Iraqi army shells Falluja to try to dislodge Qaeda, tribes

Yahoo News
January 5, 2014

Photo By STRINGER/IRAQ/Reuters :Gunmen fighters walk in the streets of the city of Falluja.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi troops trying to retake Anbar province from a mixture of Islamist and tribal foes battled al Qaeda fighters in Ramadi on Saturday after shelling the western region's other main city, Falluja, overnight, tribal leaders and officials said.

At least eight people were killed and 30 were wounded in Falluja, and residents of both cities said the fighting had limited their access to food, and that they were running low on generator fuel.

Shops were sending food to mosques, and people were being asked through loudspeakers to go to collect it.

Falluja has been held since Monday by Sunni Muslim militants linked to al Qaeda and tribal fighters united in their opposition to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a serious challenge to the authority of his Shi'ite-led government in Anbar province.

Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily tightening its grip in the Sunni-dominated desert province bordering Syria in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier.

But this week's seizure of territory in Ramadi and Falluja was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents had taken effective control of the region's most important cities and held their positions for days.

In Ramadi, tribesmen and the army have been working together to counter the al Qaeda insurgents.

However, in Falluja, ISIL's task has been made easier by tribesmen who have joined its fight against the government.

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UN Unveils Plot to Reduce African Population

The New American
January 2, 2014

The United Nations and its oftentimes barbaric population-control apparatus are under fire again after releasing adeeply controversial report claiming that the African population of Kenya is too large and growing too quickly. To deal with the supposed “challenge,” as the UN and its “partners” in the national government put it, international bureaucrats are demanding stepped up efforts to brainwash Kenyan women into wanting fewer children. Also on the agenda: more taxpayer-funded “family-planning” and “reproductive-health” schemes to reduce the number of Africans to levels considered “desirable” by the UN.

Critics promptly lambasted the plot as undisguised eugenics, with some experts calling it a true example of the “war on women.” Among other concerns, analysts outraged by the report noted that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the establishment’s fiendish efforts to slash human populations — especially those considered “undesirable” by self-appointed guardians of the gene pool — have a long and sordid history going back decades. Today, the agenda marches on, as illustrated in the latest UN report calling for drastically reduced numbers of Kenyans.

Especially troubling is the eugenics component of the agenda, critics say. “This kind of eugenics by the United Nations and their population-control conspirators is not helping the black family but turning large poor families into small poor families,” explained Mark Crutcher, president of the U.S.-based pro-life group Life Dynamics. Crutcher is also the producer of the hard-hitting documentary Maafa21, which exposes what he calls the ongoing genocide of blacks worldwide by prominent establishment forces.

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Pope to visit Middle East in May, meet Orthodox head

Reuters
January 5, 2014

Matheny's Note: This is the Ecumenical gathering that the Papacy is hoping for. The Holy Roman Church is repairing her wounds and gaining the confidence of all the denominations which once broke away from her Idolatry..... and calling for "Peace" in the region.....

Jeremiah 8:11

For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Ezekiel 7:25

Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

Ezekiel 13:10

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:

Ezekiel 13:16

To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions ofpeace for her, and there is no peace, saith YAHWEH Elohim.

Micah 3:5

Thus saith YAHWEH concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

1 Thessalonians 5:3

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Pope Francis waves as he leaves at the end of his mass at the Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in downtown Rome January 3, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI

(Reuters) - Pope Francis is to visit biblical sites in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories in May, his first trip to the Christian Holy Land as pontiff and only the fourth by a pope since biblical times.

The May 24-26 trip to Amman, Jerusalem and Bethlehem will mark the 50th anniversary of a historic trip to the region by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II visited in 2000 and Benedict XVI went in 2009.

Apart from its significance for Roman Catholic relations with Jews and Muslims, Francis' trip will hold major importance for relations among Christians because it will include a meeting in Jerusalem with the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, as well as Anglican and Protestant leaders.

Francis, who has made many appeals for peace in the Middle East since his election in March, announced the trip to thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Sunday address. He had been invited to visit by both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Many key biblical sites are in Israel's Galilee region but Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus, is in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in the Palestinian Territories.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the spot where Jesus is said to have been buried, is in Arab East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

INTER-FAITH MEETINGS

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators resumed direct peace negotiations in late July after three years of stalemate. The Vatican has urged both sides to make "courageous and determined" decisions to move closer to peace, with the help of the international community.

Francis, who defined his trip as a "pilgrimage of prayer", said he would hold an inter-faith meeting in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre together with Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew is the spiritual leader of the some 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

Francis made the announcement on the exact 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's meeting in Jerusalem with Bartholomew's predecessor, Athenagoras, the first meeting of the leaders of the Western and Eastern Christianity since they were divided by the Great Schism of 1054.

The meeting between Bartholomew and Francis could also pave the way for an historic encounter between Francis and Kirill, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest and most influential in world Orthodoxy.

There have been signs of a general warming between the western and eastern branches of Christianity, and Francis fuelled hopes of further reconciliation in November when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first Kremlin leader to publicly profess religious faith since the 1917 revolution.

Representatives of Anglican and Protestant churches, which split from Rome in the 16th century, are also expected to attend the Jerusalem meeting in May.

The Vatican did not release any more details of the trip.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

U.S. court allows more phone snooping

Reuters
January 4, 2013

The secretive U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Friday renewed the authority of U.S. intelligence agencies to collect data on millions of Americans’ telephone calls in a program that has set off a legal battle over privacy rights.

The court allowed the intelligence community to collect metadata from phone companies, the Office of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a news release.

The release offered almost no details about the ruling, but a U.S. official said the authority was renewed for three months, and that it applied to the entire metadata collection program.

In the past, these orders were sometimes issued to individual telephone companies. But the official said the latest order covered all companies from which metadata had been collected under recent previous court authorizations.

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How A Wealthy, Clean-Cut ‘Duck Dynasty’ Tricked The World For Publicity

Political Blindspot
January 4, 2014

In the wake of the recent homophobia and racism scandals surrounding A&E’s popular so-called “reality” show Duck Dynasty, there is an important, little-known detail that should be remembered: it’s all fake… all of it.

Sources close to the show have time and time again leaked details that the show is literally scripted. Because of non-disclosure agreements, cameramen, and others who wish to go public with this information have proven unable to do so. As a result, without a name attached to such leaked information, many of these claims of inauthenticity are seen as lacking credibility.

But as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” One thing that the so-called “Duck Dynasty” family cannot deny are family pictures taken before their fabricated “reality” show was scripted for them. These pictures all showcase a family devoid of backwoods attire: no camouflage, no face paint, no headbands, and no beards.

In the place of Real Tree camo shotguns, we see the family above with golf clubs.

Below is the real Jase Robertson and Family. They look like any other clean-cut wealthy Caucasian family. Admittedly, we see a very trim, socially acceptable beard in this picture… nothing like the costumes the family dons for the popular A&E show.

Here are Jase and Missy Robertson. Jase is a whole lot hairier and a whole lot richer.

But Jase isn’t the only one pulling the proverbial wool over viewers’ eyes. Willie Robertson too used to look a whole lot more like everyone else in his socio-economic caste. Instead of camo, we see hair bleach. And we are supposed to believe that these were backwards hill-folk, who raised themselves up from the trailer park?

You’ve seen the before image, now here’s the after:

These guys aren’t alone with the fakery. Below is a picture of the real Jep Robertson and family.

 

Here’s Jep now, after the A&E treatment:

The costumes are for show, the beards and bandanas are for show – and more than likely, even the recent “scandals” are for show. We have recently learned that A&E will keep Phil Robertson even after previously announcing he would be kicked off the show for breach of contract, due to racist and homophobic comments. In all likelihood, the scandals were part of a well-orchestrated hoax to get even more ratings, even more attention, and ultimately, even more money for this already filthy-rich family.

Remember, that while this fake scandal was front page news, the NDAA was passed without a peep from the mainstream media. The bill which is infamous for its language regarding “disappearing” U.S. citizens and  indefinite detention was passed via “Fast-Tracking” while a huge number of Americans were distracted by the Phil Robertson “scandal.” Let’s stop giving this Schmuck Dynasty the attention and money that they so obviously don’t deserve.

(Article by M.B. David; images via TimesUnion.com, AETV.com, RefinedGuy.com, blog.zap2it.com, EdgeCastCDN.net)

Video: "Duck Dynasty" Phil Robertson Advocates Men Should Marry Girls When the Girls are 15 Years old

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark matheny
January 2, 2014

While people such as Glenn Beck and others back Phil Robertson for being such a Christian man, a video has popped up showing Phil advocating that men should marry girls when the girls are 15 or 16 years of age.

Obamacare: Health Secretary to Dictate How Doctors Practice Medicine

HHS Secretary Sebelius, a bureaucrat with no medical experience, can tell your doctor how to treat patients starting in 2015

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
January 2, 2014

Despite President Obama’s claim that “you’re not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor,” a little known provision of Obamacare gives the health secretary broad authority to dictate how doctors practice medicine and treat their patients.

If she’s still the health secretary in 2015, Kathleen Sebelius will tell doctors how to practice medicine even though she has absolutely no medical experience. Credit: United States Mission Geneva via Wiki

Starting in 2015, Obamacare will grant the Secretary of Health and Human Services, an unelected bureaucrat with no medical experience, power to decide what treatments are available to patients and if the doctor can perform procedures.

Section 1311(h)(1)(b) of Obamacare reads:

“Beginning on January 1, 2015, a qualified health plan may contract with … a health care provider only if such provider implements such mechanisms to improve health care quality as the Secretary may by regulation require.”

In other words, insurance companies will be banned from doing business with doctors who do not comply with the regulations established by the health secretary – and there’s almost no limit on what these regulations may entail.

“Under President Obama’s health care law, should the HHS Secretary determine that performing mammograms on women younger than 50 violates a standard of care, the provider must comply, regardless of his or her concerns,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, M.D. (R-Ga.) said on the subject. “Failure to do so would allow the Secretary to shut down a medical practice.”

“The powers given to the Secretary are so broad, he or she could literally dictate how all physicians nationwide practice medicine.”

The lawmaker also added that the provision violates “the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship, as physicians are trained to treat patients individually and not with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.”

However, Dr. Donald Berwick, an administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under Obama, deplored that the physician’s focus is “on the acute needs of individual patients” and not on “care for important subgroups” in the name of “social justice,” as reported by Betsy McCaughey.

Berwick’s statement serves as a microcosm of Section 1311(h)(1)(b) and for Obamacare as a whole: the pursuit of centralized planning and collectivism at the expense of the individual.

Rep. Gingrey, one of the few lawmakers who knew about the provision, introduced the Safeguarding Care of Patients Everywhere Act in both 2012 and 2013 to repeal Section 1311(h)(1)(b), but both bills never left the Subcommittee on Health.

Outside of Gingrey’s press release on his bills and a recent article in the New York Post, the provision has generated little media attention.

But by 2015, Americans will be demanding answers for the inevitable loss-of-life due to byzantine regulations and the destruction of the doctor-patient relationship.

(H/T: Betsy McCaughey with the New York Post)