fitness center at no extra charge, no tax will be imposed…

“Despite the IRS’s impressive resolution of the tanning bed conundrum, one is struck by the unfortunate timing of its several displays of (a) incompetence and/or (b) ideologically driven harassment — just when the agency is charged with implementing and overseeing large swaths of Obamacare… [it]  includes at least 47 new tax provisions. Also, recall that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ACA’s individual mandate (you must buy insurance or else) by categorizing the mandate as a tax.

“Which is to say, the IRS has some big work ahead… In addition to deciding which organizations qualify for tax-exempt status, as in the case of tea party and patriot organizations recently targeted for prolonged, special scrutiny,  our nation’s revenuers will also be redefining ‘religious.’ Determining whether a religious or charitable institution qualifies for tax-exempt status has always been part of the IRS’s dubious bailiwick, but Obamacare has upped the ante by requiring some religious affiliates to provide health care — such as contraception — that violates their conscience.

“Whatever one’s personal positions on reproductive matters, the historically higher standard of individual conscience has been scuttled by the Obama administration in deference to a universal health-care plan that leaves the definition of religious organization and, therefore, conscience to a bureaucracy of accountants… Those deemed not truly religious will be denied conscience protections, as has already occurred… freedom of conscience is fundamental to other freedoms we similarly take for granted. Obamacare largely dismisses such considerations…

“Come next January, as insurance rates climb and many businesses opt to pay government fines, sending their workers into government exchanges, all those people who believed, as promised, that they could keep the insurance they like will learn otherwise… At the center of these disappointments and revelations will be the nation’s new, expanded army of tax enforcers — this time examining not just your beliefs but also your medical records.”

Of course, there are still some… if not many… (uninformed) Americans who do not (want) to see the horrendously absurd problems with Obamacare.

Turkey in Deep Trouble

Der Spiegel Online wrote on June 12:

“Tuesday’s crackdown has drawn criticism from the international community. ‘With its reaction to the protests so far, the Turkish government is sending the wrong signal — both within the country and to Europe,’ German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin on Wednesday…

“The developments come at an awkward time for the European Union, which is considering steps later this month to move forward accession talks with Turkey…  Editorialists at leading German newspapers and across the political spectrum are roundly critical of Erdogan’s heavy-handed response to the protests, with a number ridiculing the Turkish leader as an ‘autocrat.’

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘Ever since he became prime minister, an air of distrust has surrounded Ergodan. How democratic is this man? Initially, it was Erdogan’s religious roots that fueled this distrust, especially the religious character of his moderate Islamist AKP. Fears of an Islamization of Turkey dominated the first phase of a reign that has already lasted a decade. During this time, he used brutal means to subjugate the military stronghold of the generals to the primacy of politicians… Today, it is clear that Islam isn’t really Erdogan’s greatest temptation. It is power itself — a pure lust for power that has gone to his head. Erdogan has continuously expanded his power base. His party men now hold positions in the judiciary and in the business sector, and the media seem to try to outdo each other to glorify him. There doesn’t appear to be any opposition left within the apparatus. … Erdogan is playing a dangerous game. … At the most important moment of his time governing, he has decided to become a total autocrat.’ 

“Financial daily Handelsblatt addresses Erdogan’s claim that speculators are among those inciting the violence: ‘Whatever Erdogan’s motives may be, his wild attacks against investors, bankers and investors are a risky gamble… Erdogan is playing with fire on his path of confrontation. The prime minister threatens not only the political stability of his country, but also its economic future.’

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘Taksim Square will go down in history not as an environmental project, but as the scene of a clash of cultures that divides the Western-oriented secular Turkey from the Islamic-conservative Turkey. Here, tensions are being discharged that run right through Turkish history — before and especially after the founding of the Turkish state by Kemal Pasha Atatürk, a revolutionary act that shattered the country’s traditional forms and remains traumatic to this day.’”

Turkey will still play a major role in prophetic events. Their actions against the state of Israel will greatly anger the God of the Bible.

Israel’s Isolation

The Times of Israel wrote on June 11:

“In Jordan, perceived Israeli violations of the status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites, over which Jordan maintains a custodianship, have angered Amman, and the parliament there recently voted to expel Israeli ambassador Daniel Nevo — a symbolic but resonant step… Israel’s relations with Jordan are now at a low point, [an unidentified] diplomat said, though not the lowest they’ve ever been. He was likely referring to the crisis that followed Israel’s botched assassination attempt of Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal in Amman in September 1997, when King Hussein came close to severing ties… ‘Israel and Jordan are on a strategic collision course,’ said Assaf David, who teaches Jordanian politics at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University…

“The situation in Egypt is even gloomier. Israeli officials tacitly indicate that Israel has grudgingly agreed to forgo the pleasures of normalization with Egypt… Yitzhak Levanon, who was serving as Israel’s ambassador to Cairo when the mob stormed his embassy, told The Times of Israel last September that the gradual deterioration in relations began as early as Mubarak’s rise to power in 1981, but has accelerated since the election of President Mohammed Morsi last June.”

The Invasion of the “Crazy Ant”

On June 10, 2013, Mail On Line reported the following:

“A new and annoying species of ant is terrorizing the U.S. and chemicals that kill off other types of the insect are proving ineffective against it. The ‘crazy’ ant, named for the erratic trail it leaves as it makes its way across the country, originated in Argentina and Brazil.

“But since it was first spotted in Houston in 2002, it has spread to some 21 counties in Texas, 20 counties in Florida and a few locations in Mississippi and Louisiana…. University of Texas researcher and co-author of a study on the creatures Ed LeBrun said the omnivorous ants attack and kill other species as well as monopolizing food sources to the detriment of the entire ecosystem. He said everything from cattle to songbirds are at risk of the tiny ants, despite them being at the bottom of the food chain…

“The insects, bizarrely, are attracted to electrical wiring and components and in one year alone caused $146.5 million in damages in Texas… The devastation occurs when one ant discovers the transformer then gets electrocuted when it touches it, and ‘waves its abdomen in the air’ omitting a certain scent. The scent lures for ants to the scene and they too are electrocuted, again sending the scent into the air to attract their friends. Eventually, there are so many dead ants that the electric switches get stuck or the insulation fries and the system shuts down.”