CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
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News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
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TERRORIST INVASION THREATENING WINTER OLYMPICS
U.S. counterterrorism operatives are helping Russian security agents in the hunt for four female potential terrorists, including a “white widow” — the wife of a dead terrorist — who could already be inside the massive security zone set up for next month’s winter Olympics.
Ruzanna Ibragimova, the 22-year-old widow of a jihadist killed by Russian security forces, is believed to have traveled from Dagestan to Sochi, according to a Russian security bulletin obtained by FoxNews.com, along with photos of her. The bulletin and photos were distributed by the Russian security force FSB and Sochi security officials to U.S. and other security agencies late last week.
“The notice is the first sign that terrorists may have managed to penetrate the security cordon,” stated a bulletin from U.S. security forces that was obtained by FoxNews.com.
An intelligence source who spoke to FoxNews.com called Ibragimova a “white widow,” and explained that the term is used to jihadists’ widows who seek to “blend in” to mount attacks. But the term “black widow” is also prevalent as a description particularly of Chechen widows whose husbands have been killed in the ongoing fight against Russia.
“Ms. Ibragimova may be used by the ringleaders of illegal armed groups for the organization of terrorist acts in the zone of the 2014 Olympics,” read a bulletin put out by the FSB, which has also been distributed to hotels in the Sochi area.
Ibragimova is believed to have traveled to Sochi on Jan. 11, or the next day. She was spotted recently on the street outside the foreign ministry near Sochi, a source told FoxNews.com. She was described as a white widow and known member of a Chechen jihadist group.
“Russia has deployed 40,000 police and security personnel in a “ring of steel” around Sochi to deter attacks by Islamist militants from the nearby North Caucasus republics,” the U.S. bulletin states.
U.S. and international experts have become increasingly concerned about security in the zone, in light of recent attacks and a call from Doku Umarov, the jihadist leader who has been described as Russia’s Bin Laden, for attacks and to stop Russia from hosting the games.
“We have our athletes over there and they are targets, so practically all our terrorism and national security agencies are operating over there,” the source said, explaining U.S. security and intelligence agency’s involvement in counterterror operations leading up to and during the Olympic games.
On Jan. 9, Russian officials in Stavropol, about 300 miles from Sochi, caught a suspected would-be suicide bomber from the Muslim region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, reportedly traveling with a small boy and equipped with a suicide bomb belt. The Russian FSB is still interrogating the woman.
IRAN’S INVITATION TO PEACE TALKS CANCELED
GENEVA – Russia and Iran criticized the U.N. chief’s decision to withdraw Tehran’s invitation to join this week’s peace conference on Syria, as delegates began to arrive in Switzerland on Tuesday for the long-awaited talks.
A last-minute U.N. invitation for Iran to participate in the so-called Geneva conference threw the entire meeting into doubt, forcing U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to rescind his offer late Monday under intense U.S. pressure after Syria’s main Western-backed opposition group threatened to boycott the talks.
After Ban withdrew the invitation, the opposition Syrian National Coalition said it would attend the talks aimed at ending Syria’s crippling three-year civil war. The opposition said the conference should seek to establish a transitional government with full executive powers “in which killers and criminals do not participate.”
That cleared the way for the conference to open Wednesday as planned in the Swiss resort city of Montreux, with high-ranking delegations from the United States, Russia and close to 40 other countries attending. Face-to-face negotiations between the Syrian government and its opponents — the first of the uprising — are to start Friday in Geneva.
But Russia and Iran, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s two closest allies, criticized the U.N. over the decision to exclude Tehran. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ban’s decision to rescind Iran’s invitation was a mistake, but that Moscow would still try to make the negotiations work.
The controversy over Iran’s participation in the talks reflected deep differences over Syria between the United States and Russia. Russia has been a key ally of Damascus, shielding Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime from U.N. sanctions and continuing to supply it with weapons throughout the civil war that has killed more than 130,000.
Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s stance that the presence of Iran was essential for the success of the talks. Iran has been Assad’s main regional ally, supporting his regime with advisers, money and materiel since the uprising began in 2011.
IRAN TROUBLING THE WATERS
TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran’s state TV says the navy has sent warships – the Sabalan destroyer and Khark logistic helicopter on a three-month mission to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in the Islamic Republic’s history.It did not mention any ports of call.
Iran aims to demonstrate the ability to project its military power across the Middle East and beyond. It has regularly deployed warships to the Gulf of Aden off the eastern coast of Africa to fight piracy and protect commercial ships.
In 2012, Iran said it aims to put warships in international waters off the U.S. coast within the next few years.
PRESIDENT OBAMA PHONES ISRAEL’S PRIME MINISTER
President Obama talked with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after reaching an interim nuclear deal with Iran, vowing to work together with one of the United States’ closest allies on a comprehensive solution, the White House said Sunday.
Obama called Netanyahu Sunday to discuss the deal that the U.S. and five other world leaders reached to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting some sanctions, amid the prime minister’s outspoken concerns the agreement still allows Iran to pursue a nuclear weapon. The exact details of Sunday’s deal, hammered out in Geneva between six world powers and Iran have not been told to the American public. Israel was not a participant in the talks but remained in close touch with the U.S. and other allies during the negotiations.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” the White House said. The president Netanyahu the U.S. and the other countries will “use the months ahead to pursue a lasting, peaceful, and comprehensive solution that would resolve the international community’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.”
Obama made clear he wants the U.S. and Israel to begin consultations immediately on efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution and underscored his country’s “firm … commitment to Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions.”
Obama spoke with Netanyahu just hours after the prime minister harshly condemned the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran. Speaking to his Cabinet the Prime Minister said, “What was reached last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake,” Netanyahu said. “Today the world became a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world made a significant step in obtaining the most dangerous weapons in the world.”
Speaking to his Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world had become a “more dangerous place” as a result of the deal and reiterated a long-standing threat to use military action against Iran if needed, “I want to clarify that Israel will not let Iran develop nuclear military capability. “ Israel has the right and the duty to defend itself by itself.”
“Israel doesn’t have legitimacy right now … to conduct an independent military option against Iranian installations,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former Israeli National Security Council staffer who was responsible for monitoring the Iranian nuclear program.
“How can Israel, after the entire international community sat with Iran, shook hands with Iran and signed an agreement, operate independently?” he said. “It will be seen as someone who sabotages 10 years of trying to get Iran to the table and trying to get a deal.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
ISLAM UNWELCOME IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – A court in the United Arab Emirates has convicted 30 men on charges of setting up a Muslim Brotherhood branch in the country and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from three months to five years.
Today’s verdict is part of a broader crackdown on Islamist opposition groups in Arab Gulf countries. The UAE’s official National newspaper says the country’s top court also ordered the seizure of all funds and properties belonging to the men.
OBAMA HOPING PLANS WILL WORK TO RELEASE CAPTIVE MISSIONARY
The Obama administration has offered to send an envoy to North Korea to secure the release of American missionary Kenneth Bae after he appeared in front of reporters urging action from Washington. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the president said. ”We hope this decision by DPRK authorities to allow Kenneth Bae to meet with reporters signals their willingness to release him.”
Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea had planned to visit North Korea in late August to discuss Bae’s release, but Pyongyang withdrew its invitation at the last minute, accusing the United States of hostility.
In a statement released Monday after Kenneth Bae gave a brief news conference in North Korea, his sister, Terri Chung of Edmonds, Washington, pleaded with North Korea’s leaders. She said, “We understand that Kenneth has been convicted of crimes under DPRK laws. Our family sincerely apologizes on Kenneth’s behalf. We humbly ask for your mercy to release my brother.” The family is concerned about Bae’s health, and Chung said she could “see that he was distressed.”
Earlier this month, Chung said Bae did nothing wrong. At the press conference that Bae said was held at his request, Bae pointed to a comment by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last month as having made his situation more difficult. “The vice president of United States said that I was detained here without any reason and even my younger sister recently told the press that I had not committed any crime and I know that the media reported it. I think these comments infuriated the people here enormously. And for this reason, I am in a difficult situation now. As a result, although I was in medical treatment in the hospital for five months until now, it seems I will be should return to prison. And moreover there is greater difficulty in discussions about my amnesty.”
Bae was arrested in November 2012 while leading a Christian tour group and accused of crimes against the state before being sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He was moved to a hospital last summer in poor health.
At the press conference Monday, Bae, speaking in Korean, apologized and said he had committed anti-government acts. He wore a gray cap and inmate’s uniform with the number 103 on his chest and was under guard during the appearance which was attended by the Associated Press and other foreign media.
Bae is the longest-serving American detainee in North Korea in recent years. He said “I believe that my problem can be solved by close cooperation and agreement between the American government and the government of this country,” he said.
In her statement, Chung thanked U.S. leaders for their efforts so far, but then said, “We implore Secretary Kerry and President Obama to take immediate action to bring Kenneth home.”
North Korea has detained at least seven Americans since 2009. They were eventually deported or released without serving out their terms, some after prominent Americans such as former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang.Bae’s appearance came weeks after North Korea freed an elderly American veteran of the Korean War who had been held for weeks for alleged crimes during the 1950-53 conflict.
Bae was born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States in 1985 with his parents and sister. He was allowed to call home on Dec. 29 because of the holidays, according to his sister. That was the first time his three children from an earlier marriage had spoken to him, she said. He has two children in Arizona and another in Hawaii, ages 17, 22 and 23..
Chung said Monday that it was difficult seeing him in his prison uniform, number 103. “My brother is not a number to me, or to the rest of his family,” she said. “He is a kind and loving husband, father, son and brother — and needs to be home immediately.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MASSIVE IDENTITY CARD THEFT IN SOUTH KOREA
Credit card details from almost half of all South Koreans have been stolen and sold to marketing firms.
The data was stolen by a computer contractor working for a company called the Korea Credit Bureau that produces credit scores.
The names, social security numbers and credit card details of 20 million South Koreans were copied by the IT worker.
The scale of the theft became apparent after the contractor at the centre of the breach was arrested. Managers at the marketing firms which allegedly bought the data were also arrested.
This theft of consumer data is just the latest to hit South Korea. In 2012, two hackers were arrested for getting hold of the details of 8.7 million subscribers to KT Mobile. Also, in 2011, details of more than 35 million accounts of South Korean social network Cyworld were exposed in an attack.
KERRY SIGNS INTERNATIONAL GUN TREATY
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry signed an international treaty on arms regulation Wednesday, angering conservative lawmakers and rattling the National Rifle Association despite claims that the treaty won’t infringe on gun rights.
The treaty, which took seven years to negotiate, would regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms. The U.S. is the largest arms exporter in the world, and Kerry’s signature was seen as a significant step in pushing it forward.
Supporters say the treaty sends a bold global message advocating the first-ever moral standards on the cross-border trade linked to human rights violations around the world. But to some on U.S. soil, the treaty treads into dangerous territory and could step on the constitutional rights of Americans.
They point in part to language, at the very beginning of the document, that includes “small arms and light weapons” and worry this could cover firearms owned by Americans.
According to the treaty, the international sale of weapons would be linked to the human rights records of buyers; it requires the countries that sign on to establish regulations for selling weapons. This has raised concern that the treaty could be used as an excuse to push new gun laws.
But the treaty also advocates a registry of arms purchases, which the NRA and other groups say could be used as an international log to keep tabs on gun owners. The record-keeping section in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) encourages members to “maintain records of conventional arms covered under Article 2,” which include battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, warships and small arms and light weapons.
Further, those records should be kept for a minimum of 10 years, the treaty states — which NRA leader Wayne LaPierre has referred to as “nothing more than gun registration by a different name.”
Because the treaty’s language is so broad, LaPierre has said that “manufacturers of civilian shotguns would have to comply with the same regulatory process as a manufacturer of military attack helicopters.”
heThe treaty also calls for potential arms deals to be evaluated on whether the buyer would be able to carry out crimes against humanity or other war crimes, including genocide. It also prohibits the export of conventional arms if they can be used in attacks on civilians or civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals.
What it doesn’t do is regulate the domestic sale of weapons in any country. And Kerry said Wednesday: “This treaty will not diminish anyone’s freedom. In fact, the treaty recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes.”
Even though the ATT was created to monitor the global arms trade and essentially shame countries into revealing alliances by making them document who they sold weapons to, there is no clear-cut punishment for those who don’t.
There are many parts of the treaty that are also open to interpretation. For example, the international pact contains no language on how to handle countries who loan or gift weapons to others.
Those voting in favor of the treaty included the U.S., Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Twenty-three countries abstained from voting, including China and Russia. Several others said the human rights criteria in the treaty was too vague. Iran, North Korea and Syria voted against the treaty.
Fifty countries need to ratify the treaty for it to enter into force. So far, only six have and the likelihood of it being approved by the U.S. Senate is slim. It takes two-thirds of the 100 lawmakers in the Senate to win ratification.
The domestic battle heating up over the treaty is what is likely to give the Obama administration the most trouble.
In a letter to President Obama, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the treaty raised significant legislative questions and warned the Obama administration against taking any action to implement the treaty without the Senate’s advice or consent.
“I’d like to see the U.N. try to send inspectors to the Texas State Rifle Association’s annual gathering,” said Texas Senator John Cornyn. He added, “Law-abiding Texans who are in the market for an imported shotgun, pistol, or rifle ought to be very concerned by the administration’s move today.”
NEW GUN LAWS ORDERED IN CHICAGO
After ruling Chicago’s ban on firearm sales a breach of constitutional rights earlier this month, a federal judge is giving the city 180 days to formulate a new law governing gun stores.
Judge Edward Chang of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, granted the city’s request for time to craft an ordinance reflecting, as one municipal official said, “many detailed components, including zoning, licensing and operational requirements for gun dealers.”
In his original January 6 ruling, Chang not only struck down Chicago’s decades-old ban on firearm sales and transfers and said, “Chicago’s ordinance goes too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers from engaging in lawful acquisitions and lawful sales of firearms,” Chang wrote, “Furthermore I do not believe the ban in America’s third-largest city necessarily reduces violent crime, as the city has long insisted as a reason for prohibition.
For his part, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement, “I am pleased the court granted our request for a six-month delay to allow time to adopt a municipal ordinance regulating firearm sales in Chicago. Our goal is to create the strictest regulations that protect our residents and also comply with the court order without undermining the progress we have made in reducing violent crime throughout our city.”
As Forbes noted, Chang seemed to draw in his 32-page opinion upon statistics showing no correlation — at least in some instances — between the predominance of gun-carrying citizens with violent crime.
Forbes Magazine compared Chicago’s 2012 homicide total of more than 500, with Houston’s — which stood at about 200. While Chicago reportedly has no gun stores and an effective ban on concealed carry permits, Houston not only allowed its citizens to carry concealed weapons, but claims more than 180 dedicated gun stores, not including the 1,500 or so other stores — like Walmart — that sell firearms among other wares.
In the original ruling, Chang wrote, “…on the other side of this case is another feature of government: certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside government’s reach, including the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
STILL ANOTHER CAMPUS SHOOTING
A student was shot last night at Widener University, a private, co-ed university in Chester, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia. He is being treated at a local hospital. A spokesman for Crozer Chester Medical Center said that the student is in critical, but stable condition this morning. Police are still searching for the suspected shooter.
NeighborhoodScout.com, a real estate website, has ranked Chester as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.
PRISONS LOOKING FOR NEW WAYS TO EXECUTE MURDERERS
In Wyoming, state Senator Bruce Burns, a Republican, said he was tabling proposals to replace death by lethal injection and preferred instead to use the firing squad in his state because of the drug shortage crisis. Using marksmen to empty death row would be preferable, he said, than the alternative – building a gas chamber.
Controversy is also raging in Oklahoma following what appears to have been the botched execution last week of Michael Lee Wilson based on his last words uttered after the injection process had begun: “I feel my whole body burning.” Exactly what went wrong is unclear because the state is not saying.
The two-drug formula that Ohio has turned to – the sedative midazolam followed by the painkiller hydromorphone – is to be used Thursday in the execution of Thus McGuire, convicted of the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart in western Ohio. A friendof Maguires said, “My buddy is now set to be the guinea pig, barring any last-minute stay by the US Supreme Court or state governor.”
In court filings earlier, defence lawyers had contended that “McGuire will experience the agony and terror of air hunger as he struggles to breathe for five minutes after defendants intravenously inject him with the execution drugs”. They also suggested that because McGuire suffers from severe sleep apnea the risk of his struggling to fill his lungs for air before he passes out will be increased.
In his ruling on Monday, the US district judge Gregory Frost said he saw no convincing evidence of a “substantial risk” that McGuire would suffer the “severe pain” trying to fill his lungs on the death stretcher that would put his execution at odds with the constitutional prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment”.
Almost in the same breath, however, he added that there is “absolutely no question that Ohio’s current protocol presents an experiment in lethal injection processes… To pretend otherwise, or that either of the experts or this Court truly knows what the outcome of the experiment will be, would be disingenuous.”
In its filings to the judge, the state’s Attorney General’s office did not deny the combination might cause discomfort but added: “You’re not entitled to a pain-free execution”.
Both the Governor, John Kasich, and the Ohio Parole Board have already rejected pleas for clemency for McGuire. Separately, his lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the grounds that the jury at his trial were insufficiently informed of the severe difficulties of his childhood.
In making his firing squad proposal, Wyoming’s Senator said it was partly about money. “Frankly it’s one of the cheapest [options] for the state.”
In numbers
32 US states in which capital punishment is legal.
3,108 Inmates awaiting execution.
22 Juveniles aged 16 and 17 were executed between 1976-2005.
273 Clemencies have been granted in the US since 1976.
CHICAGO ARCHDIOCESE RELEASING FILES TOMORROW THAT
SHOW MANY PRIESTS SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILDREN
CHICAGO – The Archdiocese of Chicago will on Wednesday hand thousands of pages documenting clergy sex abuse allegations to victims’ attorneys who have for years fought to hold the Catholic Church accountable for its handling of such claims.
The attorneys plan to next week make public the documents detailing allegations of crimes concealed and priests assigned to positions that allowed them to continue molesting children.
The nation’s third-largest archdiocese agreed to release the files as part of settlements with abuse victims, and will include complaints, personnel documents and other files for 65 priests with substantiated abuse allegations. Only 30 of these priests are still alive.
The documents are similar to recent disclosures by other dioceses in the U.S. that showed how the church shielded priests and failed to report child sex abuse to authorities. Chicago officials said most of the abuse occurred before 1988 and none after 1996.
“Until there is public disclosure and transparency … there is no way people can learn about it and make sure it does not happen again,” said attorney Marc Pearlman, who has represented about 200 victims of clergy abuse in the Chicago area. He said he has been working to get the church to release the documents since 2005.
The Bishop who has led the archdiocese since 1997, released a letter to parishioners Sunday in which he apologized for the abuse and said releasing the records “raises transparency to a new level. I apologize to all those who have been harmed by these crimes and this scandal, the victims themselves, most certainly, but also rank and file Catholics who have been shamed by the actions of some priests and bishops,” Bishop George wrote to parishioners. The Bishop said all of the incidents were reported to civil authorities and have already resulted in settlements with victims.
In fact, the archdiocese has paid millions of dollars to settle sexual abuse claims, including those against Father Daniel McCormack, who was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in 2007 to abusing five children while he was parish priest at St. Agatha Catholic Church and a teacher at a Catholic school. The next year, the archdiocese agreed to pay $12.6 million to 16 victims of sexual abuse by priests, including McCormack.
Even so, victims and their lawyers said publicizing the documents is crucial to shedding light on how the archdiocese handled accusations against priests — some of whom were moved from parish to parish after they were accused of molesting children — and to help victims and the Catholic Church heal and move forward.
He said Father Thomas Kelly, who is dead but whom the church has acknowledged abused children, took an active interest in a group of boys, lifting weights with them and inviting them to spend the night at the rectory.
“It was his way of weeding us out and separating us from the rest of the class and making us feel special (so he could) take liberties with us,” said Iacono, who said he tried to forget about the abuse until his daughter was born years later.
Iacono, who met with George and was invited to speak to a priests at a seminary about his ordeal, said he also hopes the release “opens the eyes of parishioners … that we need to hold (church leaders) accountable for their behavior and not allow this to happen again.”
WALL STREET REPORTER MISSING FOR A WEEK
The FBI is assisting in the search for missing Wall Street Journal reporter David Bird, who was last seen leaving his northern New Jersey home more than a week ago. Bird, a 55-year-old avid walker and scout leader. Morris County was hit with heavy rain the day Bird set out for a walk, and portions of the surrounding Passaic River flooded area swamps.
Bird, a father of two who had a liver transplant nearly 10 years ago, was recovering from a gastrointestinal virus when he left for the walk wearing a red rain jacket, according to authorities. He took medication twice a day for his liver transplant but was not carrying it when he left the house, or was he carrying his cell phone.
Expansive searches of the surrounding land — including swamps and portions of the Passaic River — have yielded no sign of Bird. A law enforcement source told FoxNews.com that there is no evidence to indicate foul play but that “it hasn’t been ruled out.”
ANIMAL FEEDING PLANT EXPLODES IN OMAHA
OMAHA, NEB. – An explosion Monday morning that brought down part of an animal feed processing plant in Omaha left at least two people dead and 10 others seriously hurt, authorities said. Authorities don’t know what caused the blast, but the owner of the plant noted that there were no hazardous chemicals at the plant. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will determine the cause.
NFL ASKING “WHAT’S THE POINT?”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that the league would consider eliminating pro football’s extra point. (NFL.com) The extra point — which NFL Total Access’s Rich Eisen called the “penny” of the NFL — is in the cross-hairs because it’s boring. The extra point attempt is almost always successful – “almost automatic,” Goodell said.
One possible new scoring system would grant seven points for a touchdown, according to Goodell. The post-touchdown kick could still be attempted — giving a team eight points — but if the kick failed, the team would actually lose a point, dropping the touchdown score back to six.
Another possible tweak to make the extra point more exciting would be to move the ball back so it’s not so easy to get it through the goal posts. The extra point issue will be taken up by the NFL Competition Committee.
NIGERIA’S PRESIDENT BARRED FROM ENTERING CANADA
Canada has cancelled a scheduled state visit following Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to approve an severe anti-gay bill. The decision to cancel President Jonathan’s state visit to Canada was communicated through the Nigeria High Commissioner to the Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri who in turn passed on the message to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim who told Goodluck.
The new law states that anyone in Nigeria who enters into a same-sex marriage or civil union may be jailed for up to 14 years. The law also bans people who register, operate or participate in gay clubs, societies or organisations, or who publicly show that they are in a same-sex relationship.
Same-sex relationships were already illegal in the country prior to the new law passing.
EASTERN HALF OF NATION BUTTONING UP THEIR OVERCOATS
(CNN) There will be 3 – 9 inches of new snow from the Virginias to Massachusetts, the National Weather Service said. Much of it is expected to fall during today’s daylight hours. Add to that areas that are frigid already, and about half to the nation — the eastern half — will shiver through temperatures 10-25 degrees below average.
A second frigid weather system is moving down from Canada, and will plunge low temperatures into the double-digit minus degrees all along the border. Whipping winds will knock the wind chill down to 20-40 below zero from the Upper Plains states to northern Missouri.
YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR WEARING GLASSES!
If you don’t know what Google Glasses are, allow me to explain.They are absolutely the rage in many places. Google Glasses are a kind of computer that you can wear on your eyes and can interact with a computer that is elsewhere. Already Google has developed several uses for them. It is legal to wear them, but not while driving.There is also an app called “Sex with Glass,” but we won’t go there.
At an AMC theater at Easton Mall in Columbus, Ohio, one Google Glass Explorer went to see Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, but got a rude awakening instead. An hour into the movie he was approached by a federal agent from the FBI who, without hesitation, snatched the Google Glass off the man’s face and removed him from the theater.
Outside there were a bunch of officers and agents who proceeded to badger and question him, suggesting he was illegally recording the movie.
The authorities eventually let the man go, but not without at least three hours of intimidation and a frightening story that has him shaking – literally – even a day after the event. A Movie Association representative did attempt to compensate the Glass Explorer with 2 free movie tickets for his night of troubles.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Too many Christians want to get to the Promised Land
without going through the wilderness.
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Tuesday, January 21, 2014