Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Why are so Many Deadly Diseases Breaking Out All Over the Globe Right Now?
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Ebola, Marburg, Enterovirus and Chikungunya - these diseases were not even on the radar of most people coming into 2014, but now each one of them is making headline news. So why is this happening? 

Why are so many deadly diseases breaking out all over the world right now? Is there some kind of a connection, or is the fact that so many horrible diseases are arising all at once just a giant coincidence? And this could be just the beginning. 

For example, there are now more than a million cases of Chikungunya in Central and South America, and authorities are projecting that there will be millions more in 2015. The number of Ebola cases continues to grow at an exponential rate, and now an even deadlier virus (Marburg) has broken out in Uganda. 

We have gone decades without experiencing a major worldwide pandemic, and many people believed that it could never happen in our day and time. But now we could potentially see several absolutely devastating diseases all racing across the planet at the same time.

On Monday, we got news that the first confirmed case of Ebola transmission in Europe has happened. A nurse in Spain that had treated a couple of returning Ebola patients has contracted the disease herself...

A nurse's assistant in Spain is the first person known to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa in the current outbreak.

Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato announced Monday that a test confirmed the assistant has the virus.

The woman helped treat a Spanish missionary and a Spanish priest, both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa. Both died after returning to Spain.

Health officials said she developed symptoms on September 30. She was not hospitalized until this week. Her only symptom was a fever.

How many people did she spread the virus to before it was correctly diagnosed?

Meanwhile, Ebola continues to rage out of control in West Africa. It is being reported that Sierra Leone just added 121 new Ebola deaths to the overall death toll in a single day. If Ebola continues to spread at an exponential rate, it is inevitable that more people will leave West Africa with the virus and take it to other parts of the globe.

In fact, it was being reported on Monday that researchers have concluded that there is "a 50 percent chance" that Ebola could reach the UK by October 24th...

Experts have analysed the pattern of the spread of the disease, along with airline traffic data, to make the startling prediction Ebola could reach Britain by October 24.

They claim there is a 50 percent chance the virus could hit Britain by that date and a 75 percent chance the it could be imported to France, as the deadliest outbreak in history spreads across the world.

Currently, there is no cure for the disease, which has claimed more than 3,400 lives since March and has a 90 percent fatality rate.

I have written extensively about Ebola, but it is certainly not the only virus making headlines right now.

Down in Uganda, a man has just died from a confirmed case of the Marburg Virus...

A man has died in Uganda's capital after an outbreak of Marburg, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, authorities said on Sunday, adding that a total of 80 people who came into contact with him had been put under quarantine.

Marburg starts with a severe headache followed by haemorrhaging and leads to death in 80% or more of cases in about nine days. It is from the same family of viruses as Ebola, which has killed thousands in West Africa in recent months.

There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the Marburg virus, which is transmitted through bodily fluids such as saliva and blood or by handling infected wild animals such as monkeys.

The Marburg Virus is an absolutely horrible disease, and many consider it to be even more deadly than Ebola. But the fact that it kills victims so quickly may keep it from spreading as widely as Ebola.

We shall see.

Meanwhile, a disease that sounds very similar to Ebola and Marburg has popped up in Venezuela and doctors down there do not know what it is...

"We do not know what it is," admitted Duglas León Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

In its initial stages, the disease presents symptoms of fever and spots on the skin, and then produces large blisters and internal and external bleeding, according to data provided week stop by the College of Physicians of the state of Aragua, where the first cases were reported.

Then, very quickly, patients suffer from respiratory failure, liver failure and kidney failure. Venezuelan doctors have not been able to determine what the disease is, much less how to fight it.

Why aren't we hearing more about this in the mainstream news?

Here in the United States, enterovirus D-68 has sickened hundreds of children all over the country. So far cases have been confirmed in 43 different states, several children have been paralyzed by it, and one New Jersey boy has died...

Parents in New Jersey are concerned after a state medical examiner determined a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country is responsible for the death of a 4-year-old boy.

Hamilton Township health officer Jeff Plunkett said the Mercer County medical examiner's office found the death of Eli Waller was the result of enterovirus D-68. Waller, the youngest of a set of triplets, died in his sleep at home on Sept. 25.

The virus has sickened more than 500 people in 43 states and Washington, D.C.— almost all of them children. Waller is the first death in New Jersey directly linked to the virus.

The CDC seems to have no idea how to contain the spread of enterovirus D-68.

So why should we be confident that they will be able to contain the spread of Ebola?

Last but not least, the Chikungunya virus is at pandemic levels all over Central and South America.

We aren't hearing that much about this disease in the U.S., but at this point more than a million people have already been infected...

An excruciating mosquito-borne illness that arrived less than a year ago in the Americas is raging across the region, leaping from the Caribbean to the Central and South American mainland, and infecting more than 1 million people. Some cases already have emerged in the United States.

The good news is that very few people actually die from this disease.

The bad news is that almost everyone that gets it feels like they are dying.

In a previous article, I wrote about the intense suffering that victims go through. According to Slate, the name of this virus originally "comes from a Makonde word meaning ‘that which bends up,’ referring to the contortions sufferers put themselves through due to intense joint pain."

Right now, the number of cases of Chikungunya is absolutely exploding. Just check out the following excerpt from a recent Fox News report...

In El Salvador, health officials report nearly 30,000 suspected cases, up from 2,300 at the beginning of August, and hospitals are filled with people with the telltale signs of the illness, including joint pain so severe it can be hard to walk.

"The pain is unbelievable," said Catalino Castillo, a 39-year-old seeking treatment at a San Salvador hospital. "It's been 10 days and it won't let up."

Venezuelan officials reported at least 1,700 cases as of Friday, and the number is expected to rise. Neighboring Colombia has around 4,800 cases but the health ministry projects there will be nearly 700,000 by early 2015.

So why is this happening?

Why are so many absolutely horrible diseases emerging all at once?

Is it possible this is only a taste of what is to come when the Bible speaks of pestilences in the last days?

Unforeseen Consequences - Self Driving Cars the Next Terrorism Threat?
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Reports over the weekend that Tesla could be the latest carmaker to add autonomous features to its products is being greeted with excitement, but experts are concerned that the new industry technology could be susceptible to sinister cybercriminal activity.

Egil Juliussen, director of research for infotainment and advanced driver assistance systems at research group IHS Automotive, told CNBC via email that electronics systems in cars currently have no or very limited security measures. 

"The economic opportunities are very different for car systems than PCs, tablets and smartphones. There is very little information in the car that can be easily turned into revenue for the average hacker," he said.

"Instead the reason for hacking and controlling cars are more sinister, such as creating traffic chaos, murder-for-hire, cyber warfare and related terrorist acts."

Juliussen deals out the worst-case scenario but believes that intellectual property theft may be the most common hacking reason in the future, or denting an auto manufacturer's reputation and liability issues. The FBI also remains concerned. An unclassified report obtained by the U.K. newspaper The Guardian in July said that the agency was predicting that autonomous cars may be used as "lethal weapons."

An $87B opportunity

Self-driving cars are considered the next big revolution in the industry, with even technology companies like Google hoping to take a slice of future revenues. Research and advisory firm Lux Research predicts automakers and technology developers can look forward to a market worth $87 billion by 2030, while IHS Automotive estimates that by 2035 self-driving cars will account for half of the vehicles sold in North America and sales worldwide reaching about 11.8 million units.

Analysts are skeptical as to whether the car of the future will be totally autonomous, saying the best features we can look forward to are simple driver-assists like adaptive cruise control. Nonetheless, they believe cybersecurity remains a crucial aspect of any future product.

Rainer Mehl, head of manufacturing consulting at data firm NTT Data, said auto companies are "extremely worried."

"They haven't answered the (cybersecurity) question yet," he told CNBC in an interview, explaining that any outcome would obviously be far worse than if someone gained access to a kitchen utility like a refrigerator. "Cybersecurity is key," he said.

Analysts point to a 2011 academic paper, when researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California-San Diego were able to wirelessly hack into cars. This led to the auto industry "waking up" to the security threat, according to Juliussen, who adds that auto manufacturers and their suppliers are now doing research and acquiring expertise.

"It will take several years until the results show up in the cars," he said.

"The regulators, NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the U.S., and similar organizations in Europe are also paying attention, doing their research and will eventually release recommendations and/or legislation to add security to all auto electronics systems," he added.

Expect to see "incremental" security improvements in the next five years as auto manufacturers beef up their protection in the telematics and other connected car systems, according to Juliussen.

U.S., Allies in Sustained Strike on Syria - Turkey Border
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

F-15

US Department of Defense

The U.S.-led coalition has carried out sustained air strikes against the terrorist group Islamic State (aka ISIS), as the battle for control of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border intensifies.

According to Euronews, while coalition aircraft attacked from the sky Syrian Kurds launched a ground offensive against the extremists' positions.

Dutch warplanes attacked an ISIS convoy overnight, as Commodore Theo ten Haaf explained: “There were pickup trucks, four wheel drives with an open platform at the back carrying a heavy machine gun. The weapon was being used to attack the Peshmerga,” as Kurdish fighters are called.

As fighting rages in Kobani the Turkish army remains poised on its side of the border, but has so far refrained from any intervention despite parliamentary authorization to do so.

The lack of action by Turkey is “a cause of deep frustration in Washington, with Secretary of State John Kerry making numerous phone calls to Ankara for clarification,” reported Euronews.

The UN says that if Kobani falls, a bloodbath will ensue, coupled with a humanitarian tragedy.

Writing in the Guardian, Cale Salih observed: "Every day, Isis marches closer to the heart of Kobani, and every day, Kurds across the region grow more exasperated that everyone seems to know what scene comes next – 'a terrible slaughter', with '5,000 dead within 24 or 36 hours.'"

Turkey Asks U.S. to Step Up Airstrikes Against ISIS
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Airstrikes against ISIS

Reuters

Turkey has asked the United States to step up airstrikes to keep “Islamic State” (ISIS) fighters from seizing a key Syrian Kurdish border town, a senior Turkish official was quoted by Reuters as saying on Tuesday.

"Our government and our related institutions have emphasized to U.S. officials the necessity of immediately ramping up air bombardment in a more active and efficient way," Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said, according to comments published on the website of the television channel AHaber.

“Islamic State” fighters advancing into the southwest of Kobane has increased pressure on Ankara to intervene in the conflict. Criticism is mounting from Turkey's own Kurdish community, who accuse it of inaction.

Clashes between Kurdish protesters and police have erupted in several major Turkish cities, resulting in the death of at least one protester so far - reportedly after being hit in the head by a teargas canister.

NATO member Turkey has so far taken in more than 180,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees fleeing Kobane. It has not joined a U.S.-led coalition against Sunni insurgents, though Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday the campaign should aim to remove Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Trying to Get on the Same Side As the World
Oct 8th, 2014
A. B. Simpson
Categories: Exhortation

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God, give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!

Trojan Horse: Isis Militants Coming to Europe Disguised As Refugees
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Islamic State militants are planning to insert operatives into Western Europe disguised as refugees, claim US intelligence sources, who unencrypted locked communications of the caliphate’s leadership.

The militant organization is afraid of using aircraft due to strict security rules, so they use land as an alternative, the US sources told Bild Am Sonntag, a German national Sunday newspaper.

Disguised as refugees from Syria, Islamic State operatives will cross the border to Turkey. Then, using fake passports, they will travel further to European countries to conduct attacks.

“In view of the chaotic conditions on the Syria-Turkey border, it is nearly impossible to catch ISIS-terrorists in the wave of refugees,” wrote Bild Am Sonntag.

Because hundreds of refugees cross the Syrian-Turkish border every day, the jihadists have a good chance of remaining unnoticed in the crowds.

Turkey is also used by jihadists who want to join the IS in Syria, as they don’t need a visa to get there. They go on ‘vacations’ as tourists and upon arrival have almost no trouble finding a way to cross the border.

According to one of Iraq’s foremost security experts with unique access to intelligence, at least 100,000 jihadists were fighting in the ranks of the IS in August.

There are some 15,000 foreign fighters from the IS in Syria alone, including 2,000 Westerners, a US intelligence official told AFP in September.

Germany continues to be one of the main goals of IS

An official from the German Interior Ministry told the paper that the country is in the “focus of jihadist terrorism,” but there is no indication at this time of any concrete attacks.

German security says that about 450 extremist German Muslims traveled in the direction of Syria.

But it is still nearly impossible to track their country’s radicals when they are heading from Germany to Syria, as they don’t need a visa to travel to Turkey, a German official told the Jerusalem Post.

About 150 Islamic fighters have returned from Syria to Germany.

Last week it was revealed that German authorities encouraged some jihadists to leave the country. Ludwig Schierghofer, the chief officer in charge of counterterrorism at Bavaria's LKA investigative police department, told public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk that such measure is aimed at "protecting our [German] population."

The issue was "to get people out of the country" if there was evidence that "the danger existed that they might commit attacks."

"If somebody had become radicalized and wanted to leave the country, then we tried to either let him depart, or even sought to accelerate their departure using legal means," Schierghofer said.

The measure was introduced in Bavaria, southeastern Germany, in 2009, but then abandoned in 2014 after the authorities understood that they were actually helping IS militants.

IS continues Middle East advance despite US strikes

US-led airstrikes on the Islamic State are failing to stop the advance of the jihadists.

The militants are reportedly approaching the outskirts of the city of Kobani, a town in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

The situation in the town prompted some 186,000 Kurds to flee the area across the border into Turkey, and groups of Kurdish volunteers wishing to cross into Syria to defend the town against the IS on Saturday clashed with tear gas-firing Turkish security forces refusing to let them pass.

Around 100,000 people remain in Kobani amid the violence.

“Those who stay in the area are living in very poor conditions, there is drastic shortage of food,” Muhammad, a Kobani resident, told RT.

According to Osman, a Turkey-Syria border resident, Turkish security forces prevent them from helping the Kurds, but the residents of Kobani will continue to assist them where they can.

“We are eyewitnesses of the event. It seems that the whole world has abandoned Kobani,” he told RT. “If the Kurdish forces don’t get the supplies they need there will be a mass slaughter among the Kurdish population.”

He added that so far the local residents “haven’t seen any results of US strikes against the Islamic State.”

Switzerland the Latest Country to Ban ISIS
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

ISIS fighters parade in Raqqa, Syria

Reuters

Switzerland has joined a growing list of countries that have banned the Islamic State (ISIS) group and related organizations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The move that comes as the Alpine nation steps up measures to prevent Swiss citizens from traveling to the Middle East to fight for the extremist group.

The Federal Council, Switzerland’s seven-member cabinet, said a ban on membership of ISIS will go into effect on Thursday. The ban will last for an initial six months.

The ban prohibits all activities of the group in Switzerland, including propaganda, fundraising and recruitment. Offenses can be punished with sentences of up to three years in prison or a fine, unless more severe penalties are needed, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In a statement, the cabinet said a recent escalation in Islamic State activities, which have included executions of civilians, had prompted the action. It said the group “commits massive human rights violations.”

The cabinet’s move comes as Switzerland seeks to prevent its citizens from fighting for the jihadist group, which has overrun large chunks of northern Iraq and Syria. In addition to executing local people, the group has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of U.S. and UK hostages in Syria, as well as a French citizen in Algeria.

A host of other countries have had to deal with the phenomenon of its citizens leaving their countries and going to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside jihadists. Russia, Canada, France and Australia are only a few examples.

According to Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service, roughly 25 Swiss citizens have gone to Syria and Iraq so far this year, with 10 confirmed to be fighting for groups, including Islamic State.

Recruiting from within the Muslim populations of western countries has been among Islamic State’s tactics, fueling concern that returnees could plot attacks in the West, noted The Wall Street Journal.

Other Swiss nationals have traveled over the past decade to fight in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan, the agency said.

Swiss citizens who travel to Syria or Iraq to fight for Islamic State could be prosecuted under the new measures when they return to Switzerland, a spokeswoman for the defense department said.

The move was announced hours after London police arrested four suspected Islamic terrorists in several raids throughout the British capital. It was later revealed the four planned a brutal beheading - or beheadings - on the streets of London.

The plan mirrors plots by a large Australian ISIS cell that was busted in mid-September, which had planned to behead a random member of the public.

Just days later in Norway, another ISIS cell was foiled ahead of executing its plans to behead an entire family and film it as a "warning" to Western states intervening against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Security Officials: IDF 'Losing Control' Along Lebanese Border
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

IDF at Lebanese border (file)

Flash 90

Recent clashes with terrorist group Hezbollah along the Lebanese border have spiraled out of control, security sources told Israel Radio Wednesday, warning they could potentially lead to another conflict in the north in the near future. 

Two charges detonated inside Israeli territory along the Lebanese border at Har Dov left two soldiers wounded on Tuesday. 

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack just a few hours later - a move officials say is uncharacteristic of the group, in that it sends a "clear message to Israel," and could indicate a change in policy. 

Over the past several years, they stressed, Hezbollah has taken great lengths to remain quiet over their role in border skirmishes and has rarely openly taken responsibility for attacks on the IDF and Israelis. 

But hours after the attack, deputy Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared that the bomb was a deliberate response to Israel's "violations."

“We wanted to tell Israelis that we are ready and that there is no way they can assault us while we stand by and watch,” said Qassem, according to the Lebanese The Daily Star.

Qassem added that Hezbollah terrorists were capable of infiltrating Israel to plant the bombs despite heavy surveillance. 

The officials noted that the group's newfound defiance could preclude another conflict, and added that it possibly indicates the IDF may be "losing control" along the border. 

Border control: slipping away?

Israeli-Lebanese border tensions have been building for months.  

According to Hezbollah's leaders, bombing was "retaliation" for a September 5 incident in which a Hezbollah terrorist was killed after the IDF detonated a listening device on the terror group's telecommunications hotline. 

Tuesday's bomb incident is the second in a matter of days, after the IDF identified an attempt to infiltrate the border on Sunday. Israeli soldiers opened fire at the infiltrators, wounding a Lebanese Army soldier who apparently joined the gun battle.

The clashes have surfaced after a score of rockets were fired on Israeli civilians in the Galilee over the past three months during - and after - Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza. 

Soon after the conflict ended, several senior IDF officers raised concern about possible terror tunnels Hezbollah may be digging along the Lebanon border. The IDF has refused to acknowledge those concerns publicly, instead launching a private investigation into the issue. 

Alarm has also been raised after the IDF and Defense Ministry cut guard duty near northern border communities - just one year after a similar move along the Gaza Belt saw an escalation in terror and, eventually, war. 

Northern residents have responded to the apparent apathy to the situation by arming themselves, and gun ownership along the Lebanese and Syrian border communities has risen as high as 60% in recent weeks.

Secret Stash of Islamic State Flags Unearthed in Israel
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsYnet News
Categories: Today's Headlines;War;The Nation Of Israel

Islamic State flag? (Photo: Police

The police have begun their investigation to determine if the flags belong to the radical Islamist group currently ravaging Syria and Iraq.

A bag containing what seems to be dozens of Islamic State flags were discovered Tuesday morning in a city in northern Israel.

Nazareth Illit city gardeners who were working in the city's Har Yona industrial area, located near the Arab communities of Kfar Kana and Ein Mahil, discovered a bag containing 50 Islamic State group flags between some bushes. The police were called to the scene and so was the city's mayor, Alex Gadalkin, who was disconcerted by the discovery.   Police have closed off the area and are currently searching for evidence regarding the flag's potential owners: "It seems someone threw it here. Firstly me need to make sure these are indeed the group's flags, and then see where they came from and where they were going. Though they seem to be (Islamic State) flags," Nazareth Illit Police Commander Shalom Avitan said. Israel's Arab community has been largely opposed to the Islamic State group, though recent weeks have seen a sense of growing support for the terror group, with a teacher from Wadi Ara being arrested owning flags belonging to the group. In the past, Ynet has reported of an Israeli-Arab defecting to Syria and Iraq to fight with the group.

After discovering the big black garbage bag containing, the city gardeners called local municipal officer Udi Elbaz: "I was shocked when I saw these flags inside the bag, and immediately called the police – it's like there is terror activities in the city."

Gadalkin, the city's mayor, said "when something like this is discovered in the heart of a Jewish city in the Galilee it should raise serious concerns."

Police have closed off the area and are currently searching for evidence regarding the flag's potential owners: "It seems someone threw it here. Firstly me need to make sure these are indeed the group's flags, and then see where they came from and where they were going. Though they seem to be (Islamic State) flags," Nazareth Illit Police Commander Shalom Avitan said.

Israel's Arab community has been largely opposed to the Islamic State group, though recent weeks have seen a sense of growing support for the terror group, with a teacher from Wadi Ara being arrested owning flags belonging to the group. In the past, Ynet has reported of an Israeli-Arab defecting to Syria and Iraq to fight with the group.

School Bans Christian Club...again
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Educators at Ward Melville High School are either woefully ignorant of the U.S. Constitution or they really don’t like Christian teenagers.

For the second year in a row, the Long Island, New York high school has denied students the right to form a Christian club.

“I feel like they have something against me and my faith,” 17-year-old John Raney told me. “I feel marginalized.”

John is the founder of Students United in Faith, a service-oriented Christian club. Nearly 20 young people wanted to join the club – but the school said no.

“I wanted to start the club because I thought it would provide a safe space for Christians to meet and talk about their faith,” he said.

As John noted, there aren’t many places like that in Long Island -- especially at Ward Melville High School.

So here’s the back story:

Last year, the school pulled the same stunt. They banned John’s club because of its religious nature. Attorneys with Liberty Institute, a law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, stepped in and threatened to sue.

After a school district investigation, Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich reversed the ban and apologized to John.

She told television station WCBS the initial reason for rejection was “apparently inaccurately conveyed.”

And by “inaccurately conveyed” she means they got their hand caught in the religious liberty cookie jar.

Fast forward nine months later and the school once again is telling the Christian kids they aren’t welcome to co-mingle.

So John picked up the phone and called Liberty Institute, a nationally known religious liberty law firm. “I cannot imagine why they would come back a second time to discriminate,” said attorney Hiram Sasser. “For some reason, Ward Melville High School does not want to follow the Equal Access law.”

Sasser fired off a letter to the school district demanding the Christian students be allowed to form their club.

“This is not a complicated issue,” Sasser wrote. “Simply put, public schools cannot discriminate against religious clubs and must treat them equally, and provide them equal access to school facilities, as non-religious clubs.”

Attorney Sasser was able to compile a list of all the school’s clubs – 33 in all. They’ve got everything from a fishing club to a ceramics club. They even have a Gay-Straight Alliance.

“They let all these other clubs meet with no problem whatsoever,” John told me. “But the second me and my friends mention faith or mention God, they get up in arms about it – like there’s something wrong with believing in these things.”

I called the school district to find out what was going on. Twice. I also sent an email. They got back to me late Monday afternoon. Superintendent Pedisich sent me a prepared statement denying their decision had anything to do with religion.

Here's what she said, "The religious club called Students United in Faith was denied because contractual guidelines regarding minimum participation (20 students) in student co–curricular programs was not met, nor did Ward Melville High School have the financial means to fund this program. The district does not have a practice of discrimination of any kind. We embrace our diverse school community and strive to maintain an environment that promotes tolerance, understanding and respect for all."

Sasser said the law is clear. It doesn’t matter if only two people wanted to join the Christian club – the school would have to accommodate them.

“If they allow the fishing club, they have to allow the Christian club, too,” he said. “They cannot exclude the Christian club.”

After what happened last year, I suspect the school knows that. It seems to me they’re just engaged in a bit of bullying and intimidation.

“It sends a chilling message to all faith groups – telling them the school views these clubs as not acceptable,” Sasser said.

John’s mom, Trudy Fischer, told me she’s proud that her son is sticking up for the club.

“I was really surprised in today’s age that children still have to stand up for their First Amendment rights,” she said. “Tolerance is really preached in their school. They talk about tolerance, but when it comes to this – there is no tolerance. They want to shut them up.

That’s right, Trudy. They want your son to shut up. They want to marginalize these young Christian teenagers and make them think there’s something inappropriate, something sleazyabout their religious beliefs. But what’s truly sleazy is government-employed bigots continuing to bully Christian teens trying to do good deeds.

Poland Warns Russia It Could Face Tougher EU Sanctions Over Ukraine
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

But breaches of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine have renewed Western diplomatic pressure on Moscow. Western states accuse Russia of giving military support to the rebels, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. 

(Reuters) - The European Union will impose tougher sanctions on Russia unless Moscow's policy in Ukraine changes, Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Tuesday. 

Since a ceasefire was agreed between pro-Moscow separatists and Ukraine's government a month ago, most European leaders have focused on when the sanctions on Russia can be eased, with little discussion about making them tougher.

"If Russia does not change its policy, sanctions will be toughened and they will make themselves felt even more in Russia," Schetyna said in an interview with Polish broadcast Polsat News.

"All the European countries are speaking with one voice, together with Australia, the United States and Canada. The free world says 'no' to this kind of policy," he said. "The Polish viewpoint is shared by other countries."

Poland, a NATO member which has borders with Russia and Ukraine, has been more hawkish than many other EU states on how to react to Russia's intervention in Ukraine.

Schetyna was appointed foreign minister last month. His predecessor, Radoslaw Sikorski, was elected speaker of the Polish parliament.

Parchin Blast May be Iran's Nuclear Smoking Gun
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

The West will know within days what caused explosion at Iranian military complex. The answer could put Iran in a very uncomfortable position during nuclear negotiations.

The Parchin facility is a military camp located about 15 kilometers (9.5 miles) east of Tehran, where research is conducted on the production of explosives and missile warheads, as well as activities of the "nuclear weapon group."

The latter serves as one of the components of the military nuclear program whose goal is to create the explosion mechanisms and the nuclear detonator facility itself - an experimental facility for an aerial bomb or a missile warhead test.

The magnitude of the explosion which left two people dead and several wounded, according to Iranian reports, the flash and the huge blast felt many kilometers away leave no room for doubt that this is a facility related to the nuclear program.

The Parchin area is under constant supervision of optic and electromagnetic visual spy satellites - including Israeli supervision. The Americans also have ways to collect air samples from the explosion area through nitrogenous and unmanned aerial vehicles, so the West will know within several days what caused the explosion and if any radioactive materials were used.

In any event, the explosion puts Iran in a very uncomfortable position in the negotiations it is holding with the West, which are scheduled to end on November 24. If indeed it turns out that this was a military nuclear experiment, it will cause the West to toughen its stand and help Israel demand that the sanctions against Iran will be stepped up.

Unlike the uranium mining and enrichment processes, as well as the construction of the heavy water reactor for plutonium production, which are carried out openly, the Iranian weapons program is being implemented secretly. Iran is denying that its exists, but is not letting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors enter the Parchin facility in order to ensure that there is no activity taking place there for the construction of a nuclear device.

The Iranian refusal has been taking place for nearly a decade now, despite repeated IAEA demands, but Western agencies revealed two years ago that Parchin includes a special facility where the Iranians are trying to develop the conventional explosives which will wrap the two half-spheres of the enriched uranium in order to begin the nuclear reaction. This envelop must explode at once at a rate of nanoseconds, and therefore special compressors are installed in it to time its explosion, thereby initiating the beginning of the reaction - which means a nuclear explosion.

The Iranians also used radioactive materials for the tests. When the UN inspectors demanded to be let into the facility, the Iranians tried at first to hide the existence of the envelop experiments and tests aimed at minimizing the bomb in order to insert it into the warhead of the Shahab-3 and Sejil ballistic missiles.

The Iranians tried to hide piles of dirt in the area in order to cover up the radioactivity emitted during the use of nuclear materials. They also washed the area with huge amounts of water, but apparently failed to remove the traces of radiation, and that was likely the reason why they have refused to let inspectors enter the facility until this very day.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano met with the heads of the nuclear program in Tehran several weeks ago, but his demand to allow his people to enter the facility was turned down once again. Now we know why.

It turns out that the tests likely related to the nuclear program continued even during the period when Iran had allegedly stopped, according to the Americans, developing the "nuclear weapon group."

The question of what caused the explosion remains open. Was it a "work accident," as the Iranian ministry of defense claims, or was it an act of sabotage initiated by someone interested in thwarting the plan. In Israel, as always, those who should know are keeping quiet. So it is uncertain what caused the explosion and whether it has to do with Israel's efforts to thwart the Iranian nuclear program.

If it was indeed an act of sabotage, it's reasonable to assume that it was the result of cooperation between Western countries and may have even been based on cyber warfare. We have already seen such precedents in the past in a similar context.

Palestinian Unity Cabinet to Convene in Gaza
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Swearing-in of unity government in Ramallah

Flash 90

The cabinet of the Palestinian unity government will meet for the first time on Thursday, and the meeting will take place in Gaza.

The Ma’an news agency reported on Wednesday that over 50 members of the presidential guard will accompany Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on his visit to Gaza for the cabinet meeting.

The security personnel will work in coordination with Gaza security forces, officials told the Bethlehem-based news agency.

The first cabinet meeting was made possible after Israel issued permits to allow ministers to attend, according to Ma’an.

It will be the first time that ministers from the new government have convened together.

Rival factions Hamas and Fatah set up a unity government of independents in June after seven years of hostilities between the sides, but there have been multiple reports over the past several months that the unity government has been slowly crumbling.

Differences of opinion have surfaced over several issues, including the war in Gaza, reactions to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, and the delayed payment of wages for government workers in Gaza in the weeks leading up to Operation Protective Edge. 

Nevertheless, the sides reached a comprehensive agreement in late September that kept the unity government in place.

Hamas has called on Gazans to welcome Hamdallah and the unity government to Gaza on Thursday, according to Ma’an.

Some Gazans blame Hamdallah and the Palestinian Authority for the wages dispute that has left many employees of the former Hamas government unpaid for months.

Muslims At UNHRC Seethe Over EU's Pro - Israel Walkout
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The decision by the EU and other western countries to boycott anti-Israel proceedings at the UNHRC has many Islamic countries up in arms, as can be seen in the embedded video. 

Massacre Looms Over Syrian Refuge
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Border city of Kobani, hosting diverse mix of Christians, Turks and Kurds, is now surrounded by an army of Islamic State.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft flies over northern Iraq Sept. 23, 2014, . (photo credit:US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE)

WASHINGTON / ISTANBUL-- Carnage may soon befall the people of Kobani, a Syrian enclave hosting Christian, Kurdish and Turkmen refugees of the Syrian civil war, as Islamic State fighters pincered the city limits on Tuesday with the stated intention of killing its inhabitants.

Up to 45,000 civilians are reportedly besieged there without an escape route, raising fears in Western capitals of a massacre should Islamic State take the city in the coming hours.

Just over the border, Turkish security forces have looked on passively for a week as Islamic State forces coalesced. Local Kurdish groups claim up to 9,000 Islamic State terrorists have come from as far as Iraq to take the city and to impose the group’s law and order – the demand that all of its residents convert to a strict Sunni interpretation of Shari’a law, or die.

Kobani’s tallest tower is already crowned with the black flag of Islamic State, whose fighters began infiltrating the city districts on Tuesday.

Officials in Ankara have said in recent days that it will do what it must to protect the people of Turkey. But Kurds in Kobani, and elsewhere in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region spanning northern Syria and northern Iraq, fear Turkey’s position on Kurdish separatism will prevent it from aiding the embattled population.

US Vice President Joe Biden criticized Turkey this week for its tepid response to the crisis, which he called disproportionate to the threat Islamic State poses to Turkey itself. But Turkey’s deputy prime minister said on Tuesday that it was Washington, not Ankara, that was responding inadequately.

Ankara “emphasized to US officials the necessity of immediately ramping up air bombardment in a more active and efficient way,” Deputy Prime Minister Yalcın Akdogan said.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that his country’s requests of the West for the establishment of a no-fly zone in Turkey and a secure training zone for Syrian rebels, were warnings gone unanswered.

“The problem of ISIS [Islamic State],” Erdogan said, “cannot be solved via air bombardment. Right now Kobani is about to fall.”

Erdogan wants US efforts to expand beyond Islamic State to Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, who is also fighting the Sunni Islamist group.

New US-led strikes against Islamic State fighters on Tuesday did not seem to inhibit the advance. Three strikes were recorded against heavy arms of the terrorist network, including a tank that had been shelling the city.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told his parliament that a tragedy would soon befall Kobani, and that the situation required quick action from the US-led coalition.

“A lot is at stake in Kobani, and everything must be done so that the Daesh [Islamic State] terrorists are stopped and pushed back,” Fabius said.

France is operating over Iraq with its air force, but has not yet joined coalition forces operating over Syria.

US President Barack Obama originally began the US air campaign against Islamic State to prevent a genocide against the Yazidi people of Iraq, who were stranded on a mountaintop without resources and surrounded by Islamic State fighters. At that time, he also vowed to protect Erbil, a larger Kurdish city in Iraq’s north, host to thousands of American contractors and government workers.

Already 400 have died in the three-week fight for Kobani, one monitoring group reported on Tuesday. Local military leaders believe Islamic State can take the city within 24 hours.

And in Istanbul, what began as a downtown rally of about 50 seated protesters chanting, “Kobani everywhere, resistance everywhere!” erupted shortly after 11 p.m. into violent clashes with police across the city.

In recent weeks, as Turkey has worked to define its role in the American-led coalition, the jihadist group has moved on the Kurdish-controlled pockets of Syria, along its border with Turkey. Since the middle of September, over 150,000 Kurdish refugees have fled across the border into Turkey. Surrounded by Islamic State on three sides and by the Turkish border on the fourth, the Kurdish enclave of Kobani, known officially as Ayn al-Arab, has been the epicenter of the struggle.

At 11:15 p.m. Monday, a crowd of protesters swept through the Tarlabasi district of downtown Istanbul – a poor neighborhood of Kurds, Syrian refugees and Romanis – chanting and banging on doors along Kalyoncu Kulluk, the neighborhood’s narrow main thoroughfare. Their actions drew a police response of tear gas and rubber bullets. The protesters proceeded to shut down Tarlabasi Avenue, which separates the neighborhood from Istanbul’s chief downtown district.

At 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, a major sit-in closed off foot traffic on Istiklal Avenue, and tear gas and rubber bullets were reportedly fired on a thousand protesters crowding Taksim Square, the center of downtown Istanbul, as police helicopters flew overhead. At the same time, the Besiktas neighborhood’s main avenue, Barbaros Avenue, was also shut down by crowds of protesters.

Amid several blasts, a city bus was set afire in the Gazi neighborhood, according to footage from Dogan News Agency, a Turkish bureau.

A Russia Today video shows an exchange on an Istanbul side street between protesters and Turkish military police – the former lobbing fire bombs, the latter decamping from blue vans and firing tear gas canisters.

Similarly the image of an overturned police car has circulated on Twitter, along with the claim that two Turkish policemen have been seriously wounded in an attack on a municipal police station in the Istanbul neighborhood of Bagcilar. Hundreds of photos available online show the streets of several Istanbul neighborhoods lined with flames.

Reports have surfaced of protests across the Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern Turkey. In the de facto capital city of Turkey’s Kurdish regions, violent clashes were reported “on every street.” In Mardin, a large public bust of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was torn down, and six police cars were set afire. In Van, where large signs calling for awareness of Kobani’s desperate situation appeared in the past week, protesters clashed with Turkish police.

Solidarity protests have been reported in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, as well as outside the Dutch parliament in Amsterdam and the Austrian parliament in Vienna, where Kurdish diaspora populations are rallying behind the Kurdish military stand in Kobani.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Chikungunya in the United States
Spread by mosquitoes, chikungunya first appeared in the Americas late last year and has since spread rapidly to other areas of the hemisphere. There are now confirmed cases in the continental United States.  

There Will Be Pestilences: Why Are So Many Deadly Diseases Breaking Out All Over The Globe Right Now?
Ebola, Marburg, Enterovirus and Chikungunya - these diseases were not even on the radar of most people coming into 2014, but now each one of them is making headline news. 

Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies at Dallas hospital
The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. has died, a Dallas hospital announced minutes ago. Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who recently traveled from West Africa to Dallas, had been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas since Sept. 28.

Political Cartoons - Political Humor, Jokes, and Pictures
Political cartoon of the day. Most interesting.  

Double-reverse on Ebola military mission
Rodriguez said: “These are the U.S. troops that will be involved testing directly people in Liberia suspected of having the disease.” Meanwhile, the Daily Observer of Monrovia, Liberia, reported Tuesday that eight Liberian soldiers who contracted the Ebola virus have died.  

Do You Know This Terrorist? FBI Asks Public for Help with ISIS
Crowdsourcing may be the key to prosecuting foreign nationals fighting in Syria, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) revealed Tuesday, as it asked for the public's help identifying an Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist. “We need the public's assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas,” said Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI’s Counter-terrorism Division.  

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
The full Moon turned red on Wednesday morning, Oct. 8th, when it passed almost directly through the shadow of Earth.

Rabbi vows to continue gay conversion therapy
According to Rabbi Aviner, the reality on the ground proves that conversion therapy is efficient and that men who have undergone such treatment are "happy, love their wives and have children and good, normative families.  

Letter from Fayetteville: Why this military town is having second thoughts
But behind the gung-ho, business-as-usual attitude, it’s not hard to detect a sense of weariness and frustration about the prospect of another open-ended conflict that could drag on for years.  

Syrian rights groups call on world to save Kobani
Several Syrian human rights groups have issued a dramatic appeal, calling on the world to save the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the Islamic State group. The appeal came as more fighting was underway on Wednesday in the town on the Syria-Turkish border. The town is also known under its Arabic name of Ayn Arab.  

At LEAST 10 ISIS Fighters Have Been Apprehended At US Border
California U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter made the alarming claim Tuesday that at least ten fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have been apprehended trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border.  

Spain quarantines 3, plans to euthanize Ebola nurse's pet dog
Health officials scrambled Tuesday to figure out how West Africa's Ebola outbreak got past Europe's defenses, quarantining four people at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nursing assistant became infected. Determined to contain the spread of the deadly virus, they even announced plans to euthanize the woman's pet dog.  

Sierra Leone burial crews reportedly on strike, leaving Ebola victims in the street
Burial teams in Sierra Leone reportedly went on strike over lack of hazard pay this week, leaving the bodies of victims of the Ebola outbreak in the country's streets.  

UN warns of pending 'massacres' as ISIS closes in on Syrian city
A UN official warned of pending "humanitarian tragedies" and pleaded desperately with the world to intervene on behalf of Kurds trapped in a Syrian city near the Turkish border, as Islamic State fighters stood on the brink of taking it.  

Throwing Barack Obama Under the Bus
Barack Obama is now about to meet the underside of Hillary Clinton’s bus. The only chance Hillary Clinton has of winning in 2016 is to blame shift to Barack Obama and sacrifice him for the good of the party.  

New Wellington fault line could produce 7.1 quake
The Aotea Fault so far measured 2km long and ran from Oriental Parade to Westpac Stadium, said National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (Niwa) marine geologist Philip Barnes. However, data shows the fault could be up to 30km in length, running onshore across the city to the Cook Strait on the southern shoreline, he said.  

URGENT - Mexico earthquake
A 6.2-magnitude quake struck northeast of San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey said.  

Islamic State group flier claims responsibility for Gaza attack
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a Tuesday night explosion at the French Cultural Center in Gaza City, according to an unverified proclamation published Wednesday morning in the Strip. ...Around midnight local time, several explosions rocked the French Cultural Center, causing damage but no casualties. The center resides in an upscale new building built two years ago.  

Syria declares new chemical weapons facilities
The UN Security Council has been told that Syria has revealed for the first time the existence of four more chemical weapons facilities. Three of the sites are for research and another is for production. Correspondents say the announcement heightens concerns that the Syrian government has not been fully open about its chemical weapons programme.  

Facebook, Twitter and Google to attend EU anti-extremist meeting
A "private" dinner between tech firms and government officials from across the EU is to take place on Wednesday. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss ways to tackle online extremism, including better cooperation between the EU and key sites. Twitter, Google, Microsoft and Facebook will all be attending in Luxembourg.  

Australian PM seeks to block visas for 'hate preachers'
Australia's PM Tony Abbott has said he wants visa rules tightened so preachers of extremist ideologies will be refused entry into the country. He said the proposed legal amendments would also make it a crime to "promote terrorism" in Australia and make it easier to ban extremist groups. Australia has been on high alert for terrorist attacks and has conducted anti-terror raids in recent weeks.  

Hezbollah sends message to Israel: No more carte blanche for the IDF in Lebanon
Hezbollah is not interested in war with Israel, but is striving to achieve a balance of deterrence against it. This is the conclusion from the blast of the two explosive devices on Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) on Tuesday. The devices were laid a while ago, and on Tuesday Hezbollah commanders decided to activate them. Fortunately, only two soldiers were lightly injured, and therefore the IDF’s response was moderate...  

'Blood Moon' set to wow skywatchers
A total lunar eclipse will be visible across much of the Americas and Asia in the coming hours. The eclipse starts at 08:00 GMT (04:00 EDT), reaching totality just before sunrise at 10:25 GMT (06:25 EDT). During the eclipse - which is the second to occur this year - our only natural satellite will be fully covered by the Earth's shadow.  

Ebola crisis leaves Dallas a city on edge
Leaders are urging calm, but Dallas is a city on edge as it approaches the first Ebola incubation deadline this week. Several residents of the neighborhood where the first U.S.-diagnosed case of Ebola was found told city officials they'd been sent home from work. Some community volunteers shunned a nearby after-school program. And the hospital at the epicenter of fear acknowledged for the first time that some patients were staying away.  

Syria conflict: Jihadist rebels abduct Franciscan friar
Roman Catholic priest and about 20 of his parishioners have been abducted by jihadist rebels in north-western Syria. Father Hanna Jallouf was taken from the convent in the village of Knayeh by members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front on Sunday, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said.  

Vietnam tanker missing, likely hijacked by pirates
A maritime watchdog agency says a Vietnamese tanker carrying gas oil has lost contact and may have been hijacked by pirates after leaving Singapore port almost a week ago.  

Turkey says Syria town about to fall as Islamic State advances
Turkey's president said on Tuesday the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani was "about to fall" as Islamic State fighters pressed home a three-week assault that has cost a reported 400 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes.  

Israel PM orders new legislation against illegal immigrants
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered ministers on Tuesday to draft new legislation to tackle illegal immigrants after the High Court overturned a law allowing their extended detention without trial.  

Israel Asks UN to Act to Disarm Hezbollah
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israel-Lebanon border

Flash 90

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Ron Prosor, on Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to act to disarm the Hezbollah terrorist group, following its attack on Israeli soldiers along the border a day earlier.

In a letter to the Security Council, Prosor pointed out that the Lebanese-based group blatantly violates the ceasefire with Israel that was reached at the end of the Second Lebanon War through a UN resolution.

"The Lebanese government is responsible for the fire towards Israel, and it must stop the spread of terrorism in its territory. Hezbollah is a threat to international peace and security," he wrote.

Israel “will not allow its citizens to be harmed,” Prosor stressed in the letter, calling on the Security Council, “Disarm Hezbollah and uproot the long arms of Iran and Syria from Lebanon.”

Tuesday’s bomb explosion wounded two IDF soldiers, and Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by the "martyr Hassan Ali Haidar unit," which is named for a Hezbollah member killed on September 5 when an Israeli listening device in Lebanon was detonated remotely as he tried to dismantle it.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said Tuesday evening that the attack was meant to demonstrate the group’s ability to “respond to Israeli violations” and reiterated that his group is prepared to fight Israel if necessary.

ISIS Flags in Galilee Means Government Must 'Pay Attention'
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A fighter of the Islamic State (ISIS)

Reuters

The mayor of Nazareth Illit, Alex Gadalkin, spoke to Arutz Sheva about the trove of Islamic State (ISIS) flags found in his city earlier this week, noting that he hopes the incident will soon be resolved - and forgotten. 

"We hope that security forces quickly find who did it, and that we can put this incident behind us," Gadalkin stated Tuesday morning. "It is not pleasant to wake up and see the morning begin with the name 'Nazareth Illit' associated with such an event."

On Monday morning, city employees found a bag of roughly 25 small flags bearing the logo and inscription of the brutal terror organization on the side of a major road. 

Police have launched an investigation into the incident, which surfaces amid ISIS 'hysteria' in Israel. 

Israeli Arab communities have flown ISIS flags; likewise, two Israeli Arabs have been arrested for being involved with the group - one for possessing propaganda and one for physically fighting for ISIS in Syria. 

Nazareth Illit: 'Jewish Capital of the Galilee'?

Gadalkin's concern over the ISIS flag incident is less of an issue of security than an issue of image, however, as he is striving to make it the "Jewish capital of the Galilee." 

"This is a city that is developing," Gedeklin stated. "It should be the Jewish capital of the Galilee, and we are trying to promote many projects, including the construction of a new neighborhood." 

He said that despite the efforts, not all ministers have responded to his requests for help. "Sometimes we run into closed doors," he lamented. "It is important that the government pay attention to what's going on in the Galilee."

"They speak a lot about building up the center of the country, but to tell the truth: Jews are a minority here," he said. "I have knocked on a lot of doors. Some ministers are eager to help, some not - some don't even know where Nazareth Illit is."

Nazareth Illit has become something of a focal point for tensions between Jews and Israeli Arabs over the past year.

Gedeklin has clashed with local Arab mayors before over raucously loud muezzin (prayer siren) calls from nearby Muslim villages, especially on Israel's Memorial Day. 

More recently, the city has become known for being the residency of 17-year-old Israeli Arab teen Mohammed Zoabi, the cousin of anti-Israel MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), who spoke out against the murderers of Israeli teens Naftali Frankel (16), Eyal Yifrah (19), and Gilad Sha'ar (16), hy"d.

Zoabi, who already attended a Jewish school due to his views, was eventually forced to leave his home due to threats to his life for his loyalties.

Intelligent Design
Oct 8th, 2014
Commentarycreationmoments.com
Categories: Creation - Evolution

The modern Intelligent Design (ID) movement generally is held to have had its beginning in the early 1980’s. The Mystery of Life’s Origin by Thaxton, Bradley and Olson was published in 1984 as well as Denton’s Evolution: A Theory in Crisis in 1985. So thinking in an ID direction was mounting! During the early 1990’s, spurred by writings of lawyer Phillip Johnson and mathematician-scientist William Dembski, the movement exploded and has impacted the world community.

Now we recognize on the basis of universal human experience that the concept of ID is prominent in the thinking of everybody whether they realize it or not. Evidence of order and useful complexity point toward ID. In a person’s home or office virtually everything one sees has been intelligently designed and created—chairs, clocks, windows, pencils, and rugs. This is inescapable! My wife and I used to live near a region formerly inhabited by American Indians, and we would look for arrowheads. These intelligently designed and chipped artefacts could be distinguished virtually without exception from stones worn or broken by forces of nature.

An excellent example of ID from biological science is the origin of life even with its most basic composition. Currently the most simple living thing (a mycoplasma) has 468 proteins each consisting of an average of about 250 units. According to all that is known concerning reactions in chemistry and physics, not even one protein could be formed just by the forces of nature. To synthesize 468 “cooperating” proteins can be compared to the probability of winning 468 lotteries simultaneously! In addition to proteins, large nucleic acid molecules (DNA and RNA) and complex carbohydrates are needed in all living cells. We can say without hesitation that on the basis of all we know from science today, life could not originate by natural forces. Something more would have been required.

This may not absolutely prove that life could not have originated only by forces in nature, but to any reasonable person the implications clearly are that something else is necessary. It is absolutely logical within a scientific framework to recognize that Intelligent Design and creation are involved. Some scientists today are resisting this idea because they seem to think it is an argument from ignorance (or only gaps in current knowledge). I admire scientists who are working on this issue. I myself have spent years doing basic research with the “chemicals of life.” Now I recognize that the evidence for ID is compelling, but many of the thousands of scientists who also believe as I do, think that the general scientific community needs to become more realistic and at least admit ID as a possibility.

Other examples involving ID are the human brain, precise distance of earth from the sun (closer we roast, more distant we freeze), and even forensic investigations. When American Airlines flight 587 crashed on 12 November 2001 was it because of natural aerodynamic forces or sabotage (ID)? In this particular case evidence showed it to be the former, thus falsifying an ID hypothesis.

“Intelligent Design” thinking is unquestionably a human attribute, and the current ID scientific emphasis is making us all more aware of this fact. Think about it!!!

During An Ebola Pandemic All of Your Rights Would Essentially be Meaningless
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

If there is a major Ebola pandemic in America, all of the liberties and the freedoms that you currently enjoy would be gone. If government officials believe that you have the virus, federal law allows them to round you up and detain you "for such time and in such manner as may be reasonably necessary." 

In addition, the CDC already has the authority to quarantine healthy Americans if they reasonably believe that they may become sick. During an outbreak, the government can force you to remain isolated in your own home, or the government may forcibly take you to a treatment facility, a tent city, a sports stadium, an old military base or a camp. 

You would not have any choice in the matter. And you would be forced to endure any medical procedure mandated by the government. 

That includes shots, vaccines and the drawing of blood. During such a scenario, you can scream about your "rights" all that you want, but it won't do any good.

In case you are tempted to think that I am making this up, I want you to read what federal law actually says. The following is 42 U.S.C. 264(d). I have added bold for emphasis...

(1) Regulations prescribed under this section may provide for the apprehension and examination of any individual reasonably believed to be infected with a communicable disease in a qualifying stage and (A) to be moving or about to move from a State to another State; or (B) to be a probable source of infection to individuals who, while infected with such disease in a qualifying stage, will be moving from a State to another State. Such regulations may provide that if upon examination any such individual is found to be infected, he may be detained for such time and in such manner as may be reasonably necessary. For purposes of this subsection, the term “State” includes, in addition to the several States, only the District of Columbia.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term “qualifying stage”, with respect to a communicable disease, means that such disease—

(A) is in a communicable stage; or

(B) is in a precommunicable stage, if the disease would be likely to cause a public health emergency if transmitted to other individuals.

In addition, as I discussed above, the CDC already has the authority to isolate people that are not sick to see if they do become sick. The following is what the CDC website says about this...

Quarantine is used to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms. Quarantine can also help limit the spread of communicable disease.

On a very basic level, we are already starting to see this happen in Texas. Obviously Thomas Eric Duncan has already been "isolated", and now his family has been placed under mandatory quarantine and ordered not to leave their home for 21 days...

Texas health officials have placed the Dallas family of a Liberian national infected with Ebola under quarantine and ordered them not to leave their home or have any contact with outsiders for 21 days without approval of the local or state health department.

The "control order" also requires the family of Thomas Eric Duncan to be available to provide blood samples and agree to any testing required by public health officials. Officials said Thursday that the four or five family members could face criminal charges for violating the order, which was delivered to them in writing Wednesday evening.

Police have been stationed at the apartment complex to ensure residents' safety, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told a news briefing Thursday afternoon.

If we could all just stay in our homes during a national Ebola emergency, that wouldn't be so bad.

But if thousands (or even millions) of cases start popping up it simply will not be possible for law enforcement authorities to monitor so many homes.

This is a point that Mike Adams of Natural News made exceptionally well...

When just one family is suspected of carrying Ebola, they can be easily monitored in a "volunteer home isolation" scenario. But what happens when it's 100 families? 500? 1,000? At that point, there aren't enough state or federal workers to keep an eye on these people, and the quarantine effort will almost certainly shift to forced relocation into quarantine camps.

Those camps will, of course, be called something nice-sounding like "Community Health Centers." No one in government or media will call them camps, even though they are camps. The word "camp" brings up echoes of "concentration camps" and the government definitely wants to avoid that association.

If one particular town or city is hit especially hard with the virus, there is a likelihood of the entire town being quarantined. No one in, no one out. Everybody will be ordered to "shelter in place" in their own homes for at least 21 days while health workers wearing hazmat suits go door to door, identifying Ebola victims and "relocating" them to the "Community Health Centers."

If that sounds like "martial law" to you, that is because it would essentially be martial law.

For the moment, public health authorities are pledging that nothing like this will ever happen because they have everything completely under control.

Others are not so sure.

For example, on Thursday a doctor from Missouri named Gil Mobley checked in for a flight at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport dressed in a mask, goggles, gloves, boots and a protective white jumpsuit. On the back of the jumpsuit, he had written the following words: "CDC is lying!"

Mobley believes that we are not being told the truth about the spread of Ebola. And he is convinced that as Ebola continues to spread exponentially, that we will eventually "be importing clusters of Ebola on a daily basis"...

“Once this disease consumes every third world country, as surely it will, because they lack the same basic infrastructure as Sierra Leone and Liberia, at that point, we will be importing clusters of Ebola on a daily basis,” Mobley predicted. “That will overwhelm any advanced country’s ability to contain the clusters in isolation and quarantine. That spells bad news.”

Mobley, a Medical College of Georgia graduate who had an overnight layover after flying to Atlanta from Guatemala on Wednesday, said that he feels that the CDC is “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to screening passengers arriving in the United States from other countries.

“Yesterday, I came through international customs at the Atlanta airport,” the doctor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The only question they asked arriving passengers is if they had tobacco or alcohol.”

Earlier on Thursday, there were reports of people being tested for Ebola in Hawaii, Kentucky and Utah. None of those tests has produced a confirmed case of Ebola as I write this article.

Many Americans are still treating this Ebola crisis as if it was just one big joke.

But Ebola is no joking matter. This is a very, very serious disease.

Just consider the experience of one British health worker that witnessed a young brother and sister both die one day apart...

'The next morning I came in and saw him lying as I had left him, on the bed.

'He wasn't breathing. I remember going up to him and looking at his face, his lips were drawn back in a grimace, and his eyes were vacant, lying in a pool of his own diarrhea.

'I lifted his hand to try, just to confirm things and his whole body turned rigid and cold.

'I put him in a body bag as his sister looked on.

'She seemed more baffled than anything, not really understanding what was happening. I carried his corpse outside with the others.

'The little girl, she deteriorated the next day. Overnight, the following night she had intravenous fluids and the line came out and she bled.

'I came in the following morning and she was covered in blood. She still had a very puzzled expression on her face and she wasn't breathing.

'So I put her in a bag and left her next to her brother. She was a beautiful little girl.'

Hopefully our medical authorities are correct and this virus will not spread easily in this country.

But at this point even some of our top politicians are wondering if we are truly getting accurate information. For example, check out what U.S. Senator Rand Paul had to say on the Laura Ingraham Show just recently...

“I really think that it is being dominated by political correctness and I think because of political correctness we’re not really making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this.” Paul said referring to statements issued by the CDC last week that assured there was little risk of an outbreak occurring in the US.

“We should not underestimate the transmissibility of this,” said Paul, a doctor himself, adding that medical workers have been contracting the virus even though they are taking precautions and covering themselves with gowns and masks.

“My suspicion is that it’s a lot more transmissible than that if people who are taking every precaution are getting it. There are people getting it who simply helped people get in or out of a taxicab.” Paul said.

Let's pray that this crisis fizzles out, because if it doesn't, we could truly be looking at the greatest health crisis that any of us have ever seen.

And along with countless numbers of people getting sick and dying, we would also have to deal with government-imposed medical martial law.

The stakes are extremely high, and so let us hope that this crisis does not escalate any further.

Cyprus Suspends Unity Talks With Turkey
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines

The President of Cyprus suspended unity talks with Turkish Cyprus, in response to Turkey’s decision to search for gas in part of the Mediterranean Sea that government in Cyprus is permitted to drill in.

“The government in Cyprus called Turkey’s decision ‘Provocative and aggressive.’”

Canada to Send Aircraft to Fight Isis in Iraq
Oct 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Canadian parliament

Reuters

Canada’s House of Commons has voted in favor of sending Canadian aircraft and personnel to join coalition airstrikes in Iraq against the “Islamic State” (ISIS).

The vote took place on Tuesday night, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

"We do not take this step lightly. The threat posed by [ISIS] is real," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement released shortly after the motion passed 157-134.

"If left unchecked, this terrorist organization will grow and grow quickly. They have already voiced their local and international terrorist intentions and identified Canada as a potential target," he warned.

Six CF-18 fighter-bombers, two CP-140 surveillance planes, one aerial tanker aircraft and 600 personnel have been tapped to join coalition airstrikes in Iraq for up to six months, pursuant to the motion before the Commons.

Harper stressed Canadian troops would not be involved in ground combat against ISIS.

"I think this is absolutely the right thing to do, and the right time to do it," Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters on his way out of the vote in Ottawa, saying the government has "great confidence" in the ability of men and women in uniform.

In a written statement released after the vote, Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair accused the government of "plunging Canada into a prolonged war without a credible plan to help victims of [ISIS] terror," and "opening the door" to getting Canada involved in the "bloody" Syrian civil war, according to the CBC.

Employment Minister Jason Kenney said the Opposition had departed from the international "consensus" on the need to stop ISIS.

"Every social democratic party in the developed world, certainly in Northern Europe, has supported military action," he said, citing examples from Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

"Parties of the mainstream left across the democratic world understand that you have to use hard power occasionally to defend innocents,” Kenney added.

"I think there's been some tortured reasoning going on here," he said. "I think regrettably it has a lot more to do with politics than with principle."

Mulcair's New Democrats had proposed an amendment to overhaul the motion entirely and switch the focus to supplying arms to local fighters battling ISIS and increasing humanitarian support.

Harper, who is known for his hawkish views with regards to terrorism, said several weeks ago that ISIS is a direct threat to Canada and the world, and therefore Canada will take part in the coalition against the group.

The Prime Minister’s move was met by sharp criticism from Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau acknowledged that ISIS is a "threat to regional and global security" in a recent speech, but added, "Mr. Harper has made no effort to build a non-partisan case for war," claiming a parallel to the 2003 Iraq war he termed the "Iraq fiasco."