“Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
My Yoke

Townhall

BREAKING: President Trump Just Recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli Territory

By Katie Pavlich

March 21, 2019

President Trump announced Thursday afternoon the United States will officially recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

The announcement comes while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with officials in Israel. Next week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Trump at the White House.

Many believe this deicison is long overdue.

Zero Hedge

UK Denies Asylum To Christian Convert From Iran Because "Christianity Is Not Peaceful"

By Tyler Durden

March 22, 2019

The UK has denied asylum to an Iranian man because he said on his application that he converted from Islam to the "peaceful" religion of Christianity, according to The Independent.

The Home Office quoted excerpts from the bible in the man's rejection letter - saying the book of Revelations is "filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence," and concluded that "These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a ‘peaceful’ religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge."

When contacted by The Independent, the Home Office essentially said "our bad" - claiming that the letter was "not in accordance" with proper policies for claims based on religious persecution, and that it was working to improve employee training.

Lawyers and campaigners said the case demonstrated a “distortion of logic” and a “reckless” approach to asylum seekers’ lives, stemming from a tendency by the department to “come up with any reason they can to refuse” cases. -The Independent

The asylum seeker's caseworker, Nathan Stevens, tweeted "I’ve seen a lot over the years, but even I was genuinely shocked to read this unbelievably offensive diatribe being used to justify a refusal of asylum."

According to the latest immigration statistics, there has been a marked increase in incorrect asylum refusals - with successful appeals up 5% since 2015-2016.

"You can see from the text of the letter that the writer is trying to pick holes in the asylum seeker’s account of their conversion to Christianity and using the Bible verses as a tool to do that," said legal expert Conor James McKinney - deputy editor of the website Free Movement. McKinney said the case was a symptom of the Home Office's reputation to "come up with any reason they can to refuse asylum."

"The Home Office is notorious for coming up with any reason they can to refuse asylum and this looks like a particularly creative example, but not necessarily a systemic outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment in the department." -Conor James McKinney

The case is a "particularly outrageous example of the reckless and facetious approach of the Home Office to determining life and death asylum cases," said Sarah Teather, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the UK. Teather added that JRS frequently encounters cases where asylum has been refused on "spurious grounds," adding "Some of these cases require more legal knowledge to recognise

than this bizarre misquoting of the Bible, but as this instance gains public attention, we need to remember it reflects a systematic problem and a deeper mindset of disbelief, and is not just an anomaly that can be explained away."

***

FOX NEWS

Church as we know it is over. Here's what's next

By David Adamson

March 11, 2019

(Shawn Fortune)

Church, as we’ve known it for the past few generations, is over.

Every church you’ve ever attended, or that you drive by on your way to a Sunday sporting event, was built on a physical attendance model that is location-centric.

As a result, church leaders and pastors have spent time every week encouraging, inviting and pleading with people to come to a specific place at a specific time on Sundays. This approach has created church staffing models, systems and ministry strategies focused on improving attendance. It’s also why there is an annual Top 100 list of America’s most-attended churches.

But that way of doing church is dead.

And just like Joshua needed to hear God say, “Moses my servant is dead” (Joshua 1:2), so he could move into the next level of leadership, I think the Church needs to accept the fate of physical church as we know it, so we can move into the next phase of digital church.

Now, about a decade ago, forward-thinking churches realized that people no longer engaged with organizations just physically, so they developed online platforms that streamed services parallel to the physical church.

This caused plenty of controversy at the time because people suddenly had the option to attend church OR stay home and watch online, rocking the old location-centric model. So, church leaders opted to keep the physical and digital services separate enough to make it work.

Then, when social media and YouTube entered the scene, those forward-thinking churches adjusted again, creating multi-channel strategies that allowed people to access some content physically, some online, and some on the church's social media platforms.

But the times have changed yet again.

The secular marketplace has known for years that customers connect with brands online AND offline seamlessly. Companies like Home Depot, Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Crate & Barrel have adopted “omni-channel” strategies that allow people to shop either online, through an app, or in-store.

The result has been increased sales both online and at brick and mortar stores

After studying 46,000 shoppers, Harvard Business Review discovered in January of 2017 that people who used several different channels to seamlessly connect with a store were:

-- More loyal to the brand;

-- 23 percent more likely to make repeat trips to the retailer’s physical store;

--More likely to recommend the brand to family and friends than those who used a single channel such as physical attendance only.

While omni-channel and multi-channel may seem similar, there’s a difference. Multi-channel is like the swim lanes at a local pool—each lane has its own boundaries and direction.

In the same way, physical church has its strategies and measurements of success, while church online has its own separate (but similar) systems and measurements of success. Omni-channel however, is like a pool with no lane buoys—everyone is able to explore any part of the pool in their own time.

An omni-channel approach to church would allow people to fully connect and engage with a church without the need to step inside a physical environment every week. They could attend one Sunday, listen to the message on podcast the following week, watch a live online stream the Sunday after, and catch the message on-demand in an church app the week after that.

This shifts the Church from a location-centric approach, to an audience-centric approach that allows people to connect and engage with churches both digitally AND physically.

This approach allows the church to connect with people physically for 1 hour on Sunday, and stay connected for the other 167 hours of the week, digitally.

In a world where people have an increasing number of online channels and apps to watch or listen to content—and build community around that content—the church needs to realize that this is current reality.

Whether pastors planned it or not, more people than ever are accessing their content digitally via live web streaming, video on-demand, podcasts, apps and YouTube. In this way, church attendance is not decreasing, it’s decentralizing.

If the Church is going to make an impact in the modern world, we need to take the swim lanes out and let people explore our church and our content in their own time and in their own way. We need to understand that digital channels do not compete with physical attendance, they partner with it. And if the marketplace is an indicator, doing digital engagement well will lead to increased physical attendance.

Leadership requires focus on where you want to be, not where you were or where you are. As pastor Craig Groeschel of Life Church says: “If we want to reach people that no one else is reaching, we’ve got to do things no one else is doing.”

***

RT

Pope refuses to accept resignation of French cardinal convicted of sex abuse cover-up

Published time: 20 Mar, 2019 00:21

© Reuters / Vatican Media

Despite promises to end sex scandals plaguing the church for decades, Pope Francis has declined to accept the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who was convicted of concealing abuses by a priest in his diocese.

Cardinal Barbarin offered to step down in a private meeting with the Pope on Monday, less than two weeks after becoming the highest-ranking church official to be convicted of covering up sex abuse. Denying any wrongdoing, Barbarin has appealed the six-month suspended sentence he received in a surprise ruling by the Lyon court.

While Pope Francis refused his resignation offer, he did suggest Barbarin “stand aside for a while,” and the cardinal has delegated his day-to-day responsibilities to Vicar General Father Yves Baumgarten. Several victims of clerical abuse have expressed disappointment with the Pope’s decision.

“It shows that we are right and that the problem is inherent to dogma,” said François Devaux, president of La Parole Liberée, an advocacy group for victims of clerical sex abuse.

The French court ruled Barbarin was obliged to report Rev. Bernard Preynat to French authorities after learning in 2014 that Preynat had preyed on Boy Scouts throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Preynat, who has confessed to abusing the boys, will be tried on sexual violence charges in 2020.

Pope Francis called for an “all-out battle” against sex abuse by the clergy during a special summit last month that brought together 200 bishops, cardinals and other church leaders along with abuse survivors to the Vatican to address the issue. The conclave failed to present any sort of “battle plan” in the form of new rules or even recommendations on how to handle abuse cases, however, despite the Pope’s acknowledgement that victims want “concrete and efficient measures” to address the unholy epidemic.

Little in the way of concrete reform has cleared the Vatican since 2016, when Pope Francis accompanied a promise to remove bishops who covered up for pedophile priests from office with a modification of Church laws intended to facilitate such a clean-up. Even then, however, the Pope was defending Barbarin from accusations he’d turned a blind eye to abuse by Preynat, insisting the cardinal had the situation “under control” and warning that it would be “an admission of guilt” for Barbarin to resign before his case was decided.

***

Zero Hedge

NEW ZEALAND THREATENS 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ‘POSSESSING’ MOSQUE SHOOTING VIDEO

Web hosts warned, ‘Dissenter’ app banned

MARCH 17, 2019

New Zealand authorities have reminded citizens that they face up to 10 years in prison for “knowingly” possessing a copy of the New Zealand mosque shooting video – and up to 14 years in prison for sharing it. Corporations (such as web hosts) face an additional $200,000 ($137,000 US) fine under the same law.

Terrorist Brenton Tarrant used Facebook Live to broadcast the first 17 minutes of his attack on the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand at approximately 1:40 p.m. on Friday – the first of two mosque attacks which left 50 dead and 50 injured.

Copies of Tarrant’s livestream, along with his lengthy manifesto, began to rapidly circulate on various file hosting sites following the attack, which as we noted Friday – were quickly scrubbed from mainstream platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Scribd.

YouTube has gone so far as to intentionally disable search filters so that people cannot find Christchurch shooting materials – including footage of suspected multiple shooters as well as the arrest of Tarrant and other suspects.

On Saturday, journalist Nick Monroe reported that New Zealand police have warned citizens that they face imprisonment for distributing the video, while popular New Zealand Facebook group Wellington Live notes that “NZ police would like to remind the public that it is an offence to share an objectional publication which includes the horrific video from yesterday’s attack. If you see this video, report it immediately. Do not download it. Do not share it. If you are found to have a copy of the video or to have shared it, you face fines & potential imprisonment.”

Dissenter blocked in New Zealand

Along with the censorship of online materials and investigation of content sharing platforms such as BitChute and 8chan – where the shooter posted a link to the livestream of his attack, social discussion service Dissenter has been blocked in New Zealand. Created by the people behind Twitter competitor Gab.ai – Dissenter is a browser extension which pops up a third-party comments section for any website where people can discuss content outside of the control of the website owner.

On Saturday, Gab’s official accounts (@gab and @getongab) reported that “New Zealand ISPs have banned dissenter.com until it is “censorship compliant.””

Update: Shortly after this article published, we were informed that ZeroHedge is unable to be reached by Votafone customers.

Milo banned

Meanwhile, far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Australia in the wake of the New Zealand shootings after he said on Facebook that attacks like Christchurch happen because “the establishment panders to and mollycoddles extremist leftism and barbaric, alien religious cultures.”

Australia’s immigration minister, David Coleman, said in a Saturday statement that Yiannopoulos’s comments were “appalling and forment hatred and division,” adding “Milo Yiannopoulos will not be allowed to enter Australia for his proposed tour this year.”

UK man arrested

While the Christchurch attacks were utterly reprehensible, supporting them is now punishable in the United Kingdom. On Saturday afternoon, a 24-year-old man from Oldham was arrested on suspicion of sending malicious communications in support of the mosque attacks. It is unclear what he is alleged to have written.

The Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that they “became aware of a post on social media making reference and support for the terrible events in New Zealand,” adding “Police have made urgent enquiries and a man aged 24 from the Oldham area is now under arrest on suspicion of sending malicious communications.”

“It is clear that people are worried and we really understand that… It is truly terrible what happened yesterday. It is hard to put into any form of words,” said Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, who added “We have nothing to suggest any threat locally, but none of this can diminish how people feel and that is why we want to be there to offer more support at this difficult time.”

The mass shooting in New Zealand appears to line up with the narrative that conservatives are violent and hateful and therefore deserve to be censored. Matt Bracken joins Alex to reveal how actually Facebook is responsible for the attention this murderer received.

***

RT

Aussie PM calls for global internet crackdown in wake of Christchurch attacks

Published time: 19 Mar, 2019 17:02

File photo: © Reuters/David Moir

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for a global crackdown on social media in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, one of which was streamed live on Facebook and viewed thousands of times.

“It is unacceptable to treat the internet as an ungoverned space,” Morrison wrote in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of the upcoming G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan in June.

“It is imperative that the global community works together to ensure that technology firms meet their moral obligation to protect the communities which they serve and from which they profit,” Morrison added.

In a report on the incident, Facebook said that less than 200 people actually watched the carnage unfold live, but the archived video of the attack in which 50 people were killed and over 40 injured was then reportedly streamed some 4,000 times before it was eventually taken down. The first user complaint was lodged some 29 minutes after the attack had begun

Morrison questioned social media giants’ ability to police their own platforms, especially in light of such graphic and disturbing content being shared so easily across multiple platforms, as a terrorist attack was underway.

The company claims it removed 1.5 million copies of the videos of the attack in the first 24 hours, 1.2 million of which were “blocked at upload.” YouTube was heavily criticized for its perceived failure to adequately quarantine and remove any clones of the mosque attack video.

“If they can write an algorithm to make sure that the ads they want you to see can appear on your mobile phone, then I’m quite confident they can write an algorithm to screen out hate content on social media platforms,” Morrison told reporters in Adelaide.

However, Morrison has already received criticism, with some dubbing his call to action “collateral censorship” amid fears of overreaction and knee-jerk regulations.

“It is a difficult task to moderate live content,” law professor and algorithm expert Frank Pasquale from the University of Maryland said, as quoted by ABC News.

“It’s not as easy as it’s being made out to be in terms of directly applying advertising algorithms to get rid of forbidden content or horrific content.”

In Facebook’s case, its some two billion users can initiate a livestream at the touch of a button. However, there is currently no known algorithm that governs livestream video the same way as traditional posts. Facebook already employs thousands of content moderators to sift through flagged videos on the platform, many of whom experience PTSD-like symptoms.

Morrison said the Australian government was already exploring “practical proposals in this area right now.”

***

End Of The American Dream

It’s Happening – The Most Dangerous Volcano In North America Just Erupted And Shot Ash Nearly A Mile Into The Sky

By Michael Snyder

March 19, 2019

A lot of us have been watching Mt. Popocatepetl for a very long time. Could it be possible that we are now on the verge of the most destructive volcanic eruption in the modern history of North America?On Monday night at precisely 9:38 PM, a massive explosion at Mt. Popocatepetl sent a column of volcanic ash nearly a mile into the sky. A “yellow alert warning” has been issued by the authorities, and they are ordering everyone to stay at least 12 kilometers away from the crater. They are stressing that the threat has not passed, and as you will see below, an evacuation plan is in place in case an even larger eruption follows. And if a much larger eruption does follow, the devastation could be off the charts. Mexico City is only 43 miles away from Mt. Popocatepetl, and approximately 25 million people live within a 60 mile radius of the crater.

The explosion on Monday night was definitely a wake up call. According to media reports, it was “loud enough to shake doors and windows of houses in the city of Puebla”…

Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano erupted late on Monday, hurling incandescent rock about 1.5 miles down its slopes and sending ash into the night sky near the nation’s capital.

The explosion, one of the volcano’s largest eruptions in years, was heard from nearby communities and was loud enough to shake doors and windows of houses in the city of Puebla, according to local media.

Mt. Popocatepetl has been increasingly active in recent months, and authorities are concerned that all of this activity could be leading up to something really big.

In fact, it is being reported that they are “currently preparing for the worst case scenarios”…

Local authorities are currently preparing for the worst case scenarios and haven’t ruled out more eruptions in the near future.

In preparations, they have drafted a special operational plan allowing for quick evacuation of locals in case of any future emergencies.

Popocatepetl exploded earlier this week but had remained calm over the past several days as it only emitted water vapour, gas and a small amount of ash.

So what would a “worst case scenario” for Mt. Popocatepetl look like?

Well, scientists tell us that the volcano is capable of producing a “catastrophic Plinian eruption”…

Popocatépetl is considered the most threatening volcano in North America, in terms of explosive activity and population threat. Its current low- or moderate-scale eruptive behavior can switch relatively quickly to a large, catastrophic Plinian eruption, the largest and most violent of all the types of volcanic eruptions, according to the volcanologists at the National History Museum.

If you have never heard of a “Plinian eruption” before, here is Wikipedia’s definition…

Plinian eruptions or Vesuvian eruptions are volcaniceruptions marked by their similarity to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The eruption was described in a letter written by Pliny the Younger, after the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder.

Plinian/Vesuvian eruptions are marked by columns of volcanic debris and hot gases ejected high into the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere. The key characteristics are ejection of large amount of pumice and very powerful continuous gas-driven eruptions. According to the Volcanic Explosivity Index, Plinian eruptions have a VEI of 4, 5 or 6, sub-Plinian 3 or 4, and ultra-Plinian 6, 7 or 8.

Short eruptions can end in less than a day, but longer events can take several days or even months. The longer eruptions begin with production of clouds of volcanic ash, sometimes with pyroclastic surges. The amount of magma erupted can be so large that it depletes the magma chamber below, causing the top of the volcano to collapse, resulting in a caldera.

We are talking about a disaster that could potentially kill millions.

In the Aztec language, Popocatepetl literally means “smoking mountain”, but to most of the locals the volcano is simply known as “Don Goyo”. In ancient times, it produced giant tsunamis of super heated mud that completely buried entire Aztec cities. The following is an excerpt from one of my previous articles…

Historians tell us that Popocatepetl had a dramatic impact on the ancient Aztecs. Giant mud flows produced by massive eruptions covered entire Aztec cities. In fact, some of these mud flows were so large that they buried entire pyramids in super-heated mud.

But we haven’t witnessed anything like that in any of our lifetimes, so it is hard to even imagine devastation of that magnitude.

In addition to Mexico City’s mammoth population, there are millions of others that live in the surrounding region. Overall, there are about 25 million people that live in the immediate vicinity of Popocatepetl. Thankfully, we haven’t seen a major eruption of the volcano in modern times, but at some point that will change.

Considering what this volcano is capable of doing, I simply don’t understand why there was so little coverage of this massive explosion on Monday by the mainstream media in the United States.

I guess they didn’t have any room after allocating front page space to the powerball jackpot and the ongoing drama surrounding Wendy Williams.

We live at a time when our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and many believe that the shaking is only going to get worse.

Mt. Popocatepetl had been dormant for a very long time before it started becoming active again in the 1990s.

Now it has apparently entered an extremely active phase, and we know that it is capable of producing a catastrophic Plinian eruption.

So let’s keep a very close eye on Mt. Popocatepetl, because a Plinian eruption so close to Mexico City would be a disaster far worse than anything that any of us have ever seen.

***

STRANGE SOUNDS

$1.3 billion damage in Nebraska from historic midwest flooding – Meanwhile Missouri towns ordered to evacuate

March 20, 2019

Even as a Missouri town was ordered to evacuate Wednesday, officials are already beginning to tally up the damage from the historic flooding that has devastated the Midwest, which could be in the billions when all is said and done.

Historic flooding hits midwest in March 2019.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts told reporters the “preliminary and initial” damage losses from the flooding in the state are estimated to be more than $1.3 billion, including $439 million in infrastructure losses, $85 million in private homes and business losses, $400 million in livestock and $440 million in crop losses.

Ricketts said these initial estimates are included in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to initialize a federal emergency declaration.

Ricketts noted that 2,067 homes were damaged and 341 business were damaged or lost statewide.

In Iowa, farmer Jeff Jorgenson estimates that in Fremont County alone more than a million bushels of corn and nearly half a million bushels of soybeans have been lost in flooded grain bins. For the 28 farmers in the immediate area, that’s a $7 million loss in grain.

“The economy in agriculture is not very good right now. It will end some of these folks farming, family legacies, family farms,” Jorgenson told AP. “There will be farmers that will be dealing with so much of a negative they won’t be able to tolerate it.“

The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency says private and public losses from the flooding is currently reported at more than $640 million.

In Glenwood, Iowa, Mayor Ron Kohn said farms west of the city are likely done for the year.

“That’s all going to be gone until next year, I’m sure,” he told the Register. “Rice is about all they could grow out there now.“

The story is the same in communities along nearly every river in the Midwest.

Meanwhile, a levee breach Wednesday morning triggered evacuations for the town of Craig, Missouri, home to 240 people, KMBC reported. However, residents were permitted to remain in town if they went to city hall to register their names in case they needed to be rescued later.

The tiny town of Lewis and Clark Village, home to about 130 residents, have also left for higher ground as the swollen Missouri River rises.

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence surveyed the region and promised to expedite action on presidential disaster declarations for Iowa, where 41 of the state’s 99 counties are under a state disaster declaration, and Nebraska, where 70 of that state’s 99 counties are also under emergency declarations.

“President Trump asked me to be here in Nebraska and here in the region today with a very simple message,” Pence said. “To all the families that have seen their homes flooded, their livestock lost, who have had their lives, their communities upset by these extraordinary floods and severe weather, our message is this: We’re with you.“

Meanwhile, rivers continued to rise Wednesday in some locations, continuing the days-long siege of flooding that has inundated thousands of homes, forced countless evacuations, washed out countless bridges and caused levee breaches in at least a dozen locations.

The city of Valley is inundated with floodwaters Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Valley, Nebraska.(Jeff Bundy/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

The extensive flooding that has reached historic levels in 42 locations and killed three people is the result of heavy rain and snowmelt in the region.

Two people from Columbus, Nebraska, died last week: a woman trapped in her home by floodwaters and a farmer attempting a rescue in high water. A Norfolk, Nebraska, man died and two others were injured when they drove around a flood barrier in Fremont County, Iowa, on Friday and were swept away.

Two other men are missing and presumed dead in Nebraska.

Health officials in Missouri are warning that the floodwaters could contain untreated sewage and hazardous chemicals and debris.

“It is vital that everyone working near floodwaters realizes the risks that exist,” Randall Williams, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services director, told the Kansas City Star on Monday. “Just as driving in moving or standing water is dangerous, wading in floodwaters or exposure while recovering from a flood can pose health risks.”

***

RT

Recipe for civil war? 17.4 million voted for Brexit & are being denied it (by G. Galloway)

March 20, 2019

George Galloway was a member of the British Parliament for nearly 30 years. He presents TV and radio shows (including on RT). He is a film-maker, writer and a renowned orator.

© REUTERS/Toby Melville

I’ve known Speaker Bercow since he was a young man, wore a ‘Hang Nelson Mandela’ t-shirt, and was a secretary of the Monday Club – a conservative group so conservative that they’re probably wearing ‘Hang Bercow’ t-shirts today.

By all objective standards Bercow has been a poor speaker of the Commons. What you perhaps don’t know is that is testimony to the chilling effect of laid back liberalism.

Bercow has had an easy ride because he’s biased against a government so incompetent that if it were a “Carry-On” film you wouldn’t want it to end. But it isn’t and most people want it to end as swiftly as possible.

Thus, his devastating “pronunciamento” against the prime minister this week has proved wildly popular on the simple basis that anything which devastates this government must be right. But it is wrong.

Britain famously lives in the past, but basing parliamentary maneuvers on a 1604 precedent last used in 1920 is comedy gold but not 21st century governance. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg wasn’t around in 1604 (though he may have voted ‘against’ in the 1920 debate).

It’s simply not true that no matter can be brought back in the same form, in the same parliamentary session. If it were, Mrs. May would not have suffered her second defeat on her Brexit plan.

Not having a constitution, as Britain doesn’t, has at least the compensation of flexibility, of adapting to new situations. Of not being hidebound. Speaker Bercow just bound Mrs. May’s hide like it was 1599.

Because there was a new situation. Very new, since her second defeat parliament had taken ‘no deal’ off the table and sought an extension to Article 50, thus postponing Brexit. That’s pretty big news.

Moreover, and consequently, May’s Brexit deal now has a 50/50 chance of going through. That’s a new situation alright!

Having stared down the barrel of no Brexit at all, both the DUP allies and the ERG enemy within her party were beginning to decamp back under her tent. It cannot be right that one single man can pervert the course of governance on an entirely bogus basis when that man cannot be removed and doesn’t seek election.

The English fought a Civil War over that kind of thing not that long after 1604 and long before 1920. It ended with the parting of the king’s head from his shoulders.

17.4 million people voted for Brexit and are being denied it. That sounds like a recipe for civil war to me and the British rulers should remember what happened as a result of the last one.

Now, I am wholly against Theresa May’s Brexit deal on the simple basis that it isn’t Brexit at all. It is Brexit in name only. I may have been the first to give it a name, BRINO. I may have been the first to state also that I would rather be IN the EU and carry on the fight than OUT of the EU on Mrs May’s terms.

I am wholly against the British government on everything else too. I seek a general election and the sweeping of this gang that couldn’t shoot straight off the stage altogether. But I can’t associate with Bonapartism. And little Johnny Bercow is a “Poundland” Napoleon who isn’t even as nice as he looks. Watch out, sparks are about to fly!

Zero Hedge

Is March 29, 2019 the Day Gold Bugs Have Been Waiting for?

By DueDiligenceGuy

March 18, 2019

Much is being said about the World Gold Council’s report that central banks are backing up the truck for gold. The net increase in 2018 was 651.5 metric tonnes, up from 375 tonnes in 2017.

By volume this is the largest net purchase since 1967.

This does not mean there’s a global stampede into gold, of course. Most the purchasing was concentrated among a few banks—the usual suspects. Russia bought the most, apparently all but liquidating its US treasury holdings in the process. That makes perfect sense, given the sanctions Russia faces.

Could Russia, China—or both and their allies—adopt some sort of new gold standard to negate the US’ power to punish them via restrictions in the flow of US dollars? Sure they could, and there’s evidence they are moving in that direction. But such a drastic change would upset the apple cart for everyone. I don’t think we’ve reached the point where that would seem like a good idea to them.

I do think the days of the US dollar as the reserve currency of the world are numbered.

I’m skeptical that the yuan or ruble will replace it, though one backed by gold could have a real shot at that. It’s just my guess, but it seems more likely to me that the world will turn to the euro, or even the yen, before giving up on paper money entirely.

When people do lose all faith in fiat currencies, the world will be in total crisis. I could see some sort of internationally robust gold-backed crypto emerging from that crash as the most widely accepted form of currency.

Until then, we adventure on.

The adventure du jour generating buzz is the March 29, 2019 start date for the Bank for International Settlements’ “Basel 3” rules.

Under these rules, central banks can count their gold holdings, marked to market, as equivalent to cash. I agree that this is significant, and bullish for gold.

But several sources have made a big deal of an Italian journal (Il Sole/24 Ore) accusing central banks of suppressing gold prices in order to buy as much as they can in advance of the March 29 deadline. This, via manipulation of the paper gold markets of the sort my friends at GATA have been decrying for years. What’s different is that this action is tied to a specific date, in the very near term.

If it’s true, then we should see the central banks involved stop suppressing gold prices. They might even start supporting them, as their marked to market holdings would improve their balance sheets as gold prices rise.

Exciting, yes?

Well, yes—if it’s true. This remains to be seen. And even if it is true, it’s not safe to assume that the central banker conspirators are stupid enough to be obvious about what they are doing.

We could indeed see a tidal shift. Just remember that the instant a tide shifts is imperceptible. It’s only after a rising or falling tide gains momentum that begins to sweep all before it.

As with other exciting date-focused headlines, I wouldn’t expect any fireworks in gold prices on March 29.

Remember all the exciting headlines spun around the Chinese yuan joining the IFM currency basket in 2015? They might even be true; that could be the day future historians peg as the beginning of the end for the US dollar’s hegemony.

But here we are, years later, and still no fireworks.

Remember the more recent headlines declaring that China would destroy the petrodollar system by settling oil trades in gold? Again, this could eventually be true, but it was supposed to tank the dollar and send gold to the moon last year.

We’re still waiting.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that any of the above theories are false.

I’m just cautioning readers against falling for hype that creates unrealistic expectations.

Be especially cautious if such game-changing deadlines come with a sales pitch for some product or service.

And if you do buy into an exciting deadline—sometimes there really are game-changing developments—be sure not to go all in on any speculation that will crater if the game-changer doesn’t appear on schedule.

RT

Building bridges: Last steel beam linking Russia-China railway bridge connected

March 21, 2019

© pexels.com

The first cross-border railway bridge between China and Russia over the Amur River has been connected from both sides. The bridge, which will be operational this year, is expected to take bilateral trade to new highs.

The 2,209-meter-long (1.4 miles) structure links Russia’s Far East with China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province. The full completion of the cross-border bridge (railway and highway parts) is scheduled for July.

“On the morning of March 20, the last steel beam was built in, with Russia completing construction works from its part. This means the first railway bridge between the two countries is generally successfully connected,” Heilongjiang province’s administration said in a statement.

The completion of the bridge will end the history when the Chinese and Russian borders did not have a cross-river railway bridge, said Li Huachao, a chief engineer of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group.

According to him, the project aims to develop an international corridor connecting China's northeastern railway networks with Russia’s Siberian railway networks.

“The shipping capacities between the two sides will be greatly enhanced as they will no longer be affected by seasonal weather conditions, which often have an impact on river shipping,” said Li, as cited by Ecns.cn.

According to Song Kui, a researcher of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, the bridge will play a significant part in promoting trade globally and in northeast Asia.

Song said that in 2018 trade between Heilongjiang province and Russia amounted to 122 billion yuan ($18.2 billion). The figure represents 69.8 percent of the province’s total export and import value and 17.3 percent of China’s exports.

Construction of the cross-border bridge officially started in 2016, following 28 years of negotiations between the two countries. Russia plans to export iron ore, coal, mineral fertilizers, lumber, and other goods via the link to China.

The highway section of the bridge will be ready for traffic this year. Traffic capacity is expected to exceed three million tons of cargo and be used by 1.48 million people a year by 2020. It will greatly facilitate trade between the two countries, since the route will be roughly 3,500km (2,175 miles) shorter.

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The Guardian

Giant sunfish washes up on Australian beach: 'I thought it was a shipwreck'

Rare creature found at the mouth of Murray River in South Australia

Lisa Martin

March 20, 2019

A rare giant sunfish has washed ashore at the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia.

Linette Grzelak posted a picture on Facebook of the sunfish, which was spotted by a couple of fishers on the beach at the weekend.

“My partner was out with his work crew and he thought it was a piece of shipwreck at first,” she told Guardian Australia.

This ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is a rare find for that location, said Ralph Foster, the fish collection manager at the South Australian Museum.

The sunfish, which he said was only medium-sized, had sand stuck in its scales, making it look as though it was made out of “paper mache”.

“I think a lot of people thought it was fake,” her partner said.

Sunfish generally eat jellyfish and are found in oceanic waters worldwide. They get their name from their habit of basking in the sun to warm up before they dive hundreds of metres beneath the ocean.

Foster said not a lot was known about the fish, and a new species was discovered only two years ago.

Foster said sunfish could do a lot of damage to yachts if they collided in open water.

One yacht in last year’s Sydney to Hobart race was forced to retire after hitting a sunfish and breaking its rudder.

Earlier this month a hoodwinker sunfish washed up on a beach in California, the first time the species had been sighted in the northern hemisphere in 130 years.

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THE EPOCH TIMES

(YouTube Screenshot | Caters Clips)

50,000-Pound Whale Tucks Scuba Diver Under Its Fin to Protect Her from Nearby Shark

BY SUNNY CHAO, EPOCH TIMES

March 20, 2019 Updated: March 20, 2019

A marine biologist and her team were delighted to encounter a 50,000-pound (approx. 22,680-kilogram) whale on one of their snorkeling adventures. But delight soon turned to great fright, as the giant whale started pushing against her with its head.

Whilst things looked like they could have turned ugly, it turned out that the massive whale had another purpose, and no one got hurt at the end of the day.

One day in October 2017, while whale biologist Nan Hauser, 63, was snorkeling in the South Pacific, a giant whale approached her. The heavyweight humpback whale got so close to her that she was able to capture some incredible footage.

However, the massive mammal started getting a little physical … and when you’re up against something that’s heavier than two school buses, you know that it’s not play time.

“I stayed calm to a point but was sure that it was most likely going to be a deadly encounter,” Hauser said, according to Mirror.

Her anxious team on a nearby research boat were worried for her safety. They stopped their drone footage because they “did not want to film my death,” said the biologist.

“I tried to get away from him for fear that if he rammed me too hard, or hit me with his flippers or tail, that would break my bones and rupture my organs. If he held me under his pectoral fin, I would have drowned.”

“I didn’t want to panic, because I knew that he would pick up on my fear,” she added. “I feel a very close kinship with animals, so despite my trepidation, I tried to stay calm and figure out how to get away from him.”

But however she tried, the giant wouldn’t stop pushing her, nor would it let her go.

“I’ve spent 28 years underwater with whales, and have never had a whale so tactile and so insistent on putting me on his head, or belly, or back, or, most of all, trying to tuck me under his huge pectoral fin,” said Hauser, who was in the waters off Muri Beach, Rarotonga, the Cook Islands.

The whale pushed her around for over 10 minutes, which felt like hours to Hauser. Then she thought she spotted another “whale” in the distance, but it turned out to be a shark—a 15-foot-long tiger shark was lurking nearby.

Hauser finally realized that the giant mammal had been protecting her from being attacked by the shark. She said there was another whale slapping the water with its tail, trying to divert the shark away.

When Hauser returned to her boat, we can see in the footage that the whale even glanced above the water, perhaps to make sure she was safe.

Humpback whales have been reported for their altruistic behavior towards other animals, said Hauser, but this is the first documented case of a humpback whale protecting a human being from a fairly large shark.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
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“And the word of the LORD came unto him (Elijah), saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan. And it shall be, [that] thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan. {And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.”
(1 Kings 17:2-6)