People of the Keys!

“And I looked, and behold, a hand stretched out to me, and in it a volume of a book.”
(Ezekiel 2:9)
Volume Of A Book

ANCIENT ORIGINS

Controversial Lead Codices With Earliest Written Account of Jesus Confirmed Authentic

2 SEPTEMBER, 2018 – 18:58 DAVID AND JENNIFER
Article

Archeologists find one of Christianity’s most important sites & plan to open underwater museum

September 7, 2018

A chance discovery by a team of archeologists in Turkey may have revealed one of the most significant sites in the history of Christianity after years of fruitless searching. And they’re now planning an underwater museum.

When Constantine I, the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, chaired the ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, bishops from across the world descended on Lake Ascanius to iron out divisions in the early Christian church. The modern-day lake, Lake Iznik in Turkey, has for years been the focus of archeologists trying to find treasures from that ancient time.

Now it turns out, what they had been searching for was right in front of them the whole time. And they finally found it thanks to some new aerial photographs commissioned by the government of Bursa province. The snaps clearly revealed the structure of a church submerged underwater.

Turkish archeologist Mustafa Şahin, who is the head of archaeology at Bursa Uludağ University, has been undertaking field surveys of the lake since 2006, but had never discovered the church. The ironic thing was, according to Şahin, the Bursa City Hall photography team had been capturing aerial photographs of the lake since 2013, “but hadn’t thought of contacting any expert.”

“So when they started capturing aerial pictures of the lake again, team member Saffet Yilmaz contacted me and asked if the remains of the structure might have meant something,” he said, adding that it was a shock to see the structure of a church so clearly in the images.

Şahin believes the location of the church ruins could mark the site where the First Council of Nicaea was held nearly 1700 years ago. He also believes it marks the spot where Saint Neophytos was martyred in 303 AD — and that the church could have been built to honor him.

Archeologists say there is also evidence that an earlier temple dedicated to the Greek and Roman god Apollo could have been located underneath.

An earthquake in 740 AD destroyed the church and caused it to sink below the lake — about two or three meters below the surface and 50 meters from the shore.

“The hardest part of the underwater excavation is that visibility sometimes drops under 10cm because of intense algae and plankton activity,” Şahin said. Waves hitting archeologists as they try to work is another problem, so they take the soil from the site and sift through it on the shore instead.

Şahin has big plans for the site and said he would like it to become Turkey’s first underwater museum, which would incorporate a 20-metre tower to allow tourists to see the ruins from the shore, a walkway directly over the lake itself and a glass room submerged under the water where visitors could pray at the site. There could also be a diving team, which would allow people to see the ancient structure up close.

The archeologist said there is “no need to wait” until the excavation is over to build the museum and that it could open as early as 2019. “With our excavation methodology, the visitors aren’t a distraction for the work in progress,” he said.

***

WND

MUSLIMS TRY TO BAN FRANKLIN GRAHAM FROM SPEAKING

Urge U.K. to revoke visa for 'Islamophobic and homophobic' statements

Art Moore

September 10, 2018

Franklin Graham

Muslims in Britain are urging their government to ban evangelist Franklin Graham from entering the United Kingdom, contending the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham has made “Islamophobic and homophobic statements.”

Graham, the CEO of the humanitarian group Samaritan’s Purse and also the Billy Graham Association, is scheduled to speak at a Christian festival this month in the Northern England city of Blackpool.

But the Muslim Council of Britain, joined by three Parliament members, wants the British Home Office to revoke his visa on the grounds of “hate speech,” reports the Guardian newspaper of London.

“In the past the government has banned individuals whom they claim are ‘not conducive to the public good,'” the Muslim organization said in a statement. “Mr Graham’s remarks are on record and clearly demonstrate a hatred for Muslims and other minorities.”

The MCB said it “would expect the government to apply its criteria here.”

“If it does not, it will send a clear message that it is not consistent in challenging all forms of bigotry.”

Among the complaints, according to the Guardian, is that Graham has called Islam “evil” and “wicked,” and said Satan was the architect of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.

Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of a group that monitors “Islamophobia” in the U.K. called Tell Mama, told the Guardian it was shocking that Graham was being given a platform.

His views are “regressive and need to be challenged,” he said.

The event, the Festival of Hope, opens Sept. 21. It is organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and and has the support of than 30 local churches of various denominations.

The Guardian said that in July, the local Blackpool Transport and Stagecoach canceled advertisements on its buses promoting Graham’s appearance at the festival. The company cited “heightened tensions” and said the ads were not “consistent with our company values.”

The British Home Office declined to comment to the Guardian on Graham’s visa application.

‘War of religion’

In 2016, Graham criticized Pope Francis for claiming that while the world may be at war, the conflict has nothing to do with religion.

“It most certainly is a war of religion,” Graham said.

Last year, he urged people to pray that God would give wisdom to President Trump and others in Washington to deal with the threat posed by Islam.

“Since 9/11, I have been warning America about the dangers of the teachings of Islam,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Followers of Islam are taught very troubling passages that encourage them to murder and maim those they refer to [as] infidels, or nonbelievers.”

He said that with the advent of the internet and social media, “radicalization is only increasing – and the dangers are continuing to increase.”

“Many times, sadly, it is the young who are pulled into these teachings that encourage murder and rape in the name of the god of Islam,” said Graham.

He cited the terrorist attacks in London that year in which Muslim jihadists mowed down pedestrians with a van on London Bridge and then went on a stabbing spree in nearby pubs, killing at least seven and injuring 48.

The attacks were by “Muslim men who said this was for Allah,” Graham said.

“That is three Islamic terror attacks in London in less than three months. The threat of Islam is real. The threat of Islam is serious. The threat of Islam is dangerous. There is cause for concern, despite what some may say,” he said.

In January 2017, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim-rights group designated by the Justice Department as a terrorist co-conspirator, called on Donald Trump to drop Graham as one of the clergy members leading prayer at the inauguration ceremony.

In a press release, CAIR referred to Graham as a “notorious Islamophobe.”

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad, among the Hamas operatives who founded CAIR’s parent group, said “Graham’s ill-informed and extremist views are incompatible with the Constitution and with American values of religious liberty and inclusion.”

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PJMEDIA

Pope Francis: 'The Great Accuser Has Been Unchained and Is Attacking Bishops'

BY DEBRA HEINE

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Pope Francis leaves after his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

During his homily at Mass on Tuesday morning, Pope Francis blamed the devil for the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Catholic church to its core. But not in the way you think. To the pope's way of thinking it is the efforts to expose the sinful cover-ups of abusive clergymen that are the work of Satan.

Using the term "Great Accuser" during his homily at Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning, Pope Francis seemed to demonize those who question the actions of the leaders of the church, telling the assembled bishops that they seem to be under satanic attack in order to "scandalize the people."

“In these times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking bishops,” the pontiff said. “True, we are all sinners, we bishops,” he added. “He tries to uncover the sins, so they are visible in order to scandalize the people."

The pope continued: “The Great Accuser, as he himself says to God in the first chapter of the Book of Job, ‘roams the earth looking for someone to accuse.’ A bishop’s strength against the Great Accuser is prayer, that of Jesus and his own, and the humility of being chosen and remaining close to the people of God, without seeking an aristocratic life that removes this unction."

By "unction" the pope meant anointing -- which seemed like an odd thing to say. As Father Z noted on his blog, it is highly questionable whether "seeking an aristocratic life" (which is indeed not a great thing for members of the clergy to do) actually removes the anointing bishops receive in their consecration. "As a matter of fact I know it doesn’t," said Fr. Z.

Pope Francis called for prayer, "for me, for those who are here, and for all the bishops throughout the world,” and added, "Bishops must remain humble because they were chosen by God."

He also spoke about the vocational calling of bishops: “The bishop who loves Jesus is not trying to climb a ladder, advancing his vocation as if it were a mere task or seeking a better placement or promotion. No. A bishop feels chosen, and has the certainty of being chosen," the pontiff preached. “This drives him to speak with the Lord: ‘You chose me, of little importance, a sinner.’ He is humble because he feels chosen and feels Jesus’ gaze upon his whole being. This gives him strength.”

The pope stated that a good bishop also does not “try to find refuge with the powerful of the elite," and argued against those elites who criticize the bishops.

"The ‘elites’ criticize bishops, while the people has an attitude of love towards the bishop," he said. “This is almost a special unction that confirms the bishop in his vocation.”

Father Z found much to quibble with here: "I’m not sure about this sort of 'unction,'" he said. "But, apparently, if you criticize a bishop – for whatever reason it seems – then you are not part of the 'anti-elite' who anoint the bishop. You are the devil."

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Biggest rift in modern Orthodox history? Russian Church won’t work w/ Constantinople-chaired bodies

September 14, 2018

The Russian Orthodox Church is ending its participation in any structures chaired by the Constantinople Patriarchate, the Holy Synod said, as Constantinople decided to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We have decided to suspend joint performance of church services with the hierarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate, to suspend our membership in all structures, which are headed or co-chaired by the representatives of Constantinople,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, said following an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The decision does not mean that the two churches are completely severing ties, Hilarion told journalists, adding that the decision refers only to the Moscow Patriarchate’s participation in the work of some inter-church organizations.

***

OneNewsNow.com

LGBT, Antifa demand Texas church shut down over sexuality

Michael Haverluck

September 4, 2018

Militant and Marxist protesters from LGBT and Antifa groups gathered to shut down a Christian megachurch in Austin, Texas, last Sunday – reportedly demanding that its members renounce their biblical views on sexuality while condemning the church’s support of biblical marriage between one man and one woman.

“Members of the were joined by a dozen or so other gay rights activists who chanted, waved pride flags and held signs [last] weekend to protest Celebration Church because of its opposition to gay marriage,” PJ Media reported. “The gay rights activists also protested the church’s Sunday morning services at the Austin school district performing arts center in order to criticize the district for renting the facility to Christian ‘homophobes.’”

Attacking the church for its biblical stance

An ultra-left news site heralded the protest as a new civil rights movement as it took to social media to show masked Antifa and LGBT activist demonstrators waving rainbow flags while yelling out virulent chants at worshipers walking into the church’s auditorium.

“Happening right now outside of homophobic Celebration Church in #Austin,” Incendiary News tweeted last Sunday. “Masked protesters chanting, ‘Defend our youth from these attacks!’ ‘Pride means fight back!’”

Intolerant protesters were quick to denounce the church’s stance on homosexuality rooted in the Bible.

“These kids that are gay, lesbian or trans – they end up hating themselves because of the beliefs y’all are spreading!” a masked protester exclaimed, according to Incendiary News.

Another protester commented about several members of the civic nationalist group, Texas Nomads SAR, who filmed the lively demonstration disrupting the church service – insisting that Christians not supporting the LGBT lifestyle and illegal immigration should be excommunicated from the capital of the Lone Star State.

“These are the kind of people your beliefs attract!” the angry anti-Christian protester shouted, according to Incendiary News. “They are anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT! They should be run out of this city!”

Demonstrators threatened that a repeat protest could take place in the upcoming weeks.

“Although the numbers of the demonstration were not strong enough to shut down the church service entirely, people in attendance said that they were ready to come protest again,” Incendiary News’ Mike Talavera noted.

In fact, the anti-Church movement threatened that it will not stop until it drives the congregation out of the state’s capital.

“We are not going to give up!” a masked protester screamed through a megaphone, according to Incendiary News. “We won’t stop until this bigoted church leaves Austin!”

Social justice … or injustice movement?

Activists promoting homosexuality and open borders often claim to be promoting so-called “social justice,” which is said to be rooted in “tolerance,” but it has been found that LGBT and pro-immigration activists are the ones who have demonstrated intolerance.

Antifa and LGBT protesters insist that Celebration Church’s stance on homosexuality provides evidence that it discriminates, but a church leader argued that it is merely backing the Word of God, which is always just.

Celebration Church Executive Pastor Jim Kuykendall defended his church’s views regarding sexual purity, emphasizing that it is Scripture – not his church – that has declared the official stance in the issue.

“That’s in the Bible, which is several thousand years old,” Kuykendall told Incendiary News before noting that he did not see either group budging from their beliefs on sexuality. “They believe what they believe, and we believe what we believe.”

Embracing the sinner, rejecting the sin

The far-left news site made false claims that Celebration Church harbored animosity toward the LGBT community.

“[T]he church likened homosexuality and bisexuality to incest and bestiality on their website,” Incendiary News stated.

However, the claim of hatred harbored by congregants against the LGBT community contradicts the church’s declaration about its beliefs.

“But a visit to the non-denominational Celebration Church’s website shows no hostility toward gays,” PJ Media’s Debra Heine noted. “In fact, tolerance and inclusivity appear to be key components of their mission statement.”

In its statement, the church makes it clear that it welcomes all people to enter its doors, indicating that even though sinful behavior is not encouraged or embraced in the church, sinners are.

“Celebration Church is about reaching all people with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ,” the Celebration Church mission statement reads. “We welcome all people – regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, religion or political beliefs. We also believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with the doctrines of the church. Anyone seeking God and wanting to learn more of the teachings of Christ is welcome and will not be excluded from attending Celebration Church. We welcome all people.”

Kuykendall extrapolated on the policy, stressing that his church does teach the Word of God and cites numerous Bible verses designating homosexual and bisexual behavior going against an individual’s biological sex as sin.

“[T]he church believes in being welcoming and kind to all people – regardless of sexual orientation, religion or political beliefs,” Kuykendall told the Statesman. “I think maybe the frustration may be that they feel like it’s our position when we say that the Bible says that certain things are the way they are, and that it’s our statement. It’s not our statement – it’s what’s in the Bible.”

Problems with venue

One major issue that protesters brought up was that the church was conducting its services in the public school districts’ performing arts auditorium – arguing that only renters who embrace the LGBT community and its beliefs should be allowed there.

“This … was the first time the church has rented the performing arts center in order to host a regular service at another location – its second in the Austin area,” The Christian Post (CP) explained. “Church officials did not indicate how long they intend to rent the facility, [but] the church hopes to expand and open additional campuses across the Austin area.”

In an effort to scare off and deter the church from continuing its use of the facility, LGBT and Antifa activists resorted to scare tactics that threatened a family member of the church’s leadership.

“In the lead-up to the protest Sunday, SMF doxed the son of the church’s founder and pastor – sharing his name and photo on their Facebook page,” CP’s Brandon Showalter informed. “His photo was subsequently shared with other far-left groups that advocate for violence against people they consider ‘bigots’ or ‘fascists.’”

It was also noted that former President Barack Obama identified Antifa and its members as being domestic terrorists, whose threats must be taken seriously by local law enforcement officers and federal agents.

“Under the Obama administration, Antifa groups were designated as being a security threat and engaged in ‘domestic terrorist violence,’ according to documents obtained by Politico, the National Review report[ed],” Showalter added.

***

PNW

Ultimate Rebellion: Satanism Is Experiencing Explosive Growth In America
BY MICHAEL SNYDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

SEPTEMBER 04, 2018

As attendance declines at Christian churches all over America, many Satanic groups are experiencing tremendous growth. For some, embracing Satanism is the ultimate form of rebellion, for others it is about making an anti-Trump political statement, and yet others claim that they are attracted by the very real power that they discover in Satanism.

Every week, bizarre rituals are conducted in basements, meeting halls and public facilities all over the country, and most Americans have absolutely no idea what is going on. Of course most mainstream news articles about Satanists attempt to portray them as ordinary people that have simply been "misunderstood".

And ultimately that is what the Satanists are trying to do for Satan - they are trying to get all the rest of us to view Satan or Lucifer as a "misunderstood" being that only has humanity's best interests at heart.

And since the values of Satanism line up more accurately with the values of modern society than Christian values do, Satanists are finding increasing success in bringing in new recruits.

Today, there are Satanic churches just about everywhere. For example, a Satanic high priest named Adam Daniels started "the Church of Ahriman" in the heart of Oklahoma City...

Adam Daniels, 35, is the "dastur" - or high priest - of the Church of Ahriman, which is based in Oklahoma City, USA.

The Church of Ahriman has 15 members and worships Ahriman, another name for the original Persian devil figure Angra Mainyu - the God of Hell.

The church's followers meet in Daniels' home, where he has converted a storage room into the ritual chamber in which he performs ceremonies including devil worshipping weddings and Satanic exorcisms.

Daniels says that he was attracted to Satanism after a deadly encounter with an armed thief sent him on a quest for answers...

Seeking a way to come to terms with ending another person's life, he began to see a therapist and turned to a variety of religions - all of whom suggested he should have turned the other cheek.

Daniels said: "I tried to find solace and I was told that I had committed the sin of wrath by the Christians and the Buddhists - even by my mom."

Instead he found comfort in The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey, whose motto is 'self preservation is the highest law'.

Daniels is married, and his wife is fully on board, but having a father that is a Satanic high priest has been very rough on their daughter Amber...

"When I was six because I was given the Baphomet [an ancient deity, traditionally depicted as a horned goat] necklace in first grade and I wore it to school and was told by a teacher that I wasn't allowed to wear it so I had to take it off and put it in my backpack.

"In sixth grade my grandma got me to go to my local bookstore and was able to get my full name printed on the Holy Bible - which my parents threw away."

But before you start feeling tempted to feel sorry for this family, you should keep reading.

The truth is that Daniels is not a pleasant man. In fact, he openly admits that he purposely commits blasphemy and that his entire goal is to offend God...

He said: "I have ritualistically burned the Holy Bible, the Qu'ran, the Talmed, the Torah, Buddhist Sutra's, different Hindu Sutra's you name it, I've burned it out of blasphemy.

"I am not responsible for God and no God is responsible for me.

"Through my words and my deeds, I am offending God and that is my whole goal, to make his people miserable, to bring about apostates, to bring about anguish."

At one time, nuts like Daniels would have been a very rare anomaly, but times have changed.

Today there are Satanic communities that gather from coast to coast, and the following is how the Los Angeles Times described one of these gatherings in the L.A. area...

In November, in the candlelit basement of a house just above the Silver Lake Reservoir, Alexandra James walked over to an altar where her husband, Zachary, waited near a bleached human skull, teeth locked in eternal rictus. From the altar, she lifted a sword and drew points across his chest while a circle of onlookers watched solemnly. An organist played eerie minor key chords and Alexandra turned to face the group.

"On this altar we consecrate swords to direct the fire of our unholy will," she said. "A human skull, symbol of death. The great mother Lilith created us all, and will destroy us all."

"Hail Satan! Hail Satan! Hail Satan!" The group chanted back.

So how many people are we actually talking about nationwide?

Well, there is not a single national organization, but all major Satanic groups have claimed large

increases in membership since the election of Donald Trump.

In particular, the Satanic Temple reported gaining "thousands" of new members within the first 36 hours of Trump's victory...

The Satanic Temple attracted "thousands" of new members in just the first 36 hours after the election of Donald Trump, according to co-founder Lucien Greaves. The 4-year-old temple, which had a pre-Trump membership of around 50,000, has never before seen a spike in registration nearly this big.

"It's crazy," Greaves said after a speech in front of some adoring fans at CU-Boulder. The emails, registrations, donations and social media posts are pouring in faster than the temple can respond. "People have a desperate need for something to rally to right now."

Right now, membership in the Satanic Temple is somewhere around 100,000, and it has become a hub for the anti-Trump resistance.

Of course most have joined various Satanic groups for spiritual reasons. Today there is a tremendous spiritual hunger in America, but Americans are also leaving traditional churches at a staggering pace.

People are looking for authenticity, but they aren't finding it in the traditional places, and so many are seeking out new options.

Unfortunately, an increasing number of Americans are deciding that Satanism is the answer, and that is a very, very troubling sign.

***

cbnnew.com

Pelosi Repeats: Spirits of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth Spoke to Me in White House

August 4, 2018

(CNSNews.com) - At an appearance in San Francisco last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) repeated her story that the spirits of women’s rights activists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul and Sojourner Truth squeezed into her chair—and then spoke to her--the first time she went to a meeting at the White House after being elected House Minority Leader.

When she was elected to that post on Nov. 14, 2002, Pelosi became the first woman in U.S. history to become the leader of either party in the House or Senate.

“I sit down and as he [President George W. Bush] is being so gracious and welcoming, I feel really squeezed in in my chair,” Pelosi told the audience at an August 22 event sponsored by the Public Policy Institute of California.

“I mean I’m, like I’m squeezed in in my chair,” she said. “And I am thinking: What is this? And I realized Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth. All of them. They were all in the chair, right there, with me. They were right there. I’ve never had that experience before or since. They were right there on the chair. And I could hear them say: At last we have a seat at the table.

“And then they were gone,” said Pelosi.

As CNSNews.com reported in August 2012, Pelosi had then recently told the same story to a meeting of the Women’s Political Committee. She had also told it, CNSNews.com reported, at the May 20, 2012 graduation ceremony at Trinity Washington University. She also told it, CNSNews.com noted in the 2012 story, in her 2005 commencement address at Goucher College in Baltimore.

Pelosi’s 2005 commencement address at Goucher is available on CSPAN. Here is a tape of Pelosi telling the story to the Women’s Political Committee in 2012:

Here is a transcript of Pelosi telling the story at the Aug. 22, 2018 PPIC event:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “When I first, went to my first meeting, as representing as a leader, went to my first meeting, to the White House, I wasn’t apprehensive about it because I’m an intelligence person more than anybody else in the history of the Congress. I have been there on intelligence matters. I’m an appropriator. I was a leader on the Appropriations Committee. And, so, I just didn’t even think about it. I am going to the White House for a meeting. Well, when I went to the meeting and the doors closed behind me, I realized that this was unlike any other meeting I had ever been to in the White House. In fact, it was unlike any meeting that any women had ever been to in the White House.

“Very small meeting: President of the United States and Vice President and then, House and Senate, Democratic and Republican leaders. Just small, maybe ten people at the most, around the table. And I felt: Oh my! Because here I was. Now, women sit at the Cabinet table, yes, appointed by the president—whose vote counts more than anybody else’s at the table.

“But I was coming, elected by my colleagues, first branch of government, the Legislative Branch, Article 1. First time. So, I sit down, and President Bush is gracious as he could ever be. George W. Bush. Welcoming or this or that. Lovely.

“And while he was talking about it: Oh, yeah, I’m sure we’re going to hear some things we haven’t heard before. You know, you can just imagine. But he was lovely and gracious. The Bushes always that.

“So, I am sitting in my--I sit down and as he’s being so gracious and welcoming, I feel really squeezed in in my chair. I mean I’m, like I’m squeezed in in my chair. And I am thinking: What is this? And I realized Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth. All of them. They were all in the chair, right there, with me. They were right there. I’ve never had that experience before or since. They were right there on the chair. And I could hear them say: At last we have a seat at the table.

“And then they were gone.

“And then I could pay attention to President Bush. And then they were gone. And my first thought was: We want more. We want more.

“But just a reminder of the shoulders that all of us stand on. And those who stand on our shoulders as well.”

***

BREAKINGISRAELNEWS

Harbinger to Messiah: Red Heifer Is Born

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

September 5, 2018

“Many will be purified and purged and refined; the wicked will act wickedly and none of the wicked will understand; but the knowledgeable will understand.” Daniel 12:10 (The Israel Bible™)

Red heifer candidate born in Israel. (Credit: The Temple Institute/YouTube screen capture)

Last Tuesday, the Temple Institute’s Red Heifer program was blessed with results; an entirely red female calf was born, paving the way for re-establishing the Temple service and marking the final stage of redemption.

Almost three years ago the Temple Institute inaugurated its Raise a Red Heifer in Israel program. Due to laws restricting the importation of live cattle into Israel, the Temple Institute imported frozen embryos of red angus, implanting them in Israeli domestic cows. The pregnant cows were raised on cattle ranches in different locations throughout the country. The cows are giving birth this summer with several calves already having been born.

One week after it’s birth, the newborn red heifer was certified by a board of rabbis as fulfilling all the Biblical requirements. The rabbis emphasized that the heifer could, at any time, acquire a blemish rendering it unsuitable. They will be inspecting the calf periodically to verify its condition.

The red heifer was the main component in the Biblically mandated process of ritual purification for impurity that results from proximity or contact with a dead body. Because the elements needed for this ceremony have been lacking since the destruction of the Second Temple, all Jews today are considered ritually impure, thereby preventing the return of the Temple service.

The red heifer is described in the Book of Numbers.

“This is the ritual law that Hashem has commanded: Instruct B’nei Yisrael to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. Numbers 19:2

Several heifers have been found in recent years that seemed to qualify but ultimately were unsuitedfor the ritual. Earlier this month, two calves born in Israel to the Institute’s red heifer program were deemed to be unsuitable for the performance of the mitzvah. One calf was a bull while the second, a heifer, had a small patch of white hair which disqualified her.

The heifer, born from a natural birth, must be entirely red, with no more than two non-red hairs on its body. It must also never have been used for any labor or have been impregnated. The existence of such a heifer is considered a biological anomaly and very rare. Fortunately, the ritual requires an infinitesimally small quantity of ashes. From the time of Moses, who personally prepared the first heifer, until the destruction of the Temple, only nine red heifers were prepared. Nonetheless, this was sufficient to maintain the ritual purity of the entire nation for almost 2,000 years.

According to Jewish tradition, there will only be ten red heifers in human history with the tenth heifer ushering in the Messianic era. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides), the most renowned medieval Jewish scholar known by the acronym Rambam, wrote in his explanation of the mitzvah that “the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily, Amen, May it be God’s will.”

Rabbi Chaim Richman, the International Director of the Temple Institute, commented on this on the institute’s website.

“If there has been no red heifer for the past 2,000 years, perhaps it is because the time was not right; Israel was far from being ready. But now… what could it mean for the times we live in, to have the means for purification so close at hand? With the words of Maimonides in mind, we cannot help but wonder and pray: If there are now red heifers… is ours the era that will need them?”

The laws pertaining to the mitzvah are myriad and considered by the sages to be the archetypal chok, an inexplicable Torah commandment accepted solely on faith. Before entering the land of Israel after the Exodus, the heifer was burned outside of the camp. In the days of the Temple, the heifer was taken to the Mount of Olives across a causeway built specifically for this purpose to ensure that there was no inadvertent contact with areas along the way that may have been contaminated by dead bodies.

Cedarwood, hyssop, and wool or yarn dyed scarlet are added to the fire, and the remaining ashes are placed in a vessel containing spring water to purify a person who has become ritually contaminated by contact with a corpse. Water from the vessel is sprinkled on the subject, using a bunch of hyssop, on the third and seventh day of the purification process. The priest who performs the ritual then becomes ritually unclean, and must then wash himself and his clothes in running waters. He is deemed impure until evening.

No less stringent than the laws pertaining to the heifer are the laws pertaining to the site where the heifer is burned. Almost 30 years ago, Rabbi Yonatan Adler, who is also an archaeologist, performed an in-depth study into the textual references to the site where the red heifer was burned, publishing his results in in the Torah journal Techumin. His calculations, based on the Holy of Holies being located where the Dome of the Rock stands today, led him to a spot where Dominus Flevit, a Catholic Church built in 1955, now stands. Archaeological surveys discovered unique characteristics of the site that corresponded to descriptions in the Talmud.

***

THE SUN

APOCALYPSE COW

First ‘red heifer’ born in Israel for 2,000 years triggers armageddon fears after Christian and Jewish holy books say it will ‘bring the end of the world’

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem said the calf underwent "extensive examination by experts"

By Harvey Solomon-Brady

10th September 2018, 10:55 am

Updated: 10th September 2018, 9:12 pm

A BIBLE prophecy predicting the end of days is feared to come true after the first ‘red heifer in 2,000 years’ was born in Israel.

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem announced the calf’s birth on YouTube, saying it would undergo “extensive examination” to determine if it is red all over.

If the female baby cow is found to be “blemish free”, the Institute will declare that the calf “brings the promise of reinstating Biblical purity to the world”.

In both Christianity and Judaism, the red heifer is central to the prediction about the “end of times”.

After sacrificing the red cow, construction can begin on the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple Institute and other groups worldwide were set up with the goal of building the Third Temple on Mount Moriah, or on the Temple Mount.

But some theologians say the building of the Third Temple is linked to ‘Judgement Day’ or the “end of times”.

This apocalyptic event will bring what Christians call "the rapture" - where all Christian believers (living and dead) will rise into the sky and join Christ.

The fate of non-believers isn't quite so promising. For them the rapture means everlasting punishment of their souls in hell.

Rabbi Chain Richman, director of the Institute, believes the time is ripe to build the Third Temple, following the birth of the red heifer.

The video shows the calf with its mother, proclaiming: “A perfectly red heifer was born in the land of Israel."

After its birth, the calf has been examined extensively by “rabbinical experts” who confirmed she is a “viable candidate for the Biblical red heifer”.

But the cow could be disqualified due to “natural causes”.

The Temple Institute founded a Raise a Red Heifer in Israel program three years ago.

They have since hoped to breed a perfectly red cow with the imported frozen embryos of red angus cows what are then implanted into domestic cows.

A board of rabbis have verified the cow fulfils the requirements of the prophecy, reports Breaking Israel News.

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NY Times

Celebrating Rosh Hashana With Less ‘Oy,’ More ‘Joy’ and a Bit of Gospel

By Corey Kilgannon

Sept. 10, 2018

“The purpose of this service is to excite you,” began Rabbi Perry Berkowitz, who along with his sister, Rabbi Leah Berkowitz, runs East Side Synagogue, an unconventional congregation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

As usual, the siblings were sharing the same pulpit and holding their nontraditional brand of Rosh Hashana services on Monday.

In Manhattan, the holiday can often mean high-priced tickets at prestigious synagogues, but the Berkowitz’s services seek only a reasonable contribution and are held in a rented space in the Unitarian Church of All Souls on Lexington Avenue.

The services are freewheeling, rollicking affairs that have the feel of a gospel church. They give evangelical-type sermons and are backed by a gospel choir that sings liturgical music often in Hebrew.

The songs can range from hymns and spirituals to klezmer and pop, and they often spur congregants to form conga lines down the aisles.

Monday’s service ran for five hours and varied from fiery sermons to musical romps backed by a spirited band.

The choir swayed and clapped while singing a spiritual. The band played “Shalom Aleichem” and then a klezmer song as congregants danced the hora. Rabbi Leah Berkowitz led a line of dancers through the aisles, out the door and back to the front of the bimah, or raised platform.

An hour or so into the service, a sharp voice rang from a man in an embroidered robe and a skullcap–a Jewish gospel singer named Joshua Nelson, the synagogue’s “kosher gospel” singer, who began singing in Hebrew but in the style of Mahalia Jackson.

Mr. Nelson fits in neatly with the Berkowitz’s style of worship, one that Rabbi Perry Berkowitz said was inspired partly by a mentor, Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Polish-born rabbi and renowned theologian who was active in the civil rights movement.

“When he first came over from Warsaw, he tried many denominations looking for that passion, that intensity, that fervor of his Hasidic youth,” the rabbi said. “He finally found it in a gospel service in a black church, and we’re trying to bring that into the synagogue.”

Rabbi Perry Berkowitz said one goal was to attract black Jews, like Mr. Nelson, to the services.

“They are the hidden part of the community,” he said, adding that the congregation welcomes interfaith couples and people of all sexual orientations, as well as nonobservant Jews unaffiliated with a temple.

Allen Katz, a software sales executive from the Upper East Side, said, “Tickets for Rosh Hashana in a Manhattan synagogue can cost you $4,000 for the family, but once you come here, and you like it, there’s no place else you’ll ever go.”

The Berkowitzes lead services with the comedic patter of a vaudevillian team, interrupting each other and interspersing snappy quips and references to Talmudic law.

After wishing the congregation a Happy New Year and getting a less than hearty response, Rabbi Perry Berkowitz asked his sister, “What do you think?”

She shook her head and they tried it again and the response was louder.

Rabbi Perry Berkowitz told congregants that someone asked why God permitted rain on Rosh Hashana.

“They said, ‘Don’t you have a connection upstairs,’” the rabbi recounted. “I said, ‘Sorry, I’m in sales, not management.’”

He urged the congregation to wipe away any negative associations from the past year and to start the new year, “Not with oy, but with joy.”

He told them to exhale and let go of “all of the oys of the past year.”

“Everyone let out a collective oy,” he directed them “One, two, three. Oy.”

A spirited “Oy” resounded in the worship space.

He said he overheard a woman recently say that “Rosh Hashana is all about buying food at Zabar’s, the renowned gourmet food market on the Upper West Side.

It was not, he said, but conceded later in the service that the post-service lunch had been donated “of all places, by Zabar’s.”

After Rabbi Perry Berkowitz blew the shofar, or ram’s horn, the choir broke into an energetic version of “Walking in the Light of God.”

Judy Wolfe and Terry Phelan, two sisters from Manhattan, said they began attending Rosh Hashana services with the Berkowitzes 35 years ago when they were held in a rented movie theater on Third Avenue and 72nd Street.

“When you smelled popcorn, you knew the service was over and the movie was starting,” Ms. Wolfe said. “Now, we’ve become kind of like roadies, we follow them around.”

After an impassioned sermon by the Rev. William Barber II, a Christian minister, the Berkowitzes led the congregation in a Hebrew prayer set to the melody of “We Shall Overcome.”

Then they held hands with Mr. Nelson and made their dancing recessional down the center aisle to “This Little Light of Mine.”

***

HAARETZ

The Messianic Zionist Religion Whose Believers Worship Judaism (But Can't Practice It)

The Noahide Project, which has Israeli governmental and rabbinical support, is trying to proselytize members of remote communities. Just as long as they don’t call themselves Jews, right?

Ofri Llany

September 12, 2018

“Our friends all over the world, the Noahides… You are the lucid persons in a perplex world. You are the hope of the world. Happy good day.” Thus, in somewhat broken English, Rabbi Oury Cherki, head of the Noahide World Center, greeted his followers in a video clip on the occasion of “Humanity Day,” the holiday of the Noahides (also known as Children of Noah), which was last celebrated on the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Marheshvan (Nov. 10, 2017). According to Jewish tradition, it was on that day that Noah and his family emerged from the ark and received the seven commandments that apply to all human beings, among them the prohibitions on idol worship, on murder and on eating flesh torn from a living animal. When Noah left the ark, he built an altar and made a sacrifice. Which is why the Noahides eat grilled meat on their holiday.

But who are these Noahides? They are members of a new religion, subordinate to Judaism, founded by rabbis from Israel, mainly from Chabad and the religious Zionist movement. According to the World Center, there are dozens of Noahide communities across the world, with more than 20,000 believers. That’s a hefty number, given that the religion was only founded at the beginning of the decade. Small Noahide communities exist in various countries, with the largest one in the Philippines.

Cooperation between Israel and the Philippines is constantly growing, and this week reached new heights with the visit to Israelof the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines are a key arena of Chabad activity, and one of the primary venues where the new religion is being disseminated. There are four Chabad centers in the country, and in addition to assisting Jews, they support 10 Noahide houses of prayer. The Hasidic emissaries view the Philippines community as the model for Noahide communities in other countries. A group from the community was brought to Israel two years ago, and its members met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has also sent his greetings to all the communities worldwide.

That there are countries in which groups and communities identify themselves as belonging to the Jewish people, or as descendants of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, is nothing new. Similarly, we’re familiar with Christians who admire Israel. But the Noahides are a theological phenomenon of very recent vintage. It’s a form of Zionist mission, which seeks to create a world religion whose believers adore the Jewish people and the State of Israel – without belonging to either. The believers are required to accept the supremacy of Judaism but are not accepted into the Jewish people and are even barred from upholding such commandments as Sabbath observance. Anyone who wishes to be a Noahide is called upon mainly to recognize the Jewish people and its state.

Last month, Nova Religio, a journal devoted to emergent and alternative religions, published an article by Rachel Z. Feldman, assistant professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College, in Pennsylvania, titled “The Children of Noah: Has Messianic Zionism Created a New World Religion?” In the summer of 2017, Feldman visited Noahide communities on the Filipino island of Cebu, which are supervised by Chabad rabbis. Like most Noahides around the world, the members of the Cebu community came mostly from Protestant churches, but had abandoned their belief in the New Testament.

One of the groups Feldman observed lives in a mountainous, “financially challenged” rural region. In the past its members were cave dwellers who belonged to a Sabbath-observing church called Sacred Name Believers. Their leader is the Noahide preacher Emmanuel Villegas. For years he visited poor communities on various islands and converted them to the Children of Noah. He called on them to renounce Christianity and to burn their holy books – though not before cutting out the Tetragrammaton (God’s Hebrew name) from the texts.

About 20 years ago, the community’s members moved to the village of Lamac, where they built a house of worship marked with a large Israeli flag at the entrance. In accordance with the directives of Chabad rabbis, they no longer observe Shabbat, as this precept is reserved for the members of the Jewish faith alone and is denied to Noahides. They are permitted to greet each other with the words, “Happy seventh day,” but not to utter the word “Shabbat.” Instead of the Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony used by Jews to welcome the Sabbath, the Chabad rabbis invented a ritual for them in which they light seven candles (to denote the Seven Noahide Laws).

Feldman quotes one members of the community, who explained to her, “You are very lucky because you are white, and white people are rulers of the earth. But you are also a Jew. You are very gifted because you have blood from the Chosen people, from Abraham and Isaac.” In his sermons, Villegas explains why his community is forbidden to uphold Jewish commandments, and dwells on the essence of the difference between Noahides and Jews. Jews, he says, possess an inner sanctity that draws them close to a divine level: “The Jew has five levels of soul while the Noahide only has three levels and remains on an animalistic level, and this is written in the Kabbalah.”

Noahides are incapable of reaching the level of the Jews, but they can learn how to improve themselves by way of the seven commandments. The questions-and-answers site asknoah.org also instructs the Children of Noah on how to cope with animal cravings. In the meantime, Chabad is making efforts to spread the word among non-Jews in Israel, too – a project that was introduced by the late Rabbi Boaz Kali, from Haifa.

Ethnic hierarchy

Liberal Jewish philosophers of the modern era, such as the German-Jewish thinker Hermann Cohen, viewed the Seven Laws of Noah as the universal basis of the Bible, which prove that Judaism contains a general moral outlook that transcends the question of the fate of the Jewish people. But the interpretation of Rabbi Cherki and the Chabad rabbis uses the Noahide precepts to lay down an ethnic hierarchy between Jews and gentiles. Feldman notes that the Noahide religion constitutes a new form of colonial relations and racial ideology in which the rabbis are shaping a new faith for the inhabitants of the “global south” as an instrument to advance religious and nationalist goals.

Feldman points out that the first Noahide gathering, which took place in Texas in 1990, was attended by Rabbi Meir Kahane. After Kahane’s assassination, that same year, the Temple Institute, which advocates the building of the Third Temple on Jerusalem, on the site of the first two, started to promote the Noahide project. In the view of the institute’s rabbis, the gentiles’ upholding of the Seven Laws is an important stage in the messianic process at the height of which the temple will be built and Israel will become a theocracy that will gain the gentiles’ support.

This is the world order being promoted by the Noahide Project, which has the support of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and of the Israeli government. The Noahide theological project is closely related to Netanyahu’s foreign policy approach, which is based on religious support for Israel. As he worded the theological message he offered on Humanity Day in 2015, “The Seven Mitzvot of the Children of Noah are matters of both faith and morality, which according to our sages obligate all of the non-Jewish peoples of the world. These commandments serve as a basis for establishing a civilized society.”

The final goal of Rabbi Cherki and the Noahide World Center, we are told, is a modest one: seven billion believers.

***

‘Unjust court’: Bolton vows to use ‘any means’ to protect US ally Israel from ICC

September 10, 2018FILE PHOTO. Tear gas canisters, fired by Israeli forces, fall onto Palestinian protesters. © Mahmud Hams / AFP

The US has announced its decision not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, vowing to protect itself and its “friend and ally” Israel from the judicial body. It also threatened sanctions against the “unjust” court.

Announcing the move, US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Monday warned the ICC against continuing its investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan. If the international court continues to pursue the probe, Washington will ban ICC judges from entering the country, prosecute them and sanction their funds, the official said in a speech before the Federalist Society in Washington, DC.

We will ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the United States, sanction their funds in the United States financial system, and, prosecute them in the United States criminal system,” Bolton boomed.

All the US citizens, “operating in the service of the government”anywhere in the world, are subjects to the American justice system only, Bolton said. “On this Earth, we don’t recognize any authority higher than the US constitution.”

Bolton also ripped into the court’s threat to Washington’s “friend and ally” Israel as he referred to the investigation into alleged crimes against Palestinians. The probe into actions of such a “liberal, democratic nation” as Israel is unacceptable, Bolton said. Any countries supporting the investigation and cooperating with the ICC will be subject to secondary sanctions, Bolton warned. He promised to “take notes” of the countries cooperating with the ICC, warning that such behavior will affect their relations with the US and might result in slashing the US aid to such nations.

He then vowed to undertake action in the UN to bar the ICC from prosecuting nationals of any countries that did not ratify the statute of the international body.

Just ahead of Bolton’s speech on the ICC, the US announced its decision to shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington. The move was condemned by the group as yet “another affirmation” of the US policy “to collectively punish the Palestinian people.” Despite the US pressure, Palestine vowed to continue its calls on the ICC to “open its immediate investigation into Israeli crimes.”

he Palestinian Foreign Ministry asked the ICC to launch an inquiry into Israeli “crimes against humanity” and its illegal settlement policies. The alleged crimes of the Israeli government include forcible transfer, demolition of Palestinian homes and killing of peaceful protesters.

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SPUTNIK

DARPA’s New Brain Chip Enables Telepathic Control of Drone Swarms

September 9, 2018

The US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created a brain-computer interface that enables a person to control everything from a swarm of drones to an advanced fighter jet using nothing but their thoughts and a special brain chip.

Life imitates art, in defense tech no less than in society. In the 1982 techno-thriller film "Firefox," Clint Eastwood steals a fictional Soviet fighter jet called the "MiG-31 Firefox," a Mach 6-capable stealth fighter he piloted with his thoughts. But now in 2018, the US military has gone even further: you can control a whole group of drones or fighter jets with your thoughts.

In 2015, the basic principle of flying a plane using a surgically implanted microchip was demonstrated, but continued development of the brain-computer interface (BCI) has created a two-way connection enabling the pilot to not only send commands to the craft but also to receive signals.

"As of today, signals from the brain can be used to command and control… not just one aircraft but three simultaneous types of aircraft," Justin Sanchez, director of DARPA's biological technology office, said Thursday at the agency's D60 Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland.

"The signals from those aircraft can be delivered directly back to the brain so that the brain of that user [or pilot] can also perceive the environment," Sanchez said at the symposium, which celebrated DARPA's 60th birthday. "It's taken a number of years to try and figure this out."

"We've scaled it to three [aircraft], and have full sensory [signals] coming back. So you can have those other planes out in the environment and then be detecting something and send that signal back into the brain," he said, according to Defense One.

A 2012 grant provided DARPA with $4 million to build a non-invasive "synthetic telepathy" interface that uses a skin-tight cap loaded with electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors to pick up electrical signals in the user's brain's motor centers.

In April 2016, developers at the University of Florida working under DARPA's aegis held the first BCI drone race in history. Working with colleagues at the University of Arizona, they have been pioneering the partnership between BCI piloting and the Pentagon's Gremlin drone swarm concept, The Science Explorer reported in 2016.

"We started with the idea of human-swarm interaction; we record it from the brain," Panagiotis Artemiadis, director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab at ASU said in a video produced by the university. "We actually saw that the brain really cares about collective behaviors of swarms, and now we know where to record from and what to see from the brain signals in order to decode that to collective behaviors for aerial vehicles and swarms of robots."

Defense One noted that the technology could be used to drive medical breakthroughs in brain-based communication, control of prosthetic limbs, memory repair and helping paralyzed people regain control over their bodies.

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MailOnline

Can YOU tell which one is real? Creepy AI transfers facial expressions in videos from one person to another and could be used to create fake news

Software flips the mouth movements from one video to the face of another
A clip made with the AI puts the expressions of John Oliver onto Stephen Colbert
Researchers warned the technology could be used to create fake news clips

By HARRY PETTIT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 18:55, 11 September 2018 | UPDATED: 03:09, 12 September 2018

A creepy AI transfers the facial expressions of one person to another to create eerily realistic 'deep fake' videos.

The software accurately flips a segment of one video - such as the mouth of a character - to the style of another to create life-like fake clips.

A video produced by the team transferred the mouth movements of British comedian John Oliver onto the face of US talk-show host Stephen Colbert.

Researchers warned the technology could be used to create fake news clips that falsely put words into the mouths of politicians or other powerful figures.

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh developed a new type of AI called a Recycle-GAN for their study.

It builds on a type of AI algorithm called a GAN, which stands for generative adversarial network.

GANs pit one AI against another, with the first generating new videos and the second one analysing and rating their quality before sending it back to the original bot.

Over thousands of calculations, the pair eventually become adept at their given task.

The new study added an extra step to make a GAN that created incredibly realistic fake videos.

The new method cycles between the two - like translating English speech into Spanish and then the Spanish back into English, to check it still makes sense.

The technology could one day be useful for movie producers, making jobs such as dubbing or converting black-and-white films to colour a breeze.

But researchers also acknowledged that face-swapping AIs hold potentially disastrous consequences if used in the wrong hands.

'It was an eye opener to all of us in the field that such fakes would be created and have such an impact,' said study coauthor Aayush Bansal.

'Finding ways to detect them will be important moving forward.'

This is not the first time a GAN has been used to make fake videos of celebrities.

A shocking deep fake video that appeared to show former US President Barack Obama calling Donald Trump a 'total and complete dips***' went viral in April.

Comedian and actor Jordan Peele made the video to warn the US public about videos faked using AI.

Peele's voice and mouth were digitally inserted into the video using sophisticated technology powered by artificial intelligence, called 'deepfakes'.

'We're entering an era in which our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time — even if they would never say those things,' 'Obama' said in the video.

'So, for instance, they could have me say things like, I don't know, [Black Panther's] Killmonger was right, or Ben Carson is in the sunken place.

'Or, how about this: Simply, President Trump is a total and complete dipshit'.

***

AMMC

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INDEPENDENT

EU PARLIAMENT APPROVES NEW COPYRIGHT RULES THAT COULD BE 'CATASTROPHIC' FOR THE INTERNET

ANDREW GRIFFIN

September 13, 2018

The EU parliament has approved new copyright rules that campaigners have warned could be "catastrophic" for the internet.

MEPs voted for the controversial rules, known as article 11 and 13. The most criticised of those is the latter, which stipulates that technology platforms must filter the things people post on them, and check for copyright infringement.

Campaigners warn that would probably force internet companies to introduce stringent new automated checks that content must pass before they are posted to platforms like Twitter and Facebook. That could reject anything that even possibly infringed copyright – leading to potentially banning memes that use screengrabs from films, for instance, according to campaigners.

Julia Reda, a pirate party MEP who has actively campaigned against the new measures and said they would be "catastrophic", said that upload filters will mean that legitimate content will be removed from sites accidentally. "Anything you want to publish will need to first be approved by these filters, perfectly legal content like parodies & memes will be caught in the crosshairs," she wrote on Twitter.

Article 11 introduces a so-called "link tax". That will mean that companies like Google and Facebook could have to pay news organisations to use their headlines on their sites, for instance, which campaigners claim could undermine some of the most central technologies of the internet.
“Today, MEPs have decided to support the filtering of the internet to the benefit of big businesses in the music and publishing industries despite huge public outcry," said Siada El Ramly, director general of EDiMA, the trade association representing the online platforms. "We hope that governments of the EU will hear their citizens’ concerns in the next stage of negotiations.”

All of the rules have received sustained critiicsm from both the big technology platforms as well as internet campaigners. But they have been supported by the big companies in the media industries, as well as some of their biggest stars including musicians like Paul McCartney.But some musicians argued that the rules could actually hurt their industry, by stifling the ability to collaborate.

"Musicians and artists thrive when they collaborate and share," said Wyclef Jean, who is in Strasbourg arguing against the rules. "I’ve worked with so many young artists – the future – who have sampled my music and succeeded. Upload filters or anything else that restricts this will stop artists from making and creating the future."

The rules will now progress through the rest of the legislative process, which will include a final vote in January, which is likely to see the rules passed. EU members will then choose how to enforce the directive in their own laws.

The new version of the rules included hundreds of changes that have been made since the parliament rejected them in July, such as allowing exemptions for the very smallest tech companies. But campaigners argue the substance of the new directive is the same, including the parts referred to as a link tax and the controversial automated filters.

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WND

'EXTINCTION-LEVEL' EVENT FOR WEB MOVES FORWARD

'Severe blow to the free and open internet'

Bob Unruh

September 12, 2018

Members of the European Parliament have voted to approve new web copyright rules and regulations that have been described by a prominent privacy organization as an “extinction-level” event.

And even members of the lawmaking body are beginning to issue warnings about the plans, which still need approval from member nations and the European Commission.

CNN reported Wednesday the vote “is a major setback for Big Tech,” and some experts believe it could “lead to the closure of Google News.”

Axel Voss, a German lawmaker who insisted that the new restrictions are needed, called the vote a “good sign.”

Eleonora Rosati, a lawyer and copyright expert at the University of Southampton, told CNN the ultimate impact depends on how specific the final version of the legislation is and how it’s interpreted.

“If a law is not clear, that’s great news for lawyers, but it is problematic because it creates uncertainty,” she said. “[The warnings] are correct, but exaggerated.”

Techcrunch listed some of those warnings.

Julia Reda of the Greens/EFA group said it will make illegal “perfectly legal content like parodies and memes.”

“Today’s decision is a severe blow to the free and open internet,” she said. “By endorsing new legal and technical limits on what we can post and share online, the European Parliament is putting corporate profits over freedom of speech and abandoning long-standing principles that made the internet what it is today.”

She continued: “Five years after the ‘link tax’ came into force in Germany, no journalist or publisher has made an extra penny, startups in the news sector have had to shut down and courts have yet to clear up the legal uncertainty on exactly where to draw the line,” she added. “The same quagmire will now repeat at the EU level – no argument has been made why it wouldn’t, apart from wishful thinking.”

Techcrunch also reported: “MEP Marietje Schaake also expressed disappointment, telling us: ‘The Parliament squandered the opportunity to get the copyright reform on the right track. This is a disastrous result for the protection of our fundamental rights, ordinary internet users and Europe’s future in the field of artificial intelligence. We have set a step backwards instead of creating a true copyright reform that is fit for the 21st century.'”

Said MEP Catherine Stihler, “It will stifle free speech and create barriers of entry to the market for European start-ups.”

The privacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said: “These extreme, unworkable proposals represent a grave danger to the internet. The link tax means that only the largest, best-funded companies will be able to offer a public space where the news can be discussed and debated. The censorship machines are a gift to every petty censor and troll (just claim copyright in an embarrassing recording and watch as it disappears from the Internet!), and will add hundreds of millions to the cost of operating an online platform, guaranteeing that Big Tech’s biggest winners will never face serious competition and will rule the internet forever.”

The organization warned, “It can only be called an extinction-level event for the internet as we know it.”

The changes are proposed to the 17-year-old copyright regulations for the 28 member states of the EU.

There had been relatively little controversy until Voss quietly changed the text of the directive to reintroduce two long-discarded proposals — Article 11 and Article 13, which had been dismissed by the EU’s own experts, EFF said.

Under Article 11, “online services are banned from allowing links to news services on their platforms unless they get a license to make links to the news.”

Article 13 states: “Anyone who allows users to communicate in public by posting audio, video, stills, code, or anything that might be copyrighted — must send those posts to a copyright enforcement algorithm. The algorithm will compare it to all the known copyrighted works (anyone can add anything to the algorithm’s database) and censor it if it seems to be a match,” EFF reported.

But EFF said the new rules would require billions in expenditures, and only the biggest companies could pay.

Contributor Mar Masson Maack at The Next Web warned of the “huge implications” of the proposed changes.

Similar legislation already has failed in Spain and Germany, and Raegan MacDonald, EU principal at Mozilla, said the EU measure is poorly conceived.

“I think there’ll probably be a lot of negative implications that we haven’t even thought of right now because the system is so confusing and so ill thought out. There’s no upside to it. I think we’ll see a lot of damaging effects there,” she said in The Next Web article.

“People want access to quality news and creative content online,” Google said in a statement after the vote. “We’ve always said that more innovation and collaboration are the best way to achieve a sustainable future for the European news and creative sectors.”

The Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry group whose members include Amazon, eBay and Pandora, also campaigned against it.

The parliament had rejected the same plans just a few weeks ago. Voss did amend his plans to allow for links and created an exception for small businesses in Article 13.

But one MEP even interrupted the vote to denounce the procedures as a “strike” against freedom of speech.

In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires publishers to take down copyrighted works when they are published by those who don’t hold the rights. But EFF said there needs to be a verification process.

“You can’t walk into a cinema, point at the screen, declare ‘I own that,’ and get the movie shut down!” the group explained.

The current system also has been so extreme that a person tried to post silence online and triggered a copyright claim.

Under Europe’s plan, the EFF explained: “Bad actors could use armies to bots to block millions of works at a go (for example, jerks could use bots to bombard the databases with claims of ownership over the collected works of Shakespeare, adding them to the blacklists faster than they could possibly be removed by human moderators, making it impossible to quote Shakespeare online).”

“But more disturbing is targeted censorship: politicians have long abused takedown to censor embarrassing political revelations or take critics offline, as have violent cops and homophobic trolls.

“But under Article 13, everyone gets to play wholesale censor, and every service has to obey their demands: just sign up for a ‘rightsholder’ account on a platform and start telling it what may and may not be posted. Article 13 has no teeth for stopping this from happening: and in any event, if you get kicked off the service, you can just pop up under a new identity and start again.”

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NEO

The Monster Of Idlib

Author: Gordon Duff

On September 3, 2018, in a “Tweet,” Donald Trump warned Russia, Syria and Iran that any attempt to kill the monster of Idlib would be resisted in some manner by the US. The monster, you see, is Donald Trump’s pet and Idlib, a region in Northwest Syria, is where he keeps it. It feeds on local children and roams the countryside at will.

Its friends are corporate news media, we know that for certain. You see, there has never been a photo of the monster published anywhere. Nearly 3 million people live, or at least used to, where the monster roams. Some ran away, others may have been eaten, but anyone who tries to find out gets caught, sometimes beheaded, sometimes put in prison or they simply disappear.

From here on, the reader is faced with a strange and sinister tale of a people living in fear. They have no rights, no dreams, no life at all, no purpose but one, to feed the monster.

Of course, the reader might well wonder why geopolitics are being “sorted out” with parable and allegory. Why use the term monster?

If the corporate media is to be believed, please don’t laugh, the people living in Idlib are under the watchful eye of “freedom fighters.” No one is kidnapping their children, no one is taking their homes, their food, their lives, no one is using them for human shield or slave labor.

We know this because the corporate media, the “fake news” as Trump calls it, tells us so. So, does Trump, in a way, as he wants the “monster,” as we have chosen to call it, to continue unchecked, unwatched, trusting the lives of 3 million people to its predations.

I consider that at best “unwise,” perhaps a bit more than that.

What is Idlib?

Let’s look at who rules Idlib. Idlib and adjacent occupied regions within the Aleppo Governorate are and have been part of Syria for 3000 years. Much of the bible is played out here. In fact, the oldest Hebrew Bible, the Aleppo Codex, dating from 930 C.E., originated there. Partially destroyed in 1947, the Codex was smuggled to Palestine in 1957 and is now housed at the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum.

Idlib ties to Aleppo and Aleppo and Damascus are Syria and have been since the beginnings of recorded history. That said, then we take a closer look at the issue at conflict.

Alamo or Fall of Hitler’s Berlin?

Idlib, with the exception of US head areas where terrorists seem free to operate, is the last holdout in the “Syrian Civil War.”

Here is what recent history has taught us, there are no real civil wars, only “color revolutions” and “regime change.” Nothing new here, replacing unprofitable governments, those who fail to buckle under, is commonplace. Think of Iran in 1953 for instance, where the CIA organized riots, bombings and assassinations to put a vicious tyrant, Iran’s Shah, on a throne.

Salon lists 35 nations where the US has pushed forward puppet fascist regimes, alphabetically:

Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Iraq, Korea, Laos, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Panama, the Philippines, Syria, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, Zaire.

I have my own list, I would add to this:

Canada, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Angola, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Botswana, Niger, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Chad, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Spain, Germany, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Australia, New Zealand, Yemen, Kuwait and Japan.

Consider both lists as “partial.”

Fake Civil War

What I am saying is this, and it can’t be said enough, “there are no civil wars.” The US went into Syria as a move against Russia, the same reason the US goes after Iran, reliving the sickness of the Cold War, a century old fake struggle between factions of the deep state, conflict that exists for the sake of fake conflict.

In Syria, the methodology was simple, the CIA went in with millions in cash and bought every traitor they could find, playing on sectarian divides and human weakness. They used the lessons from 1991 and Iraq when the CIA bought a dozen or more of Saddam’s generals, then “rebought” them for the infamous Bush “mission accomplished.”

There is never a consideration for the end result, think of Ukraine and its fascist regime or Libya? Need we mention Afghanistan or Iraq?

Syria, however, is another one for the “loss” column, with Vietnam. At least a generation of America’s best were killed off. Instead, a generation of Syrians has died, killed at the hands of US, Saudi, Israeli backed mercenaries.

What happened with those mercenaries, those colonels and generals the CIA bought to overthrow Assad? Today most are headless, decapitated by ISIS along with the Sunni ruling families in Iraq that joined with ISIS in January 2014, handing Mosul and Anbar Province over to ISIS.

Do remember, both nations were supposed to fall, bringing about the plan that Wolfowitz, Kagan, Pearle, Kristol and their partners in Israel, penned decades ago.

Here We Sit

Today, Donald Trump sits in the White House, staving off impeachment and arrest while his henchmen, Dunford, Bolton, Pompeo and Mattis wage a war of military and economic blackmail against two dozen nations.

All the while, America’s mounting national debt is accelerating at an unimagined pace, wages and standard of living in America plunges and the nation itself moves closer and closer to what may be a very real civil war.

The Monster of Idlib

The battle lines are drawn. Russia, Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, along with thousands of former Jihadists, entire units of the former “Free Syrian Army,” align to retake Idlib and restore civil government.

Aligned against them is the United States and its missiles. Waiting in the wings, Turkey and its occupation force, which includes up to 2000 reservists “out of uniform” now pretending to be the long since evaporated “Free Syrian Army.”

In real control is al Qaeda. From IRIN News:

“While Turkey controls the rebels in nearby Afrin and al-Bab, the landscape in Idlib is more complex. Two major factions dominate – the National Liberation Front and Tahrir al-Sham – and they differ on their positioning towards Ankara.

Turkey’s favourite is the NLF, which is led by Fadlallah al-Hajji, a Muslim Brotherhood ally. The NLF includes Turkey-friendly Islamists like Ahrar al-Sham, the Noureddine al-Zengi Brigades, Failaq al-Sham, Jaish al-Ahrar, and groups that fought under the Free Syrian Army banner, like the Victory Army and the 2nd Coastal Division.

Big but brittle, the NLF is held together by Turkish sponsorship and shared enemies: al-Assad’s government, Syrian Kurdish groups, and hardline jihadists.

The NLF’s main rival in Idlib is Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group that controls the provincial capital, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, and other key areas in Idlib.

Led by Abu Mohammed al-Golani, Tahrir al-Sham grew out of what used to be the Nusra Front, Syria’s official al-Qaeda franchise. It is classified as a terrorist group by the UN as well as by the United States, Turkey, and many other nations. Moscow and Damascus typically point to the group’s presence when launching new military offensives.

Tahrir al-Sham has a murky relationship with Turkey. Al-Golani appears to engage pragmatically with Turkish intelligence but refuses to fully submit to Ankara’s diktat.

To his dismay, Turkey keeps pushing for control over the entire Idlib insurgency. Turkish officers tell rebels the only way to appease Russia and keep al-Assad out of Idlib is for Tahrir al-Sham to dissolve and let its members join the NLF.

Some Tahrir al-Sham members seem to agree. Syrian analysts, including Ahmed Aba-Zeid, a well-connected Syrian researcher who supports the non-jihadist opposition, told IRIN that Turkey now dominates one wing of the group.

Al-Golani is also under pressure from jihadist hardliners who portray him as a Turkish tool and a sellout.

“Al-Qaeda leaders in Syria tend to see Tahrir al-Sham, and Abu Mohammed al-Golani in particular, as unprincipled and treacherous,” Cole Bunzel, a research fellow in Islamic Law and Civilisation at Yale University, told IRIN. Bunzel said hardliners view Tahrir al-Sham as “having disobeyed the al-Qaeda emir [leader] in breaking off from the organisation, and since then persecuting al-Qaeda members in Syria.”

Some of al-Golani’s jihadist critics, many of whom are Jordanians and Palestinians, have gathered in a pro-al-Qaeda splinter faction known as Hurras al-Deen. The group is small, but its religious criticism stings and adds to al-Golani’s challenges. He must now simultaneously fend off further defections to Hurras al-Deen and prevent his other flank from being peeled off by Turkey, whose “good cop” attitude is backed up by the threat of a regime offensive.

A Tahrir al-Sham official again rejected calls for the group’s dissolution on 28 August, but added that it seeks “a salutary solution in the liberated north that spares our people the expected aggression.” Behind the scenes, the group appears to be negotiating with Turkey, while Turkey negotiates with Russia.

In Aba-Zeid’s view, how Tahrir al-Sham evolves in the future will depend on Ankara and Moscow.”

What we aren’t seeing here is accountability. Who speaks for the 3 million in Idlib? Their elected government is in Damascus, but no one in Idlib was allowed to vote. In fact, there is no freedom to speak or assemble there whatsoever, only staged White Helmet gas attacks and mob rule by a series of factions receiving vast military support from the United States despite the fact that the US considers them terrorists.

In fact, the organization receiving the most American support is the primary target of America’s counter-terrorism efforts, al Qaeda.

Where did al Qaeda learn to govern? Why do Trump and his henchmen recognize them as a ruling body? Isn’t there something in American lore about “consent of the governed?” Isn’t this one of the Jeffersonian concepts on which America is based?

Then again, is it fair to consider rule by mercenaries and terrorists a monstrosity? We think so.

***

SOUTH FRONT

WALL STREET JOURNAL CLAIMS ASSAD ORDERED ‘CHLORINE GAS’ ATTACKS IN IDLIB

September 9, 2018

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allegedly approved the use of chlorine gas in an offensive against Idlib, the last major militant stronghold left in the country, according to unnamed US officials, cited by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

WSJ also reported that in a recent discussion unnamed persons, familiar with the exchange, President Donald Trump threatened to conduct a massive attack against Assad if he carries out a “massacre in Idlib,” the northwestern province that currently houses close to 3 million civilians, and approximately 10,000 terrorists, from al-Qaeda and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, as well as 70,000 opposition militants.

WSJ also claimed international efforts to avert the offensive have failed to dissuade Syria, Russia and Iran from an attack on Idlib to end the seven-year-long war. WSJ also reported that Russia and Syria have stepped up their airstrikes, while thousands of civilians have been evacuated to government-controlled parts of Syria.

WSJ reported that Assad also refused appeals from the UN, Turkey and the US that an attack could trigger a humanitarian crisis.

“Syria is once again at the edge of an abyss,” Francois Delattre, the French ambassador to the United Nations, said last week during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Idlib.

The unnamed US officials, cited by WSJ also said that the Pentagon is considering options, but Mr. Trump hasn’t decided what exactly would trigger a military response or whether the U.S. would target Russian or Iranian military forces aiding Mr. Assad in Syria. The US could also reportedly use targeted economic sanctions on Syrian officials instead of strikes.

“We haven’t said that the U.S. would use the military in response to an offensive,” one senior administration official said, cited by WSJ. “We have political tools at our disposal, we have economic tools at our disposal. There are a number of different ways we could respond if Assad were to take that reckless, dangerous step,” he continued.

WSJ also cites the same anonymous US officials who claimed that new US intelligence has revealed that Assad plans to use chlorine gas in Idlib. It also wasn’t clear whether Assad had allowed the use of sarin gas by Syrian forces, the deadly nerve agent allegedly used several times in previous Syrian attacks on militant-held areas.

US officials, on September 9th, wouldn’t comment on whether use of chlorine gas would trigger a new US airstrike. “I will not comment on U.S. military plans, but Assad’s use of chemical weapons, sarin and chlorine, and disregard for civilian lives is well documented and contrary to regional stability,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.

In the past two years, President Trump has launched airstrikes against Syria twice. Both times after accusing the Syrian leader of using sarin gas in attacks that killed scores of civilians, including women and children. The more recent one was in April 2018.

National security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked their Russian counterparts to ensure that no chemical weapons were used in Idlib, the unnamed US officials said, cited by WSJ.

This US intelligence, disclosed by unnamed US officials comes after on August 25th the Russian Defense Ministry warned of a staged chemical attack by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who received chlorine gas, delivered to them by the White Helmets “rescue group.”

It also comes after on September 7th, the US special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey said that the US would not withdraw from Syria. “The new policy is we’re no longer pulling out by the end of the year,” he told reporters in Washington. Initially the 2,200 US troops deployed to eastern Syria in support of the multi-national coalition against ISIS was supposed to leave. Instead, they will remain in support of a combined military and diplomatic effort to limit Iranian and Russian influence over post-war reconstruction. “That means we are not in a hurry,” Jeffrey said, adding that he was “confident” Trump supports what he called a “more active approach” in Syria.

On the same day, during a UN Security Council briefing, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley accused Russian and Syrian forces of attacking schools and killing civilians, under the pretext that they are attacking terrorist targets. She did not, however, provide any facts or evidence to support her accusations.

There is no confirmation of any information provided by the WSJ and the report provides no evidence of any of its claims.

***

PRO NEWS

Russia's latest warning to the US: "Do not support the Islamists, we will hit your base in Al-Tanf"

Written by: Panos Spagopoulos

September 7, 2018

A clear warning to Washington sent to Moscow two times last week that its forces, along with Syrian government forces, are ready to attack the US base at At Tanf, which is on the border of Syria, Iraq and Jordan, but on Syrian territory and there are hundreds of US soldiers and other personnel.

Moscow has said there are terrorist forces in the region, and US forces will be at great risk if the Russian and Syrian forces are attacked.

In response, the US said they have every right to defend themselves if Russians attack the base.

Of course, the base is illegal as it is in possession of the territory of the Syrian territory, but the US is trying to justify its presence there as a "de-escalation zone" in the fight against terrorism, an area of about 55 km.

As CNN says, the United States has issued a new message in response to Russia not to trigger US military presence in the region.

Pentagon officials said the American "guard" in the region is strategic in an area where Russia and Iran are trying to maximize their influence.

According to the same officials, there is a lot of concern as they fear that Russian warships in the eastern Mediterranean will launch cruise missiles against positions claiming to be Islamic terrorists in the same area where US troops are stationed, which will cause a straight showdown of American and Russian forces if Russian strikes are not apt ...

So far, as noted, no concentration of Russian forces has been observed, while officials do not disclose through which "concert" channel the warning was made.

As noted both by US Defense Secretary James Matisse and US Chief of Staff General Danford, he is aware of Russian warnings, suggesting that US troops have every right to defend themselves in the event of an attack by making sense:

"The US forces there will not need approval from higher ranks to answer."

"We warned them to stay out of At Tanf. We are ready to answer, " officials said to add:

"The US does not want to wage war with the Syrian government, or with organizations it supports.However, if we are attacked, the US will not hesitate to use the necessary and necessary power to defend itself. "

The American base at Al-Tanf was set up in 2016 on the grounds of training of FSA guerrillas in the war against ISIS. In fact, and as Russia accuses the United States, the region has become a nursery for rebel terrorists trained and protected by US forces. The area occupied by this semi-autonomous area with what has become known has a radius of 55 km around the base

***

‘Don’t test us’: Haley threatens US strikes over any attack on Syria’s Idlib

September 12, 2018

Any attack on Syria’s Idlib province is going to be “dealt with,” US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warned, as Washington seeks to stop the Russian-backed Syrian army from retaking the last remaining jihadist stronghold.

The US has struck Syria twice after claims of chemical weapons use by the government in Damascus, Haley said on Wednesday in a Fox News interview.

“Don’t test us again,” she said, addressing the Syrian government and its allies Russia and Iran.

Washington and its allies have also warned Syria that they will act not just in case of chemical weapons being used, but against any attack on the province, the US envoy to the UN said.

“Any offensive on the civilian people in Idlib was going to be dealt with,” Haley told Fox News’ Bret Baier.

Idlib is the last remaining stronghold of various jihadist groups that once sought to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad, with support from the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other regional powers. The most powerful of these groups is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra; it is an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization the US holds responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Rebel fortunes took a turn for the worse in October 2015, when Russia openly intervened in Syria on invitation from Damascus. With the aid of Russian air power and military advisers, the Syrian Arab Army successfully broke the siege of Aleppo and rolled up Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants from much of its territory.

Western media, meanwhile, uncritically reported claims of rebels accusing the Syrians and Russians of “genocide” in Aleppo. The White Helmets, a self-proclaimed civil defense group operating only in rebel-held areas, has been the main source for claims of Syrian government atrocities.

Russia has accused the White Helmets of staging a chemical attack in Idlib in order to provoke a Western military intervention in Syria. The group has filmed at least nine videos intended to serve as evidence of claims that Damascus has used chlorine against civilians in Idlib, the Russian Reconciliation Center In Syria said on Wednesday.

***

‘Washington’s message is clear’ - do as we say or be punished, US Secretary of Energy Perry says

September 13, 2018

A routine press conference of the US energy secretary and the Russian energy minister has surprisingly turned into a lecture on Washington’s superiority and exceptionalism as the US official faced a question on sanctions.

A sudden but not all that much unexpected rant by the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry came as a response to RT’s Maria Finoshina’s inquiry about an apparent contradiction between the US accusations against Russia over its alleged use of energy policy as a political tool and Washington’s own threats to bring Iranian oil revenues to “zero.”

Instead of addressing this issue, Perry, who spoke to the journalists together with Russia’s Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak, preferred to explain that the US is just simply in a unique position allowing it to basically impose its will on other countries and the likes of Iran are just naturally expected to oblige.

“The message to Iran is that we expect them to be acceptable neighbors, acceptable members of society,” Perry said, adding that such is not only the will of Washington but that of “some Iran’s neighbors.”

The energy secretary then decided not to beat about the bush and openly said that Saudi Arabia – one of the US major allies in the Middle East and Iran’s long-time arch-rival in the region – is “very supportive of the activities we are involved in” while finding Tehran’s behavior “unacceptable.”

Perry then said that pretty much any country has “responsibilities about [their] actions in the world” as part of the “global citizenry.” Moreover, those very responsibilities apparently consist in following the US lead, according to him. He bluntly told journalists:

As he apparently finished explaining the supposed basics of world politics in Washington’s interpretation, Perry moved to issuing some more threats.

Perry said, adding that “the United States is in a position today to send a message to countries that do not participate in a civilized way that they will be punished.”

He also did not just stop at that and issued another warning by saying that there are “a lot of different ways” to punish the undesirables and sanctions against the energy industry are just “one of those.” All that said, Perry never actually got to the point of the question he was asked.

Meanwhile, it might be well worth it to remember how the situation with international responsibilities and Iran in particular looks like outside of Washington cabinets. It was the US that withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May despite the fact that Tehran’s compliance with the 2015 agreement was repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The move was unanimously condemned by all other parties to the agreement, including Washington’s major allies in the West, which vowed to keep the deal in place. The US then penned a 12-point ultimatum to Iran and decided to reinstate its penalties against the Islamic Republic as Washington vowed to reduce its revenue from crude oil sales to “zero.”

Tehran shows no signs of caving in to the US pressure as it has gradually ditched the dollar in its foreign trade and even sued Washington at the UN’s highest court. The US allies in Europe, meanwhile, seek to protect themselves from the extraterritorial effects of US and keep their ties with Tehran, while speaking about the need of becoming less dependent on Washington.

***

Dave Hodges The Common Sense Show

Foreign Media Reporting That Reckless China Is Preparing for Multiple Pearl Harbors Against the US

In August of 2018, the Pentagon released a report that was not covered in our corporate controlled media. Subsequently, I have learned that the Pentagon held a closed door briefing on the topic of the Chinese preparing to unleash a series of Pearl Harbor type of attacks against the United States.

The readers may be wondering where I obtained this information? It certainly wasn’t from the MSM in America. The reports surfaced in places like New Zealand and France.

History Repeats

Before we get to the details of the report, it is important for all Americans to realize that we have been down this historical road before. Please note the numerous and conflicting territorial claims regarding control of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, the South China Sea.

Ever since President Trump introduced tariffs on Chinese products, the Chinese have greatly increased their naval presence in the South China Sea. Countries from Vietnam, to the Philippines, to Taiwan and Australia are fearful of China’s next move. China is in a similar position as to what Japan was in during the period from 1929-1941. They need natural resources to cover their expanding industrial base and the US is blocking them at every turn just like the US did in the 1930’s. And they are unable to feed their people. The US is exploiting this weakness in order to provoke World War III.

The McCollum Memo

Prior to WW II, the US created something called the 8 point plan (MCollum Memo). Eventually, this caused Japan to respond to the interference with its trade and attack Pearl Harbor. Is this what the Trump administration is doing? Is Trump still in charge of his administration. A decided shift occurred when Bolton joined the Trump administration.

The McCollum Memo: The 8 Point Plan

Fearing Germany’s potential nuclear threat, FDR had his people develop a plan to get America into WWII in order to stop Germany’s development of nuclear weapons, which was problematic because the American people were determined to stay isolationist. FDR had to have his people devise a plot that would anger the people so much, that they would demand war. Certainly, provoking an attack on Pearl Harbor which would kill nearly 2,400 Americans, sink 21 ships and destroy almost 350 planes on the ground, would do the trick. Out of the noise came the McCollum Memo. I bring this to the readers attention not to recite history, but rather tell you that the same set of provoking actions have been set into motion to provoke an incident with China.

I have often said that today’s China is in reality, 1929-1941 Japan. They have industrialist expansion dreams, but lack sufficient resources to fuel the expansion. The American military and diplomatic corps are taking advantage of this weakness in order to provoke conflict as an excuse to start with Syria and Iran. This will bring in Russia and WW III will commence.

President Trump is deliberately provoking China with a trade war which will culminate with a major incident either against Taiwan (eg blockade) or a direct confrontation between military vessels in the disputed South China Sea. What lies ahead? The answer to that question will be covered in the latter part of this article. First, let’s take a look at the original McCollum memo from pre-World War II which was designed to get us into the war so we could defeat Germany before they could nuke us and our allies.

Provoking Japan

Here are the key excerpts from the McCollum Memo:

It is not believed that in the present state of political opinion the United States government is capable of declaring war against Japan without more ado; and it is barely possible that vigorous action on our part might lead the Japanese to modify their attitude. Therefore, the following course of action is suggested:

A. Make an arrangement with Britain for the use of British bases in the Pacific, particularly Singapore.

B. Make an arrangement with Holland for the use of base facilities and acquisition of supplies in the Dutch East Indies.

C. Give all possible aid to the Chinese government of Chiang-Kai-Shek.

D. Send a division of long range heavy cruisers to the Orient, Philippines, or Singapore.

E. Send two divisions of submarines to the Orient.

F. Keep the main strength of the U.S. fleet now in the Pacific in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands.

G. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demands for undue economic concessions, particularly oil.

H. Completely embargo all U.S. trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.

10. If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better. At all events we must be fully prepared to accept the threat of war.

– H. McCollum

Trump is paralleling this plan almost to the letter.

Japan was provoked for two reasons (1) they were threatened military through the establishment of military bases in their backyard which threatened their continued invasion of China, and, (2) the raw materials, needed for industrialization, and that they were pay top dollar for, were suddenly cut off by the US and her key allies of the day. The US is repeating the same actions with China in 2018. False flag strategies are repeated when they work.

America’s Path to War with Iran and Russia

Rather than imposing a trade embargo with on China as FDR did with Japan, tariffs are being used to unseat the Chinese economy.

Without going into laborious detail, President Trump has done exactly the same thing to modern-day China. The US has violated, with its ships every precept of Chinese claims in the South China Sea (go to the search engine on The Common Sense Show and put in “South China Sea” as a search term to see all of the articles I have written on this topic covering the past several months). For example, we have sent an aircraft carrier to Vietnam. We have moved massive amounts of shipping across the Pacific to Japan and South Korea and even Australia. The bulk of our carrier fleet and nuclear submarines are in Asia. And as stated, we are now looking at a desperate China because of the tariffs. The is the modern day version of the 8 Point Plan.

China Planning to Unleash Multiple Pearl Harbors

Clear and convincing evidence is mounting that Chinese bombers are training for air strikes against the United State and/or their allied targets in the Pacific.

According to a new Pentagon report that also details how Beijing is transforming its ground forces to “fight and win.”

For those people who fail to see the severe threat being posed by social media and their extreme social media, should consider the following report and rethink their position.

From Agence France-Presse:

The Pentagon Report, released to Congress in August of 2018 stated:

China’s growing military, economic and diplomatic clout and how Beijing is leveraging this to rapidly build its international footprint and establish regional dominance.

In the case of China’s air power, the report states that Chinese bombers are developing capabilities to hit targets as far from China as possible.

“Over the last three years, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) has rapidly expanded its overwater bomber operating areas, gaining experience in critical maritime regions and likely training for strikes against US and allied targets,” the document states, noting how China is pushing its operations out into the Pacific.

In August 2017, six Chinese H-6K bombers flew through the Miyako Strait in the southwest of the Japanese islands, and then for the first time turned north to fly east of Okinawa, where 47,000 US troops are based.

The PLA may demonstrate the “capability to strike US and allied forces and military bases in the western Pacific Ocean, including Guam,” the report says…

…Key to this expanding footprint is China’s “belt and road” initiative that seeks to bolster ties with other nations through lending and infrastructure deals

This is exactly what we are witnessing in South Africa as previously reported on the CSS. China is siphoning off food from seized white South-African farms while splitting the mineral resources on these lands. And as previously documented the Chinese are covering their economic imperialism with their military as evidenced by their importation of surface-t0-air-missiles in Southern Africa.

Conclusion

What does it say when I am forced to find out from New Zealand and French news sources about impending Pearl Harbor style attacks being planned by the Chinese? Where’s the American media? This information was delivered to Congress nearly a month ago and we are not hearing a word about this?

More to the point, it is obvious that Trump’s economic attacks upon China is serving the same purpose as what FDR, through the 8 Point Plan, achieved in the pre-World War II era. This is our path into war. These events also help up to understand why China and Russia are engaged in the largest military war games since the end of the cold war.

Unlike Japan, China will attack the mainland of the United States. This has been documented in no less than 6 articles published on the CSS in the past two weeks. I hope all of you are prepped and ready to be totally self-sufficient in the near future.

***

EU's 'dangerous' move to punish Hungary 'reveals its authoritarian grip'

September 13, 2018

The EU parliament's vote to trigger Article 7, allowing punitive measures against Hungary, has provoked disbelief and indignation, with commentators describing the "authoritarian" move as contrary to the bloc's own self-interests.

Citing Hungary's anti-immigration policies and concerns about "media suppression," the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to invoke the provision, known as the 'nuclear option,' which is applied when there is "a clear risk of a serious breach" of EU values by one of the member states.

Voting against its own interests

Implementing Article 7 allows for sanctions to be imposed on Budapest, including stripping the nation of its voting rights in the European Council. The motion, which passed 448-197 with 48 abstentions, was roundly condemned by prominent Eurosceptics. Former UKIP leader and champion of Brexit, Nigel Farage, warned that the vote revealed the ever-tightening "authoritarian grip" of the European Union.

But those who support the European project and are working towards a more unified bloc should also be outraged, British historian, philosopher and author John Laughland told RT.

"It's amazing to me that the European Parliament has done this. From their own point of view, for their own institutional self-interest, it's crazy."

The vote will likely also galvanize anti-immigration parties ahead of European Parliament elections to be held in May, Paolo Raffone, a political analyst and founder of the CIPI Foundation, a Brussels-based think tank, said.

"This is a very dangerous type of action from the parliament, because on the issues of values, there's a lot of debate in European society."

He told RT that the recent successes of Eurosceptic political movements across Europe should serve as a wake-up call to Brussels.

"There is a clear trend of populist-nationalist parties making gains throughout Europe," Raffone said, adding that it would be unwise of some of Europe's most powerful states, including France and Germany, to think that they are immune to the growing tide of Euroscepticism.

Setting Hungary straight?

Still, the vote clearly served the purpose of making an example of Budapest, which has challenged Brussel's open-door migrant policy and the bloc's concept of "European values."

Laughland said that the vote sets a clear precedent that puts other EU states on notice. Last December, Article 7 was triggered against Poland, marking the first time the measure was implemented.

But will the 'nuclear option' achieve the desired results?

Independent journalist Luc Rivet told RT that the vote accomplished little aside from "victimizing" Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose popularity with Hungarians is only likely to increase. While the vote's outcome was expected, what was truly shocking was the language used by MEPs – and even senior EU officials – while denouncing Orban during a debate in parliament on Tuesday.

European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said that Orban had chosen a "coward's way out" by claiming that the EU was targeting the whole of Hungary, rather than just its government. MEPs also hurled insults at Orban, with Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, describing the Hungarian leader as a neo-fascist.

Rivet said that these comments revealed an astonishing rift in the bloc's sense of unity.

"The worst that Europe can produce – we heard yesterday and today … This bullying will go nowhere because Article 7 will never be applied. Italy, Austria and Poland will refuse of course that this be applied, at council level, if not at parliament level."

'A conflict between intelligence and stupidity'

Laughland also took aim at the report authored by Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini, which was used to determine that there is a "clear risk" that Hungary could be undermining the values of the European Union. He called the report a "grotesque exercise in disinformation, which is full of half-truths and untruths, which really does great to discredit to the woman who drew it up."

Rivet echoed a similar sentiment, describing the report authored by Sargentini as "a piece of work."

"It's really incredibly aggressive in its content, and she didn't even go to Hungary to make this report. She only relied upon sources like Mr. George Soros and his friends. So really it's incredible."

For Laughland, Sargentini's report illustrates two very distinct European worldviews.

"When you compare it to the Hungarian government's response, you can see that you are dealing on the one hand with intelligence, with people who are intelligent and civilized, and on the other hand with someone who is stupid and malicious. And in a way I think that's the most frightening aspect of it – this conflict between intelligence and stupidity, or between civilized behavior and nastiness."

***

'Stage a mutiny!' Duterte dares Philippine military to act if they don't like his leadership

September 12, 2018

FILE PHOTO Soldiers march during the 121st founding anniversary of the Philippine Army (PA) at Taguig city © Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has dared soldiers to "stage a mutiny" if they aren't happy with his leadership, saying they're free to join the side of his fiercest critic in Congress, Senator Antonio Trillanes.

"Stage a mutiny or revolution or whatever," Duterte said in an interview with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Tuesday, as quoted by ABS-CBN TV. He added that if his critics believe they would be happier with his arch rival Trillanes, they can support him instead.

"You are free to do that. As a matter of fact, I’m encouraging you," Duterte said.

The president's comments came after he voided an amnesty granted to Trillanes, a former Navy officer who joined past mutinies, and ordered his arrest. He is asking the Department of Justice and the military to restart criminal proceedings against the senator, which Trillanes and some legal experts say would violate the country's constitution.

In his proclamation, Duterte stated that Trillanes's amnesty was void because the senator failed to file a formal amnesty proclamation and admit guilt for his involvement in previous failed coup attempts. However, Trillanes denies Duterte's claims and has used news reports and Defense Department documents to support his case. He has also asked the Supreme Court to declare Duterte's moves illegal.

The decision to revoke Trillanes's amnesty prompted the country's largest association of lawyers, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, to ask the courts to resist "creeping incursions" on their independence and to warn of judicial "chaos."

Trillanes has long been a foe of Duterte, accusing the president of large-scale corruption and involvement with illegal drugs. Duterte has denied all allegations. He is known to be sensitive to criticism, both domestically and internationally, particularly surrounding his controversial war on drugs which has left thousands dead since he took office in mid-2016.

The Philippine president's Tuesday remarks are the latest in a string of bold words delivered by the leader - including calling former President Obama a "son of a b*tch" and threatening to "burn down the United Nations." He also called former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a "devil" and referred to the UN human rights chief as a "son of a whore" with an empty, big head.

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2mn people at risk of hunger after drought in C. America – UN

September 7, 2018

Poor harvests caused by drought in parts of Central America could leave more than two million people hungry, the World Food Program (WFP) said on Friday. Lower than average rainfall in June and July has led to major crop losses for small-scale maize and bean farmers in Central America’s “Dry Corridor,” which runs through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. This means subsistence farmers will not have enough food to eat or sell in the coming months, and have no food supplies to see them through the lean time between harvests. Central America is one of the regions most vulnerable to extreme weather linked to climate change, according to the UN. The region was hit hard by consecutive years of drought from 2014 to mid-2016, which left millions in need of food aid, Reuters said.

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WND

COPS: CALL US IF YOUR FEELINGS ARE HURT

'You want me to phone the police when there hasn't been a crime?'

Bob Unruh

September 14, 2018

Police in a United Kingdom precinct are urging residents to call for help when they feel insulted.

Or hurt.

Or slighted.

In a world where “snowflakes” regularly complain of “microaggressions” such as addressing an audience “ladies and gentlemen,” the South Yorkshire Police are encouraging people to “put a stop” to hate and report what they have loosely defined as “non-crime hate incidents.”

They admit the only can prosecute “when the law in broken,” but they say some comments “can feel like a crime to those affected.”

The Christian Institute said it successfully pressed the government in 2013 to modify its hate-crime provisions to protect free speech.

The Christian organization was joined in that effort by the National Secular Society,

Then in 2014, the institute helped lead another free speech campaign called Reform Clause 1. It opposed the Anti-Social Behavior Crime and Policing Bill, which outlawed being an “annoyance.”

The South Yorkshire police were criticized on Twitter for policing “thought crimes.”

One tweet called it “a bridge toward totalitarianism.”

Another said: “You could probably just lock a good 25 percent of the public away now and call it crime prevention.”

On critic asked: “Just to be clear: you want me to phone the police when there hasn’t been a crime but someone’s feelings have been hurt?”

Journalist Toby Young was also critical of the advice, the institute said.

He asked, “If the incident in question isn’t a crime, even under the absurdly capacious legal definition of a ‘hate crime,’ then what is South Yorkshire police proposing to do by way of not tolerating it?”

The London Standard reported the police said: “In addition to reporting hate crime, please report non-crime hate incidents, which can include things like offensive or insulting comments, online, in person or in writing. Hate will not be tolerated in South Yorkshire. Report it and put a stop to it.”

The message was sent to 166,000 followers of the police agency on social media.

“But it was relentlessly mocked, with more than 5,000 responses to the Sunday night post. Many people likened the force to George Orwell’s ‘Thought Police’ from his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four,” the Standard said.

The law enforcement agency responded in defense of its demands: “Police can only prosecute when the law is broken, but we want to know about non-crime hate incidents. Incidents may not be criminal offences but can feel like a crime to those affected, and can sometimes escalate to crimes.”

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Natural News

Pinterest claims that if you question vaccines, you are spreading “self-harm” and must be banned

Vicki Batts

September 12, 2018

(Natural News) In the land of the Left, freedom of speech is no longer. Left-wing censorship is expanding at an incredibly disturbing pace, with conservative pundits being wiped from social media spaces across the internet. Pinterest has joined the likes of Facebook, Google and Twitter by waging war against independent thought — and declaring that anyone who espouses criticisms of the vaccine industry is actually promoting self-harm.

Vaccines have injured thousands of children — and the parents of these children often turn to social media to share their stories as a way of cautioning other parents and to spread awareness. Now, Pinterest and other social media networks are trying to silence them. By taking away their freedom of speech and ousting concerned parents from their platforms, Big Pharma’s puppets can continue to push their narrative for total vaccine tyranny unchallenged. Erasing posts sharing the realities of vaccine injuries serves the ludicrous notion that vaccines are “100-percent safe.’ The echo chamber is real — and it is getting bigger. Under the left-wing’s reign, free speech on the internet is disappearing.

Pinterest’s “Community Guidelines” section includes a host of topics that are banned or “hidden” from public view. As the site states, “Our team works hard to keep divisive, disturbing or unsafe content off Pinterest.”

The topic of vaccines would probably fall under “divisive” content but Pinterest takes it even further by labeling anti-vaccine content as an extension of self-harm. Their community guidelines on Self Harm declare:

We remove any content that promotes harmful behavior, or anything that encourages or suggests self-harm. We’ll take action on misinformation that has immediate and detrimental effects on a pinner’s health or on public safety – like promotion of false cures for terminal or chronic illnesses and anti-vaccination advice.

Information that paints vaccines in a bad light is also labeled as “harmful misinformation” under another section of the community guidelines — so disparaging the vaccine industry on Pinterest may count as two offenses, instead of just one.

As Pinterest states under their “harmful advice” section:

We don’t allow advice when it has immediate and detrimental effects on a pinner’s health or on public safety. This includes promotion of false cures for terminal or chronic illnesses and anti-vaccination advice.

Under Pinterest’s guidelines, not only is spreading the truth about the risks of vaccines considered a violation, promoting any sort of natural remedy or cure could be painted as “misinformation.” As we’ve seen time and time again, independent thought is becoming a punishable offense.

Pinterest’s attack on free speech is especially concerning due to the fact that users (“pinners”) have the ability to search for things they want to see or know more about. By banning “anti-vaccine” information from the site, Pinterest is indirectly taking way the freedom to even search for information on vaccine risk. The same holds true for natural cures and home remedies: If all the posts on these topics are banned, users can’t even have access they choose to look for.

The issue here is not just with the infringement of free speech, but the attack on freedom of thought. With increasingly broad “guidelines,” social media giants are able to silence whoever they want, whenever they want, for virtually any reason at all. Challenging what you’ve been told isn’t yet a crime — but suppressing “dissidents” in the United States ought to be. The authoritarian Left is doing their best to usurp control of the Internet, but new platforms like REAL.video are out there, preserving free speech for all.

See more coverage of stories about disinformation and thought control at Censored.news.

Sources for this article include:

Pinterest.com

NaturalNews.com

ANCIENT ORIGINS

The Great City of Uruk Became Sumerian Powerhouse of Technology, Architecture and Culture

25 AUGUST, 2018
Article

Natural News

The price of convenience: Research links city living to lowered mental health

Lance D. Johnson

September 10, 2018

(Natural News) Recent mental health research shows that city living can negatively affect overall mental health. According to Psychology Today, city dwellers experience higher levels of anxiety and depression. It turns out that population density doesn’t equate to human connection and relationship. Without these true binding forces, city life disappoints. Lights and noises are all around, but it’s just filler; it’s just hollow sound, echoing inside people who still feel isolated inside.

Is rapid urban growth a great opportunity for humanity or are the conveniences of city life a great complication, interfering with true human connection? Why do city dwellers report more social isolation? Why do city dwellers report the same emotional state that prisoners feel – that they have been intentionally isolated as some form of punishment?

There’s a spiritual price to pay when everything is conveniently laid out. As Psychology Today points out, at any given moment, 20 percent of all city dwellers feel socially isolated and are unhappy as a result. Reports of more serious loneliness have doubled since the 1980s; now 40 percent of city dwellers report feelings of loneliness. Multiple studies have documented higher incidence of schizophrenia in the city. Schizophrenia is 2.37 times more prevalent in the most urban environment, when compared to the most rural environments.

If a person leaves friends and family behind to find a new life in the city, they quickly learn what truly matters. According to Psychology Today, sickness, cancer, and death rates double for people who are cut off from family and friends. The city life promises more opportunity and culture, but many people spend more time in traffic and less time in nature, less time making actual connections. As the pavement dictates people’s movements and as the laws and boundaries restrict human freedom in a crowded environment, more people feel the urge to exit the city gates.

City life boasts short term relationships, reduced eye contact and greater anxiety

In a fast-moving and over-populated environment, eye contact is only momentary as a person’s awareness shifts quickly from one person to the next. This stifles any meaningful connection between people, igniting the feeling of disconnection and threatening one’s mental health. Population density also leads to more short term relationships. In a city environment, long term intimacy with one partner is less a priority. The stimulation of the city environment excites desires that don’t always lead to long term fulfillment. The result is more depression, anxiety, abnormal sensory arousal, and higher suicide rates.

Dense crowds of anonymous strangers initially provide a sense of culture and opportunity, but when meaningful connection with people doesn’t occur, the dense crowds begin to overwhelm people with a sense of anxiety. As people come and go, there is a complete lack of meaningful conversation, a void of listening ears. Social isolation is so severe in the city; programs like Talk to Me and the Loneliness Project were created just to address the problem.

Rural environments bring a greater sense of community

A greater sense of community is often found in rural environments because family, neighbors and friends must work together more closely to accomplish tasks. The slower pace of a rural environment occurs because people are actually listening to one another, caring, and solving problems. A rural environment provides less convenience, but sets people up to be more connected so they can help each other out. Rural environments foster meaningful skills and experiences that lead to happiness such as farming, hunting, bush craft, fishing, exploration, and hiking. This increase in self sufficiency gives people a greater sense of independence and stronger mental health. Rural environments also put people closer to nature and animals, providing natural connection to living things, natural landscapes, and challenging but rewarding experiences.

Sources include:

PsychologyToday.com

Survival.News

NaturalNews.com

Survival.News

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

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.”
(Isaiah 40:3)