Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Washington Split Over Talk of Partnering With Iran Against ISIL
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 shows fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria. (photo credit: AP/militant website, File)

U.S.: Unclear Whether Iran is Willing to Take Necessary Steps
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A senior U.S. official said on Friday that it is unclear whether Iran is ready to take the steps necessary to assure the world its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful, Reuters reports.

The comments by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who has been leading the U.S. team in the negotiations with Iran, came at the end of the latest round of talks between Iran and the six world powers, aiming to turn an interim deal signed in November into a comprehensive settlement by July 20.

U.S. Presbyterian Church Votes to Support Israel Boycott
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Contemporary Issues

Caterpilla was one of the companies targeted

Reuters

The nearly 1.9 million member Presbyterian Church USA voted Friday after a contentious debate to divest from three companies that provide supplies to Israeli security forces and Jews living in Judea and Samaria.  

The 310 to 303 vote at the Protestant denomination's meeting in Detroit, Michigan, means the group will pull financial investments out of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions, the church's official news service said.

The church has about $21 million invested in the three companies, a spokeswoman told The New York Times.

Assembly moderator Heath Rada emphasized that the decision "in no way reflects anything but love for both the Jewish and Palestinian people," the church's news service said.  

The measure also included a reaffirmation of Israel's right to exist, an endorsement of a two-state solution and encouraged interfaith dialogue, The Times reported.

It also included a provision to encourage "positive investment" to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians, the Times said.  

The close vote came after a week of intense lobbying and "most contentious debate of this assembly," the church's news service said, noting that divestment has historically been seen as a "last resort" after "other engagement tools have failed."

In a statement ahead of the vote, Presbyterian Church USA said it was considering divestment in Caterpillar because the company provides the bulldozers "used in the destruction of Palestinian homes, clearing land of structures and fruit and olive tree groves, and in preparation for the construction of the barrier wall."

The other two companies were boycotted for providing security equipment protecting Israelis from Arab terrorism.

Hewlett-Packard, it said, "provides electronic systems at checkpoints, logistics and communications systems to support the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and has business relationships with illegal settlements in the West Bank."

And Motorola Solutions "provides military communications and surveillance systems in the illegal Israeli settlements."

At the 2012 General Assembly, Presbyterian USA voted to boycott products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria and to "begin positive investments in Palestinian businesses."

Companies react

HP spokeswoman Kelli Schlegel said that "respecting human rights is a core value at HP."  

The HP systems used at checkpoints allow people to "get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way," Schlegel said.  

Motorola Solutions said it has long worked in the Middle East and "supports all efforts... to find a peaceful resolution" to conflict.

It also said that its human rights policies are designed to ensure that its "operations worldwide are conducted using the highest standards of integrity and ethical business conduct."

Caterpillar, which described itself as "a values-based company," said it has "deep respect and compassion for all persons affected by the political strife in the Middle East and support a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"However, we believe it is appropriate for such a resolution to be reached via political and diplomatic channels," the company said in a statement.

The legality of Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria is a topic of debate. While many media outlets and commentators regularly refer to Jewish communities there as "illegal under international law", many international legal experts firmly disagree. Indeed, many of the international treaties wielded as evidence of the illegality of "Jewish settlements" are not in fact applicable to Israel's control over lands liberated in 1967.

Putin Promises Iraqi Prime Minister Arms Against Jihadis
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Putin Orders Full Combat Alert for Central Russian Troops
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Prophecy Being Fulfilled As Jews Return to Israel in Record Numbers
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsNow The End Begins
Categories: Today's Headlines;Prophecy

The promised regathering is happening

“Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.“  Jeremiah 31:8

The AP reports this week that Jews in France are fleeing by the thousands to return to their ancestral home of Israel, and Jerusalem it’s capital. More than 5,000 are on track to leave this year, the most since after the Six-Day War in 1967. Well more than half of the world’s Jewish population now live in Israel, according to the Jewish Agency.

The bible promises that in the last days, God will regather His people from the four corners of the world where He had previously scattered them.

In March of 2013, the Daily Mail reported that for the first time in Israel’s modern existence, there were more Jews in Israel than anywhere else, including the United States. Census statistics revealed that Israel’s total population has reached eight million, with the surge in the Jewish community thought to have been fueled by returning members of the diaspora.

“Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” Ezekiel 11:16,17

In 2010, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 have been fulfilled with the regathering of Israel. Netanyahu said that “Jews sprouted new branches and grew deep roots. Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet, as Ezekiel prophesied”.

We live in momentous and tumultuous times, times of great change and upheaval. But it is also a time where the ancient prophecies are coming true, and the promise of the Holy God of Israel to regather His people in the last days is being abundantly kept.

Those who bless you I will bless…

Pentagon: Iran Has 'Small Numbers' of Operatives in Iraq
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC)

Reuters

Iran has sent "small numbers" of operatives into Iraq to bolster the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, but there is no sign of a large deployment of army units, the Pentagon said Friday, according to AFP.

The comments by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby marked Washington's first public confirmation that Iranian operatives had crossed into Iraq, where the Baghdad government is struggling to counter the swift advance of Sunni extremists.

"There are some Iranian revolutionary operatives in Iraq but I've seen no indication of ground forces or major units," Kirby told a news conference, apparently referring to Tehran's Quds force, the covert arm of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"Their interference in Iraq is nothing new," Kirby said, referring to Washington accusing Tehran of sending forces to Iraq when U.S. troops were in the country, between 2003 and 2011.

Reports last week indicated that Iran had deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq in order to fight Islamists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), who have taken over several cities in Iraq.

The Pentagon offered no further details on the nature of the Iranians' presence or their operations.

"I'll let the Iranians speak for their activities," Kirby said, adding, "We have indications that there are at least some operatives inside Iraq.”

The rapid offensive by ISIS, which has overrun swathes of northern and central Iraq, has alarmed Tehran - which has close ties to the Iraqi government - as well as Washington.

Western diplomats say Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force, has traveled to Baghdad to advise Maliki in the crisis.

Iran has previously sent military advisers to Syria to aid President Bashar Al-Assad's regime against rebel forces.

Secretary of State John Kerry said this week that the United States and Iran have a common interest in preventing ISIS militias from taking over Iraq completely, adding that he “wouldn’t rule out” possible cooperation with Tehran on this issue.

Asked about the possibility of working with Iran, President Barack Obama said Thursday that “Iran can play a constructive role if it is helping to send the same message to the Iraqi government that we are sending, which is that Iraq only holds together if it is inclusive.”

He added, If Iran is coming in solely as an armed force on behalf of the Shia, and if it is framed in that fashion, then that probably worsens the situation.”

PA Foreign Minister: Abbas will Prevent Third Intifada
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki

AFP photo

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will prevent a third Arab intifada (uprising), the PA’s foreign minister declared on Friday, speaking to Reuters in an interview.

"I can assure you that as long as President Abu Mazen is in charge, there will be no third Intifada," said the minister, Riad al-Malki, referring to Abbas by his nom de guerre.

Al-Malki further told Reuters that Israel’s operation in Judea and Samaria following the kidnapping of three Jewish youths a week ago was unacceptable. Nevertheless, he said, Abbas would continue assisting Israel in an effort to end the crisis.

"We will do our utmost to help because if the situation continues as it is, this will end up (with) the destruction of what we have built in Palestine," Malki said.

He further warned that a recent reconciliation deal with Hamas would be threatened if, as Israel said, it is found to be responsible for abducting the three youths.

Malki stopped short of acknowledging that Hamas was responsible for the kidnapping. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unequivocally stated earlier this week that the Islamist terrorist group was behind the kidnapping.

"If Hamas is behind it, and nobody knows up until now, then it will be a blow to the reconciliation process," Malki told Reuters.

"If we reach that conclusion, then [Abbas] will take drastic decisions," he added, without elaborating.

Malki said that although the Israeli reaction to the kidnapping "went beyond logic", the Palestinian Authority was committed to peace.

Malki’s rhetoric appears to have been somewhat toned down compared to an interview earlier Friday with the AFP news agency, in which he flat out accused Israel of fabricating the abduction.

"He (Netanyahu) cannot keep blaming one side without showing evidence," he said. "When you go to court if you don't show evidence you lose your case," said Malki. "If Netanyahu has any evidence, he has to put it on the table."

The foreign minister then reversed himself, acknowledging that "three kids have disappeared," but went on to attack the IDF for cracking down on Hamas's terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, in which around 330 terrorists have been arrested and over 1,100 locations searched in a desperate attempt to find the teens.

"The Israeli army has taken 300 Palestinians...they have destroyed more than 150 Palestinian homes since last week," claimed Malki. "Their reaction went beyond logic and what infuriates me the most is the lack of reaction from the international community."

While the kidnapping has raised some tensions between Hamas and Abbas, the PA Chairman has since reversed his critical statements of the Hamas kidnapping and restated his support for the unity government.

Abbas's PA and Fatah have both joined the Islamist Hamas in celebrating the kidnapping, and even calling on locals in the Hevron region to impede the IDF's search.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Putin orders forces in the Urals on combat alert
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered military forces in central Russia on combat alert as well as a drill of airborne troops, a day after Ukraine ordered a cease-fire with pro-Russian rebels.  

Doctors Without Borders: Ebola 'out of control'
The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is "totally out of control," according to a senior official for Doctors Without Borders, who says the medical group is stretched to the limit in responding. The outbreak has caused more deaths than any other of the disease, said another official with the medical charity. Ebola has been linked to more than 330 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia...  

A ‘new anti-Semitism’ rising in France
...Dieudonné, a longtime comedian and erstwhile politician whose attacks on Jews have grown progressively worse, is a sign of the times. ...Jewish leaders...are talking of the rise of a “new anti-Semitism” based on the convergence of...classic scapegoating amid hard economic times, the growing strength of far-right nationalists, a deteriorating relationship between black Europeans and Jews, and...increasing tensions with Europe’s surging Muslim population.  

Infectious Tuberculosis Moving Across U.S. Border, Ice Whistleblower Confirms
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement whistleblower, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Infowars, asserted the recent surge of illegal immigrants is also bringing with it tuberculosis and other communicable diseases, confirming reports deadly, infectious illness is penetrating the US-Mexico border.  

Court confirms Egypt Muslim Brotherhood death sentences
An Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences for 183 Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of a 2013 attack on a police station, lawyers say. A judge had recommended the death penalty for the 683 defendants, in a widely-criticised mass trial in April. Mohammed Badie, leader of the banned group, was among those whose sentences were upheld. Appeals are now likely.  

Iraq crisis: Shia militia show of force raises tensions
Thousands of Shia militia loyal to the powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have paraded through the streets of Baghdad, raising sectarian tensions amid continued fighting in areas of Iraq. The cleric, whose Mehdi Army fought the US in Iraq for years, had called for a military parade across the country. Correspondents say the show of force will be seen as a very disturbing development by the Baghdad government.  

Ukraine crisis: Fighting rages on despite declared truce
Pro-Russian separatists have carried out several attacks on Ukrainian troops despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by Kiev, Ukrainian officials say. They say at least six border guards were injured in shelling by the insurgents in the east overnight. The rebels earlier dismissed the truce called by President Petro Poroshenko, the first step of his peace plan.  

ADL condemns US Presbyterian Church vote to join Israel divestment movement
The US Presbyterian Church narrowly voted on Friday to divest from specific companies that do business with Israel in the West Bank. At the church's general convention...the vote came 310 to 303 to join the divestment campaign against Israel. The Presbyterian Church made the decision with the vote to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Solutions due to...business dealings with settlements in the West Bank.

Inflation? Only If You Look At Food, Water, Gas, Electricity And Everything Else
Have you noticed that prices are going up rapidly? If so, you are certainly not alone. But Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, the Obama administration and the mainstream media would have us believe that inflation is completely under control and exactly where it should be.  

U.N. Reports Sharp Increase in Refugees as Civil Wars Cripple Nations
In Central African Republic, they ran from home and slept under the trees. In Colombia, they dared not return to their villages. From Syria, they fled by the hundreds of thousands, escaping barrel bombs and summary executions.  

Almost 11 million Syrians need humanitarian aid
The humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening and the number of people needing urgent help has reached 10.8 million - almost half of Syria's population of 22 million, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said today.  

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko declares ceasefire
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has declared a week-long unilateral ceasefire in fighting with pro-Russian militants in the east of the country. Heavy fighting had been continuing between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia rebels, with new reports of military hardware entering Ukraine. The ceasefire had been expected ahead of the implementation of a peace plan.  

Iran sent 'small numbers' of operatives into Iraq: US
Iran has sent "small numbers" of operatives into Iraq to bolster the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, but there is no sign of a large deployment of army units, the Pentagon said Friday.  

11,004,507: Disability Beneficiaries Top 11 Million for First Time
The total number of disability beneficiaries in the United States topped 11 million for the first time last month, increasing from 10,996,447 in April to a record 11,004,507 in May, according to new data released by the Social Security Administration.  

Presbyterian assembly: Gay marriage is Christian
The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of "two people," not just "a man and a woman."  

Murder charge still pending against woman at 102
Nearly five years after a woman was charged with killing her 100-year-old roommate in a Massachusetts nursing home, a second-degree murder charge is still pending against her at the age of 102.  

ISIS Seizes Iraqi - Syrian Border Crossing At Qaim
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iraqi Militants Seize Border Post With Syria
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sunni fighters seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier overnight, security sources at the border said on Saturday, a strategic gain which will allow them to move heavy weapons between territory they control in both countries.

The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, first moved into the nearby town of al-Qaim on Friday, pushing out security forces, the sources said.

Once border guards heard that al-Qaim had fallen, they left their posts and militants moved in, the sources said.

Iran Rejects West's 'Excessive Demands'
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Reuters

Iran informed the six major powers on Friday it would not accept their "excessive demands" after the latest talks on a permanent nuclear deal ended with no breakthrough, Reuters reports.

Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany are striving to turn an interim deal signed in November into a comprehensive settlement by July 20.

Under the interim deal, Iran committed to limit its uranium enrichment to five percent and is gradually winning access to $4.2 billion of its oil revenues frozen abroad and some other sanctions relief.

It looks like it will not be easy, as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday urged the six nations to "abandon excessive demands which will not be accepted by Iran."

"Still we have not overcome disputes about major issues," Zarif told reporters as five days of negotiations in Vienna wound up, according to Reuters.

"There has been progress, but major disputes remain," he added.

Zarif made clear there was no agreement yet between Iran and the six on a draft text of an agreement. A senior Chinese official said the two sides had put together a "textual framework", though gave no details.

"The fact that (we came up) with this text is progress ... in procedural terms," China's Wang Qun told reporters.

Diplomats from the six powers told Reuters earlier in the week that one of the most difficult issues in the talks was the number of centrifuges Tehran will be allowed to keep to enrich uranium under any deal.

Western officials say that the six powers want this number to be in the low thousands to prevent any Iranian dash to a nuclear bomb-making capability. Iran insists on tens of thousands of centrifuges to make fuel for what it says is a panned network of civilian nuclear power stations.

A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates the talks, would only say that the two sides had begun drafting the text of a deal during their fifth round of negotiations this year.

"We have worked extremely hard all week to develop elements we can bring together when we meet for the next round in Vienna, beginning on July 2," Michael Mann said in a statement.

"We presented each other with a number of ideas on a range of issues, and we have begun the drafting process."

Zarif indicated this week that the sides have started drafting a comprehensive agreement but added “there are still many differences” over the text.

The powers are seeking a settlement that would limit Iran's nuclear program. Throughout the talks, Iran has declared that it will never give up on what it sees as its right to uranium enrichment.

Hamas Vows Revenge for IDF West Bank Operation
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Israeli soldiers patrol the streets near a mosque during an operation in the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 17, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/Abbas Moma)

Global Displaced Persons Highest Since World War Two
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Internally-displaced refugees in Cameroon (file)

Reuters

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees released its 2013 Global Trends report on Friday, finding that the number of displaced persons is now the highest it's been since World War Two.

The report, which covered statistics through the end of 2013, found that the "number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has, for the first time in the post-World War II era, exceeded 50 million people."

A full 51.2 million people were left forcibly displaced, up by 6 million from the 45.2 million displaced persons in 2012.

"We are witnessing a quantum leap in forced displacement in the world," said UNHCR chief António Guterres in presenting the findings.

Afghanistan leads the way with 2.56 million refugees, closely followed by Syria at 2.47 million refugees. However, a UN report in February predicted that Syria likely will overtake Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Coming in third was Somalia at 1.12 million refugees and Sudan at 649,300 refugees. 

Trends indicate the numbers will only swell further in 2014, as Iraq is listed 7th in the report at 401,400 refugees. That number has reportedly doubled since the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) began its blitz conquest of Iraq, with CNN reporting that Iraq now has over 1.1 million refugees.

"As many people are forcibly displaced today as the entire populations of medium-to-Iarge countries such as Colombia or Spain, South Africa or South Korea," noted Guterres, adding that if displaced people had their own country, it would be the 24th most populous in the world.

"We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict," added Guterres. "Peace is today dangerously in deficit. Humanitarians can help as a palliative, but political solutions are vitally needed. Without this, the alarming levels of conflict and the mass suffering that is reflected in these figures will continue."

In addition to refugees, the report cited a drastic rise of internal displacement in which people are forced to flee to other parts of their country. That number now stands at a record 33.3 million people.

The report listed 16.7 million refugees worldwide, including 5 million registered under the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a special UN organization tasked specifically with supporting "Palestinian refugees" - the descendants of Arab residents who left Israel in 1948.

The group has been criticized as perpetuating the "refugee" status of its registrants, as well as radicalizing them.

UNRWA began activities in 1950 to provide aid to the roughly 700,000 Arabs who left Israel during the War of Independence, as an entirely separate entity from the UNHCR. No UN organization was established to aid the nearly 1 million Jewish refugees who fled or were expelled from Arab countries following 1948.

Apostate Presbyterians Vote to Allow Homosexual Marriages By 3-1 Ratio
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsChristian News Network
Categories: Today's Headlines;Apostasy

The 1.8 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) voted Thursday (June 19) to allow homosexual ‘weddings,’ making it among one of the largest religious groups to take an embracing step toward openly supporting homosexuality.

By a 76-24 percent vote, the General Assembly of the PCUSA voted to allow their pastors to perform homosexual “marriages” in states where they are considered legal. Delegates, meeting in Detroit this week, also approved new language about marriage in the PCUSA Book of Order, or constitution, altering references to “a man and woman” to “two persons.”

This change will not become church law until a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries vote to ratify the new language. But given the lopsided 3-1 ratio of the vote, approval is expected.

Homosexual activists within the PCUSA rejoiced at their victory, which was remarkable for its margin of victory after multiple years of razor-thin defeats.

“This vote is an answer to many prayers for the church to recognize love between committed same-sex couples,” said Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a group that has led the fight within the PCUSA.

The vote came after an emotional but polite debate in which opponents of the motion said it conflicted with Scripture and would cause Presbyterian churches abroad to break relations with the PCUSA.

The Presbyterian Lay Committee, which opposes homosexuality, urged congregations to launch a financial boycott out of protest.

“The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them,” the group said in a statement. ” … You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions.”

“God will not be mocked,” the statement continued, “and those who substitute their own felt desires for God’s unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God.”

Under the new rules, pastors who do not want to preside over such ceremonies are not obligated to, and the change applies only in the 19 states and the District of Columbia where same-sex civil marriage is considered legal.

The PCUSA has long grappled with the issue, which came to a head at the last General Assembly, in 2012, when a similar resolution allowing for homosexual marriage lost 338-308. Since then, the church’s decades-long decline in membership — it has lost 37 percent of its membership since 1992 — has continued. These losses have been led by conservative-leaning congregations that defected over what they lamented as the PCUSA’s embrace of more unbiblical teachings.

Those defections — many to smaller and more conservative Presbyterian denominations — made it more likely that the General Assembly would approve a homosexual marriage resolution this year.

Some who voted in favor of the resolution said they hoped it would draw people in.

“I fear that our church brand is in jeopardy,” said PCUSA member and public relations professional Margaret Blankers to the General Assembly. “Some question the relevance of a church they see is not living up to its reputation for fairness. Do we really want to be known for not accepting and embracing our LGBT brothers and sisters?”

The General Assembly’s vote reflects change in the nation, where in rapid succession during the past year, judges have struck down laws prohibiting marriage between members of the same-sex.

Americas Expanding Police State
Jun 21st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

With so much happening internationally and the number of scandals, crises and general screw-ups of the Obama administration here at home, it’s worth noting a disturbing development here on the domestic front: a rapidly expanding police state.

On my radio program last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Cheryl Chumley, a reporter for The Washington Times, about her new book, “Police State USA: How George Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming our Reality.” The title says it all, and aptly describes the shocking transformation of what had been our free society.

We all know about the scope of National Security Agency (NSA) spying. It’s fair to say at this point in our lives that the notion of privacy is all but dead and gone. However, it didn’t start there. In her book, Mrs. Chumley takes us on a ride through history, reminding us of the original intentions of the Founding Fathers versus the assault on the original design by “21st century realities.”

Keep in mind, people in the political class constantly reveal their contempt for regular citizens. That contempt is the inevitable result of a group of people who have convinced themselves that big government is necessary because the little people can’t control their own lives.