Ron Chambers

US conducts airstrikes against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq

Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen – March 13, 2020

(CNN)The US carried out airstrikes on Thursday against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq, according to the US Defense Department.

The strikes come one day after the US assessed an Iranian-backed group was responsible for a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located, killing two American service members and one British service member.

The Defense Department on Friday identified the two US service members killed in the attack as Army Specialist Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Oklahoma. The UK Ministry of Defense had earlier identified the slain UK service member as Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon.

The UK government expressed support for the US airstrikes, with the UK’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace saying “We support the right of the United States to defend themselves, as they have done tonight.”

Fox News was first to report on the strike.

A US defense official told CNN that the strikes were carried out by manned fighter aircraft and targeted five weapons storage facilities.

In a written statement, the Defense Department stated the strike was aimed at harming the ability of Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-sponsored Shia militia group, to conduct future strikes against American troops. The weapons storage facilities included areas where weapons used to attack American and coalition troops were stored.

https://www.cnn.com

Europe Under Siege

Bruce Bawer – March 10, 2020

In 1683 a massive army of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the Christian city of Vienna. After two months, an allied force that consisted of men from all over the Holy Roman Empire and from other central European states, including Hungary, and that was led by John III Sobieski, the King of Poland and Lithuania, turned the Ottoman soldiers back, preventing the potential Islamization of the continent.

In recent days, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of the Ottoman Empire’s successor state, Turkey, has unleashed thousands of Muslims, mostly young males of military age, upon the European Union, today’s not-so-holy but increasingly imperial reincarnation of the Holy Roman Empire. More specifically, Erdogan, in violation of an agreement with the EU that netted him billions, has allowed – and encouraged – these people, who have been routinely described in the Western media as “refugees” and “migrants,” to storm the border separating his country from the EU’s southeasternmost satrapy, Greece. Indeed, he’s lent them active support, providing many of them with free transport to the border, which they’ve attacked with rocks, “makeshift battering rams,” and tear-gas canisters (supplied by Ergodan) while setting fires and shouting “Allahu akbar!” Photos taken at the border underscore just how perverse it is to call these thugs “refugees” or “migrants.”

Seems like old times. What’s different this time around is that whereas seventeenth-century Europeans understood that they were confronting, in the Islamic invaders of their day, an existential threat to their way of life, many of their descendants don’t seem to have a clue about what they’re dealing with. On Tuesday of last week, and again on Saturday, thousands of Germans, rallying in Berlin and other cities, demanded that the “migrants” on the Greek borders be allowed to pour into the continent and to find their way to Germany, if they wish, so that they can help form “a solidarity society” in which there will be “no more suffering.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Fukushima: How the ocean became a dumping ground for radioactive waste

DW – March 11, 2020

The nuclear disaster at Fukushima sent an unprecedented amount of radiation into the Pacific. But, before then, atomic bomb tests and radioactive waste were contaminating the sea — the effects are still being felt today.

Almost 1.2 million liters (320,000 gallons) of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is to be released into the ocean. That’s on the recommendation of the government’s advisory panel some nine years after the nuclear disaster on Japan’s east coast. The contaminated water has since been used to cool the destroyed reactor blocks to prevent further nuclear meltdowns. It is currently being stored in large tanks, but those are expected to be full by 2022.

Exactly how the water should be dealt with has become highly controversial in Japan, not least because the nuclear disaster caused extreme contamination off the coast of Fukushima. At the time, radioactive water flowed “directly into the sea, in quantities we have never seen before in the marine world,” Sabine Charmasson from the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) tells DW.

Radiation levels in the sea off Fukushima were millions of times higher than the government’s limit of 100 becquerels. And still today, radioactive substances can be detected off the coast of Japan and in other parts of the Pacific. They’ve even been measured in very small quantities off the US west coast in concentrations “well below the harmful levels set by the World Health Organization,” according to Vincent Rossi, an oceanographer at France’s Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO).

But that doesn’t mean there’s no risk, says Horst Hamm of the Nuclear Free Future Foundation. “A single becquerel that gets into our body is enough to damage a cell that will eventually become a cancer cell,” he says.

A study from the European Parliament reached a similar conclusion. The research found that “even the smallest possible dose, a photon passing through a cell nucleus, carries a cancer risk. Although this risk is extremely small, it is still a risk.”

And that risk is growing. Radioactive pollution in the ocean has been increasing globally — and not just since the disaster at Fukushima.

https://www.dw.com

Trump Announces National Emergency, More Tests, More Nimble Pandemic Response

Newsmax – March 13, 2020

President Donald Trump declared a coronavirus national emergency in a speech from the Rose Garden on Friday afternoon, invoking the Stafford Act for disaster relief and emergency assistance. The step will mean billions of dollars in additional federal cash for testing, resources and the shoring up of the flailing national economy.

In no uncertain terms, Trump also addressed the lack of sufficient testing capabilities, an issue that has inflamed critics who’ve deemed the administration’s pandemic response haphazard. He said that going forward, there would be a partnership with the private sector “to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus” — including providing drive-through sites that will be able administer the tests and a way to self-screen online.

Trump assured the nation, “We will get through this together.”

In recent days, the Trump administration has been under intense fire for conflicting messages, a sluggish national response and insufficient testing for the COVID-19 virus, which began in China and has since afflicted tens of thousands of people around the world. (Vice President Mike Pence said the virus has now been detected in 46 states.)

In his speech, Trump touted Americans’ response thus far, compared to that seen in other parts of the world. But then he somberly declared, “I am officially declaring a national emergency,” saying that doing so would open up access to $50 billion.

He also urged every state to set up emergency operations, and hospitals to invoke their emergency preparedness plans.

https://www.newsmax.com

Pro-Choicers Yell “Hail Satan” And Obscenities At Peacefully Praying Pro-Lifers

Student for Life – March 9, 2020

Fire Department, Police Department Called to Bellingham Planned Parenthood after Mysterious Liquid Thrown at Pro-Lifers defamed by Multiple Obscenities, Threats and Lewdness

“Whatcom Students for Life bravely stood up against the threats of intimidation and the obscenities hurled at them by violent pro-choicers. Such violence is always tragic, but more and more commonplace, especially in a time in which the Senate Minority Leader threatened two Supreme Court Justices for possibly being pro-life. Abortion advocates are becoming more violent against those who advocate for the innocent, but we will not be silenced,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America.

BELLINGHAM, WA and FREDERICKSBURG, VA (3-09-2020) — Reacting to news of a vial of liquid being thrown at Whatcom Students for Life who were praying peacefully outside of an abortion facility as part of a 40 Days for Life campaign on Saturday, March 7th, Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America said that the violence and ugliness on behalf of pro-abortion advocates cannot be tolerated. She observed, “The threats and vitriol must be stopped. Every day it seems like we hear of a new account of vandalism, threat of violence, or acts of intimidation towards peaceful pro-lifers. What happened Saturday shows us the worst of the worst of the pro-choice movement; obscenity, Satan worship, and lewdness towards students. We firmly reject all acts of violence and intimidation towards our students.”

According to Autumn Lindsey, a student spokesperson for Students for Life and a leader in Whatcom Community College Students for Life, numerous incidents of violence and intimidation occurred on Saturday. These included:

· People driving by the group, yelling obscenities and displaying crude gestures.

· A man who masturbated in a car towards the group, many of whom were students, as his friend drove near the peaceful protestors.

· A woman, caught on video, yelling “Hail, Satan.”

· A woman flashed the group while yelling, “My body; My choice.”

https://studentsforlife.org

Conn. Girls Sue to Block Transgender Athletes

Newsmax – March 12, 2020

The families of three female high school runners filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block transgender athletes in Connecticut from participating in girls sports.

Selina Soule, of Glastonbury High School, Alanna Smith, of Danbury High School, and Chelsea Mitchell, of Canton High School, are represented by the conservative nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom. The organization argues that allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete has deprived their clients of track titles and scholarship opportunities.

“Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams, and destroys their athletic opportunities,” attorney Christiana Holcomb said in a news release. “Having separate boys’ and girls’ sports has always been based on biological differences, not what people believe about their gender, because those differences matter for fair competition.

“And forcing girls to be spectators in their own sports is completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics,” Holcomb said. “Connecticut’s policy violates that law and reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women.”

The lawsuit was filed against the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the boards of education in Bloomfied, Cromwell, Glastonbury, Canton and Danbury.

The Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has said its policy follows a state anti-discrimination law that says students must be treated in school by the gender with which they identify.

The lawsuit follows a Title IX complaint filed last June by the girls’ families and the Alliance Defending Freedom with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which is investigating the policy.

https://www.newsmax.com

Convention of ‘Christian Witches’ to Gather In Salem on Easter Sunday

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz– February 18, 2020

A group of self-professed “Christian witches” announced they will be holding their annual convention on Easter in Salem, Massachusetts. The gathering of “Witches, Sorcerers/Soceresses, Wizards, Warlocks, Necromancers, Readers” and “like-minded Magickal Beings” is being organized by Rev. Valerie Love (aka KAISI). Scheduled for April 10-12, it will coincide with the Christian holiday of Easter and feature elements of witchcraft as well as Christian prayers.

Love bills herself as a spiritual life coach and “ordained Minister of Spiritual Consciousness.” On her website, Love claims to have been born a witch, and, as a child, “saw spirits and communed with otherworldly entities.”

She also claims to be a practicing Christian Witch and founded the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School which she claims is in the “Solomonic tradition.” In an Instagram post, Love stated that the Book of Psalms “is really a book of spells.”

The convention will include lectures on “Magickal Practice in the Christian Witchcraft Tradition”, a cemetery walk, Tarot, palmistry, and Angel readings. There will be a Harry Potter-themed costume party. The witches’ convention will culminate with a Church service on Sunday.

On her personal website that focuses on personal enlightenment, love also offers coaching programs for an investment of $5,000 to $50,000. Love also holds seances.

Despite Love’s claim that witchcraft can coexist with a Bible-centered existence, the Bible explicitly prohibits witchcraft in two separate places.

Incorporating witchcraft into Christianity is the most recent manifestation of what is becoming a common trend as black magic makes a comeback, even surpassing the Church. A later study by the Pew Research Center in 2014 found that 0.4 percent of Americans, or around 1-1.5 million people, self-identify as Wiccan or Pagan. To put this in perspective, a report in the Christian Post on this study compares this to other religions.

“There may now be more Americans who identify as practicing witches, 1.5 million, than there are members of mainline Presbyterianism (PCUSA),1.4 million,” the article wrote.

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com

Turkey in social media BLACKOUT amid fears of all-out war in Syria

RT- February 27, 2020

Social media platforms across Turkey winked out after reports of an airstrike in Syria killing dozens of Turkish soldiers fueled rumors of an all-out war. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and YouTube were all reported down.

Twitter was the first to go, with national provider Turk Telekom shutting off access around 11:30pm local time on Thursday. This was shortly after news broke that at least nine – the number has since continued to rise – Turkish soldiers were killed in Syria’s Idlib province.

This was followed by all other social networks, clustered by provider, according to multiple services monitoring internet outages across the globe.

Accounts of major media outlets remained active however, as they flashed updates about the alleged Syrian airstrike and the Turkish response – described by officials in Ankara as air and artillery strikes against multiple “regime” targets.

News that multiple soldiers were killed in Syria was confirmed on Thursday evening by Rahmi Dogan, governor of the Hatay province that neighbors Syria. Casualties from the strike were reportedly being treated at hospitals in the border town of Reyhanli.

Among the rumors circulating on social media in the aftermath were reports that Turkey would open its borders for Syrian refugees seeking to cross into Europe. It was also suggested that the parliament in Ankara intended to declare war on Syria in the morning.

So far, the only thing that has been officially confirmed is that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called an emergency session of security officials, and that Ankara has reached out to NATO and Washington.

https://www.rt.com

‘Can No Longer Afford NATO?’ Twitter Aboil as Johnson Vows Historic Overhaul of Post-Brexit Defence

Sputnik News – February 26, 2020

Boris Johnson has ordered a major overhaul of Britain’s defence sector as part of a government review to determine the county’s post-Brexit course and ensure the nation is prepared for any potential threats, the BBC reported.

For the first time in decades, it will also cover the UK’s overseas operations, including aid cash.

Whitehall hopes insights from internal and external experts will challenge “traditional Whitehall assumptions”, regarding the diplomatic service, use of technology, tackling organized crime, etc.

Announcing the review, Boris said last night: “We must do more to adapt. We will be judged by how we respond to the opportunities ahead”, noting the UK could not “rest on our laurels”.

“As the world changes we must move with it – harnessing new technologies and ways of thinking to ensure British foreign policy is rooted firmly in our national interests, now and in the decades ahead”, the prime minister explained.

The government says it is set to “utilise expertise from both inside and outside government for the review, ensuring the UK’s best foreign policy minds are feeding into its conclusions and offering constructive challenges to traditional Whitehall assumptions and thinking”.

The UK’s last comprehensive security and defence review was completed in late 2015, before Britain voted to leave the EU. The new one, first announced by Johnson during his election as the “biggest since the Cold War” is expected to be outlined in a formal statement later on.

https://sputniknews.com

Global Stock Markets Continue to Plunge

Newsmax-Friday, 28 February 2020

The S&P 500 fell for the seventh straight day on Friday and the benchmark index suffered its biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis on growing fears the fast-spreading coronavirus could push the economy into recession.

However, stocks regained some ground right at the end of a volatile session.

The Dow and the Nasdaq also registered their deepest weekly percentage losses since October 2008.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung back from an early slide of more than 1,000 points to close around 350 points lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and is now down 13% since hitting a record high just 10 days ago. The Nasdaq reversed an early decline to finish flat.

The Dow lost nearly 3,600 points this week and the S&P 500 posted a double-digit weekly percentage loss for only the fifth time since 1940.

https://www.newsmax.com