Depravity's Religious Tipping Point; MS Firing Squad; Free School for Non-Taxpayers; Snowden Russidout; Missiled Christians; The Amazon in Iran; Hamas Watch; Netanyahu Nears Indictment; Erdogan Forever; Hardy Crop Hope; Pollinating Drones; Medicine Maker; World's Daily Cheese; and Maybe Possibly a Picture of a Secret

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.

The Paris Conference, Israel, Palestinians, and the Pope

With the Paris Conference set for tomorrow (Sunday, Jan 15th) in Paris, France, I've decided to only post articles today that revolve loosely around Israel and that conference.

Paris Meeting

Paris meeting marks end to Obama’s failed Mideast diplomacy timesofisrael

At a time when President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is promising a fundamental shift toward Israel, the State Department said Kerry was only participating in the French-hosted event to ensure America’s interest in a two-state solution to the conflict is preserved. The blunt statement reinforced the dwindling hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.

NK's Nuclear ICBM; Russia's Nuclear Drone; Syria Before; Impeached Park; South Seal; Park War; Compromise for Peace; The $10 Viola; The Fake Fake; Companies Go Big on LGBT; 20 Week Ban; India's Lack of Compassion; Quasicrystal; Stopping CRISPR; Replacing People; Chip; Tagged Dementia

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.

Raising Temple Hopes; Mount Lobby; Jewish Tipping Point; Going Dutch with Russia; The No Good Rupee; Taiwan Falls Next; 100 Transgender Salute; Password, Hackedword; Monkeys Walk Again; Removing Old Cells; Swarms of Satellites; and Fast Flier

Israel

Sanhedrin Asks Putin and Trump to Build Third Temple in Jerusalem breakingisraelnews

Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin jewishvirtuallibrary.org, contacted Breaking Israel News to announce that the election of Trump, who has promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, coupled with Putin’s expressed desire for the Temple to be rebuilt, prompted the Jewish court to send a letter offering the two the opportunity to act as modern-day Cyrus figures: non-Jewish kings who recognize the importance of Israel and the Temple.

Russian Pause Push; Closed Amnesty; Netanyahu's Rhetorical Question; Hamas Courts PLO; Going South in Korea; Underground Sharia; SCOTUS Considering Sister Wives; and 200k Eggs/Hour

Syria

Aleppo: Russia announces ‘humanitarian pause’ as residents fear devastating ‘final push’ from Putin and Assad independent.co.uk

The break in hostilities is planned for daylight hours on Friday, with two corridors opened for rebels, whom are allowed to take their arms, and six others for civilians and the wounded.

Also see Russia calls for 10-hour ‘humanitarian pause’ in Aleppo timesofisrael

Ancient Jerusalem in the Papers; Israel Hit Again; Letting Leaders Mount; NATO's Hard Force; Giving up on NK; Spain Denies Russia Because Russia Denies Spain; Gambia Follows the South; Robot Shadow; and 3D Squid

Isreal

Rare First Temple-era scroll exposes earliest Hebrew mention of Jerusalem jpost

Written in ancient Hebrew script, and dating back to the Kingdom of Judah during the 7th century BCE, the rare relic made of papyrus is the earliest extra-Biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing.

Drug Addict Slaughter; Cold Shake; Kashmir Concerns; Golf Missile; Ironclad Flaky Relationship; Bank In Deutsche; Science Isn't Subjective Enough; Judge Judged a Hater; EU Fast Track to Save the World; Teaming with Creepy Critters; World Watches Rosetta Die; SpaceX's Entry into the Impossible Dream; Yuan in the Basket; Dark Lights; and NASA's Gecko

Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte Condemned After Comparing Philippine War on Drugs With Holocaust wsj

“Hitler massacred three million Jews,” Mr. Duterte told reporters in Davao upon his return from a visit to Vietnam Friday. “Now, there are three million drug addicts [in the Philippines]…. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” In fact, historians estimate that the Nazis murdered six million Jews across Europe in the Holocaust during World War II.

Also see Duterte, Citing Hitler, Says He Wants to Kill 3 Million Addicts in Philippines nytimes

See the Hatred; Netanyahu Speaks of His Dream; The Assassination Backup Plan; Terror or Media Storm?; Golem; Shrine Denied; On Losing Oneself; Regulating Cows Methane Levels; Brexiting is So Hard to Do; AI Balloon; and Charging Heat

Israel

Accept Palestine or face ‘sea of hatred,’ Jordanian king warns Israel timesofisrael

Mentioning only the Christian and Muslim connection to Jerusalem holy sites, Abdullah accused Israel of attempting to alter the identity of the city.

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

Obama and Netanyahu's Final Meeting; Syria Ceases Cease Fire; Merkel Admits It's Someones Fault; French Quarter for Sharia Law; Deported into Citizens; Tree Fuel; Lyft's Beyond; Self-Driven Canal; and The Blind Who 'See' Algebra

Israel

Obama And Netanyahu To Meet In New York On Wednesday jewishbusinessnews

The meeting was agreed upon following talks between the Prime Minister’s Office and the White House and was confirmed after the signing of the new US-Israel military aid package. It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since November 2015 and likely be the last as Obama approaches the conclusion of his presidency.

“The meeting also will be an opportunity to discuss the need for genuine advancement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of deeply troubling trends on the ground,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Cleaning Out the Jews; The Atheist Woman Minister; Celebratory Prayer, Hurt Feelings; Heroin of the Book; Getting to Know You...; $4.4B Stealth Destroyer; App for the Blind; Water Spray Away; Video Pictures; and Balanced Roboting

Israel

PM: World silent as Palestinians seek ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Jews in West Bank timesofisrael v

Speaking in English in a video message posted on his Facebook page, Netanyahu asked whether people in other parts of the world would accept such demands in their own countries.

See also Netanyahu 'ethnic cleansing' comment against Palestinians draws U.S. rebuke reuters

Enemy of the State; Plan D(ie); Welcoming Evangelicals; Bad Hair Scene; Light Sound; Abbas the KGB Spy?; Father Russia Welcomes Peace Talks; Humanless Driverless Cars; Chosen for Alien Hunting Abilities; and 3D Printing Milk

Society

How A Cakemaker Became An Enemy Of The State thefederalist

...those 30 seconds [when Phillips declined to participate in celebrating the wedding of David Mullins and Charlie Craig] were clarifying in many other ways. It showed us that most of the media are incapable (or unwilling) to lay out the debate over religious freedom in an honest or enlightening way. It’s shown us that many of those who praise the diversity of American life have, in reality, lost their compassion and the ability to tolerate anyone who disagrees with their worldview.

Reduced State Religion; Abortion Justification Boon; Frenemies and Syria; Hamas (and UN and World Vision) Shaming; Pilot Down; Rise of the Lice; Sewing Mechines; and Storing Data in the Jacket

Society

California Lawmaker Drops Controversial Proposal to Regulate Religious Colleges christianitytoday

Earlier versions of Senate Bill 1146 would have prevented colleges that received state funds from enforcing codes of student conduct reflecting a college’s religious beliefs about sexual identity, including teaching that marriage is between a man and woman and limiting bathrooms to biological gender. Traditionally, California’s religious schools have received a religious exemption from non-discrimination laws. This bill would have limited it to students who were preparing for a religious career, such as ministry.

also see State senator drops proposal that angered religious universities in California

Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) is removing a provision of his bill that sought to take away the exemption of religious schools to anti-discrimination laws. Instead, he will press forward with the amended bill that would still require such schools to disclose if they have an exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes.

SCOTUS: Death Regardless; Transgender Marriages OK'd by Fatwa; Russian Nautical Dancer; Poland Moves Russia to Corner; Netanyahu's Internal Battle for Peace; Hannibal Directive Canceled; Largest Rocket Tested; Soft Motor for Soft Bots; and Sliding on Flys

Abortion

The FAQs: Supreme Court Rules on Texas Abortion Case thegospelcoalition.org

In one of the most significant rulings on abortion in decades, the Supreme Court ruled on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in a 5-3 decision to overturn state laws designed to regulate abortion clinics in a way that would protect women’s health.

For a related story, see US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Pharmacists' Case against Extreme Washington Law

Israel's Rise; Misunderstanding Shavuot; Unchaining Jewish Women; Blackmailing UN; UN's Ire(land); CA Chooses Death; Hidden in Sight in Petra; Flying Cars in Secret; Mobile Modular Phones; Internet on ISS; and Musk's Pentagon Visit

Israel

[OPINION, Caroline Glick] Israel rises in the East jpost

There was something poetic about the events that bookended the past week of diplomacy. This week began with French President François Hollande’s “peace” conference and ended with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s state visit to Moscow.

Very well written reality check.

Mount Glick; Netanyahu Talks Assad; Why Netanyahu + Putin?; Palestinians Count; Russian Sub Intercepted; Europeans 'Eh' For EU; Ignoring Hague; China's 'Unsafe' Interception; Intelligence Community or Moral Guide; Editing Species; and Chanukah-Era Coins

Israel

Controversial religious activist enters Israel’s parliament washingtonpost

For years, Yehuda Glick has pushed for greater Jewish access to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site — promoting an ideology that has unnerved Palestinians and made him the target of an assassination attempt. Now, as a new member of Israel’s parliament, Glick is vowing to use his office to press his cause, bringing his explosive campaign to the nation’s corridors of power.

“Twenty years ago, Temple Mount activists were considered totally delusional, extreme, marginal. Today, half of the Knesset’s members agree with the basis of what I express,” Glick, 51, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Swiss Nix (Free Money); Working Towards Paradise this Ramadan; Netanyahu and Putin; NY Bans BDS; Human-Pig Embryo; Forget About It; Brain Flyer; Leaping Eels!; There's Platinum in Them Thar Craters; and Registering Churches in Wales

Basic Income

Swiss say 'no' to a guaranteed income from the government usatoday v

Nearly 77% of the voters opposed the controversial measure that would mandate the government to pay $2,600 a month to each adult — regardless of work status or wealth — and $650 to each child. Only 23% favored the referendum.