Christian group warns social media can be ‘deadly’ after 2 girls die in TikTok challenge

Samantha Kamman – July 21, 2022

A Christian organization commented on the potential harms of young children using social media without proper supervision amid reports that two sets of parents are suing TikTok over the belief the company could have done more to prevent their daughters’ deaths via an online challenge.

The Social Media Victims Law Center filed a civil lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., in a Los Angeles County court on behalf of the families of Lalani Erika Walton and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, two children who died while attempting the viral TikTok challenge known as the “blackout challenge.”

Participants in the challenge share videos depicting self-strangulation until they lose consciousness. Walton and Arriani, ages eight and nine, respectively, died after participating in the challenge.

The parents claim that their children became addicted to TikTok and that the platform promoted content that influenced the kids to harm themselves.

Paul Asay, senior associate editor of the Christian organization Focus on the Family’s PluggedIn.com, which helps parents navigate popular entertainment, weighed in on the controversy, stressing that social media comes with a “built-in irony.”

Asay told The Christian Post that these applications are intended to strengthen friendships but are also a “business.” He said the purpose of the business is to “keep their users as involved and engaged as much as they possibly can.”

He stated that this can be a problem for kids and teens using social media applications. The associate editor argued that children typically don’t have the ability to make “wise, healthy decisions for themselves.”

“Social media is designed to be addictive, in a way — designed to keep its users engaged with it as long as possible,” Asay wrote. “And, as this tragic story illustrates, content found on such sites can be damaging, dangerous and deadly — especially for children.”

https://www.terradaily.com

Khamenei adviser says Tehran ‘capable of building nuclear bomb’

JERUSALEM POST STAFF – July 17, 2022

Tehran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has yet to decide whether to build it, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Al Jazeera’s Arabic service on Sunday.

Tehran will also directly respond against Israel should its security be targeted, the report says citing the advisor.

“In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium … Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” Kamal Kharrazi said.

Background
In 2018, former US President Donald Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

About a year into Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran, Tehran started violating the pact’s nuclear restrictions.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons, saying it is refining uranium only for civilian energy uses, and has said its breaches of the international deal are reversible if the United States lifts sanctions and rejoins the agreement.

Indirect talks between Iran and President Joe Biden’s administration, which aim to bring both Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the nuclear pact, have stalled since March.

Kharrazi said Tehran would never negotiate over its missile program and regional policy, as demanded by the West and its allies in the Middle East.

https://www.jpost.com

Digital ID bill sees action in the House and Senate

FCW – July 15, 2022

A bill from Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and its Senate companion would raise the federal government’s profile in the digital ID ecosystem.

A bill meant to ramp up federal government participation in the digital identity ecosystem is inching closer to passage. The bill is poised to be advanced by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a Senate version was just introduced.

The bipartisan “Improving Digital Identity Act” was first introduced by Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in 2020, but never never voted out of committee. It also didn’t get a Senate version in that session of Congress. Foster reintroduced the measure last year.

In the House, the committee recessed on Thursday before finishing officially recorded votes to report Foster’s bill and others out of the committee. That will happen when the committee picks back up on the markup, a committee aid confirmed with FCW.

Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) along with Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) introduced a Senate counterpart on Wednesday.

The bill includes a few deliverables but the main impact will likely be felt from its proposed policy shift that puts the federal government more squarely in the digital ID business.

The legislation pushes the federal government to use existing authority to help Amerians “prove who they are online,” by providing opt-in ID validation services that “augment private sector digital identity and authentication solutions.”

The bill would also set up a task force on digital identity and establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to support the creation of interoperable identity credentialing systems for digital identity verification on the state and local level.

This all comes in the midst of a government still grappling with increased identity fraud since the start of the pandemic. Identity fraud losses shot up from $16.9 billion in 2019 to $56 billion in 2020, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.

https://fcw.com

Why we should all be worried about a vulture apocalypse

– July 18, 2022

A catastrophic decline of vulture populations in Africa and Asia is causing alarm among researchers, who fear that a “cascade” effect could lead to the spread of deadly old and new diseases, including plague, anthrax, and rabies.

For thousands of years, the birds have been synonymous with death and gluttony. “Where the corpse is, vultures will gather,” Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew 24. But in reality, the birds serve us in ways that we are only just beginning to understand – helping to keep ecosystems and pathogens in check.

If the lion is the king of the savannah, the vulture is the hardworking, unsung grounds keeper. A flock of vultures can wipe a dead antelope clean in about 20 minutes, stopping the carcass from turning into a toxic soup leaking into water sources. Maggots and bacteria are the only things more effective at disposing of dead meat.

The birds’ digestive systems are thought to be tough enough to stop bacterial colonies of the plague, anthrax and botulism in their tracks. Some researchers believe vultures indirectly keep rabies infections in check by depriving rats and feral dogs of bountiful food. Certain species may even help disinfect the ground near carcasses with their highly acidic excrement.

But now, many vultures and other raptor species are diving beak first into the abyss. In the 1990s, vulture populations on the Indian subcontinent plummeted by about 99 per cent. Seven out of eleven of the species found in Africa are now on the verge of extinction.

“Vultures and other medium to large raptor species are probably the most threatened group of vertebrates on the planet,” said Shiv Kapila, director of the Naivasha Raptor Centre, 60 miles from the Kenyan capital. “The rate of decline is staggering. We still don’t know nearly enough about what all this means. We’re working on borrowed time,”

“If you screw up natural equilibriums that have developed over tens of millions of years, you can get what we call a trophic cascade effect,” he added, reaching up and giving Yusef, a seven-year-old Rüppell’s vulture with a broken wing, a helping hand down from the ledge.

“If you get rid of a hugely important component of an ecosystem – like a vulture which hoovers up dead meat – diseases can proliferate because they’re not being kept in check,” Mr  Kapila said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk

Atlantic plankton all but wiped out in catastrophic loss of life

Mark Howarth – July 17, 2022

Scientists have discovered a catastrophic loss of life in our oceans, we can reveal.

An Edinburgh-based research team fears plankton, the tiny organisms that sustain life in our seas, has all but been wiped out after spending two years collecting water samples from the Atlantic.

The landmark research blames chemical pollution from plastics, farm fertilisers and pharmaceuticals in the water. Previously, it was thought the amount of plankton had halved since the 1940s, but the evidence gathered by the Scots suggest 90% has now vanished.

The scientists warn there are only a few years left before the consequences become catastrophically clear when fish, whales and dolphins become extinct, with grave implications for the planet. In the report, the researchers from the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey Foundation (Goes) state: “An environmental catastrophe is unfolding. We believe humanity could adapt to global warming and extreme weather changes. It is our view that humanity will not survive the extinction of most marine plants and animals.”

The findings have prompted calls for urgent action on a number of fronts as observers warn the promises of Cop26 to ease the climate crisis have, so far, amounted to little.

Fiona Nicholls, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “Our oceans can be our allies in fighting climate change, but there is simply no time to waste.”

Goes – based at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Innovation Centre in Midlothian – has been collecting samples from the Atlantic and the Caribbean from its yacht, Copepod. Setting out from Scotland, it sailed along French and Portuguese coasts before crossing the Atlantic. The yacht is currently moored in Cartagena, Colombia, before setting sail for Panama this week.

In addition to their own samples, the Goes researchers have provided monitoring equipment to other sailing boat crews so that they can perform the same trawls and report back with their results.

https://www.sundaypost.com

Francis Forgives Everyone

William Kilpatrick – July 20, 2022

In a recent article I made the case that the main thrust of the Francis papacy is to deemphasize sin.  Whatever he might say about a moral issue such as abortion, same-sex marriage, or adultery, Francis has consistently given his support and praise to those on the permissive side of the issue.

By contrast, his harshest criticisms have always been reserved for traditional Catholics who worry about moral decay in the Church and society.  Francis frequently attacks these “rigid fundamentalists” as the modern-day counterparts of the pharisees.

Judging by Francis’s actions, one might think that the Church was just emerging from a long dark night of narrow-minded puritanism—a real life Handmaid’s Tale.  But the opposite is true.

Starting in the early sixties, Church leaders increasingly took their moral cues from secular sources—particularly from psychologists. Middle-school religious studies texts were peppered with the theories of humanistic psychologists. In California, an entire order of 600 nuns left the Church in search of self-fulfillment. With the coming of the self-esteem movement, feelings of guilt were replaced with feelings of OK-ness.  Almost overnight the long lines outside the confessional booths disappeared.  Newly enlightened Catholics couldn’t think of any sins to confess.  The new gospel was all about self-acceptance and self-love.

Many couldn’t think of any reason to attend Mass, either.  The Son of Man came to save sinners; but since the label “sinner” no longer applied to those who had learned to esteem themselves, thousands upon thousands simply stopped going to church.

This doesn’t mean that they lost their faith entirely.  Many simply re-adjusted their faith to bring it into conformity with the changing times.  One Catholic writer recounts that until her mid-twenties, “I saw God as a permissive parent who was too ‘loving’ to enforce His own boundaries.”

This slide into permissiveness was slowed during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI; however, the Church, at least in the West, continued to lose members.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Texas Sues HHS, Says Biden Admin. Trying to ‘Transform Every Emergency Room in the Country into Walk-In Abortion Clinic’

Ben Kelley – July 21, 2022

The State of Texas, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over its attempt to “transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.”

The lawsuit, filed on July 14th, claims that “the Biden Administration’s response to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022), which ended the terrible regime of Roe v. Wade, is to attempt to use federal law to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.”

The administration’s directive, released on July 11th, is a clarification of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), a law that forces hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay and protects doctors from being prosecuted under state laws if they perform a procedure that they deem necessary to save a patient from death or serious injury in an emergency situation.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s letter says that “emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”

Becerra’s letter goes on to state that an abortion may be an appropriate stabilizing treatment for pregnant patients with an emergency medical condition:

“When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life and health of the pregnant person – or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition – that state law is preempted.”

Paxton’s lawsuit disagrees with this assertion: “To the contrary, EMTALA ‘do[es] not preempt any State or local law requirement, except to the extent that the requirement directly conflicts with a requirement of EMTALA.’”

EMTALA does not codify any right or access to abortion, so there is no direct conflict between EMTALA and a state law banning abortion, the suit alleges.

https://www.cnsnews.com

The ‘Disrespect of Marriage Act’: Democratic Bill Would Redefine Marriage

Ben Johnson – July 19, 2022

With economic pressures squeezing middle-class families tighter than any time in a generation, congressional Democrats have decided to ram through a series of laws that would write left-wing positions on social issues into law, including a national bill establishing same-sex marriage.

On Monday, Democrats in both chambers of Congress introduced a bill to redefine marriage in national law, which they have dubbed the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill would prevent any state from exclusively protecting the natural family in law, in the (unlikely) event the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 opinion which created the constitutional “right” to same-sex marriage.

“The far-right Supreme Court is on a rampage against the freedoms of the American people,” asserted Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), a democratic socialist who identifies as gay. “We will not sit idly by as Republicans and their activist judges take our country backward,” insisted Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who also identifies as LGBT. “I look forward to bringing it to the [f]loor for a vote this week,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (R-Md.) on Monday.

“It really should be the Disrespect for Marriage Act,” Quena Gonzalez, senior director of Government Affairs at the Family Research Council, told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Monday. The bill merely says that “an individual shall be considered married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the [s]tate where the marriage was entered into.” At no point does it limit marriage to two partners. Democrats plan to pass legislation preventing states from criminalizing interracial marriage or contraception, positions that have no political constituency in any state. This follows the House passing two bills to expand abortion nationwide last Friday, although one or both bills appears poised to die in the Senate.

https://www.washingtonstand.com

NYC Mayor Warns Residents To Be Ready For A Nuclear Attack

– July 15, 2022

Do the rulers know something we don’t, or is this just another distraction and attempt to panic the masses? “There are no imminent threats to the city that we know about, but we always have to be prepared as New Yorkers,” he said.

What is also strange is the language used to discourage any questions:

In the new clip released Monday, the city’s Office of Emergency Management tells New Yorkers: “So there’s been a nuclear attack. Don’t ask me how or why. Just know that the big one has hit. OK. So what do we do?” –The Daily Mail

“I’m a big believer in better safe than sorry,” he stated before the press. Because Putin invaded Ukraine, Adams went on to say, preparing for nuclear war in NYC is just “taking necessary steps.” These nuclear preparedness PSAs put out by the rulers in New York seem to be following a Russian warning from May of 2022. Russian state media issued a chilling new nuclear threat to the US, boasting that Putin could wipe out the entire East and West Coasts with just four missiles.

In response, US state media has resorted to ratcheting up the fear or using predictive programming because they know it’ll happen. Either way, it is best to use discernment, and critical thinking, and be prepared, especially if you live in areas being warned of nuclear attacks.

The Russian warning stated: “Four missiles, and there will be nothing left. They think the mushroom cloud will be taller than a high rise. That mushroom cloud will be visible from Mexico. Don’t delude yourselves. What should be said is that there’ll be nothing left, no one harbors any illusions about it, that everyone will be fine in case of nuclear war. No one will be fine, but calculate it correctly,” Alexei Zhuravlev, a member of Putin’s parliament said.

https://www.shtfplan.com

Al-Qaida’s power base in Afghanistan now ‘worse’ than before 9/11

WND Staff – July 12, 2022

When Joe Biden abruptly withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan last year, he left behind billions of dollars worth of American war machinery for the Taliban – the terror organization then taking over the country – to have and to use.

He also left behind hundreds of Americans, despite his promise that he would see to it that every one got out.

Further, there were thousands of nationals who had worked with the U.S. during its years-long presence there, and who were likely to face the wrath of the terrorists who took control of the nation, and installed themselves as the government.

The U.S., of course, originally had gone in because of the Islamic extremists who were threatening and killing people and destabilizing that part of the world. And carrying out 9/11.

Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal, said in a report at Just the News that now the Taliban controls all 34 provinces – as opposed to about three-quarters as of the 9/11 date when Muslim extremists commandeered four jets and created terror in Washington and New York, costing nearly 3,000 American residents their lives.

“The State Department’s policy essentially normalizes Taliban control of Afghanistan,” he explained. “This is absolutely insane. If the U.S. is unwilling to support the Afghan resistance, then it’s effectively ceding Taliban control to Afghanistan.”

https://www.wnd.com