UN, Israel, and US; Real Nuclear Threat; The Anti-Disagrees-With-Gov Law; Robot Spouse; and The Deep Year

Israel

What Does UN Vote on Israeli Settlements Mean and What’s Next? bloomberg

United Nations Security Council 2334, which passed Dec. 23 by a vote of 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining, describes Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. It was the first time U.S. President Barack Obama declined to block a Security Council resolution that Israel considered hostile, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused him of staging a “shameless ambush” against his country. Netanyahu warned countries that backed the measure they would pay a diplomatic and economic price.

Netanyahu has declared that Israel will not not abide by the terms of the resolution. For the Palestinians, Resolution 2334 is “a moral victory and a symbolic victory, but at the end of the day nothing is really going to change on the ground and Israel will continue with its settlement construction,” Abusada said. Nearly 600,000 Jews now live in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem beyond the 1967 boundary.

Also see Israel summons US ambassador as Netanyahu lashes out at Obama cnn and A final insult to Israel washingtontimes

Pentagon's Wasted $125 B; Hate Speech Pull; Augmented Peep; Drop, Shop, and Roll; Try This and Call Me in the Morning; Growing Clusters; Jacob's Sheep Return; Burqa Merkel; and Syrian Truce Vetoed

Government

Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste washingtonpost

Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.

Trump TV; Peace Grail; Conservative Hate; Twitter Over Censors; China's Facebook; Catching Poachers with Their Thermals on; and Google's AI Language

Politics

Welcome to Washington’s new normal: One Trump drama after another washingtonpost

Trump summoned two dozen television executives and news anchors to his offices Monday to berate them as dishonest and disobedient. He sought to strong-arm the British government to appoint his Brexit ally, Nigel Farage ukip.org, as ambassador to the United States. He dropped his threat to prosecute Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, disregarding his “lock her up” campaign chant and incurring the wrath of some reliable supporters.

Then there was Tuesday’s meeting with the New York Times, the newspaper Trump loves to mock as “failing.” It was scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled. And once the president-elect settled in at the Grey Lady’s wikipedia.org boardroom, he softened his position on climate change, floated the idea that his son-in-law could broker peace in the Middle East, voiced new doubts about the effectiveness of torturing terrorism suspects, savaged Republicans who wavered on his candidacy and left unresolved concerns about how — or even whether — he would disassociate himself from his global business holdings to avoid conflicts of interest.

Withholding the Kingdom from Jews; Attempted Not Murder; Indiana Abortion Ban; Dead Raising Denied; Google's Pictionary; Predicting Selfie Death; BALLU; Backdoor Law; Subjectively Fake; The Stories Trump and Ford Tell; Weak and Fading Army; Linked Out; Lazering Mice; Iceless Coat; Rodent Screen Test; and Hard-Software

Apostasy

German Protestants officially renounce converting Jews to Christianity religionnews

“All efforts to convert Jews contradict our commitment to the faithfulness of God and the election of Israel,” the resolution read. That Christians see Jesus as their savior and Jews don’t is “a fact we leave up to God,” it said.

Actually, Paul was quite clear in Romans that there is one salvation for both Jews and Gentiles (ex: Romans 10:12), that none are saved outside of Christ, and he specifically discussed this issue of "what about the Jews" in multiple locations (including looking forward to a time when, through Christ, the future Jewish nation will be saved - ex: Romans 11:11-32). Additionally, in letters like Galatians, he went to great pains to warn believers from being deceived by "Judaizers" who were trying to add obeying the law as part of salvation and that attempts at obeying the law was actually a false gospel and really no gospel at all (ex: Galatians 1:6). He even recounts a rebuke he had for Peter for seperating from the Gentiles as if there was a special status for Jews in Christ (Galatians 2:11-21). There's far too much to cover in a quick mention like this, but suffice it to say that Jesus (a Jew speaking to Jews) said that He is the Way and no one gets to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). To say that Jews aren't to be evangelized is to not understand the Gospel.

Christmas Unity; Globalization Rally Cry; The Failing Justice League; EU's Grip; RT Swipe; Red Square Drill; Bomb Rain; Settling Outposts; New Order in Town; Programming Required; Alt-Right All Twittered Out; Big Gas; Animals See Again; Satellite Palooza; Smart Men Hit Asteroid; Space Engine; Faster Than Concorde; and Plant Robots Dreams

False Unity

Amazon Christmas advert 2016: Imam and priest push festive message of friendship independent.co.uk v

A spokesman for Amazon told The Independent: "Our casting reflects this: the gentleman playing the vicar is a practising vicar in London, the gentleman playing the imam is a devout Muslim and the principal of a Muslim school. We used an actual church and mosque for our scenes within the places of worship."

Oh, Amazon...

Third Wall, Second Temple; Auctioning Slab of Commandments; Restricting Conservative Videos; Google DoubleClicks with You; The IOT Revolt; Doing Carter Wheels Around Biology; Fat Flyer; Traffic Smarts; Air Powered Drone; Colombia Skips Venezuela; Policing Loyalty; Birthright Bonanza; and Russia's Nuclear Tip

Archeaology

Evidence unearthed of Jerusalem’s protective ‘Third Wall’ from Second Temple period jpost

Compelling evidence from the breaching of Jerusalem’s so-called “third wall” – which was said to surround the capital during the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE – may finally help to conclusively prove its existence.

The historian Josephus, a witness to the war, recorded numerous details about the third wall. In his telling, the wall was designed to protect the new quarter of the capital, then known as Beit Zeita, which extended beyond its boundaries, north of the two existing city walls.

Closed Liberty; Church Bathrooms; Russia's Regress Begins; Aussies Block (ish) SSM; Drugged Out; Bio-Hacking at the Top; Censoring the Censors; Nod to Pay; Nano Transistor; Spacey Brain; Houthi in the Machine; and Drone Death

Society

Christian-owned bakery in Oregon closes after religious freedom fight results in steep fines christiandaily

On Sept. 29, the Christian-owned bakery Sweet Cakes thanked the people who prayed for and supported the business, but at the same time announced that the bakery has already closed. No explanation was provided on the Facebook statement, Catholic News Agency details.

According to Q13 Fox News, Sweet Cakes' storefront in Oregon has been closed since 2013. However, owners Aaron and Melissa Klein continued to operate their business from their home. Their legal representative Hiram Sasser explained that the bakery was closed "months ago" but the couple still received inquiries for possible orders, thus the Facebook announcement.

Putin Down Paris; Eastern Shield; Authoritative Friends; Censoring Turkey; Once a Nazi; Why the Temple?; Driverless Cars with an Accent; Korean Robots; and Fixing Broken Hearts

Russia

Putin shuns Paris visit after France offers talks only on Syria in.reuters

"I made it known to Mr Putin that if he came to Paris, I would not accompany him to any ceremonies, but that I was ready to continue the dialogue on Syria. He decided to postpone the visit," Hollande said at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Also see Putin Cancels France Trip After President Hollande Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Syria time

Broken Gods; Total Abortion Ban Possible (Hint: Not Here); 3 Parent Baby Born; Origin Myth; Swiss Unveiling Muslims; Predictive Policing Blues; Approved Satan Club; Bye Bye Internet; Veto Vetoed; Hurry Up and Deploy; UN's Dream Chaser; Translation Almost Human Good; Sitting in Line; and Sam Schmidt the Driver

Archaeology

Gate shrine from First Temple period unearthed at Tel Lachish National Park jpost

A rare gate shrine dating to the First Temple period (8th century BCE), unearthed in Tel Lachish National Park, near Mount Hebron, may prove King Hezekiah’s Biblically-recorded efforts to abolish worship in the region, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

Also see II Kings 18:1-8

Falling Station; Impossible Cloud; 7% Short of Change; Rise of Salem; Lights Out; Made for Iran; The 28 Website Country; Netanyahu and Obama Play Nice; Future Take Off; To Cure All Disease; AI's Power; AI Talks Too Much; Soccer on a Wall; and Picking Apart Tardigrades

Space

Out of control? China’s Tiangong 1 space station will fall to Earth — somewhere — in 2017 washingtonpost

Chinese officials appeared to admit during a Sept. 14 news conference in Jiuquan that they had lost control of the station.

Also see China's Tiangong-1 space station 'out of control' and will crash to Earth theguardian

China's Censorship; South Sea War Games; Give Up and Go Home NATO; Missiles from the Mediterranean; and Turkey and Israel Friends(ish) Again

Censorship

The slow creep and chilling effect of China's censorship dailydot

In the era of smartphones, instantaneous communication, and social media, you would’ve expected this news [Sonam Tso's act of self-immolation] to quickly spread around the world. It didn't. In fact, it was not until early May that civil society groups outside of Tibet were able to verify what had happened to Sonam Tso and alert the world. That was more than six weeks after the event has taken place—an eternity in the digital age.

Blocked MS Law Remains; Preventing US $ to Israeli; The Social Third Temple; Chinese Satellite; Hypersonic Hybrid; Kashmir Can't Hear You Now; Mousy Images; Parasitic Hobby; Firefighter's Angel; and Sushi-Bot

Society

[Mississippi] ‘Religious freedom law’ will remain blocked during appeal, court rules sunherald

HB 1523 billstatus.ls.state.ms.us, passed by the Legislature and signed by Bryant, specifically protected three beliefs: Marriage is only between a man and a woman; sexual relations should take place only inside marriage; and a person’s “immutable biological sex” is determined at birth.

1st Amendment and Cakes; Rain Bomb; Fiery Manure; Australia Drifts Away; Dragon Ants; NK'n Hate in Bullet Point Form; The Anti-US War Game Party; Breaking Communication Chains; Get Turkey Out (of NATO); Israel's Red Pill, Blue Pill Choice; Shrinking Okinawan Stake; Another Gay Christening; 58 Years of NASA; Yahoo's Solution to Hate; and a Dead Man's Fingerprint

Society

Constitution Check: Does the First Amendment protect a wedding cake as an art form? blog.constitutioncenter.org

Lyle Denniston, the National Constitution Center’s constitutional literacy adviser, looks at a potential Supreme Court test case about religious beliefs, same-sex marriage and a Colorado bakeshop.

Also see Masterpiece Cakeshop petition to the Supreme Court adflegal pdf

On Target, As Expected; Facebook Extremism Arrests; Putin Bans Evangelism; Turkey Offers Hand to Syria; UN, Help!; The Hague Dilemma; Islam Does Well in Prisons; Canada Anglican's Pro-Abomination Vote; Muslim Sees Peace in Third Temple; Make Less than $20? There's a Bot for That; Luke, the Brain Controlled Prosthetic; and DNA's Starry Night

Society

Transgender 'woman' arrested for voyeurism in Target changing room washingtontimes

Police responded to a call on Monday from a woman who said she noticed someone reaching over her stall and taking pictures while she was trying on clothes, the Post Register reported. The victim confronted the perpetrator, who ran out of the store.

Also see Transgender 'woman' accused of videotaping 18-year-old in Target fitting room pix11, where at least the police are shown with some remaining sanity:

Smith is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in Bonneville County and was booked as a male into the Bonneville County Jail bonnevillesheriff on a $30,000 bond.

Quietly Blocking Videos; Solar 66; 496 Ton Dump Truck; Losing in Battle to AI; Jupiter or Bust; Stay Wet; Injecting Cameras; Superbug Again; CA's College Existence Exam; Canadian Assisted Suicide not Broad Enough; Brexit Heartache; No 2nd Try; Au Revoir Anglais; China Cuts off Taiwan; and Turkey and Israel Get Cozy

Censorship

Google, Facebook quietly move toward automatic blocking of extremist videos reuters

The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States.

The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites. It looks for "hashes," a type of unique digital fingerprint that internet companies automatically assign to specific videos, allowing all content with matching fingerprints to be removed rapidly.