California adopts bills allowing males in female prisons, fund for hormones and trans surgery grants

Brandon Showalter – September 28, 2020

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two new transgender bills, including one that allows biological males who identify as female to be placed in women’s prisons, and another that establishes a fund using state revenue for gender-transition drugs and surgeries.

Newsom signed a law Saturday that requires the Golden state to let inmates who identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex be housed on the basis of “gender identity” instead of biological sex.

The phrase “gender identity” has been used in public policy to describe a transgender-identifying person’s internal feelings about their sex but is not informed by chromosomes.

The California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is not prohibited from denying an inmate’s request to be placed in an opposite-sex facility solely because of anatomy, sexual orientation or “a factor present” among the other inmates at the facility.

Critics say female inmates are an already vulnerable population and the presence of males in their spaces, regardless of how they identify, is a violation of their privacy and safety.

“Allowing men to identify into being incarcerated with women, and this is unlikely to be used by women to get into men’s prisons, constitutes a depraved indifference to the safety and dignity of women held in custody by the State of California,” said Natasha Chart, board chair of the Women’s Liberation Front, in an email to The Christian Post Monday.

“This would count as a violation of women’s rights under the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war, and is likely being used to divert attention from the state’s failure to prevent torture and other interpersonal violence in men’s prisons.”

https://www.christianpost.com

Solar cycle 25: the Sun wakes up

Space Daily – October 30, 2020

The Sun has entered its 25th solar cycle and is about to wake up. For the last few years our star has been pretty sleepy, with few sunspots, bright flares or massive ejections of magnetized plasma emanating from its surface. This quiet period is known as the solar minimum, but things are starting to heat up again.

Experts on the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel recently announced that the Sun has officially entered a new cycle, its 25th since we’ve had enough data to reliably recognize them. While we can expect space weather to get more exciting in the next few years, with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025, the panel came to the consensus that this next cycle will be very similar to the previous, both generally weaker than the average solar cycle.

“While small and medium-sized solar storms are more likely during peak solar activity,” explains Juha-Pekka Luntama, Head of ESA’s Space Weather Office, “it is important to remember that individual large solar events, huge flares and coronal mass ejections, can happen at any point, independent of where we are in the solar cycle or how strong the cycle becomes.”

If such solar storms impact Earth, they can create geomagnetic storms in our magnetosphere. While good news for aurora hunters, these storms can disrupt and even damage power grids on Earth and satellites in orbit, and the vital services they provide.

https://www.spacedaily.com

A powerful & game-changing Russia/China military alliance is ‘quite possible’ in future but not on the cards yet, says Putin

Jonny Tickle – October 23, 2020

An alliance between two of the planet’s three most powerful militaries would profoundly alter the world order. Vladimir Putin believes that it is possible in the future that Russia and China could unite, but not yet necessary.

Speaking on Thursday at a virtual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Putin stressed that Russia “does not need” an alliance with China, “but, theoretically, it’s quite possible to imagine.” The superpowers are increasingly close, and conduct joint exercises together.

Valdai is a Russian think tank and forum established in 2004. It hosts an annual meeting attended by Putin. The event is usually held in Sochi, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic was condensed this year.

“Russian-Chinese relations have reached an unprecedented high level,” the president said. “We treat each other with great confidence, have strong, stable, and, most importantly, effective working relations in all areas.”

Moscow and Beijing currently cooperate closely in many fields, including militarily. In September, China took part in Russia’s large-scale joint exercise, Kavkaz-2020, along with other Kremlin allies. According to Putin, the two countries “exchange best practices in the field of military construction,” and have high-level cooperation in the technological sphere. As well as benefiting the Russian Armed Forces, the partnership also increases China’s defense capability, he explained.

“It’s not only about the exchange of products, sales of military goods and the exchange of technologies,” the president explained. “There are some very sensitive things here.”

https://www.rt.com

Brexit Talks Back on Less than Week After Boris Told UK to Prepare for Clean Break

Victoria Friedman – October 22, 2020

Negotiations between the UK and EU recommenced on Thursday less than one week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced talks had been a failure and told the nation to prepare for a no-deal, clean-break Brexit.

On Friday, the prime minister’s office had gone as far as telling Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier not to bother coming to London this week to continue trade talks, after Johnson’s deadline of October 15th came and went without significant progress towards signing a free trade agreement. The UK said that negotiations could only recommence if there was a substantial change to Brussels’ position.

For months, the EU has expected the UK to be the only partner in talks to compromise, with the bloc insisting on continued access to Britain’s fishing waters and agreement to anti-competition rules.

There appeared to be movement on the EU’s side, however, when Mr Barnier told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “We will seek the necessary compromises on both sides. In order to do our utmost to reach an agreement, we will do so right up until the last day that it’s possible to do so.”

“We want a deal that will be mutually beneficial to both parties in respect of the autonomy and sovereignty of both sides. A deal reflecting a balanced compromise.

“An agreement is within reach.”

The UK’s negotiator Lord David Frost said in response that “a basis for negotiations with the EU and Michel Barnier has been re-established”.

https://www.breitbart.com

Floods, Drought Are Destroying Crops and Sparking Food Inflation

Newsmax – October 23, 2020

Wild weather is wreaking havoc on crops around the world, sending their prices skyrocketing.

On wheat farms in the U.S. and Russia, it’s a drought that’s ruining harvests. The soybean fields of Brazil are bone dry too, touched by little more than the occasional shower. In Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, the problem is the exact opposite. Torrential downpours are causing flooding in rice fields and stands of oil palm trees.

The sudden emergence of these supply strains is a big blow to a global economy that has been struggling to regain its footing after the shock of the Covid-19 lockdowns. As prices soar on everything from sugar to cooking oil, millions of working-class families that had already been forced to scale back food purchases in the pandemic are being thrust deeper into financial distress.

What’s more, these increases threaten to push up broader inflation indexes in some countries and could make it harder for central bankers to keep providing monetary stimulus to shore up growth.

The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, a gauge of nine crop prices, has risen 28% since late April to its highest level in more than four years. Wheat earlier this week was the most expensive since 2014.

“The fundamentals have changed dramatically since May,” said Don Roose, president of brokerage U.S. Commodities in Iowa. “The weather is bubbling to the top, and we have demand chugging in a bull market.”

The fallout from the pandemic means that the United Nations was already warning of a worst-case scenario in which about a tenth of the world’s population would go hungry this year. Things could become more dire if grocery costs keep rising and even more people can’t afford to eat.

https://www.newsmax.com

New mass deaths of sea animals discovered off Russia’s Kamchatka

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Authorities reported Monday, October 12, 2020, that a new mass die-off of marine animals has been discovered off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka, where mysterious toxic pollution along a 40 km (25 miles) stretch recently killed 95 percent of seabed animals and caused health hazards among surfers since September.

Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said he received reports from scientists and witnesses of dead marine creatures off the coast, following the initial discovery last week.

Divers who studied the waters reported that 95 percent of seabed creatures were found dead, including sea urchins, octopi, seals, and starfish. Greenpeace Russia called the situation an “ecological disaster,” which prompted authorities to investigate marine pollution.

“95 percent are dead,” said Ivan Usatov of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in a meeting with other scientists and Solodov. “Some large fish, shrimps, and crabs have survived, but in very small numbers.”

Solodov noted that neighboring beaches were not affected, but the evidence showed that “the scale of the occurrence is extremely large.”

He added that the deaths were “almost certainly linked to climate change and other polluting effects we as humankind cause to the Pacific Ocean.”

“We can’t say that a local man-made object near [the port city of] Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was the cause,” the governor said.

https://watchers.news

Plot Thickens Over Origins of Pope’s Civil Union Endorsement

Newsmax – October 22, 2020

Question swirled Thursday about the origins of Pope Francis’ bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety.

The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own broadcast or pressured the Mexican broadcaster that conducted the interview to follow suit. And it didn’t respond to questions about why it allowed the comments to be aired now in the documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday.

In the movie, which was shown at the Rome Film Festival, Francis said gay people have the right to be in a family since they are “children of God.”

“You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this,” the pope said. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

Those comments caused a firestorm, thrilling progressives and alarming conservatives, given official Vatican teaching prohibits any such endorsement of homosexual unions.

While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either.

One of Francis’ top communications advisers, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, insisted the pope’s comments were old news, saying they were made during a May 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

https://www.newsmax.com

Trump Mideast Peace Plan Expands as Sudan Recognizes Israel

Newsmax – October 23, 2020

Sudan on Friday agreed to be the latest Arab nation to recognize Israel, President Donald Trump announced in a new diplomatic coup for him days before US elections.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed an accord at the White House last month to normalize relations with Israel but Sudan is arguably more significant as an Arab nation that has been at war with Israel.

Trump announced the agreement by Sudan’s year-old civilian-backed government moments after he formally moved to end the nation’s designation of a state sponsor of terrorism, which was a major goal for Khartoum.

Reporters were escorted into the Oval Office where Trump was on speakerphone with Sudan’s leadership and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of the embattled Republican president.

“We are expanding their circle of peace so rapidly with your leadership,” Netanyahu was heard saying.

Trump said: “There are many, many more coming.”

A senior Trump aide, Judd Deere, said that Sudan and Israel “have agreed to the normalization of relations.”

As part of the deal to get off the terror blacklist, the White House said that Sudan’s transitional government had deposited $335 million to compensate survivors and family members of anti-US attacks that took place when former dictator Omar al-Bashir welcomed Al-Qaeda.

“Today represents a momentous step forward in the United States-Sudan bilateral relationship and marks a pivotal turning point for Sudan,” a White House statement said.

https://www.newsmax.com

There Is No ‘International Right to Abortion,’ U.S. and 31 Other Countries Declare

Michael Foust – October 23, 2020

The United States joined 31 other countries Thursday in signing a document emphasizing the equal rights of men and women and declaring there is “no international right to abortion.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration was co-sponsored by the U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Hungary and Uganda and represents 1.6 billion people and every region of the world, supporters of the document said. It was signed during a joint virtual ceremony.

“In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning,” the document says.

The declaration involves three primary issues: promotion of equal rights for women, opposition to abortion for family planning, and the recognition of the need for universal health coverage.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States has defended the dignity of human life everywhere and always,” Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said in a statement. “He’s done it like no other President in history. We’ve also mounted an unprecedented defense of the unborn abroad.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration, Pompeo said, “protects women’s health, defends the unborn, and reiterates the vital importance of the family as the foundation of society.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com

China Media Says Risk of War With Taiwan Rising, Despite President’s Conciliatory Speech

– October 12, 2020

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that the island democracy is strengthening its defenses against a potential Chinese invasion, but also called for “meaningful dialogue” with Beijing, which claims the country as its own territory.

Tsai—leader of the pro-independence, liberal Democratic Progressive Party and re-elected for a second term in January—took a soft, conciliatory tone in her speech to mark Taiwan’s National Day. The address came after a month of Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two countries.

But Chinese state-backed media was dismissive of Tsai’s appeal to diplomacy, with the nationalistic Global Times newspaper leading the criticism. The newspaper said Tsai had tried to “fool” the world with her speech, and declared that the risk of war has risen “sharply” in recent months.

The Chinese Communist Party claims ownership of Taiwan under its “One China” policy, and has vowed to take control of the island by force if diplomatic means fail. Taiwan—officially called the Republic of China—has been independent since the end of the Chinese Civil War as the last bastion of the defeated nationalist forces.

But Global Times—owned by the People’s Daily newspaper, which is the official publication of the CCP—said the regional situation “has been seriously deteriorating” in an editorial published Sunday.

Global Times accused Tsai of “utilizing the idea of facilitating dialogue as an ‘olive branch’ as a delaying tactic, attempting to deceive the international community for sympathy,” and dismissed her administration as “a gaggle of opportunistic politicians.”

https://www.newsweek.com