China should TRIPLE nuclear arsenal to deter ‘warmongering’ US, editor of state-run Global Times argues

RT – May 8, 2020

China should drastically increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads to dissuade the United States from pursuing its strategic ambitions abroad, the editor of the Global Times has urged.

In a piece published by his own paper, Hu Xijin said China is a “peace-loving nation” that has pledged to never be the first to use nuclear weapons. He argued, however, that Beijing must aim to expand the number of its nuclear warheads to 1,000 to create a powerful deterrent to “shape the attitudes of US elites toward China.” The Asian power currently has around 300 nuclear weapons.

He said that bolstering China’s nuclear capabilities would keep “an increasingly irrational” United States at arm’s length.

Some people may call me a ‘warmonger’ because I want the country to have more nuclear warheads. They should instead give this label to US politicians who are openly hostile to China.

The Global Times editor emphasized he would prefer a “peaceful coexistence” between China and the US, but observed that Washington “only believes in strength.” China cannot “beg” to be treated as an equal on the world stage, he argued.

Xijin’s commentary came just a day after US President Donald Trump rallied for an “effective arms control” deal between Washington, Beijing and Moscow, during a telephone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

https://www.rt.com

U.S. Lost 20.5 Million Jobs in April, Unemployment Soared to 14.7%

John Carney – May 8, 2020

The unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April and the economy shed 20.5 million jobs, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday.

April was the second consecutive month of job losses for the U.S. economy following the record 113 months run of expanding employment rolls.

Economists had forecast that the economy would lose 21 million jobs and that the unemployment rate would climb from 4.4 percent to 16 percent. So the April figures were better than expected.

March’s job losses were revised up from a loss of 701,000 to 870,000. February, which saw job gains, was revised down by 45,000 from 275,000 to 230,000, a reminder of how just how strong the jobs market was prior to the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

Employment fell sharply in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality, the Labor Department said. Both average hourly earnings and average hours worked moved up in April, likely reflecting businesses shedding newer and lower-paid employees first and attempting to make do with smaller payrolls by increasing hours.

Manufacturing shed 1.3 million jobs, including 381,500 in the auto sector. Construction lost 975,000 jobs. Health care and social assistance shrank by more than 2 million jobs.

White-collar positions have not been immune to the coronavirus jobs catastrophe. Information technology and financial services sectors shrank by more than one-quarter of a million jobs. Business services lost 2.1 million jobs.

https://www.breitbart.com

Deadly Earthquake Hits Under Sleeping Volcano Near Tehran, Iran – Panicked Residents Spill Into the Streets

Strange Sounds – May 8, 2020

The very shallow quake (7km or 4.3 miles), downgraded from M5.1 to M4.6 sent ripples across Iran’s north shortly after midnight local time on Friday.

It struck north of the city of Damavand, very close to Mount Damavand, the second-highest volcano in Asia.

The dormant volcano sits some 70 km (43 mi) north-east of the Iranian capital Tehran, where locals reported moderate to severe shaking from the Friday morning tremor.

Photos and videos have emerged on social media showing residents flooding the streets in the aftermath of the quake.

Iranian emergency services said that at least two people died and 13 were injured in the ensuing chaos.

Several stadiums and city parks were reportedly prepared to temporarily shelter people that abruptly left their homes.

https://strangesounds.org

Pope Francis, Not Content to Falsely Accuse Christians of Fictional Atrocity, Celebrates Jihadis’ Favorite Holiday

Robert Spencer – May 02, 2020

The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on Friday informed its “dear Muslim brothers and sisters” that the month of Ramadan is “a time for spiritual healing and growth, of sharing with the poor, of strengthening bonds with relatives and friends,” as well as an opportunity for “your Christian friends” to “further strengthen our relationships with you.

The message, which was published in Arabic, Italian, French, and English, added: “It is in this spirit that the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue offers its prayerful best wishes and hearty congratulations to you all.” And that’s wonderful, but just what was the Vatican congratulating?

Vatican officials are without any doubt unaware of the fact that because Ramadan is the month in which Muslims redouble their efforts to obey Allah, Ramadan is also quintessentially the month of jihad. Fighting and killing infidels is, after all, commanded in the Qur’an (cf. 2:191. 4:89, 9:5, 9:289, 47:4, etc.). A hadith has a Muslim asking Muhammad: “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” (Bukhari 4.52.44)

Thus killing infidels during Ramadan is, for the killers, a holy and sacred act. A jihadi group explained it back in 2012:

The month of Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.

https://pjmedia.com

Christians Beware: Biden Declares His #1 Priority Will Be the Anti-Christian LGBTQ ‘Equality Act’

Paula Bolyard – June 03, 2019

Get ready for more attacks on people of faith if Joe Biden is elected president. Biden announced at an event in Ohio on Saturday that his number one priority, if elected, will be to enshrine LGBTQ rights into federal law via the Equality Act, a contentious, Orwellian effort by left-wing bullies to silence Christians who believe biblical teachings on marriage and reject the view that boys can be girls and girls can be boys.

During a half-hour speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala in Columbus, Ohio, Biden said, “It’s wrong and it is immoral what [the Trump administration] is doing,” citing efforts to bar transgender troops from the U.S. military and protect medical providers from being forced to violate their consciences.

“Just like with racial justice and women’s rights, we are seeing pushback against all the progress we’ve made toward equality,” Biden added.

“You know, you’ve done as much for straight folks as you’ve done for gay folks and lesbian folks,” said Biden, crediting the LGBTQ advocacy group with changing the attitudes of Americans on sexual issues. “This is how you’ve freed so many non-homophobic straight guys,” he said.

Biden bragged to the group about how he “came out” in support same-sex marriage in 2012, before most other Democrats. (In fact, Biden evolved on the issue before President Obama and Hillary Clinton and while some of his competitors were still in high school.)

“In too many places you’re still at risk for your jobs,” he warned. It’s gotta change.”

https://pjmedia.com

German Catholic Church Confesses it ‘Was Complicit’ in WWII by Not Opposing Nazi Regime

Sputnik News – May 2, 3030

The news comes two months after the Vatican opened its archives on Pope Pius XII, who led the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958 and has been subject to harsh criticism due to his stance on the Holocaust and the Nazi regime in general.

The council of Catholic bishops in Germany has confessed that the church was “complicit in the war” by not opposing the Nazis during World War II, according to The Times.

“Inasmuch as the bishops did not oppose the war with a clear ‘no’, and most of them bolstered the [German nation’s] will to endure, they made themselves complicit in the war… The bishops may not have shared the Nazis’ justification for the war on the grounds of racial ideology, but their words and their images gave succour both to soldiers and the regime prosecuting the war, as they lent the war an additional sense of purpose”, the document said.

It also says that the leaders of German Catholics did not support Nazi ideas, but still helped the government and the military by organizing hospitals and providing spiritual guidance to the soldiers during the war.

According to the Daily Mail, the new report, released one week before the 75th anniversary of Victory Day, was described by one prelate as a “confession of guilt”.

https://sputniknews.com

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