Unspotted Mirror Of The Power Of God

“For wisdom is better than precious stones; and no valuable substance is of equal worth with it. I wisdom have dwelt with counsel and knowledge, and I have called upon understanding. The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness, and insolence, and pride, and the ways of wicked men; and I hate the perverse ways of bad men. Counsel and safety are mine; prudence is mine, and strength is mine.

For she (Wisdom) is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets.

The Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him; the spirit of the fear of God.” Proverbs 8:11-13, Wisdom 7:25-27 Apocrypha, Isaiah 11:2-3

***

BREAKINGISRAELNEWS

Third Temple Grows Closer as Sanhedrin Discovers Rare Holy Wine in the Land

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz January 18, 2017 , 11:30 am

“And in this mountain will Hashem of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” Isaiah 25:6 (The Israel Bible™)

Illustrative: vineyard. (Shutterstock.com)

Last week, 30 bottles of wine were delivered to the nascent Sanhedrin, setting in place one more necessary element for the Temple service – and one which is specifically mentioned in prophecy as a precursor to the Messiah.

Grapes are one of the seven species in which Israel is especially blessed.

“A land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey.” Deuteronomy 8:8

But the fruit has more biblical significance than many realize. The return of grapes to Israel, notably absent during Islamic rule, when alcohol was prohibited, is prophesied by Micah to herald the coming of the Messiah.

“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of Hashem of hosts hath spoken.” Micah 4:4

Wine is also integral to the Temple service. Though it is forbidden for priests to drink wine in the Temple, a wine libation was offered in the Temple every morning as part of the daily service. A quarter hin (approximately one quart) of wine was poured on the altar.

In preparation for the Third Temple, Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin, set out to find wine that is kosher for use in the Temple. Wine has special status in Judaism, as it is required for the Sabbath, holidays like Passover, and rituals like weddings and circumcisions. The requirements for wine to be considered kosher for everyday consumption are more stringent than for any food. The process, from crushing the grapes until bottling, must be performed entirely by Sabbath-observant Jews.

The wine industry in Israel is flourishing, with hundreds of wineries producing over ten million bottles annually. But producing wine holy enough for the Temple has its own stringencies, and the vintage Rabbi Weiss sought could not be found in any store.

First, Rabbi Weiss had to find a suitable vineyard. Normally, grape vines are grown above the ground, on wires suspended between frames. Grapes for use in Temple wine must be grown directly on the ground, a method not often used nowadays.

But then Rabbi Weiss heard of a such a vineyard belonging to a pre-army high school in Yatir, south of Hebron. Moshe Hagger, the school’s principal, worked professionally in a winery before entering education and the high school keeps a vineyard for educational purposes.

“The vineyard is organic, though this is for idealistic reasons and not due to Temple requirements,” Hagger explained to Breaking Israel News. “No machines are used when we harvest the grapes or make the wine. The students stomp the grapes

with their feet. We don’t add any other elements or chemicals in the process. Fermentation is caused by the naturally occurring yeast on the skin of the grapes.”

The modern state of Israel has led to the return of many of the Torah commandments connected with agriculture. During the shmittah (sabbatical) year, it is forbidden to work the land in any way. Some farmers rely on a loophole called Heter Mechirah, in which the land is symbolically sold to a non-Jew.

“In the shmittah year, we don’t harvest,” Hagger said. “I don’t think we should sell the land for even one moment, even if it is a symbolic sale.”

The small vineyard produced 60 bottles, 30 of which were acquired by Rabbi Weiss for the Sanhedrin. Rabbi Weiss opened one bottle and was amazed at the quality of the wine.

“I had hoped the wine would be exceptional. Not only was wine an essential part of the Temple service, but ancient Israel was known for producing the best wine,” said Rabbi Weiss.

Archeological evidence shows that wine was produced throughout ancient Israel. Ancient stone wine-presses are found all over the country, proof that wine was made in Israel thousands of years before it arrived in Europe.

Last week, a special tithing observance, known as trumot u’maasrot, was held at the Psagot Winery in the Jerusalem Hills. Attended by rabbis and management of the highest kosher supervision, known as B’datz, thousands of liters of quality wine were spilled out. When the Temple is rebuilt, these tithes, along with other agricultural tithes, will be brought to the Temple.

Rabbi Weiss believes that the rebirth of Israel’s wine industry is a sign of Messianic times.

“The quality of Israeli wine, absent from the world for so long, is clearly proof of the relationship between the Jewish people and the land,” Rabbi Weiss told Breaking Israel News. “The pinnacle of that relationship is when the Jews bring the bounty of the land, like wine, to the Temple.”

***

BREAKINGISRAELNEWS

The Secret Chambers Hidden in the Cave of Patriarchs Will Astound You [PHOTOS]

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz January 11, 2017 , 12:30 pm

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” Proverbs 25:2 (The Israel Bible™)

One of the caves found beneath the Tomb of the Patriarchs. (Courtesy Noam Arnon)

Thirty-five years ago, a small group of Jews set out on a difficult and dangerous mission: to prove that the Biblical account of a cave in Hebron was true. One of those men tells of what they found: a secret chamber under the site, evidence that refutes the United Nations version of history supported by most of the nations of the world.

Of all the holy sites in Israel, the Machpela (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron has special significance as being the oldest. A burial site for the three patriarchs and three of the matriarchs – Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah – it marks the origins of all three Abrahamic religions.

The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

Dominated by a large, aboveground stone structure, visitors to Hebron are left wondering about the cave described in the Bible. A cave does exist, and even though its entrance is in plain sight, very few people have ever been inside.

Noam Arnon, spokesman for the Jewish community in Hebron, has been studying the Machpela for decades. His passion for the site began about 35 years ago when, risking imprisonment and the ire of the Muslims, he pried open the stone covering the entrance to the burial site and ventured into the chambers underneath the building.

Arnon explained his motives. 35 year ago, Jews were just beginning to resettle Hebron after a long absence following the massacre of 69 Jews in 1929. The Arabs were trying to distance them from their ancestral city and the site that lay at the heart of Judaism.

“At the time, we were beginning to hear opinions in politics and even academia that the entire story of the Machpela and Abraham was a myth and not based on fact,” Arnon explained to Breaking Israel News. “We needed to prove that the Biblical account was accurate.”

The Waqf, the Muslim authority, was trying to restrict Jewish access to the site. Arnon and five friends decided to find the cave and prove its historical authenticity.

But no one was permitted to explore the site. Arnon had heard rumors of a lower chamber. After Hebron was conquered in 1967, Moshe Dayan, then Secretary of Defense and an amateur archaeologist, lowered a young girl down a covered shaft that tradition said led to the cave. When she came back, she described a small chamber and stone steps leading back up to the hall.

Based on a crude map drawn by the young girl, Arnon determined that the stairs led up to the Hall of Isaac, a section of the complex normally forbidden to Jews. The group decided to make their attempt in the month of Elul, when Jews were permitted into the hall at night in order to pray Selichot, a special service asking for forgiveness said in the days preceding Yom Kippur.

“Selichot prayers are very loud and are accompanied by many shofarot (rams’ horns), so it provided a good distraction and cover,” Arnon told Breaking Israel News. “After some searching, we found the opening. It was covered by a flagstone in the middle of the floor in the public area. We had brought in some tools and at a point when the shofarot were the loudest, we pried the stone open.”

In front of their eyes were revealed the stairs the young girl had described, carved into the bedrock.

“We descended to the bottom where there was a long and narrow tunnel, sloping even further down, that opened into a chamber with a roughly tiled floor,” Arnon said. But there was still no sign of the cave as described in Genesis.
“I felt a slight wind and realized there had to be another opening,” Arnon said. “We followed the airflow and and tracked it to an opening in the floor covered by a stone. We pried it open and crawled down into a cave carved into the bedrock.”

The word “Machpela” comes from the root meaning ‘double’. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a prominent medieval French commentator on the Bible known by the acronym Rashi, explained that this is due to the cave being doubled. This was exactly what the group found: two caves, one behind the other.

“In the back of the cave was another opening into a second cave with a low roof,” Arnon said. “At one point, I found myself crawling among human bones.”

Their friends who were covering for them up above called down, warning them to come back. The prayer service was coming to an end, and in fact, they had prayed the selichot service twice in order to give them additional time to explore.

In the morning, the Arabs discovered that the stone floor had been opened. The Waqf made a formal complaint to the Israeli government and the Arab residents of Hebron rioted.

Arnon had taken some clay shards from the cave, which he brought to a laboratory for testing. They were found to be from the period of the First Temple. Archaeologists could not pass up this rare opportunity. Seev Jevin, the former director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), followed in the footsteps of Arnon and his intrepid companions. The IAA acknowledged that it was indeed a burial cave from the Bronze Age, which includes the age of the Patriarchs and the First Temple. This infuriated the Waqf and they intensified their complaints to the Israeli government. The Israeli government sealed the opening with concrete.

As a resident of the holy city, Arnon is deeply distressed at the United Nations and UNESCO resolutions that try to refute the Jewish nature of the site, something he has seen with his own eyes.

“All of the archaeological evidence shows the site is historically Jewish, dating back 3,000 years,” Arnon said. “I did carbon-14 dating on the structure itself and it dates back to before the first century CE. The Muslims can’t cope with the facts and the actual history of the site, so they don’t even make an attempt,” Arnon said. “They simply object to Jews entering the site, as they did throughout the Ottoman Empire.”

A map of the Cave of Patriarchs. (Courtesy Noam Arnon)

During the Ottoman rule, Jews were forbidden from visiting their holy sites. The stone structure over the cave was built by Herod over 2,000 years ago as a shrine to the Jewish patriarchs, using the same distinctive stones used to build the Western Wall, but was converted into a mosque in the seventh century.

“[The resolutions are] anti-Semitism and racist, plain and simple,” Arnon stated emphatically to Breaking Israel News. “When the United Nations supported the claim, it was not based on fact or any semblance of truth. It was pure anti-Semitism.”

***

PRESSTV

Anti-Syria group asks Israel to confront Assad: Report

Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:21AM

Fahd al-Masri, spokesman for the so-called National Salvation Front in Syria

An anti-Syria group comprising certain foreign-based oppositionists openly pleads with the Israeli regime to directly confront the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The so-called National Salvation Front in Syria, which represents certain members of the anti-Damascus opposition in diaspora, including some who are based in France and Belgium, also proposed a “roadmap” for closer relations with Tel Aviv, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday.

Citing an Israeli radio station, SANA said the roadmap features the recognition of Israel by a post-Assad Syrian regime, arriving at a compromise over the issue of Syria’s Golan Heights, which have been occupied by Tel Aviv since 1967, and the setting up of friendly ties and strategic cooperation between the two sides.

The plan also obligates the dissolution of all Syria-based anti-Israeli Palestinian resistance groups.

The group’s spokesman Fahd al-Masri, meanwhile, released audio and video messages, demanding that Tel Aviv expand its support for anti-Damascus militants.

The Israeli regime has been a vociferous supporter of the Assad administration’s ouster. It has been arming the Takfiri militants fighting the government forces and providing treatment for those arriving in Golan Heights under the pretext that it would render such service to those in “its” territory.

Last year, Riad Hijab, the head of a Saudi-backed so-called opposition group, known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), met with former Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Moshe Ya’alon on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

In the past, Kamal al-Labwani, a well-known anti-Assad activist with close ties with US and Israeli officials, hailed Tel Aviv for its support for the militants, and urged the regime to establish a safe zone for them on the border with the Golan Heights.

***

INDEPENDENT

The Paris peace conference was beyond useless – everyone knows a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine is impossible now

Anyone who’s visited the West Bank these past few years, looked at the Jewish colonies built on stolen Arab land, witnessed the occupation and the filth of Gaza and observed its brutal Hamas militia leaders – and realised that Netanyahu will soon be the most left-wing member of his increasingly racist government – knows very well that the 'two-state solution' vanished long ago

Robert Fisk

Monday 16 January 2017

Netanyahu called the Paris peace conference 'the last twitches of the world of yesterday' Getty

As peace conferences go, this was the most miserable of all. Pathetic, hopeless, hapless, woebegone, dead before its time. Trump sent nobody, Netanyahu called it “the last twitches of the world of yesterday”, the autocratic Mahmoud Abbas didn’t bother to turn up and Theresa May’s secretary of state for buffoonery only sent a clutch of underlings. John Kerry, who said two years ago that peace between Israelis and Palestinians had at the most 18 months to succeed “or it’s over”, announced lamely that the gathering of 70 nations in Paris had “moved the ball forward” – whatever that means. So what was it all for?

No doubt François Hollande – an emperor with no clothes if ever there was one – wished to restore France’s place among the nations while the EU nations and the Arabs wanted to “twitch” one final time – if only to clear the decks for failure and avoid all blame. Two-state solution? Jerusalem as a capital? Occupation? Land theft? Refugees? We gave it one last go. Can’t say we didn’t warn you. Don’t blame us, guv’. Even the Russians only sent their Paris ambassador to the “peace” conference. But what did they all expect?

That Trump’s new ambassadorial stooge to Israel would choose to stay in Tel Aviv? That Benjamin Netanyahu, the Coloniser and Settler-in-Chief, would make no more territorial demands? That the Palestinians, losing acres by the day to Israeli land theft but saddled with a leader whose legitimacy depends on Israel rather than them, would restart negotiations with their occupiers? And so it came to pass that the great and the good in Paris spoke thus: thou shalt not prejudge the outcome of negotiations by taking unilateral steps. And this, announced a French spokesman, was a “subliminal message” to Trump.

Ye Gods! Trump doesn’t receive “subliminal messages”. He sends tweets. “Stay strong Israel.” How do you answer that? But maybe the lads and lasses in Paris got the message. Not once did they utter the word “occupation”, let alone “apartheid”. Why, they didn’t even mention the little matter of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. This would be “inappropriate”, quoth the mighty Kerry. And this was supposed to be a “strong message” to the Prime Minister of Israel (clearly Trump) and the President of the United States (obviously Netanyahu) that the two-state solution really was the only game in town.

lay Video

PlAnd so the Palestinian tragedy continues its slide down the domestic news schedules – to Israel’s delight – sandwiched somewhere between hospital trolley deaths and academy awards, but way behind Trump and Putin, Russia in the Middle East, Isis, Brexit, European migrants and global warming. The world’s biggest volcano is bubbling away in Palestine but one of the world’s largest icebergs is about to break off from the Antarctic. Guess which gets the bigger headline?

What has got into our leaders? Theresa May’s charlatans are worried that the Paris conference may “harden” Palestinian positions – may “harden” the Palestinians, for heaven’s sake – while Australia continues to view Obama’s first veto on a UN anti-settlement resolution as “deeply unsettling”. It seems that Malcolm Turnbull finds it unsettling to discuss Israeli settlements while everyone else finds the settlements unsettling. So which is worse: Turnbull’s pusillanimity or May sucking up to the Kremlin’s top spy-to-be in the White House? No British Mandate in Palestine for her.

Seriously though, what was it all about? Anyone who’s visited the West Bank these past few years, looked at the Jewish colonies built on stolen Arab land, witnessed the occupation and the filth of Gaza and observed its brutal Hamas militia leaders – and realised that Netanyahu will soon be the most left-wing member of his increasingly racist government – knows very well that the “two-state solution” vanished long ago. Why, did we really think it would survive the political surgery of our beloved former Middle East panjandrum, Tony Blair? As he would say if he was honest, the whole charade is “absolutely and completely” over.

And the rest of the Arabs? Oh lordy, lordy. We embrace the head-choppers of the Gulf, the dictator of Egypt and the “rebels” of Syria. We sell weapons to the Saudis to bomb the Yemenis – which may “harden” the Yemeni position quite a lot – and send money to Lebanon to keep the Syrian refugees in situ because their further presence among us would be “deeply unsettling”. We loved the rebels of Aleppo and hate the rebels of Mosul and any comparison between them would no doubt be highly “inappropriate”. Now that’s a “subliminal message” if ever there was one. It’s called “moving the ball forward”.

***

CHRISTIAN TODAY

'Extremist' Franklin Graham Must Not Pray At Inauguration, Trump's Team Told

Harry Farley

13 January 2017

Franklin Graham should be removed from Donald Trump's inauguration line up, the US' largest Muslim civil rights group said on Thursday.

The outspoken conservative pastor and son of evangelist Billy Graham is due to pray at the ceremony next week in Washington.

Donald Trump gives a thumb's up beside evangelist Franklin Graham, who did not endorse Trump but has strongly signalled his support.

But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the president-elect to drop Franklin, who they described as a "notorious Islamophobe", in order to unite the country.

"If President-elect Trump truly seeks to unite our nation as he promised in his acceptance speech, he will limit the list of those offering prayers at the inauguration to religious leaders who work to bring us together, not to create divisions between faiths," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

"Rev Graham's ill-informed and extremist views are incompatible with the Constitution and with American values of religious liberty and inclusion."

A statement from CAIR pointed to comments from Graham in which he called Islam a "very evil and wicked religion".

Graham also claims Islam is incompatible with American values.

"Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalised – and they do their killing to honour their religion and Muhammad," he wrote on Facebook in 2015.

""[T]rue Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries," he once told CNN.

"I don't agree with the teachings of Islam and I find it to be a very violent religion."

Graham is set to pray alongside Hispanic evangelical Samuel Rodriguez and prosperity preacher Paula White. The mainline religious traditions will be represented by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Marvin Hier and Bishop Wayne T Jackson.

***

MailOnline

Catholic priest who inspired The Exorcist died from a fall after a ‘possessed’ child spoke to him and he was ‘pushed over by an invisible force’, CIA agent claims

• New revelation comes from former agent Robert Marrow who was priest's driver

• The CIA official recalled an exchange between the father and a four-year-old girl

• He was due to carry out an exorcism on the American child said to be possessed

• The former CIA agent said the meeting was the most disturbing thing he'd seen

By GARETH DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 15:52, 13 January 2017 | UPDATED: 20:54, 13 January 2017

A Catholic priest who inspired The Exorcist died from a fall after what he claims was a possessed child spoke to him, it has emerged.

The new revelation comes from a CIA agent after it had been widely reported Malachi Martin from Ireland told a friend an invisible force pushed him to his death.

Ahead of the release of a new documentary, his close friend Robert Marrow has lifted the lid on the moment he believes the priest was effectively killed - when a possessed four-year-old girl he was meant to be exorcising spoke to him in America.

A picture of Malachi Martin taken in 1996, three years before his mysterious death

Talking to RTE Radio 1’s The Ryan Tubridy Show, the producer of the feature-length show called Hostage to the Devil Rachel Lysaght recalled a harrowing moment during filming.

Former CIA agent Mr Marrow retracted the steps to Connecticut where Father Martin had offered to carry out an exorcism on the four-year-old girl.

When he arrived at the neutral home, the family were already there, and the girl walked up to the priest and said: 'So you're Malachi Martin - and you think you can help her?', suggesting she was talking while having an out-of-body experience.

It has been claimed that after the exchange in 1999, a fall led to his death from a head trauma at the age of 78.

He told a friend that it was caused by an invisible force that pushed him.

By this time, the father from County Kerry in South-Western Ireland was hiring himself out as a private exorcist and it is believed he was the inspiration behind the famous film released in 1973.

Due to Father Martin's age, Mr Marrow drove him to his clients across America where he had relocated after turning his back on the church.

The former CIA agent told RTE the encounter between the priest and the girl was the most disturbing thing he had ever seen, according to Rachel Lysaght, who also wrote the new documentary.

It will be available on Netflix from Sunday.

It is not the first time the 1973 cult classic has been linked to creepy curses.

The Exorcist actors Jack MacGowran, and Vasiliki Maliaros both died while the film was in post-production.

The Exorcist was MacGowran's last film role as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings.

Maliaros, who played Karras' mother, also died before the film was even released - and they both died in New York.

On the first day of filming there were also two deaths to close relatives of the main cast

Linda Blair, who played the possessed Regan MacNeil, lost her grandfather, and Max Von Sydow, who was freeing Blair from her demons on screen, lost his brother.

ENENEWS

Fukushima radiation contaminates West Coast fish — “Fears the country’s food chain is polluted… a terrifying discovery” — Scientist: “It appears plume has spread throughout vast area from Alaska to California” — CBS: Bulk of radiation has yet to make it’s way across Pacific

BY ENENEWS, ON JANUARY 10TH, 2017

Massive die-off of sea creatures from California to Alaska — Animals starving as food chains continue to collapse — Mass starvation events plague West Coast — Scientist: “Felt like I was doing nothing but counting dead animals” — TV: Deaths really quite troubling

BY ENENEWS, ON JANUARY 12TH, 2017

MailOnline (Edited from longer article. Ed)

Shocking drone footage shows the huge scale of the 25 mile-long crack in ice that forced a British Antarctic base to shut down

• The Halley VI Research Station is home to the British Antarctic Survey

• The research base is being relocated 14 miles across the Brunt Ice Shelf

• If the research station is not relocated, it could be swallowed by the ice by 2020

• Once operation is finished, station will be abandoned for the winter

By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com and Shivali Best For Mailonline

PUBLISHED: 18:34, 17 January 2017 | UPDATED: 19:47, 17 January 2017

Yesterday, the Halley VI Research Station was forced to close its Antarctic research base amid rising fears it could fall into a huge ice chasm.

Shocking new drone footage has now been released that shows just how massive the growing crack in the ice is.

The worrying footage has forced the British research base to relocate 14 miles (22 km) across the Brunt Ice Shelf and close its doors for the winter.

The footage shows a 25 mile-long (40km) crack that appears to be a few feet deep. In some areas, the crack has split into two, leaving behind small islands of ice.

The British Antarctic survey said that changes to the ice presents 'a complex glaciological picture' that causes concern about the shelf on which the station is located in the coming months.

The survey says a new crack on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica will force them to remove people before the Antarctic winter, which runs from March to November, ends.

There's no risk to the people currently at the station, but difficulties in evacuating people during the winter prompted scientists to shut the station as a precaution.

'Halley VI Research Station sits on a floating ice shelf. It was designed specifically to move inland if required,' said Director of Operations Captain Tim Stockings.

'The current work to relocate our station is going very well. This challenging engineering project is scheduled to complete as planned by early March 2017.

'We want to do the right thing for our people. Bringing them home for winter is a prudent precaution given the changes that our glaciologists have seen in the ice shelf in recent months.

'Our goal is to winterise the station and leave it ready for re-occupation as soon as possible after the Antarctic winter.'

The station is a platform for global Earth, atmospheric and space weather observation in a climate-sensitive zone.

The first chasm, which had lain dormant for more than three decades, began opening up in 2012, and by the following year it was expanding at the rapid pace of one mile per year.

On October 2016, a second crack appeared some 17 km to the north of the research station.

The Halley VI Research Station is set to be relocated 14 miles across the Brunt Ice Shelf, amid fears in could slide into an encroaching fissure in the ice shelf. This map shows the current location of Halley VI, its future location, and The Crack, labelled as Chasm I

Since then glaciologists have monitored the growth of this crack using a network of GPS instruments that measure the deformation of the ice, together with European Space Agency satellite imagery, ground penetrating radar, and on-site drone footage, which show that the recent changes to the Brunt Ice Shelf have not been seen before.

They have run computer models and created bathymetric maps to determine whether or not a large iceberg will calve, and the impact that could have on the remaining ice shelf.

They conclude that they are unable to predict with certainty what will happen to the ice shelf during the forthcoming Antarctic winter and beyond.

If the research station is not relocated, it could be swallowed by the ice by 2020.

The problem is further compounded by a second crack, which has opened up to the north of the base, on a route sometimes used to deliver supplies.

The team has just nine weeks to move the research station, before the harsh winter sets in.

The base will be broken up into its eight modules and moved further inland by large tractors.

***

FOX NEWS

UFOs and invisible ink: CIA shares trove of declassified files online

Published January 19, 2017 FoxNews.com

File photo - a 'UFO' sighting over Sheffield, U.K, March 4, 1962 (CIA).

The CIA posted almost a million declassified files online this week, offering a fascinating record of unexplained UFO sightings and the agency’s secret operations.

Around 930,000 documents, totaling more than 12 million pages, have been posted online. Previously, the files were only available to the public at the National Archives in Maryland. Spanning early CIA history, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, the archive also details a number of UFO incidents.

A ‘UFO’ search of the archive at Electronic Reading Room on the CIA’s website returns 1,738 items, the earliest of which is dated 1942. Strange sightings are described in files such as a 1966 file detailing an “unusual phenomenon” on the horizon near the border between Iran and the former Soviet Union.

“As we were approaching the Rudeshur beacon, located approximately 25 miles WSW of Mehrabad Airport, Teheran, we suddenly observed a brilliant white sphere approximating the coloration and intensity of full bright moon,” the report says. “The sphere appeared suddenly and at the first sighting was approximately three times the size of a full moon.” The source’s identity is redacted.

A 1953 document describes UFO sightings in Spain, Greece, Algeria and the then French Morocco, detailing a number of incidents based on local newspaper reports. The subject of the file is “Military – unconventional aircraft.”

This is not the first time that the CIA has opened up its UFO files. Last year the agency posted a smaller trove of once-classified UFO documents online.

The documents also offer a rare insight into the CIA’s clandestine operations, such as a confidential document titled “Invisible photography and writing, sympathetic ink, etc.” The file describes a number of methods for producing invisible ink, such as writing with starch on linen. Another method involves a heavily diluted sulphate of copper, which can be used “in writing with a soft tooth pick between printed lines.”

Since 1999, the CIA has regularly released historical declassified records to the National Archives Records Administration (NARA), in College Park, Maryland, but is now placing more and more files online.

“Access to this historically significant collection is no longer limited by geography. The American public can access these documents from the comfort of their homes,” said Joseph Lambert, the CIA Director of Information Management, in a statement.

***

***

RT

Trump faces American ‘war-making machine’ if he tries to strike deal with Russia – Pilger

Published time: 16 Jan, 2017 13:41

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery © Baz Ratner / Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump may want to make a deal with Russia, award-winning journalist John Pilger told RT, adding that the “US intelligence and national security monolith is pointed towards war.”

“It seems that he [Donald Trump] wants to make a deal with Russia, it makes sense from everyone’s point of view,” Pilger told RT’s Rory Suchet during a lengthy interview. “There is a great pressure on him not to do it”.

The US president now has “enormous military power,” noted Pilger. Trump is currently under pressure from fellow Republicans calling for tougher sanctions against Russia and those standing for softening rhetoric towards Moscow.

“The US’ biggest business is war. Lockheed Martin and all other major armament companies have a great halt on the US administration, on the US Congress. The so-called intelligence community and national security monolith is pointed towards war.”

The ultimate ambition of ‘Washington Hawks’ is regime change in Russia – “to dismember the Russian Federation,” according to the veteran journalist. He reminded about interventions US conducted since the end of the WWII against numerous nations.

“If Trump is going to drawback from that, that’s very good news. The US usually only attack defenseless countries. They rarely attack countries that can stand up for themselves.”

That’s why “this reckless provocation” on the western borders with Russia and in the Asia Pacific against China is “slightly unusual,” as it’s taking things up to “another level of risks and provocation,” he added.

Pilger was referring to the NATO deployment in Eastern Europe. Earlier in January, some 2,800 pieces of military hardware and 4,000 troops arrived at the German port of Bremerhaven to be transferred to various NATO bases.

“NATO is a war-making machine, it’s an American operation. Why is it doing this? I think there is a real strategic extremism in the US.” And the “prize in this operation” is Russia, he concluded, adding that such a prize was almost won in the times of Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999), the first Russian president to serve after the fall of the Soviet Union.

“And what really has been upsetting in the US is that Russia is again independent, and that’s intolerable.”

Pilger called outgoing US leader Barack Obama “one of the most violent presidents.”

“He initiated a worldwide terrorist campaign with hellfire [air-to-surface] missiles being fired by drones at so-called terrorists certainly at weddings and funerals,” Pilger said, referring to numerous incidents when US missiles targeted civilians during their campaign in the Middle East.

The European Parliament “came up with good liberal initiatives” long ago, but now it has merely become an “echo chamber of the US,” according to Pilger.

“Much of Europe has … become a place of financial extremism, central banks that trash small members like Greece,” he added.

***

RT

EU papers react with fury to Theresa May’s Brexit speech

Published time: 18 Jan, 2017 17:21

The European press was not exactly pleased with UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s big Brexit speech on Tuesday, with some of the continent’s largest papers calling her strategy “shameful,” “hostile,” and “dangerous.”

Leading the chorus of criticism was Spain’s top newspaper El Pais, which accused the prime minister of embracing a “shameful, xenophobic nationalism,” after years as a shy Europhile in David Cameron’s government.

The end of free movement for EU citizens under a ‘hard Brexit’ was dubbed a “legally impossible, morally perverse and politically unfeasible” requirement in an editorial published Wednesday morning.

“Everything in May’s speech grated,” it added. “The promise of a ‘positive’ agreement is fallacious. It is not positive to spurn European citizens or discriminate against residents. Nor does it make sense to threaten Europeans with whom she will have to negotiate over the next two years.”

El Pais went as far as saying May was lying when she promised an “extremist Brexit” would bring together the nations of the United Kingdom, a position the paper says goes against Scottish and Irish nationalists’ warnings.

In Germany, May was also harshly judged. The front page of Die Welt newspaper showed May over the words “little Britain – Prime Minister Theresa May leads Great Britain into isolation.”

The highly regarded Welt 24 news website, in turn, described the speech as a “little concealed threat.”

In an opinion piece for Focus magazine, economist Michael Heise claims: “Theresa May nourishes a dangerous illusion.”

He said the hope of keeping the British economy growing while outside the Single Market is simply “unrealistic.”

The Spiegel, meanwhile, titled its coverage of the speech as a mock tantrum: “I want, I want, I want.”

Italian La Repubblica also spoke of a “threatening” message to the EU, and a Brexit that is not just hard but “tough.”

Portugal’s Publico sees May as “one of those English – and there were always many, even among the elites – who look at the rest of Europe and see only the differences.”

In her promises of British trade greatness, Portuguese historian Bruno Reis saw only “nostalgia for Empire times.”

Only the French press seemed to be more concerned with US President-elect Donald Trump than with May’s controversial speech, despite disputes between the UK and France currently unfolding over border controls at the Channel Tunnel and at the port of Calais.

Le Monde led with the slightly tongue-in-cheek headline: “Theresa May challenges European ‘friends.’”

***

pravda.ru

Turkish President Erdogan to be declared 'great sultan'

16.01.2017

AP photo

The Turkish Parliament passed in a first reading the bill about a constitutional reform to sharply expand presidential powers in Turkey.

According to Anadolu Agency, the discussion of 18 articles of the bill continued from January 9 and caused quite a commotion in the Parliament of Turkey.

The amendments expand the powers of the president. The president will thus be able to chair the the cabinet or individually appoint the head of the government. In accordance with the new amendments, the president will be able to issue decrees and submit issues of constitutional changes to referendum. The president may not suspend his party membership.

If the document is adopted, the armed forces and intelligence agencies of Turkey will fall into direct subordination to president. Currently, both the armed forces and intelligences agencies of Turkey are subordinated to the Supreme Military Council.

The amendments may reinstate death penalty in Turkey too. In addition, according to the draft Constitution, the lower age limit for the nomination of MPs will be reduced from 25 to 18 years, and the number of MPs will increase from 550 to 600. Those related to military service will be deprived of eligibility to vote.

As soon as the amendments are finally adopted, the Turkish Parliament will submit them to a referendum, should more than 330 MPs vote for such an initiative. The referendum about the new draft of the basic law may take place in the summer of 2017.

The attempted coup in Turkey, which took place in the summer of 2016, has resulted in a lot more consequences than expected. Mass purges of the military and judiciary are in full swing in Turkey, death penalty is likely to be introduced, while the constitution is expected to be changed.

"Some people, of course, have taken the coup as an unacceptable form of solving political problems in Turkey. Yet, many people do not approve of the policy of the ruling party and President Erdogan. Now, there is a second phase of these events unfolding - a second coup to scour the Turkish society. Tensions in Turkey are high because of large-scale repressions.

"Erdogan's supporters rightly believe that the idea of a military coup in a modern democratic society is unacceptable. Their opponents say that the authorities should not go too far. In today's Turkey, they arrest teachers and journalists, and this is not a part of activities to eliminate the consequences of the coup, as the authorities say," the head of the St. Petersburg Center for Middle East Studies, Gumer Isaev told Pravda.Ru

***

RT

Election called as Northern Ireland power-sharing government collapses

Published time: 16 Jan, 2017 20:06

A nationalist mural in Belfast depicting Arlene Foster that refers to the RHI scheme which triggered the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly. © Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reutersdagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has collapsed triggering a second election in eight months as fall out from a botched energy scheme continues.

The Northern Ireland Assembly, the power sharing agreement between the region’s two biggest parties, the Unionist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin which largely draw support from the and Nationalist communities, was teetering on the brink of collapse in the wake of the so-called ‘cash for ash’ scandal before it succumbed on Monday.

The scandal involves significant overspending on the long-running Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which subsidized businesses, and later homeowners, for using environmentally friendly heating methods. Subsidies paid to companies were not capped and it could end up costing taxpayers approximately £490 million ($591 million).

First Minister and DUP leader, Arlene Foster, oversaw the creation of the scheme during her time as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment. She has ignored repeated calls for her to step aside while an investigation into the RHI is carried out.

Foster’s refusal to step aside prompted Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin to resign last week. Sinn Féin had until 5pm on Monday to nominate a new Deputy First Minister. However, they refused to do so causing the government’s collapse.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, announced on Monday evening that the assembly will be dissolved on January 26 and the election will be held on March 2.

Brokenshire said the election will have no effect on the UK government’s plans to invoke Article 50 and set the so called Brexit process in motion at the end of March.

***

***

CNN

Famed Ringling Bros. circus closing after more than 100 years

By Tony Marco and Azadeh Ansari, CNN

Updated 1402 GMT (2202 HKT) January 16, 2017

Performers ride elephants during a live perfomance in 2007.

(CNN)The Ringling Bros. circus is closing down after more than 100 years in operation, according to a press release from Feld Entertainment, which has owned the circus for the last 50 years.

"I have made the difficult business decision that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® will hold its final performances in May of this year," CEO Kenneth Feld said.

High operating costs and the decline of ticket sales "made the circus an unsustainable business for the company," Feld said.

And after "the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop" in ticket sales, Feld said.

Before taking the final bow, the Ringling Bros., will perform 30 shows across the United States between now and May.

For years, the elephants have been in the spotlight and their dance routines featured prominently in the shows.

But due to mounting criticism from animal rights groups, the Ringling Bros. phased out the elephant acts entirely.

Off stage, the Ringling Bros. runs an elephant conservation center which sits on 200 acre of rural land in Florida, between Tampa and Orlando.

Created in 1995 by Ringling, the facility focuses on the care and study of Asian elephants -- an endangered species that it had used in its shows.

Public outcry

But several animal rights groups repeatedly criticized, picketed and sued Ringling Bros. for its treatment of the animals.

The animal rights group, PETA, spent years petitioning against the treatment of circus animals.

The Humane Society of the United States, a longtime critic of the show's animal welfare practices, acknowledged that Ringling Bros. has made changes over the past century and a half, but claims the changes didn't happen quickly enough.

"It's just not acceptable any longer to cart wild animals from city to city and have them perform silly yet coercive stunts," the society's President and CEO Wayne Pacelle said in a statement Sunday. "I know this is bittersweet for the Feld family, but I applaud their decision to move away from an institution grounded on inherently inhumane wild animal acts," Pacelle said.

In 2011, Feld Entertainment agreed to pay a fine of $270,000 to the US Department of Agriculture for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

The company did not admit wrongdoing but promised to implement new training for all personnel who handle animals.

Ringling Bros. has made recent changes to its traditional lineup to capture the attention of more attendees.

Just this week, the first-ever female ringmaster, made her circus debut in Orlando, Florida.

The full cast of the circus is between 250 and 300 people. With three performing units, the circus visits about 115 cities each year.

Ringling Bros. was founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers.

The family ran the circus until 1967 when it was sold to Feld Entertainment, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

***

Atlas Obscura

The Elaborate Wig-Snatching Schemes of the 18th Century

Thieves employed monkeys to rob the wealthy of their coiffures.

By Lauren Young JANUARY 09, 2017

Wig-wearing socialites: beware of hidden boys, monkeys, and thieving men on horses. HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

In 18th-century England, it was best to be wary of any hands that reached too close to your hair. They could belong to a wig snatcher.

The 1776 engraving above depicts one of the carefully plotted hair heists. A wealthy woman walks along a high orchard wall in the latest fashion—an enormous headdress wig trimmed with lavish lace and ribbons. Suddenly, the intricately combed and curled set of hair is lifted from her head by a monkey perched on the wall, revealing her bare head.

Socialites had to be extra cautious of wig snatchers. Throughout England and Europe, finely powdered perukes, also called periwigs, were in vogue among royal courts and the upper class. The more ornate and towering your wig, the higher your social standing. The expensive and easily removable headpieces led to a series of wig thefts: surprisingly elaborate and creative robberies involving animals, long poles, and young boys hauled on the shoulders of impostor butchers.

One of the most successful wig-stealing schemes involved concealing young boys in baskets and under blankets, according to William Andrews, author of the 1904 book At the Sign of the Barber’s Pole. In an episode in England, a boy rode in a butcher’s tray carried on the shoulder of a tall man. As the pair walked passed a victim, the boy twisted the periwig off the head and the man would take off in the opposite direction, leaving the confused owner clutching at his or her now bald head.

The same tactic would be used with boys hidden in baskets held by wig stealers, writes Robert Norman in The Woman Who Lost Her Skin (and Other Dermatological Tales).

An illustration of one of the most successful wig thieving techniques, featured in At the Sign of the Barber’s Pole.

In addition to using monkeys, wig thieves also employed dogs. One boy would harass a finely dressed, bewigged gentleman as another seized the hair and toss it to a dog, explains Margaret Visser in The Way We Are: What Everyday Objects and Conventions Tell Us About Ourselves. All three would split down different alleys and later meet up to celebrate their plunder. Meanwhile, the bald victim would often be more concerned about covering his head and pride than running after the thieves, Visser writes.

In this heist, one woman thrusts a fish into the face of a dandy, while another woman in a window cuts his peruke. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/PUBLIC DOMAIN

The social elite in both France and England also had to beware of the highwaymen who roamed country roads. Thieves known as “chiving lays” would lurk behind hackney coaches, which were forced to roll slowly down narrow and poorly paved streets, and slice the back of the carriage to snatch a wig from the passenger’s head, explains Geri Walton. Highwaymen riding on horses would also target coaches, stealing wigs and quickly riding off.

In one heist, highwayman John Everett had an interesting means to obtain a better wig—he forced a man to trade. Fiona McDonald notes in Gentlemen Rogues and Wicked Ladies:

“Everett fancied a bob wig that sat atop the head of a Quaker seated in a coach with a number of other passengers. Everett pulled it off the man’s head and swapped it with his own second-hand tie wig (which he had bought, not stolen). The tie wig made the man look like a comical devil and the rest of the coach party burst out laughing. The robbery ended with all parties going their separate ways without any hard feelings (except perhaps from the Quaker).”

Everett was arrested shortly after this robbery, and was detained in prison for three years. However, many wig thieves often got away without punishment. For example, Christopher Matthews was accused of stealing a valuable wig in 1716, reports indicating that there was little doubt he had committed the crime. But the chief prosecution witness strangely did not come to his trial, and the jury were “oblig’d to acquit him,” explains Gregory Durston in Whores and Highwaymen: Crime and Justice in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis. It’s implied that Matthews may have been involved in witness’s attendance.

In England, only 4.3 percent of all types of theft cases were brought to the Old Bailey during the 18th century, and 70 percent of those accused were found not guilty.

Wig robberies declined when large periwigs grew out of fashion.

Precautionary measures were taken to prevent wig theft, writes Andrews. According to The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg, colonial wigmakers sometimes added a drawstring or small strap and buckle at the back of the wig so a wearer can fasten the wig tighter. However, it’s unclear whether or not these features were developed as a result of wig theft.

As they grew out of style and taxes were imposed, large periwigs lost their value and the inventive plots to steal wigs became part of the past. Still, the fear of wig conspirators was potent, as 18th-century English poet John Gay once wrote:

Nor is the flaxen wig with safety worn:

High on the shoulders in a basket borne

Lurks the sly boy, whose hand, to rapine bred,

Plucks off the curling honours of thy head.

***

WND

CHUCK NORRIS SAYS 'I'LL HAVE MINE WITH CHEESE'

Notes new research indicating fermented milk products part of healthy diet

CHUCK NORRIS

January 16, 2017

Cheese has long been seen as one of the most popular dairy products in the world. Some of the rarer, exotic varieties can fetch as much as $600 a pound. When price is no object, about the only thing that can hold a full-fledged cheese lover back from consuming the stuff in quantity are the health consequences of over-indulging in such a fatty, sodium-filled treat. A mere ounce (about the size of a slice) of cheddar cheese can pack 9 grams of fat and 180 milligrams of sodium. Let’s also not forget that it’s also high in saturated fat and cholesterol.

So imagine my surprise when a recent study emerged from Denmark declaring that eating cheese is, in fact, good for health, and that it can be a dieter’s friend.

“We used to assess whether a food is good or bad for your health simply by looking at a label and reading some of the basic information,” Arne Astrup, head of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen tells Time magazine; but no more.

This recent research shows the thousands of molecules that make up cheese work in ways that make the food beneficial to health. Cheese, they say, contains almost as much protein as it does fat, and this is used to build cell structures. It also contains plenty of bone-building calcium and is one of the few foods to naturally contain vitamin D and vitamin B12, which helps red blood cells form properly and improve neurological function. Cheese is not bad for the heart, they add; it may even be beneficial. The University of Copenhagen study does admit to receiving grants from dairy foundations and companies, but stands behind its research as not biased toward the industry.

Cheese is also considered to be a fermented food, and the bacteria found in it may also be beneficial. Scientists seem to be a bit mystified by this whole cheese/health connection.

“There’s a lot of magic in the food matrix of cheese,” Astrup tells Time magazine.

It’s also fair to point out that the way Europeans and Americans view cheese can be quite different. I’m sure neither highly processed American cheese nor Velveeta made their check list. While it’s pointed out that more research is needed, eating cheese in moderation – from Gouda to Swiss to Feta to Blue – seems to be just fine for most people, according to all the various reports.

As I sit here drinking my third cup of coffee, soaking up the antioxidants, taking an occasional bite out of my healthy dark chocolate, a thought occurs to me: how yet another scientific finding has emerged directly counter to the low-fat, low-cholesterol advice that physicians and major health organizations like the American Heart Association have fed us for the past 30 years. These contradictions seem to crop up constantly. In November, there was the report of the oldest person in the world at 117, Emma Morano, swearing by her diet which included consuming two raw eggs a day. Then there’s the story of Susannah Mushatt Jones, who held the title of the world’s oldest person until her death in May 2016 and who never failed to have a serving of bacon each day.

Apparently there remains a lot about the magic of food that has yet to be learned.

What a growing number of food advocates, researchers, journalists and doctors are having trouble ignoring is that, decades following the low-fat guidelines, we are seeing an explosion in obesity rates. Two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese. Heart disease remains our leading killer.

What seems clear to me as a constant in this is a need to steer clear of junk food and the so-called Western diet, while embracing fresh foods: fruits and vegetables, fresh salads dressed with olive oil, beans and pasta. It is a message that does seem to somehow be coming through all this conflicting information.

A recent Pew Research Center survey revealed that Americans overwhelmingly believe (72 percent) that healthy eating habits are very important in improving one’s chances of a long and healthy life. More than half (58 percent) admitted to falling short of their goals most days.

And while there appears to be no real defined group of people who think alike on various food issues, people who describe healthy eating as their “main focus” were almost three times as likely to eat organically grown food regularly, compared with people who say that healthy eating is not at all important to them. There are signs that support for local and organic food today seems to be much more mainstream. Almost three-quarters of Americans said they bought local food recently. Over two-thirds said they had purchased organic food. Given the constant marketing onslaught to get us to make the wrong food choices, this has to be viewed as some pretty good news.

***

Until next week.

Almondtree Productions

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
(James 1:5)