Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The New Normal - Earthquakes in Diverse Places As Kansas & Oklahoma Shake
Aug 21st, 2019
CommentaryMICHAEL SNYDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Categories: Prophecy

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. Matt 24:7

What are we supposed to think when rather large earthquakes start happening in places that aren't supposed to have large earthquakes?  2019 has been quite a year for seismic activity already, and I understand that we should expect to see earthquakes in diverse places, but if someone told me that the U.S. was just hit by a significant quake one of the last places that I would check would be Kansas. 

The state of Kansas is certainly known for a lot of things, but earthquakes are not one of them, and that is why what we just witnessed is so startling.  

According to the Kansas City Star, one county in central Kansas alone has been hit by 11 quakes within the past five days...

A county in central Kansas experienced a pretty shocking uptick in seismic activity last week -- 11 earthquakes in five days.

It started with a magnitude-2.4 earthquake Wednesday morning just 2 1/2 miles southwest of Hutchinson, Kansas, in Reno County, according to the United States Geological Survey.

There would be 10 more before the week was out.

The biggest one of the group hit on Friday morning.  It was originally reported to be a magnitude 4.2 quake, but it was later downgraded to magnitude 4.1.

Due to the geology of the region, earthquakes in the middle of the country are often felt more acutely, and this particular earthquake was powerful enough to shake things off the shelves of people's homes...

Tim Black, who lives in Hutchinson, told the TV station his house shook and things fell off the walls. And Hutchinson resident Alice Hinnen said things fell off shelves in her home. She said she has felt earthquakes before, but this is the strongest one yet.

KWCH said people across Kansas felt this earthquake. "We've heard reports from people as far away as Topeka, Hays, Arkansas City, and into northern Oklahoma," the station said on its website.

Further south, Oklahoma has experienced even more earthquakes than Kansas has over the past seven days.  Overall, there has been a total of 65 earthquakes between the two states over the past week.

That definitely isn't normal, and we should keep a close eye on this.

Meanwhile, we are also seeing more unusual seismic activity out on the west coast.  In fact, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake just hit the Cascadia Subduction Zone just off the coast of Oregon...

The magnitude 5.4 temblor struck at 8:23 a.m. more than 200 miles west of Coos Bay, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake hit at a depth of roughly 7 miles.

Earthquakes are not uncommon in the area, which sees frequent seismic activity as tectonic plates meet and shift and crumble under one another. The Cascadia Subduction Zone, a series of faults that runs parallel to the coast from Northern California to British Columbia, is expected to produce a massive quake that could devastate the region.

It is always alarming whenever a quake rattles the Cascadia Subduction Zone, because scientists tell us that someday a monster event will produce a giant tsunami that will wipe out coastal areas up and down the west coast.  

But more than anywhere else, I am deeply concerned about the California coastline right now.

According to Earthquake Track, there have been 2,801 earthquakes of at least magnitude 1.5 in the state of California within the past 30 days.

If the earthquakes remain small, that won't be too much of a problem.

But one day the "Big One" is going to hit, and all of our lives will instantly change.

Of course many Californians like to mock the idea that the "Big One" is coming, but physicist Michio Kaku recently told CBS News that it is actually "way overdue"...

"We're playing Russian roulette with Mother Nature," said physicist Michio Kaku, CBS News reported.

"You realize the last big earthquake to hit the L.A. segment of the San Andreas fault was 1680," Kaku said, according to the network. "That's over 300 years ago. But the cycle time for breaks and earthquakes on the San Andreas fault is 130 years, so we are way overdue."

In fact, Kaku insists that the probability that it will happen within the next 30 years "is about 100%"...

"In 30 years' time the probability of the 'big one' is about 100%," Kaku said, CBS News reported. "So we will see the big one. It's inevitable. It's going to happen. It's the law of physics."

For those living in southern California, it is kind of like living with a time bomb, but you can't actually see the timer.

Sadly, one day time will run out, and the death toll will be catastrophic.  The following comes from one of my previous articles...

Hopefully it will not happen any time soon, but seismologists assure us that it is only a matter of time before "the Big One" strikes California. They have repeatedly warned us that the San Andreas fault is "locked and loaded" and that it has the potential to "unzip all at once".

And when that day finally arrives, scientists have determined that the ground level could drop by up to 3 feet, and that would result in vast portions of southern California suddenly being covered by the Pacific Ocean.

We live at a time when our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and we are witnessing major earthquakes and enormous volcanic eruptions all over the globe on a daily basis now.

I have been thinking about the coming California earthquake a lot today.  The people living there have been warned over and over again, and they know the risks.

And only 13 percent of all California homeowners actually have earthquake insurance.

So when they lose their homes, they are really going to lose their homes.

Our planet is rocking and rolling, and the warning signs are very clear. 

Let us hope for the best, but the truth is that Californians are already living on borrowed time, and eventually there will be no more grace period.

Silicon Valley Censorship & the Coming Global Police State
Aug 21st, 2019
CommentaryBRITT GILLETTE/END TIMES BIBLE PROPHECY
Categories: World Government

If you love freedom and liberty, recent actions from high tech companies should have you worried. In pursuit of profit, the mega companies of Silicon Valley have created products that invade user privacy. And they easily cave to the demands of totalitarian governments.

For example, Amazon's Alexa devices are a huge convenience for many people. But most users don't realize Alexa devices do more than listen. They record. Once you talk to an Alexa device, it records your voice and stores the audio file on a remote server. 

Amazon uses this information to improve its recommendations. They want to sell you more stuff. But in the process, Alexa devices record and store everything you say. Are you okay with others listening to your conversations? If not, then don't bring an Alexa device into your home

Unfortunately, Silicon Valley's questionable actions aren't reserved for product development. They've also become arbiters of free speech. In June, YouTube said it will ban videos that promote or glorify "racism and discrimination." This includes banning videos most people would find despicable, such as those denying the Holocaust or the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. But it also includes a number of videos people don't find objectionable.

So where do you draw the line? Who determines what's "racism and discrimination" versus what's normal political speech? Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have taken similar actions to purge "hate speech." But in an age where social media dominates public discourse, access to these platforms is vital to get a message out.

What if these platforms flag their political opponents as sources of "hate speech"? What will that do to freedom and liberty? Unfortunately, we don't have to guess. All we have to do is look at the actions some of these companies have already taken.

A Threat to Liberty

Personal bans and privacy violations are bad enough, but the most frightening actions these companies take is their willingness to appease authoritarian governments. For instance, in an attempt to gain access to a billion new users, Google worked on a censored, government-approved version of its search engine for China. The Chinese government regulates the Internet with a heavy hand.

They routinely block websites linked to human rights, democracy, and religion. Google generated outrage last year when news leaked of its plans to launch a censored search engine codenamed Dragonfly. After intense criticism, they abandoned the project. But speculation continues as to whether or not Google plans to revive the project.

Sadly, Google isn't the only company willing to cave to China. In June, Twitter suspended a large number of Chinese-language user accounts. Some of those accounts belonged to critics of China's government. Just days before the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, critics claim it's more than a mere coincidence. 

Twitter acknowledged the suspensions, stating they were in response to terms of service violations. However, it also acknowledged some of the suspended accounts involved "commentary about China." Florida Senator Marco Rubio criticized the move, saying "Twitter has become a Chinese government censor."

Tech company eagerness to please oppressive governments extends to streaming services as well. In December, Netflix removed an episode of the comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj from its service in Saudi Arabia after a government complaint. The episode criticized Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. 

An official statement from Netflix said, "We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and removed this episode only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request - and to comply with local law." Needless to say, human rights groups disagree with the Netflix position that it "supports artistic freedom worldwide." It's clear they only support such freedom when it doesn't interfere with their profits.

As technology advances, these platforms will become more and more important. As a political commentator, try getting your message out to a large audience without using Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, or Netflix. It's nearly impossible for someone who doesn't already have a large following. In the future, it will be even more difficult, if not impossible.

Where We're Headed

We're living in a world where the largest tech firms have more power than any companies have ever had before. Since the police power of government rules over the high tech companies, it means we're heading into an era where governments will be more powerful than they've ever been. 

Think about the information at their fingertips. If you're on Facebook and you use a smart phone, then companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook probably know more about you than some of your closest friends. 

They know who you associate with, what you search for on the Internet, what products you buy, what interests you have, what bank you use, who you talk to the most, when you're awake, where you've been, and where you are at any given moment. With facial recognition technology, they can pick your face out of a sea of millions in less than a second. 

Connect facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence with a growing network of public and private cameras, and they aren't far from being able to record everything you do at all times. 

Think I'm exaggerating? Just consider the impact of one popular product - doorbell cameras. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, more than 3.4 million doorbell recording devices were sold in 2018. Some police departments are offering discounts on doorbell cameras. The reason? They want to access the footage. 

A NextMarket Insights report stated, "smart security devices" will be in use in more than 22 million U.S. homes by 2020. No doubt this will help solve a number of crimes and deter home invasions. But it has an unintended impact as well. As more people install doorbell cameras, more and more of daily life will be recorded. 

Doorbell cameras don't simply record your front porch. Depending on the angle, they can surveil an entire neighborhood. Now, imagine every house in the neighborhood has one. There won't be a single event that won't be recorded. 

Add doorbell cameras to all the smart devices people are putting inside their homes (including their bedrooms), and we're quickly getting to the point where your every movement and communication is tracked and documented. A few giant corporations hold all that data - data about your life. What are they doing to protect it? Are they selling it to other companies? Are they sharing it with governments? Their cozy relationships with China, Saudi Arabia, and other human rights violators shouldn't give you any comfort.

What the Bible Says

The Bible says a time is coming when a global dictator will rule the world (Revelation 13:7). He will succeed in everything he does (Daniel 8:24). His power will be so great no one will be able to oppose him (Revelation 13:4). His control over the earth will be so complete, he'll regulate the purchase and sale of everything (Revelation 13:17). 

How is this possible? For most of human history, it wasn't. As this is written, it probably still isn't possible. But as technology continues to advance, it will. A global dictator could only hold such absolute power with the aid of advanced technologies. And as the world's greatest tech companies have so aptly demonstrated, they're more than happy to work with oppressive governments. 

Absent public outrage, they'll willingly cave to the demands of despots. As they develop even more powerful technologies, their work will set the stage for a global police state. It's one more sign of the times in which we live. It's time to look up. Jesus is coming!

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 21st, 2019
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Is Rashida Tlaib Actually a Jew?
Though much of the media was focused on Tlaib’s “sitty” (grandmother in Arabic) there was a significant detail they missed. Many of the older residents of her village, Beit Ur El Foka in the Shomron (Samaria) region have a tradition that everyone in the village is indeed descended from Jews. ‘It is well-known that everyone in the village of Bet Ur El Foka is descended from Jews,” MiSinai told Breaking Israel News. … I would advise Rashida to have a serious talk with her grandmother about her family’s history. There are indications that there may be some surprises for the congresswoman.”

Ebola Continues to Spread in Congo, Stoking Regional Tension
BLANTYRE, Malawi—Hundreds of people continue to be exposed to the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), raising fears of the disease spreading to neighboring countries and the wider region. The World Health Organization (WHO) team in the DRC has reported 70 to 80 cases a week. “The current rate of transmission can be described as intense,” Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the WHO response team in the DRC, told The Epoch Times.

Mueller accused of lying about ‘Russian agent’
Mifsud “was being directed specifically, he was asked to connect George Papadopoulos to Russia, meaning it was an operation, some form of intelligence operation,” Solomon said. “That was the lawyer’s own words for this. If that’s the case that means the flash point the started the whole investigation was in fact manufactured from the beginning.”

Iranian official: We never should’ve signed nuclear deal
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC News on Monday that his country should never have signed the 2015 nuclear deal that has now been renounced by US President Donald Trump.

Modeling agency provided Jeffrey Epstein with over 1000 underage girls – report
One of Epstein’s partners, Jean-Luc Bruno, was suspected of providing the pedophile with minors for the purpose of sexually assaulting them. Bruno opened an international modeling agency by the name of MC2 through which he managed to collect approximately 1000 teenage girls for Epstein.

William Barr Removes Bureau of Prisons Chief in Wake of Jeffrey Epstein Suicide
The shakeup is beginning. In a statement, Barr announced that Hugh Hurwitz, who had served as acting director of the Bureau of Prisons since last year, would be out of the top spot.

Planned Parenthood Set to Lose $60 Million: Court of Appeals Upholds Trump Administration’s Effort to Defund The Abortion Giant
A US appeals court refused to block new rules Friday from the Trump administration that prohibit clinics that receive federal funds from referring patients for abortions. That’s a big blow to Planned Parenthood. The nation’s largest abortion provider has been in the Title X program for decades and receives almost $60 million in funding from the program each year. But the appeals court has now rejected a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood and others to overturn the Trump administration’s new rules.

Iraq Shuts Down all Air Travel to Stop Israeli Strikes on Iranian Installations
On Friday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi established new guidelines, declaring his country’s airspace off-limits to military traffic from other countries including the U.S. “The prime minister ordered to revoke all special flight permits in Iraqi airspace for reconnaissance aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft with weapons, fighters, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles of all kinds available to the Iraqi and non-Iraqi sides”, an official Iraq government statement said after an Iraqi National Security Council meeting this week.

Christian group asking court for permanent right to be Christian
A faith-based student group is awaiting a federal court ruling that will determine if it has the legal right to decide who leads its Michigan chapter. InterVarsity sued Wayne State University last year after the school revoked its status as a recognized student group in 2017, citing the “discriminatory” policy that InterVarsity chooses its student leaders who adhere to biblical beliefs.

US tests first cruise missile since Russian/US INF Treaty expired
“The test missile exited its ground mobile launcher and accurately impacted its target after more than 500 kilometers of flight. Data collected and lessons learned from this test will inform the Department of Defense’s development of future intermediate-range capabilities,”

Hamas gives Israel ultimatum: Allow Qatari funds to Gaza or face escalation 
In the wake of recent terrorist attacks and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Hamas has threatened to escalate the situation if Israel does not commit to allowing the transfer of Qatari money to Gaza at the same time as the electricity supply increases, a member of the terrorist organization told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Ahbar.

Syrian war monitor: Rebels withdrew; Jihadists: We’re still fighting 
A Syrian war monitor said rebels had withdrawn from a town in southern Idlib province and from their last territory in neighboring Hama province after government advances, though an insurgent group denied this and said they were still fighting. The recovery of these areas would mark an important gain for President Bashar al-Assad into the northwestern region which is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.

Hong Kong: British consulate worker ‘detained at China border’
The UK Foreign Office has expressed concern over reports that a Hong Kong consulate employee has been detained at the Chinese border. Media reports say Simon Cheng, who is thought to be from Hong Kong, is believed to have gone missing on 8 August while on a business trip. The Foreign Office said it was “seeking further information from authorities in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong”.

Syrian civil war: ‘Three killed’ in attack on Turkish convoy
A Syrian government air strike aiming to stop a Turkish convoy reaching a rebel-held town in northern Syria has killed three civilians, Turkey alleges. Another 12 people were injured in the attack in Idlib province on Monday, the Turkish defence ministry said. Idlib, one of the few areas not under government control, was supposed to be protected by a buffer zone agreed with rebel-backing Turkey last year.

INF nuclear treaty: US tests medium-range cruise missile
The US has tested a medium-range cruise missile weeks after pulling out of a key treaty with Russia that banned such nuclear-capable weapons. The Pentagon said it successfully launched the missile off the coast of California on Sunday. Moscow accused the US of “escalating military tensions”.

Wide implications as Germany teeters toward recession
Germany, Europe’s industrial powerhouse and biggest economy, with companies like Volkswagen, Siemens and BASF, may be entering a recession, according to a gloomy report from the country’s central bank Monday — a development that could have repercussions for the rest of the eurozone and the United States.

This Isn’t Normal: Kansas And Oklahoma Have Been Hit By 65 Earthquakes Within The Last 7 Days
What are we supposed to think when rather large earthquakes start happening in places that aren’t supposed to have large earthquakes? 2019 has been quite a year for seismic activity already, and I understand that we should expect to see earthquakes in diverse places, but if someone told me that the U.S. was just hit by a significant quake one of the last places that I would check would be Kansas.

Study Links Fluoridated Water During Pregnancy to Lower IQs
An influential medical journal published a study…that links fluoride consumption during pregnancy with lower childhood IQs—a finding that could undermine decades of public-health messaging, fire up conspiracy theorists, and alarm mothers-to-be. The research was expected to be so controversial that JAMA Pediatrics included an editor’s note saying…it was subjected to “additional scrutiny.”

Planned Parenthood opts out of U.S. subsidies in fight over abortion referrals
Planned Parenthood said…it was withdrawing from a federal program subsidizing reproductive healthcare for low-income women after the Trump administration banned participants…from referring women to abortion providers. Planned Parenthood…said its move was spurred by a federal appeals court decision…clearing the administration’s way to restrict Title X grants under a new policy critics have branded a “gag rule.”

U.S. scraps West Bank conference over Palestinian protests
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday was forced to postpone a conference it organized in the West Bank city of Ramallah after Palestinian officials and factions called for a boycott and threatened to organize protests. The Palestinians cut all ties with the U.S. after it recognized disputed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017…

Chinese Social Credit Score Prevents 2.5 Million “Discredited Entities” From Buying Plane Tickets
Coming to the west soon…

Thousands evacuated as major wildfire rages on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
More than 8 000 people were evacuated from dozens of towns on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain after wildfire which broke on Saturday, August 17, 2019, near the town of Tejeda spread in two directions and scorched more than 1 700 (4 200 acres) of land by Sunday afternoon, August 18.

Jewish leaders applaud Paraguay over terrorist designation
Arthur Stark, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, on Monday praised Paraguay for designating Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.

Students At California High School Sang Nazi Song And Gave Hitler Salute During An Award Ceremony Sparking Outrage After School Fails To Address
Anti-semitism is poised to be making a comeback these days, but what more outrageous is the fact that this incident did not seem to cause much if any outrage in the high school in southern California where it took place. School officials there seemed like it was no big deal .

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Now Claims That They Are The Biblical Canaanites, Zechariah Tells Them What Their Fate Shall Be
I like this story, it brings a smile to my face and I will tell you why. I am been saying for years now that I view the so-called Palestinians are the descendants of the biblical Canaanites, and now Mahmoud Abbas is agreeing with me. In the article below you will read about why these claims he is making are ‘problematic’, but the ‘scholars’ all come to the wrong conclusion as to why such claims are problematic. The prophet Zechariah shows us the real scoop.

Iran warns U.S. not to interfere as Gilbraltar releases oil tanker
An Iranian tanker headed through the Mediterranean towards Greece on Monday after it was released from detention off Gibraltar, and Tehran said that any at U.S. move to seize the vessel again would have “heavy consequences.”

Lying Israel-hater Geraldo Rivera says he was ‘really hurt’ that Israel barred Omar, Tlaib
At this point one has to wonder if the pro-jihad Geraldo Rivera is CAIR’s spokesperson on Fox News. Fox News is making a big mistake by subjecting their audience to Rivera’s lies, idiocy, and anti-Israel propaganda. In fact, Rivera is making the Fox segments that he participates in unwatchable. #FireGeraldo!

It Begins: Pentagon Tests First Land-Based Cruise Missile Post-INF Treaty
 “It’s fair to say, though, that we would like to deploy a capability sooner rather than later,”

Democrats Let Radicals Take the Steering Wheel
Aug 21st, 2019
CommentaryJONATHAN TOBIN/JNS.ORG
Categories: Warning

Taking the blame for actions undertaken by their governments is part of every ambassador's job. So it's hardly surprising that Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the United States, and David Friedman, the American ambassador to Israel, are being made the scapegoats for the fiasco in which the Jewish state denied entry to two members of the U.S. Congress.

Yet reports that senior leaders of the Democratic Party are considering a formal motion of censure for Dermer and Friedman in the House of Representatives are troubling and not just because such a measure would be deeply unjust to the two men, as well as patently absurd.

It's that influential Democrats, including some who have been firm supporters of Israel, are so intimidated by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and other left-wing members and sympathizers of the so-called "Squad," that they are willing to ignore the bad faith and anti-Semitism of these radicals.

The fact that House Democrats feel obliged to legitimize the efforts of the two BDS-supporting congresswomen rather than simply expressing dismay about the decision marks another step down the road towards a breach between their party and Israel.

By citing the 2017 law passed by the Knesset to ban the entry of foreign advocates of BDS, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu--seemingly acting at the prompting of a tweet from President Donald Trump--demonstrated that the only point of the legislation was to allow Israelis and supporters of Israel the opportunity to vent their spleen at their enemies, regardless of the consequences.

After several months of watching Tlaib and Omar became heroines for the left wing of their party and its media cheering section, Israel told them off. That's something that many supporters of Israel thoroughly enjoyed as social media revealed in the days following the decision. However, democracies like Israel have nothing to fear from speech, no matter how vicious.

As for Dermer and Friedman, they were merely carrying out the policies of the democratically elected governments that they are pledged to serve. We may have to wait until memoirs are written to get to the bottom of the decision-making process; it may be that Dermer's initial promise that the tour could go forward demonstrates that his wise counsel to let it occur was overwhelmed by Trump's interest in exacerbating tensions between the Democrats and Israel.

We are now beyond the point where rehashing the debate over the decision is of any utility. As the rumblings from House Democrats demonstrate, crisis management is the only thing friends of Israel should be thinking about.

Some blowback for Israel was an inevitable consequence of the ban. Indeed, that is the most logical explanation for Trump's advocacy for a move that would widen the breach between Democrats and the Jewish state since he not unreasonably thinks that the more the Democrats embrace "The Squad," the better his chances of re-election.

The question now is whether Democratic moderates will allow the party's leftist wing to take the steering wheel--and turn what should be only a minor and momentary kerfuffle into a major issue.

If longtime incumbents from New York, like Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey--who are, respectively, chairs of the powerful House Foreign Affairs and Appropriations Committees--are allowing their names to be mentioned in reports about retaliation against Israel, it's because they fear retribution from their party's activist base. 

Both are being targeted for primary challenges next year by left-wingers hoping to repeat the success that "Squad" leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had against Joe Crowley, another House Democratic leader. 

While worries about their ability to hold onto their seats are understandable, accepting the dubious assertion that a snub of two members whose main claim to fame is anti-Israel activism that has crossed over into open anti-Semitism is an outrage is far more scandalous than the foolish decision that Trump urged on Netanyahu.

The mere fact that the tour Tlaib and Omar were planning was organized by Miftah, a Palestinian group led by Hanan Ashrawi that is guilty of numerous acts of open anti-Semitic hate, is far more worthy of investigation and censure than anything Dermer and Friedman did or didn't do. 

Neither Miftah's involvement nor the agenda for the trip justified its cancellation, nor would it have caused more harm to Israel than the ban. But the willingness of the media and the Democrats to ignore Tlaib and Omar's involvement with a group whose anti-Semitism is morally equivalent to that of neo-Nazis is a major aspect of the story that shouldn't be ignored. 

At the same time, Democrats have screamed bloody murder about connections between a GOP outlier like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who was eventually and rightly punished by his party, which were less damning that what Tlaib and Omar have done. Those who have sought to connect dots between the president and hate groups he has repeatedly condemned are in no position to ignore direct evidence of Tlaib and Omar's hate-mongering.

Whatever you may think about the wisdom of the ban, the reaction to it from Democrats is out of all proportion to the offense given or the facts about the stars of this tawdry exercise in anti-Israel agitation.

Indeed, by attempting to censure the ambassadors--and treating the Tlaib-Omar campaign against Israel as credible or legitimate--the Democrats are justifying the claim of some on the right that ties between their party and Israel are already so tenuous that no effort to repair them is worth the effort. 

That is why it's vital that Democrats who care about the Jewish state should resist pressure to turn this incident into a genuine crisis and instead refocus their efforts on demonstrating that "The Squad" doesn't speak for their party on Israel or any other issue.

Abraham Went Down Into Egypt Pt. 1
Aug 21st, 2019
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

The path of the separated man can never be an easy one. He must be willing to stand alone; to go outside the camp; and to forego the aid of many of those supplies on which other men freely draw. It is a life, therefore, which is only possible to Faith. When Faith is strong, we dare cut ourselves adrift from the moorings which coupled us to the shore; and launch out into the deep, depending only on the character and word of Him at whose command we go. But when Faith is weak, we dare not do it; and, leaving the upland path, we herd with the men of the world, who have their portion in this life, and who are content with that alone. Ah, how can we say enough of His tender mercy, who, at such times, bends over us, with infinite compassion, waiting to lift us back into the old heroic life!

"And there was a famine in the land." -- A famine? A famine in the Land of Promise? Yes, as afterwards, so then; the rains that usually fall in the latter part of the year had failed; the crops had become burnt up with the sun's heat before the harvest; and the herbage, which should have carpeted the uplands with pasture for the flocks, was scanty, or altogether absent. If a similar calamity were to befall us now, we could still draw sufficient supplies for our support from abroad. But Abraham had no such resource. A stranger in a strange land; surrounded by suspicion and hostile peoples; weighted with the responsibility of vast flocks and herds -- it was no trivial matter to stand face to face with the sudden devastation of famine.

Did it prove that he had made a mistake in coming to Canaan? Happily the promise which had lately come to him forbade his entertaining the thought. And this may have been one principal reason why it was given. It came, not only as a reward for the past, but as a preparation for the future; so that the man of God might not be tempted beyond what he was able to bear. Our Savior has His eye on our future, and sees from afar the enemy which is gathering its forces to attack us, or is laying its plans to beguile and entrap our feet. His heart is not more careless of us than, under similar circumstances, it was of Peter, in the darkening hour of his trial, when He prayed for him that his faith might not fail, and washed his feet with an inexpressible solemnity. And thus it often happens that a time of special trial is ushered in by the shining forth of the Divine presence, and the declaration of some unprecedented promise. Happy are they who gird themselves with these Divine preparations, and so pass unhurt through circumstances which otherwise would crush them with their inevitable pressure.  -  F. B. Meyer