Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

[FBIS] Why Churches Should Have Special Prayer for America‏
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily Newswww.wayoflife.org
Categories: Exhortation;Moral Decline

In light of the frightful conditions we are observing, one would think that every Bible-believing church in America would be on its knees in special and fervent prayer for the nation. But this is not happening. Far from it. I don't know of any churches that are taking the situation seriously enough for special prayer. It would appear that they don't believe that the situation is truly grim, or they don't believe that prayer can accomplish anything in this particular situation.

Following are some of the reasons why I believe the situation is truly grim and that unless we get hold of God in prayer, we are in deep trouble.

 1. Our constitutional freedoms are rapidly disappearing. In my lifetime we have lost constitutional liberty within wide swaths of society, particularly those parts of society that are under government control. We have lost our constitutional liberty in the public schools at all levels. Go to any government-funded school or college or university and try teaching that homosexuality is a moral abomination, that evolution is a lie, that the world was made in six days by Almighty God, that abortion is murder, that sex outside marriage is a sin, that there is only one way of salvation and those who reject Christ go to an eternal hell, and that Islam is a false religion that preaches a false Christ and that demands violent jihad to conquer the world for Allah. We have lost our constitutional freedoms in business. Business owners are not at liberty to say what they please or to practice their religion if such speech and religion contract government-approved humanistic thought and "morality." We have lost our constitutional freedoms in the military. I have friends who have resigned from the chaplaincy because there is no longer the liberty for even a chaplain to speak biblical truth in the military. We have lost our constitutional freedoms at the Supreme Court. It is the Supreme Court which has greatly restricted freedom of speech and freedom of religion, which has replaced the beautiful Bill of Rights with its own constructs such as the mythical freedom of privacy and separation of church and state. 

2. The majority of U.S. citizens are ill informed and misinformed. More sound education is available today than ever before to inform people of the truth about every major issue, including the Bible, human origins, the economy, and Islam, but the average citizen is not interested. If he gets any news, it is the brief news report from a rock or sports radio station, which is mere liberal propaganda.

3. A corner has been turned in America, whereby a majority of public opinion is set in opposition to the Bible's teaching on such things as fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and hell. 

4. Most professing Christians are unregenerate and are in love with the world. 

5. The wicked pop culture has captivated the hearts of the vast majority of "Christian" youth even in the best of churches.

6. America's financial ruin is on the horizon.

7. Islam is making rapid gains. Foolish judges have ruled that Sharia law can be practiced in America. Islamic propagandists have succeeded in foisting the lie that Islam is a religion of peace and that the terrorists are "extremists." They have succeeded in making it impossible to teach the truth about Islam's history and character in government schools, the military, and other government agencies and nearly impossible to teach this truth in any public setting. 

8. Homosexuals have gained great power, and they intend to shut the mouths of Bible Christians in every public sphere. Public opinion has swung in favor of moral perversion.

9. Decades of conservative political action hasn't turned the tide. The millions of hours of conservative talk radio, of Fox News broadcasts, the blogs, the bragging fervor of Moral Majorities and Tea Parties, the bombastic noise from shrill conservative women -- it has done nothing to keep the most wicked individuals from holding power over the nation or to halt the slide to destruction. 

10. The majority of conservative, Bible-believing churches are barely holding their own if not dying. The churches that are prospering are rare. As a rule, the Bible-believing churches are seeing few converts, have few members that are true disciples of Christ, have few young people who are seeking God's will, and are producing few preachers. Most of the strong preachers are older. Most of the young ones are moving rapidly in a contemporary direction. 

11. The most conservative church movement in the nation is rapidly giving up separation and becoming worldly. When I was saved in 1973 at age 23, I joined an independent Baptist church because it was different from the worldly, lukewarm Southern Baptist Convention in which I grew up. Independent Baptists practiced ecclesiastical separation and separation from the world without apology. They rejected "Christian" rock music unequivocally. But we are witnessing an upheaval. We are witnessing a great blending. Today the average independent Baptist church has given up on separation and is little different from a Southern Baptist congregation. 

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN, AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; THAT WE MAY LEAD A QUIET AND PEACEABLE LIFE IN ALL GODLINESS AND HONESTY. FOR THIS IS GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD OUR SAVIOUR; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Scientists: Nevada Earthquake Cluster is Biggest in Decade
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsRGJ
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

(Photo: David B. Parker/RGJ )

Scientists in Reno and across the West are keeping a close eye on an earthquake cluster shaking a remote area where Nevada meets Oregon and California, acknowledging the series of temblors that continued Tuesday could be the precursor of a larger earthquake to come.

There is, of course, no way to know for sure.

"This is kind of the gold medal of swarms over the last decade," said Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.

Already, Kent said, this latest swarm has surpassed a previous Nevada earthquake swarm that shook the Mogul area west of Reno in 2008, another that hit Spanish Springs last year and a third that impacted the Hawthorne area in 2011.

Since mid-July, more than 500 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or greater have hit an area located west of Nevada's Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge about 40 miles northeast of Cedarville, Calif., and 40 miles southeast of Lakeview, Ore. The swarm increased in intensity last week, with the strongest quake of magnitude 4.7 hitting Nov. 5. Quakes have continued this week, with several exceeding magnitude 3.

"It's certainly more vigorous than the Mogul swarm," Kent said, adding that should a quake of magnitude 6 or greater occur, towns like Cedarville and Lakeview could be significantly affected.

Kent and colleagues see some parallels to this cluster and the one that rattled nerves of residents in the Mogul-Somersett area over two months in 2008. That swarm consisted of an "increasingly vigorous" set of quakes, causing moderate local damage, that culminated with a magnitude 5 event.

Dean and Sandy Jung examine one of many cracks that occurred at their Mogul home during an earthquake swarm in 2008. A new swarm of quakes now occurring on the Oregon line is “more vigorous” than that event, seismologists say. (Photo: RGJ file )

"The general trend over time is the largest magnitude in each burst is larger than the largest magnitude in the last burst," Kent said. "In the next one do we get a 5-plus? Obviously no one knows that answer."

Some scientists have speculated groundwater is slowly percolating along faults in the area of the latest cluster, making fault movement more likely. Kent isn't convinced groundwater is a major factor.

"I don't know that there is anything special (about groundwater) in that area," Kent said. "It's just another example of these swarms that seem to plague this area."

The same remote characteristics that make it difficult for seismologists to install equipment to study the latest cluster also limit the amount of attention it is getting from the public. Were the area as densely populated as west Reno, the swarm would be getting as much or more attention than the swarm that hit there six years ago, Kent said. It would also be of greater concern, he said.

Kent noted that for the last 60 years or so, Nevada – one of the nation's three most seismically active states – has been relatively quiet when it comes to earthquakes. Other periods farther back in history have produced more quakes, some of them strong, including in the Reno area.

"We are actually in a very quiet period where a few of these swarms get our attention," Kent said. "There has been a lot more activity in the past and we just have to keep that in mind."

Russia Inks Deal to Build Two Nuclear Plants in Iran
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Age
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sergei Kiriyenko (right), head of the Russian state nuclear monopoly Rosatom, and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi shake hands during a signing ceremony in Moscow.

Moscow: Russia agreed on Tuesday to build two new nuclear-power reactors in Iran, with a possibility of six more after that, in a deal that greatly expands nuclear co-operation between the two countries.

The agreement shows that Russia is pressing ahead with its own vision for ensuring that Iran does not build nuclear weapons, by supplying civilian power technology that will operate under international monitoring. The approach won acceptance from the International Atomic Energy Agency and, grudgingly, from the Bush administration over the last decade as Russia completed Iran's first civilian nuclear plant, at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf coast.

The United States was initially critical of the Russian policy of providing civilian reactors to Iran, but later withdrew its objections. Russia agreed to complete the reactor, which was begun as a German project before the Iranian Revolution in 1979, on the condition that all the nuclear fuel used at the plant over its lifetime be supplied and reprocessed by Russian companies.

By demanding that Iran buy Russian reactor fuel, the authorities in Moscow deprived Iran of part of its justification for developing the ability to enrich uranium at home. But the deal has not halted the Iranian enrichment program. Iranian officials say they also require enriched uranium for medical purposes.

The United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other nations want the enrichment program to be shut down because the same industrial process, using centrifuges, can be used to produce materials for nuclear weapons. Critics of the Russian policy say any nuclear technology transfer to Iran is dangerous.

The director of the Russian state nuclear power company signed the agreement for the additional reactors in Moscow on Monday with his Iranian counterpart at a televised ceremony at the headquarters of the company, known as Rhizotomy.

The two new reactors will be of the pressurised water type and will be built next to the Bushehr plant, Rhizotomy said in a statement. Construction and fuel handling will be monitored by the IAEA, as it was for the existing plant, the company said.

After that, another two reactors could be built at Bushehr and four at a location still to be determined, it said.

Russia has built plants in India and is seeking more projects throughout South-east Asia. It is experimenting with reactors for small countries, and with models that could float on pontoons berthed in bustling Third World ports.

Preview of the Coming of the One World Religion for Peace:
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsRoger Oakland
Categories: One World Church

November 7 - Russell Moore, Rick Warren to Join ‘Pope Francis’ With Muslims, Buddhists for Interfaith Conference

Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Saddleback megachurch leader Rick Warren will team up with Roman Catholic Pontif Francis later this month for an interfaith Vatican conference on marriage and family.

“Complementarity of Man and Woman,” will be held Nov. 17-19 at the Vatican, and is expected to feature more than 30 speakers from over 20 countries. According to the Catholic News Service, those of the Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Jaina Shasana, Taoist and Sikh religions will be present, as well as Roman Catholics and professing Christians.

The event is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. “I hope that this gathering of religious leaders can stand in solidarity on the common grace, creational mandate of marriage and family as necessary for human flourishing and social good,” Moore wrote in a blog post this week entitled “Why I’m Going to the Vatican.” “I also hope that we can learn from one another about where these matters stand around the world.”
 
Rick Warren, the author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” has spoken glowingly of Pope Francis during several public interviews about the pontiff and the Roman Catholic religion.
 
“[Pope Francis] is doing everything right. You see, people will listen to what we say if they like what they see,” Warren stated on Catholic television network EWTN earlier this year. “His kissing of this deformed man, his loving the children, this authenticity, this humility, the caring for the poor; this is what the whole world expects Christians to do. And when they go, ‘Oh, that’s what a Christian does.’—In fact, there was a headline here in Orange County—and I loved the headline—I saved it. It said, ‘If you love Pope Francis, you’ll love Jesus.'”
 
Last year, Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries called Warren’s ecumenism with the Roman Catholic Church a “real tragedy.” “Right now, the Body of Christ doesn’t know whether to evangelize Roman Catholics or to join hands with them to go out and evangelize the world, [and] it’s because of people like Rick Warrren who either don’t know how exclusive the gospel of grace is, or he’s not aware of the false and fatal gospel of the Roman Catholic religion,” Gendron stated.
 
In addition to Warren and Moore, the upcoming Vatican conference will feature Wael Farouq, a Muslim and president of the Tawasul Cultural Center, top-ranking Mormon Henry B. Eyring and Manmohan Singh of the World Sikh Council. Conferences will include “The Cradle of Life and Love: A Mother and Father for the World’s Children” and “The Sacramentality of Human Love According to St. John Paul II.”
 
The meeting follows a recent synod featuring over 200 Roman Catholic bishops who gathered in Rome for two weeks to discuss marriage and family issues, such as homosexuality, cohabitation and divorce. The initial relatio released by the synod generated controversy and concern over its inclusive tone, as it stated that “[h]omosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community.” It was later left out of the submitted draft as a consensus could not be reached on the matter.

Netanyahu Warns U.S. Jews of Iranian Nuclear Threat
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsYNet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

In an address to Jewish Federations assembly, Israeli leader says Tehran wants sanctions lifted without dismantling atomic weapons program.

kIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to a conference of Jewish leaders in Washington, on Tuesday sternly warned against a possible international deal with Iran that would end sanctions but fail to stop it from getting nuclear weapons.
 
Netanyahu spoke in an address to the assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America by satellite from Jerusalem as the United States and five other powers worked to try to reach a deal with Iran by a self-imposed November 24 deadline.

 "It's obvious that Iran wants to remove the sanctions that have had such a devastating impact on its economy, but it should be equally obvious that Iran is not prepared to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return," he said.
 
Netanyahu's remarks fed into a growing political debate in Washington over a possible deal, with many Republicans, who won power in the Senate in elections last week, suspicious about an agreement and considering imposing even tougher sanctions.

 US and Israeli intelligence had failed to discover Iranian secret facilities in the past, and inspections had not prevented North Korea from building a nuclear weapon, he said. Iran denies its nuclear program is intended for military purposes.

Netanyahu said it would be a huge mistake to end sanctions and then rely on intelligence and international inspections to make sure Iran did not go ahead and develop nuclear weapons.

Military Creates Wearable Robots for Soldiers
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

The military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) lab creates stunning inventions that could help our service members stay one step ahead when answering the call of duty.

Those creative and skillful minds gave "CBS This Morning" a sneak peek at technology you may have thought only existed in your dreams, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid.

When Jason Kerestes goes for a run, he gets a boost from a strange contraption he wears on his back. He calls it "Airlegs."

"It basically makes you feel like you have bigger muscles," Kerestes said. 

Kerestes, a graduate student at Arizona State University, and Professor Tom Sugar, are developing the device for the Pentagon.

The power comes from a tank of compressed air which is connected by pulleys and electronic sensors to braces on the knees.

"We fire air and we pull up on the person's leg to give them assistance at the right time and then this goes back down and back up," Kerestes said. "It's helping you lift your leg so that it will help you run up stairs, it will help you run faster."

At this early stage it reduces the load by 10 percent. The goal is 25 percent, which they said will allow the average soldier or Marine to run a mile in four minutes.

"We do envision an entire platoon wearing wearable robots," Sugar said. "These robots will assist them while carrying 100 pound backpacks."

It's one of hundreds of projects at universities and companies across the country funded by DARPA -- an agency known as the Pentagon's team of mad scientists, that's a little like herding cats.

"Actually, if they're great scientists and engineers, that's exactly what it's like," DARPA director Arati Prabhakar said. "Because you want the people that have immense creativity and are off chasing great ideas."

DARPA was created in 1958 in response to the earth-shaking 1957 launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union.

"It was a huge wake-up call for the United States," Prabhakar said. "Our core mission is breakthrough technologies for national security."

For example, DARPA was behind some of the key, early research on stealth technology, allowing a U.S. aircraft to evade enemy radar.

But many of DARPA's brainstorms have had an enormous impact well beyond the military. 

"Forty-five years ago DARPA did this crazy experiment which was to hook a couple of computers together and have them talk to each other," Prabhakar explained. "That was the beginning of the ARPAnet which became the internet today."

DARPA has played a vital role in hundreds of technologies ranging from sophisticated prosthetic limbs for wounded warriors to GPS. They even developed many of the components in today's smart phones, including SIRI.

Some of DARPA's wildest ideas come from nature -- like their research on mini-robots.

Just as armies of ants work together to accomplish amazing things, DARPA hopes to create armies of mini-robots for micro-manufacturing.

The gecko also caught DARPA's attention because of its ability to climb walls. 

"It looks like he is hanging on with ten toes but when you zoom in what you find is there are about half a billion points of contact," Prabhakar said.

So DARPA created a gecko-like material that easily supports the weight of humans. 

In a never-before seen video, a Special Forces soldier uses it to climb straight up a wall -- a technology that could one day be used in hostage rescue missions.

The inventors of the "Airlegs" device hope it will not only help the military, but also one day give people with disabilities greater mobility.

Mali Confirms New Case of Ebola, Locks Down Clinic
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsFrance24
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The government of Mali confirmed the country’s second case of Ebola late on Tuesday and police deployed outside a clinic in the capital, Bamako, that authorities said had been quarantined.

In a statement via Twitter, Mali’s Information Minister Mahamadou Camara said “prevention measures” were being taken, but gave no details on the case. Local officials and diplomats said the new case was unrelated to the first one last month.

Mali became the sixth West African country to record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl from Guinea died in October. It has not recorded any confirmed cases since then and 108 people linked to the girl were due to complete their 21-day quarantine period on Tuesday.

Mali shares an 800 km (500 mile) border with Guinea, which alongside Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been worst affected by an Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people this year.

Medical officials and diplomats said Mali’s new Ebola case was a nurse who had been in contact with a man who arrived from Guinea and died in late October at the now locked down Pasteur Clinic.

One medical officer, who asked not to be identified, said the nurse who had Ebola died on Tuesday evening while another doctor was ill and had been quarantined. A government spokesman was not available to comment on the nurse’s reported death.

A Reuters reporter said that by nightfall police had deployed heavily in the area around the clinic, which is in the ACI 2000 neighbourhood and is considered among the city’s best.

The bodies of those who die with Ebola are contagious for up to three days after death, raising the risk of further infection if not dealt with properly.

Officials said the man believed to have brought the second case of Ebola to Mali was an imam from Guinea. He was not tested for Ebola while he was ill in Mali and his body was returned to Guinea without necessary precautions for the disease being taken, raising the prospect of further infections that will now have to be traced.

Let the Headlinews Speak
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Severely Distorted Thinking about the Temple Mount
A tendency towards violence is inherent in the Arab Muslim culture. We are not looking at a modern phenomenon, but at a situation that has persisted for centuries. We see it in the way children are treated in this society, and the fact that it is considered permissible if not necessary sometimes to kill women for the sake of family honor.  

Ukraine army prepares for possible rebel offensive: defense chief
Ukrainian government forces are redeploying in preparation for a possible new offensive by pro-Russian separatists in eastern regions, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said on Wednesday. He told a government meeting the rebels had received reinforcements despite a ceasefire that was agreed on Sept. 5 but has been repeatedly violated  

'Did the gates of Hell open up in Moscow?' ask Russian noses
Residents of Moscow began complaining early Monday of the "unpleasant smell of sulphur, hydrogen sulfide and oil products in the air," MosEcoMonitoring, an environment watchdog in Moscow, said in a statement.  

Gay Agenda Recruits Tony the Tiger in Pride Campaign
The American Family Association is taking to task the Kellogg Company, maker of numerous brands of children's breakfast cereals, for being a leading sponsor of the Atlanta Gay Pride march and festival last month. The iconic American brand even put an advertisement in the festival's "Pride Guide," advising gays to "wear your stripes with pride."  

Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had About 40 Wives
The Mormon church has admitted that founder Joseph Smith married about 40 women, including a 14-year-old and others who were already the wives of his followers, having maintained for nearly 200 years that he was monogamous.  

U.S. nurses to protest, strike over Ebola measures
Nurses across the United States will stage protest rallies and strikes on Wednesday over what they say is insufficient protection for health workers dealing with patients possibly stricken with the deadly Ebola virus.  

Israelis stock up on self-defense weapons 'preparing for attack'
"We’re sold out of everything!" an employee of an IDF weapons shop told the Jerusalem Post reporter. "It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this," he said, adding that "everyone" is buying the merchandise. Many Israelis are afraid to go outside without a knife in the pocket for fear they could be attacked at any moment.  

Mali Races to Contain Second Ebola Case
Mali, the fourth African country to wrestle with the continuing Ebola epidemic, scrambled on Wednesday to trace the contacts of a health-care worker who died of the virus in a new case that shows how the disease risks spreading across West African borders.  

Obama’s Ebola plans: A new boondoggle
The Obama Administration’s proposed $6.18 billion emergency package to combat the Ebola epidemic is drawing skepticism from conservative analysts who suggest the crisis is being used to jam a massive dose of spending through the lame-duck Congress before a Republican majority takes over both Senate and House next January.  

No Surrender on Immigration
Who will protect the nation, if not us? On Election Day, Americans roared in protest against the President’s open-borders extremism. They rallied behind candidates who will defend the rule of law and put the needs of American workers and families first.  

Russia optimistic over deal at nuclear talks with Iran
Russia believes there is a good chance of world powers reaching a deal with Iran on its nuclear programme by a Nov. 24 deadline, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday.  

COMET LANDING
No spacecraft has ever landed on a comet--until today. On Wednesday, Nov. 12th, the European Space Agency will drop a probe on the strangely-shaped core of Comet 67P.  

French parliament to vote on Palestinian state
French vote on Palestinian recognition is an attempt to 'gain definitive resolution of conflict', draft says, following similar British vote and Swedish declaration to acknowledge statehood.  

Netanyahu warns US Jews of Iranian nuclear threat
Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to a conference of Jewish leaders in Washington, on Tuesday sternly warned against a possible international deal with Iran that would end sanctions but fail to stop it from getting nuclear weapons.  

Secularism grows as more U.S. Christians turn ‘churchless’
If you’re dismayed that one in five Americans (20 percent) are “nones” — people who claim no particular religious identity — brace yourself. How does 38 percent sound? That’s what religion researcher David Kinnaman calculates when he adds “the unchurched, the never-churched and the skeptics” to the nones.  

Greece: new 4.1 magnitude earthquake hits Kefalonia
The Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory in Athens documented this morning a new earthquake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, which occurred about 12 kilometers north of Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia island.  

Magnitude 4.0 quake shakes parts of NW Montana
The U.S. Geological Survey picked up the earthquake at about 3:33 p.m. The temblor's epicenter was 31 miles northeast of Thompson Falls and 3.5 miles below the Earth's surface.  

National Cathedral to Host First Muslim Prayer
Washington National Cathedral is hosting a Muslim prayer service for the first time on Friday. Planners say they hope Friday's service at the historic cathedral will foster more understanding and acceptance between Christians and Muslims around the world.  

Exorcisms Are On The Rise: Priests Point To Growing Fascination With The Occult
Ouija board séances, marathon-watching “Long Island Medium” and reading witchcraft books may be common teenage obsessions...and for the Catholic Church, it may be the source of a growth industry in exorcisms... “From a faith perspective it may seem like the devil has upped his game, so to speak. I don’t think the devil has upped his game, but more people are inclined to play that game.”

White House says Obama is ‘looking forward’ to executive action on immigration
...Republicans won the Senate and full control of Congress in the midterm elections.. The president is reportedly about to counter with executive action on immigration reform... “The president is disappointed that this legislative solution won’t be achieved, but the president is looking forward to taking executive action on his own, to solve as many of these problems as he can,” Earnest said.  

US and China agree climate deal
The US and China on Wednesday (12 November) announced an unexpected climate deal in a move that may ease European industry fears that the EU's climate goals are risking its competitive edge. At a joint press conference in Beijing, president Barack Obama and president Xi Jinping announced what their countries, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, would do to limit climate change.  

Kentucky Baptists kick out gay-friendly church
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Baptists on Tuesday chose to sever ties with a Louisville church that is open to performing same-sex marriages. Baptist leaders from around the state gathering in Bowling Green for the Kentucky Baptist Convention's annual meeting voted overwhelmingly to end their longstanding relationship with Crescent Hill Baptist Church. The church's pastor, the Rev. Jason Crosby, has said the church is open to performing same-sex marriages and ordaining gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual members.  

Main Islamist group in Sinai pledges allegiance to Islamic State
Egypt's most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has sworn allegiance to Islamic State and emphasized its jihad against “the Jews”, according to an audio clip posted on its Twitter account on Sunday.  

Pope sets up commission to deal with sex abuse appeals
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has set up a new commission to handle appeals by priests who have been disciplined for sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said on Tuesday.  

Netanyahu: Iran is America’s enemy, not its partner
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US not to embrace Iran in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS), stating: “Iran is not a partner of America. It’s an enemy of America.” There have been suggestions that Iran can help solve the problem of extremism in the Middle East, but nothing could be further from the truth, said Netanyahu.  

Arctic blast hits Canada and US
Parts of Canada and the US Midwest have been getting their first blast of winter, sending temperatures plummeting by as much as 22C (40F) in days. The sharply cooler temperatures are a result of frigid air pushed in by a powerful storm that hit Alaska with hurricane-force winds. Parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan saw over a foot of snow overnight on Monday. And more than 150 flights were cancelled at the Minneapolis airport.  

China Turns Up the Rhetoric Against the West
BEIJING — Even as his government was making red-carpet plans to host President Obama this week, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, praised a young blogger whose writing is best known here for its anti-American vitriol.  

Between Crises: If and When Russia Fights ISIS
Moscow is clearly interested in expanding its economic cooperation with Israel. Russia appears willing to extend its strategic coordination and cooperation with Israel as part of its effort to increase its influence on events in the Middle East.  

Obama, Putin circle each other warily in China
BEIJING — On the surface, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were all niceties — a pat on the back here, a pleasantry there. But away from the cameras, the two leaders circled each other warily at a global summit in China, coming face to face while relations between their countries continue to deteriorate.  

Truce deal one of few ideas left for Syria peace
BEIRUT — Traction is growing for one of the few ideas left for peace in Syria's civil war: Work out a series of local cease-fires to try to quiet the bloodiest fronts around the country, without tackling the core issues of the conflict between President Bashar Assad's government and the rebels.  

Iraqi president in talks with 'brother' Saudi king
Riyadh - Iraqi President Fuad Masum arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night for talks with his "brother" King Abdullah, confirming a thaw in relations after years of strain.  

Russia's nuclear deal with Iran creates concern in West
Russia signed a nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday that prompted anxiety in the West because it appeared to open the way for Tehran to potentially supply domestically produced fuel for its own nuclear reactors. Officials of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear company, said they had agreed to build two more reactor units at the Russian-built nuclear power plant at Bushehr, Iran.  

Kerry Visits Jordan Amid Mounting Regional Tensions
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

John Kerry

Flash 90

US Secretary of State, John Kerry will be visiting the Middle East Wednesday under the shadow of escalating tension. 

His first stop will be in Jordan to discuss clashes in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount with King Abdullah II, according to a statement the US State Department issued. Kerry with also talk about the political situation in the region and the war against terror organization Islamic State (ISIS). 

He is expected to remain in Jordan for two days before continuing on to the United Arab Emirates. 

Jordan, in addition to the the Palestinian Authority, and now Turkey, has come out strongly against any sort of Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, essentially blaming recent terror attacks in Israel on Jewish provocation. 

On Sunday, Jordan's Prime Minister, Abdullah Nsur condemned Israeli action on the Temple Mount calling it "not the result of administrative errors or acts by a few extremists but rather a clear government plan to change the realities at the holy places." 

Although he did stress there were no plans to dismantle the 20-year peace treaty between the two countries. 

On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu attacked Israel harshly, as well. "Nothing will stop Turkey from defending Jerusalem the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he stated, warning that Israel could suffer an "attack" on the holiest of places. 

"Hence, I call again to Israel and its cruel leaders - do not dare to continue attacks on Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Even if all other nations remain silent, the Turkish government will not stand idly by. We will stand firmly against the Israeli soldiers defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which belongs to us."

'A devastating religious war'

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas also slammed Israel Tuesday with harsh criticism - a continuing trend - during a rally to mark ten years since the death of Yasser Arafat.

He argued that provocative actions in the region could lead the world into a devastating religious war. He called on the Israeli government to "abstain from its provocations", and stressed that Jerusalem will remain the eternal capital of Palestine.

"We will continue to protect the holy places and leave our people in there," he said. Abbas also made it clear that it is the right of Palestinians not to allow "settlers and IDF soldiers" to defile the holy places.

Also on Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the rising violence in Jerusalem and across the country, stressing that Israel, "will act firmly against escalation and perpetrators of terror."

"We find ourselves facing a wave of incitement and terror which we have faced since the State's establishment," he began his address, continuing on to outline new security measures. 

The steps will include "increasing forces in the field throughout Israel," "demolishing terrorists' homes, harsh punishments for rock-throwers, Molotov cocktail and fireworks attacks, fines against the parents of rock-throwers, outlawing the parties behind the terrorism and riots in Jerusalem, etc."

Jordanian Parliament: Israeli Terror Worse Than ISIS Terror
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Jordanian Parliament condemned the acts of security forces in places holy to Muslims on Temple Mount, calling them “Aggressive.”

The Parliament refused to respond to or condemn the desecration of the mosque by Arab rioters, who turned the prayer building into a terror stronghold against security forces, but said that “The terror, the murder and the destruction that Israel is ravaging every day against the ‘Palestinians’ and hold places are no less in severity than the level of terror of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS).”

Is the U.S.Prepared to Face a Military Challenge from China?
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

Indications are that the U.S has never in its history been so threatened by China’s advancing military prowess, as it is now. China’s overall strategy seems to be geared towards exploiting perceived U.S military weaknesses, rather than trying to compete with the U.S Pentagon on all war fronts. There is little optimism that the U.S is proactively develop counteraction strategies and warfare equipment that could serve as effective defense mechanisms against threats from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran, among other potential military aggressors.

According to a recent report published by thehill.com, the bipartisan U.S. China Commission is poised to release its annual report to Congress that details some of the specifics. China’s PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) has reportedly deployed two brigades of DF-21D ballistic missiles, infamously called “carrier killers.” The U.S. has no defensive system in its arsenal that could defeat the highly sophisticated DF-21D (Dong Feng 21Ds).

According to Sen. Colin Kenny (former chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense) in an article published in iPolitics.ca, China’s advantage in “the new military chess game” is well exemplified in the DF-21D. This fearsome weaponry is said to be the world’s first land-based missile system – capable of sinking aircraft carriers more than 1,500 kilometres away, or a bit more than the distance between Winnipeg and Vancouver. The DF-21Ds feature multiple warheads that can carry conventional or nuclear weapons.

Another indication of China’s intent with regards to nuclear capabilities was reported on about four months back. Businessinsider.com reported that China confirmed the existence of the long-rumored Dongfeng-41A next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, which can supposedly carry up to 10 nuclear warheads a distance of 12,000 kilometers.

According to thehill.com, of particular concern is China’s emphasis on nuclear capabilities, which the Obama administration has opted not to detail in its annual reports to Congress. This makes it seem like the Obama administration doesn’t want to put public pressure on the Chinese government for its aggressive military developments designed to threaten the U.S.

Frank Kendall, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics is said to recently have provided a document to Congressional staff laying out key warfare domains where the U.S. is losing superiority to China, such as:

• China could target the U.S. surface fleet and overseas bases at risk in the Western Pacific; 
• China could challenge U.S. dominance of the air by the year 2020;
• China is rapidly advancing in space and could prevent the functionality of U.S. satellites; 
• Chinese cyber assault on U.S. computer networks continue unabated.

Additionally, according to WantChinaTimes.com (quoting the latest report from the US Congress' US-China Economic and Security Review Commission), China's rapid military modernization is also altering the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific and could "engender destabilizing security competition" between countries such as Japan and India; while simultaneously exacerbating disputes over regional hotspots such as Taiwan, the Korean peninsula and islands in the East and South China seas. As the US is cutting its national defense budget, the US-Chinese military balance in the Asia-Pacific is tilting in favor of China. 

A major concern around this stated development is that while China is building up its naval power, American naval supremacy is declining and may eventually prove inferior to a challenge from its Chinese counterpart. The WantChinaTimes.com report concludes that the Congress report explicitly highlights the threat of China's military development – which may help those who advocate a higher national defense budget. Similarly, the Pentagon's report underlining the US military edge over China may be considered an attempt to cement the confidence of US allies in the region. 

So is the U.S really prepared to face a military challenge from China, or is she not? Many military analysts seem to favor the view that the U.S is still the hands-down favorite to win any major confrontation with China. Sadly, it may however not be until a war actually breaks out that it will become clear who has the upper hand, and who has been fooling who. By then, if the U.S will be proven not to be in a position to counter and win such a confrontation, the consequence may well be that the U.S military will end up fatally wounded into military insignificance – leaving “vultures” such as ISIS to gleefully pick up the pieces.

Iran Supreme Leader Touts 9 - Point Plan to Destroy Israel
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called over the weekend for the destruction of Israel, stating that the “barbaric” Jewish state “has no cure but to be annihilated.”

A plan titled “9 key questions about the elimination of Israel” was posted on his Twitter account Saturday night, using the hashtag #handsoffalaqsa, in reference to the recent tensions on the Temple Mount.

The sometimes grammatically awkward list explained the how and why of Khomeini’s vision for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state.

The first point stated that “the fake Zionist regime has tried to realize its goals by means of infanticide, homicide, violence & iron fist while boasts about it blatantly.”

Due to the above, Khomeini argued, “the only means of bringing Israeli crimes to an end is the elimination of this regime.”

However, he noted that destroying Israel would not mean the “massacre of the Jewish people in this region” but rather “the Islamic Republic has proposed a practical & logical mechanism for this to the international communities.”

The “proper way of eliminating Israel,” he suggested, is through a “public and organized referendum” for all of the “original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians, and Jews wherever they are…” However, “the Jewish immigrants who have been persuaded into emigration to Palestine do not have the right to take part.”

The resulting government would then decide if the “non-Palestinian emigrants” can remain in the country or should “return to their home countries.”

Khomeini charged the international community with overcoming the “usurper Zionist” objections to his “fair and logical plan.” Until the referendum, Israel should be confronted with “resolute and armed resistance.”

The Iranian leader also called for arming the people of the West Bank and Gaza to fight against Israel, and rejected “arbitration by UN or other international organizations” because “the fact that Yasser Arafat was poisoned and killed by Israel…proves that in the viewpoint of Israel ‘peace’ is simply a trick for more crimes and occupation.”

“This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated,” Khamenei wrote in an earlier tweet on Friday.

“West Bank should be armed just like #Gaza. Friends of Palestine should do their best to arm People in West Bank,” he declared in another.

The Iranian supreme leader first called for the arming of Palestinians in the West Bank in July, during the summer’s 50-day conflict.

How Many Americans Use the Internet to Spread Their Faith?
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Commentary

The Pew Research Center released new data this week that sheds light on how Americans use technology to publicly address their religious views.

According to the polling firm’s survey results, 20 percent of U.S. adults share their faith online during a regular week, with 46 percent of citizens reporting that they typically see another person talk about their religion as well.

The proportion of Americans who take to the Internet to share their faith is similar to the 23 percent who watch religious television, the 19 percent who listen to Christian rock music and the 20 percent who listen to religious talk radio during a given week, according to Pew.

White Evangelicals and Black Protestants Most Likely to Participate in Electronic Religious Activities

The research firm also found that 35 percent of respondents claim to attend church weekly, leading to the assumption that other actions — like listening to religious radio and watching TV — complement church attendance and do not generally take the place of it.

The Pew report did seem to find a tie between church attendance and those who share their faith online, as 31 percent of individuals who attend church weekly report sharing their religious views online as opposed to only 8 percent who rarely or never attend services and report doing the same.

Many of the faithful have also been sharing their views offline as well, with 59 percent of white evangelicals, 42 percent of black Protestants, 38 percent of Catholics and 34 percent of white mainline Protestants reporting that they shared their religious perspective with someone offline in the past week.

The data for this survey came from Pew’s American Trends Panel, “a nationally representative panel of randomly selected adults in U.S. households.”

Dept. Minister Tells Foreign Envoys: No Change to Temple Mount Status - Quo
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and Israel Police Chief Yohanan Danino held a briefing at the foreign ministry for foreign ambassadors Wednesday, and addressed the current political and security situation concerning the Temple Mount.

"In Israel (there is) freedom of religion and worship to all religions and a commitment to the wellbeing of holy places," Hanegbi said. "Israel protects and will continue to protect the status-quo on the Temple Mount and the special status of Jordan as the guardian of sites holy to Islam, and will oppose any attempt to change this."

"Any statements to the contrary are personal opinions which do not represent the position of the government of Israel," he continued, referring to some MKs and government ministers pushing for Jewish prayer rights.

Hanegbi also called out Palestinian incitement to violence during the meeting, which he blamed on Palestinian Authority officials and "Islamic extremists."

Christians Losing Everything to Islam
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution;Commentary

"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things"—Philippians 3:8. When St. Paul wrote the above in his letter to the Christians of Philippi, he and the early church were being persecuted (Paul was eventually executed in Rome). While today's Western Christians still quote his words in reference to their daily sacrifices, an increasing number of Christians around the world, especially the Muslim world, are indeed still losing absolutely everything for their faith.

In Uganda, in just a decade, matters have gone from bad to worse to murderous. The situation of Hassan Muwanguzi, for instance, a Muslim convert to Christianity — whose initial sacrifices are recorded in Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (page 131) — far from abating, have only gotten worse.

After he had earned a university degree in Islamic law and then, in 2003, when he was in his early 20s, converted to Christianity, his family immediately threw him out of their home. "Enraged Muslims" beat him. Later that same year, his wife left him and he lost his job as a teacher at Nankodo Islamic School, near Pallisa.

Those events were was just the beginning. Picking up the pieces of his life and moving on, he eventually opened a Christian school, Grace International Nursery and Primary School, near Muslim-majority Mbale. Since then, Hassan said, "The Muslims have tried to use all kinds of threats to make me close the school — first they used witchcraft. This did not work, so then they tried to discourage Muslims from bringing their children to the school. They said that the school was converting Muslim children to Christianity by teaching Christian Religious Education."

When all else failed, in 2011 an Islamic teacher, Sheikh Hassan Abdalla, filed a false charge claiming that Hassan had "defiled" the sheikh's young daughter. Together with his fellow Muslim countrymen, the Islamic cleric filed a case at the chief magistrate's court and Hassan was subsequently arrested and jailed for three weeks.

Because his accuser, Sheikh Abdalla, repeatedly failed to appear in court to testify, Hassan was released. In his words: "The judge found out it was a false accusation, hence the case was dropped. I had been subjected to humiliation, but I forgave them for the sake of my Christian outreach in the area."

The next Islamic attack came just a few months after Hassan was acquitted. First, the owner of the land on which Hassan had built his Christian school denied ever having sold it. This claim led to a court order to close down the school in May, 2012. The month after, in June, Hassan's home was burnt down by three Muslims:

"My family and I escaped from the house by grace, but if it had not been so, then by now we would be no more…. This attack was mobilized by Muslim sheikhs, imams and family members after hearing that I had converted to Christianity, after studying and completing university with a degree in Islamic law."

Less than a year later, on March 31, 2013, Hassan was hospitalized in Mbale after an aunt who had called a "family gathering" slipped some insecticide in his tea. According to Hassan:

"After eating and taking tea, I started feeling stomachache, then I realized that she was the one responsible for it—and I believe she did not do it alone, since they have been hunting for me directly and indirectly, because when I left them and converted to Christianity it pained them so much.... The reason they want to kill me is very clear—it is because of being a convert to Christianity; above all, to them it is like I brought shame by converting, as a [former] sheikh. But to God the Almighty Father, this was His plan for me to expand His Kingdom."

When Hassan arrived at the hospital, he had already vomited, "looked confused with slurred speech" and his "vision was getting very poor," so that "he could not even recognize the friend who brought him in," according to the doctor who treated him.

During the family meeting, when he first began to feel ill, he telephoned a local Christian leader who advised him to leave secretly: "I knew if he were to mention to them that he was getting sick, they would harm him more," said Bishop Kinyewa.

Most recently, on June 16, 2014, four Muslim men barged into his home; one of them shouting, "Today we shall kill you—you have been a trouble-maker and are not respecting our prophet's religion." The "apostate" fled into a room, thinking they would not hurt his young daughter, Grace Baruka. But then he heard the 12-year-old girl's cries, as the Muslim invaders were strangling her.

When he came out of the room they seized him: "They hit me with a blunt object, and I fell down. I just woke up and saw neighbors surrounding me, while wailing, saying that my daughter is in critical condition." Neighbors took Grace to a clinic but she was declared dead upon arrival. "I am regretting why I survived the poisoning," said Hassan. God could have allowed me to die. My daughter has died, and I am now mourning for her death as well [as] have pain all over my body."

While Hassan's ongoing experience with the relentless "Hound of Jihad" speaks for itself, the reality is that countless Christians around the world — both Muslim converts and born Christians — are quietly "losing everything" at the hands of Muslims, including family members, "local Muslims" and Islamic terrorist organizations.

According to a human rights activist who recently visited Christians fleeing the Islamic State's advance into Mosul, "People are severely traumatized: they have lost everything. Often they are fleeing for the second, third or even fourth time." One Iraqi Christian man, lamenting his ongoing struggles and sounding like Hassan told her: "Sometimes I wish my parents had never brought me into the world."

Not a month in the Muslim world goes by without attacks on churches. Many of these attacks — for example in Nigeria and Kenya — result in large casualties.

Not a month goes by without attacks on Christians accused, often without proof, of "blaspheming" or apostatizing from Islam.

This week in Pakistan, a pregnant Christian mother of four and her husband, falsely accused of burning pages of the Koran, were beaten by a Muslim mob and thrown into a kiln, a fiery oven at a brick factory, where they were roasted alive; and only a few months ago, Meriam Ibrahim, another Christian wife and mother who, while pregnant, was imprisoned in Sudan and sentenced to receive 100 lashes and then be executed on the charge of apostatizing from Muhammad's religion. Although she has been freed, Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American, is still being held in prison in Iran for apostasy and practicing his Christian faith. His case was apparently not even raised by the Americans negotiating with Iran on its nuclear weapons program.

In May, more than 200 Christian girls in Nigeria were captured by Boko Haram. "I abducted your girls, said its leader, Abubakar Shekau in May; "By Allah I will sell them in the marketplace" as slaves. In September, in Iraq, Christians fled as ISIS offered them the choice of converting or being killed.

The story of Uganda's Hassan Muwanguzi is just one account of what countless Christians and other minorities lose while living under Islam.

China Flight Tests New Stealth Jet During Obama Visit
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Chinese J-31 stealth fighter jet takes off for a demonstration flight ahead of the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2014, in Zhuhai city /

China’s military upstaged the Asian economic summit in Beijing this week by conducting flights tests of a new stealth jet prototype, as the White House called on Beijing to halt its cyber attacks.

Demonstration flights by the new J-31 fighter jet—China’s second new radar-evading warplane—were a key feature at a major arms show in Zhuhai, located near Macau, on Monday.

The J-31 flights coincided with President Obama’s visit to Beijing for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. In a speech and meetings with Chinese leaders, Obama called on China to curtail cyber theft of trade secrets.

China obtained secrets from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter through cyber attacks against a subcontractor for Lockheed Martin. The technology has shown up in China’s first stealth jet, the J-20, and in the J-31. Both of the jets’ design features and equipment are similar to those of the F-35.

The Chinese warplanes are part of a major buildup of air power by China that includes the two new stealth fighters, development of a new strategic bomber, purchase of Russian Su-35 jets, and development of advanced air defense missile systems. China also is building up its conventional and nuclear missile forces.

Meanwhile, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in Beijing Tuesday that the president would press China’s leader Xi Jinping to curb Chinese cyber espionage.

“Cybersecurity, of course, will be an important focus for the president, given some of our concerns related to cybersecurity and the theft of intellectual property,” Rhodes said in advance of Obama’s meeting Tuesday with Xi.

Rhodes defended the Justice Department’s May 1 indictment of five Chinese military hackers that prompted Beijing to cut off talks on cyber issues. “When we see things on cyber security where we have Chinese actions that disadvantage U.S. businesses or steal intellectual property, we’re going to be very candid about that,” he said.

Obama also was to discuss military exchanges with China that have been put in jeopardy by recent incidents involving threatening Chinese aerial and naval intercepts of U.S. surveillance aircraft and ships in the South China Sea.

“It’s incredibly important that we avoid inadvertent escalation and that we don’t find ourselves having an accidental circumstance lead into something that could precipitate conflict,” Rhodes said.

In a speech Monday in Beijing, Obama said he wants China to become a state that “rejects cybertheft of trade secrets for commercial gain.”

The J-31 flight testing during the summit highlights the Chinese military’s use of high-level U.S. visits to showcase new weaponry.

Military and defense analysts said China’s development of new warplanes poses a threat to regional stability.

“China is moving along at a very rapid pace in its fighter aircraft development and we should be concerned,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, who said the timing during the president’s visit was similar to the 2011 flight test of the J-20 during a visit by then Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

McInerney said Gates halted production of the most advanced U.S. jet fighter, the F-22, at 187 aircraft that “started us on the unilateral disarmament path that President Obama has America on.”

“Neither the J-20 or the J-31 will match the F-22 or F-35 in stealth performance but their successors will and we should be concerned as China is a looming economic and military power,” McInerney said. “They enjoy flaunting their power in front of American leaders who have exhibited weakness.”

In January 2011, China rolled out the J-20 for the first time during the visit to Beijing by Gates, who wrote in his recent memoir, Duty, that one of his aides called China’s timing for the J-20 disclosure “about as big a ‘fuck you’ as you can get.”

Rick Fisher, a specialist on the Chinese military with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the J-31 prototype flight at Zhuhai shows a high degree of confidence on the part of the manufacturer, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

“But Shenyang has also displayed a large model of an advanced development of the J-31, that it calls the FC-31,” he said. “The FC-31 shows key design refinements intended to increase platform stealth, or to increase radar reflectivity. These include new horizontal stabilizers, reshaped wings, and a revised rear fuselage area.”

The new advanced version of the jet also will include an electro-optical targeting device under its nose that is very similar to the F-35 targeting unit.

Fisher said the Chinese appear to intend the J-31 for foreign exports and to compete with foreign sales of the F-35 by offering it at a much lower price.

“The FC-31 gains points for a cleaner low observable configuration than the F-35.  What we do not know at this point is how their electronic systems compare.  While we might give the edge to the F-35 we also have to consider that China is rapidly developing similarly capable radar, targeting systems, and cockpit systems.

The J-31 also is expected to be launched on future Chinese aircraft carriers that will be equipped with catapult launch.

Fisher said the main challenge for the new jet is its engines, which are Russian-made turbofans. “China is now testing an indigenous turbofan for this fighter, but it is not known when it will be ready,” he said.

“But these are small obstacles, especially if Russia will continue to sell Shenyang the engines it requires,” Fisher said. “The FC-31 could become a military and a commercial threat to the F-35. Its well past time to be investing in a much better F-35 as well as a successor to the F-22.”

Li Yuhai, a general manager with the Aviation Industry of China, parent company of Shenyang Aviation, told the state-run Global Times that the J-31 is comparable to the F-35 and will change the status quo by taking a lead role in the aircraft export market.

“Our fourth generation fighter can now compete with foreign fighters,” Li said.

The J-31 was first flight tested in 2012 and has completed at least six aerial tests.

In addition to the J-31, China also showcased a new Y-20 transport aircraft that is a key element of China’s new effort to develop long-range warfighting capabilities. Another aircraft that debuted at Zhuhai was the KJ-2000, a new airborne early warning and control aircraft with technology critical for advanced warfighting.

ADF Sues Colorado High School for Banning Student Prayer Group
Nov 12th, 2014
Daily NewsBreitbart
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

According to a Reuters report, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the lawsuit against Pine Creek High School near Colorado Springs for their ban on religious speech during recess and other “open periods.”

As Breitbart News reported previously, ADF also alerted the school board of Gilbert Public Schools in Arizona to pages of a biology textbook that discuss abortion, pointing out that the text did not meet a new state law requiring that instructional materials give preference to childbirth and adoption over abortion. Subsequently, the school board voted to remove the pages from the textbook that focus on abortion.

Reuters notes that Academy District #20, which includes Pine Creek High School, said that “non-curricular groups, which include religious groups, may only meet before classes begin and after they end.”

ADF filed the lawsuit on behalf of Chase Windebank, a senior at Pine Creek High who said he was told that he and a group of friends are no longer permitted to meet to pray or discuss issues related to religion during their “seminar” periods at school on Mondays and Fridays. The students had been meeting for prayer, discussions, and Christian song during these open periods for the past three years.

The Pine Creek High School Student Handbook is quoted in the lawsuit as describing “seminar” period as “an opportunity to develop a sense of community; to build lines of communication; to provide community and school services; and to have focused academic time.”

Assistant Principal James Lucas reportedly told Windebank on September 29 that he and the other students could continue their meetings, but must stop any religious speech during them, because of the “separation of church and state.”

In a statement on the ADF website, senior legal counsel Jeremy Tedesco said, “Public schools should encourage the free exchange of ideas. Instead, this school implemented an ill-conceived ban that singles out religious speech for censorship during free time.”

“Far from being unconstitutional, religious speech is expressly protected by the First Amendment, and public schools have no business stopping students from praying together during their free time,” added ADF legal counsel Matt Sharp.

According to ADF, the school district’s legal counsel support the school’s decision even though ADF attorneys explained to the district in a letter that the policy of banning students from religious speech during free periods violates the First Amendment.

An excerpt from ADF’s letter to the school district reads as follows:

We write to inform you that the school’s bar on Chase’s informal prayer group violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which requires schools to permit student speech so long as it is not materially and substantially disruptive. Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 511 (1969). Here, Chase’s prayer meetings have a three year track record of no disruptions whatsoever. The School thus is violating Chase’s and his classmate’s rights under Tinker by banning the prayer meetings.

Patricia Richardson, the school district’s director for legal relations, responded with a letter that cited the Equal Access Act as the basis for its decision:

In accordance with the Equal Access Act, non-curriculum related groups, such as Chase’s prayer group, may meet at Pine Creek High School during non-instructional time. Our administrative policy JJA defines “noninstructional time.” “For purposes of this policy, ‘noninstructional time’ means time set aside by each school before actual classroom instruction begins or after actual classroom instruction ends, and may include specific activity periods set aside for this purpose.” Seminar at Pine Creek is not homeroom time. It is class time and it is considered instructional time. No non-curricular clubs are permitted to meet during that time period at Pine Creek High School. Therefore, Mr. Windebank may resume his prayer meetings at Pine Creek High School, but he must do so during non-instructional time, that is before 7:45 a.m. when classes begin, and after 2:45 p.m., when classes end for the day.

All students of the school are reportedly permitted to leave class 15 minutes after the start of the “seminar” homeroom period on Mondays and Wednesdays. Those students who have earned a grade higher than “D” may do the same on Fridays as well.

ADF states:

During the free time, students are permitted to engage in a virtually unlimited variety of activities, including gathering with other students inside or outside; reading; sending text messages to their friends; playing games on their phone; visiting the bathrooms; getting a snack; visiting teachers; and conducting official meetings of school clubs.

Since the school district stood by their decision to prohibit the prayer meetings during the open periods, ADF filed the lawsuit, Windebank v. Academy School District #20, in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

In an interview with Breitbart News, Tedesco said it’s a common misconception that prayer is illegal in public schools all the time.

“All too often, we see students’ activities related to religion or prayer in schools shut down,” he said. “Separation of church and state is frequently cited, though it’s not a phrase in the Constitution. It’s an old, tired, overused and inaccurate expression of what the First Amendment protects.”

“This is private students’ speech, so it is protected under the First Amendment,” Tedesco asserted. “The school is not endorsing the prayer in any way; in fact, they’re trying to shut it down.”

Observing that the school’s student handbook states the purpose of “seminar” time is to build community in the school, Tedesco said the school cannot say religious speech is incompatible with that.

“Chase and his friends have been meeting for prayer for three years,” he added. “He tried to resolve this informally before he contacted us. There were various points at which this situation could have been resolved prior to our lawsuit.”

“These are important cases,” Tedesco reflected. “All too often it is Christians who are losing out when other groups are not obstructed.”