Friday, April 30, 2021
Russians rebuilding pagan Arch of Palmyra: Preparation for Messiah?
Israel365News Apr 12, 2021
After six years of laying in ruin, the Russians have begun reconstructing the Triumphal Arch of Palmyra in Syria that served as a gateway to a major pagan temple to Ba’al. Rebuilding the arch is predicted in the Talmud as preceding the Messiah.
The Arch of Palmyra; Temple to Ba’al
The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra located about 135 miles north of Damascus were a huge tourist attraction, drawing 105,000 visitors a year until the devastating civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. The temple and much of the site were destroyed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015. The Monumental Arch, a centerpiece of the site that was mostly destroyed, was built during the reign of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in about 200 CE. It is estimated that only 30-40% of the stones in the arch remain.
Nazir Awad, director-general of the Syrian Antiquities and Museums Directorate, explained to Al-Ahed News that “meetings have taken place with Russian experts to discuss the work that will begin to restore and resurrect the Arch of Triumph. They are in the process of documenting and studying in order to outline the restoration work.”
“The necessary programs have been put in place to establish working groups concerned with documentation and preparation of documents as part of the restoration work and other teams to handle the rubble,” he added.
Awad points out that “the work did not actually start, but a working paper was drawn up from the Syrian side, with specific tasks prepared for teams, as this type of work follows global standards. The coronavirus is affecting the progress of the restoration work with the Association Stone Industry of Russia, and the Directorate is in contact with UNESCO and other institutions.”
Satan has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows.
Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.
While
appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all
their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous
cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In
accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in
fierce tornadoes and
terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and
earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising
his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress
follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by
the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent
and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. “The earth
mourneth and fadeth away,” “the haughty people ... do languish. The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting
covenant.” Isaiah 24:4, 5 The Great Controversy pp. 589-590
Antony Blinken: Addressing Climate Change a ‘Powerful Tool’ Against ‘Systemic Racism’
Breitbart 20/04/2021
While delivering a speech on the “climate crisis” from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, Blinken said:
I spend a great deal of my time focused on threats to America’s security and interests – aggressive actions by Russia or China, the spread of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease], the challenges facing democracies. But an equally grave threat to the American people – and an existential one over the long term – can be seen right here, on the Chesapeake Bay, where the costs of climate change are already manifesting themselves.
Climate change would hit poor minority communities “the hardest,” Blinken proposed, adding that addressing the issue “offers one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inequity and systemic racism.”
The top U.S. diplomat predicted:
More frequent and more intense storms; longer dry spells; bigger floods; more extreme heat and more extreme cold; faster sea level rise; more people displaced; more pollution; more asthma. Higher health costs; less predictable seasons for farmers. And all of that will hit low-income, black and brown communities the hardest.
Meanwhile, Blinken admitted some American workers “would be hit hard” by the Biden administration’s response to the “climate crisis.”
However, he promised, “We won’t leave those Americans behind. We’ll provide our fellow Americans with pathways to new, sustainable livelihoods and support as they navigate this transition.”
Blinken warned the United States is “falling behind” China as the global leader of the renewable energy industry, adding climate change could serve as an economic “opportunity” for America.
Monday, April 26, 2021
The doctrine contrary to reason and common sense
“That one person is three persons, and that three persons are only one person, is the doctrine which we claim is contrary to reason and common sense. The being and attributes of God are above, beyond, out of reach of my sense and reason, yet I believe them: But the doctrine I object to is contrary, yes, that is the word, to the very sense and reason that God has himself implanted in us. Such a doctrine he does not ask us to believe. A miracle is beyond our comprehension, but we all believe in miracles who believe our own senses. What we see and hear convinces us that there is a power that effected the most wonderful miracle of creation. But our Creator has made it an absurdity to us that one person should be three persons, and three persons but one person; and in his revealed word he has never asked us to believe it. This our friend thinks objectionable.…
“But to hold the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much an evidence of evil intention as of intoxication from that wine of which all the nations have drunk. The fact that this was one of the leading doctrines, if not the very chief, upon which the bishop of Rome was exalted to popedom, does not say much in its favor. This should cause men to investigate it for themselves; as when the spirits of devils working miracles undertake the advocacy of the immortality of the soul. Had I never doubted it before, I would now probe it to the bottom, by that word which modern Spiritualism sets at nought.…
“Revelation goes beyond us; but in no instance does it go contrary to right reason and common sense. God has not claimed, as the popes have, that he could “make justice of injustice,” nor has he, after teaching us to count, told us that there is no difference between the singular and plural numbers. Let us believe all he has revealed, and add nothing to it.” —R. F. Cottrell, July 6, 1869, Review & Herald
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
“Biggest Health Scam of the 21st Century.” Report by 1500 Health Professionals
Global Research February 25, 2021
“We are health professionals of the international collective : United Health Professionals, composed of more than 1,500 members (including professors of medicine, intensive care physicians and infectious disease specialists) from different countries of Europe, Africa, America, Asia and Oceania and, on August 26, 2020, we addressed to governments and citizens of countries around the world an alert message regarding the COVID outbreak.
We say : STOP to all crazy and disproportionate measures that have been taken since the beginning to fight SARS-CoV-2 (lockdown, blocking the economy and education, social distancing, wearing of masks for all, etc.) because they are totally unjustified, are not based on any scientific evidence and violate the basic principles of evidence-based medicine.
On February 4, 2021, United Health Professionals sent a followup report to national governments entitled:
International Alert Message about COVID-19. United Health Professionals
Neither the August report nor the more recent February report have been the object of media coverage.
The earlier UHP August 28, 2020 report (which was also submitted to national governments) laid the groundwork for the February 2021 report.
***
The August 2020 report is entitled:
Toyota is building a ‘city of the future’ powered by robots and AI for 2,000 staff and families
MSN 26/02/2021
Toyota has started constructing a 175-acre smart city in Japan that will work on artificial intelligence and futuristic technologies and serve as a “living laboratory”, the company has announced.
Construction began this week on the project dubbed “Woven City”, at a site at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji, about 62 miles from Tokyo.
The city is being designed as a testing ground for technologies that could be rolled out across urban environments, including robotics, interconnected smart homes and artificial intelligence.
The company’s president Akio Toyoda broke ground at the site on Tuesday in a ceremony involving local officials of Shizuoka Prefecture, where the new city is located.
Toyota, which first announced the project at CES 2020 in January last year, says the city will have three types of roads which are all linked to each other at the ground level – one thoroughfare for pedestrians, one for pedestrians using personal mobility vehicles like e-scooters, and one dedicated solely to self-driving vehicles. The company said there would be one conventional road running underneath the city to provide goods transportation.
Toyota launched its own self-driving vehicle, the e-Palette, in 2018, and it is expected that they will make up the bulk of the Woven City project’s transport infrastructure. The company has previously described them as “scalable and customisable” for a range of functions include ride-sharing, delivery services and even mobile offices and hotels.
It is only a matter of time before we turn on the unvaccinated
The Guardian 27 Feb 2021
It is easy to see how the pandemic could lead to class and racial strife by imagining how the UK will stand in six months’ time. The vindictive will start to describe Covid as a sickness of choice. Its victims will be victims of their own stupidity. They might have accepted vaccination. They might have protected themselves and others if, as seems likely, vaccines limit infections.
Rational people will ask why they should continue to accept restrictions on their freedoms because of ignorant delusions. Employers will demand to know what possible argument there is against allowing the owners of pubs, airlines, restaurants, hotels or holiday homes to demand proof of protection when immunity passports might save their business. To make it personal, how would you feel come the autumn if someone you love contracted cancer and the NHS delayed treatment because it had to look after needlessly ill Covid patients?
The poor suffer disproportionately from Covid as they suffer disproportionately from everything else. But it could soon be a sickness of poverty.
In Birmingham – the only city to have produced detailed statistics –
just 60% of people over 80 accepted the jab in Alum Rock, a deprived and
racially mixed part of the inner city, while 95% accepted it in Sutton
Four Oaks, an overwhelmingly white commuter suburb. Public health
workers told me of their fears, but said they could never speak their
minds in public. So let me spit it out for them. If good citizens who
have taken their jabs, see poor white people, ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews, black or south Asian men and women,
they may remember the stories about anti-vax illusions and cross the
road or move down the bus to avoid them, or refuse to hire them or
provide them with services.
Equality Act: US House passes legislation protecting LGBT rights
The US House of Representatives has passed sweeping legislation that prohibits LGBT discrimination, but it is unlikely to pass the Senate.
The Equality Act was previously passed by the Democratic-led House in 2019, but was killed by Senate Republicans.
The debate has laid bare the ideological battle between liberals who support the act and conservatives who say it infringes on religious freedom.
The act expands on a 2020 Supreme Court ruling protecting some LGBT rights.
What does the act do?
The Equality Act expands on the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
But what does that actually mean?
- The act provides non-discrimination protections for LGBT people
- It would extend into all areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, jury service, and public services
- It makes existing state protections federal and consistent across the nation
The act would also federally codify into law the 2020 June Supreme Court ruling that said employers who fire workers for being gay or transgender are violating civil rights law.
Advocates for the act have argued that the current "patchwork" of state anti-discrimination laws does not provide enough comprehensive protection, and leaves many LGBT individuals at risk.
Russia could become first country to make entire currency DIGITAL as cryptocurrency booms
The Sun 19 Feb 2021,
The head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said the regulator had received detailed feedback from the banking community about the prospect in a report back in October.
According to an RT report, most lenders expressed their support over a two-level model of the digital ruble.
The model would allow banks to open wallets for their clients on the central bank’s platform and conduct operations with the currency.
Nabiullina said: “We will develop a more detailed concept and start discussing it with the public, market participants, and banks at the beginning of summer.”
Sitting on billions, Catholic dioceses amassed taxpayer aid
When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal government’s signature small business relief program for more than $8 million.
The diocese’s headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100 million of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. When the cash catastrophe church leaders feared didn’t materialize, those assets topped $110 million by the summer.
“I am gratified to report the overall good financial health of the diocese despite the many difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in the diocese’s audited financial report released last fall.
As the pandemic began to unfold, scores of Catholic dioceses across the U.S. received aid through the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on well over $10 billion in cash, short-term investments or other available funds, an Associated Press investigation has found. And despite the broad economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses.
America’s murder rate increase in 2020 has ‘no modern precedent’
NY Post February 1, 2021
Murder rates saw a “historic” increase in 2020 compared to 2019, with more than 1,200 additional killings year-over-year in a sample of 34 American cities, according to a study released Monday.
“The coronavirus pandemic, continuing incidents of police violence and rising homicide and violent crime rates each pose massive policy challenges in their own right, but the interplay between them creates even more difficult decisions for policymakers,” states a report from the National Commission of COVID-19 and Criminal Justice (NCCCJ). “Despite this difficulty, leaders at all levels of government should take bold action in responding to all three crises.”
Homicide rates jumped by 30 percent from 2019 to 2020, while gun assault and aggravated assault rates climbed 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively, experts found.
“Homicide rates were higher during every month of 2020 relative to rates from the previous year,” the report states, calling the 30 percent surge “a large and troubling increase that has no modern precedent.”
Experts analyzed the data from as many as 34 US cities, which varied in size and population, for year-over-year changes in 10 different areas of crime for the year-end update of an NCCCJ report called Pandemic, Unrest, Crime and Violence in US Cities. In addition to the three offenses listed above, the report examined the rates of domestic violence, robbery, residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and drug offenses.
Ireland’s New Anti-Hate Speech Surveillance Technology
Burkean 02/02/2021
Marketed as a multiplatform analytical tool to evaluate speech and facial patterns in order to create visual mapping for authorities and identity suspects, ROXANNE is a new breed of surveillance technology in the process of development and currently being backed by both An Garda Síochána and the PSNI to bring into use.
An acronym for Real time netwOrk, teXt, and speaker ANalytics for combating orgaNized crimE, it was announced in November the Republic’s involvement in the project currently being developed in Switzerland.
A biometrics based platform ostensibly to monitor and crack down on organised crime, an additional application of ROXANNE which its creators advertise freely is the ability to monitor those guilty of alleged hate speech and political extremism.
A product of the EU funded Horizon 2020 to foster new surveillance technology, ROXANNE works across social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube as well as normal telecommunications platforms to identify, categorise, and track faces and voices enabling authorities to paint a more in depth picture of the network being investigated, whether it be in relation to criminal activity or those deemed politically extreme.
Enabling authorities to draw on raw data from a variety of sources and platforms in order to recognise common speech patterns, facial features, and geolocation, the end result is both to identify suspects and paint an intricate picture of the networks being put under the microscope.
When a church proves unfaithful to the word
The
Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the
Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the
kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work
on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves
unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be,
however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with
them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. UL p. 131, 1903
Iceland rocked by more than 20,000 earthquakes in 10 days
Southwest Iceland is currently experiencing a "swarm" of seismic activity, with more than 20,000 earthquakes recorded since February 24, according to the the Icelandic Meteorological Office. The office said magma movements are likely the cause of the current surge on the Reykjanes Peninsula, raising fears of a volcanic eruption.
There have been more than 3,100 earthquakes on the peninsula in the past 48 hours alone, according to the office. At least 63 of them had a magnitude of 3 or higher. A magnitude 3 earthquake can be felt, but rarely causes damage; as the number increases, the earthquakes become more dangerous.
Similar bursts of seismic activity in the country have previously caused volcanic eruptions, the office said.
2/3 Since then two earthquakes over M5.0 detected. Occurred on Feb. 27th and March 1st. Over 20000 earthquakes have been detected in the area since activity started. At 19:14 an M4.2 earthquake was detected 2 km N of Grindavík. It was felt in the Grindavík and in the capital area
— Icelandic Meteorological Office - IMO (@Vedurstofan) March 5, 2021
The aviation color code for the Reykjanes Peninsula is at an orange level, meaning there is "heightened unrest" and that there is an "increased likelihood of eruption," according to the office.
The government of Iceland said on its website Thursday that there was a volcanic tremor pulse near Mt. Keilir, which is located on the peninsula, on Wednesday.
Earlier today a tremor pulse was detected south of Mt Keilir, in the Reykjanes Peninsula, SW Iceland. No eruption has yet been detected but due to risks related to volcanic activity, all traffic near Keilir and Mt Fagradalsfjall is prohibited, including drone flights.
China’s ‘Sharp Eyes’ Program Aims to Surveil 100% of Public Space
Medium March 2, 2021
One of China’s largest and most pervasive surveillance networks got its start in a small county about seven hours north of Shanghai.
In 2013, the local government in Pingyi County began installing tens of thousands of security cameras across urban and rural areas — more than 28,500 in total by 2016. Even the smallest villages had at least six security cameras installed, according to state media.
Those cameras weren’t just monitored by police and automated facial recognition algorithms. Through special TV boxes installed in their homes, local residents could watch live security footage and press a button to summon police if they saw anything amiss. The security footage could also be viewed on smartphones.
In 2015 the Chinese government announced that a similar program would be rolled out across China, with a particular focus on remote and rural towns. It was called the “Xueliang Project,” or Sharp Eyes, a reference to a quote from communist China’s former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong who once wrote that “the people have sharp eyes” when looking out for neighbors not living up to communist values.
Sharp Eyes is one of a number of overlapping and intersecting technological surveillance projects built by the Chinese government over the last two decades. Projects like the Golden Shield Project, Safe Cities, SkyNet, Smart Cities, and now Sharp Eyes mean that there are more than 200 million public and private security cameras installed across China.
EU Bishops call for nations to protect work-free Sunday
Vatican News 04 March 2021
The Bishops of the European Union and the European Sunday Alliance are urging EU leaders to protect synchronized free-time, which most nations traditionally observe on Sunday.
Synchronised free time should be a priority in the EU social-policy agenda, according to European Bishops and other organizations.
In a joint statement published Wedneday, on the occasion of the International Day for a work-free Sunday, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the EU (COMECE) and the European Sunday Alliance urged political leaders in Europe to protect synchronised free time - in most European countries traditionally on Sundays.
"This," they say, "is especially relevant in times where the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated existing challenges of digitalisation by intensifying work and extending working hours, thus putting a healthy work-life balance at risk for more people."
Non-stop work
The statement notes that one of the major impacts of the pandemic lockdowns has been an acceleration of previous trends towards increasing levels of mobile and home working.
“With the rise of digital working, the fragmentation and de-limitation of working time has further proceeded. Working in the evenings and during weekends is increasingly common and indeed expected by many employers.”
The Alliance says this increases stress on workers and "affects their work-life balance” and “compromises the health and wellbeing of workers, making them not only sick in the long run but also causing increasingly more often their absence from work due to psychosocial illness for sustained periods of time.”
Day of rest
According to the network - which includes more than 100 national Sunday alliances, trade unions, employers' organisations, civil society associations, churches and religious communities in the European Union - a full day of rest per week is indispensable to recover.
“Indeed," they say, "a common day of rest truly increases wellbeing and brings a positive effect on health.”
“Only during a common day of rest is it possible to pursue volunteer work, civic engagement, joint social, sports or faith-related activities, family time and, more generally, to spend time together,” the statement explains.
EU Bishops also recall that “humans are social beings, and for many of them their health requires more than individual time off at scattered, random moments of the week to spend alone. A day free of work recognised by tradition or custom is therefore 'essential to disconnect, literally and figuratively'."
At ancient city of Ur, Pope Francis makes heartfelt appeal for fraternity of faiths
Religion News March 6, 2021
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Speaking on Saturday (March 6) before the monumental remains of Ur, the once-great city where Muslims, Jews and Christians believe their common spiritual forefather Abraham first heard the voice of God, Pope Francis condemned religious hatred and mapped a path to peaceful coexistence among different faiths.
“Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart; they are betrayals of religion,” the pope told a crowd of roughly 100 leaders of the three faiths gathered near the historic site on his second day in Iraq. “We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion; indeed, we are called unambiguously to dispel all misunderstandings.
“Let us not allow the light of heaven to be overshadowed by the clouds of hatred!” he added.
The pope’s visit to Ur has been a much anticipated moment in his three-day apostolic visit to Iraq, the first by any pope. The day marked other papal firsts, including the first-ever encounter between a Roman pontiff and a Shiite religious leader and the first Chaldean Mass celebrated by a Roman Catholic pope.
Give us back our Sunday.
Baylor Lariat March 11, 2021
As a Baptist university, our education is founded on biblical principles, one of which being the concept of the Sabbath on Sunday. One of the very first lessons we glean from the Bible is that God needed one day of uninterrupted rest to recover from the fatigue of creating the universe. Baylor students may not be designing creation throughout their week, but that doesn’t mean we need Sunday as a day of rest and rejuvenation any less.
Genesis 2:3 says “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
Online learning has been a blessing and a curse, and this has never been more evident than in the last year. Although online learning comes with the convenience of doing classes from the comfort of your couch, it also comes with unprecedented 24-hour access between professors and students. This access has come with the invasive idea that it is okay to interrupt a key time in the week with additional work.
While many of our professors remember the times when assignment deadlines were 5 p.m. during weekdays, online learning has allowed present students to work up to the all too familiar 11:59 p.m. deadline (guilty). Not only are these deadlines getting pushed later into the day, but they are also getting pushed farther into the week — into the coveted weekends.
If there’s one thing many of us have learned this year, it’s that there is a certain level of exhaustion that comes with staring at a computer screen for hours on end (the dreaded Zoom fatigue), and for most of us, weekends are a time to unplug, get outside and enjoy the activities that allow us to destress. There might be the occasional unavoidable Saturday quiz or exam, but the one day that should be an assignment, quiz, essay and exam-free day is Sunday.
In a semester with no large breaks and very few intended university-wide
holidays in sight, students, faculty, staff and administration need to
treat the precious time we have on Sunday with care and not impose work
on others so needlessly, especially when the deadline could have waited
another 12 hours. The Sabbath is not intended as an obstacle for
professors but a necessary gift from God in recognition that our
energies and spirits are exhaustive. As such, stop taking away our gift,
stop assigning work to be done on the Sabbath and give us back our
Sunday.
Moderna’s top scientist: ‘We are actually hacking the software of life’
Dr. Tal Zaks, the chief medical officer at Moderna Inc., explained in a 2017 TED talk how the company’s mRNA vaccine was designed to work.
Over the last 30 years, he said, “we’ve been living this phenomenal digital scientific revolution, and I’m here today to tell you, that we are actually hacking the software of life, and that it’s changing the way we think about prevention and treatment of disease.”
He went on to explain [see video below] that the human body is made up of organs and organs are made up of cells.
“In every cell there’s this thing called messenger RNA or mRNA for short, that transmits the critical information from the DNA in our genes to the protein, which is really the stuff we’re all made out of. This is the critical information that determines what the cell will do. So we think about it as an operating system.
“So if you could change that, if you could introduce a line of code, or change a line of code, it turns out, that has profound implications for everything, from the flu to cancer.”
Technology and media entities join forces to create standards group aimed at building trust in online content
Microsoft February 22, 2021
SAN JOSE, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 22, 2021 — A group of influential technology and media companies has partnered to form the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a Joint Development Foundation project established to address the prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud through developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content. Founding members Adobe, Arm, BBC, Intel, Microsoft and Truepic seek to establish a standardized provenance solution with the goal of combating misleading content.
C2PA member organizations will work together to develop content provenance specifications for common asset types and formats to enable publishers, creators and consumers to trace the origin and evolution of a piece of media, including images, videos, audio and documents. These technical specifications will include defining what information is associated with each type of asset, how that information is presented and stored, and how evidence of tampering can be identified.
The C2PA’s open standard will give platforms a method to preserve and read provenance-based digital content. Because an open standard can be adopted by any online platform, it is critical to scaling trust across the internet. In addition to the inclusion of varied media types at scale, C2PA is driving an end-to-end provenance experience from the capturing device to the information consumer. Collaboration with chipmakers, news organizations, and software and platform companies is critical to facilitate a comprehensive provenance standard and drive broad adoption across the content ecosystem.
Biological Male Crowned Miss Silver State USA
Breitbar 18 Mar 2021
Kataluna Enriquez, a biological male who identifies as a woman, has been crowned Miss Silver State USA, which is described as the “biggest preliminary competition for the Miss Nevada USA pageant.”
Enriquez bested the biological females in the competition, putting him in the position to compete for the state’s competition, Miss Nevada USA, with hopes of competing in the bigger contests, Miss USA and Miss Universe.
“Miss Silver State was a great experience,” Enriquez told local outlet FOX 5, describing it as a “celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self.”
Enriquez detailed his experiences competing in other pageants outside of the state, one of which asked for documents from a doctor. The competitor described the request as “invasive.”
New Dead Sea Scroll fragments, world's oldest basket found in desert cave
Jpost MARCH 17, 2021
Some 1,900 years ago, Jewish refugees fleeing the Romans made their way to the Judean Desert. Among the belongings they carried with them were scrolls featuring the biblical books of Zechariah and Nahum. Two millennia later, fragments of those texts have reemerged, the Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.
It is the first such discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 and the early Fifties.
He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved
9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Mark 13:9-13
Biden's American Rescue Plan is Catholic social doctrine in action
NCR Mar 12, 2021
Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress passed the $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan, (ARP) and President Joe Biden signed it into law yesterday. The new law includes efforts to confront the pandemic and the economic consequences of the pandemic, but it also addresses child poverty and other long-standing issues of economic inequality. Biden promised to "build back better," and this law is a major step toward redeeming that promise.
The plan constitutes a decisive repudiation of trickle-down economics in favor of a bottom-up approach to economic stimulus that is far more consistent with Catholic social teaching.
"This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation — the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going — a fighting chance," the president said after the House passed the final legislation on Wednesday.
Biden and the Democrats have placed a big bet. If this stimulus package fails to stimulate the economy, if unemployment is still horrifically high next year, if children are still unable to go to schools in some cities because the poor ventilation in the school buildings make them viral incubators, if child poverty continues at its unconscionably high rate, the Democrats will pay a political price for this American Rescue Plan, and they will deserve to pay a price. And if it works, the Republicans might pay a price for having been bystanders at a time when so many of our fellow citizens are in profound pain. Whatever the political calculus, we all can hope that it works and, as Catholics, take some pride in the fact that our values and habits of ethical thought have played a role in coming to the nation's aid.
Rapper Lil Nas X Unveils ‘Satan Shoes’ Containing Human Blood, Limited to 666 Pairs
Breitbar 27 Mar 2021
“Satan Shoes” are expected to be released on Monday, March 29. They contain “60cc ink and 1 drop of human blood,” according to the streetwear culture and news account, Saint.
In selling the sneakers, the rapper has partnered with MSCHF — a company that runs on “structured chaos,” and has been “creating some of the most absurd, cynical, and viral projects and products that have spread across the internet,” according to a report last year by Business Insider.
Moreover, the release of the satanic sneakers will arrive on the heels
of Lil Nas X’s latest music video, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” in
which the rapper can be seen dancing on a stripper pole while descending
to hell, where he subsequently gives Satan a lap dance. The title
video, “Montero,” is a reference to the rapper’s real name, which is
Montero Lamar Hill.
Bill Gates wants to spray millions of tonnes of chalk into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and slow global warming
The first test of a project backed to spray millions of tonnes of chalk into the stratosphere, in an attempt to 'dim the sun' and cool the Earth, could happen in June.
Harvard University experts will test the system by sending a large balloon 12 miles above the Swedish town of Kiruna and have it drop 2kg of chalk dust into the stratosphere.
The aim of the estimated $3 million mission, backed by billionaire Bill Gates, is to have the chalk deflect a portion of the sun's radiation, stop it from hitting the surface, and cool the planet.
The idea has been heavily criticised since its inception, with project director Frank Keutsch even calling the need for this scale of geo-engineering 'terrifying'.
And experts have warned that the unusual technique could be disastrous for weather systems in ways nobody can predict.
Backed by a range of private donors including Gates, the test mission is launching from Sweden as they could offer a launch by the end of this summer.
The test balloon will lift 600kg of scientific equipment 12 miles above the surface of the Arctic town and if it all goes well, about 2kg of dust will be released.
This will then create a dust plume several kilometres in length - not large enough to have any effect on the intensity of the sun's rays hitting the Earth.
During that first test the team would gather information on how particles of dust react with the air.
EXPOSED: Chemtrails hint at ongoing “New Manhattan Project” to alter Earth’s atmosphere
Chemtrails News 03/04/2021
The chemtrails that we see in our skies today are connected to a global weather modification project that stems from the WWII-era Manhattan Project, according to an exposé by researcher Peter A. Kirby. Like its predecessor, the “new Manhattan Project” is a complex and highly secretive military science project.
In fact, some of the scientists who worked on the original atomic weapon Manhattan Project have compared the power of the atomic bomb to that of storms. Many of the project’s most important scientists went on to carry out work in atmospheric science and weather modification.
According to Kirby, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the modern project’s main center for research and development, particularly its Radiation Laboratory, or Rad Lab. In his book, Chemtrails Exposed: The New Manhattan Project, he exposes how the military/industrial/academic complex that was established during WWII has enabled the development of technology that now plays a starring role in the New Manhattan Project global weather modification efforts.
Some of the research used in the project comes from Nikola Tesla, Kirby believes. Tesla first conceived of plans for manipulating weather using electromagnetic energy. When he died, many of his scientific papers and instruments were confiscated by the U.S. government, and it was just three years afterward that Bernard Vonnegut and two other General Electric scientists kicked off the New Manhattan Project.
The expert tasked with reviewing Tesla’s papers was Radiation Lab Steering Committee member and Assistant Director John G. Trump, who went on to serve as head of MIT Radiation Lab’s British Branch. Scientists at the Rad Lab made important early advancements in ionospheric heaters and air traffic control using electromagnetic energy.
The Rad Lab went on to become MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics’ Basic Research Division. Now, ionospheric heaters based on their technology are creating electromagnetic energy to modify the weather.
Covid much less deadly says new study
Sebastian Rushworth 18 March, 2021
An article was recently published in the British Medical Journal that reported on a matched cohort study which compared the risk of dying for those infected with the new British variant (a.k.a. B.1.1.7) and those infected with the older covid variants.
A matched cohort study is a type of observational study where you take a group of people with some condition and then try to find a similar group without the condition to match against. Then you follow the two cohorts over time and see if they differ in some meaningful outcome (like death). Since it is an observational study, it can only show correlation. It can’t prove the existence of a cause and effect relationship, but that doesn’t stop many people acting like it does.
The article has resulted in fear-mongering headlines in news media around the world. Just to take the first example I could find, Al-Jazeera published an article with the headline: “UK variant up to 100% deadlier more deadly, study finds”.
Those darn studies, they’re always finding things. It’s like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. You knock one down here, and another one pops up over there. Anyway, let’s look in to the study some detail, and see if the claim is true.
There were two criteria that had to be fulfilled for a person to be included in the study. They had to have a PCR-test positive for covid at some point between the beginning of October 2020 and the end of January 2021. And they had to be over 30 years old. The authors don’t provide any reason for the second criterion. The only reason I can see for removing people under the age of 30 is that they pretty much never die when they get covid, and including them would therefore have resulted in less impressive mortality numbers, which would have made it a little bit harder to use the results as part of public fear mongering campaigns.
A night shift schedule is associated with increased DNA damage
Medical Xpress March 8, 2021
New clues as to why night shift workers are at increased risk of developing certain types of cancer are presented in a new study conducted at Washington State University Health Sciences Spokane.
Published online in the Journal of Pineal Research, the study involved a controlled laboratory experiment that used healthy volunteers who were on simulated night shift or day shift schedules. Findings from the study suggest that night shifts disrupt natural 24-hour rhythms in the activity of certain cancer-related genes, making night shift workers more vulnerable to damage to their DNA while at the same time causing the body's DNA repair mechanisms to be mistimed to deal with that damage.
Though more research still needs to be done, these discoveries could someday be used to help prevent and treat cancer in night shift workers.
"There has been mounting evidence that cancer is more prevalent in night shift workers, which led the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify night shift work as a probable carcinogenic," said co-corresponding author Shobhan Gaddameedhi, an associate professor formerly with the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and now with North Carolina State University's Biological Sciences Department and Center for Human Health and the Environment. "However, it has been unclear why night shift work elevates cancer risk, which our study sought to address."