According to Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz’ report in Breaking Israel News the altar has been prepared with stones made of aerated concrete and “fit for use in the Temple.”

The current stones are in loose form ready to be moved to the Temple Mount and stored so they would be available “at a moment’s notice,” but there also are plans to re-create the pieces from actual stones, considered the “ideal material from which to build the altar.”

The Sanhedrin is the re-creation of the ancient legal council that advised in Israel during biblical times. It earlier invited Arab nations to prepare for their role in the construction of a Third Temple.

They were invited as “sons of Ishmael.” Ishmael, in the Bible, is the first son of Abraham, by his wife’s maid, Hagar. Abraham is the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Isaac was the second son, and Judaism and Christianity trace roots through him. Islam claims its heritage through Ishmael.

The newest move will include during Hanukkah a full-dress reenactment of the daily offering.

“The location is still unclear as the Jerusalem municipality is weighing security concerns that a Jewish ceremony of this sort will precipitate Muslim violence if performed in view of the Temple Mount,” the report said.

“Also at question is whether the Kohanim will ritually slaughter a lamb or whether prepared meat will be brought. Though the Sanhedrin has received all of the necessary permits from the government organizations in charge of slaughtering animals, they are still waiting for the municipality to approve that part of the ceremony. In either case, the meat will be roasted on the newly consecrated altar.”

A large menorah will be lit as part of the ceremony, the report said, and Rabbi Hillel Weiss explained the significance of the ceremony being held on the last day of Hanukkah.

“According to Jewish tradition, the tabernacle and Aaron the Priest were consecrated for service on the last day of Hanukkah,” Rabbi Weiss explained to Breaking Israel News. “It is fitting that we should invite the nations to the ceremony since Hanukkah is about bringing light to the darkness. The Jews were meant to do this for the entire world.”

The declaration itself explains, “We are very close to the time about which the prophets of Israel prophesied that the God of the world who created everything will be called by the world in the name of the God of Israel, for only the people of Israel remained attached to Him.”

It continues, “Anyone who wants to accompany us, to be a partner in serving God, and to connect with his people, must be a believer in the God who was revealed at Sinai, and to be as the people of Israel who were present there and preserved this status to this day.”

WND reported earlier this year that the organization and others were minting a special edition “70 Year Redemption Coin” to raise funds for the Third Temple.

Others were the Mikdash (Temple) Educational Center and the United Temple Movements.

The Trump-Cyrus coin, which honored

***

***

INDEPENDENT

45 senators support bill that makes boycotting Israel a crime

The American Civil Liberties Union calls the bill a 'direct violation of the First Amendment'

Emily Shugerman
December 1, 2018

Senator Ben Cardin has proposed fining Americans who support boycotts of Israel ( Aaron P Bernstein/Getty Images )

A bill that would criminalise boycotts against Israel has been signed by 45 US senators and 237 congressman.

The so-called “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” would impose fines of up to $250,000 (£192,000) on any US citizen “engaged in interstate or foreign commerce” who supports a boycott of Israeli goods and services.

The US has long defended Israel in territorial disputes in the Middle East, even as the Israeli military has expanded into areas assigned to the Palestinians by international law.

This position runs counter to that of the United Nations, which claims Israel’s settlements in occupied Palestinian territory have “no legal validity”, and “constitute flagrant violation of international law”.

In their new legislation, members of Congress claim the UN is considering a resolution to withhold assistance from – and prevent trade with – settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.

The Israel Anti-Boycott act would punish any American who supported such measures.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has argued that the bill would “impose civil and criminal punishment on individuals solely because of their political beliefs about Israel and its policies”, in a letter sent to members of the Senate.

“In short, the bill would punish businesses and individuals solely based on their point of view,” it wrote. “Such a penalty is in direct violation of the First Amendment.”

Still, the bill – reportedly drafted with the help of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – has received widespread bipartisan support

Even liberal-leaning senators like Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maria Cantwell of Washington, and representatives like Adam Schiff of Massachusetts, have signed on to the legislation.

Conservatives like Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida also support it.

When asked by The Intercept about this support, many legislators seemed unfamiliar with the details.

Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan responded by asking: “What’s the Act?”

Senator Claire McCaskill claimed she had not read the ACLU letter, but would “take their position into consideration, just like I take everybody’s position into consideration”.

Meanwhile, Senator Benjamin Cardin – the bill’s primary sponsor – said that he “doesn’t think” the bill criminalises participating in boycotts, as the ACLU has claimed.

“We are very sensitive to freedom of speech; we are very sensitive to people having different views,” he said. “We’re not trying to weigh in at all on the differences between the Palestinians and the Israelis.”

***

RT

Israeli Police recommend bribery charges against Netanyahu & wife

December 2, 2018

FILE PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu © Reuters / Ronen Zvulun

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara should be indicted for bribery in a corruption scandal known as Case 4000, the Israel Police have recommended.

A statement issued on Sunday says that Netanyahu is suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for policy decisions that favored Shaul Elovitch, a media mogul that controlled Israel’s largest telecom firm, Bezeq, and the Walla News website.

It’s believed that Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry Director-General Avi Berger and hired his loyalist and ex-campaign manager Shlomo Filber in order to provide Elovitch and his companies special treatment. In exchange, Netanyahu and his wife struck a deal with Elovitch, giving the Israeli prime minister favorable coverage on the Walla news site.

“Netanyahu and those close to him bluntly intervened, sometimes on a daily basis, with the content being published on the Walla news website, and sought to influence the appointment of senior employees (editors and reporters), while using their ties to Shaul and Iris Elovitch,” the police statement read.

If true, this would constitute bribery, as Netanyahu worked to set government policies that would increase monetary profits in exchange for positive media coverage. Police recommended that charges also be brought against Elovitch and his wife. It’s now up to the State Prosecutor’s Office to decide whether charges will be filed.

Firing back, the prime minister said he fervently denied the charges – but wasn’t surprised that the police had decided to go public with them.

“These recommendations were decided on and leaked even before the investigations began,” the statement said. Netanyahu also expressed confidence that “authorized officials” will not press forward with the case, concluding instead that “there was nothing because there is nothing.”

The police have already urged that charges be brought against Netanyahu in two other cases: In Case 1000, Netanyahu is suspected of unlawfully accepting gifts from billionaire friends, while in Case 2000, the prime minister is believed to have negotiated favorable press coverage with the owner of the popular Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet).

Both Netanyahu and his wife have been hounded by corruption allegations. In June, Bibi was questioned by investigators about possible graft and corruption that led to the purchase of three Dolphin-class submarines and four Sa’ar 6-class corvettes from German shipbuilding company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

A week later, his wife was indicted for allegedly misusing a total of 350,000 shekels (around US$96,000) in official funds to order extravagant meals at their official residence in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2013.

***

The Atlantic

The Atlantic dares to ask if exorcisms (and thus the supernatural) may be real after all

Terry Mattingly

November 27, 2018

Five years ago, I had a chance to eat lunch with the late William Peter Blatty, an articulate Catholic apologist who won an Academy Award for turning his novel, "The Exorcist," into a stunning Hollywood screenplay.

Yes, I called Blatty a Catholic apologist.

Why? In part because he viewed his masterwork as a vehicle for criticizing this materialistic age. Here is a chunk of that column, in which Blatty explains his motives. In “The Exorcist”:

The fictional Father Damien Karras experiences paralyzing doubts after his mother's death. Blatty was typing the second page of his earliest take on the story when he received the call that his mother had died.

"I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a statement that the grave is not the end, that there is more to life than death," said Blatty, in a Bethesda, Md., diner near his home, not far from the Georgetown neighborhood described in "The Exorcist."

After studying the explicit details in the journals of exorcists, he decided that a story about "what happens in these cases could really be a boost to the faith. It could show people that the spiritual world is real."

The bottom line: "The Exorcist" scared the hell out of millions of people.

This brings me to the feature story in The Atlantic that stirred up lots of online conversation over the weekend, the one with this haunting double-decker headline:

American Exorcism

Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with demonic possession, and a centuries-old practice is finding new footing in the modern world.

A serious piece of journalism on this topic faces a big question: How much space should be dedicated to the views of people who, well, think demon possession is real? As Blatty noted, it is impossible to talk about this topic — exorcisms — without debating evidence that the material world is not all that there is. (Click here for a Rod Dreher discussion of this angle.)

Toward the end of this long feature, reporter Mike Mariani offers this summary of what he was seeing, hearing and feeling:

Pore over these spiritual and psychiatric frameworks long enough, and the lines begin to blur. If someone lapses into an alternate identity that announces itself as a demon bent on wresting away that person’s soul, how can anyone prove otherwise? Psychiatry has only given us models through which to understand these symptoms, new cultural contexts to replace the old ones. No lab test can pinpoint the medical source of these types of mental fractures. In one sense, the blurry shadow-selves that surface in what we call dissociative states and the demons that Catholic exorcists believe they are casting out are not so different: Both are incorporeal forces of ambiguous agency and intent, rupturing a continuous personality and forever eluding proof.

Uh, OK. I read that as one of saying that it’s hard to dismiss the mysteries that emerge when researchers record and then transcribe what happens in exorcism rites.

Researchers — secular and religious — have been wrestling with this puzzle for decades. For many, the debates kicked into high gear with “Hostage to the Devil” in 1976, in which the late Father Malachi Martin published notes and partial transcripts from several exorcism rites.

At the heart of “The Exorcist” was material linked to materials describing a famous 1949 exorcism case, which Blatty encountered while studying at Georgetown University. In the Atlantic piece, Mariani noted:

Several researchers have since cast doubt on whether anything supernatural took place during the exorcisms, but none has been able to definitively contradict the priests’ accounts.

Part of The Exorcist’s appeal may have been the faint but unmistakable sense that it was drawn from real events.

Are we talking about reality or illusion? Isn’t this another way of asking if religious faith is or isn’t fake? So a journalism story about exorcisms is wrestling with important demons, when viewed from a strictly secular point of view.

But why is this a hot topic right now? Why is the demand for trained exorcists on the rise? Here is another piece of summary material, hear the end of the feature, quoting historian Adam Jortner of Auburn University:

“When the influence of the major institutional Churches is curbed,” he said, people “begin to look for their own answers.” And at the same time that there has been a rebirth in magical thinking, Jortner added, American culture has become steeped in movies, TV shows, and other media about demons and demonic possession.

At this point, many readers will start thinking about G.K. Chesterton and the rising tide of superstition that often swamps life in highly secular cultures. See this column that I wrote after a visit to Prague in the Czech Republic.

Back to the piece in The Atlantic: Frankly, it’s hard to summarize or criticize Mariani’s work with a few selected quotations. That’s a compliment, as far as I am concerned.

However, this long, deep feature does contain one important hole, one crucial topic that was left unexplored.

To show some context, please consider this passage:

The conviction that demons exist — and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings — stretches back as far as religion itself. … But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.

Perhaps as a result, demand for exorcisms — the Catholic Church’s antidote to demonic possession — seems to be growing as well. Though the Church does not keep official statistics, the exorcists I interviewed for this article attest to fielding more pleas for help every year.

Father Vincent Lampert, the official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, told me in early October that he’d received 1,700 phone or email requests for exorcisms in 2018, by far the most he’s ever gotten in one year. Father Gary Thomas — a priest whose training as an exorcist in Rome was documented in The Rite, a book published in 2009 and made into a movie in 2011 — said that he gets at least a dozen requests a week. Several other priests reported that without support from church staff and volunteers, their exorcism ministries would quickly swallow up their entire weekly schedules.

The Church has been training new exorcists in Chicago, Rome, and Manila. Thomas told me that in 2011 the U.S. had fewer than 15 known Catholic exorcists. Today, he said, there are well over 100.

Ah, why was there such a shortage of exorcists in the first place?

Apparently, quite a few Catholic bishops didn’t think it was necessary to teach priests how to perform the rites contained in “Of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications (Latin: De Exorcismis et Supplicationibus Quibusdam).”

Why was this the case? In 2009, I had a chance to talk with Father Gary Thomas about that. He was rather blunt, when describing the ancient realities described in the modern version of this work.

While the new rite warned exorcists not to confuse diabolic possession with mental illness, it also affirmed ancient teachings about the reality of spiritual warfare, as illustrated by biblical accounts of Jesus performing exorcisms.

Truth is, stressed Thomas, the events of Holy Week — especially Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter — make no sense without real demons, real temptations and a real hell. But many Catholics disagree.

"There are plenty of bishops and priests who simply do not believe in Satan and demons and they have told me so," he said. "That makes a difference. What most people do not realize is that bishops are like independent contractors and they can do whatever they damn well want to do. ... That's why we don't have many exorcists in America."

Ah, there’s the rub.

Apparently this clash between a materialistic and supernatural worldview can be found in many Catholic seminaries and bureaucracies, even in an era in which recent popes (St. John Paul II, for example) have made their views clear on this topic (yes, including Pope Francis).

So, yes, the power of Catholic modernists and materialists is an important hole in the Atlanticreport. That’s another important debate to cover.

With that in mind, let’s end with this material from Mariani, describing how exorcism may be connected to other trends in the age in which we live:

Nearly every Catholic exorcist I spoke with cited a history of abuse — in particular, sexual abuse — as a major doorway for demons. Thomas said that as many as 80 percent of the people who come to him seeking an exorcism are sexual-abuse survivors. According to these priests, sexual abuse is so traumatic that it creates a kind of “soul wound,” as Thomas put it, that makes a person more vulnerable to demons.

The exorcists — to be clear — aren’t saying sexual abuse torments people to such an extent that they come to believe they’re possessed; the exorcists contend that abuse fosters the conditions for actual demonic possession to take hold. But from a secular standpoint, the link to sexual abuse helps explain why someone might become convinced that he or she is being menaced by something sinister and overpowering.

The correlation with abuse struck me as eerie, given the scandals that have rocked the Church. But it doesn’t seem to answer the “why now?” question behind exorcism’s comeback; no evidence exists to suggest that child abuse has increased. The second doorway — an interest in the occult — might offer at least a partial explanation.

Most of the exorcists I interviewed said they believed that demonic possession was becoming more common — and they cited a resurgence in magic, divination, witchcraft, and attempts to communicate with the dead as a primary cause. According to Catholic teaching, engaging with the occult involves accessing parts of the spiritual realm that may be inhabited by demonic forces. “Those practices become the engine that allows the demon to come in,” Thomas said.

In recent years, journalists and academics have documented a renewed interest in magic, astrology, and witchcraft, primarily among Millennials. “The occult is a substitution for God,” Thomas said. “People want to take shortcuts, and the occult is all about power and knowledge.”

Yes, there is much more to be said about that.

***

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

An aerial view of Mayotte's South Island.

Strange waves rippled around the world, and nobody knows why

Instruments picked up the seismic waves more than 10,000 miles away—but bizarrely, nobody felt them.

PUBLISHED November 28, 2018

These waves didn't just zip by; they rang for more than 20 minutes. And yet, it seems, no human felt them.

Only one person noticed the odd signal on the U.S. Geological Survey's real-time seismogram displays. An earthquake enthusiast who uses the handle @matarikipax saw the curious zigzags and posted images of them to Twitter. That small action kicked off another ripple of sorts, as researchers around the world attempted to suss out the source of the waves. Was it a meteor strike? A submarine volcano eruption? An ancient sea monster rising from the deep?

“I don't think I've seen anything like it,” says Göran Ekström, a seismologist at Columbia University who specializes in unusual earthquakes.

“It doesn't mean that, in the end, the cause of them is that exotic,” he notes. Yet many features of the waves are remarkably weird—from their surprisingly monotone, low-frequency “ring” to their global spread. And researchers are still chasing down the geologic conundrum.

Why are the low-frequency waves so weird?

In a normal earthquake, the built-up tensions in Earth's crust release with a jolt in mere seconds. This sends out a series of waves known as a “wave train” that radiates from the point of the rupture, explains Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at the University of Southampton.

The fastest-traveling signals are Primary waves, or P-waves, which are compression waves that move in bunches, like what happens to an extendedslinky that gets suddenly pushed at one end. Next come the secondary waves, or S-waves, which have more of a side-to-side motion. Both of these so-called body waves have relatively high frequencies, Hicks says, “a sort of ping rather than a rumbling.”

However, there was no big earthquake kicking off the recent slow waves. Adding to the weirdness, Mayotte's mystery waves are what scientists call monochromatic. Most earthquakes send out waves with a slew of different frequencies, but Mayotte's signal was a clean zigzag dominated by one type of wave that took a steady 17 seconds to repeat.

“It's like you have colored glasses and [are] just seeing red or something,” says Anthony Lomax, an independent seismology consultant.

Mayotte's volcanic roots

Based on the scientific sleuthing done so far, the tremors seem to be related to a seismic swarm that's gripped Mayotte since last May. Hundreds of quakes have rattled the small nation during that time, most radiating from around 31 miles offshore, just east of the odd ringing. The majority were minor trembles, but the largest clocked in at magnitude 5.8 on May 15, the mightiest in the island's recorded history. Yet the frequency of these shakes has declined in recent months—and no traditional quakes rumbled there when the mystery waves began on November 11.

The French Geological Survey (BRGM) is closely monitoring the recent shaking, and it suggests that a new center of volcanic activity may be developing off the coast. Mayotte was formed from volcanism, but its geologic beasts haven't erupted in over 4,000 years. Instead, BRGM's analysis suggests that this new activity may point to magmatic movement offshore—miles from the coast under thousands of feet of water. Though this is good news for the island inhabitants, it's irksome for geologists, since it's an area that hasn't been studied in detail.

“The location of the swarm is on the edge of the [geological] maps we have,” says Nicolas Taillefer, head of the seismic and volcanic risk unit at BRGM. “There are a lot things we don't know.” And as for the November 11 mystery wave, he says, “it's something quite new in the signals on our stations.”

Motion in the ocean

Since mid-July, GPS stations on the island have tracked it sliding more than 2.4 inches to the east and 1.2 inches to the south, according data from Institut National de L’information Géographique et Forestière. Using these measurements, Pierre Briole of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Parisestimated that a magma body that measures about a third of a cubic mile is squishing its way through the subsurface near Mayotte.

The early period of rumbling was also overprinted with what seemed to be the P- and S- waves of tiny tremors, explains Lomax, who spotted the faint pings by filtering out the low-frequency signals. Such pings are commonly associated with magma moving and fracturing rock as it squirts through the crust. But even those signals were a little strange, says Helen Robinson, a Ph.D. candidate in applied volcanology at the University of Glasgow.

“They're too nice; they're too perfect to be nature,” she jokes, although she quickly adds that an industrial source is impossible, since no wind farms or drilling are taking place in the deep waters off Mayotte's shores.

Ekström thinks that the events on the morning of November 11 actually did begin with an earthquake of sorts equivalent to a magnitude 5 temblor. It passed by largely unnoticed, he suggests, because it was what's known as a slow earthquake. These quakes are quieter than their speedy cousins since they come from a gradual release of stress that can stretch over minutes, hours, or even days.

“The same deformation happens, but it doesn't happen as a jolt,” Ekström says.

Assembling the geologic puzzle

So what is actually causing the super-slow vibrations at Mayotte? A submarine eruption could produce these low rumblings, but evidence for such an event has yet to materialize.

Most current guesses revolve around resonance in a magma chamber, triggered by some type of subsurface shift or chamber collapse. The resonance itself can be any type of rhythmic motion, like sloshing of the molten rock, or a pressure wave ricocheting through the magma body, Ekström explains. Studying the intricate features of the seismic waves could yield clues to the size and shape of the molten material lurking below.

“It's like a music instrument,” says Jean-Paul Ampuero, a seismologist at the Université Côte d'Azur in France. “The notes of a music instrument—whether it's grave or very pitchy—depends on the size of the instrument.”

The signal's odd uniformity could be due, in part, to the surrounding rocks and sediments, Lomax adds. Perhaps the local geology is filtering the sounds and only letting this single 17-second wave period escape.

Robinson agrees with this idea, noting that the geology here is extremely complex. Mayotte sits in a region crisscrossed by ancient faults—including fracture zones from the final breakup of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. What's more, the underlying crust is somewhat transitional, shifting between the thick continental crusts and the thinner oceanic crusts. Perhaps this complexity drives the simplicity of the escaping waves, Robinson says.

Secrets of the sea

For now, though, the lack of data makes it tough to say more about the wiggly forms. Hicks' preliminary models hinted that the waves emanated from subsurface inflation, rather than a magma chamber draining or collapsing. But with a little additional data, the model flipped and pointed to chamber deflation instead.

It also could be a bit of both, notes Robinson: “Some collapse mechanisms, you can get inflation and deflation occurring at the same time,” she says. Or sometimes they can alternate, pumping up and down like Earth's fiery lungs.

“It is very difficult, really, to say what the cause is and whether anyone's theories are correct—whether even what I'm saying has any relevance to the outcome of what's going on,” Robinson says.

BRGM plans to do ocean bottom surveys to get more detailed information about the region and investigate the possibility of a submarine eruption. In the meantime, the seismic sleuthing continues with the data that's available. Whether the cause is ordinary or extraordinary remains to be seen, Lomax says, but the science—and the fun—is in the chase.

“Depending on what field and what time in history, 99.9 percent of the time, it's ordinary, or noise, or a mistake, and 0.1 percent, it's something” he says. “But that's just the way it goes. That's the way it should go. That's scientific advance.”

***

STRANGE SOUNDS

New normal? Severe hailstorms cover desert in white in Saudi Arabia, kill cows in South Africa and destroy crops in Australia

December 5, 2018

Article

(We haven't seen anything yet. “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” Revelation 16:21

How Heavy Was a Talent?

The talent was the heaviest or largest biblical unit of measurement for weight, equal to about 75 pounds or 35 kilograms. Now, imagine the opulence of this enemy king's crown when it was placed on King David's head:

"David took the crown from their king's head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones." (2 Samuel 12:30, NIV)

In Revelation 16:21, we read that "great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent." (NKJV) We get a better picture of the crushing fierceness of God's wrath when we realize these hailstones weighed about 75 pounds. ThoughtCo.

Talent

3,000 shekels = 60 minas = 34.3 kilograms = 75 U.S. pounds
One of the common weights also used to value money (Exodus 38:24 - 29, 1Kings 9:14, Matthew 18:24, Revelation 16:21) BibleStudy.org)

***

Zero Hedge

SCIENTISTS URGE WORLD TO SHARE DNA IN CENTRALIZED DATABASE “FOR YOUR PROTECTION”

Remember, you have nothing to fear from this ultimate invasion of privacy if you have done nothing wrong…

December 2, 2018

IMAGE CREDITS: TYPOGRAPHY IMAGES/PIXABAY.
Between the ever-encroaching eye of Big Brother, the imminent events of pre-crime AI, the exposure of tech behemoth privacy contempt, and the inevitable ‘hack’ of any and everything online, it is perhaps understandable that your average joe is more than a little nervous – no matter how romantic the idea of discovering you are 1/1024th native American – to hand over their DNA to the next tom, dick or dotcom wanting to tell you if you’re lactose intolerant or when you’ll get diabetes.

But, luckily for all of us skeptics, the clever people have a solution to our plebian ignorance.

As Bloomberg reports, a group of medical researchers have a counter-intuitive proposal for shielding people’s most intimate personal data from prying eyes.

Bloomberg’s Kristen Brown writes that in a new paper published in the journal Science on Thursday, researchers suggest that the best way to protect genetic information might be for all Americans to deposit their data in a universal, nationwide DNA database.

Concerns about who can gain access to genetic information gathered by consumer genetic-testing websites has been on the climb since April, when police made an arrest in a decades-old serial-murder case in California. To ensnare the alleged Golden State Killer, investigators trawled an open-source database popular with genealogy hobbyists to search for relatives of possible suspects. Police found matches, and then got their man.

The California case made clear that consumers have little control over where their genetic information— and by extension, that of their family members — can wind up, a potential privacy nightmare.

“Currently, law enforcement already has potential access to millions of people’s data,” said James Hazel, a researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and the lead author of the paper. “A universal system would be much easier to regulate.”

A recent study concluded that only 2 percent of the population needs to have done a DNA test for virtually everyone’s genetic makeup to be exposed.

“This is a very provocative proposal,” Hazel said, “But it all comes down to spurring a debate about the current system.”

If enhancing privacy by creating a giant database of people’s DNA sounds counterintuitive,the group’s point is that it’s already too late to prevent mass exposure.

Remember, you have nothing to fear from this ultimate invasion of privacy if you have done nothing wrong…

MailOnline

The 'UFO Messiah' who exposed Area 51 to the world: Bob Lazar says he is STILL being monitored by authorities 30 years after he went on TV and said he'd worked with alien spacecraft in a secret US government project

• Bob Lazar first hit headlines in 1989 when he told a Las Vegas TV station that nine alien spacecraft were being tested and analyzed in Nevada by US scientists

• Lazar said he'd worked to help reverse engineer the 'flying discs,' which used technology that had not yet been discovered or invented by humans

• The 'scientist' said he'd been threatened about coming forward but felt the public should know; he was highly criticized and many claims were debunked

• Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell was just 13 years old when Lazar's extraordinary statements hit the airwaves; he's been fascinated by UFOs and Lazar ever since

• Corbell's new documentary, Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers, traces Lazar's path since 1989; he now runs a science equipment lab in Michigan

• Lazar stands by his assertions and says they changed the trajectory of his life in 'for the most part, negative' ways - and he probably wouldn't speak out again

By SHEILA FLYNN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 15:02, 4 December 2018 | UPDATED: 15:47, 4 December 2018

Article

AMMC

***

VOICE OF EUROPE

The EU is getting desperate and urges all countries to sign dangerous UN Migration Pact

By EMMA R.

December 3, 2018

Janossy Gergely & Lukasz Stefanski / shutterstock.com

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos urges all countries to sign the UN Migration Pact. As the agreement is “important” to the world.

On 10-11 December, the world’s countries are expected to sign the UN’s highly criticised Global Migration Agreement.

But several countries have already pulled out. In the EU there are at least six countries that will not sign. Among other things, they claim that the pact will promote even more immigration and pose a national security risk.

This weekend, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the governments signing the pact present a “serious risk” to their citizens.

Avramopoulos does not understand the criticism, he tells German Die Welt.

And he therefore wants the countries to take the next few days to reflect and then choose to join the Globalist migration pact.

Those who reject the migration pact have not studied it enough, he argues and says that the agreement, on the contrary, is good for the world because, according to him, it will lead to “orderly” immigration across the world and stop human trafficking.

Like other proponents, he points out that the agreement is not binding. According to the Migration Commissioner, it is also a betrayal to Africa not to join the Pact.

***

The Guardian

Sacking of Italy's health experts raises political interference concerns

Vaccine-sceptic M5S says it plans to replace panel with ‘other deserving personalities’

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

December 4, 2018

Giulia Grillo has caused confusion after making several U-turns on the government’s child vaccine policy Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

The Italian health minister’s decision to sack the entire board of the country’s most important committee of technical-scientific experts, who advise the government on health policy, has raised alarm over who will replace them.

In a move on Monday night that shocked Italian scientists, Giulia Grillo, from the vaccine-sceptic Five Star Movement, which has supported unproven cures for cancer, said it was “time to give space to the new”.

“We are the #governmentofchange and, as I have already done with the appointments of the various organs and committees of the ministry, I have chosen to open the door to other deserving personalities,” she wrote on Facebook.

The decision will mean the replacement of 30 higher health council board members, including the president, Roberta Siliquini, the head of the school of hygiene and preventive medicine at the University of Turin who was nominated in December 2017 by the former health minister Beatrice Lorenzin.

Siliquini told the Guardian the move was concerning.

“We are worried about why they have decided to remove people who were selected due to their experience and competencies at the highest level,” she said. “We are also worried about who will make up the next council and especially if the nominations are politically motivated.”

Grillo did not explain in further detail the motive behind her decision. She said in her post that some of the removed board members “could be reappointed”, but “not the leaders … who must have the trust of and be in full harmony with the minister in charge”. She said on Tuesday that the new council would be formed in January and nominees would be selected “based on [their] curriculum”.

Alfonso Celotto, a former chief of staff at the health ministry, said the move was worrying but compatible with the populist government’s strategy to do away with choices made by the previous administration.

“They call themselves ‘the government of change’ and so want new people,” added Celotto. “But the crucially important thing is that the new people are competent – it would be like sending [Francesco] Totti away from the football team and replacing him with someone meagre. If you send Totti away you replace him with [Cristiano] Ronaldo.”

Celotto worked at Grillo’s ministry for just three months, but declined to say why he quit. News reports claimed it was because of differences over issues including vaccines.

Other distinguished experts on the board included the geneticists Giuseppe Novelli and Bruno Dallapiccola, and the pathologist Napoleone Ferrara. The members are nominated every three years and it is unusual for their mandates to be cut short.

Siliquini, who received a formal letter of her dismissal on Monday morning that contained no explanation, said that in the six months since Grillo became health minister the pair had never met.

“We’re the organisation that helps them, from a scientific and technical point of view, to make decisions on policy,” said Siliquini. “But she never asked us anything during these six months, which was probably a strong signal.”

In 2013 the Five Star Movement was a vociferous supporter of Stamina, a controversial stem-cell therapy promoted by a psychologist that was later proven to be a con.

Grillo has also caused confusion after making several U-turns on the government’s child vaccine policy. Her party, which is governing in coalition with the far-right League, came to power pledging to reform a policy brought in by the previous administration making 10 vaccines mandatory.

Grillo then said in June that parents could “self-certify” that their children had been vaccinated, instead of providing a doctor’s note, causing mayhem at the start of the school year. Then in mid-November, amid a measles epidemic, the government said it would uphold the vaccines obligation while calling for 800,000 infants, children and young adults to be vaccinated.

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RT

Right-wing ‘Reconquista’? Anti-immigrant party enters parliament in Spain’s most populous region

December 4, 2018

Spain's right-wing VOX party leaders celebrate results after the Andalusian regional elections in Seville, Spain, on December 2, 2018. © REUTERS / Marcelo Del Pozo

The wave of right-wing resurgence that has flooded Europe following the refugee crisis has reached Spain. An upstart anti-immigrant party has entered the parliament in Spain’s Andalusia and might yet become a kingmaker.

Spain’s most populous region and one of its economic powerhouses, Andalusia held parliamentary elections this past weekend. Although the vote was technically won by the Socialists, who have governed the region for almost 40 years, it is the surprising success of the right-wing Vox party that made the headlines.

The upstart political force, founded in 2013, showed an impressive result, by winning twice as many votes than had been expected, securing 12 seats in the legislature. While most major parties taking part in the elections lost the backing of the voters, Vox was one of the few that enjoyed a significant boost in public support.

Founded by a breakaway group from the Spanish conservative People’s Party, Vox soon took an anti-Islam and anti-immigration stance. The party also harbors a Euroskeptic view, while opposing increased autonomy for Spanish regions, such as Catalonia.

Although Vox is the smallest faction in the Andalusian legislature, it might yet be able to decide the fate of the future ruling coalition and remove the Socialists from power. The left-leaning forces in the parliament do not have enough seats to form a governing majority. The People’s Party, which came second, might be able to muster the numbers, but only if they ally with the liberal Citizens Party and Vox.

The People’s Party regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno already made it clear he is ready to strike a deal with Vox, and said that he is open to any policy suggestions except for limiting the region’s autonomy.

“The red line [in the negotiations with Vox] is the Constitution,” he said, following the elections. The Citizens Party appeared to be less eager to join such a coalition but still said that it did not “rule out any scenario.”

The possibility of such a coalition has apparently become a source of concern for the Socialists.

“There has been a real setback for the left in Andalusia but the most serious thing is that the extreme right has entered this new electoral cycle in Spain and has entered the Andalusian parliament for the first time. This phenomenon, which has been taking place in the rest of Europe and the world, has now reached Spain,” said Susana Diaz, the Socialist party chief in Andalusia.

Vox itself loudly celebrated its success. “Reconquista of Spain … starts in Andalusia!” the party’s election campaign manager boldly proclaimed at a post-election party, as reported by the Spanish media.

Located in the south, Andalusia serves as Spain’s main gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and the success of Vox has become a sign of growing anti-migrant sentiment. The right-wingers were more successful in municipalities that hosted large numbers of non-European migrants, in large cities, and in particular in wealthy and middle-income neighborhoods, Spain’s El Pais reported, citing electoral statistics.

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SPUTNIK

German Police Shut Down Concert Due to Mass Nazi Salute

December 2, 2018

According to media reports, police in state of Saxony had to shut down a music concert after people in the crowd started chanting the banned Nazi slogan "Sieg Heil".

According to a police statement, the concert took place in Ostritz and featured two bands from "the right-wing scene".

Law enforcement had to intervene after hearing illegal shouts coming from the venue at 11:20 pm. Police have opened an investigation

Witnesses also reported hearing the illegal chants, according to reports.

German law prohibits Nazi slogans, as well as publicly displaying swastikas or other Nazi symbols.

Ostritz is a town in the Gorlitz district of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, near the country's border with Poland.

Although the origins of the salute were mythologised in fascist countries and falsely attributed both to ancient Rome and medieval Germany, the gesture was first introduced in modern times by the Christian socialist reformer Francis Bellamy, author of the US Pledge of Allegiance. In US schools in the first decades of the 20th century, schoolchildren would stand and salute the nation's flag while pledging their loyalty in unison.

As Bellamy advised, "every pupil gives the flag the military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to align with the forehead and close to it."

In 1942, anxious American legislators replaced the embarrassing gesture with the practice of placing your hand over your heart, which survives in US public schools to this day.

***

THE HILL

Tucker Carlson: Trump has not kept his promises

BY MICHAEL BURKE - 12/06/18 04:09 PM EST

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said this week that President Trump has not kept the promises he made on the campaign trail.

Carlson told Die Weltwoche, a weekly magazine in Switzerland,, that Trump's "chief promises" were that he would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, defund Planned Parenthood and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"And he hasn't done any of those things," Carlson said. "I've come to believe that Trump's role is not as a conventional president who promises to get certain things achieved to the Congress and then does."

Carlson added that he doesn't think Trump is "capable" of fulfilling those promises.

"I don't think he's capable of sustained focus," Carlson said. "I don't think he understands the system. I don't think the Congress is on his side. I don't think his own agencies support him."

The conservative television host elaborated later in the interview, saying he doesn't think Trump can get things done because the legislative process is "highly complex."

"In order to do it you really have to understand how it works and you have to be very focused on getting it done, and he knows very little about the legislative process, hasn't learned anything, hasn't … surrounded himself with people that can get it done, hasn't done all the things you need to do so," Carlson said.

***

Ready Nutrition

The Healing Power of Frankincense

Lisa Egan

Many people have heard of frankincense because it has a long history in myth and folk medicine, especially in India and in African countries.

In the Bible, frankincense is one of three gifts that the wise men offered to the infant Jesus, possibly because of its healing powers.

What IS frankincense?

Frankincense – also called olibanum – is made by extracting the milky white sap of the tree’s bark and then hardening it into a resin. The resin is made into an oil via steam distillation. Then, the oil is either used on the skin or by inhalation.

Frankincense oil is sourced from Boswellia carterii, Boswellia ferreana or Boswellia serrata trees that grow in African and Arabian regions, including Yemen, Oman, Somalia, and Ethiopia.

There are many types of frankincense, and its quality is based on color, purity, aroma, age, and shape. The trees can produce different colored resins. Silver and Hojari are generally considered the highest grades of frankincense. Brown-yellow and muddy frankincense are typically the cheapest and easiest to find.

Benefits

Substances found in frankincense have a number of possible health benefits.

These substances include terpenes and boswellic acids, which have strong anti-inflammatory properties and protect healthy cells. Boswellic acid inhibits 5-lipoxygenase, and it might also target free radicals and cytokines, according to the authors of a study published in Planta Medica. All of these play a role in inflammation.

Frankincense also can…

• Help control bleeding and speed up the wound-healing process

• Fight inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, and improve uterine health

• Be used to help alleviate stress and relieve pain

• Kill germs – it has antiseptic and antimicrobial properties. It works especially well when combined with myrrh

• Help keep your mouth clean and healthy – there are natural kinds of toothpaste made with frankincense because of its antiseptic properties

• Treat dry skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, age spots, scars, and stretch marks

• Relieve colic and intestinal gas (flatulence)

• Provide relief for respiratory irritation due to colds, the flu, asthma, and bronchitis

In aromatherapy, frankincense oil is typically used for the following conditions:

• Acne

• Anxiety

• Colds

• Coughs

• Indigestion

• Ulcers

As you can see, frankincense oil has much to offer therapeutically.

But perhaps most impressive, frankincense may actually help fight cancer.

Cancer

Frankincense appears to attack cancer cells directly. Some researchers believe it could benefit people with certain types of cancer, including that of the pancreas, breast, and bladder.

Current research is limited, but so far, findings are promising.

It is known that chronic inflammation can damage DNA and lead to cancer. It is possible that frankincense helps fight cancer via its anti-inflammatory properties,

But, some research suggests it may directly attack cancer cells. In one study, researchers found that the oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability. In other words, it is possible that frankincense oil might target cancer cells without harming healthy cells (unlike chemotherapy and other conventional cancer treatments, which kill both).

At least two other studies have produced similar findings, according to a recent report from Medical News Today:

In 2015, further lab research found similar effects in breast cancer. The investigators found that frankincense could kill breast cancer cells and disrupt the growth of future cancer cells.

In 2016, scientists describing the properties of frankincense noted that it contains substances that have anti-tumor properties. These could prevent cancer cells from growing and lead to controlled cell death, or apoptosis.

The findings of two older studies also suggest that frankincense may help fight cancer.

In 2013, researchers in China studied the effects of frankincense and myrrh on five tumor cell lines in a lab. They found that human breast and skin cancer cells showed increased sensitivity to the combination of oils.

A 2012 study found that a chemical compound in frankincense called AKBA is successful at killing cancer cells that have become resistant to chemotherapy.

More research needs to be conducted, including human trials, but frankincense may be used as a safe cancer treatment in the future.

How to use frankincense

Frankincense essential oil is used by either inhaling the oil or by applying it topically.

Be sure to purchase the essential oil and not “fragrance oil”, which usually does not offer the same health benefits. With essential oils, a little goes a long way; usually, one to three drops is all that is needed.

Before applying the oil to the skin, be sure to blend it with a carrier oil like coconut oil, grape seed oil, olive oil, hemp seed, jojoba, avocado oil, or sweet almond oil. Used this way, frankincense may help alleviate joint or muscle pain, promote hair root health and stimulate healing of cuts, acne, insect bites, or boils. You also can combine the oil with a little lotion, or apply a few drops to a compress. Again, remember – a little goes a long way. When essential oils are applied topically, they are absorbed by your skin, and it is possible to overdo it. Always do a patch test when using a new essential oil (dilute it with your carrier first!) to make sure you don’t experience irritation, an allergy, or a burn.

To inhale the oil, you can use an aromatherapy essential oil diffuser. You can make your own by using a small container, the carrier oil of your choice, the essential oil, and a little vodka. For instructions (and additional oil combinations to try) please see DIY: How To Naturally Make An Essential Oil Diffuser {Plus Aromatherapy Oil Blends}. This type of therapy interacts with the “emotional brain” or limbic system. During inhalation, odor molecules travel through the nose and affect the brain through a variety of receptor sites, one of which is the limbic system.

You can add a few drops of frankincense oil to a vaporizer, or add it to your bath (try combining it with a little whole milk first so the oil mixes with your bath water).

Special precautions and possible side effects

Frankincense is generally believed to be safe, but there are some possible concerns and guidelines to understand.

First, be sure to purchase therapeutic-grade oil.

Store essential oils out of reach of children and pets.

Do not ingest the essential oil, as it may have toxic effects (and can even be fatal) when taken internally.

Avoid getting essential oils in your eyes, nose, or ears. Wash your hands thoroughly after working with the oils. Wearing gloves while working with pure essential oils is a good idea, especially if you are making various products with them. Be sure to work in a well-ventilated area.

Be sure to dilute the oil with a carrier oil or lotion prior to topical use. Because essential oils are concentrated, using them without diluting them may cause skin irritation.

If you are pregnant or nursing, avoid using frankincense oil because it may trigger contractions, prompt menstruation, and lead to a miscarriage.

Frankincense is not known to interact with any medications, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a risk. If you are concerned about interactions or have special health concerns, you may want to see your healthcare provider prior to use.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“Who is this that comes up from the wilderness as pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the perfumer?”
(Song of Songs 3:6)