Monday, February 28, 2022
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Putin orders nuclear deterrent forces on alert amid growing tensions
by Christopher Hutton, Breaking News Reporter
| February 27, 2022 09:42 AM
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put his nuclear deterrent forces on high alert amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Putin made this gesture on Sunday during a televised statement with top Russian officials. He directed Russia's defense minister and the chief of the military's General Staff to get its nuclear deterrent forces ready.
These forces will undergo a "special regime of combat duty," Putin said. These actions are driven by the ongoing sanctions and "aggressive statements" made by NATO countries.
UKRAINE CREATES INTERNATIONAL LEGION RECRUITING FOREIGNERS TO FIGHT RUSSIA
This is the second time Putin has threatened to use nuclear force amidst the threat of an invasion. Putin made veiled threats referring to nuclear missiles in the first 24 hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stating that any NATO country that gets directly involved would face "such consequences that you have never encountered in your history." While Putin did not directly name nuclear weaponry in his address, many foreign experts suspect that the Russian president was referring to nuclear weapons.
"President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in response to the news, according to the Associated Press. "And we have to continue to condemn his actions in the most strong, strongest possible way."
The war in Ukraine continues. Ukrainian forces continue to hold the two major cities of Kharkiv and Kiev as the invasion intensifies. Troops from Russia have been seen pushing into Kharkiv, but it remains under Ukrainian control. Russians have been surprised by the strength of Ukraine's air defense, according to Pentagon officials. Ukraine officials have also begun recruiting foreigners to help them push back against the invasion.
Saturday, February 26, 2022
The Present Truth
November 1, 1850
Dear Brethren and Sisters
Dear Brethren and Sisters,
I wish to give you a short sketch of what the Lord has recently shown to me in vision. I was shown the loveliness of Jesus, and the love that the angels have for one another. Said the angel—Can ye not behold their love?—follow it. Just so God's people must love one another. Rather let blame fall on thyself than on a brother. I saw that the message “sell that ye have and give alms” had not been given, by some, in its clear light; that the true object of the words of our Saviour had not been clearly presented. I saw that the object of selling was not to give to those who are able to labor and support themselves; but to spread the truth. It is a sin to support and indulge those who are able to labor, in idleness. Some have been zealous to attend all the meetings; not to glorify God, but for the “loaves and fishes.” Such had much better been at home laboring with their hands, “the thing that is good,” to supply the wants of their families, and to have something to give to sustain the precious cause of present truth.
Some, I saw, had erred in praying for the sick to be healed before unbelievers. If any among us are sick, and call for the elders of the church to pray over them, according to James 5:14, 15, we should follow the example of Jesus. He put unbelievers out of the room, then healed the sick; so we should seek to be separated from the unbelief of those who have not faith, when we pray for the sick among us.
Then I was pointed back to the time that Jesus took his disciples away alone, into an upper room, and first washed their feet, and then gave them to eat of the broken bread, to represent his broken body, and juice of the vine to represent his spilled blood. I saw that all should move understandingly, and follow the example of Jesus in these things, and when attending to these ordinances, should be as separate from unbelievers as possible.
Then I was shown that the seven last plagues will be poured out, after Jesus leaves the Sanctuary. Said the angel—It is the wrath of God and the Lamb that causes the destruction or death of the wicked. At the voice of God the saints will be mighty and terrible as an army with banners; but they will not then execute the judgment written. The execution of the judgment will be at the close of the 1000 years.
After the saints are changed to immortality, and are caught up together, and receive their harps, crowns, &c., and enter the Holy City, Jesus and the saints set in judgment. The books are opened, the book of life and the book of death; the book of life contains the good deeds of the saints, and the book of death contains the evil deeds of the wicked. These books were compared with the Statute book, the Bible, and according to that they were judged. The saints in unison with Jesus pass their judgment upon the wicked dead. Behold ye! said the angel, the saints sit in judgment, in unison with Jesus, and mete out to each of the wicked, according to the deeds done in the body, and it is set off against their names what they must receive, at the execution of the judgment. This, I saw, was the work of the saints with Jesus, in the Holy City before it descends to the earth, through the 1000 years. Then at the close of the 1000 years, Jesus, and the angels, and all the saints with him, leaves the Holy City, and while he is descending to the earth with them, the wicked dead are raised, and then the very men that “pierced him,” being raised, will see him afar off in all his glory, the angels and saints with him, and will wail because of him. They will see the prints of the nails in his hands, and in his feet, and where they thrust the spear into his side. The prints of the nails and the spear will then be his glory. It is at the close of the 1000 years that Jesus stands upon the Mount of Olives, and the Mount parts asunder, and it becomes a mighty plain, and those who flee at that time are the wicked, that have just been raised. Then the Holy City comes down and settles on the plain.
Then Satan imbues the wicked, that have been raised, with his spirit. He flatters them that the army in the City is small, and that his army is large, and that they can overcome the saints and take the City. While Satan was rallying his army, the saints were in the City, beholding the beauty and glory of the Paradise of God. Jesus was at their head, leading them. All at once the lovely Saviour was gone from our company; but soon we heard his lovely voice, saying, “Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” We gathered about Jesus, and just as he closed the gates of the City, the curse was pronounced upon the wicked. The gates were shut. Then the saints used their wings and mounted to the top of the wall of the City. Jesus was also with them; his crown looked brilliant and glorious. It was a crown within a crown, seven in number. The crowns of the saints were of the most pure gold, decked with stars. Their faces shone with glory, for they were in the express image of Jesus; and as they arose, and moved all together to the top of the City, I was enraptured with the sight.
Then the wicked saw what they had lost; and fire was breathed from God upon them, and consumed them. This was the Execution of the Judgment. The wicked then received according as the saints in unison with Jesus had meted out to them during the 1000 years. The same fire from God that consumed the wicked, purified the whole earth. The broken ragged mountains melted with fervent heat, the atmosphere, also, and all the stubble was consumed. Then our inheritance opened before us, glorious and beautiful, and we inherited the whole earth made new. We all shouted with a loud voice, Glory, Alleluia.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Russian space chief threatens International Space Station over sanctions
February 25, 2022 - 06:13 PM EST
By NATALIE PRIEB
Russia's space agency chief said that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies over Russia's invasion into Ukraine could potentially destroy cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS).
After President Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. would sanction major Russian banks and impose export controls on Russia to curtail high-tech imports, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin tweeted that the ISS's current location is under Russian control.
"If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or...Europe?" Rogozin said in one of his tweets. "There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?"
Currently, there are four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronaut onboard the outpost, according to CNN.
A NASA spokesperson told CNN that they will continue "working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station."
"The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation," the spokesperson added.
Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman told CNN that the ISS, which is a collaboration among the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency, cannot function if the U.S. and Russia don't cooperate.
"The Russian segment can't function without the electricity on the American side, and the American side can't function without the propulsion systems that are on the Russian side," Reisman said. "So you can't do an amicable divorce. You can't do a conscious uncoupling."
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson voiced concern over the future of the ISS during remarks in the House of Commons Thursday, saying he has been supportive of continued collaboration regarding the ISS but that current circumstances have made it difficult to "see how even those can continue as normal," according to CNN.
The news comes as the White House announced Friday that it will directly sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials in Moscow in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's space agency chief said that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies over Russia's invasion into Ukraine could potentially destroy cooperation on the International Space Station (ISS).
After President Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. would sanction major Russian banks and impose export controls on Russia to curtail high-tech imports, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin tweeted that the ISS's current location is under Russian control.
"If you block cooperation with us, who will save the International Space Station (ISS) from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or...Europe?" Rogozin said in one of his tweets. "There is also the possibility of a 500-ton structure falling on India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?"
Currently, there are four NASA astronauts, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronaut onboard the outpost, according to CNN.
A NASA spokesperson told CNN that they will continue "working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station."
"The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation. No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation," the spokesperson added.
Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman told CNN that the ISS, which is a collaboration among the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency, cannot function if the U.S. and Russia don't cooperate.
"The Russian segment can't function without the electricity on the American side, and the American side can't function without the propulsion systems that are on the Russian side," Reisman said. "So you can't do an amicable divorce. You can't do a conscious uncoupling."
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson voiced concern over the future of the ISS during remarks in the House of Commons Thursday, saying he has been supportive of continued collaboration regarding the ISS but that current circumstances have made it difficult to "see how even those can continue as normal," according to CNN.
The news comes as the White House announced Friday that it will directly sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials in Moscow in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
UK leader vows sanctions against Putin
Live updates: UK leader vows sanctions against Putin
By The Associated Press
13 minutes ago
The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis:
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would introduce sanctions against Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to inflict maximum punishment for invading Ukraine, his Downing Street office said Friday.
Johnson’s pledge comes as the European Union approved an asset freeze on Putin and Lavrov. The comments from Johnson suggest that Western powers are acting in concert on unprecedented measures to try to force Putin to stop the brutal invasion of Russia’s neighbor.
In comments to NATO leaders, the UK leader pressed again for immediate action to exclude Russia from the SWIFT system of financial transactions. European nations have faced criticism for failing to cut Russia off from the global bank payments network in offering sanctions on Thursday.
The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis:
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would introduce sanctions against Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to inflict maximum punishment for invading Ukraine, his Downing Street office said Friday.
Johnson’s pledge comes as the European Union approved an asset freeze on Putin and Lavrov. The comments from Johnson suggest that Western powers are acting in concert on unprecedented measures to try to force Putin to stop the brutal invasion of Russia’s neighbor.
In comments to NATO leaders, the UK leader pressed again for immediate action to exclude Russia from the SWIFT system of financial transactions. European nations have faced criticism for failing to cut Russia off from the global bank payments network in offering sanctions on Thursday.
How the US commitment to lower emissions will affect the fight against climate change
The Biden-Harris administration looks to shift the US economy to a low emissions one through investment, innovation and a push for green public procurement
Image: Unsplash/David Everett
Image: Unsplash/David Everett
18 Feb 2022
Nathan CooperLead, Partnerships and Engagement Strategy, Climate Action Platform, World Economic Forum
Lukas BesterResearcher, Writer, Sustainable Development Consultant in Emerging Markets
The US government has announced plans to transform heavy-pollutant industries to low-carbon ones through green procurement practices and innovation.
The private sector will play a central role to these announcements, with initiatives like the First Movers Coalition stimulating green growth.
Achieving net-zero targets will require a concerted effort from all countries to transform their economies – such efforts must provide green, alternative growth paths for developing countries.
US President Joe Biden has made tackling climate change a top priority. One of his first orders in 2021 was to appoint John Kerry as the first US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. The Biden-Harris Administration have, since then, pursued an environmental agenda, backed by a push for clear regulations to move the American economy to a low-carbon path.
On 15 February the White House announced a string of environmental actions, including addressing emissions from harder-to-abate sectors like heavy industry and heavy-duty transport. These industries, which includes concrete, aluminum, steel, chemicals, and transport, are responsible for up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. If they’re not decarbonized, as advocated for by initiatives like the Mission Possible Partnership, staying within the 1.5 °C target will be very difficult.
This transformation will require a significant push for research and development (R&D), with innovations bent on driving down the ‘green premium’ – the current additional cost of choosing clean technologies over ones that emit greater amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG). The announcement, too, includes at least $9.5 billion for developing and adopting clean hydrogen technologies as well as new guidance on carbon capture and sequestration.
The Biden-Harris Administration is committing itself to a green public procurement strategy, which aims to give preference to private sector providers who use low-carbon products. Kerry, who launched the First Movers Coalition at COP26 in 2021, sees an empowered private sector as a central player in the low-carbon transformation.
World Economic Forum president, Børge Brende, has emphasized that “The transition to green procurement practices isn’t a cost burden for industries and the public sector, but something that creates long-term sustainable economic growth.”
Here's what the White House's recent announcement and such changes will mean for not only the green economic transformation but the battle against climate change.
Reducing emissions in US
Lukas Bester: What does the Biden-Harris administration’s plans to reduce emissions mean for the American economy?
Nathan Cooper: Governments are massive procurers of concrete, steel, aluminum, chemicals, and other products that have driven-up GHG emissions. The US federal government is the single largest consumer globally, spending over $650 billion on products and services annually.
The announced Buy Clean Task Force would work with federal agencies, and the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Transportation, to source low-carbon construction materials from American factories. The public purse’s spending power and influence will go a long way in incentivizing industrial players to produce products using low-carbon materials.
Mainstreaming a low-carbon transformation in heavy-polluting industries requires a mix of carbon-sensitive trade policies, strong public investment in research, development, and diffusion, and bold commitments from procurers that they will only by green. This will nudge private sector players to not just compete for government and company contracts but to innovate - driving down the costs of green technologies.
The role of government to drive and incentivise clean hydrogen and carbon capture technologies and further push for wind- and solar energy adoption, is crucial to this transformation. The Department of Energy hopes to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per kilogram before 2030. To accomplish this, they’re pushing $28 million into R&D.
Global effort to reduce emissions
How does this move fit into the larger global effort to reduce emissions?
Cooper: The energy industry in developed economies have, to a certain extent, successfully addressed the ‘green premium’. Prices of solar power has been driven down by 80% since 2010 – it is now cheaper to produce than nuclear or coal. So too, the same period saw onshore wind production fall by 56%, while offshore wind fell by 48%. Half of all renewables, now, undercut fossil fuels. These gains are thanks to fervent R&D efforts to create better technologies, creative market-based interventions such as the UK’s contracts for difference, and market demand, which drove production of scale.
The COVID-19 vaccine development efforts are another excellent example of what can be done when public and private ambitions meet. The US used public-private partnership (PPP) policy to accelerate R&D and private firms produced COVID-19 vaccines at unprecedented speed. Here, we saw how the public sector provides attractive conditions to support private sector innovation.
PPPs can leverage the strengths of the public- and private sectors, simultaneously accelerating the creation of economies of scale. Applying the same logic to the green premium in the manufacturing industry is feasible and we should embrace the role of a proactive government therein.
This push by developed nations shouldn't create a two-tier system, however, where nations who have fewer resources get left behind. The G7 will meet later this year in Berlin, Germany, where much of the discussion will centre on enhanced collaboration to drive a low-carbon future. The G7’s Industrial Decarbonisation Agenda will create conditions among these nations to stimulate investment in green industries.
The fear, however, is that emerging nations may get left behind – a hot topic for the G20 sumit in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2022. Indonesia, like others, is experiencing rapid economic development but, while overtly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, is slow to phase out fossil fuels and heavy-polluting industries. If wealthy nations shift global trade standards to require low carbon targets, economies like Indonesia’s may suffer as a consequence.
Nevertheless, the US’s turnaround may serve as a valuable reminder of what ambitious leadership can accomplish. Less than 18 months ago, the US wasn’t even a signatory to the Paris Agreement. Now, it’s firmly taking up the mantle of being a green economy leader.
"For the first time, and in a massive way, the private sector is at the table and, frankly, leading in a way."—John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
Reaching the 2050 net-zero targets
What more needs to be done?
Cooper: Half of the emissions reductions needed to reach the 2050 net-zero target relies on technologies that are still only prototypes or in early stages of development. IKEA’s CEO, Jesper Brodin, called the 2020s the most important decade in the history of humankind, emphasizing the need for upscaling of R&D.
McKinsey calculates that, to reach net-zero by 2050, we need an additional $3,5 trillion a year in capital spending to transform energy and industry systems. Bill Gates has pledged $1 billion for developing such technologies, emphasizing that the price of low-carbon solutions must be the same – or cheaper – than high-pollutant methods. For price parities in heavy-emitter industries to be global, we must address both the ‘ambition gap’ (promises made) and the ‘implementation gap’ (actions taken). Rich nations must work alongside developing ones to redirect capital away from fossil fuels and transition to low carbon economies.
What is the First Movers Coalition, and how is it part of this work?
Cooper: The First Movers Coalition has brought together major global companies, including Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, and Volvo, to drastically scale-up R&D and innovation in green technologies. The coalition represents eight major sectors comprising 30% of all emissions.
Major companies who have signed up within the harder-to-abate industries (like shipping, aviation, trucking, and steel) include Airbus, A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Boeing, Cemex, Dalmia Cement, LafargeHolcim, Mahindra Group, SSAB Swedish Steel, and Yara.
Amazon has pledged to be net-zero by 2040, aiming to decarbonise its transportation network by investing in the development of sustainable technologies. Lafarge, in turn, has committed to lowering C02 intensity in cement to 475kg net C02 per ton of material. Mahindra Group, meanwhile, is showcasing that manufacturers can make bold climate actions, aiming to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 47% per product produced by 2033.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
An Alabama high school basketball team say they were forced to choose faith over a tournament game
An Alabama high school basketball team say they were forced to choose faith over a tournament game. The governor is demanding answers
By Sara Smart, CNN
Updated 8:30 PM ET, Thu February 24, 2022
Oakwood Adventist Academy's men's basketball team forfeited a tournament game that fell during Sabbath.
(CNN)Alabama's governor is demanding answers after a high school basketball team say they were forced to choose between their faith or a game.
Oakwood Adventist Academy is a Seventh-Day Adventist school in Huntsville, located 100 miles north of Birmingham. Their men's basketball team had advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament last week, the school's Athletic Director, Calvin Morton, told CNN Wednesday.
But the regional semifinal game was set for Saturday, February 19 at 4:30 p.m., and would interfere with Sabbath, which is observed from sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday.
West Virginia school district says students' rights were violated during religious gathering on campus
Morton said he emailed the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) to ask if they could play at 7:30 p.m. instead, after sunset, to meet their religious beliefs.
That request was denied.
"We weren't asking for a change of stadium or venue or a change of a different day," Morton told CNN. "It was a simple two-to-three hour game change ... which we thought was a reasonable ask."
The other teams participating in the tournament were willing to accommodate and swap game times, Morton said. When he relayed that message to AHSAA in a follow up, they still denied the change.
AHSAA told CNN they have no comment at this time.
Morton said they had a team meeting and everyone was on the same page: They would forfeit. "We were taken aback and upset that they weren't going to play," Morton said.
Now, Governor Kay Ivey is stepping in and demanding answers from the association.
The team says they have no regrets in their decision to forfeit the game to meet their religious beliefs.
Ivey took to Twitter on Tuesday to share the letters she sent to AHSAA Director Alvin Briggs and Judy Chiles-Dent, Oakwood's principal.
"I am writing to express my profound concern -- and to get some answers -- about the alleged treatment of Oakwood Adventist Academy," Ivey wrote in the letter to Briggs.
That letter goes on to list questions for the organization that she demands answers to. These include: "Which AHSAA employees were responsible for making this decision?" and "How can we as a State ensure that something like this never occurs again?"
In her letter to Principal Chiles-Dent, Ivey offered solidarity.
"The idea that a team like Oakwood could be denied a chance to compete based on its faith -- without even the most modest of accommodations -- is deeply concerning," Ivey's letter reads.
A student athlete sparked national change after being disqualified from a volleyball match for wearing a hijab
The governor went on to invite the principal, players and coaches of the basketball team to the Alabama Capitol to celebrate the team's achievements and tell her about their time in the tournament. The team plans to accept Governor Ivey's invitation and hope they can meet her in the next week, Morton said.
"It's great that we have that support for us," Morton added. "It's not just for Oakland Adventist Academy, it's for any other school or academy that has religious values or beliefs."
Despite their forced forfeit of the game, the team still traveled to the tournament at Jacksonville State University to cheer on the other teams, according to CNN affiliate WAFF.
The team's senior captain, Raynon Andrews, told WAFF they have no regrets about their decision.
"There is a whole Facebook community, there are people all around the world texting parents, saying how proud they are of us," Andrews said. "That means a lot."
CNN's Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Russia attacks Ukraine, launching a new war in Europe for the first time in years
John Haltiwanger and Charles R. Davis
1 hour ago
T-72B3 Main Battle Tanks of Russian Army take part in a military drill in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 14, 2022. Russian Defense Ministry/Getty Images
Russian forces attacked Ukraine early Thursday morning, launching an offensive that threatens to kill thousands of people, force millions more to flee, and destabilize much of Europe, with the consequences certain to reverberate across the world.
Blasts were heard from Kyiv, the capital, to the eastern city of Kharkiv — missile strikes, the Ukrainian interior ministry told CNN — with reports of outgoing artillery fire from Russian forces across the border.
"The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces," US President Joe Biden said in a statement. "President Putin has chosen a pre mediated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering."
Thursday's invasion was preceded by a formal request for military intervention from Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, where rebels and Russian forces have been fighting Ukrainian troops for eight years.
On the eve of the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to the airwaves in a last-ditch appeal for peace — while pledging that Ukrainians would "fight back" against any futher Russian incursion.
Hours later, in an early morning address that coincided with an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively declared war, insisting that Russian forces would strive for the "demilitarization" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, whose president is Jewish. Explosions were heard soon after in Kharkiv and Kyiv, CNN reported, with blasts also heard in the port city of Odessa.
The attack will be a "full scale" and "comprehensive military assault," Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote on Twitter. The Florida Republican said the invasion would include air strikes as well as amphibious landings, cyber attacks, and "a large ground force to occupy a large swath of territory."
Indeed, minutes later Reuters reported that an amphibious landing operation was taking place near Odessa on the Azov sea.
Tensions had been mounting for months as Russia amassed troops, tanks, and amphibious ships near Ukraine's borders. Beginning in late 2021, Russia began amassing tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's borders, with roughly 190,000 deployed by the time of the attack.
Russia in mid-February claimed to be withdrawing some of its troops from Ukraine's borders, but the US and NATO didn't buy it, citing intelligence that the Kremlin had actually deployed thousands more soldiers.
President Biden warned last week that he believes Russian forces will ultimately besiege Ukraine's capitol, which has a population of nearly 3 million people. Earlier this week, he unveiled a new round of sanctions against Russian officials in response to Moscow deploying troops to the eastern Donbas region, which he characterized "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine."
Over the past few months the US and its allies worked to find a diplomatic solution to prevent a broader confrontation, but Russia made demands for binding security guarantees to which they would never agree. This included permanently banning Ukraine and Georgia from NATO, which the alliance and Washington repeatedly made clear was a non-starter.
Ukraine has sought to join NATO for years, and maintains robust ties with the alliance. The US since 2014 has provided Ukraine with billions in military assistance, including lethal aid like Javelin anti-tank missiles. Other NATO members have also provided Ukraine with weapons. That said, Ukraine is not on track to become a NATO member at any point in the near future, despite suggestions from the Kremlin to the contrary.
For years, Putin offered hints of his ambitions when it comes to Ukraine. Putin in 2008 told President George W. Bush that Ukraine is "not even a country," and he's referred to Ukrainians and Russians as "one people." In short, Putin has been quite clear that he wants Ukraine under Russian sway, and the US out of the region he perceives as in Russia's sphere of influence.
Putin, a former KGB operative, during his 20 years in power has moved to reestablish Moscow's hegemony in countries once part of the Soviet Union. The military operation he just ordered in Ukraine shows he's committed to this course despite the risks it will damage his economy or provoke a more robust NATO presence.
- Russia attacked Ukraine early Thursday morning, with explosions heard in the capital, Kyiv.
- The US and its allies warned Russia of severe economic sanctions if it invaded.
- Russia previously invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexing Crimea in the process and fueling the 8-year war in the country's east.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine early Thursday morning, launching an offensive that threatens to kill thousands of people, force millions more to flee, and destabilize much of Europe, with the consequences certain to reverberate across the world.
Blasts were heard from Kyiv, the capital, to the eastern city of Kharkiv — missile strikes, the Ukrainian interior ministry told CNN — with reports of outgoing artillery fire from Russian forces across the border.
"The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces," US President Joe Biden said in a statement. "President Putin has chosen a pre mediated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering."
Thursday's invasion was preceded by a formal request for military intervention from Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, where rebels and Russian forces have been fighting Ukrainian troops for eight years.
On the eve of the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to the airwaves in a last-ditch appeal for peace — while pledging that Ukrainians would "fight back" against any futher Russian incursion.
Hours later, in an early morning address that coincided with an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively declared war, insisting that Russian forces would strive for the "demilitarization" and "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, whose president is Jewish. Explosions were heard soon after in Kharkiv and Kyiv, CNN reported, with blasts also heard in the port city of Odessa.
The attack will be a "full scale" and "comprehensive military assault," Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote on Twitter. The Florida Republican said the invasion would include air strikes as well as amphibious landings, cyber attacks, and "a large ground force to occupy a large swath of territory."
Indeed, minutes later Reuters reported that an amphibious landing operation was taking place near Odessa on the Azov sea.
Tensions had been mounting for months as Russia amassed troops, tanks, and amphibious ships near Ukraine's borders. Beginning in late 2021, Russia began amassing tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's borders, with roughly 190,000 deployed by the time of the attack.
Russia in mid-February claimed to be withdrawing some of its troops from Ukraine's borders, but the US and NATO didn't buy it, citing intelligence that the Kremlin had actually deployed thousands more soldiers.
President Biden warned last week that he believes Russian forces will ultimately besiege Ukraine's capitol, which has a population of nearly 3 million people. Earlier this week, he unveiled a new round of sanctions against Russian officials in response to Moscow deploying troops to the eastern Donbas region, which he characterized "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine."
Over the past few months the US and its allies worked to find a diplomatic solution to prevent a broader confrontation, but Russia made demands for binding security guarantees to which they would never agree. This included permanently banning Ukraine and Georgia from NATO, which the alliance and Washington repeatedly made clear was a non-starter.
Ukraine has sought to join NATO for years, and maintains robust ties with the alliance. The US since 2014 has provided Ukraine with billions in military assistance, including lethal aid like Javelin anti-tank missiles. Other NATO members have also provided Ukraine with weapons. That said, Ukraine is not on track to become a NATO member at any point in the near future, despite suggestions from the Kremlin to the contrary.
For years, Putin offered hints of his ambitions when it comes to Ukraine. Putin in 2008 told President George W. Bush that Ukraine is "not even a country," and he's referred to Ukrainians and Russians as "one people." In short, Putin has been quite clear that he wants Ukraine under Russian sway, and the US out of the region he perceives as in Russia's sphere of influence.
Putin, a former KGB operative, during his 20 years in power has moved to reestablish Moscow's hegemony in countries once part of the Soviet Union. The military operation he just ordered in Ukraine shows he's committed to this course despite the risks it will damage his economy or provoke a more robust NATO presence.
What is the Ticker Symbol for Moderna?
Moderna Earnings: What to Look For From MRNA
Wed, February 23, 2022, 5:53 AM·4 min read
In this article:
MRNA
-5.28%
Significant Event | 1d
Moderna Says Initiates Phase 3 Portion Of Pivotal Trial For MRNA RSV Vaccine Candidate
VCRRX
-0.15%
Moderna (MRNA) reports Q4 earnings before market open on Feb. 24. Can it keep posting healthy profits and revenue on demand for its COVID-19 vaccine?
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Transgender Student At Southern Threatens Legal Action if School Policy Requires Students to Dress And Use Bathrooms According to Birth Gender
Transgender Student At Southern Threatens Legal Action if School Policy Requires Students to Dress And Use Bathrooms According to Birth Gender
February 15, 2022 NewsHound
According to the Southern Accent (the Southern Adventist University student newspaper) transgender student Austin Bates had a meeting with the school sexual integrity official. In that meeting he was told that the school is still developing a Sexual Integrity Policy and parts of it will require that students dress according to their birth gender and use bathrooms that correspond with their birth gender. That’s basic biblical Christianity.
He said in the interview,
“If the policy were to go into effect as it has been communicated, in order to protect myself and any trans student that comes out after me, I would be forced to proceed with legal action.”
Commentary
Southern is trying to uphold biblical distinctions between male and female, and they are to be commended for that.
Southern is a little late to the game in developing a biblical sexuality policy, but they are working on it through the slow grind of multiple committees. Part of the reason is the Seventh-day Adventist church has not been at the forefront of cultural sexual issues, naively assuming over the decades that biblical sexual norms would remain the dominant worldview. We were wrong, and now we must catch up during a time of fierce attack.
The fellow is clearly threatening Southern Adventist University, while simultaneously demanding to remain a student there. This kind of reprehensible blackmail should be met with automatic dismissal from the University. You can be excused, Sir.
He should also be dismissed for claiming to be LGBTQ. This is a Christian institution, Sir.
****
Rents reach ‘insane’ levels across US with no end in sight
By R.J. RICO
February 20, 2022
Krystal Guerra, 32, poses for a picture outside her apartment, which she has to leave after her new landlord gave her less than a month's notice that her rent would go up by 26%, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in the Coral Way neighborhood of Miami. Guerra, who works in marketing while also pursuing a degree part-time, had already been spending nearly 50% of her monthly income on rent prior to the increase. Unable to afford a comparable apartment in the area as rents throughout the city have risen dramatically, Guerra is putting many of her belongings into storage and moving in with her boyfriend and his daughter for the time being. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space.
But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for a few more years as she finished her marketing degree.
That was until a new owner bought the property and told her he was raising the rent from $1,550 to $1,950, a 26% increase that Guerra said meant her rent would account for the majority of her take-home pay from the University of Miami.
“I thought that was insane,” said Guerra, who decided to move out. “Am I supposed to stop paying for everything else I have going on in my life just so I can pay rent? That’s unsustainable.”
Guerra is hardly alone. Rents have exploded across the country, causing many to dig deep into their savings, downsize to subpar units or fall behind on payments and risk eviction now that a federal moratorium has ended.
In the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, median rent rose an astounding 19.3% from December 2020 to December 2021, according to a Realtor.com analysis of properties with two or fewer bedrooms. And nowhere was the jump bigger than in the Miami metro area, where the median rent exploded to $2,850, 49.8% higher than the previous year.
Other cities across Florida — Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville — and the Sun Belt destinations of San Diego, Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee, all saw spikes of more than 25% during that time period.
Rising rents are an increasing driver of high inflation that has become one of the nation’s top economic problems. Labor Department data, which covers existing rents as well as new listings, shows much smaller increases, but these are also picking up. Rental costs rose 0.5% in January from December, the Labor Department said last week. That may seem small, but it was the biggest increase in 20 years, and will likely accelerate.
Economists worry about the impact of rent increases on inflation because the big jumps in new leases feed into the U.S. consumer price index, which is used to measure inflation.
Inflation jumped 7.5% in January from a year earlier, the biggest increase in four decades. While many economists expect that to decrease as pandemic-disrupted supply chains unravel, rising rents could keep inflation high through the end of the year since housing costs make up one-third of the consumer price index.
Things have gotten so bad in Boston, which has nearly overtaken San Francisco as the nation’s second-most expensive rental market, that one resident went viral for jokingly putting an igloo on the market for $2,700 a month. “Heat/ hot water not included,” Jonathan Berk tweeted.
Experts say many factors are responsible for astronomical rents, including a nationwide housing shortage, extremely low rental vacancies and unrelenting demand as young adults continue to enter the crowded market.
Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, lead author of a recent report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said there was a lot of “pent-up demand” after the initial months of the pandemic, when many young people moved back home with their parents. Starting last year, as the economy opened up and young people moved out, “rents really took off,” she said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, rental vacancy rates during the fourth quarter of 2021 fell to 5.6%, the lowest since 1984.
“Without a lot of rental vacancy that landlords are accustomed to having, that gives them some pricing power because they’re not sitting on empty units that they need to fill,” said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist.
Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale have been at a record low, contributing to ballooning home prices that have caused many higher-income households to remain renters, further upping demand.
Construction crews are also trying to bounce back from material and labor shortages that at the start of the pandemic made a preexisting shortage of new homes even worse, leaving an estimated shortfall of 5.8 million single-family homes, a 51% leap from the end of 2019, Realtor.com said.
And potentially compounding all of this is the increasing presence of investors.
A record 18.2% of U.S home purchases in the third quarter of 2021 were made by businesses or institutions, according to Redfin, as investors targeted Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida — popular destinations for people relocating from pricier cities.
Hale said the increasing presence of investors is a factor in rent hikes, but only because they have pricing power due to low vacancies. “I don’t think that’s the only driver,” she said.
Most investors aren’t tied down by rent control. Only two states, California and Oregon, have statewide rent control laws, while three others – New York, New Jersey and Maryland – have laws allowing local governments to pass rent control ordinances, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.
And laws in some states like Arizona actually restrict local jurisdictions from limiting what landlords can charge tenants.
In Tucson, Arizona, the mayor’s office said it has been deluged with calls from residents worried about rent hikes after a California developer recently bought an apartment complex that catered to older people and raised rents by more than 50%, forcing out many on fixed incomes.
The rent on a one-bedroom apartment in the complex went from $579 to $880 a month, an increase legal under Arizona state law.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decried the increases during a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing, saying Arizona’s rapidly growing housing costs have been a “major concern” of hers for years.
Nationally, Hale, the Realtor.com economist, expects rents to continue to rise this year, but at a slower pace, thanks to increased construction.
“Improving supply growth should help create more balance in the market,” said Hale, who forecasts rents to rise 7.1% in 2022.
In Miami, Guerra has started packing her belongings ahead of her March move-out date. She spent weeks frantically looking for places in her budget but said she couldn’t find anything that wasn’t “either incredibly small, incredibly broken down or an hour away from work and everyone I know.”
Her plan now is to put her things in storage and move in with her boyfriend, even though the timing isn’t ideal.
“We didn’t want to have the decision of moving in together forced upon us,” Guerra said. “We wanted it to be something we agreed to, but it’s happening before we wanted it to happen.”
___
Associated Press Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington and AP writers Michael Casey in Boston and Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Biden looks to pressure investors away from fossil fuels via climate disclosures
by Zachary Halaschak, Economics Reporter |
| February 18, 2022 07:00
The pressure is increasing on companies to follow environmental, social, and governance standards from both the private sector and the government.
The Biden administration is prioritizing proposed rulemaking that would require companies to produce climate-related disclosures, most notably through the Securities and Exchange Commission, a form of indirect pressure on fossil fuel companies.
The SEC is debating the extent to which it can compel companies to disclose details about how much energy they buy and how they handle climate risks. Such self-reported disclosures to investors have already become commonplace in business, and adding government-mandated ESG disclosure rules is a big goal for the administration.
The SEC has been working on the disclosure rule for months now, with Chairman Gary Gensler initially announcing that the draft would be released by October and then later pushing that deadline back to January. Now it is unclear when exactly it will be unveiled, although some are beginning to get restless, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who called for “quick action” on the matter earlier this month.
MUSK ACCUSES SEC OF HARASSING TESLA TO CHILL HIS CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT
The proposed rule is part of President Joe Biden’s broader climate agenda, which envisions cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than half by the end of the decade when compared to 2005 levels.
At the heart of the SEC’s troubles with releasing a proposed rule is the scope of the reporting requirements. Some of the more hard-charging climate activists want to see stringent reporting requirements, while others fear putting those in place would entail too much red tape for companies to handle and legal challenges for the SEC.
In analyzing corporate climate emissions, the SEC organizes them into three categories, known as scopes. Scope 1 includes the emissions that a company directly generates — this scope will certainly be included in a proposed rule. Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions, such as those involved in the use of electricity, and Scope 3, which is the most controversial, measures the emissions of other entities, such as suppliers or customers in a company’s value chain.
Gensler and the SEC must be careful with how they proceed because if they are too heavy-handed in the rulemaking, they could face lawsuits that have the potential to strike the rule down, delivering a massive blow to Biden’s climate agenda.
There is only one Republican SEC commissioner, and any rule must pass by a majority vote, meaning that all three Democrats, including Gensler, have to agree on the climate disclosure rule.
At the heart of the intraparty debate over the scope of ESG climate reporting requirements is the legal concept of “materiality," according to Bloomberg. Materiality is what dictates what information companies must disclose to shareholders, but the definition under current law is vague, and the courts have not established a clear precedent on what the concept entails.
Gensler is reportedly worried about the new climate reporting rule being successfully challenged in court and struck down if the SEC is too liberal with what it establishes as materiality, while the other two Democrats are reportedly pushing for more aggressive climate reporting guidelines. If Gensler’s concerns win out, Scope 3 emissions would likely not be required to be reported.
Another flashpoint in the debate is whether auditors should approve of companies’ disclosures. While the other two Democrats feel that auditing is necessary to determine compliance with the rule, Gensler reportedly fears that requiring audits could also add to the legal pushback.
“I think that the chairman has an agenda, but I’m not sure that his two fellow Democrat commissioners will necessarily follow him across the board on this,” James Copland, the director of legal policy at the conservative Manhattan Institute, told the Washington Examiner.
“I think the SEC runs the risk of stepping well outside its lane,” Copland said. “Whether reviewing federal courts would actually gut those regulations or not depends on how they do it, how it’s litigated, and what judges it gets in front of, et cetera — but I do think they’re running a significant risk on that.”
Mandating these disclosures is a form of indirect pressure on companies to rein in their exposure to fossil fuels. The rule would not require companies to change their corporate strategy at all, but disclosing investments in fossil fuels could cause investors to pressure those companies to divest or change their strategy.
Proponents of strict reporting requirements see insulating the world from the risks posed by climate change as important because the warming climate will cause harm to the environment and society. They also argue that failing to be open about a company’s exposure to the fossil fuel industry could put shareholders in jeopardy.
Those who push back on the notion of strict reporting requirements see them as overly burdensome and exceed the scope of what companies should be prioritizing — which is creating shareholder value.
ESG has become popular with the rise of stakeholder capitalism versus traditional shareholder capitalism. The idea of stakeholder capitalism has overtaken many large corporations and represents the notion that, in general, companies shouldn’t care just about their bottom lines but also have some sort of wider responsibility to society. The philosophy has existed in various permutations for decades, although it has been repackaged as ESG in more recent years.
The push for ESG and reporting requirements isn’t just coming from the government, but also from companies themselves.
One company that has made ESG a top priority (and faced both praise and backlash for doing so) is BlackRock, a massive $10 trillion investment firm, the world’s largest.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in 2020 that climate change would be a “defining factor” in its investment assessments. Fink reiterated his firm’s commitment to ESG during his hotly anticipated annual letter to CEOs released this year.
“As stewards of our clients’ capital, we ask businesses to demonstrate how they’re going to deliver on their responsibility to shareholders, including through sound environmental, social, and governance practices and policies,” he said.
In a 3,300-word letter earlier this year, Fink repudiated those who believe prioritizing ESG initiatives means the money manager doesn’t value returns for shareholders. He argued that decarbonizing and working to address climate change don't subtract value from shareholders, but rather protect the long-term interests of shareholders.
“Few things will impact capital allocation decisions — and thereby the long-term value of your company — more than how effectively you navigate the global energy transition in the years ahead,” he wrote.
For some companies, ESG and political dalliances have been good for profits. For example, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has been very vocal in environmental and social causes, which gains them media attention and thus more attention from customers. Some progressive-minded customers choose Ben & Jerry’s over other brands specifically because of the company’s commitment to their environmental and social activism.
Richard Morrison, a research fellow with the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner that most companies push ESG because they don’t want to end up on a "bad list" or be perceived as worthy of boycotts and negative media attention for their lack of ESG focus.
Companies that tout their commitment to transparency and ESG disclosures have to be careful not to shoot themselves in the foot, though.
Brian Marks, the executive director of the University of New Haven’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, told the Washington Examiner that a big factor with ESG is whether companies are actually “walking the walk” and not just paying lip service to environmental and social priorities. Some corporations have been caught obfuscating the truth about their products in order to reap the benefits of the ESG without following through.
For instance, Volkswagen, which had been touting its low emission diesel vehicles, was caught in a massive scandal after it was uncovered that the company had been cheating on U.S. emissions tests and the vehicles actually emitted far more greenhouse gas than the company touted.
While the Biden administration and some companies have embraced the ESG shift and are hoping to make disclosures the norm, they are facing opposition from some Republican states who are trying to use their power to push back.
Last year Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that banned state investments in businesses that cut ties with the oil and gas industry. Abbott also signed legislation banning state and local governments from working with corporations whose policies restrict the firearms industry.
Another example is West Virginia. The Mountain State’s Senate recently passed a bill authorizing the state’s treasurer to produce a list of firms that refuse to do business with fossil fuel companies and to reject such companies from consideration for state financial contracts.
“It's real simple,” West Virginia Sen. Rupert Phillips, the bill’s chief sponsor, recently told the Washington Examiner. “Why should we take our tax dollars that our coal miners and our gas industry has produced and invest it into a bank that is trying to shut them down?”
Additionally, last month West Virginia’s state Treasurer Riley Moore announced that his state would end the use of a BlackRock investment fund. Moore said that BlackRock “has urged companies to embrace ‘net zero’ investment strategies that would harm the coal, oil and natural gas industries, while increasing investments in Chinese companies that subvert national interests and damage West Virginia's manufacturing base and job market.”
The pushback has created a scenario where companies need to walk the fine line of not upsetting shareholders and inviting activist investors to wage war, while also working to not lose valuable business in states that are pushing back on the ESG drive.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Reuters reported Thursday that BlackRock executives reassured elected officials and other energy industry stakeholders in Texas earlier this year that they want the Lone Star State’s oil and gas firms to “succeed and prosper” and that the firm would keep doing business with them.
“We will continue to invest in and support fossil fuel companies, including Texas fossil fuel companies,” the executives said in a letter.
Monday, February 21, 2022
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Friday, February 18, 2022
Former fugitive pleads guilty in 2009 parental kidnapping
A former Vermont woman who fled the United States with her daughter to avoid sharing custody with her former same-sex partner has pleaded guilty to parental kidnapping
By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press
February 16, 2022, 5:16 PM
The Associated Press
FILE — Lisa Miller answers questions about her custody battle during a news conference...
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A former Vermont woman who fled the United States with her daughter in 2009 and lived as a fugitive in Nicaragua to avoid sharing custody with her former same-sex partner pleaded guilty Wednesday to parental kidnapping.
Lisa Miller, 53, appeared via video in federal court in Buffalo, where she admitted to the charge under an agreement with federal prosecutors that will likely shorten the time she could spend in prison.
Miller was indicted in 2014 amid a prolonged custody fight that began years earlier when she broke up with her partner, Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven, Vermont, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian.
She disappeared in September 2009 with the couple's then 7-year-old daughter Isabella, shortly before Jenkins was scheduled to have an unsupervised visit with the child.
Authorities said a network of supporters — many of them members of a conservative Christian church — helped Miller flee to Canada by way of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York. They then drove her to Toronto for a flight to Nicaragua, where Miller and her daughter are believed to have stayed for several years.
“Miss Miller just didn't wake up one morning and say 'I’m going to get in my car and drive to Canada,'” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo told U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, who accepted the guilty plea.
Miller only spoke Wednesday to acknowledge she understood the proceedings, mostly replying with “Yes sir." Although she was on video, members of the press who dialed were only permitted to hear the audio.
A Mennonite pastor in Nicaragua told The Associated Press in 2011 that members of the church helped Miller in order to protect Isabella from what they considered a dangerous and immoral lifestyle.
“God’s Holy Law never recognizes a gay marriage,” the pastor, Pablo Yoder, said in an email message.
Miller returned to the United States in 2021 after Isabella turned 18 years old. She was arrested in Miami.
Isabella Miller has since said in court documents that she was “happy, safe, healthy” and well-cared-for in Nicaragua. Both she and Jenkins agreed to the plea deal, DiGiacomo said.
Lisa Miller indicated in an October court filing that her daughter was living in Virginia and working on a farm north of Charlottesville owned by a Mennonite family.
Through her lawyer, Jenkins said she hoped that with the legal case settled, Isabella will agree to speak with Jenkins and an extended family that includes an 8-year-old sibling Isabella has never met.
“The Jenkins family wants Isabella to know that she has a large family who love and support her, even though she might have been told differently by others,” Vermont attorney Sarah Starr said by phone after the hearing.
Isabella Miller's attorney did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union in 2000, shortly after the state became the first to recognize same-sex relationships. Two years later, Miller gave birth to the girl, conceived through artificial insemination. The couple split in 2003.
As part of the plea agreement, Miller is expected to receive a prison term of 12 to 18 months when she is sentenced in June. The charge typically carries a maximum sentence of three years.
In 2012, Kenneth Miller, a Mennonite pastor from Stuart’s Draft, Virginia, was convicted in federal court in Vermont of helping Lisa Miller flee. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
The Millers are not related.
In 2016 Philip Zodhiates, a businessman from Waynesboro, Virginia, also was convicted, in Buffalo, of helping them flee. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
———
Associated Press writer Wilson Ring contributed from Montpelier, Vermont.
FILE — Lisa Miller answers questions about her custody battle during a news conference...
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A former Vermont woman who fled the United States with her daughter in 2009 and lived as a fugitive in Nicaragua to avoid sharing custody with her former same-sex partner pleaded guilty Wednesday to parental kidnapping.
Lisa Miller, 53, appeared via video in federal court in Buffalo, where she admitted to the charge under an agreement with federal prosecutors that will likely shorten the time she could spend in prison.
Miller was indicted in 2014 amid a prolonged custody fight that began years earlier when she broke up with her partner, Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven, Vermont, renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian.
She disappeared in September 2009 with the couple's then 7-year-old daughter Isabella, shortly before Jenkins was scheduled to have an unsupervised visit with the child.
Authorities said a network of supporters — many of them members of a conservative Christian church — helped Miller flee to Canada by way of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York. They then drove her to Toronto for a flight to Nicaragua, where Miller and her daughter are believed to have stayed for several years.
“Miss Miller just didn't wake up one morning and say 'I’m going to get in my car and drive to Canada,'” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo told U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, who accepted the guilty plea.
Miller only spoke Wednesday to acknowledge she understood the proceedings, mostly replying with “Yes sir." Although she was on video, members of the press who dialed were only permitted to hear the audio.
A Mennonite pastor in Nicaragua told The Associated Press in 2011 that members of the church helped Miller in order to protect Isabella from what they considered a dangerous and immoral lifestyle.
“God’s Holy Law never recognizes a gay marriage,” the pastor, Pablo Yoder, said in an email message.
Miller returned to the United States in 2021 after Isabella turned 18 years old. She was arrested in Miami.
Isabella Miller has since said in court documents that she was “happy, safe, healthy” and well-cared-for in Nicaragua. Both she and Jenkins agreed to the plea deal, DiGiacomo said.
Lisa Miller indicated in an October court filing that her daughter was living in Virginia and working on a farm north of Charlottesville owned by a Mennonite family.
Through her lawyer, Jenkins said she hoped that with the legal case settled, Isabella will agree to speak with Jenkins and an extended family that includes an 8-year-old sibling Isabella has never met.
“The Jenkins family wants Isabella to know that she has a large family who love and support her, even though she might have been told differently by others,” Vermont attorney Sarah Starr said by phone after the hearing.
Isabella Miller's attorney did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union in 2000, shortly after the state became the first to recognize same-sex relationships. Two years later, Miller gave birth to the girl, conceived through artificial insemination. The couple split in 2003.
As part of the plea agreement, Miller is expected to receive a prison term of 12 to 18 months when she is sentenced in June. The charge typically carries a maximum sentence of three years.
In 2012, Kenneth Miller, a Mennonite pastor from Stuart’s Draft, Virginia, was convicted in federal court in Vermont of helping Lisa Miller flee. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
The Millers are not related.
In 2016 Philip Zodhiates, a businessman from Waynesboro, Virginia, also was convicted, in Buffalo, of helping them flee. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
———
Associated Press writer Wilson Ring contributed from Montpelier, Vermont.
The Real Anthony Fauci
February 14, 2022 Larry Kirkpatrick
This is a review of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s #1 best-selling November 2021 book.
Kennedy’s book is the mother of all exposes against the “medical cartel.”
His volume shows how the largest pharmaceutical companies (big pharma) have become primary agents in “the 2020’s historic coup d’etat against Western democracy.”(1) Coup d’etat is a French phrase meaning the seizure and removal of a government and its powers.
We’re not merely beset by pharma; most in the political tribes are complicit along with the multi-letter agencies. We are miles downstream from that fabled time when, in some measure, an independent media guarded our civilization against itself. Look out your window and see; it is as though the whole world is taken captive, riding aboard a speeding train, and headed toward a technocratic rainbow destination it is doomed to learn is mirage.(2)
Trust misplaced can have devastating effects; it can lead to desperate atrocities in our world, spiritual danger, and physical death. Having a realistic view about how much trust we can safely place in institutions is important.
Anyone could turn literally to any 20-page stretch in Kennedy’s book and gather substantial, well-documented knowledge. The book includes more than 2200 references, many of them web links. While Anthony Fauci is a central figure, his problematic history is a jumping-off point for Kennedy’s sweeping critique of the global medical cartel. Kennedy writes,
From the moment of my reluctant entrance into the vaccine debate in 2005, I was astonished to realize that the pervasive web of deep financial entanglements between Pharma and the government health agencies had put regulatory capture on steroids. The CDC, for example, owns 57 vaccine patents' and spends $4.9 of its $12.0 billion-dollar annual budget (as of 2019) buying and distributing vaccines. NIH owns hundreds of vaccine patents and often profits from the sale of products it supposedly regulates. High level officials, including Dr. Fauci, receive yearly emoluments of up to $150,000 in royalty payments on products that they help develop and then usher through the approval process. The FDA receives 45 percent of its budget from the pharmaceutical industry, through what are euphemistically called "user fees." When I learned that extraordinary fact, the disastrous health of the American people was no longer a mystery…(3)
Kennedy’s just getting started.
During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Fauci served as ringmaster in the engineered demolition of America's economy. His lockdown predictably shattered the nation's once-booming economic engine, putting 58 million Americans out of work, and permanently bankrupting small businesses, including 41 percent of Black-owned businesses, some of which took generations of investment to build.(4)
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
The February 2022 Diversity Lecture - Christianity, Animals and the Environmental Crisis
The February 2022 Diversity Lecture – Christianity, Animals and the Environmental Crisis
Newbold’s first Diversity Lecture of 2022 was about eating animals and the effect it is having on human life and the deepening environmental crisis. It was a highly-informed encouragement to follow traditional Adventist health principles!
The speaker, Professor David Clough, Professor in Theology and Applied Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, has devoted years of study to the place of animals in Christian theology and ethics. His ground-breaking two-volume work, On Animals: Systematic Theology, has been called “indisputably the most important and comprehensive theological treatment of animals to have appeared in any language at any time in the Christian tradition.”
Clough, a Methodist lay preacher, introduced his lecture by recognising Seventh-day Adventists as fellow-inheritors of the Wesleyan tradition. He referred to John Wesley’s sermon in 1781 ‘The Great Deliverance’ in which Wesley lamented the cruelty with which animals were treated. ‘The cruelties that we visit on animals have multiplied since Wesley’s day,’ said Clough.
He began his lecture with the first of six questions: ‘Do we have time for animal ethics when there are so many other human and social ethical issues to attend to?’ Clough suggested various answers to that question. The first was the urgency of the global situation for animals which he illustrated with some alarming statistics about human consumption of animals. In 1900, farmed animals weighed 3.5 times more than all wild animals. By 2000 the biomass of farmed animals was 24 times the weight of wild animals. ‘Unless we pay attention,’ said Clough, ‘wild animals will become an anachronism’. – their numbers have decreased by 60% in 50 years. ‘The UN estimates another 50% increase in global meat consumption by the middle of the 21st century’.
Clough made it clear that we don’t have to choose between different ethical issues because many of them intersect. For instance: a commitment to employment justice leads to concern for safe and healthy working conditions for abattoir employees. Clough showed that internationally workers in meat-processing plants have little job security. Doing high-risk, unpleasant and physically and mentally dangerous jobs, they are disproportionately likely to be migrants and members of ethnic minorities.
From social issues, the lecture moved to theological issues and the idea mentioned in the Q&A that ‘what God has reason to create, God has reason to redeem’(John Hildrop). With multiple references to various biblical books Clough emphasised the centrality of the Christian doctrine of creation. He showed biblical pictures of a good God who created humans and animals in a harmonious non-violent relationship. This God came, in Jesus, to redeem the cosmos and all ‘flesh’ – not just human flesh. ‘God’s reconciling work has cosmic dimensions,’ said Clough. The Messianic peace in Isaiah’s prophecy and in Revelation encompasses the human and the non-human realm. All Christians have a responsibility to join in that work of reconciliation.
One of the most graphic parts of the lecture came next as Professor Clough answered the question, What are we currently doing to animals? He described and in some cases showed what human beings are doing to fish and chickens, to pigs, sheep and cows – both dairy and beef. He reminded us that creatures, all of them sentient and (some) highly intelligent and created to live freely, are confined in small spaces and deprived of ‘their preferred behaviours’. For market advantage they are confined to small spaces while they are alive and slaughtered by means both greedy and inhumane.
The connection between meat consumption and the climate crisis is massive. ‘There is no path to net-zero while we are doing animal agriculture’, said Clough. Globally and locally rivers are being polluted by industrial animal agriculture and the land that we are taking away from the rain forest is impacting the survival of indigenous people. Then followed these amazing statistics: ‘We are feeding 33% of our cereal crops to farmed animals. If we changed this we could feed 2.4 billion more people. Water security is at risk. It takes 20 times more water to produce kg of beef than the same nutrition from plant-sourced food.
This behaviour has negative effects not only on animals but also on human health.
Xenotic diseases, like Covid, which resulted from the transmission of infectious agents from one species to another is one of those nearest to home. The feeding of antibiotics to animals is resulting in the growth of antibiotic resistance in both them and human beings. Without effective anti-biotics pandemics could be bigger and more destructive than those we have already seen.
Professor Clough finished his lecture on a practical note asking, ‘What should we do?’ Clough recognised Seventh-day Adventists as being ‘significantly ahead of other Christians in having thought about diet and faith’. He advocated a vegetarian or flexitarian diet to give our fellow creatures the opportunity to flourish. He called on his fellow Christians to source their food from higher welfare sources and avoid factory-farmed products. He offered various resources – a recent document ‘The Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare’ obtainable through various websites and more help and practical ideas on CreatureKind and Default.veg.org.
The Q&A session discussed secular and other traditions for humane animal ethics. It looked at the perceived tension in Genesis between dominion and stewardship. It explored the contribution of a sacrificial atonement system to animal cruelty and hierarchies in nature. It considered the tension between apocalyptic views of the end times and contemporary concern for animals and other fellow creatures. It discussed the destruction of domestic and global natural habitats, UK food security and tree-planting and the negative effects of some alternative diet foods like soya and almond milk. It looked at who benefits from industrial animal agriculture and the effects of powerful and influential lobbies on the government of mostly white male capitalists from the global north who are set on maintaining the status quo. It concluded with a description of Professor Clough’s Christmas Dinner and his expression of delight in both cooking and eating good food!
Helen Pearson
10th February 2022
A recording of the full lecture including Q&A can be heard on the Newbold College of Higher Education Facebook page and on the College website at www.newbold.ac.uk/diversity-centre
Monday, February 14, 2022
Sunday, February 13, 2022
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Friday, February 11, 2022
Thursday, February 10, 2022
US Immigration Agency Changes Mission, Removes Key Phrases
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou delivers remarks during an event in Camp Springs, Md., on Nov. 9, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)MORE
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
By Zachary Stieber
February 10, 2022 Updated: February 10, 2022
A key federal agency on Feb. 10 changed its mission statement, removing several key phrases.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “upholds America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve,” the new mission statement says.
Under the old statement, the agency was described as “administer[ing] the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.”
USCIS, with approximately 19,000 employees, oversees legal immigration to the United States.
Ur Jaddou, the agency’s director, said the new statement “reflects the inclusive character of both our country and this agency,” adding, “The United States is and will remain a welcoming nation that embraces people from across the world who seek family reunification, employment or professional opportunities, and humanitarian protection.”
“USCIS is committed to ensuring that the immigration system we administer is accessible and humane. As we look towards the future, my commitment will remain the same—USCIS will continue to serve the public with respect and fairness, and lead with integrity to reflect America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility today and for generations to come,” Jaddou, an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, added.
Michael Knowles, president of AFGE Local 1924, said the union supports the statement.
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The union represents USCIS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers. Both agencies sit inside the Department of Homeland Security.
Ken Cuccinelli, who served as acting USCIS director during the Trump administration, offered an opposing view.
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Several lawmakers also spoke out about the change.
“With this move, the Biden Administration is signifying that lawful immigration, protecting Americans, and securing our homeland are no longer its priorities,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said on Twitter.
“The Biden Administration has made clear that lawful immigration, protecting Americans, and securing our homeland are no longer a priority of theirs,” added Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas). “This is a complete dereliction of duty.”
The shift in language follows similar changes under President Joe Biden. Top officials told all immigration agencies in 2021 to stop using certain terms, including “illegal aliens.”
The USCIS mission statement in place until this week’s change came during the Trump administration. It was changed from “USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.”
Francis Cissna, the USCIS director at the time, said that the statement was changed because certain words, like customers, led to erroneous beliefs about which populations USCIS serves.
“I believe this simple, straightforward statement clearly defines the agency’s role in our country’s lawful immigration system and the commitment we have to the American people,” he said.
Zachary Stieber
REPORTER
Zachary Stieber covers U.S. news and stories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is based in Maryland.
REPORTER
Zachary Stieber covers U.S. news and stories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is based in Maryland.
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