Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

UC Berkeley Offers Class in Erasing Jews from Israel, Destroying Jewish State
Sep 13th, 2016
CommentaryABRAHAM H. MILLER/ALGEMEINER.COM
Categories: Anti-Israel

I, for one, am not upset that the University of California, Berkeley is offering an anti-Israel course so biased that it mocks the very purpose of a university.

Typically, in the leftist-dominated university, the prevailing paradigm of the Arab-Israeli conflict is that Israel is the last bastion of British imperialism and needs to be eradicated, with every Jew either thrown into the sea or sent back to Europe, even if their families have been living in the land of Israel for 1,000 years.

Most university courses on the conflict hide this from public view.

So, the new course offering at Berkeley should be praised, not condemned, for publicly announcing that its goal is to explore how Israel might be destroyed. This is incredibly refreshing, a peeling away of the sensitivity and compassionate newspeak that so shelter the reality of universities as cesspools of leftist propaganda.

And who better to be the faculty sponsor of the course than Cals own Dr. Hatem Bazian. In the current environment at Cal, Bazian is the poster child for what an academic should be, a person who departs from the norms of dispassionate scholarship and replaces them with the Marxist vision of praxis, the unity of theory and practice.

Bazian has impeccable credentials for this role, credentials earned not by merely sitting through preliminary examinations and writing a scholarly dissertation, but through his activism. Bazian is co-founder of the militant Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization so virulently anti-Israel that it can shut down any speaker it disagrees with on almost any campus even before you could enunciate the monosyllabic word Jew.

Bazian is a street orator whose disgust with America is such that he called for an American Intifada. He is a major supporter of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and a one-time fundraiser for KindHearts, which the US government shut down for its alleged ties to the terrorist organization Hamas.

Bazian denies he is an antisemite, but he blocked the appointment of a Jewish student to San Francisco State Universitys Student Judicial Council on the grounds that the individual supported the State of Israel and was thus a racist by definition. Of course, in contrast, Bazians support of the terrorist organization Hamas would be considered an embrace of social justice.

In public lectures, Bazian refers to the modern-day Palestinians as the descendants of the Philistines. The historical basis of this is nonexistent. The Philistines were an Aegean people related to the Ancient Greeks and bore the phenotypic characteristics of a tall, fair-skinned people. 

Bazian himself resembles the Philistines with the same proximity as Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels represented the Aryan superman, who was as blond as Hitler, as slim as Goering, and as tall as Goebbels.

So the new course will simply be the same themes with a different font. The students who enroll in it will already be true believers in the Palestinian point of view. Serious students, even serious pro-Palestinian students, tend to be dismissive of intellectual nonsense.

Because universities grant great license to what passes for scholarship today and there is neither so much as a pretense of objectivity nor a concern for it, the new pro-Palestinian course will be indistinguishable from so many other indulgences in propaganda that dominate the liberal arts and social sciences. 

And this colors not just the study of the Middle East specifically or international relations generally but also scores of subjects that are defined in terms of simple categorical concepts, such as class, race, and gender. All of these are subsumed under the broader category of oppression studies. And from the perspective of oppression studies, America really is the Great Satan.

The world is divided between the oppressed and the oppressor. This paradigm is so integral to the contemporary university that it is difficult to find liberal arts and social science faculty that do not subscribe to it.

Interestingly, there is an entire curriculum of the oppressed that looks at society and through the prism of the people on the bottom of the social system and fantasizes about a society in which hierarchical relations do not occur. The reality is that all societies from time immemorial have been built on hierarchical relationships.

Outrage over courses is pointless and a waste of time. There are whole departments and curricula that are equally if not more worthy of outrage.

But good will come of this. Since there are no constraints on what universities do, they are increasingly moving toward the extremes. In doing this, they undermine their own legitimacy and their bogus claims of serving a societal good or promoting civic virtue.

Eventually, such a system will collapse because the larger society will recognize that it is paying for its own delegitimation and destruction through courses that view America and Western Civilization as the roots of all evil in the world.

Nothing will save the American university system faster than more Hatem Bazians calling for an American intifada while flashing their academic credentials and indulging in myth making.

The greater the outrage, the sooner we will reach that point. What we need is a lot more courses rooted in propaganda, speakers prevented from speaking, simple-minded concepts to explain complex problems, and the continual undermining of the very idea of a university.

Tampons in the Men's Room and the Latest Campus Madness
Sep 13th, 2016
CommentaryMICHAEL BROWN/ASKDRBROWN.ORG
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Brown University, located in Providence Rhode Island, was founded by Baptist leaders in 1764 with the Latin motto In Deo Speramus, in God we hope. 

I imagine these godly founders would be quite surprised with the recent announcement that, "Brown University's student body president will be hand-delivering menstrual products to all nonresidential bathrooms on campus, including men's rooms, with the help of 20 other students."

As reported by Sydney Hutchison on CampusReform.org, "The initiative is intended to communicate the message that 'pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury,' and that not all people who menstruate are women."

So there are menstruating men who need tampons?

And note that this is being done by Viet Nguyen, President of the Undergraduate Council of Students, who hopes that by "putting menstrual products in women's, men's, and gender-inclusive bathrooms" the school can "'set a tone of trans-inclusivity, and not forget that they're an important part of the population.'"

In nearby Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University's new chief diversity officer has put forth guidelines for incoming students, including: don't say "you guys," since that could be interpreted as excluding women; don't ask an Asian student for help in math or ask a black student if he plays basketball, since to do so would be to stereotype and thereby commit a "microaggression." These must be avoided at all costs.

Ironically, an article announcing this stated that these guidelines were for "freshmen" - but doesn't that very term exclude women? Isn't this a microaggression in and of itself? Perhaps, just as Princeton University is trying to ban the "m" word from campus (meaning, the infamous "man") word, Clark needs to follow suit, referring to the "freshmen" class as "freshpeople" class or the "freshindividuals" class? Now we're talking.

Across the country at California State University, San Marcos, a "trigger warning" was sent out notifying all students and faculty that there would be a pro-life display on campus next week.

An email from the university's Office of Communications, obtained by CampusReform.org, pointed out that the "presentation is not a university sponsored presentation," that it could be "disturbing and offensive," but that presentations like this on campus were "protected under the First Amendment." Oh, the evils of free speech.

The email also explained that resources would be available for students "who may need assistance" after being exposed to the pro-life display. They must not be traumatized by the reality of abortion. God forbid.

As for the meaning of "trigger warnings," the Urban Dictionary offers a definition replete with what I would call sarcastic sanity.

A trigger warning is, "A phrase posted at the beginning of various posts, articles, or blogs. Its purpose is to warn weak minded people who are easily offended that they might find what is being posted offensive in some way due to its content, causing them to overreact or otherwise start acting like a dips**t. Popular on reddit SRS or other places that social justice warriors like to hang out.

"Trigger warnings are unnecessary 100% of the time due to the fact that people who are easily offended have no business randomly browsing the internet anyways. As a result of the phrases irrelevance, most opinions that start out with this phrase tend to be simplistic and dull since they were made by people ridiculous enough to think that the internet is supposed to cater to people who can't take a joke."

How dare the Urban Dictionary post such insulting stuff without a trigger warning.

Over at, at Champlain College in Vermont, "In an effort to become more inclusive for gender nonconforming students," the school "handed out hundreds of pronoun pins during first-year orientation advertising the wearer's preferred gender pronouns."

What exactly did this look like? "Options included 'she/her,' 'he/him,' 'xe/xer,' and even 'Hello, my pronouns are fluid. Please ask me!'"

And at Pomona College in California, new students "were welcomed to campus with posters in their dorms giving instructions on 'How to be a (Better) White Ally' and stating that all white people are racist." (Note carefully: If you are white and you differ with this assessment, then you are definitely racist.)

"The signs state white people should 'acknowledge your privilege' and 'apologize if you've offended someone,' adding that offensive language includes words like 'sassy' and 'riot,' which are 'racially coded.'"

Yes, "'Understand that you are white, so it is inevitable that you have unconsciously learned racism.'" And don't you dare deny it! So say the so-called social justice warriors.

Also in California, reports earlier this week claimed that, "Segregated housing will now be available to black students at California State University Los Angeles as a means of combating 'microaggressions' and 'racially insensitive remarks'," with these alleged infractions coming from both students and faculty.

Wouldn't the only solution, then, be fully segregated schools, where no such offenses could take place (at least theoretically)? Could it be that segregation the new way forward, the path of progressivism, the wave of the future? Asian schools, black schools, Hispanic schools, white schools . . . what utopias they will be!

Of course, this probably won't be enough, because microaggressions can still occur, which would necessitate perhaps breaking these down into all male and female schools as well, and perhaps requiring LGBT schools vs. straight schools as well, thus you could go to an all-Asian, female, lesbian school or an all-black, male, straight school. Progress is wonderful, isn't it?

The New York Times is denying these reports, citing Cal State campus spokesman Robert Lopez to the effect that the school had simply created dorm space for 24 students "oriented around the black community," although the dorm space is "open to all students.

Am I the only one who doesn't follow exactly what this means? Either way, whether or not this is segregation, it's not the first time this has been done in recent years.

Finally, at Cal State Berkeley, a course is being offered entitled, "Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis," sponsored by faculty member Dr. Hatem Bazian, who is so adamantly anti-Israel that he has called for an "American intifada."

As Abraham H. Miller notes on Observer.com, Dr. Bazian "is co-founder of the militant Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization so virulently anti-Israel that it can shut down any speaker it disagrees with on almost any campus even before you could enunciate the monosyllabic word, 'Jew.'"

And while Dr. Bazian denies that he is anti-Semite, "he blocked the appointment of a Jewish student to San Francisco State University's Student Judicial Council on the grounds that the individual supported the State of Israel and was thus a racist by definition."

With good reason Miller's article claims that the course is intended "to Erase Jewish History from Israel."

Yet there are no trigger warnings or concerns about microaggressions here. After all, it's only Jews who will be offended!

But with that, I'm out of space and will have to stop here, with one last word of wisdom: Parents, think twice before sending your kids off to school. Some campuses are better than others, and your kids are anything but guinea pigs to be thrown into the latest social experiment.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 13th, 2016
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

'Devout' Roman Catholic Tim Kaine Butchers the Bible and Embraces Gay Radicalism
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine butchered the Bible and made one of the most twisted arguments for same-sex "marriage" that you'll ever hear. Yet the very article laying out his arguments described him as a "devout" Roman Catholic. How can this be?  

Tiny 'Fitbit' can track your body from WITHIN: Dust-sized wireless sensors to be tested on humans in two years
It sounds like something from a science fiction film, but experts have created a 'neural dust' that can be implanted into the body. The tiny wireless sensors will be placed in the body to track neural activity in real-time, to monitor people's health from the inside. The technology has been demonstrated successfully in rats and could be tested in people within two years...  

Researchers demonstrate acoustic levitation of a large sphere
When placed in an acoustic field, small objects experience a net force that can be used to levitate the objects in air. In a new study, researchers have experimentally demonstrated the acoustic levitation of a 50-mm (2-inch) solid polystyrene sphere using ultrasound—acoustic waves that are above the frequency of human hearing.  

Lawmaker Subpoenas FBI Official For ALL Hillary Case Records During House Hearing
I’m going to issue a subpoena, and I’m going to do it right now,” Chaffetz said to Herring after being told that he could not commit to handing over all of the documents. “I’ve signed this subpoena. We want all the 302s, and we would like the full file.”  

It ‘Turns Users Into Zombies’: Pennsylvania Men Behind Bars After Flakka-Influenced Murder
Two Pennsylvania men are behind bars in connection with a homicide case that is believed to have been carried out under the influence of Flakka. James Heimbach, 30, and Charles Yocum, 32, both of the Bethlehem area are accused of killing Joseph Goda, 28, this month after investigators found the man’s bloodied and bitten body in the trunk of a vehicle.  

EARTH's MAGNETIC FIELD RINGS LIKE A BELL
In the Lofoten Islands of Norway, Spaceweather.com reader Rob Stammes operates a magnetic observatory. 24 hours a day, he measures the strength and direction of the local magnetic field as well electrical currents running through the ground. During geomagnetic storms, his chart recordings go haywire. On Sept. 12th, something different happened. They rang like a bell:  

Astronomers Discover Asteroid Just 2 Days Before It Almost Hits Earth
Asteroid 2016 RB1 came within 23,900 miles of Earth Wednesday morning, which is shockingly close to the orbit of some communications satellites.  

Hillary: I Didn’t Tell The Truth Because ‘I Just Didn’t Think It Was Going To Be That Big A Deal’
Hillary Clinton told Anderson Cooper she didn’t have her campaign tell the truth about her health issues because, “I just didn’t think....  

EXCLUSIVE: John Kerry’s State Department Funneled MILLIONS To His Daughter’s Nonprofit
More than $9 million of Department of State money has been funneled through the Peace Corps to a nonprofit foundation started and run by Secretary of State John Kerry’s daughter, documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation show.  

Israeli leaders meet with leaders of Eastern faith traditions
Working to strengthen Israel-Asia ties the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin met with spiritual leaders from the East. A delegation that included Hindu gurus, Buddhist monks and Shinto priests met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday on the first day of a Jerusalem conference designed to deepen Israel-Asia ties.  

Japan earthquake: Tremor hits Saitama Prefecture in the Tokyo area
A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 has struck Saitama Prefecture in the Kantō region, which includes the Greater Tokyo Area, seismologists and witnesses say.  

Iran launches new navy ship as tensions rise with U.S. in Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guard launched a new 55-metre-long naval ship on Tuesday that is capable of transporting a helicopter and up to 100 men... The ship's launch in the port city of Bushehr, comes at a time of high tension between Iran and the United States over Gulf waters. U.S. officials says there have been more than 30 close encounters between U.S. and Iranian vessels in the Gulf so far this year...  

U.S. bombers fly over South Korea in show of force after nuclear test
Two U.S. B-1 bombers flew over South Korea on Tuesday in a show of force and solidarity with its ally after North Korea's nuclear test last week, while a U.S. envoy called for a swift and strong response to Pyongyang from the United Nations. ...Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, added that the United States remained open to meaningful dialogue with Pyongyang on ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons.  

Obama marks Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha with call to accept refugees
President Obama marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha Monday with a call for the U.S. to welcome refugees and immigrants. ...Mr. Obama said in a statement. “And as a nation, we remain committed to welcoming the stranger with empathy and an open heart — from the refugee who flees war-torn lands to the immigrant who leaves home in search of a better life.”  

Exclude Hungary from EU, says Luxembourg's Asselborn
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has called for Hungary to be suspended or even expelled from the European Union because of its "massive violation" of EU fundamental values. He cited the Budapest government's treatment of refugees, independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press. "Hungary is not far away from issuing orders to open fire on refugees," he suggested.  

India imposes Eid curfew across Kashmir
A curfew has been imposed across Indian-administered Kashmir as Muslims across the country celebrate Eid. Fresh violence on Tuesday left one protester dead and at least 22 others were injured as security forces blocked roads to several important mosques. Mobile and data services have been stopped. An Eid curfew is extremely rare in Indian-administered Kashmir.  

Education Min. Bennett: Judaism studies more important than math, science
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday that the study of Judaism is more important in his eyes than the study of mathematics or science. "We must be a spiritual super power. In this way, we will get back to being a light unto the nations," Bennett said... He defended the comments in an interview..."We are Jews. It's not enough to be the Start Up Nation, we must also be the Bible Nation."  

IDF says Syria fired missiles at its jets, but denies claim aircraft was downed
The Syrian army claimed on Tuesday it had shot down an Israeli warplane and a drone after an Israeli attack on a regime position in southern Syria, state media reported. Syrian news agency SANA reported that President Bashar Assad's forces shot down the Israeli aircraft in Syria after the IAF struck in the southern Quneitra countryside in response to a mortar exploding in the Golan Heights.  

Iran threatened to shoot down US Navy spy planes in the Persian Gulf
Iran threatened to shoot down two US Navy surveillance aircraft flying close to Iranian territory in the Persian Gulf over the weekend, the latest in a series of recent provocations between Iran and the US military in the region, three US defense officials with knowledge of the incident told Fox News.  

Tent Cities Full Of Homeless People Are Booming In Cities All Over America As Poverty Spikes
Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day.  

What Happens If Hillary Clinton Has To Drop Out?
Hillary Clinton’s doctor now says the Democratic presidential candidate, 68, was officially diagnosed with pneumonia sometime on Friday, and has been campaigning with the serious respiratory illness for a week, leading to her “medical episode” at Sunday morning’s September 11th memorial event.  

Mark Cuban's dire prediction about Trump goes too far
Recently several media outlets ran stories saying “Mark Cuban Predicts a Stock Market Crash if Trump Wins the White House.” Look, Mark is one of the smartest guys in the room and thinks outside of the box but sometimes makes statements that are over the top. Implying the market will crash in the event of a Trump win this November takes the election rhetoric a little too far.  

The Fed Used Jackson Hole to Plan Negative Rates
Jackson Hole revealed things that did not make it into reports by the mainstream media. Turns out, the academic and philosophical underpinnings were being laid down for a radical expansion of the Federal Reserve’s toolbox.  

Category 5 Super Typhoon Meranti is strongest storm of 2016 season
Churning the waters of the Northwest Pacific is the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2016 Northern Hemisphere season: Super Typhoon Meranti. It is the fourth Category 5 storm on Earth this year, which is close to the annual average of between four and five such storms.  

Devout Roman Catholic Tim Kaine Butchers the Bible and Embraces Gay Radicalism
Sep 13th, 2016
CommentaryMICHAEL BROWN/ASKDRBROWN.ORG
Categories: Moral Decline

Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign's annual Washington, DC dinner, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine butchered the Bible and made one of the most twisted arguments for same-sex "marriage" that you'll ever hear. Yet the very article laying out his arguments described him as a "devout" Roman Catholic. How can this be?

Putting aside the obvious question of how Kaine could serve on a presidential ticket with the radically pro-abortion candidate Hillary Clinton - indeed, he has already been challenged for "saying he is both a 'traditional Catholic' and a strong supporter of abortion" - Kaine raised further eyebrows when suggesting that the Catholic Church could one day change its position on same-sex "marriage," just as he has done.

In support of his viewpoint, he cited Pope Francis's oft-quoted comment about gay Catholics ("Who am I to judge?"), failing to realize that the Pope was not sanctioning homosexual acts and relationships but rather saying, "If someone is same-sex attracted and wants to be part of the Church, who am I to judge?"

This is very different from saying, "If two men are in love and want to have a romantic and sexual relationship, who am I to judge?"

But I am not a Catholic, nor can I predict where the Roman Catholic Church will be in 5 or 50 years.

What I can say with certainty is that Sen. Kaine's use of Genesis 1 to buttress his support of LGBT activism amounts to scriptural malpractrice.

He said, "I think it's going to change because my church also teaches me about a creator who, in the first chapter of Genesis, surveyed the entire world, including mankind, and said, 'It is very good.'"

And, he added, "Who am I to challenge God for the beautiful diversity of the human family? I think we're supposed to celebrate it, not challenge it."

Seriously? Kaine is going to Genesis 1 to argue for same-sex "marriage," along with the larger LGBT agenda?

Allow me to give a helpful hint to the senator: Sir, although you will find no support for your position anywhere in the Bible, the worst place you can go to argue your case is Genesis.

It is in Genesis 1 that we see the importance of gender distinctions, as God creates humankind as male and female - not as male, female, and an infinite number of variations, including agender, bigender, and third gender, along with multi-gender options like ambigender, bigender, blurgender, collgender, conflictgender, cosmicgender, crystagender, deliciagender, duragender, demiflux, domgender, fissgender, gemelgender, gendercluster, genderfluid, gendersea, genderfuzz, genderfractal, genderspiral, genderswirl, gendervex, gyaragender, libragender, ogligender, pangender, polygender, and trigender.

Is this what Kaine was referring when he spoke of "the beautiful diversity of the human family" that we should celebrate?

Genesis 1 states the exact opposite.

It is also in Genesis 1 that God blesses His human creation with the words, "be fruitful and multiply," and it is only heterosexuals, by design, who can do this. That's why, to this moment, no homosexual couple has ever been blessed by God with the ability to procreate by themselves.

This sets the pattern for the rest of the Bible, where the only marital relationships blessed by God, without exception, are heterosexual, with the male and female being uniquely designed for one another biologically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Accordingly, it is based on Genesis 1 that Paul explains in Romans 1 that homosexual acts are contrary to nature - meaning, contrary to God's intended, natural plan for men and women.

And it is based on Genesis 1 that Jesus explains in Matthew 19 that marriage, as intended by God from the beginning, is the lifelong union of a man and a woman.

Does Sen. Kaine now have insight into Genesis 1 that not only escaped his own Catholic Church, but Jesus and Paul as well?

As for Kaine's argument that when the Creator "surveyed the entire world, including mankind [He] said, 'It is very good'," - meaning that homosexuality and bisexuality and more are all good - he seems to have forgotten that "very good" was God's description of His creation before the fall, when sin entered the world.

After the fall, His assessment changed dramatically to this: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

So much for the "very good" assessment applying to human nature today!

As expressed by Jesus, "what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander" (Matthew 15:18-19).

And note carefully that the Greek word for sexual immorality, porneia, is used in the plural here, referring to all sexual acts outside of marriage, which Jesus defined as the union of one man and one woman (see Matthew 19:4-6).

So, the very thing that Sen. Kaine wants to celebrate, the very "diversity" that he claims God established in creation, is the precise opposite of what God intended for His creation, as stated clearly in Genesis 1 and reaffirmed throughout the rest of the Bible, from Moses to Jesus to Paul.

Mrs. Clinton's running mate would do well to submit his thinking to the Scriptures rather than twisting the Scriptures to fit his thinking.

It is the senator who must change, not the Word of God.