Author: Ron Chambers

Powerful M7.1 earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines

– January 21, 2021

A powerful earthquake registered by PHIVOLCS as M7.1 hit off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines at 12:23 UTC (20:23 LT) on January 21, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 116 km (72 miles). The USGS is reporting M7.0 at a depth of 96 km (60 miles), EMSC M7.1 at a depth of 114 km (71 miles).

The epicenter was located about 211 km (131 miles) SE of Pondaguitan and 312 km (194 miles) SE of Davao, Philippines.

There are about 100 000 people living within 100 km (62 miles).

6 000 people are estimated to have felt strong shaking and 173 000 moderate.

Based on the depth of the earthquake, a tsunami is not expected, NTWC said.

The USGS issued a green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are a mix of vulnerable and earthquake-resistant construction. The predominant vulnerable building types are unknown/miscellaneous types and heavy wood frame construction.

Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as tsunamis and landslides that might have contributed to losses.

https://watchers.news

New York Bill Would Let Governor Imprison, Forcibly Medicate People Suspected Of Illness

– January 3, 2021

The New York assembly is considering a bill that would allow government officials such as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and health commissioners to “detain or remove” individuals that they deem a risk to public health.

The bill, first introduced by Democrat New York State Assemblyman N. Nick Perry, grants power to Cuomo and state health officials to forcibly confine any individual who is considered a danger due to a contagious disease or a suspected case of that disease to either a medical facility or another type of space appointed by the governor.

“The governor or his or her delegee may, in his or her discretion, issue and seek enforcement of any other orders that he or she determines are necessary or appropriate to prevent dissemination or transmission of contagious diseases or other illnesses that may pose a threat to the public health,” the bill states.

The proposed legislation does not name COVID-19 specifically. Instead, it claims that, in addition to being detained, individuals who are exposed or infected by a “communicable disease” resulting in “severe morbidity or high mortality” may also be subjected to tests, medical examinations, treatment, preventative medication, and vaccination by the state while being held.

Requirements for this legal detention include the production of “clear and convincing evidence” by the state as well as a court order if the custody prolongs 60 days. Judicial review is required if an individual is detained for more than 90 days.

Individuals may be released only after subjective scrutiny from health departments, which will determine “that the person is not infected with the disease or that such contact no longer presents a potential danger to the health of others.”

https://thefederalist.com

Global Persecution: The Number Of Christians Killed For Their Faith Increased By 60 Percent In Just One Year

– January 17, 2021

For years I have been warning that Christian persecution was rising all over the globe, but we have never seen anything like the past year.  Christians are being slaughtered all across Africa, they are being taken to concentration camps in North Korea, thousands of churches have been brutally shut down under a new wave of persecution in China, and millions of believers throughout the Middle East must live knowing that each new day may be their last.  Of course most Americans have never heard about any of this because the mainstream media won’t cover it.

Thankfully, there are organizations that do keep track of what is happening to Christians around the globe, and one of them is Open Doors USA.  According to the group, the number of Christians that were killed for their faith was 60 percent higher in 2020 than it was in 2019…

The watchdog organization Open Doors USA says levels of Christian persecution are at a record high around the world. Open Doors reports that levels of Christian persecution are at a record high, revealing that the number of Christians murdered for their faith rose 60 percent in 2020.

A 6 percent rise in a single year would be bad.

A 60 percent increase is a nightmare.

Open Doors USA also just released the 2021 World Watch List in which they named the top 50 nations that are persecuting Christians the most.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

President Biden Signs Transgender Executive Order

ETH – January 21, 2021

(OPINION) ETH – President Joe Biden has a pen and has signed a slew of executive orders in just 48 hours of being sworn into office. One of these executive orders that Biden just signed is an executive order mandating all educational institutions receiving federal funding to now permit biological males to join female sports teams, use ladies’ locker rooms, and restrooms, and be eligible for women’s scholarships.

The order has even triggered may into creating a now trending hashtag #BidenErasedWomen on Twitter. The executive order stated, “every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love.”

It continued: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” According to Faithwire, Several social media users, including journalist and author Abigail Shrier, wasn’t too happy with the order and wrote

“Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” which pointed out how inherently sexist the policy is. Shrier argued the order “unilaterally eviscerates women’s sports,” adding, “A new glass ceiling was just placed over girls.” However, One transgender activist, named Charlotte Clymer, tweeted “transphobes are claiming this attacks the rights of cis women,” meaning biological women. Clymer said that’s not the case and instead accused those concerned of invoking “tragic logic” and “sad bigotry.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Roe’s ‘Deadly Legacy’: 62,504,904 Abortions Since 1973, New Report Says

Michael Foust – January 22, 2021

More than 62 million abortions have been performed in the United States since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, according to a new report from National Right to Life that mourns the lives lost while celebrating the decline in the abortion rate in recent years.

The “State of Abortion in the United States” report, released Jan. 21, estimates that 62,504,904 abortions have been performed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand throughout the nation via a pair of rulings: Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. They were handed down on Jan. 22, 1973.

The report reached the estimate using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute.

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said pro-lifers have reason to be optimistic, despite the horrific number. That’s partially because the annual number of abortions has been steadily declining since 1990, when there were 1,608,600 abortions, according to Guttmacher. In 2013, the annual number of abortions fell below 1 million, to 958,700. In 2015, the annual number of abortions fell below 900,000 (to 899,500).

The pro-life community, Tobias said, is “moving our nation away from Roe and Doe’s deadly legacy.”

“This drop in numbers can be traced to a number of factors, but among them are the efforts by National Right to Life and its network of state affiliates to enact protective laws that provide legal protection to unborn children and offer hope and help to their mothers,” Tobias wrote in the report. “These legislative efforts are at the very heart of our work, and they are one of the keys to ending abortion in the United States.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Barrage Of New Countries And Airlines To Adopt Vaccine Passports

Steve Watson – January 20, 2021

Several more countries have indicated that they are to adopt vaccination passports, meaning anyone crossing their borders will need to be able to prove they have been inoculated against coronavirus.

It is being reported that the South African government is working on implementing an entire Covid-19 vaccine ‘ID system’, which will not only encompass the so called ‘passports’, but will also include “management and surveillance of the Covid-19 vaccine,” as well as “an integrated track-and-trace system,” and “a dashboard system… to capture the reasons given for vaccine refusal.”

The country’s COVID battle has come under scrutiny in recent weeks with a purported super ‘mutation’ of the virus being discovered there.

The South African Department of Health has announced that all citizens who are vaccinated will be placed on a national register and provided with a vaccination card.

Meanwhile, in Europe, another country has indicated it will adopt the vaccination passport scheme with Ukrainian health officials announcing that all vaccinated people will be entered into an electronic health care database.

“When mandatory vaccination passports are introduced at the international level, Ukrainian doctors will be able to promptly issue a certificate of vaccinations,” said chief sanitary doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko.

Another country said to be mulling the introduction of COVID passports is Russia. The New York Times reported that “The Russian government is considering issuing coronavirus health certificates that could ease travel and commerce for people who have been vaccinated.”

The Times quoted the head of the Russian Parliament’s committee on public health, Dmitri Morozov, who said that a Covid passport was “very important and needed.”

“This is great, this is the new world,” Morozov reportedly stated.

https://summit.news

From ‘Dangerous Fantasy’ to Reality in Seven Years: EU Reveals ‘Uniformed Service’

Oliver JJ Lane – January 12, 2021

Less than seven years after British Eurosceptics were laughed at for expressing concerns about a coming European Union army, the bloc has revealed the official uniform of its new ‘standing corps’, as the first of 10,000 recruits prepare to deploy to the field.

Frontex, the European Union’s combined border force and coastguard, revealed the new uniform in a social media post on Monday, showing off the navy uniform complete with EU-flag identification patches and military side cap. The force said: “For the first time, the European Union has its own uniformed service – the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps.”

Previously, officers seconded to Frontex from national forces denoted their new role by wearing an armband with a symbol of the European political project — a ring of gold stars on blue — on their right arm.

The “troops” of Frontex in their own European uniforms comes less than seven years after Brexiteers were told they believed a “dangerous fantasy” for saying the European Union was moving towards having its own armed forces — of which the paramilitary Frontex is the first phase.

The so-called standing corps recruited its first inductees during 2019, who were sent to academies in Poland for training. According to reports at the time, the first Frontex standing corps officers are due to deploy in early 2021.

https://www.breitbart.com

Powerful Indonesia quake kills at least 37, topples buildings

Haeril HALIM, Agnes ANYA – January 25, 2021

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Sulawesi island Friday, killing at least 37 people, levelling a hospital and severely damaging other buildings, authorities said, as they warned there were people still trapped beneath rubble.

Hundreds were also injured when the 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the early hours, triggering panic among the terrified residents of the island, which was hit by a huge quake and tsunami two and a half years ago that killed thousands.

So far, 29 bodies have been hauled from beneath crumpled buildings in Mamuju, a city of about 110,000 in West Sulawesi province, while another eight were killed south of the area after the quake struck.

“We don’t know how many more are missing,” said Arianto from the rescue agency in Mamuju, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“There are still people trapped beneath the rubble.”

Rescuers were searching for more than a dozen patients and staff trapped under a levelled Mamuju hospital.

“The hospital is flattened — it collapsed,” Arianto said.

Earlier Friday, rescuers said they were also trying to reach a family of eight who were under their destroyed home.

At least one hotel had partially collapsed, while the regional governor’s office also suffered extensive damage after the quake struck at 2:18 am local time Friday (1818 GMT Thursday).

A Mamuju resident said damage across the city was severe.

https://www.spacedaily.com

No Going Back: U.N. Chief Guterres Promises ‘Rebuilt’ World in Coronavirus Wake

Simon Kent – January 12, 2021

Out with the old, in with the new. That was the mantra U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres espoused as he promised the world will never be the same again in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Embracing the chance to push “humanity on a path on which it is not in conflict with nature,” is the desire of the former leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party,  who urged “greater efforts by everyone to protect biodiversity and step up climate action.”

Addressing world leaders at the One Planet Summit on Monday, Guterres outlined how he saw a brave new world of the future, based on the theme of a great climate and economic reset he has espoused before. Guterres said:

We have been poisoning air, land and water – and filling oceans with plastics. Now, nature is striking back: temperatures are reaching record highs, biodiversity is collapsing, deserts are spreading, [and] fires, floods and hurricanes are more frequent and extreme… We are extremely fragile.

Pandemic recovery is our chance to change course. With smart policies and the right investments, we can chart a path that brings health to all, revives economies and builds resilience and rescues biodiversity.

The U.N. chief, 71, said he envisaged a new future alignment between “public and private financial flows” that obeyed the Paris Agreement commitments to “integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal decisions.”

Organized by the French Government in partnership with the United Nations and the World Bank, the One Planet Summit brought together world leaders “to commit action to protect and restore bio-diversity.” Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event was largely virtual.

Monday’s call by Guterres for the world to unite and rebuild was not the first time has has voiced the belief that a crisis can be an opportunity for vast global change.

https://www.breitbart.com

Secularists Urge Biden to Unravel Trump’s Religious Freedom Protections

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Many Americans celebrate President Trump as the most significant champion for religious freedom in a lifetime. His actions gave Christians a sense of security, but now secularists, humanists, and others feel empowered to begin unraveling Trump-era protections.

“It all goes back to the May 2017 executive order by President Trump,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, tells CBN News.

That day in the Rose Garden, the president used his executive pen to ensure Christians and other people of faith don’t have to check their beliefs when entering the halls of government and prevented the federal government from going after pastors who speak about political issues from a moral perspective.

“We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied, or silenced anymore,” the President said that day.

Now that order tops a long list of Trump administration actions that Secular Democrats of America want President-elect Joe Biden to erase.

Represented by the Congressional Freethought Caucus, the group paints Christians as extremists and urges the incoming administration to marginalize people of faith – relegating them to the back pew of the public square.

Part of their to-do list?

  • Ensure Humanist and Nontheist chaplains serve in each branch of the military.
  • Refrain from using the national motto “In God We Trust.”
  • And reframe patriotism by avoiding phrases like “God and country.”

These attempts to marginalize believers come as the media and even elected officials increasingly push the narrative that people of faith are unfit.

“Unfortunately we see that senators are increasingly treating religious beliefs with great suspicion and even hostility,” Kao said.

https://www.faithwire.com