Author: Ron Chambers

First Iranian kamikaze drone against Israeli tanker. As tension rises, Gantz vows “appropriate response”

Debkafiles – July 30, 2021

Iran for the first time launched a suicide drone on Friday, July 30, against an Israeli-operated merchant vessel, the Mercer Street, north of the Omani island of Masirah in the Indian Ocean. Two crewmen, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed as the ship caught fire. The US Navy rushed to the burning ship’s aid and escorted it to harbor in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. It was attacked while on its way from Dar es Salaam to Fujairah with no cargo aboard.

The Israeli owners had transferred the vessel to Japanese ownership after previous less serious incidents against their ships in the same region, while continuing to operate it from their London-based Zodiac Maritime Office.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz called an urgent conference on Friday night with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and other senior commanders, following which Gantz announced that Israel would make an “appropriate response” to the attack.

DEBKAfile adds: The event broke new ground as indicated by the following:

    1. It marked Iran’s first direct armed drone attack on an Israeli merchant vessel.
    2. The drone was identified by a US official as a “one way” drone – although the Americans stayed clear of former incidents of this kind. He added that “other drones took part” indicating a concerted assault. This confirmed an earlier report from the private maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global of a drone sighting around the vessel prior to the attack.
    3. Iranian sources, including the Al Alam Arabic language TV channel, reported that the Israeli vessel was attacked in reprisal for Israel’s air strike of July 22 against Revolutionary Guards bases at Qusayr, 25km from Aleppo in western Syria. They revealed that a number of Iranians were killed in that strike.
      (Russian officials claimed that all the missiles fired by Israeli jets in that attack had been intercepted by Russian-made air defense systems.)
    4. This was the first time that Tehran had cited Israeli military action in Syria as justification for attacking an Israeli commercial vessel
    5. Saudi sources disclosed that on that same Friday night, one of their ships was also attacked with armed drones wielded by Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

https://www.debka.com

China on Cusp of Eliminating Cash, Pushing the World Toward Total Government Surveillance

George Thomas – July 28, 2021

The Chinese were the first in the world to invent paper money back in the 7th Century.

Now, more than 1,400 years later, China is again on the cusp of creating a new form of government currency that some say could pose a serious economic threat to America and the West.

“In effect, they are not cryptocurrencies, they are not so-called stable coins, in effect, they are the national physical currency of a country just represented in a digital form,” said Erik Bethel, former U.S. executive director with the World Bank.

Bethel says while the world fixates on private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Beijing is busy building a digital version of its own currency, the Yuan, also known as the Renminbi, to control its citizens and eventually threaten the dominance of the U.S. Dollar.

“They’ve pretty much created all of the building blocks that will allow a central bank digital currency to flourish,” Bethel told CBN News.

Yaya Fanusie, a former economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, says China’s goal is to replace cash with a digital currency that’s controlled by the communist government’s central bank.

“China has said for a while that it expects to be pretty much a cashless society in the future so the idea is that cash notes, coins will no longer be around and so people will be using digital currency that’s going to be in their wallets,” said Yaya Fanusie, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

That digital currency will also be issued by the government bank allowing what Congressman Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says is unprecedented access to people’s financial transactions.”This will give them data on behavior and on how people spend,” Rep. McCaul (R-TX) told CBN News.

https://www1.cbn.com

Biggest in 50 Years: Alaska Rocked by Powerful 8.2 Earthquake, Follow-up Tsunami Warnings

Simon Kent – July 29, 2021

A powerful earthquake rocked Alaska’s southern coast early Wednesday morning, with prolonged shaking in the aftermath that prompted tsunami warnings across nearby coastal areas.

AP reports only minor damage was recorded, but officials said that could change after sunrise and people get a better look at an earthquake event set at the biggest in 50 years.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was magnitude 8.2 and hit 56 miles (91 kilometers) east southeast of Perryville, Alaska at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

The National Tsunami Warning Center canceled the warnings early Thursday when the biggest wave, of just over a half foot, was recorded in Old Harbor.

A tsunami warning that had also been issued for Hawaii was also canceled, and officials said there was no threat to Guam, American Samoa or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

Patrick Mayer, the superintendent of schools for the Aleutians East Borough, told AP he was sitting in his kitchen in the community of Sand Point when shaking from the quake started.

“It started to go and just didn’t stop,” Mayer told the Anchorage Daily News. “It went on for a long time and there were several aftershocks, too. The pantry is empty all over the floor, the fridge is empty all over the floor.”

On the Kenai Peninsula, a steady stream of cars were seen evacuating the Homer Spit, a jut of land extending nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) into Kachemak Bay that is a draw for tourists and fishermen.

https://www.breitbart.com

3,462 Christians Murdered in Nigeria in 2021: It’s the ‘Biggest Killing Ground of Christians’ in the World

Michael Foust – July 23, 2021

More than 3,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria this year by Muslim militants amidst a massive wave of persecution that also has resulted in 300 churches being threatened, attacked or destroyed, according to a new report.

The report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law says 3,462 Christians have been killed by Muslim militants in the first half of 2021 – a shocking number that is nearly as many as the 3,530 killed in all of 2020.

International Christian Concern cited the report this week and urged the world to take notice.

“Nigeria is the biggest killing ground of Christians today, but few are aware of it,” ICC said in a July 19 news release.

The Fulani Herdsmen – described as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world by ICC – is responsible for the majority (1,909) of murders, the report says. Boko Haram, ISWAP and Muslim Fulani Bandits killed a total of 1,063 Christians, the report added.

“Christian farming villages are repeatedly attacked in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, and tens of thousands have died over the last 20 years. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Christians have lost everything and are living as refugees,” ICC said.

The surviving victims often are not assisted or protected by the government from further harm, the report says.

“It is deeply saddening that till date those responsible for the anti-Christian butcheries in the country have continued to evade justice and remained unchecked, untracked, uninvestigated and untried; leading to impunity and repeat-atrocities,” the report says. “The surviving victims and families of the dead victims are also totally abandoned by the Government of Nigeria.”

An estimated 300 churches have been threatened, attacked, closed or destroyed this year, with at least 10 priests or pastors abducted or killed, the report said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Monkeypox Case Confirmed in US

Newsmax – July 19, 2021

A case of monkeypox has been confirmed in an American who had recently traveled to Nigeria, U.S. health officials reported. Officials believe the threat of the virus spreading to others is low.

Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that’s in the same family of viruses as smallpox, but causes a milder infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It typically begins with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, then progresses to a widespread rash on the face and body. Most infections last 2-4 weeks.

The infected person is now hospitalized in Dallas, the CDC said.

Officials are working to contact airline passengers and others who may have come into contact with the patient during two flights: Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta on July 8, with arrival on July 9; and Atlanta to Dallas on July 9, the CDC said.

The passengers were required to wear masks on their flights and in the U.S. airports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s believed that the risk of spread of monkeypox is believed to be low, the CDC said in a news release.

The strain of monkeypox in this case is one that’s most commonly seen in parts of West Africa, and is fatal in about 1 in 100 people. But the risk can be higher in people with weakened immune systems.

https://www.newsmax.com

Journal of Medical Ethics Says Parents Should Lose Rights over Children

John Stonestreet – July 26, 2021

The Journal of Medical Ethics recently released a formal paper in which they argued that parents should lose their rights to care for their children. The paper referenced an article by Dr. Lauren Notini showing a supposed benefit in treating minors with so-called gender-affirming surgeries.

To be clear, “gender-affirming surgeries” is a nomenclature for surgery that actually is gender-denying, in which a surgery performed changes the body in a mutilating and permanent way. To cut through the terminology, what’s being said is that there is a benefit to allowing a thirteen-year-old the right to determine if she should have a mastectomy in order to affirm her inner self. Yes, you heard that right. Thirteen-year-old girls in the United States of America are actually going through surgeries to remove healthy breasts. The discussion is whether parents should have the right to interfere.

The Journal of Medical Ethics argues that parents should not have the right to interfere, that they should not be able to guide their children in any way other than full affirmation, that they shouldn’t even be allowed into the conversation, that doctors should be free to treat minors without parental consent and parental influence.

So, what is the actual role and right of parents in light of these developing so-called “rights of children”? My friend Katy Faust recently tackled this question in a What Would You Say? video: Do Children’s Rights Override Parental Rights? Below is an edited transcript of Katy’s talk:

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “We have to respect the rights of children. No-one, not even their parents should be allowed to interfere with their sexual autonomy.” Children’s rights are absolutely crucial. But does that mean parents shouldn’t be able to direct their children’s education and medical care? No.

Many people have only heard the term “children’s rights” misused. It’s no wonder when top-tier U.N. agencies including UNICEF and the W.H.O. use the phrase to primarily promote the sexual rights of children. For example, some professionals argue that children have a right to harmful transgender treatments, even if their parents don’t agree. But just because the term “children’s rights” has been misused doesn’t negate the reality that children have natural rights. Natural rights spring from our nature as human beings; what we need as a human person; and what we owe other humans, which can be called justice. Natural rights exist independent of custom or legal convention. When we apply that natural law framework, we see that indeed children have rights. It’s helpful to apply the three rules that confirm a rights test to determine whether this “right” shares the three qualities to which all rights conform.

First, a natural right is pre-government. Second, no-one has to provide a natural right. Third, a natural right is distributed equally. In natural law theory, rights correspond to duties and obligations. Parents have a natural moral duty or obligation to care for the children that they create. Because caring for children requires making decisions on their behalf, even at times when they disagree, parental authority flows from parental obligations. Parental rights protect that authority, enabling parents to fulfill their obligations in line with the dictates of their consciences.

To see Katy Faust’s full talk on children’s rights and parents’ rights on the recent What Would You Say? video, go to whatwouldyousay.org or visit breakpoint.org.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Democrats Vote for Bill to Make Americans Fund Killing Babies in Abortions in Other Countries

Steven Ertelt  –  Jul 29, 2021

Late Wednesday night, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats voted for a bill that would make Americans fund abortions with their tax dollars in other nations. The House voted for the State Department funding bill, which contains language overturning the helms Amendment, which has stopped taxpayer funding of foreign abortions for decades.

The vote was 217-212, with every Republican voting agaisnt the bill and every Democrat except three voting for it. The  three Democratic “no” votes — Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib — voted against the bill for other reasons.

The SFOPS appropriations bill removes or weakens four longstanding pro-life protections, including the Helms Amendment, which prevents taxpayer funding from being used to fund abortion overseas.  It increased funding for both the United Nations Population Fund and international family planning funding.  It also includes text permanently preventing a President from re-establishing the Protection Life in Global Health Assistance policy (also referred to as the Mexico City Policy), which defund Planned Parenthood and other groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.

Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, spoke on the House floor against the bill and the pro-abortion provisions.

“Since 1973, the Helms Amendment has prohibited using U.S. taxpayer funds to directly pay for abortions in other countries. Helms is the Hyde Amendment for the rest of the world. The bill before us today, however, completely reverses Helms,” he said.

https://www.lifenews.com

China threatens to begin World War III

Bob Unruh – July 19, 2021

“When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force, even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane and one ship, we will not only return reciprocal fire but also start a full-scale war against Japan,” the statement threatens.

“We will use nuclear bombs continuously until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time. What we want to target is Japan’s ability to endure a war. As long as Japan realizes that it cannot afford to pay the price of war, it will not dare to rashly send troops to the Taiwan Strait.

“In 1964, when our first atomic bomb was successfully detonated, we promised the world that we would not use atomic bombs against non-nuclear countries and that we would not be the first to use them. Nearly 60 years have passed. Although the strength of our nuclear deterrent has been somewhat affected this decision has been a success, and has safeguarded our peace when we built our country.”

But it warned the international “situation” now is changing and “our country is in the midst of a major change that has not been seen in a century and all political policies, tactics and strategies must be adjusted and changed in the midst of such a major change.”

The video threatens, “In order to protect the peaceful rise of our country, it is necessary to make limited adjustments to our nuclear policy. We solemnly put forward the ‘Japan exception theory.’ In modern history Japan has taken the initiative to harm the Chinese people many times, including the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894-1895, when it took over Taiwan and made us pay more than 230 million taels of silver in reparations. And the world invasion of China of 1931-1945, when more than 35 million Chinese were killed and wounded.”

https://www.wnd.com

Poland’s Tusk says conflicts with EU could eventually end the bloc

– July 16,2021

WARSAW, July 16 (Reuters) – Poland and Hungary’s conflicts with the European Union could start a process that results in the bloc falling apart, former European Council President Donald Tusk warned on Friday, amid a worsening standoff over democratic standards.

Brussels is at loggerheads with Warsaw and Budapest over issues such as the independence of the judiciary and press freedoms, a conflict which deepened this week as Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled the country should not comply with demands from the EU’s top court, while the European Commission took legal action against both countries over LGBT rights. read more

“If more of these kinds of countries are found who insist on damaging… the European Union it may simply mean the end of this organisation,” Tusk, who has returned to domestic politics as leader of Poland’s main opposition party Civic Platform (PO), told private broadcaster TVN24.

Surveys show an overwhelming majority of Poles support EU membership, and there is no legal way to throw countries out of the bloc.

However Tusk, who helped steer the European Union through a tumultuous period marked by Brexit, said the risk of an eventual exit existed.

“We will not leave the EU tomorrow, and the EU will not fall apart the day after tomorrow. These are processes that can take years,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com

Plummeting reservoir levels could soon force Oroville hydropower offline

Julia Wick – July 21, 2021

A major California hydroelectric power plant could soon stop generating power amid worsening drought conditions.

According to state water officials, the Edward Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville could go offline as soon as August or September — a time frame that would coincide with a feared power crunch this summer. The plant, which opened in the late 1960s, has never been forced offline by low lake levels before.

“I think it’s a bit shocking,” said Jordan Kern, a professor at the department of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University. “The fact that it’s projected to go offline just speaks to how severe the drought is,” said Kern, who studies how power grids are impacted by extreme weather.

California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley said the commission is actively planning for the power plant to go offline this summer. But the Hyatt power plant is far from the only hydroelectric power source in the state that will likely be affected by California’s extreme weather.

On July 1, the energy commission, along with the California Independent System Operator and the California Public Utilities Commission, released a letter touching on the drought-driven hydropower losses expected this year, which are occurring amid historic heat event driven by climate change. According to the system operator, drought conditions could reduce the state’s hydropower capacity by up to approximately 1,000 megawatts in the coming months.

The Hyatt power plant is designed to produce up to 750 megawatts of power but typically produces between 100 and 400 megawatts, depending on lake levels. According to Buckley, average high demand in a day across the state is typically about 44,000 megawatts, so 400 megawatts would be a little less than 1% of that total.

“It’s not necessarily the tipping point,” Buckley said. “There’s a lot of different factors that are challenging overall grid reliability this summer. And Hyatt is one piece of the story.”

https://www.latimes.com