Ron Chambers

Depression, anxiety among youth has more than doubled during pandemic

Steven Ganot – August 12, 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a global mental health crisis among children and adolescents, according to a University of Calgary study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics this week.

The study is a meta-analysis pooling the results of 29 separate studies from around the world that looked at the prevalence of clinically elevated anxiety and depression symptoms among 80,879 youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the study’s findings: Depression and anxiety symptoms have doubled in children and adolescents. About 25.2% of the children and youth measured in the studies had clinically elevated depression symptoms, and 20.5% had clinically elevated anxiety symptoms.

Depression and anxiety symptoms were more prevalent in studies collected later in the pandemic and in girls. Depression symptoms were higher in older children.

One of the 29 studies examined in the meta-analysis measured the prevalence and predictors of depression and anxiety among 384 high school seniors (12th graders) who were home quarantined and studied online in Jordan. The Jordanian study found that levels of depression and anxiety were high for both sexes but particularly for female students. The prevalence of anxiety among the girls was 46.9% and among the boys, 27.6%.

Unsurprisingly, the Jordanian study showed that having difficulties with online education was a predictor for both depression and anxiety during the pandemic.

https://www.jpost.com

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of Biblical Earthquake Mentioned in Amos, Zechariah

Michael Foust – August 5, 2021

Archaeologists in Israel say they have uncovered physical evidence in Jerusalem of an earthquake referenced in the biblical books of Amos and Zechariah that struck during the divided kingdom and after the reigns of David and Solomon.

Zechariah 14:5, seen by many as a reference to the second coming of Christ, says, “You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.” Amos 1:1 also mentions the earthquake and says Amos saw a vision about Israel “two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.” Uzziah was considered a mostly “good” and godly king of the southern kingdom of Judah, while Jeroboam was a bad king who led the people away from God.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said this week it had uncovered archaeological evidence of the earthquake, which struck in Israel about 2,800 years ago. Although archaeologists previously discovered evidence of the quake elsewhere in Israel, it is the first time they’ve found evidence of it in Jerusalem itself.

Recent excavations in City of David National Park revealed a “layer of destruction from when the building’s walls collapsed,” including shattered vessels, bowls, lamps, cooking utensils and jars, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on its Facebook page.

Joe Uziel and Ortal Kalaf, excavation directors for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the earthquake “was probably one of the strongest and most damaging earthquakes in ancient times,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

‘Utter woke insanity’: Social media users blast ‘sick’ new Scottish rules that allow FOUR-YEAR OLDS to declare ‘gender identity’

RT – August 13, 2021

The Scottish government has kicked off a storm on social media after issuing “deeply disturbing” LGBT inclusivity guidelines that allow children as young as four to change their gender and name at school without parental consent.

In the 70-page document, issued to schools across the country on Thursday, teachers are instructed not to question students who declare that they are transgender or tell them “it’s just a phase”. Instead, they are urged to “be affirming” of the students’ feelings.

Other “tips” for teachers include asking these students “what name and pronoun” they would prefer to be addressed by and to check if that is “all the time or in certain circumstances”.

As well, teachers are encouraged to “ask reflective questions that allow young people to express themselves, explore their gender identity and identify their needs”.

Stating that it is possible for students to “come out” as transgender “at any age and to varying degrees”, the guidance – which applies from primary schools on up – claimed that “recognition and development of gender identity can occur at a young age” and should be respected.

Schools can do this by giving trans students the option to use whichever toilet and changing room they prefer, instituting “gender neutral” uniform options, putting up classroom posters that challenge gender stereotypes, and including notable transgender role models and personalities in lesson plans and reading materials.

According to The Telegraph, the recommending reading list for primary school students includes books about a blue crayon with an identity crisis because it was mistakenly labelled as red and another about a primary schooler who has “a girl brain but a boy body” and says “pretending [to be] a boy felt like telling a lie” till an “amazing day” when she was medically diagnosed as transgender.

The guidelines also state that children can informally tell others they want to use a different name, and schools do not need to officially record this. As well, it has been deemed “best to not share information with parents” since “inadvertent disclosure” may create “needless stress” and added “risk” for the student.

https://www.rt.com

WAR DRUMS: Israel warns they are now ‘ready to strike Iran’ after new report reveals 10 weeks from nuclear weapon

ETH – August 5, 2021

(ETH) – Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz has said that his country is ready to attack Iran and that there must be a global response to the threat that the Islamic republic poses.

According to MSN News, His comments come amid growing tensions following a deadly drone strike on an Israeli-operated tanker off the coast of Oman. Israel, along with the U.S. and the U.K. has blamed Tehran for the attack on Mercer Street last week that killed two people. Iran has denied involvement. “Israel is ready to attack Iran, yes,” Gantz told Ynet on Thursday.

“We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now,” he added according to a translation of his comments tweeted by Ynet journalist Attila Somfalvi.

This also follows the report from the Jerusalem Post, revealing that Tehran will be able to break out to a nuclear weapon within 10 weeks, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told diplomats from UN Security Council member states on Wednesday as tensions ratcheted up between Iran and the international community over its maritime attacks.

“Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon,” Gantz warned. “Therefore,” he added, “it is time to act. The world must apply economic sanctions and take operative action against the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps,” which has targeted shipping vessels.

Lapid, Gantz, and other Israeli officials have addressed the Iranian nuclear issue with their American counterparts recently, delivering an “unusual warning,” according to a report from the Times of Israel. “Something has to happen with the negotiations with Iran,” a senior diplomat told Kan. “This ‘limbo’ cannot be a time when Iran is quickly advancing toward becoming a nuclear threshold state.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Polish minister suggests country could quit EU due to ‘blackmail’ over judicial reforms

RT – August 6, 2021

Poland’s justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, has indicated that his government could consider leaving the EU bloc over “illegal blackmail” attempts by its top court amid a dispute over proposed judicial reforms.

Speaking to Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Ziobro slammed the EU ahead of an August 16 ruling to obey a decision from the Court of Justice or face potential financial repercussions, threatening that his country would not remain in the EU “at any cost.”

The warning to EU officials about their dictation of Poland’s domestic affairs was paired with a firm declaration that the government would not succumb “to the illegal blackmail of the European Union carried out by the Court of Justice.”

The belief that the EU is a good uncle and gives us money, and that we should accept all its demands at all costs, is propaganda and false.

Ziobro, who leads the United Poland party, the junior member of the governing coalition, has led the judicial reforms the EU have argued undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law – a key principle of the bloc.

The disagreement between the EU and Poland centers on the member state’s judicial reforms, which began to be introduced after the Law and Justice Party took office in 2015. The reforms made changes to the retirement age of Supreme Court justices, resulting in the removal of 20 judges, changes to the term length of ordinary court judges, and the implementation of a measure allowing for justices to be investigated and punished for court rulings.

https://www.rt.com

In drought-plagued northern Mexico, tens of thousands of cows are starving to death

By Kate Linthicum – August 1, 2021

CAJEME, Mexico — In the parched hills of southern Sonora, Marco Antonio Gutierrez paced around a clearing, counting the dead.There were seven rotting carcasses — jutting ribs and shriveled hides — and two sun-bleached skulls. Nine cows, felled by heat and hunger.

“There’s nothing for them to eat,” said Gutierrez, a wide-brimmed hat shading his downcast eyes. “There used to be big ranches here. Now it’s pure sorrow.”

Two years of extreme drought have turned large stretches of northern Mexico into a boneyard. Between starvation and ranchers forced to prematurely sell or slaughter their livestock, officials say the number of cattle in Sonora has dropped from 1.1 million to about 635,000.

It’s an unimaginable loss for a state that is world-famous for its high-quality cows, and where beef is not just a central part of the diet and economy but also a tradition that binds families together.

This is a place, after all, with a bull on its state flag, and where families gather every Sunday around their charcoal grills. Red meat is considered a birthright: It’s not uncommon for folks here to eat beef three times a day — machaca scrambled with eggs for breakfast, arrachera for lunch and carne asada for dinner.

Gutierrez, 55, and pretty much everyone he knows was born ranching. By the age of 10, he and his friends had all learned from their fathers how to lasso, brand and even pull a calf from the womb.

Now, as they desperately watch the skies for rain, they wonder if there’s any future in it.

https://www.latimes.com

Now Americans are signing petition to jail ‘anti-vaxxers’

Bob Unruh – August 5, 2021

Man-in-the-street interview activist Mark Dice has released a video showing many, many Americans willingly signing a petition to have those who have not taken the experimental COVID vaccines arrested and jailed.

Several exclaimed “Yes” when Dice droned on about how “we don’t need those people walking among us,” and “we’ll have to decide for them what’s best.”

There were several who accused Dice of being a socialist for advocating such extreme government intervention in individual lives, and one astute passer-by took Dice out with “This is a joke.”

This person noted that those who signed? “They’re all idiots.”

The Gateway Pundit was among the sites posting the video online.

There, Dice was described as a “heavily censored YouTube creator.”

“This time, even he seemed shocked at the responses he received,” the report commented. “In his most recent social experiment, he hit the streets of California to find out how many people would support forcing their fellow Americans to get the jab under the threat of jail time.”

His petition was titled “Arrest Non-Vaxers,” and many simply signed without even reading.

The comments pointed out the video reveals Dice making “more and more ridiculous statements in an attempt to see where the vaxtivists would draw the line on trampling other people’s freedoms.”

He tells one signer, “We can put them into jail to make them think about why it is they are refusing.” The woman happily signs, with “Well that’s what I think should happen.”

https://www.wnd.com

The Arson Campaign Against Canada’s Churches

Lloyd Billingsley – August 6, 2021

In recent weeks, more than 40 Christian churches have been torched in Canada, supposedly a response to abuse of indigenous people in residential schools. The arson campaign has drawn a variety of responses, including “Not much difference between Islamophobia and Christophobia,” from Vancouver Sun columnist Douglas Todd.

He defines Islamophobia as “dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.” Christophobia is “Intense dislike or fear of Christianity; hostility or prejudice towards Christians.” From these definitions Todd extrapolates symmetry of action.

“In Canada there is now no shortage of shocking displays of both Islamophobia and Christophobia,” Todd explains. “There have been assaults on Muslims, some deadly. There has been arson attack after attack on churches.” In reality, it’s not quite so simple.

Islamophobia is an incantation to ward off any discussion of subjects such as Islamic jihad, hatred of Jews, and Muslim violence against non-Muslims. What Todd calls “Christophobia” is nothing more than hatred of Christians, next to anti-Americanism surely Canada’s strongest hatred, particularly among the ruling class.

In the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, “a Coptic Orthodox Church, frequented mostly by immigrants from Egypt, was destroyed by fire.” The Copts are an ancient Christian community that, as Raymond Ibrahim notes, suffers horrible persecution in Egypt, and in the Sinai Copts cry, “They are burning us alive!”

Coptic Christians flee this hatred, now going on in Canada. Since the Copts have nothing whatsoever to do with Canada’s residential schools, a different dynamic must be motivating the arson against the Surrey Coptic Orthodox Church. Todd does not explore all the possibilities but does note that police are “silent about these being hate crimes.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com

University Admits Harvesting Kidneys From Unborn Babies While Their Hearts are Still Beating

Micaiah Bilger – August 5, 2021

The University of Pittsburgh may have inadvertently provided more evidence this week that aborted babies may be being born alive and left to die so that their organs may be used for scientific research, according to the Center for Medical Progress.

As LifeNews.com has extensively reported, earlier this week, Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress exposed evidence of babies potentially being born alive in abortions and other disturbing practices in documents they obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The documents show that the federal government gave the University of Pittsburgh at least $2.7 million in federal tax dollars over the past five years to become a “tissue hub” for aborted baby body parts for scientific research.

On Wednesday, a University of Pittsburgh spokesperson defended its practices in an interview with Fox News. However, the Center for Medical Progress said the university’s statements confirm that aborted babies’ hearts still are beating while their kidneys are harvested for scientific research.

Pitt is now admitting to the news media that the aborted babies are still alive at the time their kidneys are cut out for [National Institutes of Health] grant money,” said David Daleiden, founder and president of the Center for Medical Progress.

Daleiden continued: “Pitt’s grant application for GUDMAP advertised this to the federal government and that labor induction abortions, where the baby is pushed out of the mother whole, would be ‘used to obtain the tissue.’ The plain meaning of the GUDMAP grant application, and the University of Pittsburgh’s statement explaining it, is that Pitt and the Planned Parenthood abortion providers responsible for its ‘research’ abortions are allowing babies, some of the age of viability, to be delivered alive, and then killing them by cutting their kidneys out.”

The basis for this came from a statement university spokesman David Seldin made to Fox News about “ischemia time,” which he said “refers to the time after the tissue collection procedure.”

The Center for Medical Progress explained:

Ischemia starts when the organ (the kidneys primarily in Pitt’s GUDMAP project) is cut off from blood circulation. The NIH defines ischemia as “lack of blood supply to a part of the body.” The University states the fetal organs do not undergo ischemia—lose their blood supply—until “after the tissue collection procedure”. This means the organs are still receiving blood supply from the fetal heartbeat during the “tissue collection”.

In grant application documents provided by the federal government, the University of Pittsburgh mentions “labor induction” as a “procedure that will be used to obtain the tissue,” according to the Center for Medical Progress.

https://www.lifenews.com

Archaeologists astounded by tablet that ‘revealed first ever image of Tower of Babel’

Joel Day – August 4, 2021

ARCHAEOLOGISTS were astounded at being given unfettered access to a previously unseen site that revealed the “first ever image of the Tower of Babel”.

The Tower remains one of the most mysterious stories contained in the Bible. For years, whether or not the Tower was a real, physical thing was open for discussion. Many believed it was simply symbolic, acting as a message to the Bible’s dedicated followers.

Others claimed it was merely folklore or legend.

The fragile remains of the ancient city of Babylon, in modern day Iraq, have revealed many secrets; the greatest of all the discovery of a vast structure which ancient records suggest was the Tower of Babel.

These texts, as well as others found all around the Middle East – where Christianity originated – have given scholars some idea of what the building might have looked like.

Yet, none have given researchers a clear outline or description bound in solid imagery.

Things changed in 2017 when academics were given access to a privately owned tablet.

The artifact was explored during the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, ‘Secrets: Tower of Babel’.

Here, the narrator said: “Inscribed on the tablet is an image that sensationally reveals exactly what the Tower of Babel looked like.”

Dr Andrew George, an expert in ancient texts at SOAS, University of London, said: “This is a very strong piece of evidence that the Tower of Babel story in the Bible was inspired by this real building.”

The remarkable tablet, which had never been filmed before, dates to the 6th century BCE, and was discovered in Babylon over a century ago.

Yet, no one had realized how important it was until Professor George was given the slab, and went on to decipher the inscriptions.

He explained: “At the top part there is a relief, depicting a step tower.

“And here, a great figure of a human being carrying a staff with a conical hat on.

“Below that relief is the text which has been chiseled into the monument, and the label is easily read: it reads, ‘The temple tower of the city of Babylon’.”

As the narrator noted: “This tablet provides the first-ever image of the real Tower of Babel.

https://www.express.co.uk