Friday, April 30, 2021
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Monday, April 26, 2021
Solving the Mystery of Babylon the Great by Edward Hendrie
Texe Marrs Exclusive Special Report
Texe Marrs
Ex-Catholic Graduate of University of Notre Dame and Jesuit Law School Unmasks the Hidden Conspiracy of the Pope, the Vatican, the Jesuits, and the Zionist Elite For a New World Order and the End of All Things
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:5)
In its capacity to fill one’s heart with horror and wonder, it is clearly the most staggering prophetic image one can find in the entire Holy Bible. It is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelation—John’s description of the Whore of Babylon.
The Apostle John saw many terrible things that day on Patmos, the Greek isle to which he had been banished. But perhaps few could compare with this, his vision of the alluring and tantalizing, yet deadly “Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” Who can imagine what breathtaking thoughts raced through John’s mind? We do get a glimpse into the Apostle’s thought process when we read his words:
“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” (Revelation 17:6)
Mother of Harlots—A Stone-Cold Serial Killer
If there ever was a conspiracy against nations and people of earth this is its highest ensign. The Mother of Harlots, sitting upon a beast, is wealthy beyond compare—she is “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,” and she holds a “golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filth of her fornication.” The mysterious woman, regally arrayed in purple and scarlet color, is drunk, but not from alcohol and strong drink; the Mother of Harlots is drunken “with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” No black widow could compare with this sinister and evil woman. This is no lady. This is a stone-cold serial killer who feasts on the blood of the saints of Jesus and no doubt leaves the world littered with the remains of destroyed souls.
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
John had seen many terrible things in his life—and now he was a ripe-old 95 years in age—but this was perhaps the most monstrous of all. So incredible was this sight that John was led to admit, “I wondered with great admiration.”
Certainly this was a begrudging “admiration,” but as they say, give even the Devil his due! Mystery, Babylon the Great is a religious system to encompass all the “inhabitants of the earth.” Indeed, John was told that the wicked woman reigns over “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (languages).”
More than that, the sinful Mother of Harlots sits upon the beast that came up out of the bottomless pit (hell) and will in due time “go into perdition.” Yes, the Great Harlot exercises all the ominous and savage power of the horrific beast, the Behemoth, which shall bring such utter misery to every man, woman, and child on this planet.
Three Important Questions
Three important questions haunt our senses and must be answered:
• Who is the marvelous, but terrible, woman described as “the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” on whose forehead is written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT?”
• Who is the beast that she sits upon?
• What is their terrible plan that is even now quickly coming to pass and that will bring such blood and horror into all our lives?
Is This the Pope and the Catholic Church?
As a young man, I listened to many preachers and Bible prophecy teachers who warned that Mystery Babylon is none other than the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. From the days of Martin Luther, whose heroism and devotion inspired the Protestant movement and the Reformation, Christian leaders have pointed to Rome as the center of global wickedness in the last days. Many believed that the Pope is the very antichrist, the man of sin whose number is 666.
However, in the span of just one generation—in my lifetime—the ecumenical movement and the tendency of the Christian establishment to grow jaded and lukewarm have significantly cooled the ardor of pastors and prophecy teachers. No longer do most criticize the false teachings and abominations of the Papacy. Instead, they have jumped into bed with the Pope and swallowed the toxins and poisons emanating from the fountain of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
But the “Falling Away” of the apostate Christian Church does not change the prophetic truths of the Holy Bible. The question still arises in the hearts of the faithful saints: Is the Vatican and the Papacy “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT?” Regardless of what our dulled clergy and compromised Church leaders suggest, what does God’s Word reveal to us?
Pope Benedict XVI meets regularly with Jewish Rabbis and has ordered all Catholic priests to cooperate fully with their “elder Jewish brothers.” According to the Vatican, the New Testament is flawed, and the Jews have their own “eternal covenant” and do not need Jesus.
The Pope is greeted by the Chief Rabbi of Rome before speaking to assembled rabbis. The Pontiff reassured the Jews that the Catholic Church has changed and now endorses Judaism’s doctrines that Jesus did not come as Messiah and so the Old Covenant is still in effect.
John had seen many terrible things in his life—and now he was a ripe-old 95 years in age—but this was perhaps the most monstrous of all. So incredible was this sight that John was led to admit, “I wondered with great admiration.”
Certainly this was a begrudging “admiration,” but as they say, give even the Devil his due! Mystery, Babylon the Great is a religious system to encompass all the “inhabitants of the earth.” Indeed, John was told that the wicked woman reigns over “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (languages).”
More than that, the sinful Mother of Harlots sits upon the beast that came up out of the bottomless pit (hell) and will in due time “go into perdition.” Yes, the Great Harlot exercises all the ominous and savage power of the horrific beast, the Behemoth, which shall bring such utter misery to every man, woman, and child on this planet.
Three Important Questions
Three important questions haunt our senses and must be answered:
• Who is the marvelous, but terrible, woman described as “the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” on whose forehead is written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT?”
• Who is the beast that she sits upon?
• What is their terrible plan that is even now quickly coming to pass and that will bring such blood and horror into all our lives?
Is This the Pope and the Catholic Church?
As a young man, I listened to many preachers and Bible prophecy teachers who warned that Mystery Babylon is none other than the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. From the days of Martin Luther, whose heroism and devotion inspired the Protestant movement and the Reformation, Christian leaders have pointed to Rome as the center of global wickedness in the last days. Many believed that the Pope is the very antichrist, the man of sin whose number is 666.
However, in the span of just one generation—in my lifetime—the ecumenical movement and the tendency of the Christian establishment to grow jaded and lukewarm have significantly cooled the ardor of pastors and prophecy teachers. No longer do most criticize the false teachings and abominations of the Papacy. Instead, they have jumped into bed with the Pope and swallowed the toxins and poisons emanating from the fountain of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
But the “Falling Away” of the apostate Christian Church does not change the prophetic truths of the Holy Bible. The question still arises in the hearts of the faithful saints: Is the Vatican and the Papacy “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT?” Regardless of what our dulled clergy and compromised Church leaders suggest, what does God’s Word reveal to us?
Pope Benedict XVI meets regularly with Jewish Rabbis and has ordered all Catholic priests to cooperate fully with their “elder Jewish brothers.” According to the Vatican, the New Testament is flawed, and the Jews have their own “eternal covenant” and do not need Jesus.
The Pope is greeted by the Chief Rabbi of Rome before speaking to assembled rabbis. The Pontiff reassured the Jews that the Catholic Church has changed and now endorses Judaism’s doctrines that Jesus did not come as Messiah and so the Old Covenant is still in effect.
Pope Benedict XVI shares a secret Masonic handshake with Chief Rabbi Lau in Jerusalem.
A rabbi lectures Pope John Paul II in Poland. The frightened Pope took down a cross after the rabbi complained.
What About the Synagogue of Satan?
While questions must be answered about the Pope and his Romish Church, there has arisen yet another great competitor for the infamous title of MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. I refer, of course, to the Synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9). In our generation, the monolithic power of World Jewry has galloped to the forefront. With its vaults of banks bulging with stolen cash, its balance sheet hefty with plundered wealth, its Israeli nation aided and abetted by the military muscle and diplomatic might of the world’s greatest superpower, the Jewish-ruled United States of America, the Synagogue of Satan today sits at the pinnacle of earthly dominion. The Zionist elite have a heinous Plan that is now being worked to usher in the Jewish Utopia. Their Messiah, the Antichrist, will be at its helm. And once this Plan is realized, Gentiles everywhere will tremble with fear and trepidation. Make no mistake about that.
So, which satanic cult will turn out to be MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT? Will it be Rome, or will it be the Jerusalem/Washington, DC axis that makes war on the saints and spills their blood and places all of humankind into the iron jaws of a global, Big Brother Police State? What does the Bible say?
Solving the Mystery of Babylon the Great
I am pleased in this newsletter and on our powerofprophecy.com website to offer you an eye-opening new book just released. I believe this book will answer many of your questions on this vital, prophetic issue. Frankly, there has never been a book exactly like this, authored by a born again Christian of such sterling credentials.
The title of the book: Solving the Mystery of Babylon the Great. It was my privilege to author the Foreword. The author is Edward Hendrie. Now I have had a number of fascinating private discussions with Mr. Hendrie, and I have discerned the genuine heart this godly researcher has for Bible truth. His new book is large format and almost 400 pages. What he reveals in these pages is a great discovery that God also put in my heart some years ago. Its stunning conclusion will, I promise you, unshackle your senses and enlighten you in a most important way.
The Zionists and the Vatican Conspiring Together
Hendrie presents a mountain of evidence, buttressed by factual documentation, proving that MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT is both of Zionism and of Rome.
The evidence, says Hendrie, leads to the inevitable conclusion “that the Roman Catholic Church was established by crypto Jews as a false “Christian’ front for a Judaic/Babylonian religion.” Moreover, “that religion is the nucleus of a world conspiracy against man and God.”
Could this be? Could the Vatican and its Supreme Pontiff be the world’s greatest and most stultifying evil hoax? Are the sinister leaders of the serpentine Synagogue of Satan the actual hidden masters who pull the strings of the Papacy?
In these momentous days in which Satan is preparing America and the world for the final, gargantuan assault on our liberties, our freedoms, and our very souls, are the Zionist Illuminati elite and the black and scarlet-robed men of Rome conspiring together for our demise?
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Lord Nathan Mayer Rothschild became “Guardian of the Papal Treasures” and the Vatican banker in 1823. Thus, the terrible power of money and religion were finally brought together.
The Vatican in Rome
Torquemada (left), a "converted" Jew, was commissioned by the Pope and tortured and killed untold thousands during the Spanish Inquisition. A Jew, Adam Weishaupt (right), founded the bloody Order of the Illuminati in Bavaria in 1776.
What About the Synagogue of Satan?
While questions must be answered about the Pope and his Romish Church, there has arisen yet another great competitor for the infamous title of MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. I refer, of course, to the Synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9). In our generation, the monolithic power of World Jewry has galloped to the forefront. With its vaults of banks bulging with stolen cash, its balance sheet hefty with plundered wealth, its Israeli nation aided and abetted by the military muscle and diplomatic might of the world’s greatest superpower, the Jewish-ruled United States of America, the Synagogue of Satan today sits at the pinnacle of earthly dominion. The Zionist elite have a heinous Plan that is now being worked to usher in the Jewish Utopia. Their Messiah, the Antichrist, will be at its helm. And once this Plan is realized, Gentiles everywhere will tremble with fear and trepidation. Make no mistake about that.
So, which satanic cult will turn out to be MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT? Will it be Rome, or will it be the Jerusalem/Washington, DC axis that makes war on the saints and spills their blood and places all of humankind into the iron jaws of a global, Big Brother Police State? What does the Bible say?
Solving the Mystery of Babylon the Great
I am pleased in this newsletter and on our powerofprophecy.com website to offer you an eye-opening new book just released. I believe this book will answer many of your questions on this vital, prophetic issue. Frankly, there has never been a book exactly like this, authored by a born again Christian of such sterling credentials.
The title of the book: Solving the Mystery of Babylon the Great. It was my privilege to author the Foreword. The author is Edward Hendrie. Now I have had a number of fascinating private discussions with Mr. Hendrie, and I have discerned the genuine heart this godly researcher has for Bible truth. His new book is large format and almost 400 pages. What he reveals in these pages is a great discovery that God also put in my heart some years ago. Its stunning conclusion will, I promise you, unshackle your senses and enlighten you in a most important way.
The Zionists and the Vatican Conspiring Together
Hendrie presents a mountain of evidence, buttressed by factual documentation, proving that MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT is both of Zionism and of Rome.
The evidence, says Hendrie, leads to the inevitable conclusion “that the Roman Catholic Church was established by crypto Jews as a false “Christian’ front for a Judaic/Babylonian religion.” Moreover, “that religion is the nucleus of a world conspiracy against man and God.”
Could this be? Could the Vatican and its Supreme Pontiff be the world’s greatest and most stultifying evil hoax? Are the sinister leaders of the serpentine Synagogue of Satan the actual hidden masters who pull the strings of the Papacy?
In these momentous days in which Satan is preparing America and the world for the final, gargantuan assault on our liberties, our freedoms, and our very souls, are the Zionist Illuminati elite and the black and scarlet-robed men of Rome conspiring together for our demise?
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Lord Nathan Mayer Rothschild became “Guardian of the Papal Treasures” and the Vatican banker in 1823. Thus, the terrible power of money and religion were finally brought together.
The Vatican in Rome
Torquemada (left), a "converted" Jew, was commissioned by the Pope and tortured and killed untold thousands during the Spanish Inquisition. A Jew, Adam Weishaupt (right), founded the bloody Order of the Illuminati in Bavaria in 1776.
Lord Nathan Mayer Rothschild
Hendrie An Ex-Catholic and An Attorney
Who is Edward Hendrie and what qualifies him to write this amazing book? Hendrie is a successful attorney, a constitutional expert. He is author of three other books. To those who may accuse him of being a Catholic basher, let me add that Hendrie is himself an ex-Catholic. Raised in the Catholic faith by devout Catholic parents, he exclusively attended Catholic schools and graduated from America’s most prestigious Roman Catholic University—The University of Notre Dame. He subsequently earned his law degree from a Jesuit institution—the University of Detroit, in Michigan.
Imagine: A book like this unmasking Rome, the Jesuits, and the Papacy in a spectacular way, written not by a Protestant with an axe to grind, but by a brilliant man whose entire life was once wrapped around the false claims of Rome and the Jesuit Order—until, the day he met Jesus. I am privileged to be interviewing Mr. Hendrie on my Power of Prophecy radio program this month (Dates of Broadcast: 2nd and 3rd weekends of March) for two, power-packed hours. You will be thrilled to hear his testimony. The CDs and/or Audiotapes of these two broadcasts will be available in my April newsletter.
Edward Hendrie has been given an awe-inspiring picture into the prophesied future world that awaits us all, and I encourage you to order this outstanding book today. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Hendrie An Ex-Catholic and An Attorney
Who is Edward Hendrie and what qualifies him to write this amazing book? Hendrie is a successful attorney, a constitutional expert. He is author of three other books. To those who may accuse him of being a Catholic basher, let me add that Hendrie is himself an ex-Catholic. Raised in the Catholic faith by devout Catholic parents, he exclusively attended Catholic schools and graduated from America’s most prestigious Roman Catholic University—The University of Notre Dame. He subsequently earned his law degree from a Jesuit institution—the University of Detroit, in Michigan.
Imagine: A book like this unmasking Rome, the Jesuits, and the Papacy in a spectacular way, written not by a Protestant with an axe to grind, but by a brilliant man whose entire life was once wrapped around the false claims of Rome and the Jesuit Order—until, the day he met Jesus. I am privileged to be interviewing Mr. Hendrie on my Power of Prophecy radio program this month (Dates of Broadcast: 2nd and 3rd weekends of March) for two, power-packed hours. You will be thrilled to hear his testimony. The CDs and/or Audiotapes of these two broadcasts will be available in my April newsletter.
Edward Hendrie has been given an awe-inspiring picture into the prophesied future world that awaits us all, and I encourage you to order this outstanding book today. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Minutes before Trump departed office, a mysterious Florida company reportedly took over a slice of the Pentagon's internet space
Kevin Shalvey
Apr 25, 2021, 8:02 AM
The Pentagon. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images
- A Florida firm took over a slice of the internet owned by the Pentagon during Biden's inauguration.
- It now controls nearly 175 million IP addresses, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
- That was more than either AT&T or Comcast controlled, The Associated Press reported.
A mysterious Florida company is said to have taken control of a substantial portion of the internet owned by the Pentagon, only three minutes before President Donald Trump's official term in office ended.
Since then, the company has increased its control to about 175 million IP addresses, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
The Associated Press reported that it controlled more space than some of the world's largest internet providers, including Comcast and AT&T.
The company was identified as Global Resource Systems LLC, with headquarters in Plantation, Florida. According to Florida state records, Global Resource Systems filed paperwork in October 2020. The paperwork said it was incorporated in Delaware.
A Department of Defense spokesperson told the AP in a statement that the government was publicizing the space to "assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space."
On Twitter on Saturday, the AP posted: "What a Pentagon spokesman could not explain is why the Defense Department chose Global Resource Systems LLC, a company that seems not to have existed until September, to manage the address space."
A Saturday blog post from Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a networking information provider, detailed the "great mystery."
On inauguration day, at 16:57 UTC, or 11:57am in Washington, a message was posted on the internet's global routing table by an "entity that hadn't been heard from in over a decade," Madory wrote.
The post came from an entity known as AS8003, which announced it had taken over unused ranges of the IPv4 internet space owned by the Department of Defense, according to Madory.
He wrote that the timing was "moments after the swearing-in of Joe Biden as the President of the United States and minutes before the statutory end of the administration of Donald Trump at noon Eastern time."
The AP and Post sent reporters to the listed address for the Global Resource Systems, according to reports. Both times, the reporters were turned away without information.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Is it time Germany opened up its stores on Sundays?
By Arthur Sullivan | 15.04.2021
Many in Germany are familiar with the unseemly clamor to stock up on groceries before Sundays. That’s because here, Sunday is an explicitly noncommercial day. Economists are demanding a more flexible approach.
As you might expect for Europe's powerhouse economy, commerce is king in Germany. Except, that is, on Sundays, when the nation's stores are definitively shuttered.
Long before pandemic lockdowns forced closures every day, Sunday was already a sacred day of rest for German retailers and consumers. Over the years, many non-Germans have found that out to their surprise and disappointment.
It's all because of the Ladenschlussgesetz or "Shop Closing Law." A federal German law in place since 1956, it bans retail stores of all kinds from opening their doors on Sundays and public holidays, along with some other restrictions.
While individual states were given more leeway to make their own rules in 2006, Sunday shopping remains largely a no-go throughout the country. There are however a few designated Sunday shopping days each year and very limited exceptions for certain shops.
The power of the church
Calls for a loosening of the law crop up occasionally. But according to Gerrit Heinemann, professor for retail and trade at Niederrhein University for Applied Sciences, there are three reasons why he believes things will not change anytime soon: the resistance of the Catholic and Protestant Churches, the influence of trade unions and works councils and finally, the opposition of city parliaments.
Gerrit Heinemann believes the next decade will see people staying home more than ever, due to pandemic aftereffects
The two churches' influence as lobby groups is particularly strong he believes. "It is just a very important opinion when the church says no. Especially when the main political party has the word 'Christian' in its name," he told DW.
Beyond religious reasons, many associate Sundays as a time for family, and cultural opposition to Sunday opening is particularly strong. Michael Lind, the managing director of three Nahkauf (Rewe) supermarket franchises in Berlin, told DW that it was good for his employees to have their Sundays free.
"Sunday is still a day where you do a little something with the family," he says. "If you are now open every day, well, say the husband of a worker is a painter and he has Sundays off but his wife is a saleswoman and now she has to work on Sundays, then family life is disrupted."
But he agrees that were the law to allow Sunday opening, the culture would gradually adjust. Working in retail since 1997, he can remember how the Ladenschlussgesetz evolved to where it is today.
"When I started trading over 20 years ago, we closed at 3 p.m. on Saturdays," he said at his store on Kiehlufer in Berlin's Neukölln district.
Merkel says 'tough' new COVID-19 rules are necessary to curb spread
April 24, 2021 - 03:31 PM EDT
Merkel made the remarks in a weekly video address Saturday, according to The Associated Press. It comes after the country imposed new "emergency brake" restrictions that went into effect at midnight, including a new curfew.
During the address, Merkel said the measures were "urgently needed," and noted that other countries like Britain and Ireland saw infection rates drop due to strict measures.
"No country that managed to break the third wave of the pandemic and then loosen restrictions again did so without tough measures such as nighttime curfews," she said, according to the AP.
The speech came after Germany announced on Friday that its "emergency brake" restrictions would go into effect Saturday after the upper house of Parliament passed a law allowing the government to do so, according to CNN.
The law allows the government to impose lockdowns on states, as opposed to states making such efforts on their own. Germany imposed curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and is limiting private gatherings, sports and shop openings in areas that report over 100 new infections per 100,000 people in one week, CNN reported.
Germany reported 22,262 new coronavirus cases Saturday and 289 new deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Overall, it's logged 3.2 million coronavirus infections and 81,492 deaths. It has also administered 24 million coronavirus vaccine doses and fully vaccinated 7 percent of its population.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Ravaged by Covid, Brazil Faces a Hunger Epidemic
Tens of millions of Brazilians are facing hunger or food insecurity as the country’s Covid-19 crisis drags on, killing thousands of people every day.
Lining up for lunch outside a Catholic charity in São Paulo. The number of people going hungry has nearly doubled in Brazil recently.
By Ernesto Londoño and Flávia Milhorance
Photographs by Victor Moriyama
April 23, 2021
Leer en español
RIO DE JANEIRO — Rail-thin teenagers hold placards at traffic stops with the word for hunger — fome — in large print. Children, many of whom have been out of school for over a year, beg for food outside supermarkets and restaurants. Entire families huddle in flimsy encampments on sidewalks, asking for baby formula, crackers, anything.
A year into the pandemic, millions of Brazilians are going hungry.
The scenes, which have proliferated in the last months on Brazil’s streets, are stark evidence that President Jair Bolsonaro’s bet that he could protect the country’s economy by resisting public health policies intended to curb the virus has failed.
From the start of the outbreak, Brazil’s president has been skeptical of the disease’s impact, and scorned the guidance of health experts, arguing that the economic damage wrought by the lockdowns, business closures and mobility restrictions they recommended would be a bigger threat than the pandemic to the country’s weak economy.
That trade-off led to one of the world’s highest death tolls, but also foundered in its goal — to keep the country afloat.
The virus is ripping through the social fabric, setting wrenching records, while the worsening health crisis pushes businesses into bankruptcy, killing jobs and further hampering an economy that has grown little or not at all for more than six years.
Daniela dos Santos cooking a meal in downtown São Paulo. The pandemic aggravated Brazil’s economic crisis, increasing the rolls of the unemployed and the homeless.
Volunteers distributing sandwiches and soup.
Last year, emergency government cash payments helped put food on the table for millions of Brazilians — but when the money was scaled back sharply this year, with a debt crisis looming, many pantries were left bare.
About 19 million people have gone hungry over the past year — nearly twice the 10 million who did so in 2018, the most recent year for which data were available, according to the Brazilian government and a study of privation during the pandemic by a network of Brazilian researchers focused on the issue.
And about 117 million people, or roughly 55 percent of the country’s population, faced food insecurity, with uncertain access to enough nutrition, in 2020 — a leap from the 85 million who did so two years previous, the study showed.
“The way the government has handled the virus has deepened poverty and inequality,” said Douglas Belchior, the founder of UNEafro Brasil, one of a handful of organizations that have banded together to raise money to get food baskets to vulnerable communities. “Hunger is a serious and intractable problem in Brazil.”
Luana de Souza, 32, was one of several mothers who lined up outside an improvised food pantry on a recent afternoon hoping to score a sack with beans, rice and cooking oil. Her husband had worked for a company that organized events, but lost his job last year — one of eight million people who joined Brazil’s unemployment rolls during the pandemic, driving the rate above 14 percent, according to Brazil’s Institute of Geography and Statistics.
At first the family managed by spending their government assistance carefully, she said, but this year, once the payments were cut, they struggled.
“There is no work,” she said. “And the bills keep coming.”
Ismael dos Santos asks drivers for change at a traffic light.
Members of an evangelical church serving breakfast.
Brazil’s economy had gone into recession in 2014, and had not recovered when the pandemic hit. Mr. Bolsonaro often invoked the reality of families like Ms. de Souza’s, who cannot afford to stay home without working, to argue that the type of lockdowns governments in Europe and other wealthy nations ordered to curb the spread of the virus were untenable in Brazil.
Last year, as governors and mayors around Brazil signed decrees shutting down nonessential businesses and restricting mobility, Mr. Bolsonaro called those measures “extreme” and warned that they would result in malnutrition.
The president also dismissed the threat of the virus, sowed doubts about vaccines, which his government has been slow to procure, and often encouraged crowds of supporters at political events.
As a second wave of cases this year led to the collapse of the health care system in several cities, local officials again imposed a raft of strict measures — and found themselves at war with Mr. Bolsonaro.
“People have to have freedom, the right to work,” he said last month, calling the new quarantine measures imposed by local governments tantamount to living in a “dictatorship.”
Early this month, as the daily death toll from the virus sometimes surpassed 4,000, Mr. Bolsonaro acknowledged the severity of the humanitarian crisis facing his country. But he took no responsibility and instead faulted local officials.
“Brazil is at the limit,” he said, arguing that the blame lay with “whoever closed everything.”
But economists said that the argument that restrictions intended to control the virus would worsen Brazil’s economic downturn was “a false dilemma.”
In an open letter addressed to Brazilian authorities in late March, more than 1,500 economists and businesspeople asked the government to impose stricter measures, including lockdown.
“It is not reasonable to expect economic activity to recover from an uncontrolled epidemic,” the experts wrote.
Laura Carvalho, an economist, published a study showing that restrictions can have a negative short-term impact on a country’s financial health, but that, in the long run, it would have been a better strategy.
“If Bolsonaro had carried out lockdown measures, we would have moved earlier from the economic crisis,” said Ms. Carvalho, a professor at the University of São Paulo.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s approach had a broadly destabilizing effect, said Thomas Conti, lecturer at Insper, a business school.
“The Brazilian real was the most devalued currency among all developing countries,” Mr. Conti said. “We are at an alarming level of unemployment, there is no predictability to the future of the country, budget rules are being violated, and inflation grows nonstop.”
World leaders pledge climate cooperation despite other rifts
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, MATTHEW DALY and CHRISTINA LARSON
April 22, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of Russia and China put aside their raw-worded disputes with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday long enough to pledge international cooperation on cutting climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions in a livestreamed summit showcasing America’s return to the fight against global warming.
Neither Vladimir Putin nor Xi Jinping immediately followed the United States and some of its developed allies in making specific new pledges to reduce damaging fossil fuel pollution during the first day of the two-day U.S.-hosted summit. But climate advocates hoped the high-profile — if glitch-ridden — virtual gathering would kickstart new action by major polluters, paving the way for a November U.N. meeting in Glasgow critical to drastically slowing climate change over the coming decade.
The entire world faces “a moment of peril” but also “a moment of opportunity,” Biden declared, speaking from a TV-style chrome-blue set for the virtual summit of 40 world leaders. Participants appeared one after the other onscreen for what appeared to be a mix of live and recorded addresses.
“The signs are unmistakable,” Biden said. “The science is undeniable. The cost of inaction keeps mounting.”
Biden’s new U.S. commitment, timed to the summit, would cut America’s fossil fuel emissions as much as 52% by 2030. It comes after four years of international withdrawal from the issue under President Donald Trump, who mocked the science of climate change and pulled the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.
Biden’s administration this week is sketching out a vision of a prosperous, clean-energy United States where factories churn out cutting-edge batteries and electric cars for export, line workers re-lay an efficient national electrical grid and crews cap abandoned oil and gas rigs and coal mines.
But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the administration’s plans as costly and ineffective.
“This is quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said in a Senate speech Thursday. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries ... and maximum pain for American citizens.”
At the summit, Japan announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target and South Korea said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants, potentially an important step toward persuading China and other coal-reliant nations to curb building and funding of new ones as well.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one of the leaders shown watching summit proceedings in the coronavirus pandemic’s familiar Brady Bunch-style multibox conference screen, said his nation would up its fossil fuel pollution cuts from 30% to at least 40%.
Travel precautions under the pandemic compelled the summit to play out on livestream, limiting opportunities for spontaneous interaction and negotiation. Its opening hours were sometimes marked by electronic echoes, random beeps and off-screen voices.
But the summit also marshaled an impressive display of the world’s most powerful leaders speaking on the single issue of climate change.
China’s Xi, whose country is the world’s biggest emissions culprit, followed by the United States, spoke first among the other global figures. He made no reference to disputes over territorial claims, trade and other matters that had made it uncertain until Wednesday that he would even take part in the U.S. summit. And he said China would work with America in cutting emissions.
“To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to boost the environment is to boost productivity. It’s as simple as that,” Xi said.
Putin and his government have been irate over Biden’s characterization of him as a “killer” for Russia’s aggressive moves against its opponents, and he is under pressure this week over the declining health of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny. But he made no mention of those disputes in his own climate remarks.
Full Coverage: Climate
“Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges,” Putin said. Russia by some measures is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of climate-damaging fossil fuel fumes.
Climate efforts in recent years have proved a forum where even rival world leaders want to be seen as putting aside disputes to serve as international statesmen and women, even though the cumulative output of fossil fuel emissions is still hurtling the Earth toward disastrous temperature rises.
The pandemic made gathering world leaders for the climate summit too risky. So Biden’s staff built a small set in the East Room that looked like it was taken from a daytime talk show.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House climate envoy John Kerry at a horseshoe-shaped table set up around a giant potted plant to watch fellow leaders’ speeches.
The format meant a cavalcade of short speeches by world leaders, some scripted, some not. “This is not bunny-hugging,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said of the climate efforts. “This is about growth and jobs.”
The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the Paris climate accord.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of many allies welcoming the U.S. return after Trump..
“I’m delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics,” Merkel declared in her virtual appearance. “Because there can be no doubt about the world needing your contribution if we really want to fulfill our ambitious goals.”
Pope Francis contributed a video from the Vatican, saying, “I wish you success in this beautiful decision to meet, walk together going forward and I am with you all the way.”
The new urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off catastrophic extremes of global warming.
Leaders of smaller states and island nations buffeted by rising seas and worsening hurricanes appealed for aid and fast emissions cuts from world powers.
“We are the least contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but the most affected by climate change,” said Gaston Alfonso Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He called for debt relief and more international assistance to recover from storms and the pandemic to prevent a flow of climate refugees. His people he said, are “teetering on the edge of despair.”
Longtime climate policy experts, no strangers to climate summits with solemn pledges, watched some speeches with skepticism. After Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro promised an end to clearcutting in the Amazon, Dan Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch’s environmental programs noted, “It is going to be hard for anyone to take it seriously until they actually start taking steps.”
___
Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Joe McDonald in Beijing, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Nicole Winfield in Vatican City, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani, Seth Borenstein, Lisa Mascaro and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of Russia and China put aside their raw-worded disputes with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday long enough to pledge international cooperation on cutting climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions in a livestreamed summit showcasing America’s return to the fight against global warming.
Neither Vladimir Putin nor Xi Jinping immediately followed the United States and some of its developed allies in making specific new pledges to reduce damaging fossil fuel pollution during the first day of the two-day U.S.-hosted summit. But climate advocates hoped the high-profile — if glitch-ridden — virtual gathering would kickstart new action by major polluters, paving the way for a November U.N. meeting in Glasgow critical to drastically slowing climate change over the coming decade.
The entire world faces “a moment of peril” but also “a moment of opportunity,” Biden declared, speaking from a TV-style chrome-blue set for the virtual summit of 40 world leaders. Participants appeared one after the other onscreen for what appeared to be a mix of live and recorded addresses.
“The signs are unmistakable,” Biden said. “The science is undeniable. The cost of inaction keeps mounting.”
Biden’s new U.S. commitment, timed to the summit, would cut America’s fossil fuel emissions as much as 52% by 2030. It comes after four years of international withdrawal from the issue under President Donald Trump, who mocked the science of climate change and pulled the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.
Biden’s administration this week is sketching out a vision of a prosperous, clean-energy United States where factories churn out cutting-edge batteries and electric cars for export, line workers re-lay an efficient national electrical grid and crews cap abandoned oil and gas rigs and coal mines.
But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the administration’s plans as costly and ineffective.
“This is quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said in a Senate speech Thursday. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries ... and maximum pain for American citizens.”
At the summit, Japan announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target and South Korea said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants, potentially an important step toward persuading China and other coal-reliant nations to curb building and funding of new ones as well.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one of the leaders shown watching summit proceedings in the coronavirus pandemic’s familiar Brady Bunch-style multibox conference screen, said his nation would up its fossil fuel pollution cuts from 30% to at least 40%.
Travel precautions under the pandemic compelled the summit to play out on livestream, limiting opportunities for spontaneous interaction and negotiation. Its opening hours were sometimes marked by electronic echoes, random beeps and off-screen voices.
But the summit also marshaled an impressive display of the world’s most powerful leaders speaking on the single issue of climate change.
China’s Xi, whose country is the world’s biggest emissions culprit, followed by the United States, spoke first among the other global figures. He made no reference to disputes over territorial claims, trade and other matters that had made it uncertain until Wednesday that he would even take part in the U.S. summit. And he said China would work with America in cutting emissions.
“To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to boost the environment is to boost productivity. It’s as simple as that,” Xi said.
Putin and his government have been irate over Biden’s characterization of him as a “killer” for Russia’s aggressive moves against its opponents, and he is under pressure this week over the declining health of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny. But he made no mention of those disputes in his own climate remarks.
Full Coverage: Climate
“Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges,” Putin said. Russia by some measures is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of climate-damaging fossil fuel fumes.
Climate efforts in recent years have proved a forum where even rival world leaders want to be seen as putting aside disputes to serve as international statesmen and women, even though the cumulative output of fossil fuel emissions is still hurtling the Earth toward disastrous temperature rises.
The pandemic made gathering world leaders for the climate summit too risky. So Biden’s staff built a small set in the East Room that looked like it was taken from a daytime talk show.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House climate envoy John Kerry at a horseshoe-shaped table set up around a giant potted plant to watch fellow leaders’ speeches.
The format meant a cavalcade of short speeches by world leaders, some scripted, some not. “This is not bunny-hugging,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said of the climate efforts. “This is about growth and jobs.”
The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the Paris climate accord.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of many allies welcoming the U.S. return after Trump..
“I’m delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics,” Merkel declared in her virtual appearance. “Because there can be no doubt about the world needing your contribution if we really want to fulfill our ambitious goals.”
Pope Francis contributed a video from the Vatican, saying, “I wish you success in this beautiful decision to meet, walk together going forward and I am with you all the way.”
The new urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off catastrophic extremes of global warming.
Leaders of smaller states and island nations buffeted by rising seas and worsening hurricanes appealed for aid and fast emissions cuts from world powers.
“We are the least contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but the most affected by climate change,” said Gaston Alfonso Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He called for debt relief and more international assistance to recover from storms and the pandemic to prevent a flow of climate refugees. His people he said, are “teetering on the edge of despair.”
Longtime climate policy experts, no strangers to climate summits with solemn pledges, watched some speeches with skepticism. After Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro promised an end to clearcutting in the Amazon, Dan Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch’s environmental programs noted, “It is going to be hard for anyone to take it seriously until they actually start taking steps.”
___
Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Joe McDonald in Beijing, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Nicole Winfield in Vatican City, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani, Seth Borenstein, Lisa Mascaro and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
Bruce Telfer - "Meat in Due season " - Part III
LIVE @ 4:30 AM EDT - APRIL 24, 2021.
lightchannel.dk
WHERE SHOULD WE GET OUR INFORMATION?
lightchannel.dk
WHERE SHOULD WE GET OUR INFORMATION?
Without the popular media, the secular would have little awareness of what goes on beyond our personal experience. The media - the mainstream / corporate / establishment media - provide a certain understanding of the world.
But, what if the media's goal is not to inform us, but to misdirect us? What if they do this by manufacturing false narratives that reflect the views of established power, and serve the agendas of a global oligarchy, offering endless streams of propaganda, disinformation and lies, misinforming us and preventing us from understanding how the world really works?
What if media celebrities, pundits, news presenters, journalists, producers and editors, are not interested in telling us the truth? What if they are purposely misrepresenting the facts and leaving out critical information about issues and events? What if they are just uninformed themselves or have been socialized to publish information that they know their bosses and owners want, while avoiding subjects and news content they know will hurt their careers? What if as a result, they lie to us, every day, all of the time?
What if the narrative that the oligarchy constructs through their control of most major media institutions worldwide is false, and has as its goal, not to give us the information we need to participate in democratic government and understand the world, but to misinform us in order to maintain their power and the power of western financial, corporate, dynastic and political elites - to preserve the status quo - in order to ensure the continued hegemony of the oligarchy?
If this is the reality, what should we do? If we want the truth, where do we go to get it?
Friday, April 23, 2021
Climate crisis threatens U.S. national security, Defense secretary says
PUBLISHED THU, APR 22 2021 3:30 PM EDTUPDATED THU, APR 22 2021 4:15 PM EDT
Amanda Macias@AMANDA_M_MACIAS
KEY POINTS
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday the climate crisis is making it more difficult for the military to defend the U.S. and its allies.
- Austin said the nation's 18 intelligence agencies are slated to produce a report focused on the security implications of climate change.
- He spoke at a summit with world leaders focused on climate change, where President Joe Biden pledge to cut emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030.
U.S. Army (retired) General Lloyd Austin speaks after being formally nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Defense by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden at the Queen Theatre on December 09, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday described the climate crisis as one of the nation's existential threats with the potential to profoundly destabilize global security.
"From coast to coast and across the world, the climate crisis has caused substantial damage and put people in danger, making it more difficult for us to carry out our mission of defending the United States and our allies," Austin said in an address at a summit with world leaders focused on climate change.
"As the Arctic melts, competition for resources and influence in the region increases. Closer to the equator, rising temperatures and more frequent and intense extreme weather events in Africa and Central America threaten millions with drought, hunger and displacement," the Pentagon chief added.
President Joe Biden kicked off the virtual summit, which falls on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement signing and Earth Day, with a pledge to cut emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030.
The new target more than doubles the Obama administration's prior commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accords in 2019.
"I welcome President Biden's leadership on tackling climate change," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in his opening remarks at the summit.
"Global warming is making the world more dangerous. It has a serious impact on our security, so it matters for NATO," he said, adding that NATO members would be stepping up efforts to address the climate crisis.
Texas National Guard Pvt. Mark Rivera of Co. A, 72nd Infantry Brigade, and Pvt. 1st Class Joseph Davora, Co. A, 1-41 Infantry Regiment, carry a woman stranded by flood waters to a waiting truck, where Pvt. John Paul Borrego and Pvt. 1st Class Christopher Culbelier, wait.
Sgt. Jennifer Atkinson | U.S. Army
In his remarks, Austin gave a few examples of extreme weather caused by climate change that directly impacted the U.S. military and its installations.
In 2018, Hurricane Michael inflicted 'catastrophic' damage to Tyndall Air Force Base after ripping through the Florida Panhandle. Austin said the destruction to the base, which is home to the nation's 325th Fighter Wing, cost billions of dollars.
In 2019, severe flooding of the Missouri River damaged more than 130 buildings at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. The installation, home to U.S. Strategic Command and the 55th Wing, has required hundreds of millions of dollars for reconstruction efforts.
"Wildfires in California have threatened other military installations, forcing repeated evacuations. Typhoons in Guam most commonly occur from June to December, but in February 2019, Typhoon Wutip forced us to pause exercises with our Australian and Japanese allies," Austin explained.
Austin said the nation's 18 intelligence agencies are slated to produce a report focused on the security implications of climate change.
Biden warns if Americans don’t get COVID jabs they might have to cancel July 4
By Steven Nelson
April 21, 2021 | 6:45pm
President Biden said the country has more work to do in terms of mask wearing and COVID vaccinations to safely have July 4 gatherings.Cliff Owen/AP
President Biden on Wednesday warned Americans they may have to cancel “small” outdoor gatherings on the Fourth of July if there’s a slowdown of COVID-19 vaccinations.
More than 51 percent of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to CDC data, indicating that herd immunity and the pandemic’s end are near.
But Biden said at the White House that he’s not yet comfortable saying people can hold small outdoor gatherings on Independence Day.
“Back on March 11, I outlined a vision of what America could look like by the Fourth of July — an America that was much closer to normal life that we left behind more than a year ago,” Biden said.
He warned: “To celebrate our independence from this virus on July 4th with family and friends in small groups, we still have more to do in the months of May and June. We all need to mask up until the number of cases goes down, until everyone has a chance to get their shot.”
Biden proposed in a March primetime address that people could host “small” outdoor gatherings for the summer holiday. The idea drew Republican criticism due to the efficacy of vaccines and low outdoor transmission rates.
Retired Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health last year, countered Biden, saying that “by July, we should be almost back to normal with herd immunity, with everybody getting vaccines.”
“I don’t know what reality he’s talking about,” Giroir said. “It seemed very disconnected from the reality and where we are and what the science says. Science says small gatherings outdoors is fine.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said “the president’s proclamation was far out of step with what’s already happening across the country.”
President Biden on Wednesday warned Americans they may have to cancel “small” outdoor gatherings on the Fourth of July if there’s a slowdown of COVID-19 vaccinations.
More than 51 percent of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to CDC data, indicating that herd immunity and the pandemic’s end are near.
But Biden said at the White House that he’s not yet comfortable saying people can hold small outdoor gatherings on Independence Day.
“Back on March 11, I outlined a vision of what America could look like by the Fourth of July — an America that was much closer to normal life that we left behind more than a year ago,” Biden said.
He warned: “To celebrate our independence from this virus on July 4th with family and friends in small groups, we still have more to do in the months of May and June. We all need to mask up until the number of cases goes down, until everyone has a chance to get their shot.”
Biden proposed in a March primetime address that people could host “small” outdoor gatherings for the summer holiday. The idea drew Republican criticism due to the efficacy of vaccines and low outdoor transmission rates.
Retired Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health last year, countered Biden, saying that “by July, we should be almost back to normal with herd immunity, with everybody getting vaccines.”
“I don’t know what reality he’s talking about,” Giroir said. “It seemed very disconnected from the reality and where we are and what the science says. Science says small gatherings outdoors is fine.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said “the president’s proclamation was far out of step with what’s already happening across the country.”
In March, Biden said Americans likely could hold small gatherings to celebrate in July.Andrew Harnik, File/AP
“It was advice for an alternate universe. The president and his advisers may need to get out more,” McConnell said. “”Americans are already getting together in small groups outdoors in blue states and red states, in small towns and big cities. The country is not locked down waiting for July 4.”
“It was advice for an alternate universe. The president and his advisers may need to get out more,” McConnell said. “”Americans are already getting together in small groups outdoors in blue states and red states, in small towns and big cities. The country is not locked down waiting for July 4.”
The Sabbath — A Gift from God
(Dreamstime)By Jerry Newcombe
Thursday, 08 Apr 2021 10:10
One of the saddest things I saw on Easter Sunday was Amazon delivery trucks on the road. Having to work on Sunday is bad enough, but Easter?
Amazon drivers face many other challenges as well. MSN.com reports that the E-commerce giant finally acknowledged that some of their drivers are under stress where they can't even take proper bathroom breaks. But enough about Amazon.
Violating the Sabbath principle is not healthy for society nor for us as individuals. God rested after His creation. He commands us to rest for a day a week.
Sunday as the Lord's Day is even found in the U.S. Constitution. Article 1, Section 7 specifies:
"If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law."
In other words, says Dr. Daniel Dreisbach of American University, an author on the influence of the Bible on our Founding Fathers: "The President is given ten days in which to consider whether to veto a bill or not, Sundays excepted … excluding the Lord's Day."
God made the Sabbath — a day off — for our benefit. We violate the principle to our own detriment.
I remember seeing years ago a documentary segment on CNN where they interviewed Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, and they gave him a hard time for being closed on Sunday. He said that he did this to honor God's command. But he noted that a side benefit arose from this. The company was able to attract some of the best and brightest personnel in the fast food business to work for them.
The company has risen to be the third-highest grossing food chain in America, despite being closed 52 days a year more than its competitors.
Throughout history, various leaders honored the Sabbath principle. For example:
Church historian, Philip Schaff, in History of the Christian Church, wrote of British King Alfred's legal reforms: "His code is introduced with the Ten Commandments and other laws taken from the Bible … it protects the laboring man in his Sunday rest."
Abraham Lincoln issued his "Order for Sabbath Observance," November 15, 1862: "The President, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity."
Explorer Captain John Cook, notes author Desmond Wilcox, honored the Sabbath: "On Sundays, Cook's usual captain's inspection was always followed by a religious service. Cook appeared on deck and the drum beat the retreat. Men fetched stools from below and brought chairs for the officers. The bell was tolled and the church pendant was hoisted at the gaff. Cook conducted the service on the quarterdeck, with a Bible and a prayer book in front of him, placed on a cloth draped over the compass box. A lesson was read, a hymn sung."
Not all governments have appreciated the gift of the Sabbath. Walter Grab, author of The French Revolution, writes: "At the suggestion of the deputy Romme, the Convention voted on 5 October 1793 to abolish the Christian calendar and introduce a republican calendar. ... Weeks were replaced with periods of ten days (decades) so that the Christian Sunday would disappear." Napoleon later restored the Christian calendar, including the "Christian Sunday."
My dad once told me about an executive he knew who died relatively young, presumably from overwork. The man was so busy that he would take his Christmas cards with him that he had received the previous winter to the beach the next summer in order to try and keep up with his correspondence.
Dr. Richard Swenson, a medical doctor and author of Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, notes, "Life is a journey, but it is not a race. Do yourself a favor and slow down. ... God never intended for time to oppress us, dictating our every move."
The early Christians worshiped Jesus on Sunday because that's when He rose from the dead. Every Sunday is a reminder of Easter Sunday. It's sad enough to see commerce on Sunday; it is sadder to see it on Easter Sunday itself.
The Sabbath is a gift from the Creator — a day of rest, for our benefit. We cast it aside at our own peril.
Jerry Newcombe, D. Min., is the executive director of the Providence Forum, an outreach of D. James Kennedy Ministries, where Jerry also serves as senior producer and an on-air host. He has written/co-written 33 books, including "George Washington's Sacred Fire" (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback, Ph.D.) and "What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?" (with D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.). Read Jerry Newcombe's Reports — More Here.
© 2021 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Earth Day 2021: Joe Biden to host Earth Day climate Summit;..
Earth Day 2021: Joe Biden to host Earth Day climate Summit; how to watch it online, who is attending
Biden invited 40 national leaders and some of the main polluters India, China, UK, and Russia have accepted their invitations.
Firstpost •Apr 22, 2021 08:00 IST
By tech2 News Staff
Firstpost •Apr 22, 2021 08:00 IST
By tech2 News Staff
Editor's Note: This is an ongoing story and details will be added as and when it is made available.
On Earth Day, 22 April, the US President Joe Biden has decided to host a meeting with the world's leaders titled the 'Leaders Summit on Climate'. It is a two-day conference and has been in the works since he took office on 20 January. Many say that this summit is a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will take place later this year in Glasglow. This is supposed to "galvanise efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis" and "underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action."
President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington. Image credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Watch it online
The Leaders Summit on Climate is a two-day event that will begin on 22 April and end on 23 April. It will be a virtual event owing to the pandemic making travel impossible. The event will be streamed online and available for the public to watch. The Days events will begin at 5.30 pm IST (8:00 a.m. EDT) and last till 11.00 pm IST (1.30 pm EDT). You can watch the live proceeding here.
Summit Objectives
Biden has urged the other leaders to use this summit as an opportunity to release their countries climate ambition and how they will take action to reduce emissions. The US is also expected to announce its ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement.
The main objectives of this summit are:
- Get the world's major economies to reduce emission in this decade while also getting the public and private sector involvement.
- Show how climate action can have economic and social benefits. Build new businesses and industries.
- Using the technology available to adapt to climate change but also reduce emissions. Use nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Protect lives and livelihoods by finding ways to adapt to climate change.
The US also want to "reconvene the US-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate" that was started by former President Barack Obama in March 2009. It is a forum that gets together the 17 major economies that are responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions as well as global GDP. They are:
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
the European Union
France
Germany
India
Indonesia
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Russia
South Africa
the United Kingdom
the United States
Who is attending?
The world's top five highest emitters are China, The United States, India, Russia and Japan. Biden has invited a total of 40 national leaders to attend this two-day virtual climate summit. Recently, India, China, UK, Canada and Russia have accepted the invitations and announced that they will attend this summit online. However, the final list of attendees who have accepted this invitation and will be attending the Summit is yet to be announced.
The list of invitees are:
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda
President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan
President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada
President Sebastián Piñera, Chile
President Xi Jinping, People’s Republic of China
President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia
President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark
President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission
President Charles Michel, European Council
President Emmanuel Macron, France
President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India
President Joko Widodo, Indonesia
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya
President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand
President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway
President Andrzej Duda, Poland
President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea
President Vladimir Putin, The Russian Federation
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey
President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom
President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Fauci, smoking gun evidence, pandemic fraud; memo to Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan
Apr20 by Jon Rappoport
by Jon Rappoport
April 20, 2021
Note: I hope readers will forward this article to Congressman Jim Jordan’s press secretary, Russell Dye: russell[dot]dye[at]mail[dot]house[dot]gov
Recently, in a Committee hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan and Anthony Fauci crossed swords. [0]
Jordan was demanding to know, from Fauci, when the unconstitutional COVID restrictions would end. Fauci, the notorious flip-flopper, had no answers.
There is, however, a momentous issue on which Fauci has given answers. In the process, he exposed an astonishing fraud that completely changes the picture of COVID-19.
Congressman Jordan, follow this trail.
Summary: Fauci readily admitted that, if the PCR test for the virus is done improperly, the results are meaningless and must be thrown out. What he failed to say—and he knows this—is that the test, since the beginning, HAS BEEN DONE IMPROPERLY.
Takeaway: Millions of people have been falsely told they’re infected with the virus; millions of COVID case numbers are false. These false numbers have been used to declare and extend lockdowns.
If what I’m writing here is true, Congressman, would that interest you? Would that spur you to take action?
Before I lay out the details of the case, I recommend you speak with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He knows the PCR test has been performed incorrectly. In December, he and his public health department issued an order to remedy that staggering problem. [1] [1a]
All right, here we go. Buckle up.
July 17, 2020, podcast, “This Week In Virology” (titled: “TWiV 641: COVID-19 with Dr. Anthony Fauci”) [2]: Tony Fauci makes a point of saying the PCR COVID test is useless and misleading when the test is run at “35 cycles or higher.” A positive result, indicating infection, cannot be accepted or believed.
Here, in techno-speak, is an excerpt from Fauci’s key quote (the question being asked of Fauci starts at the 3m50s mark; Fauci answers beginning at the 4m40s mark) [2]: “…If you get [perform the test at] a cycle threshold of 35 or more…the chances of it being replication-competent [aka accurate] are miniscule…you almost never can culture virus [detect a true positive result] from a 37 threshold cycle…even 36…”
Each “cycle” of the test is a quantum leap in amplification and magnification of the test specimen taken from the patient.
Too many cycles, and the test will turn up all sorts of irrelevant material that will be wrongly interpreted as relevant.
That’s called a false positive.
What Fauci failed to say on the video—AND WHAT HE OBVIOUSLY KNEW—is: the FDA, which authorizes the test for public use, recommends the test should be run up to 40 cycles. Not 35.
Therefore, all labs in the US, following the FDA guideline, are knowingly or unknowingly participating in fraud. Fraud on a monstrous level, because…
Millions of Americans are being told they are infected with the virus on the basis of a false positive result, and…
The total number of COVID cases in America—which is based on the test—is a gross falsity.
The lockdowns and other restraining measures are based on these fraudulent case numbers.
Let me back up and run that by you again. Fauci says the test is useless when it’s run at 35 cycles or higher. The FDA says run the test up to 40 cycles, in order to determine whether the virus is there. This is the crime in a nutshell.
“Hello, America, you’ve been tricked, lied to, conned, and taken for a devastating ride. On the basis of fake science, the country was locked down.”
All right, here are two chunks of evidence for what I’ve written above. First, we have a CDC quote on the FDA website, in a document titled: “CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel For Emergency Use Only” [3] [3a] [3b].
Note: this document is marked, “Effective: 12/01/2020.” That means, even though the virus is being referred to by its older name (2019-nCoV instead SARS-CoV-2), the document is still relevant as of Dec 2020. “For Emergency Use Only” refers to the fact that the FDA has certified the PCR test under a traditional category called “Emergency Use Authorization.”
Here’s the CDC quote on the FDA website: see pdf page 38 (doc page 37): “…a specimen is considered positive for 2019-nCoV [virus] if all 2019-nCoV marker (N1, N2) cycle threshold growth curves cross the threshold line within 40.00 cycles ([less than] 40.00 Ct).”
Naturally, testing labs reading this guideline would conclude, “Well, to see if the virus is there in a patient, we should run the test all the way to 40 cycles. That’s the official advice.”
Then we have a New York Times article (August 29/updated September 17) headlined: “Your coronavirus test is positive. Maybe it shouldn’t be.” [4] Here are money quotes:
“Most tests set the limit at 40 [cycles]. A few at 37.”
“Set the limit” would usually mean, “We’re going to look all the way to 40 cycles, to see if the virus is there.”
The Times: “This number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold, is never included in the results sent to doctors and coronavirus patients.”
Boom. That’s the capper, the grand finale. Labs don’t or won’t reveal their collusion in this crime.
Get the picture?
I hope so.
FAUCI HAS BEEN AWARE OF THIS ENORMOUS FRAUD, AND HE HAS DONE NOTHING TO STOP IT.
If a lawyer won’t go to court with all this, or if a judge won’t pay attention and see the light, they should be stripped of their jobs and sent to the Arctic to sell snow.
Finally, Congressman Jordan, what I’m reporting here only goes partway down the COVID rabbit hole. The hole is much deeper. But this is enough for now.
I urge you to use this information and help restore freedom to the American people.
SOURCES:
[0] https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1382724306036256774
[1] https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2020/12/08/florida-forces-labs-to-report-number-of-pcr-test-cycles/
[1a] https://www.flhealthsource.gov/files/Laboratory-Reporting-CT-Values-12032020.pdf
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Vy6fgaBPE
[3] https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download
[3a] CDC-006-00019, Revision: 06, CDC/DDID/NCIRD/ Division of Viral Diseases, Effective: 12/01/2020; see: https://web.archive.org/web/20210102171026/https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download
[3b] CDC-006-00019, Revision: 05, CDC/DDID/NCIRD/ Division of Viral Diseases, Effective: 07/13/2020; see: https://web.archive.org/web/20200715004004/https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download
[4] nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html
Webinar urges common efforts to care for biodiversity
Webinar on Biodiversity organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
VATICAN
Cardinal Peter Turkson stresses the importance of ecological conversion and a common commitment to care for our common home at a webinar on biodiversity inspired by Pope Francis' Encyclical, "Laudato sí."
In partnership with the Vatican Covid-19 Commission Ecology Taskforce, the Dicastery for Integral Human Development on Tuesday hosted a webinar on Biodiversity, inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato si’.
The online event, titled “The Road to COP15,” aims to share wisdom, understanding, experiences and mutual insights drawn from various disciplines of knowledge including the indigenous and scientific traditions, the Holy Scriptures, and the Social Doctrine of the Church on biodiversity. These, together, will advocate and inspire biodiversity protection and restoration at the upcoming fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) and COP26 meetings.
The webinar will also invite the ecclesial community to generate dialogue on biodiversity in order to find new paths for the human family to heal and restore relations with creation, especially as in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 health emergency.
Speakers at the event included Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; and Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace.
All of creation is interconnected
In his intervention, Cardinal Turkson highlighted two main points: the current context of the multifaceted crisis and the safeguard of biodiversity. He explained who these two are connected, on the basis of a 2020 report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services that showed that the same human actions which drive biodiversity loss have also resulted in an increase in pandemics.
In the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic - which has affected world economies, increased the already existing gap between the rich and the poor, and has further made evident the poor access to healthcare suffered by some populations in society - “one pandemic has revealed other social pandemics,” said the Cardinal, re-echoing Pope Francis’ words.
Given that Covid-19 has been designated as a zoonotic disease (transmitted between animals and people), he continued, “the current pandemic alerts us to the fact that when nature is sick, humanity itself is very sick.” This, he notes, has been highlighted in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in veritate, which notes that the way humanity treats the environment influences also the way that it treats itself. Cardinal Turkson stressed that all the elements of creation are interconnected, and that the disregard and abuse of one invariably affects other components of society. The ecological crisis, therefore, is linked with an anthropological crisis - with human conduct and behavior.
Joint responsibility to protect biodiversity
Drawing inspiration from the Scriptures, Cardinal Turkson notes that in the book of Genesis, “biodiversity took its form right from the beginning of creation,” as God created the plants and animals as well as humans.
Moreover, in the social teaching of the Church, “biodiversity is the ongoing work of God’s creation, a sacred gift from God, and each creature has an intrinsic value and worth on that account, and a purpose known to God.” In this sense, every creature reveals God to us and is a manifestation of God’s own glory as expressed in Psalms 19 and 104.
Cardinal Turkson went on to lament the deconstruction of God’s creation and the continuous cry of both creation and the poor highlighted in Laudato si and manifested in the disappearance of plant and animal species, lost forever because of our abusive treatment of nature. “The cost of the damage caused by the human exploitation of nature is much greater than the economic benefits that are obtained.”
“For ethical, moral and theological reasons,” the Cardinal said, “it is incumbent upon us to safeguard biodiversity on earth.” He noted that a global framework in this regard has been provided by the International Convention of Biological Diversity, which recognizes the need for a multi-sectoral and transversal approach to ensure the conservation and sustainability of biodiversity. COP15 also has a vision of a world living in harmony with nature, where, by 2050, biodiversity is conserved and wisely used to sustain a healthy planet and deliver benefits essential for all.
For this, four goals can serve as points of focus: first, an increase in protected areas so that biodiversity can be ensured in its interconnectivity and integrity in order to reduce the number of threatened species; secondly, valuing nature’s contribution to people, to maintain and enhance it through sustainable use for the benefit of all; thirdly, sharing fairly and equitably the benefits from genetic resources; and finally, checking the means of implementation of these goals and the targets relating to them.
“To keep and to till”
“The Church always raises her prophetic voice to provide a spiritual basis for reflection on the protection of the poor, which includes the earth’s diversity and its ecosystems,” Cardinal Turkson said. He recalled, too, Pope Francis’ incessant calls for increased care for the earth, including his calls for universal fraternity, which further emphasize our interconnectedness.
Cardinal Turkson further highlighted that humans have the responsibility to take care of nature. He explained that this comes from the book of Genesis, when at creation God charged Adam to till and keep the garden: “to 'till' was to make the earth productive, while to 'keep' was to ensure that the earth maintains its productive qualities and traits to support life all the time.” This imperative of care also extends to the teaching about resting on the Sabbath, which is, for human beings, also to preserve creation, he said. “Sabbath has a sense of liberation and respite, rest to any system that is oppressed and lives in bondage.”
He also highlighted that the word used in the book of Genesis to describe keeping the garden is the same word used to describe the relationship between Cain and Abel. From this, “our relationship toward creation is similar and comparable to our relationship as human beings, one towards the other. It is the relationship of fraternity and brotherhood.” We are therefore invited to treat everything “with affection, concern, responsibility and care.” At the same time, “we are collectively called to undergo ecological conversion,” stressed the Cardinal. He called for a change of mentality - “moving from a desire to control and dominate, to a desire to safeguard and to protect.”
Indigenous people, custodians of biodiversity
Indigenous people, according to the Cardinal, are “custodians of biodiversity,” and are essential to the protection of biodiversity. They have also been recognized by Pope Francis as “the great teachers of conservation of our biodiverse system.”
He added that they need to be respected and protected so that we can learn from them through paying attention to them. Cardinal Turkson also debunked claims that the relationship between indigenous people and nature is idolatrous. Rather, he explained, “it is an accumulation of time-tested wisdom that ensures the living together of human beings and the systems in creation.”
Concrete steps
Proposing steps to save biodiversity, Cardinal Turkson proposed planting trees and partnering with organizations that care for nature. He also urged the prioritization of restoring degraded ecosystems, support for regenerative agriculture, and participation in initiatives even at the local level in parishes.
Concluding, the Cardinal stressed that the protection of biodiversity directly affects each one of us, touching the social, cultural and economic dimensions of our lives. We are therefore called to “embrace an integral ecological perspective and approach, and apply holistic thinking to reorient economies, education and cultural practices and policies, so that we honor the dignity of the human person and the integrity of creation.”
Dr. Jane Goodall’s speech
After the intervention of Cardinal Turkson, Dr. Jane Goodall spoke, sharing her wealth of experience of studying chimpanzees in Africa and working to preserve their habitat.
She expressed regret that in spite of the developed intellect of humans, we are destroying our only home. She noted that our disrespect for the natural world and our contribution to the destruction of the habitat of animals have put us in increased contact with normally-isolated animals, increasing the chance of pathogens spreading from animals to humans, and creating a zoonotic pandemic such as the current one. This same disrespect for the world has also led to climate change, which is one of the major factors affecting biodiversity, she noted.
Proposing concrete action, Dr. Goodall emphasized the need to act within this “window of opportunity.” She highlighted the urgency of reducing the “unsustainable lifestyle of hundreds of thousands of us on this planet who have way more than we need,” especially as regards food, where tons are wasted when there are people who go to bed hungry.
Dr. Goodall also stressed the importance of eliminating poverty. One way of achieving this, she explained, is teaching people to find ways of living without destroying the environment. She recalls that this became apparent to her when she flew over a forest that used to house chimpanzees that had been greatly reduced and surrounded by human presence and farmlands. In this regard, she, through the work of her foundation, encourages community-based conservation to restore fertility to over-used land without agricultural chemicals and pesticides and water management. She also suggests scholarships to keep girls in school; and micro-financing so that villagers, particularly women, can take loans to start businesses that are environmentally friendly. In addition, local people can also be given tools with which they can monitor the health of their own village forest reserves.
This will help people to understand that we protect the environment, not just for the wildlife, but for their own future, because the environment provides us with clean water; and we depend on healthy ecosystems for everything, Dr. Goodall explained.
Biodiversity, fragile tapestry of life
“I like to see an ecosystem as a tapestry of life composed of this diversity of animal and plant species, all interrelated, each little species having a role to play," Goodall said.
In this light, if one of the species becomes extinct, it tears a hole in that tapestry, and as more and more holes are torn, in the end we will be left with a tapestry so torn that the ecosystem will collapse, she warned.
In this regard, Dr. Goodall hails the efforts of organizations, and scientists working to protect and conserve the “tapestry.” She also salutes the many young people who are rising up to tackle the ecological problems they have inherited from those before them.
Thailand adopts use of jab passports
PUBLISHED : 21 APR 2021 AT 04:51
NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS
WRITER: POST REPORTERS
The government has announced it will adopt the so-called vaccine passport, a certificate of vaccination, for use with Covid-19 vaccination in Thailand as an official travel document for those already vaccinated against Covid-19 and travelling to other countries.
The front cover of the 'vaccine passport' which the government is adopting for those travelling overseas.
The Royal Gazette on Tuesday published a copy of the format of the vaccine passport along with an order by the Disease Control Department authorising a number of disease control officials to issue the vaccine passport.
Adverse symptoms
Alternative jab locations
PM: Safety first
Both the format of the vaccine passport and the order were approved by department director-general Dr Opas Karnkawinpong.
On the cover of the approved vaccine passport format there is Thai-English text that reads "Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand", a garuda emblem and more text reading "Covid-19 Certificate of Vaccination".
The name of the vaccination certificate holder and his or her passport or national identification number is typed in English certifying that the certificate holder has already been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Only vaccinations using vaccines registered in Thailand or ones certified by the World Health Organisation will be issued with the vaccine passport, while the signature of an authorised disease control official is required to validate the passport.
The vaccination certificate is intended for an individual holder only, not for group use. Children aged under seven must have their parents' signatures on their vaccine passports, while those who are unable to write are required to give a fingerprint on the passport instead.
Six disease control officials meanwhile are now authorised to sign a vaccine passport when it is issued.
They are Rom Buathong, a senior medical doctor with the department's international communicable disease control checkpoints and quarantine division; Sirirak Thanasakunprasoet, a senior medical doctor with the same division; Rawinan Soma, another senior medical doctor with the same division.
Others are Ranida Techsuwanna, a senior medical doctor with the department's general communicable diseases division; Kamonthip Atsawawaranan, a senior medical doctor with the department's Institute of Urban Disease Control; and Parinda Watthanasi, a senior medical doctor with the department's Institute of Preventive Medicine.
These officials are assigned to work in line with an announcement by the national communicable disease committee regarding the issuing of Covid jab certificates, published in the Royal Gazette on March 31.
Source
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Derek Chauvin found guilty on all charges in death of George Floyd
In this image from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin arrives for the verdict in his trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. (Court TV via ...
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Updated: 5:56 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, 2021
A Minneapolis jury on Tuesday found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd, reaching a verdict after less than a day of deliberations in a case that ignited mass protests and calls for police reform across the nation.
Hennepin County Court Judge Peter Cahill read the guilty verdicts on the three counts: unintentional second-degree murder; third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
The 45-year-old Chauvin appeared unsurprised by the guilty verdicts, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life. He was handcuffed and remanded into custody shortly after the verdict was read and the jurors excused.
SEE ALSO: Biden, Harris hail ‘justice’ after guilty verdict in George Floyd death
Judge Cahill thanked the jurors “not only for jury service, but for heavy-duty jury service.”
Protesters and onlookers who gathered outside the Hennepin County courthouse could be seen pumping fits, hugging and cheering after the verdict was announced and word spread, as shown on video.
The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating late Monday after receiving the case following closing arguments, spending about 10 hours considering the evidence and apparently asking no questions of the judge in what was described by legal experts as a speedy turnaround.
SEE ALSO: Maxine Waters ‘relieved’ at guilty verdict in George Floyd case
The trial itself lasted 14 days, with the prosecution calling 38 witnesses in 11 days and the defense bringing seven witnesses in two days in the racially charged case, but the star witness was video that showed Chauvin pin Floyd to the pavement for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Chauvin, who is White, sought to subdue Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest for passing a counterfeit $20 bill outside a Cup Foods by kneeling on or near the back of his neck while the 46-year-old Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the pavement.
Prosecutors needed to prove that the force applied by Chauvin was a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death to be found guilty of second-degree murder, not that it was the only factor.
For second-degree murder, the maximum sentence is 40 years, while third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, and second-degree manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Chauvin sought to subdue Floyd during an arrest by kneeling on or near the back of his neck while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the pavement.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher wrapped up the case Monday by refuting defense assertions that Floyd died of a drug overdose or heart disease, calling his death a “straight-up felony assault.”
“Believe your eyes. What you saw happen, happened,” said Mr. Schleicher, referring to the video footage of Floyd‘s death.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson countered that his client “did not purposely use unlawful force,” saying the officers at the scene were “doing their job in a highly stressful situation, according to the training, according to the policies of the Minneapolis Police Department. And it’s tragic.”
The viral video of the incident touched off mass U.S. protests in most major cities, causing an estimated $1-2 billion in damage from the rioting and looting that accompanied some peaceful protests, and sparking calls for police reform.
President Biden said Tuesday that he contacted the Floyd family on Monday, after the jury had been sequestered, and that he was praying for “the right verdict.”
“They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility, no matter what that verdict is,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “I’m praying that verdict is the right verdict, which I think it’s overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now.”
The city of Minneapolis announced March 12, about two weeks before jury selection began, that it had reached a $27 million settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by the Floyd family. The figure was a record for the city.
The jury was sequestered Monday for its deliberations, but not during the trial, a decision that was second-guessed after a fresh wave of protests swept the metro region following the April 11 death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was shot by an officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Judge Cahill raised the possibility Monday that a guilty verdict could be overturned on appeal over fiery comments made last weekend by Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, who joined a Brooklyn Center protest and said activists should “get more confrontational” unless Chauvin was found guilty of murder.
“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Judge Cahill told the court.
The judge also said that elected officials should give their opinions in a “respectful manner,” and that “their failure to do so I think is abhorrent, but I don’t think it has prejudiced us.”
“They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions, and that there is not in any way a prejudice to the defendant,” said the judge.
Ms. Waters said Saturday he should be found guilty of murder, not manslaughter, preferably first-degree murder, a charge not filed by the prosecution.
“Not manslaughter—no, no,” Ms. Waters said. “This is guilty for murder. I don’t know whether it’s in the first degree but as far as I’m concerned, it’s first-degree murder.”
The Black Lives Matter protests last summer over Floyd‘s death including calls to defund the police, but Mr. Schleicher told jurors that they should not view the Chauvin trial as a referendum on law enforcement.
“He did what he did on purpose, and it killed George Floyd,” Mr. Schleicher said. “He betrayed the badge and everything it stood for. This is not an anti-police prosecution. It’s a pro-police prosecution.”
Source
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Updated: 5:56 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, 2021
A Minneapolis jury on Tuesday found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd, reaching a verdict after less than a day of deliberations in a case that ignited mass protests and calls for police reform across the nation.
Hennepin County Court Judge Peter Cahill read the guilty verdicts on the three counts: unintentional second-degree murder; third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
The 45-year-old Chauvin appeared unsurprised by the guilty verdicts, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life. He was handcuffed and remanded into custody shortly after the verdict was read and the jurors excused.
SEE ALSO: Biden, Harris hail ‘justice’ after guilty verdict in George Floyd death
Judge Cahill thanked the jurors “not only for jury service, but for heavy-duty jury service.”
Protesters and onlookers who gathered outside the Hennepin County courthouse could be seen pumping fits, hugging and cheering after the verdict was announced and word spread, as shown on video.
The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating late Monday after receiving the case following closing arguments, spending about 10 hours considering the evidence and apparently asking no questions of the judge in what was described by legal experts as a speedy turnaround.
SEE ALSO: Maxine Waters ‘relieved’ at guilty verdict in George Floyd case
The trial itself lasted 14 days, with the prosecution calling 38 witnesses in 11 days and the defense bringing seven witnesses in two days in the racially charged case, but the star witness was video that showed Chauvin pin Floyd to the pavement for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Chauvin, who is White, sought to subdue Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest for passing a counterfeit $20 bill outside a Cup Foods by kneeling on or near the back of his neck while the 46-year-old Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the pavement.
Prosecutors needed to prove that the force applied by Chauvin was a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death to be found guilty of second-degree murder, not that it was the only factor.
For second-degree murder, the maximum sentence is 40 years, while third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, and second-degree manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Chauvin sought to subdue Floyd during an arrest by kneeling on or near the back of his neck while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the pavement.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher wrapped up the case Monday by refuting defense assertions that Floyd died of a drug overdose or heart disease, calling his death a “straight-up felony assault.”
“Believe your eyes. What you saw happen, happened,” said Mr. Schleicher, referring to the video footage of Floyd‘s death.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson countered that his client “did not purposely use unlawful force,” saying the officers at the scene were “doing their job in a highly stressful situation, according to the training, according to the policies of the Minneapolis Police Department. And it’s tragic.”
The viral video of the incident touched off mass U.S. protests in most major cities, causing an estimated $1-2 billion in damage from the rioting and looting that accompanied some peaceful protests, and sparking calls for police reform.
President Biden said Tuesday that he contacted the Floyd family on Monday, after the jury had been sequestered, and that he was praying for “the right verdict.”
“They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility, no matter what that verdict is,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “I’m praying that verdict is the right verdict, which I think it’s overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now.”
The city of Minneapolis announced March 12, about two weeks before jury selection began, that it had reached a $27 million settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by the Floyd family. The figure was a record for the city.
The jury was sequestered Monday for its deliberations, but not during the trial, a decision that was second-guessed after a fresh wave of protests swept the metro region following the April 11 death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was shot by an officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Judge Cahill raised the possibility Monday that a guilty verdict could be overturned on appeal over fiery comments made last weekend by Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, who joined a Brooklyn Center protest and said activists should “get more confrontational” unless Chauvin was found guilty of murder.
“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Judge Cahill told the court.
The judge also said that elected officials should give their opinions in a “respectful manner,” and that “their failure to do so I think is abhorrent, but I don’t think it has prejudiced us.”
“They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions, and that there is not in any way a prejudice to the defendant,” said the judge.
Ms. Waters said Saturday he should be found guilty of murder, not manslaughter, preferably first-degree murder, a charge not filed by the prosecution.
“Not manslaughter—no, no,” Ms. Waters said. “This is guilty for murder. I don’t know whether it’s in the first degree but as far as I’m concerned, it’s first-degree murder.”
The Black Lives Matter protests last summer over Floyd‘s death including calls to defund the police, but Mr. Schleicher told jurors that they should not view the Chauvin trial as a referendum on law enforcement.
“He did what he did on purpose, and it killed George Floyd,” Mr. Schleicher said. “He betrayed the badge and everything it stood for. This is not an anti-police prosecution. It’s a pro-police prosecution.”
Source
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