Israel
Israel has mass evacuation plan in works should war erupt nydailynews
Israel is drawing up contingency plans to evacuate up to a quarter-million civilians from border communities to protect them from attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah or other Islamic militant groups.
Society
Most American Religious Groups Support Same-sex Marriage, Oppose Religiously Based Service Refusals prri.org
Overall, a majority (58 percent) of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. Among religious groups, Unitarian/Universalists (94 percent), Buddhists (85 percent), Jews (73 percent), Hindus (67 percent), white mainline Protestants (63 percent), white Catholics (63 percent), Hispanic Catholics (62 percent), and Orthodox Christians (59 percent) all have majorities supporting same-sex marriage. Black Protestants (45 percent), Muslims (44 percent), and Hispanic Protestants (41 percent) are somewhat divided. Only three religious groups–Mormons (37 percent favor, 55 percent oppose), white evangelical Protestants (31 percent favor, 61 percent oppose), and Jehovah’s Witnesses (25 percent favor, 53 percent oppose)–show majority opposition for same-sex marriage. Combined, these three religious groups comprise only 19 percent of the general population.
Politics
Trump Wants to Make Churches the New Super PACs theatlantic
Trump has promised to repeal the so-called Johnson Amendment wikipedia, a 1954 provision that prohibits tax-exempt organizations from participating in political activities. Proposed by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and later revised by Congress, it keeps churches and other non-profits from lobbying for specific causes, campaigning on behalf of politicians, and supporting or opposing candidates for office.
Society
Montreal photographer allegedly refuses to shoot gay wedding ctvnews.ca
“I mentioned that there’s only going to be one house, since we already live with each other, and I said there is no bride: we’re two guys.”
I haven't yet seen a less biased story, but I believe that this is the company's site: Premiere Production premiereproduction.net
Society
Boy Scouts of America to welcome transgender youngsters usatoday
The move marks a reversal of a policy in place for a century and is effective for the Boy Scouts scouting.org and the Cub Scouts. The organization vowed to recognize the gender a youngster lists on an application.
NATO
For 1st time since Cold War, U.S. tanks roll into Russia's backyard cbsnews
All the massive hardware of a U.S. combat brigade arrived in Germany over the weekend, and started rolling east toward Poland, where 4,000 American soldiers will be waiting for it.
Holocaust Denial Article No Longer in Google’s Top Search Results forward
Now, when users search “Did the Holocaust happen?” they must first scroll through articles about the search controversy, two articles by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ushmm.org, and a wikipedia page on Holocaust denial before they arrive at the Stormfront article.
What's interesting about this is the potential ramifications if, say, people started complaining that the top results were "anti-homosexual" or promoted only one Way (John 14:16) or the like. I'm all for Holocaust denial (AKA anti-semetic) sites being treated as the "fake news" they are, but to intervene to control how specific results get sorted up (or down) seems to be a slipperly slope.
North Korea
North Korea Close to Having Nuclear-Armed ICBM: Official defensetech.org
North Korea now has an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, armed with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, but they have yet to solve the “re-entry problem” that would burn up the warhead as it hits the atmosphere, a senior military official said Thursday.
Society
University of Virginia professors: Stop quoting Thomas Jefferson washingtonexaminer
"Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that University of Virginia students 'are not of ordinary significance only: They are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes,'" Sullivan wrote, the Cavalier Daily reported. "I encourage today's U.Va. students to embrace that responsibility."
But this quotation of the father of the University of Virginia virginia.edu was too much for 469 faculty and students, who drafted a letter in protest.
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
Death
What It Feels Like to Die theatlantic
“Roughly from the last two weeks until the last breath, somewhere in that interval, people become too sick, or too drowsy, or too unconscious, to tell us what they’re experiencing,” says Margaret Campbell, a professor of nursing at Wayne State University wayne.edu who has worked in palliative care for decades. The way death is talked about tends to be based on what family, friends, and medical professionals see, rather than accounts of what dying actually feels like.
Israel
[OPIONION] A historic moment may be looming on the horizon for Israel. jpost
Now...we hear a different tone in the Arab world. Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah Sisi has revealed that he talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a lot.” Israel is evidently cooperating with Egypt in the battle against Islamic fundamentalists in the Sinai. In July Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Israel and declared that Israelis are not guilty of terrorism in the region. In August Sisi said that relations with Israel were “important” to Egypt and declared Egypt wanted close security ties with Israel.
Refugees
Calais migrants: Work to start on UK-funded wall bbc
Ms Rudd told the Home Affairs Committee the wall was "not a new initiative", but what mattered was making sure the French had the right amount of security to prevent "illegals" trying to get to the UK.
Also see Austria Threatens Hungary With Court Action Over Migrants abcnews.go
Israel
UN test ban head: Israel should ratify [nuclear test ban] treaty within 5 years washingtontimes
“I’m putting five years as the longest it should take now based on the positive sign that I’m seeing from Israel,” said Zerbo, who met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time during a visit there in June.
Iran-US
U.S., others agreed 'secret' exemptions for Iran after nuclear deal - think tank in.reuters
The report pdf, which was released by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, is based on information provided by several officials of governments involved in the negotiations. The group's president David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and co-author of the report, declined to identify the officials, and Reuters could not independently verify the report's assertions.
EU
Some E.U. countries got rid of the draft years ago. Now, they’re thinking about bringing it back. washingtonpost
In Europe, public opinion long appeared to develop similarly, as conscription was abandoned in France in 1996, followed by Italy, Sweden and Germany.
But more recently, many Europeans — especially those who are now too old to be drafted — have changed their minds on the issue. Following terrorist attacks last year, 80 percent of all French and 70 percent of Swedes said they would support a return of conscription.
Syria
The Syrian Ministry of Tourism Invites You to Enjoy a Lovely Vacation in Its War Zones foreignpolicy v
Mysteriously missing from the one-minute, 43-second video released by the Syrian Ministry of Tourism promoting vacation spots in the coastal town of Tartus [is d]amage from Islamic State suicide bombings that killed dozens in that very town this summer.
Environmental
A Huge Reef Hiding Right Behind the Great Barrier Reef atlasobscura
The existence of this reef has been known about for decades, but, up until recently, its exact scope and scale has never been truly known. But with the use of new laser mapping technology, the natural formations have become much more clear, and appear to be much grander than previously imagined.
Depravity of Man
Gruesome discovery in Germany raises questions about Holocaust-era experiments jpost
According to the report, the mostly brain and brain parts found in the building were remains from those murdered in Nazi human experiments, which were inhumanely conducted on prisoners including children, the mentally ill and people with disabilities during the Holocaust.
Society
Kerry terror solution: Media should cover less wnd v
“It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.”
Society
Christian judge fights to keep job world.wng.org
The Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics wyo.gov has asked the high court to remove Judge Ruth Neely, the Pinedale municipal judge and part-time circuit court magistrate, from office, ban her for life from the Wyoming judiciary, and fine her $40,000. Her offense? In response to a reporter’s question, Neely stated her Christian perspective on marriage precluded her from officiating a same-sex wedding. That statement, the commission said, was enough to show bias and an inability to adjudicate the law impartially.
Society
Princeton begins to remove 'man' from official school material foxnews
As first reported Thursday by the conservative campus news outfit The College Fix, Princeton’s Human Resources and Office of Communications issued a four-page memo princeton.edu filled with examples of gender-neutral terminology that must now be used in official school documents...
Society
London Mayor To Set Up Police ‘Online Hate Crime Hub’ In ‘Partnership’ With Social Media Firms breitbart
“The purpose of this programme is to strengthen the police and community response to this growing crime type” is was announced, and will “involv[e] a dedicated police team” backed by “volunteers”.
Temple Mount
King David’s Descendents Making Case to Reclaim Ownership of Temple Mount breakingisraelnews
While their claim is legally sound and verifiable, it faces significant political hurdles. One of the suit’s beneficiaries, who claims descent from the Davidic Dynasty, is ready for the legal battle but cautiously pragmatic.
Venezuela
Where flour, pasta and milk can cost a month's pay cnn
There's hardly ever fresh milk on the shelves. The same for powdered milk, which can sell on the black market for 100 times its official price. We found milk being sold for 7,000 bolivares -- more than $700 at the official currency exchange rate, though if you have U.S. dollars you can exchange them on the black market at vastly more favorable rates, perhaps getting 1,000 bolivares to the dollar.
This story reminded me a bit of the third seal (famine) describes in Revelation 6:6 NIV
Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages, and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
