CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
Sunday, February 16 and Monday morning edition, February 17, 2014
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(RNS) Christian leaders, including megachurch pastor Rick Warren, plan to rent every screen in numerous multiplex theaters across 10 cities for the premiere of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s upcoming Jesus film, “Son of God,” on Feb. 27. The unusual move reflects the confidence Christian leaders have in Burnett and Downey’s work in the wake of “The Bible,” a hit miniseries on the History channel. The “Son of God,” an adaption from “The Bible” series, opens in theaters nationwide February 28.
Many religious leaders are citing the movie as a natural opportunity to evangelize. Warren may have a vested interest in the film, since he wrote a curriculum tied to the movie and published by LifeWay Christian Resources.
The couple behind the show, producer Burnett and former “Touched by an Angel” star Downey, have enlisted interdenominational support from religious leaders such as Texas megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes and Roman Catholic Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles.
The couple has also tapped Compassion International, a large evangelical relief organization, to distribute tickets to churches. The couple are close with Houston megachurch leaders Joel and Victoria Osteen, who flew to Morocco to see the filming and have bought 8,000 tickets to distribute.
Burnett, who has produced shows like “Survivor,” “The Voice” and “Shark Tank,” said he’s never seen a buyout before. “There aren’t many things that could garner this kind of support,” Burnett said. “People are going to watch the movie collectively, in community.”
After Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” made $612 million, observers expected to see more films about Jesus. Several upcoming Bible-related films are now in the pipeline.
LD Entertainment is backing the upcoming film ”Resurrection,” a drama set immediately after Jesus’ death. American Trademark Pictures is set to release “The Resurrection of the Christ.” And the nonprofit In Jesus’ Name Productions is planning to release a film on the life of Jesus called “The Messiah.”
While evangelicals are often credited with shoring up support for movies like “The Passion of the Christ” and “Fireproof,” Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl has commissioned discussion guides and videos for Catholic churches and schools, and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is planning to rent a theater for thousands of Catholics in Miami. Several business leaders are also donating tickets to churches and nonprofits, including Mart Green, heir to the Hobby Lobby family of companies.
CHRISTIAN MOVIE CRITICS JOYFULLY RAVE ABOUT “THE LEGO MOVIE”
“The Lego Movie,” directed by Phil Lord, has been criticized and praised as an antibusiness film with a villain that looks like Mitt Romney, but Christian reviewers say it does not take a political stance and provides a strong outlet for conversation with children about the important things in life.
“The Lego Movie” hit the top of the box office last weekend with $69 million. While some attack it as a “capitalist dystopia” ruled by “President Business,”
libertarian critic Mollie Hemingway suggested it may be “the most subversive pro-liberty film ever.”
Under President Business’ “iron-fist rule, everyone follows the instructions at home and work, enforced by cheery ‘I’ve got my eye on you!’ advertisements and surveillance cameras,” Hemingway explained. “The world’s free thinkers – known as master builders – are President Business’ greatest threat.” Hemingway argued that these master builders represent entrepreneurs, innovating to make the world a better place, despite the red tape of big government.
“Even though the film is a 100-minute commercial for business, it’s also an ad for personal responsibility, individual choice, meaningful work, natural constraints, the dignity of the individual, and the fight against a government that desires control of the lives of citizens,” Hemingway wrote.
Dan Gainor, vice president of Business and Culture at the Media Research Center, agreed with Hemingway’s analysis. “I think we all agree it’s incredibly pro-freedom and funny, too.” Gainor added that “It’s witty enough that you can overlay whatever cultural critique you wish.
“Mollie Hemingway does a very good job of offering a libertarian/virtue-centered (two elements that don’t necessarily go together) explanation that makes more sense than the superficial liberal take,” Wainer argued. He explained that the film could be taken in a Christian direction. “There might be a thematic thread concerning the care we take in building our lives – we are free in Christ but not to use this freedom to indulge our flesh,” he wrote. “We should build our lives carefully using only the best ‘bricks’ of gold, silver, costly stones, rather than wood, hay or straw lest what we construct not stand the fire of God’s inspection (1 Cor. 3:12-15).” The reviewer did admit, however, that this theme is more “a sermon illustration from pop culture, rather than a response.”
“I consider the film appropriate for all ages with not enough wood, hay or straw to object to,” he concluded.
CHRISTIANS ADVISED TO SAY NO TO “NOAH”
Editors Note: I spent apart of Sunday reading several reviews – both Christian and secular – on the upcoming film “Noah.” Every Christian movie critic warns against this film. As a direct result, I have removed the previews of “Noah” from our website and Georgia and I will not be seeing it nor recommending it. The best way to protest the blatant presentation of new age fiction that is supposedly representing God and His Bible is to not spend your money at the box office so that the film fails to bring in the big bucks it has been created to do. That will go a long way in stopping Hollywood from spending multimillions of dollars to make such a misrepresentation. Attending any movie where you pay to see it is like voting for the movie in Hollywood’s eyes. That’s why Georgia and I wholeheartedly endorse “Son of God” and recommend everybody sees it, bringing many friends with you – saved or unsaved – and then sees it again. The following movie review will give you clear reasons why we will not be seeing “Noah.” It was published in Beginning and End and is available on their website. It not only will tell you about the movie, but will remind you of the Biblical truths regarding the real Noah It does not list the reviewer’s name, but it is excellently written. –Ray
2014 will see a large number of Christian-themed movies hit the big screen and one of the most anticipated of them is Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Oscar-winner Russell Crowe. While there is much hype and excitement for this movie, Christians who attend it will find the Noah film will not be at all in line with the Biblical account of Noah’s ark and the flood, but instead pushes a liberal, political message focused on the environmental agenda.
The story of the Flood, as told in Genesis chapter 6-8, deals with humanity’s rebellion against God becoming so great that it threatened any chance of salvation and incurred God’s wrath. Genesis 6:1–6.
In the pre-flood world, a group of rebellious angels or “sons of God” as they are termed in the Bible, interacted with humanity openly on Earth. In doing this, they sinned against God by taking human women as wives and having children with them. These half-angel, half-human hybrid offspring, known as the Nephilim, were giant, super powerful beings who then overran the Earth. These beings have been described in other ancient historical accounts as “demi-gods”, titans and other names, hence them being called “men of renown.”
Soon humanity found itself far from the knowledge of God and steeped in violence, immorality, occultism and sinful rebellion against The Lord. This was the true Biblical backdrop for the world Noah and his family lived in before the flood.
Despite being surrounded by a sinful, lustful society, Noah was still a faithful believer in The Lord. The book of Hebrews calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness.”
Rather than just acting in pure anger and rage, The Lord used the flood to preserve the human gene pool, punish those sinful angels, eliminate the Nephilim and preserve the way for the Messiah to be born and for humanity to escape eternal damnation. Thus in the flood account, there is sinful rebellion, an ongoing battle between good and evil, the rewards of the faithful and God’s mercy towards those who believe in Him. None of this has anything to do with environmental movement whatsoever. Darren Aronofsky’s Graphic Novel on Noah gives insight into the movie plot:
“It’s about an environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what’s going on on this planet. So I think it’s got these big, big themes that connect with us. Noah was the first environmentalist.” – Darren Aronofsky.
Hollywood writer and director Brian Godawa wrote a review of a script of the Noah film and was disturbed by its story:
“Having got a chance to read the script for Noah, I want to warn you. If you were expecting a Biblically faithful retelling of the story of the greatest mariner in history and a tale of redemption and obedience to God you’ll be sorely disappointed. Noah paints the primeval world of Genesis 6 as scorched arid desert, dry cracked earth, and a gray gloomy sky that gives no rain – and all this, caused by man’s “disrespect” for the environment. In short, an anachronistic doomsday scenario of ancient global warming.”
Even Cain and Abel, the first sons of Adam and Eve, make an appearance and apparently befriend Noah as a child. The danger in this is that it distorts the Biblical message and only leads to further confusion about God and His plan of salvation for humanity, especially those who are unfamiliar with Noah’s story from the Bible. In the movie, God is portrayed as an angry Creator who wants to punish humanity permanently for not taking good enough care of plants and animals. Humans have compassion, while God in the film only has irrational wrath. This type of gnostic interpretation of Scripture that turns the Biblical account upside down to cast the God of the Bible in a bad light, has been done in many Hollywood films. Godawa continues:
“Noah is a kind of rural shaman, and vegan hippy-like gatherer of herbs. Noah explains that his family “studies the world,” “healing it as best we can,” like a kind of environmentalist scientist.” (source).
In the Bible, Noah is no shaman or sorcerer, but a believer and follower of the true and living God of the Bible, Yahweh. When The Lord decided that He was going to judge the world for its rampant sin and punish those angels who sinned, He told Noah in Genesis 6:13–14. God then proceeded to give Noah specific instructions and dimensions for the construction of the ark. What is telling about the heart of Noah was his response to God’s very detailed instructions. “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Rather than seeking the spirit realm, or his “inner knowledge”, Noah heard the Word of God and believed it.
God saw Noah’s faith and declared him“righteous before Me in this generation.” And very soon before the flood, God gave Noah his final instructions and informed him that it would rain for forty days and nights. To hear the judgment would be in the form of a massive rainfalls all over the whole earth would be something no one in the world could fathom. Yet Noah, once again believed God and obeyed. The Book of Hebrews explains the importance of faith and cites Noah as an example. Hebrews 11:6–7.
Adding to the Biblical confusion, King Og of Bashan, an evil Nephilim King in Scripture, is portrayed as a good being in Noah. In Scripture, Og lives more than a century after the flood and is one of the most powerful Kings of his day. He hated the ancient Israelites and sought to conquer them as they migrated to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, after being led out of slavery in Egypt. The battle against Og, led by Moses, took place over 1500 years after the flood.
In Noah, Og is one of the fallen angels or Watchers, who now, despite rebellion against God, decides to help Noah build the ark and protect it. In a scene in which a small army of men try to take siege of the ark, it is the fallen angels who fight to make sure that Noah and his family can enter safely.
“I don’t think it’s a very religious story,” Aronofsky told us at the 2011 Provincetown International Film Festival, where he was receiving career-spanning honors. “I think it’s a great fable that’s part of so many different religions and spiritual practices. I just think it’s a great story that’s never been on film.”.
Godawa points out:
“Noah maintains an animal hospital to take care of wounded animals or those who survive the evil “poachers,” of the land. … Noah is the Mother Teresa of animals. Though God has not spoken to men or angels for a long time, Noah is haunted by recurring dreams of a rainstorm and flood that he surmises is God’s judgment on man because as Noah says, “At our hand, all He created is dying.” The trees, the animals, and the environment. “If we change, if we work to save it, perhaps he will [save us] too.”
In Genesis Chapter 6, it is clear that God is indeed speaking to humanity. The Lord addresses Noah directly and gives specific details about the coming judgment and how to prepare the ark to survive it. Nowhere does Noah have any dreams. Additionally, it is the sinfulness of humanity along with the Nephilim invasion of the Earth that brought God’s judgment, not mistreatment of the environment. And nowhere is it said if humanity helps the trees and animals, God would reverse the impending flood.
God is aware of everything that happens in the lives of animals, from sparrows on. But He is much more interested in human beings. We are made in the image of God Himself. And this theme is far removed from the Noah movie: that God loves us and worked out a plan to reconcile us to Himself through Jesus Christ.
Adding to the Biblical confusion, King Og of Bashan, an evil Nephilim King in Scripture, is portrayed as a good being in Noah. In Scripture, Og is one of the most powerful Kings of his day. He hated the ancient Israelites and sought to conquer them as they migrated to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, after being led out of slavery in Egypt. The battle against Og, led by Moses, took place over 1500 years after the flood.
In Noah, Og is one of the fallen angels or Watchers, who now, despite rebellion against God, decides to help Noah build the ark and protect it. In a scene in which a small army of men try to take siege of the ark, it is the fallen angels who fight to make sure that Noah and his family can enter safely.
“NOAH’S ARK” IS EVEN WORSE THAN “NOAH!”
Grade F DVD. In an apparent attempt to somehow piggyback on the theatrical movie “Noah” (set for release on March 8), the 1999 NBC miniseries “Noah’s Ark” is being released on DVD. No matter how bad Russell Crowe’s movie is, it couldn’t possibly be worse than producer Robert Halmi Sr.’s 168-minute abomination, which rewrites the Bible in even more significant ways.
Jon Voight portrays Noah like some sort of addled Zorba the Greek, or like a WWE wrestler as he brawls with his son on the deck of the ark.
When a lightning bolt hits a pagan temple, the priest looks up and says, “Nyaah! You missed me!” And during the flood, the ark is attacked by pirates straight out of “Waterworld.” It’s unintentionally hilarious.
Scott D. Pierce in Salt Lake Tribune
BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN FREEDOM IS UNDER HARSH ATTACK IN AMERICA
A report by two U.S.-based religious freedom groups says anti-Christian persecution is on the rise in America. The joint report by Texas-based Liberty Institute and Washington-based Family Research Council says groups like the American Civil Liberties Union aren’t the only culprits. The report says government agencies around the U.S. are trying to push Christian expression out the door.
“It is dramatic,” says Liberty Institute Founder Kelly Shackleford, of the recent hike in reported incidents of persecution. “I have been doing these types of cases for almost 25 years now. I have never seen the levels of attacks like these and how quickly they are now proliferating.” Shackleford says government, from schools to social programs, is the ringleader.
“There are children being prohibited from writing Merry Christmas to the soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in the Senior Center, the Veterans Administration banning the mention of God in military funerals, numerous attempts to have veterans memorials torn down if they have any religious symbols such as a cross, and I could go on and on,” Shackleford said.
WND reported in August 2011 on the Houston, Texas, veterans’ cemetery director who issued an order banning God from military or veteran funerals at the facility.
A pastor and family members of deceased veterans eventually filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the Houston National VA Cemetery is discriminating against their religious freedoms. The suit alleges that cemetery administrator Arleen Ocasio required pastor Scott Rainey to edit a Memorial Day prayer so that the prayer was “general, and its fundamental purpose [was] nondenominational in nature.”
Christian civil rights organization ACLJ senior counsel David French says the exact rate of increase is hard to determine, but many of the new cases come from colleges. “Our knowledge of incidents is only as good as the reporting,” French says. “However, it’s clear that – particularly on college and university campuses – we have seen a significant rise in attempts to silence Christian organizations by the misapplication of nondiscrimination laws.” French adds that many public facilities are also stopping anything Christian. but
“One of the most strident examples: the misuse of the Establishment Clause to attempt to ban any mention of God from historical markers, monuments or even museum exhibits,” French says. “This represents an effort to whitewash God from American history and change our national identity.”
WND reported in February that the city of New York was attempting to cancel the leases of all church and religious groups renting city facilities.
“Our view is that public school buildings, which are funded by taxpayers’ dollars, should not be used as houses of worship,” said Marge Feinberg, spokeswoman for New York City’s Department of Education. “Public school space cannot and should not be used for worship services, especially because school space is not equally available to all faiths.”
Shackleford says the attacks are becoming violent, too. “The recent attacks on the faith-based Family Research Council and the attack on the Sikhs are recent examples alone,” Shackleford says. He also cites an example of a city trying to push out its Jewish residents.
“In one case I was involved in, a city literally tried to zone out Orthodox Jews from the city. An official city meeting perpetrated this,” Shackleford says. “Some said, ‘Hitler should have finished the job.’”
Shackleford claims the acts of persecution point to a deeply rooted spiritual issue. “Religious hostility is the red light on the dashboard that tells us we have a problem and that violence will come next if not fixed,” Shackleford says.
French says although the Obama administration has contributed to the problem, the problem didn’t begin in 2008. “While the Obama administration launched its own unprecedented assault on religious liberty through Obamacare,” French says, “the attack on Christian expression is the result of cultural changes that have been taking place for decades.” Shackleford agrees.
“The Obama administration has been very hostile, from the HHS mandates to the VA case to many, many more; but it has been getting worse and worse each administration,” Shackleford says. “Government always tries to increase its power, and freedom has been fading in the process. It has been a steady and consistent.” French says the current crisis has been brewing for decades.
“No, the trend began with advent of the sexual revolution and the mainstreaming of the 1960s counterculture,” French claims. “As leftist radicals have progressed through the academy, media, churches and government, the trend has only accelerated.”
Shackleford adds that some key court cases may have accelerated the trend. “The seeds for these attacks were dropped in Supreme Court opinions in the ’40s, and it really began to take off in the 1960s. The thing that is shocking now, and different, is that the attacks have dramatically picked up speed,” Shackleford says. “There can be as many as 100 new attacks in a month. While Liberty Institute has the highest win rate of any group in the country at over 99 percent, we just can’t currently cover all these with our current resources.”
Among the violations listed in the joint report:
A federal judge threatened “incarceration” to a high school valedictorian unless she removed references to Jesus from her graduation speech.
City officials prohibited senior citizens from praying over their meals, listening to religious messages or singing gospel songs at a senior activities center.
A public school official physically lifted an elementary school student from his seat and reprimanded him in front of his classmates for praying over his lunch.
Following U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ policies, a federal government official sought to censor a pastor’s prayer, eliminating references to Jesus, during a Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans at a national cemetery.
Public school officials prohibited students from handing out gifts because they contained religious messages.
A public school official prevented a student from handing out flyers inviting her classmates to an event at her church.
A public university’s law school banned a Christian organization because it required its officers to adhere to a statement of faith that the university disagreed with.
The U.S. Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that the federal government can tell churches and synagogues which pastors and rabbis it can hire and fire.
The State of Texas sought to approve and regulate what religious seminaries can teach.
Through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the federal government is forcing religious organizations anti-Christian owned businesses to provide insurance for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in direct violation of their religious beliefs.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs banned the mention of God from veterans’ funerals, overriding the wishes of the deceased’s families.
A federal judge held that prayers before a state House of Representatives could be to Allah but not to Jesus.
2006 – Catholic Charities was forced to abandon its adoption services in Boston and the District of Columbia because of its biblical stance on placing children only in homes with heterosexual married couples. In Illinois, the state government took it a step further by refusing to renew contracts with Catholic Charities and other faith-based adoption agencies for the same reason, effectively putting them out of business.
2007 – Pharmacists in Washington state were ordered at the risk of losing their professional licenses to stock and sell possible abortion–causing drugs against their conscience.
2008 – In San Francisco, after parting publicly from the man he called his “mentor” for his past 20 years – Black Liberation theologist Reverend Jeremiah Wright – Barack Obama tells a fundraising group in San Francisco that Midwesterners are people who “cling to their guns or religion.” Two months later, denying more than 200 years of history and in spite of the fact that nearly 90% of the people in America call themselves “Christian,” the soon to be President Obama said, “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.” Though the Muslim population is growing, all of these other religions are in the single digits.
2009 – The IRS demanded a pro-life group in Iowa to reveal the content of his prayers in order to be considered for tax exemption. A Texas pro-life group was similarly targeted in 2011.
2009 – A counseling graduate student at a state university in Michigan was expelled from the program for asking if she could refer a homosexual client to another counselor. She cited her Christian beliefs as the reason for the referral.
2010 – The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state university rule denying official school recognition and benefits for any club, including religious clubs, which required as leaders to inherit to a biblical lifestyle, which the University interpreted as contrary to its nondiscrimination policy favoring homosexuality.
2011 –A federal judge threatened all participants in a Texas high school graduation ceremony, including the school valedictorian, with jailtime if anyone offered a prayer at the ceremony.
2011 – Nurses in state-funded hospitals in New Jersey were threatened with termination for refusing to participate in abortion procedures on religious and moral grounds.
2012 – In a legal argument formally presented in federal court in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration claimed that the First Amendment—which expressly denies the government the authority to prohibit the “free exercise” of religion—nonetheless allows it to force Christians to directly violate their religious beliefs even on a matter that involves the life and death of innocent human beings.
2012 – A New Jersey judge found a church organization “guilty of discrimination” for refusing to rent its facility for a same-sex civil union ceremony. Part of the churches state tax-exempt status was revoked.
2013 – The Second United States Court of Appeals held that prayers before the town meeting are unconstitutional because too many of them are “Christian.”
2013 – The New Mexico Supreme Court held that a Christian photographer must photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony as the “price of citizenship,” denying that she was protected by either the First Amendment or the State Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The United States Supreme Court has been asked to hear an appeal.
2013 – A bakery owner in Chicago And a florist in Washington State came under official investigation by their respective states, for declining to provide services for same-sex ceremonies. An Oregon State official said the goal was not to close the store (which eventually happened), but “to rehabilitate.”
Citizen Link
KERRY TELLS INDONESIA ONLY CLIMATE CHANGE CAN SAVE THE WORLD
JAKARTA, INDONESIA – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has taken his case for action on climate change to Indonesia, where he urged governments across Asia and beyond to step up efforts to combat the phenomenon.
In a speech in Jakarta delivered Sunday, Kerry argued that the cost of inaction to environments and economies will far outweigh the significant expense of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that trap solar heat in the atmosphere and contribute to the Earth’s rising temperatures.
In his address, Kerry said that climate change is real and is “pushing the planet toward a tipping point of no return, threatening not just the environment, but the global economy and our way of life.”
Kerry also highlighted ways in which Asian countries are particularly affected. The speech came a day after Kerry won an agreement with China to cooperate with the United States in carrying out their commitments to curb greenhouse gases, including reducing vehicle emissions, improving energy efficiency of buildings and other measures. American officials hope that will help encourage other nations, including developing countries like Indonesia and India, to follow suit.
China and the United States are the biggest sources of emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that Kerry claims cause the atmosphere to trap solar heat and alter the climate. He says scientists warn such changes are already leading to drought, wildfires, rising sea levels, melting polar ice, plant and animal extinctions and other extreme conditions.
Before giving his climate change speech, Kerry toured Jakarta’s massive Istiqlal Mosque, one of the largest in the world, to pay his respects to Indonesia’s Muslim majority population.
EXTREME WATER RATIONING IN 142 BRAZILIAN CITIES
SAO PAULO – A survey conducted by a leading Brazilian newspaper says more than 142 cities are rationing water 11 states amid the worst drought to hit the country in decades. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper wrote Saturday that water is being rationed to close to six million people.
The newspaper quoted water supply companies saying reservoirs, rivers and streams are the driest they’ve been in 20 years. Some neighborhoods in the city of Itu in Sao Paulo state only receive water for 13 hours, once every three days.
Water consumption normally grows by up to 20 percent during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. But this year, consumption has risen to 30 percent due to a prolonged heat wave affecting several states.
GERMAN CHANCELLOR WANTS NOTHING MORE TO DO WITH THE NSA
(Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she would talk to French President Francois Hollande about building up a European communication network to avoid emails and other data passing through the United States.
Merkel, who will visit France on Wednesday, has been pushing for greater data protection in Europe following reports last year about mass surveillance in Germany and elsewhere by the U.S. National Security Agency. Even Merkel’s cell phone was reportedly monitored by American spies.
Merkel said in her weekly podcast that she disapproved of companies such as Google and Facebook basing their operations in countries with low levels of data protection while being active in countries such as Germany with high data protection. “We’ll talk with France about how we can maintain a high level of data protection,” Merkel said.
“Above all, we’ll talk about European providers that offer security for our citizens, so that one shouldn’t have to send emails and other information across the Atlantic. Rather, one could build up a communication network inside Europe.”
Hollande’s office confirmed that the governments had been discussing the matter and said Paris agreed with Berlin’s proposals. “Now that the German government is formed, it is important that we take up the initiative together,” an official said.
Government snooping is a particularly sensitive subject in Germany due to the heavy surveillance of citizens practised in communist East Germany and under Hitler, and there was widespread outrage at the revelations of NSA surveillance by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. “We’ve got to do more for data protection in Europe, there’s no doubt about it,” Merkel said on Saturday.
Germany has been pushing, so far in vain, for a ‘no-spy’ agreement with Washington. Merkel she plans to discuss closer cooperation on climate protection with Hollande ahead of a global climate conference in France next year, as well as security policies, in particular with respect to Africa.
Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; additional reporting by Julien Ponthus in Paris.
FINANCIAL WIZARD PREDICTS A DEVASTATING FINANCIAL COLLAPSE
A record breaking stock market is distorting a frightening reality: The U.S. is being eaten alive by a horrific cancer that will ultimately destroy the economy and impoverish the vast majority of its citizens. That’s according to Peter Schiff, the best-selling author and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, who delivered his harsh warning to investors. “I think we are heading for a worse economic crisis than we had in 2007,” Schiff said. “You’re going to have a collapse in the dollar…a huge spike in interest rates… and our whole economy, which is built on the foundation of cheap money, is going to topple when you pull the rug out from under it.”
Schiff says that, despite “phony” signs of an economic recovery, the cancer destroying America stems from a lethal concoction of our $17 trillion federal debt and the Fed’s never ending money printing.
Currently, Yellen and The Fed are buying nearly $1 trillion of Treasury and mortgage bonds a year. That’s about $75 billion per month against a budget deficit that is at about the same level. According to Schiff, these numbers are unsustainable. And the Fed has no credible “exit strategy.” That and the fact that Congress has just handed President Obama an unlimited credit card.
Eventually interest rates will rise… and when they do, Schiff says, stocks will tank and bonds dip to nothing. Massive new tax hikes will be imposed and programs and entitlements will be cut to the bone. “The crisis is imminent,” Schiff said. I don’t think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors appear oblivious to the problems.”
“We’re broke,” Schiff added. “We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out.”
Schiff points out that the market gains experienced recently, with the Dow first topping 17,000 on its way to setting record highs, are giving investors a false sense of security. “It’s not that the stock market is gaining value… it’s that our money is losing value. And so if you have a debased currency… a devalued currency, the price of everything goes up. Stocks are no exception,” he said.
“The Fed knows that the U.S. economy is not recovering,” he noted. “It simply is being kept from collapse by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing. As that support goes, the economy will implode.”
A noted economist, Schiff has been a fierce critic of the Fed and its policies for years. And his warnings have proven to be prophetic. In August 2006, when the Dow was hitting new highs nearly every day, Schiff said in an interview: “The United States is like the Titanic, and I’m here with the lifeboat trying to get people to leave the ship… I see a real financial crisis coming for the United States.” Just over a year later, the meltdown that became the Great Recession began, just as Schiff predicted.
He also predicted the subprime mortgage bubble burst, nearly a year before the real estate market fully crashed. His recent warnings, however, have been even more alarming. Will they also prove to be true?
In his most recent book, “The Real Crash” How to Save Yourself and Your Country“, Schiff writes that when the “real crash” comes,” it will be worse than the Great Depression. Unemployment will skyrocket, credit will dry up, and worse, the dollar will collapse completely, “wiping out all savings and sending consumer prices into the stratosphere.” Schiff estimates this “cancer” could consume a trillion dollars from consumers this year.
“Today we’re the world’s greatest debtor nation. Companies, homeowners and banks are so highly leveraged, rising interest rates will be devastating.”
According to polls, the average American is indeed sensing danger. A recent survey found that 61% of Americans believe a catastrophe is looming – yet only 15% feel prepared for such a deeply troubling event.
Despite its bleak outlook, Schiff’s book has become a real wake-up call for millions of readers. While Schiff’s predictions can be grim, he also offers step-by-step solutions that average Americans can follow to protect their wealth, investments and savings.
According to Schiff, “the crash and what follows” can be beneficial. But only for those who understand beforehand what is happening and have time to prepare for the devastation. “All we can do now is prepare for the crash,” Schiff said. “If we brace ourselves properly and control the impact, we will survive it.”
ANOTHER RESIGNATION IN WASHINGTON
The acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose appointment to the post raised eyebrows because of his scant law enforcement experience, told agency employees he will resign Friday.
John Sandweg, a former defense attorney who knew former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano from their days as political allies in Arizona and came to Washington with her, gave his notice just six months after taking the reins in August. In a letter Friday to coworkers, Sandweg said he will return to work in the private sector but gave no explanation for his departure.
Sandweg was named to the post amid concerns by congressional lawmakers and former agency officials that his background as a criminal defense attorney with no law enforcement experience made him unqualified to run the country’s second-largest law enforcement agency.
Sandweg’s history of representing accused and convicted violent offenders while also fundraising for Napolitano brought strong criticism from not only Republicans but many Democrats as well., Napolitano who was then the Democratic governor of Arizona and later became secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
Sundweg represented accused and convicted murderers, sex offenders and pedophiles and fought for the release of violent convicted offenders. He raised campaign funds for Napolitano from 2002 to 2009.
Sandweg critics also said he played a lead role in a pattern at DHS of obstructing Freedom of Information Act requests involving spending from the 2009 stimulus plan.
Sources said Sunday they hope Johnson will chose a replacement for Sandweg who has come up through the ranks of the agency with years of law-enforcement experience.
UNITED NATIONS WILL INVESTIGATE NORTH KOREA’S LEADERSHIP
A United Nations panel report due out today will reportedly call for an international criminal investigation into the North Korean regime. The Associated Press reports that the three-member panel has found evidence of an array of crimes, including “extermination,” crimes against humanity against starving populations and a widespread campaign of abductions of individuals in South Korea and Japan. However, the AP reports that North Korea’s longtime ally, China, will likely block any proposed referral to the International Criminal Court.
The three-member commission, led by retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, was set up by the U.N.’s top human rights body last March in the most serious international attempt yet to probe evidence of systematic and equally serious rights violations in the reclusive, authoritarian state, which is notorious for its political prisons camps, repression and famine that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the 1990s. The report concludes that the testimony and other information it received, “create reasonable grounds … to merit a criminal investigation by a competent national or international organ of justice.”
A spokesman for North Korea’s U.N. Mission in New York who refused to give his name told the AP: “We totally reject the unfounded findings of the Commission of Inquiry regarding crimes against humanity. We will never accept that.”
NORTH KOREA INTENSIFIES PREPARATION FOR A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION
ASHINGTON – A US research Institute reports that North Korea has accelerated excavation at a site used for underground nuclear test explosions, though a test doesn’t appear imminent. The findings, based on satellite photographs, were released as Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart warned the North against any possible aggression.
The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said that the North likely started work last May on a new tunnel at the northeastern test site at Punggye-ri, where it has conducted its three previous nuclear explosions, the latest in February 2013. The institute estimates that the pile of earth excavated from it has doubled since the start of the year. The findings are based on commercial satellite photographs, the latest taken February 3. The analysis was provided to The Associated Press ahead of publication on the institute’s website, 38 North. It adds to doubts over North Korea’s intentions.
Pyongyang has dialed down the threatening rhetoric it issued following the international condemnation of its last nuclear test. The authoritarian government of young leader Kim Jong Un has since said it’s willing to hold nuclear talks without preconditions and is now pushing for quick improvement of ties with rival South Korea. Yet its nuclear and missile development appears to continue unabated.
Two weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the U.S. believes that North Korea has expanded the size of its uranium enrichment facility at its main nuclear complex and restarted a reactor that was used for plutonium production before it was shut down in 2007 — reversing a concession previously made in disarmament-for-aid negotiations with the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Clapper also said the North has taken initial steps toward fielding a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, although it remains untested.
“We have yet to see evidence that North Korea is prepared to meet its obligations,” Kerry said in Seoul Thursday. “Let me be clear; the United States will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. We will not accept talks for the sake of talks, and the DPRK must show that it will live up to its commitments,” he said, referring to the North by the initials for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The U.S. is “ready and able to deter North Korean aggression,” he told a news conference. “It is time for the North to choose the path of peace and refrain from provocations or using excuses to avoid the responsibility that they bear.”
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said that both Seoul and Washington “stand fully prepared against any potential situation given the mixed signals from North Korea, even as it continues a charm offensive.”
On Wednesday, senior North and South Korean officials held their highest-level talks in years and met again Friday to finalize arrangements for their first reunions since 2010 of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. The emotional reunions are set to start this week, although a stumbling block remains. The North is demanding a delay in the South’s springtime military exercises with the U.S., which the North calls a rehearsal for invasion. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature. The North wants them pushed back until the reunions are complete on February 25.
The U.S. and South Korea say the issues should not be linked. The North has cited what it calls America’s “hostile” policy as a reason to rescind an invitation to a U.S. diplomat to visit the country to discuss the case of jailed American missionary Kenneth Bae. The North also has an eye on resumption of lucrative cooperative ventures with the South.
North Korea was an important agenda item while Kerry was in China last week, the only major ally and its principal trading partner. The U.S. views increased cooperation with Beijing as the key to pressing Pyongyang to hold meaningful negotiations that can lead to its eventual nuclear disarmament.
Washington and Beijing both share the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. is increasingly concerned about the North’s progress toward a nuclear-tipped missile that could target America, and China doesn’t want the North Korea to trigger an atomic arms race in East Asia or see instability spill across its southern border. But Washington and Beijing are at odds over how to start the wheels of diplomacy turning. Beijing wants the U.S. to start talking with Pyongyang, while the U.S. wants nations involved in the stalled six-nation nuclear talks to forge a common stance, demanding that North Korea first take concrete steps to show it is committed to denuclearization.
The new imagery from Punggye-ri is the latest sign that North Korea is moving in the other direction. 38 North estimates that the amount of heaped earth suggests a new tunnel around 1,000 meters long has been dug into the mountainside. Mining carts can be seen on the tracks to the earth pile, it says. They say that North Korea probably has two other tunnels already complete at the site. According to Yonhap news agency, this week South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told lawmakers in Seoul that North Korea appears ready to conduct its fourth nuclear test, although they have not detected signs that a test is imminent.
The entrances of the two other tunnels are in shadow and not visible in the latest overhead images — underscoring the limitations on what can be gleaned about the North’s plans, particularly when the crucial activity takes place underground, out of view.
“North Korea is clearly keeping all of its options open for the future,” said Joel Wit, a former State Department official and editor of 38 North. “There is no evidence to suggest that Pyongyang is preparing for another nuclear test, but if a decision were made tomorrow, it could conduct a blast probably by late March or April.”
NO GIVE, ALL TAKE, IN SYRIA
BEIRUT – Syrian troops pressed an offensive near Lebanon on Saturday, heavily bombarding a rebel-held town and forcing many residents to flee to safety across the border, activists said. iU.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi ended a mere half hour of direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition Saturday with the situation still at an impasse and the future of negotiations in in doubt. No date was set for a third session.
Also Saturday, the main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, said its leader entered rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib a day earlier. Moderate rebels in the area are fighting government forces on one front and members of the Al Qaeda-breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“I have come here to say we are with you. We are connected with this land and will not compromise on the values of this Revolution. We will get rid of this corrupt and criminal family who has been ruling this country for decades,” a coalition statement quoted Ahmad al-Jarba as saying, referring to the Assad dynasty that has ruled Syria since 1970.
It was not the first visit by al-Jarba to rebel-held areas, but is significant because it came as the Geneva peace talks flounder. Al-Jarba spends much of his time in Turkey.
State-run Syrian TV said troops killed several members of Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in the hamlet of Rima Farms on the edge of Yabroud. It added that large amounts of ammunition were also destroyed by government forces in the area.
Amer al-Qalamouni, an activist in the area, told The Associated Press via Skype that poor weather had grounded government warplanes. “Most of today’s shelling is either artillery, mortar or with tanks,” al-Qalamouni said.
He said government troops were backed by members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which openly joined President Bashar Assad’s forces in the battle against opposition forces last year. The army along with Hezbollah fighters has been on a crushing offensive in the Qalamoun region since early December, trying to sever a main thoroughfare for rebels from Lebanon. Yabroud, which has a large Christian population, is the last major town in the region to still be held by rebels.
Kasem Alzein, a Syrian doctor who lives in the Lebanese border town of Arsal, said a long line of cars and trucks carrying people are fleeing toward Lebanon.
Arsal’s population has almost doubled over the past two years because of the flow of Syrian refugees.
A government siege of Yarmouk that is home to some 18,000 people has been in place for about a year, and activists estimate more than 100 people there have died of hunger-related illnesses and a lack of medical aid.
AMERICA NEEDS RUSSIA TO COOPERATE OVER SYRIA
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia to help bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the negotiating table Monday and claimed that the Syrian leader was not making a good faith effort to find a peaceful end to the country’s ongoing civil war.
In Jakarta, where he met with Southeast Asian leaders, Kerry said that the Damascus regime “refused to open up one moment of discussion” and added that Assad was “trying to win this on the battlefield instead of coming to the negotiating table.”
“Right now, Bashar al-Assad has not engaged in the discussions along the promised and required standard that both Russia spoke up for and the regime spoke up for,” Kerry said during a press conference in Jakarta with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. Kerry also had harsh words for Assad’s allies in Moscow. “Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they are in fact enabling Assad to double down,” he said.
Russia has told the U.S. it was committed to helping create a transitional government, Kerry said, but has not delivered “the kind of effort to create the kind of dynamic by which that could be achieved.”
Also Sunday, Kerry issued a statement praising the Syrian opposition for having a “mature seriousness of purpose and willingness to discuss all aspects of the conflict.”
In contrast, Kerry said, “while [talks] stalled in Geneva, the regime intensified its barbaric assault on its civilian population with barrel bombs and starvation.” Millions have been driven out of their homes, seeking shelter in neighboring countries and in safer parts of their homeland.
In response, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the United States of trying to “create a very negative climate for dialogue in Geneva.”
Washington, its European and Persian Gulf allies are backing the opposition in Syria’s conflict. Russia and Iran are supporting Assad’s government.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
JOHN KERRY TRYING TO MAKE STILL ANOTHER PEACE AGREEMENT
Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to arrange security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians under a final peace deal. Israel has demanded it retain a security presence in the West Bank after any deal. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opposes this, but has said he would accept international peacekeepers.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Islamic militant group, said Sunday that Hamas will deal with any international force “in the same manner it uses with Israeli occupation forces.” Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in years of conflict. While Hamas is not part of the talks, Sunday’s comments underscore its ability to hinder peace efforts.
AL QAEDA KEEPS ON KILLING IN IRAQ
BAGHDAD – The main al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for an audacious attack on a military barracks that left 15 troops killed. The troops were assigned to protect an oil pipeline that sends Iraqi crude oil to international markets and guard a nearby highway outside the northern city of Mosul when the attack occurred Monday. Eight of the soldiers were beheaded while the rest were killed by gunfire.
Along with the statement posted Sunday on a website commonly used by jihadists, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant put up an image of the beheading of one of the soldiers, as well as captured arms and vehicles.
In 2010 President Barack Obama said, “Even as we transition to an Iraqi lead and bring our troops home, our commitment to the Iraqi people endures.” But the Obama administration and many members of Congress remain mute as Iraq unravels. Kerry almost a month ago pledged “support” for Baghdad but rejected sending U.S. troops to Anbar, saying, “This is their fight.”
Americans who fought in Anbar may think differently.
THE TALIBAN KEEPS ON KILLING IN AFGHANISTAN
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN Officials say attacks in southern Afghanistan have killed the brother of a man running for office in provincial elections and a policeman, the latest in continued violence ahead of the April 5 vote.
Omar Zwark, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province said that the body of candidate Sabor Sabari’s brother was found the previous night in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. He also says a local policeman was killed by Taliban insurgents.
Afghanistan is holding elections to replace President Hamid Karzai and also to choose hundreds of provincial council members. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the vote and already several campaign workers have been killed as part of the insurgents’ assassination campaign against those supporting the Western-backed government.
TERRORISTS KEEP ON KILLING IN EGYPT
(CNN)– At least four people died and 14 were wounded Sunday by an explosion on a tourist bus in the Egyptian resort town of Taba, authorities said. Brigadier General Alaa Mahmoud said 33 tourists from South Korea were on the bus and had visited the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine’s, in the Sinai Peninsula. The bus was headed to Israel and was waiting in line near a border crossing.
According to state-run media, Health Ministry officials said three tourists and the bus driver, who was from Egypt, were killed. Israeli police dispatched ambulances and patrol cars to the border with Egypt to help if needed, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN.
The Sinai region has seen Islamist militants become more active in recent years.
In January, three soldiers were killed when armed men attacked their bus. And in November, a car bomb killed 10 soldiers.
The Egyptian revolution that toppled strongman President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 brought a resurgence of Islamists, whom his military regime had repressed for decades. This included the Muslim Brotherhood, which swept into power when Mohamed Morsy became president in Egypt’s first democratic elections. But it also included extremists, some who have been inspired by al Qaeda. In the Sinai Peninsula, when they began calling for the establishment of an Islamist caliphate, the Egyptian military began cracking down on them again.
In July, when the military ousted Morsy in a coup, Islamist extremists in the Sinai saw it as an attack against Islam and stepped up their assaults, particularly against soldiers and military installations. Sunday’s targeting of tourists marks a new threshold in Egyptian terror, at least in recent years.
Taba is in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, just a few miles from Israel. It was also the scene of a triple bombing in 2004, when 34 people were killed at hotels that were attacked.
The explosion happened so close to the border that a security camera on the Israeli side caught it on tape. Israeli TV network Channel 2, a CNN affiliate, showed the video, which captures the explosion and its initial white smoke on the side of the frame. A piece of debris flies high into the air, then descends slowly to the ground.
SNAKES KEEP ON KILLING OOBER-PENTECOSTAL SNAKE–HANDLERS
(CNN) – A Kentucky pastor who starred in a reality show about snake-handling in church has died — of a snakebite. Jamie Coots died Saturday evening after refusing to be treated, Middleborough police said.
On “Snake Salvation,” the ardent Pentecostal believer said that he believed that a passage in the Bible says poisonous snakebites will not harm believers as long as they are anointed by God. The practice is illegal in most states, but still goes on, primarily in the rural South.
Coots was a third-generation “serpent handler” and aspired to one day pass the practice and his church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, on to his adult son, Little Cody.
The National Geographic show featured Coots and cast handling all kinds of poisonous snadirectkes – copperheads, rattlers, cottonmouths. The channel’s website showed a picture of Coots, goateed, wearing a fedora. “Even after losing half of his finger to a snake bite and seeing others die from bites during services,” Coots “still believes he must take up serpents and follow the Holiness faith,” the website said.
In February 2013, Coots was given one year of probation for having crossed into Tennessee with venomous snakes. He was previously arrested in 2008 for keeping 74 snakes in his home, according to National Geographic. Tennessee banned snake handling in 1947 after five people were bitten in churches over two years’ time.
On one episode Coots, who collected snakes, is shown trying to wrest a Western diamondback out of its nook under a rock deep in East Texas. He’s wearing a cowboy hat and a T-shirt that says “The answer to Y2K – JESUS.” The pastor is helped by his son and a couple of church members. “He’ll give up, just sooner or later,” one of the members says. “Just be careful. Ease him out.” The group bags two snakes, which a disappointed Coots says hardly justifies the trip to Texas.
“Catching two snakes the first day, ‘course we’d hoped for more,” Coots says in the video. “We knew that the next day we was gonna have to try to hunt harder and hope for more snakes.”
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS GETTING SICK OF OBAMACARE
California’s ObamaCare exchange, already criticized by Republicans for its finances and the odd “Tell A Friend, Get Covered” campaign is now taking friendly fire from Democrats.
State Senator Ted Gaines, a Republican and vice chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance, said the agency will be $78 million in the red during the next fiscal year. He said he was incensed to learn that Covered California spent $1.37 million on an advertising campaign featuring “a lurid Richard Simmons web stream that is now on YouTube, and he has requested an audit.
And now Democratic Senator Norma J. Torres has introduced a bill aimed at fixing “problems experienced by consumers” – lackluster customer service, a low Latino sign-up rate, and inaccuracies in the provider directory, a news release stated. “Accountability starts at the top,” Torres tweeted Tuesday. “ Covered California customers deserve better.” Many of his Democrat colleagues agree.
PLEASE READ THIS AND REMEMBER IT
There are so many loopholes in Obamacare directly designed to give you no care unless you pay for it. One of the loopholes in the Obamacare law can cost you a lot of money if you ever go into a hospital or into a nursing home for care.
If they admit you under the status of “Under Observation” that means the government doesn’t have to pay for your services, YOU do. You must insist you are there in an “In Patient” status, otherwise the hospitals/nursing homes believe it will be easier to collect the cost from you (they think) if you are “Under Observation” than from the government as “In Patients.”
FORMER NFL FOOTBALL HERO IS GOING ON TRIAL FOR MULTIPLE RAPES
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors charged former NFL safety Darren Sharper on Friday with raping and drugging two women in California and disclosed he is under investigation in connection with five more drug-related rapes in three other states.
Sharper briefly appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 20 at the request of his lawyers. They issued a statement saying he would be exonerated. Prosecutors then filed a motion to increase Sharper’s bail to $10 million and outlined details of investigations involving him in Las Vegas, Tempe, Ariz., and New Orleans. Sharper has not been charged in the other jurisdictions.
In the bail motion, Los Angeles County Investigator John Maccharella described a pattern in which the former football star met women at clubs or parties and lured them to a hotel room, where they were allegedly drugged and raped. The motion says the incidents happened in the past five months, with two occurring within a day in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In Los Angeles, Sharper is facing two counts of rape by use of drugs, four counts of furnishing a controlled substance, and one count of possession of a controlled substance.
The complaint alleges the drugs involved were morphine and zolpidem, which is sold under the brand name Ambien.
Sharper, 38, played in the NFL from 1997 to 2010, mostly with the Packers. He was selected All-Pro six times and chosen for the Pro Bowl five times. He played in two Super Bowls, one with the Packers as a rookie and a second with the Saints.
Harper was arrested on January 17. He has not entered a plea. If convicted in the California case, Sharper could face more than 30 years in state prison.
19-YEAR-OLD WOMAN BOASTS SHE HAS MURDERED 22 PEOPLE
A Pennsylvania woman has admitted to killing a man she met through a Craigslist advertisement and claimed to have killed more than 21 other people across the country. 19-year-old Miranda Barbour made the claims in an interview with the Daily item, the newspaper of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Police told the paper that they are investigating Barbour’s claims.
Barbour is awaiting trial along with her husband Elytte for the death of Troy LaFerrara last November. LaFerrara responded to an ad placed on Craigslist by Miranda Barbour offering companionship in exchange for money.
Police allege in court papers that Elytte Barbour told investigators they committed the crime because they wanted to kill someone together. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.
In the interview with the Daily Item, Miranda Barbour claimed to have killed at least 22 other people in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California in the last six years as part of her involvement in a satanic cult, though she offered few details of the murders she claimed to have participated in.
Barbour claimed she joined a satanic cult in Alaska when she was 13 before moving to North Carolina. Sunbury police Chief Steve Mazzeo told the newspaper that investigators have been in contact with the FBI and law enforcement in several other states.
Last week, a judge granted a lawyer’s request to have a forensic psychiatrist evaluate Miranda Barbour. The judge earlier approved a psychiatrist to evaluate Elytte Barbour.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WORLD TRAVELER MOST LIKELY COMMITTED SUICIDE
(CNN)– Authorities closed the case Friday on Leanne Hecht Bearden, the once intrepid world traveler who was found dead a day earlier, after having apparently killed herself. According to Garden Ridge, Texas, Police Chief Donna O’Conner, “Preliminary autopsy results indicate asphyxiation by hanging.” The apparent manner of death is suicide, she added, though a final ruling won’t be released until toxicology results are in.
Authorities announced Thursday that a body believed to be the 33-year-old woman had been found in Garden Ridge, where she was last seen January 17 heading out from her in-laws’ house for what was supposed to be a one-hour walk. A man in that city northeast of San Antonio had called police after finding a body in a wooded area near his house. Family members later confirmed her death.
Bearden went missing shortly after she and Josh — who married at the Denver Zoo and joked they epitomized the adage “opposites attract” — returned to the United States from their epic, global adventure. She documented their journeys to places like Mount Everest’s base camp, the Dead Sea and South America’s Patagonia extensively on a blog.
Coming back to her native country wasn’t necessarily easy. “The pressure of transitioning from her two-year trip back into what we consider ‘normal’ life seems to have left her very anxious and stressed,” they said.
While an extensive hunt was going on for Leanne involving hundreds of people and helicopters,her family wrote on Facebook that “there is evidence that Leanne may have voluntarily left the area.”
CELLPHONE MAY END UP PUTTING THREE POLICEMEN IN CELLS
Three Moore, Oklahoma, Police officers have been put on administrative leave while a detective investigates an in-custody death from overnight. The family of the man who died said police beat him badly and they recorded it with a cell phone camera.
Nair Rodriguez and her daughter Lunahi told News 9 they got into an argument at the Warren Theater around midnight. Nair said she slapped her daughter then stormed away. Her husband, Luis, chased after her. That was when the family said officers confronted Luis Rodriguez and asked to see his identification.
According to Lunahi and Nair, he tried to bypass the officers to stop his wife from driving off because she was so angry. They said officers took him down and it escalated. Lunahi Rodriguez said that five officers beat her father to death right in front of her, in the parking lot of the movie theater.
“When they flipped him over you could see all the blood on his face, it was, he was disfigured, you couldn’t recognize him.” By the time it was all over, Nair Rodriguez said that she knew her husband was dead. “I saw him. His [motionless] body when people carried it to the stretcher,” she explained. “I knew that he was dead.”
Nair says her husband was only trying to defuse the fight she was having with her daughter. She said when police asked her about it she told them what happened.
“I told them I hit her and he was just trying to reach me. Why didn’t they arrest me?”
Lunahi added, “My mom was taking a video and asking, ‘What are they doing this for? Why?’ And they didn’t give really an explanation.”
Rodriguez told News 9 that police took her phone with the recording on it. Another family member provided News 9 with an audio recording she said was taken when that happened. The family told News 9 they would hire an attorney.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY
Simple design tweaks are allowing gun makers to get around restrictions New York put in place following the 2012 school shootings in Connecticut, prompting some critics to say the laws were mere window dressing.
New York lawmakers passed the SAFE Act last year, and announced with fanfare that it effectively banned the sale of “assault weapons.” But AR-15s, the most popular type of guns often referred to as assault weapons, are sold in Empire State gun shops, freely and legally. The gun is being marketed by Stag Arms as a “New York-compliant AR-15,” and features a slightly modified stock and no bells and whistles. The gun does not have a pistol grip, for instance – one of the features banned by the act.
“This just shows that the gun prohibition lobby uses symbolic gestures over substance to push their anti-gun rights agenda. Banning guns based on cosmetic features proves that point,” Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation, told FoxNews.com.
Gun-rights supporters say it illustrates that so-called “assault weapons” – an often-used term with no single definition – are usually no more dangerous than hunting rifles. The “AR” in AR-15 does not stand for “assault rifle,” as commonly believed, but for “Armalite Rifle.”
In New York, an assault weapon isdefined
“Some of the guns they’re banning are the safest guns,” he said. “There aren’t many accidents committed with Bushmaster rifles, and there are a number of times that so-called assault rifles have been used in self defense.” Some gun dealers in New York State say they are glad to be selling AR-15s again. Justin Reichart, who runs H and H guns in southwestern New York said, “Believe it or not, if I had a hundred of things to sell, they’d already be gone. I’m hoping to have them in my shop in the next two weeks.”
“We’ve already showed it to about a dozen people, just a picture of what it’s going to be, and the younger generation – they already love it. They’re like, it’s same gun, just with a sci-fi looking stock. The suggested retail price is going to be $1,050. Prior to the ban, you would have been able to buy the gun for $949 – so it adds $100, to make it New York compliant.”
Asked why people want AR-15s, Reickart said they are simply good guns. “It’s a universal gun that you can put in anybody’s hands… I’ve used it for coyote hunting, deer hunting… it’s a fun and enjoyable gun to shoot,” he said.
For New York gun owners with existing non-compliant AR-15s, they either have to register their gun with the state by April 15 or modify it to comply with the law. Some gun owners are hesitant to register their guns, some for fear that the list would later be used for gun confiscation as just recently happened in New York City.
Governor Mario Cuomo posts on his website that New York has the toughest gun laws of all 50 states. Reichart said, “I believe politicians should not write and pass laws about something they know nothing about,” he said.
The author of the piece can be reached on twitter at @maximlott or at maxim.lott@foxnews.com
A SNOWBALLS CHANCE
PORTLAND, ORE. – Two math majors at Reed College lost control of a massive snowball that rolled into a dorm, knocking in part of a bedroom wall. There were no injuries, but college spokesman Kevin Myers said Friday it will cost two to three thousand dollars to repair the building.
The incident happened last Saturday night following a rare trio of snowstorms in Portland. Students started building the giant snowball on a campus quad near the dorm. Urged by a crowd, the math majors tried to make the snowball as big as possible by rolling it down the sidewalk that goes past the dorm. “And the ball just got away from them,” Myers said.
After escaping their control, the boulder-sized snowball rolled about 15 yards before slamming into Unit 7. Three students heard the smack and discovered the fractured bedroom wall. The student whose dorm was damaged has not had to move.
Nobody weighed the snowball, but a maintenance worker who sliced it up for removal estimated it to weigh 800 pounds or more, Myers said.
The students responsible for the runaway snowball reported the incident and won’t be disciplined. Myers said they didn’t intend to cause damage and feel awful about what happened.
Reed Magazine was first to report about the snowball. “It was not the talk of campus until the story came out,” Myers said. “The people that were there knew about it, but now it has kind of taken us by storm.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Jesus invested His life in you. Have you shown any interest?
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Sunday, February 16, and Morning Edition Monday, February 17, CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY