Ron Chambers

NASA Missed an Asteroid that Came Closer to Earth than the Moon

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz– April 16, 2020

An asteroid the size of a house was discovered by NASA last week, which was just in time to announce its near-miss on Wednesday night. Asteroid 2020 GH2 is estimated to be 43 to 70 feet wide according to Space.com.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office assured Earth-dwellers that our planet was safe from destruction, tweeting a video that attempted to put a near-earth pass into perspective.

The video depicted the Earth as a basketball, the moon as a tennis ball 25 feet away, and the asteroid responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs as a grain of salt “a couple of blocks away.” But GH2 was not a couple of blocks away. GH2 passed by the Earth at a distance of 220,000 miles, which put it about 16,000 miles closer than the moon.

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com

German Military Spending Up by Double Digits as World Total Hits Highest Level Since Cold War

Sputnik News – April 27, 2020

The Trump administration has repeatedly pressured Berlin to ramp up its military spending, threatening to pull troops out of the country and station them in Poland if the country doesn’t meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP spending guidelines.

German defence spending jumped upward by a whopping 10 percent between 2018 and 2019, with the country’s military budget rising faster than that of any other major power, new figures by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggest.

According to the think tank’s figures, Berlin’s defence commitments, which reached the equivalent of $49.3 billion in 2019, grew faster than any of the world’s top 15 countries by total military expenditures.

The spending increase comes amid US President Donald Trump’s repeated berating of Germany and other European NATO members over their failure to meet the 2 percent of GDP military spending goal set at the alliance’s 2014 summit in Wales. Washington has repeatedly singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her failure to increase defence commitments, even though Germany is one of 19 alliance members that failed to meet the spending requirements.

Germany has already committed some €45 billion (about $50 billion) on defence in 2020, increasing spending from 1.23 percent of GDP on defence in 2018 to 1.38 percent this year. Merkel also promised to increase Berlin’s defence outlays to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2023, and to 2 percent by 2031.

https://sputniknews.com

Over 30 Million Americans Have Lost Their Jobs In The Last Six Weeks

Tyler Durden – April 30, 2020

In the last week 3.839 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time.

That brings the six-week total to 30.31 million, which is over 12 times the prior worst five-week period in the last 50-plus years.

And of course, last week’s “initial” claims and this week’s “continuing” claims… the highest level of continuing claims ever.

A breakdown by states shows that claims generally declined, with the biggest drops in California, Florida and Connecticut, while Washington, Georgia and New York saw a continued pick up.

And as we noted previously, what is most disturbing is that in the last six weeks, far more Americans have filed for unemployment than jobs gained during the last decade since the end of the Great Recession… (22.13 million gained in a decade, 30.3 million lost in 6 weeks)

Worse still, the final numbers will likely be worsened due to the bailout itself: as a reminder, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed on March 27, could contribute to new records being reached in coming weeks as it increases eligibility for jobless claims to self-employed and gig workers, extends the maximum number of weeks that one can receive benefits, and provides an additional $600 per week until July 31. A recent WSJ article noted that this has created incentives for some businesses to temporarily furlough their employees, knowing that they will be covered financially as the economy is shutdown. Meanwhile, those making below $50k will generally be made whole and possibly be better off on unemployment benefits.

https://www.activistpost.com

Iran Warns Germany of ‘Consequences’ for Total Ban on Hezbollah

Simon Kent – May 1, 2020

Germany’s total ban on Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization drew a swift response Friday from Iran, with the Islamic republic saying “consequences” would follow.

As Breitbart News reported, Hezbollah was labeled a “Shiite terrorist organisation” with dozens of police and special forces storming mosques and associations across Germany linked to the terror group.

German political support followed swiftly.

Hezbollah activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in announcing the move.

“Hezbollah denies Israel’s right to exist, threatens violence and terror and continues to massively upgrade its rocket arsenal,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. “We in Germany must exhaust the means of the rule of law to take action against the criminal and terrorist activities of Hezbollah.”

The German crackdown on Hezbollah means its flags are banned at all demonstrations and meetings across the country. Berlin’s municipal government already bans Hezbollah symbols and flags at demonstrations.

Germany, like most of Europe, has until now dragged its feet in outlawing both the military and political arms of the Lebanon-based group to protect relations with Beirut and Tehran.

The U.S., UK, Netherlands and Israel designates the anti-Israel group in its entirety a terror organization.

https://www.breitbart.com

Western U.S. Is Facing the Worst Megadrought in Over 1,200 Years

Strange Sounds – Apr 18, 2020

In the 1930s, the United States was suffering from the most severe drought in its history, the “Dust Bowl.”

And be prepared to bite the dust once again, because scientists think the Dust Bowl is coming back for a second round. And this time for it could even last during decades.

A new study has used 1,200 years of tree-ring data, soil moisture records, and dozens of climate models to describe the ever-lengthening string of dry spells that have hit the western United States and northern Mexico over recent decades.

They found that a chronic drought has been lurking around the southwestern US and northern Mexico since at least the year 2000.

The spell of aridity has already become so severe it’s already surpassed three of the four notoriously arid megadroughts of Medieval times.

The researchers were uncertain about the extent of the fourth Medieval megadrought, which spanned from 1575 CE to 1603 CE, although they note the current drought is affecting wider areas more consistently than any megadrought since 800 CE.

“We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we’re on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts,” stated lead author Park Williams.

https://strangesounds.org

Africa’s Huge Locust Swarms Are Growing at the Worst Time

Matt Simon – April 16, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic exploded across the world earlier this year, another even more conspicuous plague was tearing through East Africa: locusts. The voracious little beasts are particularly fond of carbohydrates like grains, a staple of subsistence farmers across the continent. Back in January, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted the worst was still to come, and that by June, the size of the swarms could grow by a factor of 500.

And now, at the worst time, a second wave of locusts 20 times bigger than the first has descended on the region, thanks to heavy rains late last month, according to the FAO. The swarms have infiltrated Yemen and firmly established themselves across the Persian Gulf, having laid eggs along 560 miles of Iran’s coastline. New swarms are particularly severe in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

“The timing is really horrendous, because the farmers are just planting, and the seedlings are just coming up now since it’s the beginning of the rainy season,” says Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the FAO. “And it’s right at the same time when you have an increasing number of swarms in Kenya and in Ethiopia. There’s already pictures and reports of the seedlings getting hammered by the swarms. So basically that’s it for the farmers’ crops.”

“This represents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods,” FAO officials wrote in a brief last week. All this is happening while the region locks down to stave off the coronavirus pandemic, and as travel restrictions mean experts can’t get to countries to train people. It’d be hard to imagine a more brutal confluence of factors. “The problem is that most of the countries were not ready, and are now invaded with swarms,” says ecologist Cyril Piou, of the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development, which helps economically developing countries with agricultural issues. “The solution is to try to control as much as you can.”

https://www.wired.com

The Roman Globalist Church

Joseph Hippolito – May 1, 2020

As Christians worldwide celebrated their most significant holiday, their most recognizable figure delivered a distinctly secular message.

On Easter Sunday, the Vatican released a letter Pope Francis wrote to Catholic organizations in South America. Francis wrote that the coronavirus pandemic “might be a good time to consider a universal basic wage” that would enable the poor to enjoy “the benefits of globalism.”

Such a measure, Francis wrote, “would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights.”

Toward the end of his letter, Francis hoped the pandemic would generate “a humanist and ecological conversion that puts an end to the idolatry of money, and places human life and dignity at the center.”

Nowhere in his letter did Francis mention Jesus Christ.

The letter conclusively proves that Francis is transforming the Catholic Church into another non-governmental organization. In the process, he is destroying the church’s identity and credibility.

Francis’ activism reflects and culminates the Vatican’s embrace of humanist utopianism, which Front Page Magazine briefly addressed last year in “They Died For ‘Dialogue’?” That article traced the Holy See’s policy of appeasing Islam and China to the radical globalism adopted at the Second Vatican Council, which met from 1962 to 1965.

A pastoral document written on politics and economics during the council stated that “there must be made available to all men everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter. … Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work to the benefit of the human person.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Pro-life activists ordered to pay Planned Parenthood over $1.2M for exposé on baby body parts scandal

Michael Gryboski – May 1, 2020

A federal judge has issued an order demanding that a group of pro-life activists who were behind a series of undercover videos taken at Planned Parenthood facilities and abortion conferences are liable for more than $1.2 million in damages.

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California released an order Wednesday against individuals connected to the Center for Medical Progress.

At issue was an Unfair Competition Law claim brought by Planned Parenthood and the plaintiffs California Business & Professions Code.

Orrick ruled in favor of the claim, citing a jury verdict from last November that found CMP, its founder David Daleiden, and activists including Troy Newman of Operation Rescue guilty of violating several laws when investigators went undercover at Planned Parenthood facilities and events.

In addition to issuing an injunction banning those named from attending Planned Parenthood events, Orrick also found them liable for large sums of money.

This includes $1,259,370 in damages related to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, plus other damages and attorneys’ fees.

“… the illegal and fraudulent prongs of the UCL are satisfied given the jury’s verdict that defendants engaged in numerous illegal and fraudulent acts in California and emanating from California, against California-based plaintiffs and others, committed in violation of California law, Federal law, and the laws of other jurisdictions,” wrote Orrick.

In a statement released Thursday, Operation Rescue noted that Newman intends to appeal the order, arguing that he and his fellow pro-life activists did nothing wrong.

https://www.christianpost.com

Trump instructs US Navy to shoot down and destroy all Iranian gunboats if they ‘harass our ships at sea’

RT – April 22, 2020

President Donald Trump has ordered the US Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian gunboats, should they harass American vessels at sea. His declaration comes after a confrontation in the Persian Gulf.

“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” the president tweeted on Wednesday morning.

A week earlier, the US Navy accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of “dangerous and provocative” actions, claiming that nearly a dozen Iranian vessels buzzed a group of American ships in the Persian Gulf. The US Fifth Fleet later published video footage of the encounter, which showed the gunboats circling a larger US ship.

Tehran brushed off the accusations, disputing the “Hollywood” scenario portrayed by the US. The Iranian government considers US naval activity in the gulf highly provocative, and condemned the patrol as “adventurism.”

The US and Iran almost came to war at the beginning of the year, when the US assassinated General Qassem Soleimani with a drone strike at an airport in Baghdad, apparently in retribution for a series of Iranian-sponsored attacks on US bases in Iraq. However, tension in the Persian Gulf has been high since last summer, when the US and its Western allies blamed Iran for a series of sabotage attacks on oil infrastructure in the region.

US-led naval patrols were stepped up, and American troops and air defense systems were sent to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Based in nearby Bahrain, the US Fifth Fleet has been active in the gulf both before and since the flareup last year. The US insists patrols are essential to protect shipping routes against Iran’s “malign behavior.”

https://www.rt.com

40 Per Cent of Italians Want to Leave The Euro and the European Union

Chris Tomlinson – April 24, 2020

Italian anger at the European Union continues to remain high as a poll released this week shows four in ten would like their country to leave both the euro currency and the political bloc.

The Bidimedia poll showed that while 6.1 per cent said they wanted only to leave the EU and 7.1 per cent said they only wanted to leave the euro, 40 per cent said they back pulling out of both institutions. Meanwhile, 41.7 per cent of Italians prefer to remain in both, Il Giornale reports.

The vast majority of Italians, some 59.9 per cent, said they were against the use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU bailout fund that could loan the country money and has been proposed as a way to combat the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Use of the ESM had also been suggested last December but was heavily rejected by populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini who said it “would sanction a sale of unbalanced national sovereignty” and claimed that Germany and its banks would be the real beneficiary.

Earlier this month, members of the Five Star Movement, who form the current Italian ruling coalition with the leftist Democratic Party, threatened to bring down Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government if the ESM were used.

“I am saying this clearly: if the government has said yes to the ESM, this majority will no longer have my vote,” Five Star Movement Senator Mario Michele Giarrusso said.

Confidence in Prime Minister Conte is also wavering, with the Bidimedia poll showing 43.9 per cent of Italians have no confidence and 11.8 per cent have little confidence in his leadership.

https://www.breitbart.com