Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

What's This? Every Religious Organization Should be Worried:
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsHeather Clark
Categories: Contemporary Issues

The Countdown to the Next Gaza Conflict Has Begun
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsYaakov Lappin
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;War

Surveillance Vs. Privacy
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsTom Olago
Categories: Warning

The age-old battle between surveillance and privacy continues unabated, as police across the United States increasingly use sophisticated surveillance systems to monitor daily life in their communities. Average citizens and privacy advocates say the ability to monitor and record public activity at such an extraordinary level is a threat to personal privacy. 

Privacy advocates also say people could become more cautious about exercising their rights of free speech, association and assembly if they think they are under constant surveillance. Privacy advocates span the broad spectrum of society and include such strange bedfellows as the ACLU and tea party groups, all with strong common objections about the growing surveillance networks.

On the other hand, law enforcement and security agencies argue that public safety is the overriding and more important concern, and that comparatively, personal privacy sacrifices that may be made towards that end pale in significance. A recent analysis of this seemingly unending stand-off was made by Kevin Haas of GateHouse Media, and published in the McPherson Sentinel.com.

The latest surveillance technologies sparking privacy debates are reported to include:

1.Ultra-high-definition, high-speed cameras capable of capturing photos of passing license plates, paired with software that compares plate numbers with lists of wanted suspects, missing persons or stolen vehicles. 

2.Networks of high-definition cameras that can be coupled with software that recognizes faces or sends alerts on suspicious activities. For example, Seattle police have new facial recognition software that matches images captured on surveillance video or other cameras with mug shot databases.

3.Aerial drones with high-definition and night-vision cameras. Used in everything from law enforcement and rescue operations to wildlife tracking and commercial photography, drones pose concerns because of their ability to fly over areas where people may expect privacy. 

4.Wide-area aerial surveillance capable of recording every movement across the scope of a small city for hours. An example is Dayton-based Persistent Surveillance Systems, which collects wide-area surveillance images in designated areas for police from cameras mounted on a Cessna airplane.

Haas’ analysis goes on to demonstrate how surveillance technology is a booming industry, with estimates that it will grow globally by almost 11 percent this year. Falling prices for equipment and access to hundreds of millions of federal anti-terrorism dollars have further contributed to this growth. The overall effect of these trends is that more of the nation’s police departments will be able to record and store thousands of hours of video and data on public activity. For instance, Houston police have bolstered their network of cameras from 37 in 2009 to 650 today. So far, Chicago has the nation’s most extensive and connected network of cameras, estimated at 25,000.

A major issue for privacy advocates is that few laws exist to govern how that information can be used. Further compounding this fundamental flaw in information control is that technology is advancing at a pace that far outstrips legislation, regulation and policy formulation. There are also great disparities in some of the laws governing surveillance practice and related data usage and retention in different states.

One such example given by Haas in the McPherson Sentinel is that just nine states have laws that regulate how long information can be stored or used from automatic license plate readers. This particular surveillance tool is used in all 50 states that records a vehicle’s time, date and GPS location along with a photo as it moves through the city. The lack of regulation leaves police departments or local officials to enact their own rules. 

But fewer than half of police departments surveyed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2009 (the most recent policy survey) had a policy for the use of license plate readers. Among departments that did have a policy, less than half addressed how long data should be retained or how it should be shared. Police departments across the country are reported to hold varied internal policies on how long they keep surveillance footage, ranging from several days to several years.

Crime analysts say data gathered from surveillance can be useful in predictive policing strategies and so would prefer to keep the data forever, while privacy groups want strict limits on retention – just days or weeks, rather than months or years. The ACLU has called for legislation to limit data retention for license plate readers and provide other oversight, such as mandatory public reports on use of the systems.

Another primary concern of privacy advocates is that this wide-scale collection of data could be used to build a detailed picture of someone’s private comings and goings — medical appointments, religious affiliations, social and political activity. In the wrong hands, someone could track a boss, spouse, friend or enemy, political rival or anyone else with a car. They also fear the information could be used for fishing expeditions, random investigations or searches that have no clear target. An ACLU study in Maryland showed that for every 1 million license plates stored in a police database, only 47 were connected to a serious crime.

In the words of Jeramie Scott, national security counsel and privacy coalition coordinator for the Electronic Privacy Information Center: “Without proper transparency, oversight and accountability, the collection of video footage is opened up to secondary uses beyond a specific initial purpose and has a potential chilling effect on First Amendment protected activities”.

Jim Bueermann, president of the nonprofit Police Foundation, which works to improve policing in America said police can alleviate privacy concerns by making surveillance practices more transparent, as “Ninety-nine percent of what we do in policing isn’t really secret.” In Bueermann’s 13-year career as chief in Redlands, California, a Citizens’ Privacy Council to provide input for camera use and data access was created. The group was given open access to the police dispatch center to observe officers monitoring live surveillance feeds. They also could request records of who accessed recorded footage and audit the footage that police viewed.

Privacy advocates also want public notice of new surveillance technology so citizens can decide whether the technology is warranted. For example, this year Compton, California, residents learned of a secret nine-day test of an aerial surveillance program conducted by the L.A. County Sheriff’s office in 2012. Compton Mayor Aja Brown responded with a proposed policy that would require authorities to notify the public before installing surveillance equipment.

It has been proposed that policies that can strike a balance between public safety and privacy, while keeping up with fast-evolving technology, are required as an overall strategy. “You may have had policies in place that covered the initial use, but you may not have expanded those policies to appropriately address the expansive use of the technology,” said David Roberts, senior program manager at the Technology Center for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. 

Virginia Delegate Rich Anderson is co-chair of a new bipartisan caucus of Virginia lawmakers formed to address privacy issues created by evolving technology. He hopes to pass a license plate reader law in early 2015, but expects new technology to keep lawmakers busy for years to come. Says Anderson: “This is a tricky thing to do because, let’s face it, the rule set never keeps up with the technology…as this technology expands exponentially, we need to figure out a way to come up with rule sets that govern it so that we find the right balance between legitimate needs of law enforcement and civil liberties.”

Nuclear Weapons to be Used to Blast Asteroids in Bid to Protect Earth, U.S. Documents Reveal
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsExpress
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

North Korea Threatens to Hit Back At White House
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily Newsnews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

NORTH Korea has threatened to hit back at the White House and other US targets if Washington sanctions it for an alleged hacking attack.

The country’s top military body, the National Defence Commission (NDC), again denied involvement in the hacking of Sony Pictures, which prompted executives to halt the release of a film seen by Pyongyang as mocking the North’s leader.

US President Barack Obama said on Friday it was confirmed that the North carried out the hacking.

Movie giant ... US President Barack Obama says Sony ‘made a mistake’ in shelving the satirical film ‘The Interview,’ about a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader.  

“We will respond proportionately and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose,” he said.

The North’s NDC, in a statement on the official news agency, said its army and people “are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the US in all war spaces including cyber warfare space to blow up those citadels”.

“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” it said.

The North, which has in the past made statements threatening the US mainland, accused the Obama administration of being “deeply involved” in the making of the comedy movie The Interview, which concerns a fictional CIA plot to kill Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-Un.

Change of plans ... a billboard for the ‘The Interview’ on display in Venice, California. Picture: Christopher Polk/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

It again praised the “righteous action” by the hacking group, which has styled itself Guardians of Peace, but said it was unaware where they were based.

The FBI has cited “significant overlap” between the attack and other “malicious cyber-activity” with direct links to Pyongyang, including an attack on South Korean banks blamed on the North. The North said in Sunday’s statement it has never attempted or made a cyber-attack on South Korea.

“It is common sense that the method of cyber warfare is almost similar worldwide,” it added.

The United States is mulling whether or not to place North Korea back onto its list of state sponsors of terrorism, US President Barack Obama said in an interview aired on Sunday.

Under review ... the United States is mulling whether or not to place North Korea back onto its list of state sponsors of terrorism, US President Barack Obama said. 

“We’re going to review those through a process that’s already in place,” the US president said in an pre-taped interview on CNN. “And we don’t make those judgments just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at what’s been done and based on those facts, we’ll make those determinations in the future.”

Mr Obama’s remarks, in the interview which taped on Friday, followed a call from a leading US senator to re-consider North Korea’s terror designation.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, saying the Pyongyang regime had set a “dangerous precedent” through cyber attacks that were “able to inflict significant economic damage on a major international company.” The State Department rescinded its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in October 2008.

Currently, the list includes just four countries: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

‘Toughest counteration’ ... North Korea has threatened to hit back at the White House and other US targets if Washington sanctions it for an alleged hacking attack. Picture: Elisabeth Mealey Source: Supplied

Obama has asked the State Department to consider removing Cuba, following the historic thawing of relations between the two Cold War rivals announced earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the United States has asked China to help block cyber attacks from North Korea as it weighs a response to the crippling hack of Sony Pictures.

“We have discussed this issue with the Chinese to share information, express our concerns about this attack and to ask for their co-operation,” a senior US administration official told AFP.

China is North Korea’s closet ally, and has traditionally had longstanding influence with the leaders of the hermit state. The US administration official said that in “our cybersecurity discussions, both China and the United States have expressed the view that conducting destructive attacks in cyberspace is outside the norms of appropriate cyber behaviour.”

The US and China last year set up a special panel to discuss cybersecurity.

But earlier this year, in an unprecedented move Washington charged five members of a shadowy Chinese military unit with hacking US companies to winkle out their trade secrets.

In the first-ever prosecution of state actors over cyberespionage, a federal US grand jury indicted the five on charges of breaking into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, leading to job losses in the United States in steel, solar and other industries. The five remain at large however.

It is unclear how the United States will choose to retaliate against North Korea.

Addressing reporters after the FBI said Pyongyang was to blame, Mr Obama said Washington would never bow to “some dictator”.

Washington won’t bow to ‘dictator’ Kim Jong-un ... US President Barack Obama indicates there will be a ‘proportionate’ response to the Sony cyber attack. 

While Mr Obama said he was sympathetic to Sony’s plight, he also said the movie giant had “made a mistake” in cancelling the release.

Sony defended its decision, made after anonymous hackers invoked the 9/11 attacks in threatening cinemas screening the film, which prompted theatre chains to say they would not risk showing it. North Korea said insults against “our highest authority” would not be tolerated, but it rebuffed the notion of cinema attacks. “But in case we have to retaliate, we would not carry out terrorist attacks on innocent viewers at movie theatres but stage frontal attacks on those who are responsible for the hostile activities against the DPRK (North Korea) and their headquarters,” the spokesman said.

No Conspiracy Behind Oil Price Fall: Al - Naimi
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsArab News
Uncategorized

Muslim Scholar Calls for Jewish Place of Worship on Temple Mount (Excerpts)
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsINN
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

A Jordanian Muslim preacher has called for Jews to be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, and even for a special "house of prayer" to be set up for them there.

"I have given a lot of thought into what I am about to say, because I know that it is the most important issue of our times, and that whoever talks about it is likely to face severe criticism, and will be accused of generating controversy and maybe even strife," Al-Ajlouni begins, wary of the Islamist backlash his statements would likely trigger.

He began by noting that prior to the conquest of Jerusalem by Islamic leader Omar Ibn al-Khattab, the Temple Mount was already being used as a place of prayer by Jews - although he claims they were Jewish converts to Christianity. (At the time of the Islamic conquest the Byzantines had constructed a church on the former site of the Jewish Temples, and Jews were banned from visiting. But Jewish converts to Christianity may have been allowed, thus accounting for his version of events. Jews did traditionally worship there even after the destruction of the Temples in 70 CE - as recorded by medieval Jewish scholars including the Rambam and Radak.)

Having established its historic and religious importance to Jews - and the fact that al-Khattab allowed them to continue worshipping there himself - he states that today as well "There should be a special place of worship for the Jews among the Israelites under Hashemite and Palestinian sovereignty, and in agreement with the Israeli regime."

He emphasizes, however, that the site should remain "under Hashemite [Jordanian] sovereignty and control."

"This by no means entails the harming of the Al Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock," he added, clarifying that under his vision "part of the courtyard, where there are trees, will be allocated for the prayer of the Israelites."

He further called on Jordanian and Palestinian Islamic scholars to issue a fatwa (religious ruling) to "clarify their religious position regarding the building of a place of worship dedicated for the Israelite Jews."

Although many Jews will view the notion of maintaining their holiest site under Muslim rule as problematic, Al-Ajlouni's very acknowledgement that the Temple Mount was used as a place of worship by Jews is significant in itself.

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Giuliani: Anti-Police 'Propaganda' Led to NY Police 'Assassinations'
"We have not had an assassination murder like this in a long, long time. And it's certainly true that we have been treated to about three to four months of propaganda about how the police are the enemy. If you hear what people were saying at the rallies, kill the police, destroy the police, there was a lot more violence at the rallies in New York than was ever reported by any of the stations," said Giuliani.

‘Yazidi women dragged by their hair, sold into sex slavery by ISIS for $25’
Amnesty International believes that the number of females who were forced into sexual slavery may exceed 1,000.  

Mike Rogers rips Obama on North Korea attack; ‘Saying aloha … going to Hawaii is not the answer’
Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the president should have shown stronger leadership in the wake of the attack, which led to the cancelation of Sony Pictures’ planned Dec. 25 release of the movie “The Interview” amid terrorist threats.  

When the American President Hates America
The Obamas see the United States as a corrupt and bullying power that needs to be humbled. No one seeks to fundamentally transform something they love. And let us now consider that fundamental transformation.  

Five powerful earthquakes rattle B.C., edges of the Pacific plate over the weekend
A series of five strong earthquakes rattled coastal B.C. this weekend.. The B.C. quakes measured from 4.0 to 5.1 in magnitude and were centred offshore between Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island.. according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In all, 15 earthquakes measuring above 4.0 were detected from about 3 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday at spots around the perimeter of the Pacific Plate,  

Official: Russia plotting to start war on Israel
Russia is preparing a contingency plan to prompt Hezbollah and possibly the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into a direct military conflict with Israel, according to a French official who has been apprised of the situation.  

Satanist group mounts Capitol display to little fanfare
Visitors to the Capitol can now can view two interpretations of the Christmas season. The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its "Snaketivity Scene," which features a snake offering a book called "Revolt of the Angels" as a symbolic gift, just after 7 a.m. this morning. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet-by-3-feet display.  

Flu outbreak spreading rapidly in U.S.
Flu season is picking up steam just in time to ruin a lot of people's holidays. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports widespread flu activity in 29 states, primarily in the South and Midwest. That's twice as many states as the previous week. Most of the patients who have been hospitalized with severe cases of the flu are either very young or the very old.  

Obamacare’s Christmas surprise
If you like your health care plan, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has a Christmas surprise for you! When will this new present arrive? December 25th. ...CMS has proposed a new rule that includes an overly reaching provision allowing CMS to re-enroll anyone who has not made the annual trek back to healthcare.gov in a cheaper plan of CMS’ choosing.  

NHS DNA scheme to fight cancer and genetic diseases
A new genetics project could help "unlock a series of secrets about devastating diseases", the NHS says. Under the scheme, 11 Genomics Medicine Centres are being set up in English hospitals to gather DNA samples to help devise targeted treatments for a wide range of diseases. It is focusing on cancer and rare genetic diseases.  

Sinjar battle: Kurds 'take control' of large area from IS
Kurdish authorities say their Peshmerga forces have taken control of a "large area" of the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants. Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani claimed large Peshmerga advances during a visit to nearby Mount Sinjar. The town, near the Syrian border has been controlled by Islamic State (IS) militants since August.  

'Nations talk, but cities act' on green policies
The European Union recently agreed to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 40 percent in 2030, a target its leaders hailed as ambitious. But individual cities are going much further. By the time the EU has reached its climate target, Copenhagen, as one of the most green conscious EU capitals, hopes to have put worrying about carbon emissions behind it.  

Hamas conducts rocket tests in Gaza, drawing the attention of the Israeli military
The IDF said it detected rocket experiments in the Gaza Strip on Monday. During the experiments, Hamas fired rockets from Gaza towards the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas fires rockets into the sea every few days, as part of its weapons program. The launches are used by Hamas arms designers to experiment with various projectile models.  

Ya'alon: Herzog and Livni would turn West Bank into 'Hamastan'
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Sunday blasted opposition leader Isaac Herzog and former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, saying the West Bank would have turned into a "Hamastan" if the two had been running Israel over the last few years.  

Syria says Israeli drone downed in Quneitra
Syria said on Sunday that an Israeli drone had been brought down in the province of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. State media said the drone was flying above the village of Hadar when it was downed. It was not immediately clear whether it had been shot down or had crashed.  

New York gunman told public 'watch what I'm going to do'
The man who shot dead two New York police officers told members of the public "watch what I'm going to do" shortly before the attack, police say. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, had a history of violence and mental instability.  

North Korea: 1.2 Million Troops, Nukes and a 3,000-Strong Cyber-Elite
North Korea’s alleged ability to hack into Sony Pictures Entertainment is extending Kim Jong Un’sreach far beyond the range of his missiles. While North Korea has kept Western defense officials guessing for years about a nuclear program that it may or may not ever use, the regime’s ability to wage cyber war adds a new dimension to its standing abroad.  

A fragile calm on Gaza and Lebanon borders
Op-ed: Beyond the obvious need for intelligence surveillance of Hamas and Hezbollah, there are other things Israel can do on both fronts before finding itself in the circle of fire again.  

20 jihadists killed in failed east Syria airport attack
At least 20 Islamist State (IS) group members were killed in the second failed jihadist bid in a month to take over an air base in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said Sunday.  

N. Korea threatens strikes on US amid hacking claims
President Barack Obama is "recklessly" spreading rumors of a Pyongyang-orchestrated cyberattack of Sony Pictures, North Korea says, as it warns of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and "the whole U.S. mainland, that cesspool of terrorism."  

Obama, de Blasio blasted over NYPD cop slayings President, mayor criticized for 'antipolice' rhetoric
Former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly placed the blame on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for fanning the flames of antipolice anger during the protests earlier this month.  

Satanic Temple puts up display at Michigan Capitol
The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its "Snaketivity Scene" featuring a snake offering a book called "Revolt of the Angels" as a gift. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet-by-3-feet display. Capitol rules require that displays have to be taken down each night.  

Dry Bones Return - 2014 Sees 7% Increase in North American Aliyah
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsYnetnews
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

Ancient Clay Seals May Shed New Light on King David
Dec 22nd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Mississippi State University team found this bulla, or ancient clay seal, on a dig site in southern Israel last summer. It offers evidence of government activity in the 10th century B.C., a time when many scholars said a kingdom could not exist in the region. (Photo credit: University of Wisconsin/Nathaniel Greene)