A Yazidi girl who was kidnapped by ISIS and repeatedly raped fainted confronting her attacker on Iraqi TV.
The ISIS terrorist was captured and is now in a prison in Iraq. On the show, he admitted to raping and beating her.
The confrontation, which aired on the Iraqi TV channel al-Iraqiya, enabled Ashwaq Haji Hamid to face down her rapist, who she said raped her three times a day and beat her three or four times a day.
Hamid, crying, eventually collapsed under the emotion of the situation and fainted in the TV studio.
Here is a translation of her words:
“Lift up your head! Why did you do this to me? Why?
“Because I am a Yazidi? I was just 14-years old when you raped me. Lift up your head!
“Do you have a sister? Do you have feelings? Do you have honor? I was 14-years old, the age of your daughter or son, the age of your sister.
“You ruined my life! You took everything from me, all my dreams.
“I was once under ISIS in your hands. But now, you will know what the punishment is, the torture, the loneliness. If you had even a small amount of feelings, you wouldn’t have raped me at the age of 14.
“I was same age as your son, your daughter!”
Watch the confrontation:
In 2014, the terror group ISIS invaded large swaths of the Anbar and Nineveh provinces, especially targeting the Yazidi population. The men and older boys were murdered, the young boys were brainwashed to be “Cubs of the Caliphate” and the women and girls were used as sex slaves.
Many of the girls were auctioned off in slave markets, passed from one jihadi to another or given as prizes in Quran contests. Most Yazidis saw their entire family devastated. Some of the girls committed suicide, some managed to run away and some were rescued for ransom money.
Some who bore children were ostracized by their own communities along with their children.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2019-12-02 09:11:162019-12-02 09:18:44VIDEO: Yazidi Girl Faints Confronting Her ISIS Rapist on Iraqi TV
On October 7, 2019, Muslim American and veteran Mansoor Shams tweeted out a list of people titled, “Who NOT to learn Islam from.” On November 26, 2019, he tweeted the same list. The tweet received mixed reactions, including my own.
Who NOT to learn ISLAM from. To name a few:
Pat Robertson Jeanine Pirro Tucker Carlson Pamela Geller Frank Gaffney Sean Hannity Richard Spencer Sam Harris David Horowitz Ann Coulter David Yerushalmi Robert Spencer Brigitte Gabriels Steven Emerson Ayaan Hirsi Ali Laura Loomer
The first time I supported the tweet on the premise that unless Muslims themselves brave speaking critically of our theology, others will do it for us. Seeing the tweet again, it’s time to unpack the question of who not to learn Islam from.
Both times, the list is simple, and there is no follow up thread. It doesn’t offer any more conversation that distinguishes one person on the list from another. It’s an incomplete conversation, and it was my mistake to support the initial tweet without taking the time to unpack it in my own thread. So, I will do that here.
To tweet that same list twice now (two unique tweets instead of simply a retweet of the original tweet) without further context, makes the list less of a confessional Muslims can align with and more of an attack. Let’s talk about the people on the list.
How the List Misses the Mark
The people who drive these conversations are just as important as the conversations themselves. We’re not just looking at what Islam is or was, we also need to look at who we are.
And if you’re not interested in people (like the ones on the list), in understanding and humanizing them, then I’m afraid you’re missing what’s really important here. What’s really important here isn’t religion; it’s people. Are we looking at how people are changing over time, or have we boxed them in the same way we complain they’ve boxed us or their interpretation of our faith in?
I would argue that it is more valuable that we understand and humanize each other, that we start learning how to get along and work together, than it is to shield Islam within some forcefield. Something that isn’t challenged, cannot evolve and thrive.
I would argue that Islam is an organic idea. It (and we) do better when challenged than when kept in some bubble, like some insipid organism that cannot survive a contagion called the 21st century.
Some people on that list have shown depth, inquiry, and journey — and it’s deeply unfair to paint them, carte blanche, in a the broad stroke of a collective.
As Muslims, we don’t like it when it’s done to us; why do it to another?
Let’s look at some of the people on that list who were treated unfairly.
Sam Harris –– While I don’t agree with everything Sam Harris says, I do respect his own story of inquiry that led him to become who he is today. The type of questions Sam raises, the type of guests he brings on, tells us that’s someone who isn’t resting on the laurels of celebrity. He’s still very much asking questions. He’s still very much searching.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali– Ali is another name on that list of someone that deserves being looked into.While I don’t agree with some of her views, and I don’t think that poor personal experience is the totality of a faith, she has shifted her views over time. She has softened her stances. She went from someone who didn’t believe in reform to someone who did. I am more aligned with who she is today than who she was even just five years ago.
Robert Spencer — Spencer doesn’t seem to have changed from the first time I learned of him over 17 years ago. Yet, when I first started asking about Islam, there was nothing out there that I could dig into that let me look at Islam with a critical eye. Social media hadn’t yet become a portal for learning and connectivity. But there was Robert Spencer’s work, which throws you into the deep end of Islam. There wasn’t anywhere I could go to at that time in the so called “Muslim world” that would be honest with me about the shortcomings of our faith. Robert Spencer also presents Muslims with a foil, a character so immersed in a rigid narrative that that narrative can be leaned on to build the counter-narrative.
Steven Emerson — Emerson might not be the person to learn Islam from, but he’s the person to understand the complex structures of the dark underbelly Islam has given rise to: the terror networks. His website, The Investigative Project on Terrorism, is one of the best sources for in-depth analysis on issues that impact Islam. You will never learn about that through any traditional Islamic study or through anyone who can otherwise teach on the theology in principle.
(Here’s a vignette of Emerson and my mother at a wedding. My mom has zero interest in my work and no understanding of our world, but she’s a Pakistani woman who loves cooking. Emerson was trying to navigate the Pakistani cuisine at the buffet. Here’s a 6-foot something, white-haired man next to a four-foot nothing Pakistani woman who delighted and took pride in being able to lead the conversation. And he stood there, engaged her and listened respectfully. I watched. It was beautiful and human. We forget that every single one of us is human; we’re not superheroes and supervillains. We are human first.)
Laura Loomer — Loomer is another person who has to be looked at through multiple lenses. I don’t agree with her on a lot of the basic principles of Islam, but I do respect her as a voice with incredible courage who tries to draw attention to Islamist figures. Loomer and I have gotten to be friends over the last year, and in every single act of engagement, we have been very supportive of the other. If in a call, for example, she shares some inconsequential details that I don’t necessarily agree with, I don’t need to fight her on it. I listen. On the same note, if I say something she might not agree with, she listens. There is no need to be combative and defensive, but there is a need to start listening to each other.
These Issues Deserve to be Led With Humanity
As a Muslim Reformer, my role is to stand on the horizon of human experience and look at things as objectively as possible. As Muslims with some legitimate frustrations in how Islam and Muslims are talked about, it doesn’t help if we start marginalizing and labeling other people without looking to have a conversation with them, understand them and find their value.
And above all, we have to take off our armor. We have to start being willing to feel. Just like our skin responds to the warmth of the sun or the piercing sensation of cold, in the same way we have to be able to feel each other, to give pause and observe our own reactions, our thoughts, the process of how our mind resists or envelopes a new thought. We can’t do that if we’re only working from within our own silos.
In a follow up tweet from the public asking who we can learn Islam from, Mansoor directs the tweeter to his website where he shares resources. Unfortunately those resources lean toward Ahmadi Muslim publications mixed with propaganda reports attacking the conservative right. I’m deeply disappointed: The response to feeling like you’re not being heard or seen isn’t to not hear or see another.
We don’t shift the needle by mirroring the same behavior that frustrates us.
We have a duty to do better, which I feel Mansoor does understand, considering he routinely leads with integrity on discussing the American Muslim experience, especially as a veteran and a member of an oppressed minority in the faith.
Real question: where can I learn Islam from? I'm nonreligious myself but I know next to nothing about it and would like to educate myself
Islamic teachings tell us to condemn behavior, not people. However, shooting out an attack list without any further context is a form of condemning a list of people without (I’m guessing) ever having had a real conversation with anyone on that list.
Robert Royal: It’s not good to let utopian visions of peace mesmerize us when worldwide persecution of fellow believers proceeds apace.
How long can the Vatican remain silent about the Chinese repression in Hong Kong and about reports of persecution and re-education camps for religious believers in the rest of China? Clearly, the figures in the Roman Curia (primarily Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin) who crafted the still unpublished accord with the Communist government have put themselves in a moral bind. If they speak out, they may jeopardize the agreement (which would not exactly be a tragedy, since it has only led to even more violent, more open acts against Christians in China). If they don’t speak out, they run the still greater risk of being accomplices, conspicuous accomplices, in the repression and potential liquidation of a heroic Catholic people of confessors and martyrs.
It didn’t have to be this way. Just as the Vatican PR machine is able to gin up campaigns to promote Pope Francis’ preoccupations about the environment, immigrants, the death penalty – and now nuclear weapons – it could also have made crimes against Christians, particularly Catholics, far more visible, and an urgent priority for anyone, anywhere in the world who pays attention to the moral leadership of the Church. And not only in China, because persecution of Christians exists in various hotspots around the globe and there are increasingly anti-Christian attacks even in Western nations like France and the United Kingdom, to say nothing of our own country.
Many Catholics were rightly upset when Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Council of the Social Sciences, returning from a trip to China, said, “Right now, those who are best implementing the social doctrine of the Church are the Chinese.” That was so absurd – considering the religious repression, the environmental damage, the forced abortions, the Orwellian surveillance of their own people – that it doesn’t bear a moment’s thought.
The misjudgments, however, are not limited to China. The Vatican currently pursues a steady line of anti-Western criticism, against the alleged xenophobia, rapacious economies, and environmental “sins” of both Europe and North America. There are debates worth having on those and other public questions. But the simplistic progressivism Rome has adopted about these quite complex subjects renders its positions largely useless – and eminently ignorable by the nations of the world.
Meanwhile, in the past few months alone, we’ve seen attacks on Catholic churches – organized attacks, not just sporadic violence – in China, but also Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Egypt, Iraq, India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria (where several priests have been kidnapped), and the list goes on. But are these direct threats to the Church given the attention they warrant by Rome? To call out the perpetrators and the governments that often enable them would require some tough talk that doesn’t just say, sentimentally, that we all seek the same common good and need to practice dialogue.
We don’t know what we have in common even in the Western nations any longer. The idea that we can appeal to some common humanitarian principles at the international level – though something devoutly to be wished – is being challenged before our very eyes. Other visions of the good (or evil) are quite prominent in the world. And deserve to be called out in blunt terms when they result in violence against the innocent, whether in China, the Middle East, or the developed nations. We will not convert those who hold those views to a more human or Christian vision with our currently weak appeals to dialogue and fraternity. To some, dialogue and false fraternity – absent the moral and military means to protect the innocent from attack – are just other names for weakness and decadence.
Catholicism used to be the one Christian body that had a strong and coherent view of the need for both co-operation with all men of goodwill, as well as a willingness to confront those who are not well-intentioned. Do we still?
The pope made the news last week during his flight back from Asia when he declared: “The use of nuclear weapons is immoral, which is why it must be added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Not only their use, but also possessing them: because an accident or the madness of some government leader, one person’s madness can destroy humanity.”
However good his intentions may be (as in changes to the Catechism about capital punishment and his opposition to life sentences), we know that nuclear weapons will never be abolished. And troubling as that fact is, it’s in some ways a good thing. No country is likely to disarm when other countries, countries with far different values than Pope Francis, possess weapons of mass destruction as well. It’s a sad fact about our human nature, but at this moment in human history only mutual deterrence prevents nuclear blackmail or outright use of nuclear arms. What would China or North Korea do with their nukes if the United States did not have them?
As Winston Churchill immediately perceived decades ago, when he heard of the U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan, “henceforth, security will be the sturdy child of terror.” A realistic morality, for our moment of history, has to find some room in its deliberations for the necessity of nuclear weapons in the hands of more reasonable global powers, as a means of deterrence, precisely to prevent their ever being used.
It’s a good thing for any pope to remind the world that the use of indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction is a grave moral evil. And that even possessing them is morally problematic.
It’s not a good thing, however, when we allow unrealistic and utopian visions to mesmerize us, even as serious threats and the actual persecution of our fellow believers and many other innocents around the world proceed apace.
We cannot allow our desire for better relations – with China, the Muslim world, or the secular forces in our midst – to stop us from speaking some hard truths and acting on them. Anything less will spell further suffering and death to the very people we have the responsibility to protect.
(These are my views as a woman living in England, on how the culture and spirit of my country has changed over 50 years. Why the country does not feel protected or strong any more, how it has lost, and is losing it values and decency, and how we are daily losing our free speech.)
It is winter, and the dark nights are here. But on these damp misty mornings, as I leave my home for work in the dark and as I return home later in the dark, I can but rest assured for I know that someone loves me. The energy providers, whose faces I never see know that I need them. They write to me often, and some of them even fight over me for attention. They know like millions of others, the first thing I will do on these cold dark nights is go around my home switching lamps and heating on. It is quite a ritual. As I do so, I sometimes smile as I hear my late father’s voice scolding me “It’s like Blackpool Illuminations” in here. “Turn that light off”
We were frugal back then. Leaving the landing light on because you were scared to go upstairs in the dark was a luxury. These days it stays on. However, there are also solar lights along the driveway, which cost £3.99 from the local petrol station and an inexpensive sensor light for unexpected guests. Sometimes, it can be quite disconcerting as you hear it switch on in the very early hours as some stray cat or badger takes a short cut home across your property.
Yes, artificial lights have a down side too.
Historic England, a UK organization which is dedicated to preserving English heritage, by way of our buildings and historical sites, recently highlighted two famous buildings in their ‘loss and destruction’ season, by illuminating St Paul’s Cathedral, London and Coventry Cathedral with a spectacular light display impregnated against its ancient, and not so ancient brickwork. The electricity bill must have been extremely high.
St Paul’s Cathedral which survived the war intact was illuminated with reminiscent scenes from the blitz. Coventry Cathedral, which was bombed and ruined, also depicted a light show which highlighted its loss and destruction, together with the restoration of the new Cathedral that was built alongside the site.
Coventry is very well known for suffering more than any other city in England during the Luftwaffe raids in what the Germans called Operation Moonlight Sonata. The moonlight on the 14th November 1940 allowed 500 Luftwaffe bombers to target Coventry for a straight 11 hours and totally destroy it.
If you visit Coventry today, you will find it to be a very modern urban city, dotted with 60’s style precincts and the odd historical building which survived the war. Like many new cities it can, in my opinion feel predominantly soul-less, concrete and cold. It is also a University City and has been dedicated to be the City of Culture for 2021.
The Cathedral, which is one of the main attractions for visitors to Coventry, is also very modern, although it does have a vintage style restaurant alongside it, which people really like, and the ruins of the previous Cathedral are also attached to it.
The ruins are probably the most honest representation of what has happened to the faith of the United Kingdom since the war. It stands as a testimony to that.
The roofless structure allows natural light to shine upon a ruined and broken place which epitomizes what evil can do to something it hates. When you stand in the open air there you see the reality of an altar with a single wooden cross still standing. For some people, it will speak to them more than all of the modern artwork in the adjoining cathedral. It is simple and honest.
The organization, Historic England may be fighting to save our historical buildings, but no one seems to be fighting for people’s souls or attempting to re-capture the true comradeship and morality which once existed.
In a nutshell the site of Coventry Cathedral, with the new and the old living alongside each other is a microcosm of what the whole of the UK is. There is a false light which is artificial in nature attempting to displace the genuine.
Our Need for Light
An inner light which does not require the reflective glare of a computer, a mobile phone, or a bright orange street lamp resides inside the hearts of many people. Their direction is not ultimately governed or stolen by the goddess Alexa or her dashboard doubter Thomas; Tom for short.
A still small voice illuminates their way when they are still, plugged in, and not swayed by the distractions of life.
However, it is written and now illuminated, that there is an enemy intent on putting that light out for good. It does not, like my father once stated, request this for the sake of saving on energy bills.
Its intention is to annihilate every man; woman and child who may carry even the smallest flicker of a light which at its core possesses ‘Truth’. It wants to steal your life force.
The UK may be losing many souls which have carried this light but also there are many genuine souls which are becoming brighter, or suddenly having their lights internally switched on to the darkness which is posing as ‘light’ in our modern day world.
Sometimes the question is ‘how tired are you of suffering’ and how switched on are you to a light force which gives you real energy and illumination in the darkest of days.
Let there be Light
The shortest day in terms of daylight hours in the UK is the 21st December. Days will then start their cycle of becoming lighter and lighter by a few minutes each day. For some, there is sometimes a sigh of relief and a sense of hope that new beginnings are just around the corner. Is it possible that a Creator designed the planets and the seasons in this fashion to remind us of our needs and that somewhere along the line ‘sun worship’ and idolatry became more fashionable?
As twinkling lights now start to appear in many homes in preparation for the event of Christmas, there are so many people who will miss the meaning of what Light really is; and who it is.
There will also be some religious persuasions who will point out the pagan roots of celebrating Christmas, and the obvious fact that Jesus was probably not born on the 25th December.
However, the question should be on what day was you born, and when did you wake up? When did you really realize the need for light and truth on those days when darkness and depression threatened to overwhelm you?
A Light Shining in the Darkness
As I think of my late father’s insistence on turning all the lights of, I sometimes also remember the small torch I would use to read a little Gideon’s bible which I had. At night, and as a child, when I was afraid of the dark, I always read Page 6, as I quoted it back then. This little verse has kept a small light burning for many years, and it is probably the only verse I can ever truly remember.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matthew 2:1-2)
Based on this story of Light, we can remember the source of where real hope and joy comes from and whatever the season find Peace on the darkest of days……..is.
There is no reason why this couldn’t be so; the Islamic State has many times called upon Muslims to murder random civilians in Western countries. If they didn’t do this one, they’ll keep trying.
“Islamic State claims responsibility for London Bridge attack,” Reuters, November 30, 2019:
Islamic State said the London Bridge attack on Friday was carried out by one of its fighters, the group’s Amaq news agency reported on Saturday. The group did not provide any evidence.
It added that the attack was made in response to Islamic State calls to target countries that have been part of a coalition fighting the jihadist group.
British police on Friday shot dead a man wearing a fake suicide vest who stabbed two people to death in London and wounded three more before being wrestled to the ground by bystanders, in what the authorities called a terrorist attack.
The attacker went on the rampage just before 2 p.m., attacking people at a premises near London Bridge in the heart of the city’s financial district – the scene of a deadly attack by Islamist militants two years ago.
Half a dozen bystanders tackled the suspect to the ground and grabbed his knife. A video posted on Twitter showed police dragging one man off the suspect before an officer took careful aim. Two shots rang out. The man stopped moving….
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2019-12-01 03:51:112019-12-02 07:45:55Islamic State claims responsibility for London Bridge jihad massacre
Uprisings in Iran have become routine occurrences, albeit without much success. Why? Because Iran is ruled by a totalitarian Islamic ideology like Nazism and communism. In Iran, there is no sovereignty of the people. Instead, there is a perception of the Ummah in Shia theology “rule of Mahdi”, guardianship over the people. In other words, Iran belongs to “Imam Zaman” (the Hidden Imam) and in his absence, a supreme leader is in charge. In this case, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Any revolt against the State is considered a direct attack against the upcoming “Lord of the Age “Mahdi.”
Hence, the moment people start protesting, the regime unleashes its wild dogs (soldiers of Mahdi) on a killing spree. Iranians partook in many protests across the country amidst a failing economic situation, systematic government corruption, and widespread frustration over the lack of political and social freedoms. As always, the regime’s security apparatus reacted to these protests with mass arrests and severe due process abuses. Pundits and experts believe “Khamenei’s tough response could just invite more anger.”
Since the Islamic invasion of 1979, the Mullahs have ruled over the unarmed Iranian people with an iron fist and absolute power while draining the nation’s treasury. As a result, millions of Iranians had no choice but to flee their homes to the four corners of the globe. In these recent protests, Iran’s rulers once again revealed their real identity to the world that they don’t value human life. They are simply vicious killers.
US Sanctions
After the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal on May 18, 2018, the US almost immediately imposed several new sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).
Following up with another sanction on the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his office and those who were closely tied to him with access to major financial resources. In July 2019, the United States placed sanctions on the regime’s Foreign Minister Mohammad, Javad Zarif.
The US also placed sanctions on eight senior commanders of the navy, aerospace and ground forces components of the IRGC. In April of 2019, President Donald Trump declared that the United States designated Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a foreign “terrorist” organization.
Results
Within a few months, Iran’s crude oil exports were slashed by almost 80%. Despite massive propaganda from President Rouhani’s office claiming these sanctions did not phase them and they had gotten used to them. However, this dosage of reality hit them hard. The regime is out of money and unable to pay the salaries of their military apparatus as well as its terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, Bashar al-Assad of Syria and other hired thugs. By November 2019, the regime was completely financially broke and needed to come up with a solution to save itself.
Out of desperation, the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei took a gamble and raised the price of gasoline by 50% (some say by 300%) in order to consolidate the budget deficit. And that was precisely what prompted protests in at least five cities almost simultaneously and brought millions of people into the streets. Almost all the slogans were against the Ayatollah Khamenei himself.
Death Toll
On November 15, 2019, over 100 protesters were killed and over a 1000 arrested in just one day. The exact total of casualties since the protests began are unknown, but unofficial reports from inside Iran say around 1000 people died and close to 10,000 were injured or arrested. Out of fear, the regime immediately cut off all communication devices including the Internetto the outside world. They feared of the watchful eyes of the people around the world to witness yet again the Mullahs’ atrocities against the Iranian people who are barely surviving in a country that spends 80% of its oil revenue on terrorism worldwide.
Business as Usual
Without any question, the civilized world is aware that the Islamic Republic is immensely despised by its people, yet, they ignore this and continue doing business as usual. Political analysts and pundits know it is a fact that neither the mullahs nor the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are going away peacefully. They have no intention of handing over the country to the people anytime soon. Why? Three reasons. First, Iran is a rich country and the Mullahs are naturally greedythieves. They cannot reconcile with themselves for letting it slip away. Second, they know that Shia Islam would most likely cease to exist. Third, they are mortally afraid that if they let Iran become free, the Iranian people would take their revenge without any mercy upon them. After all, for the past forty years they have committed every crime and atrocity known to man against the Iranian people. Something the late Ayatollah Khomeini had warned them about before his death.
Now What?
The regime is aware that they neither can go back nor forward. They are stuck between a rock and hard place. The only reason they are still in power is because there are greedy and money hungry politicians who will do anything for cheap oil and bribery. I remember the Ayatollah Khamenei’s words on his Friday sermons during the Green Revolution in 2009. He directly ordered his Bassij, plain clothes thugs and IRGC forces to shoot and kill indiscriminately anyone who challenged his Ummah (community of Shia Islam).
In another speech, he openly mentioned that he had learned a valuable lesson from the late Shah of Iran. He said, “He would never relinquish power as easily as the Shah did.” In 1978, I was still in Iran and I know the Shah never personally ordered soldiers to kill people at point-blank range. In fact, he never ordered anyone to be killed.
The Shah was a very kind and sensitive man, despite all the allegations the leftist media have conjured up about him. That is precisely why he departed his beloved country rather than stay and face a bloodbath.
Forty Years of Islamic Terror
For the past forty-years, thousands of dissidents, students, intellectuals and journalists have been systematically arrested, imprisoned and tortured for the sole crime of speaking up against the oppressive rule of the mullahs. Many are still languishing in prisons, some have died, and some have simply vanished with no trace. Not only has the regime terrorized its own people, they have also demonstrated a high priority for supporting global terrorism.
Many Iranians are following the events in Iran carefully. Despite an unprecedented internet shutdown by the regime, the Iranian people have succeeded in providing the world with video evidence of the Mullahs’ brutality. “We see you, we hear you, & as Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stated, the U.S. is with you.”
With the recent Iranian uprising across Iran, the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic is now under serious question. The protests that began two weeks ago in Iran were different from most previous protests. It roiled the country since the onset of its 1979 revolution. These protesters have covered more land, overwhelming small and midsize cities across the country. But they also have reportedly drawn more than 16 million participants in over 100 cities than did the 2009 Green Revolution protests in Tehran.
Conclusion
Are we finally witnessing the end of the Islamic Republic? Yes, but not immediately. It is only a matter of time and not a very long one either.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Amil Imanihttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAmil Imani2019-11-29 08:57:512019-12-04 08:17:02Iran on the Brink
If you’ve been following events in the news even superficially, you may have noticed that the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, is making headlines.
This past weekend, satanists in a most foul display of sacrilege held a publicly advertised Black Mass and desecrated what they claimed was a consecrated Host.
In their statement following the demonic event, they said, “The consecrated host was defiled, destroyed and swept into the trash where it belongs.”
The horrific affair took place at a local beer brewing company where, in the run-up period, owners said they would “celebrate the beast within.”
Strange, isn’t it, how satanists believe the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Blessed Lord, but most Catholics don’t — including undoubtedly many clergy?
That was another headline a couple weeks back about the Eucharis: 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence.
And digging deeper into the Pew Research poll, half of those who do not believe simply reject the teaching, but the other half say they have never heard that preached.
Breaking down the numbers, that’s roughy 25 million U.S. Catholics who have never heard the teaching on the Real Presence — the source and summit of the Faith. That is disgraceful.
A couple of weeks ago, a South Carolina priest catapulted to the front pages when he refused Holy Communion to fake Catholic Joe Biden during Mass. The case created a stir among various news outlets, and modernist Churchmen denounced the priest for his actions.
Another headline a few days ago revealed that the majority of workers in the Church — those who work in the chanceries and schools — reject the teachings of the Church. NBC News did an extensive and exhaustive poll of Catholic workers in dioceses from across the country, and depending on the question, the effects of modernism were evident everywhere: a lack of faith, even among those getting paid by the collection basket.
Those results are not so much actual news for Catholics who understand the current crisis; it was more confirmation of what many already heavily suspected of most lay Church employees.
And it doesn’t stop with the laity. About a year ago, the lying, cheating bishop of Buffalo, Richard Malone, ordered what appeared to be a bleeding Host destroyed without first having it tested or the case investigated. His decision greatly angered area Catholics, who thought the remarkable events at least bore further examination.
But in another diocese, the bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, is beginning a Year of the Eucharist beginning this weekend, the first Sunday of Advent. The activities will involve an ongoing pilgrimage throughout the diocese to pray and offer eucharitic adoration, as bishop, in front of every tabernacle in his diocese.
His Excellency says, “Let us all grow in understanding of the Eucharist.”
Church Militant has maintained for years now — publicly — that the heart of the crisis in the Church is a lack of supernatural faith among too many bishops and priests. And the heart of their lack of faith revolves around their disbelief in the Real Presence.
It is inconceivable that men like McCarrick, Tobin, Wuerl, Cupich and so forth could on the one hand believe in the Real Presence, and on the other hand permit such flagrant abuse and sacrilege in encouraging unworthy reception.
This has gone on for decades and has contributed — trickled down, in essence — to the faithful, who themselves no longer believe, or even know the teaching.
For this reason, Church Militant has put together this compilation production of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. It’s a multi-DVD set which also includes a small book which is the script of the recently released documentary by us: The Holy Eucharist: God’s Lamb.
In the full set, you get that documentary, the booklet, a six-part apologetics series we produced on the Eucharist, as well as a bonus DVD on the Blessed Sacrament called “It Is or It Isn’t.”
All of this — a pretty extensive collection — is meant for you and others to learn much more about the beautiful reality of the source and summit of the Faith.
So we have pulled all these together and put them in the same package in time for you to purchase them for yourself and loved ones for Christmas presents. Just click on the provided link for details.
There’s probably no faithful Catholic in America who doesn’t know another Catholic who has never heard this teaching. According to the Pew Research findings, about one-third — as we said earlier, 25 million — fall into this category.
A third of Catholics believe, a third reject, but a third have never heard. You know some of these people. They are in your family, your social circles, your work place. It’s up to faithful Catholics to step up and do what we have been commanded to do by Our Blessed Lord: Go out and teach.
And in this case Church Militant has made it extremely easy.
The God’s Lamb documentary DVD is only about an hour. Each of the six apologetics classes DVDs are each also about an hour, and the additional bonus DVD “It Is or It Isn’t” is also about an hour.
And if someone you know is more of a reader and might be enticed by that as opposed to watching video first, then the God’s Lamb book is a perfect introduction for them.
Each year when we decide what it is we wish to highlight for you to consider as presents for your loved ones, we take stock of the past year and talk about what appears to be the area of greatest need or understanding — and there are a lot.
But with the steady stream of news, in the Church and the secular media, we decided this was the best avenue to go, to give you weapons to bolster you in your fight to spread the truth of the Real Presence.
So please, click on the link, look at everything you get — hours of well-produced presentations as well as a book — and decide who among your friends and family would most benefit from this. Families might also look at this and say: We should devote one hour a week to watching these as a family and discussing them.
Dads and moms have the primary duty to raise their children in the Faith, and the source and summit of the Faith is the Blessed Sacrament, so there is another use for this: a gift for the entire family to spend time as a family and learn.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2019-11-29 07:34:402019-12-02 06:36:39VIDEO: The Vortex — Know the Truth
Leaders of pro-family, pro-life, and other conservative organizations have sent a letter to Chick-fil-A asking the fast-food chicken company to reconsider its decision to no longer financially support the Salvation Army.
“We are tremendously disappointed at your company’s complicity in defaming the mission and intent of the Salvation Army, one of America’s oldest and most accomplished charitable organizations,” the conservative leaders write to Dan Cathy, chairman and CEO of Chick-fil-A, in a letter dated Tuesday.
“We urge you to immediately reverse course and reconfirm your commitment to America’s families,” they add.
Among the 49 signers of the letter were Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America; Kay Coles James, president of The Heritage Foundation; Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values; Brent L. Bozell, founder and CEO of the Media Research Center; Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel; and Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty Institute.
Congress is moving to impeach the president. But will their plan to remove him from office succeed? Find out more now >>
Chick-fil-A announced Nov. 18 that, under new giving plans, it would not renew multiyear donations to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, both organizations known for their support of traditional marriage.
Conservative leaders apparently prepared the letter before Townhall broke the news Tuesday that tax records show Chick-fil-A donated $2,500 to the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2017.
In recent years, the liberal SPLC has attacked many mainstream conservative organizations, including the Family Research Council, as “hate groups.”
Floyd Corkins, convicted of a 2012 attempt to massacre employees at the Family Research Council, told investigators he was inspired by SPLC’s description of the Christian, pro-family research organization as a hate group. Corkins carried Chick-fil-A sandwiches with him, police said.
“No organization will be excluded from future consideration—faith-based or non-faith-based,” Tim Tassopoulos, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, said last week in a written statement about the changes in its charitable giving.
Conservative leaders behind the coalition letter, however, argue that Chick-fil-A is caving to pressure from LGBT activists rather than stay true to its principles.
“Your company’s stated mission is ‘To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A,’” they write, adding:
Yet, by bowing to the pressure of left-wing extremist groups, you’ve allowed those ‘faithful stewards’ of the Salvation Army to be branded as ‘extremists,’ likely triggering a series of future events detrimental to the organization and the millions of American poor they serve.
When you were under attack by the left in 2012, America’s families stood with you. We, the signers of this letter, stood with you, and many of us urged our supporters to do the same.
We helped form long lines at your stores, stretching out the doors and around the buildings, in many cases. As a result, your restaurant chain vaulted into the top 3 nationwide.
The 49 leaders close the letter by asking Chick-fil-A to reconsider its course of action.
“We stand firm with the Salvation Army and others who truly are ‘faithful stewards’ of the heritage entrusted to them and all Americans,” they write. “We urge you to immediately reverse course and reconfirm your commitment to America’s families by rejoining us in support of these groups.”
Rachel del Guidice is a congressional reporter for The Daily Signal. She is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Forge Leadership Network, and The Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program. Send an email to Rachel.
As we speak, Congress is moving to impeach the president.
We do not have all the facts yet, but based on what we know now, there does not seem to be an impeachable offense.
The questions stand: In drafting the Constitution, how did America’s founders intend for impeachment to be used? How does the impeachment process work, and what can history tell us about whether or not President Trump faces the real threat of being removed from office?
The Heritage Foundation is making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!
BEJING (ChurchMilitant.com) Government officials are cracking down on Catholic churches in China, forcing them to replace religious images with portraits of the Communist president.
A Catholic Church in the city of Ji’an in the southeastern province of Jiangxi was built this year for more than one million RMB (over $ 140,000). All the money had been raised by believers. The church was named “The True and Original Source of the Universe” (萬有真原), which is a reference to the name inscribed on a plaque the 17th-century Kangxi Emperor donated to a Catholic church in Beijing in 1711.
Not long after it opened its doors, this parish became the target of the local government’s persecution.
In late September, local officials ordered the congregation to paint over the name of the church and replace it with the words “Follow the Party, Obey the Party, and Be Grateful to the Party.” Additionally, the national flag was ordered to be flown at the entrance of the church.
The government also ordered the removal of a painting of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the Child Jesus from the center of the church, replacing it with a portrait of President Xi Jinping. Now, upon walking into the church, the first sight is that of the head of Xi, surrounded by propaganda slogans on the wall on either side.
The picture of the Holy Family has been relegated to a dark corner of the church.
A few days later government officials confiscated the church building and locked all its doors and windows, possibly preparing to transfer it to a Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, government-run church. Catholics who built their church building with their own private funds lost their place of worship.
Also in September, in Jiangxi’s Poyang county, a Catholic meeting venue was ordered to cease all religious activities. The church’s cross, a painting of the Virgin Mary and religious couplets were removed, and portraits of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong replaced them.
In the same month, in the Linchuan district of Jiangxi’s Fuzhou city, local officials ordered the congregation of the state-run St. Joseph’s Cathedral to display slogans outside the building supporting traditional Chinese culture. Rather than a sacred place for divine worship, the church building now resembles a government propaganda agency.
In early May, another Catholic venue in Poyang county was shut down on the grounds that “any church refusing to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) is a xie jiao.”
Xie jiao can be translated as an illegal, unorthodox, deceptive religious organization or cult.
Congregation members said they would rather worship at home than join the state-run Church. The CPCA clergy proclaimed their support for the Party leadership, love for the country and religion, pledging “to contribute their share to realize China’s Dream — the great renewal of the nation.”
A local retired priest from the northeastern province of Jilin spoke about the government-run Church: “Falling under communist control is a calamity to the Church. Joining the CPCA is equivalent to handing oneself to the devil.”
He chose to retire because he refuses to undergo government indoctrination nor will he willingly allow himself to be used to indoctrinate believers.
TheSouth China Morning Post reports that Communist Party of China (CPC) officials visited believers’ homes in Yugan county of Jiangxi province, a poor area where around 10% of the population is Christian. They were urged to replace personal religious displays with posters of President Xi Jinping.
Though the party denies it, some Christians in Yugan county say they were told they would not be eligible for government assistance unless they took down their religious posters. One family’s home had “God loved the world” inscribed above a gate on their property. The government forced them to change the quote from John 3:16 to “Family harmony leads to thousand-fold prosperity.”
More than 600 homes removed Christian symbols from their living rooms, and 453 replaced them with portraits of the Communist leader.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom made it clear that the worst violator of religious freedom is China: “As a Christian, your Bible may have been rewritten by the Chinese government, your church shuttered or demolished, and your pastor imprisoned. As a human rights defender who works to protect people targeted for their faith, you may be arrested, or worse, disappeared.”
EDITORS NOTE: This Church Militant column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2019-11-28 09:43:402019-11-28 09:43:40Chinese Catholics Forced to Replace Holy Pictures with Portraits of Xi Jinping
There are valuable lessons to be learned from the first Thanksgiving but the first grade class of Stone Bank Elementary School in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin won’t be learning them. Even though no one had complained, school administrators sent the following message to disappointed parents, “Out of respect for Native Americans, and the sensitivity of this time in our history, we are not going to reenact the first Thanksgiving story.”
The ingratitude of political correctness strikes again. They could learn a thing or two about the importance of Thanksgiving, not only in our nation’s history but in our daily lives.
The first Thanksgiving was actually a beautiful three-day celebration by the Pilgrims with their new friends, the Native-Americans—with whom they made a long-lasting treaty of peace. At harvest time 1621, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this festival was a wonderful example of people of different cultures sitting down together and breaking bread. And they gave thanks to God, who made it all possible.
Rev. Billy Falling, author of My Cherokee Roots, is grateful for people like the Pilgrims. In an interview for Christian television, he told me,
“As a Native-American, I thank God for the Europeans that brought us the Gospel and brought us Western Civilization.”
Falling observes, “Native-Americans were just as pagan as the rest of the world. They practiced cannibalism, they practiced devil worship, they practiced slavery, they practiced polygamy, they practiced all the sins of the flesh that the rest of the world practiced….they needed God just like the rest of the world.”
He adds,
“It’s hard today to find a sweat [lodge] where you can go as a Native-American and go inside and smoke out your sins, but it’s easy to find Native-Americans in any congregation in the United States, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ because of the Europeans. And I thank God for that.”
Granted, much later, terrible things happened to Native-Americans at the hands of Europeans and Americans. Very unchristian things. But it does not make sense to blame the Pilgrims for that.
That would be like blaming the Wright Brothers for all the airplane accidents in history.
Meanwhile, the Pilgrims were onto something by their practice of gratitude. Gratitude is good for us. Even modern psychologists are discovering this.
While ingratitude comes natural to us, and often it is the norm, it’s also true that some people can find ways to be grateful—even in difficult circumstances (like the Pilgrims)—while others might be in paradise, yet they find all sort so of nitpicky things to complain about.
Gratitude does not come naturally. “Give a man everything he wants,” declared Immanuel Kant, “and at that moment, everything will not be everything.”
When something bad happens, what is your immediate reaction? “Oh great.” I must confess how often that has been my instinctive reaction—a complaining one.
Two psychologists, Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, said:
“Gratitude is the ‘forgotten factor’ in happiness research.”
Their research found:
“Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.”
In short, the grateful focus more on what they have, not what they lack.
Too often we focus on the negative—even if, overall, we have many reasons to be positive. I remember years ago hearing Jerry Lewis being interviewed on the radio, and he described a scene in Europe, where he was being warmly received by this huge crowd. People were standing and wildly cheering him. But he noticed “that one guy.” That one guy in this sea of humanity that was giving him this great reception. That one guy wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t standing. He had his arms crossed. And Jerry Lewis said that he should have felt great. Here were all these people cheering him on. But his mind focused instead on the one guy who wasn’t clapping (for whatever reason).
My wife and I have often observed to each other (jokingly): “I’m not complaining. I’m just stating facts.”
The Bible tells us that we should give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. What is God’s will for your life? To be thankful.
D. James Kennedy once observed that gratitude is “the Christian’s magic wand.” It transforms everything.
I am grateful for the tradition of Thanksgiving in this country. The Pilgrims chose gratitude over bitterness. Half their number had died several months before the harvest. Rather than grousing, they chose to give thanks. And now somehow this beautiful American holiday is becoming politically incorrect.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jerry Newcombe, D. Min.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJerry Newcombe, D. Min.2019-11-28 08:03:342019-11-28 08:05:01Thanksgiving—to be Practiced Year Round
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
While in our local theatre I saw a promotion for the new season of the ” L Word: Generation Q.” L Word is an LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual +) drama on Showtime.
After seeing the promo it struck me how far women have fallen into the abyss by eating of the forbidden fruit a second time.
The women’s movement of the 1960s and ’70s, the so-called “second wave” of feminism, represented a seemingly abrupt break with the tranquil suburban life pictured in American popular culture. Yet the roots of the new rebellion were buried in the frustrations of college-educated mothers whose discontent impelled their daughters in a new direction. If first-wave feminists were inspired by the abolition movement, their great-granddaughters were swept into feminism by the civil rights movement, the attendant discussion of principles such as equality and justice, and the revolutionary ferment caused by protests against the Vietnam War. [Emphasis added]
Question: Are women more equal and treated more justly today than they were in the 1960s? Are women today less frustrated?
Answer: In many ways yes but in others decidedly no.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Question: Since the 1960s women have become more educated but are they wiser?
The answer lies in where women are today socially, culturally and politically.
Some women today have taken a second bite of the forbidden fruit of feminism. Feminism has morphed into the “social justice” movement with the latest iteration being the Women’s March. The Women’s March mission statement reads as follows:
The mission of Women’s March is to harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists & organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs and events. Women’s March is committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect.
The Women’s March is primarily a socialist political movement.
The Women’s March demands “self-determination, dignity and respect” for some but not all women.
According to Wikipedia the Women’s March was a “worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Tensions rose due to his statements, considered by many as anti-women or otherwise offensive. It was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.”
The goal of the annual marches is to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers’ rights and tolerance. According to organizers, the goal was to “send a bold message to our new [Trump] administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights”.
The goals of the Women’t March do not coincide with the goals of most let alone all women. The goals of the Women’s March are not bi-partisan. Rather the goals of the neo-feminist/Women’s March coincide with the goals of one major political party in America.
Where Feminism, and the Women’s March, have failed women
Unlike the Woman Suffrage Movement, which “began in 1848, when a women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York,” to give women the right to vote the current Women’s March movement is about some women and not ALL women. The Woman Suffrage Movement resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, the Women’s March and neo-feminists support legislation, human rights issues, religions, LGBTQ rights and tolerance that have harmed women.
Here are examples of how the neo-feminists and Women’s March harm women:
Divorce. Divorce by its very nature harms women the most. The good news is women are waking up to the dead end of divorce. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s latest report the divorce rate has declined from 8.2 per one thousand in 2000 to 6.9 per one thousand in 2017.
Single parent homes. One of the myths of the neo-feminist movement is the need to “create transformative social change.” This social change has resulted in the deconstruction of the nuclear family. In a study released in 2010 the CDC reported on family structure in the United Sates. The study reported on the percent distribution of family structure for children under age 18: United States, 2001–2007. The study found that only 48.4% of children were part of a nuclear (traditional) family. However, the study found that the percent distribution of nuclear family structure for non-Hispanic black children under age 18 is only 20.5%.
The misogynistic myth of “intersectionality.”Intersectionality diminishes the value of being a women. When women are thrown into the same category as other minority groups based upon race, class, gender, ethnicity, language, age, sexuality and ability, they lose the one thing that holds them together, being a woman. A woman is a woman regardless of her race, class, gender, ethnicity, language, age, sexuality or ability. A woman has great value because she is a woman. Just as a man has great value because he is a man.
The misogynistic myth of LGBTQ rights. Gender diaspora is by its very nature misogynistic. When one denies one’s biological sex at birth in the name of LGBTQ rights, then that person denies what makes them unique. Women are most harmed by the LGBTQ movement. Women have become infected with HIV/AIDS by having sex with bi-sexual men. Women are seeing transgender men beat them in “women’s sporting events.” Too many women, girls and boys will never know the real love of a traditional nuclear family.
The misogynistic myth of reproductive rights. Killing one’s unborn, and even born, child is premeditated murder. Women have many ways to prevent pregnancy before conception. Women have the final say when it comes to becoming pregnant. Once pregnant a woman has a duty to carry her baby to term. If she does not want to keep her child there are many couples willing to adopt. Finally, abortion is not healthcare. In abortion the patient dies, sometimes with the mother.
The misogyny of pedophiles and pederasts. The sons and daughters of women being abused by members of both the LGBTQ (i.e. pederasts) community and pedophiles. But neo-feminists do not give the same treatment to all children who have been abused. They do not speak with one clear voice that these behaviors will no longer be tolerated.
The myth of tolerance. Tolerance must be a two way street. Women cannot demand tolerance and be intolerant of other women because this leads to cultural suicide. Rape, incest and other crimes against humanity do not differ because of the political affiliation of a woman or a group of women. Wrong is simply wrong. All women must stand against wrong.
The misogyny of Islam. Islam views and treats women differently than any other major religious system. The neo-feminists and Women’s March have fully embraced Islam and its tenants. Unlike women living in Muslim majority nations, feminists in America have no idea what the true believers and followers of Mohammed can do to a woman.
Conclusion
One would think that the Women’s March would be focused on reducing the divorce rate even further, working to strengthen the nuclear family unit (especially among blacks), divest itself of the intersectionality and LGBTQ rights issues which are misogynistic, fight against pornography, work to enact laws that provide harsh punishment for pedophiles and pederasts and support the women in Iran, Hong Kong, Cuba, Valenzuela who are fighting and dying in the streets in the quest for freedom.
You would think that the Women’s March would be for the civil rights of the unborn!
Today women are seeing greater opportunities than ever before. There are more career women, more job opportunities for women in the digital world, and more freedom for women to be all that they can be. Even the sky is no longer the limit for women. Space.com notes:
The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, blazed a trail for the many female spaceflyers who would follow. Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut, was selected from more than 400 applicants to launch on the Vostok 6 mission June 16, 1963.
In June 1983, NASA astronaut Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman in space when she launched on the STS-7 mission of the space shuttle Challenger.
[ … ]
NASA astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to do a spacewalk when she floated outside the space shuttle Challenger during mission STS-41-G on Oct. 11, 1984.
[ … ]
NASA astronaut Mae Jemison flew on space shuttle Endeavour in September 1992, becoming the first African-American woman to travel to space.
[ … ]
NASA astronaut Eileen Collins was the first woman to command a space shuttle mission, a role that required an astronaut to have at least 1,000 hours of experience piloting jet aircraft. Collins commanded the STS-93 space shuttle mission in July 1999, and went on to command a second time in July 2005.
Women do not need to compete with men. Women and men have a greater calling.
To paraphrase Belgian poet Émile Cammaerts,
“When people cease believing in God, it’s not that they start to believe in nothing; it’s that they’ll believe in anything.”
RememberGenesis 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2019-11-28 06:35:072019-12-06 07:36:54FEMINISM: The Second Bite of the Forbidden Fruit
The Lebanese have been demonstrating for weeks against Hezbollah’s control of their government, which is just another way of saying that they are demonstrating against Iran’s control of their country by proxy. They are demanding a new government of technocrats not connected with any political party be appointed to run the government.
The protestors are made up primarily of Sunnis and Christians. The Iranians have ordered their proxies in both Lebanon and Iraq to do what ever is necessary to put a stop to these demonstrations. Though the violence here has not been as severe as in Iraq, there has been some shooting with live rounds, and last night Hizbollah thugs attacked a group of protestors with motorcycles.
In spite of the Hizbollah violence, the non-terrorist Shi’a Amal party has long ago sold its soul to Hizbollah and has sided against the demonstrators. Likewise the largely figurehead president, Gen. ‘Aoun, a Christian, has sold his soul to Hizbollah, thus he too has sided against the demonstrators (and against his own ethnic group).
The Iraqis have also been demonstrating for weeks. While these demonstrations ostensibly began to protest corruption in the government, lack of services, and a rotten economy that can not provide enough jobs, they quickly morphed also into anti-Iranian protests. What is most interesting about these protests is that they are taking place mostly in the southern portions of the country which is predominantly Shi’a. In other words, we have Shi’a Iraqis in huge numbers protesting Shi’a Iran’s hegemony over their country.
In fact, these Shi’a protestors are burning pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei, burning Iranian flags, and chanting “death to Khamenei.” Iranian stooges in the security forces and in the Iranian-controlled Iraqi Shi’a militias called al-heshd ash-Sha’bi (popular mobilization) militias have been using live rounds against the demonstrators. As a result over a hundred protestors have been killed and hundreds more wounded.
The past week has also seen massive anti-regime protests in Iran taking place in at least 100 cities and towns and in every region of the country. It was the regime’s sudden steep increase in the price of gasoline that allegedly touched off the nation-wide protests, but they too quickly morphed into anti-regime demonstrations with protestors chanting “death to the dictator, death to Khamenei.”
These protests lasted only a few days because the regime did not just use live rounds sporadically like in Iraq, they used live fire massively to intentionally mow down large numbers of protestors at once. Machinegun fire was used at one point. Also, as in Lebanon, thugs on motorcycles were used to terrify and break-up groups of protestors.
TURKEY/IRAN/QATAR/MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Over the weekend, leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) met with Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders in MB friendly Turkey to discuss common actions against reportedly Saudi Arabia.
Today, Monday 25 November, terrorist-supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited MB financier Qatar to discuss regional issues. Arabic news sources are reporting that massive trade deals have been signed as a result of this Erdogan visit. Erdogan, who just happens to have 10,000 Turkish troops already stationed in tiny Qatar, said that his purpose is to guarantee the security of Qatar, and the “peace and stability” of the region. Additional military cooperation is also in the works.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Barry Webbhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngBarry Webb2019-11-27 05:28:112019-11-27 05:29:00MIDDLE EAST INTEL REPORT: Anti-Iranian Demonstrations and Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Muslim Brotherhood
Victim’s father: Fr. Luk Delft ‘preferred to sodomize my son’
VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – A Vatican-run charity is under fire for appointing a convicted pedophile priest to direct its charity in Africa and allowing him to remain in place for a year after being made aware of abuse allegations against him.
A report published Thursday by CNN revealed the Vatican’s charitable arm, Caritas Internationalis (Caritas), appointed Fr. Luk Delft to lead its organization in the Central African Republic (CAR), even though Delft was convicted by a Belgium court in 2012 for child sex abuse and possession of child porn.
After learning of new allegations of sexual abuse against Delft in 2017, Caritas kept him in this position for a year, where he allegedly abused other boys.
After CNN’s report was published last week, Delft was recalled to Belgium where he remains “under supervision,” according to his religious order, the Salesians of Don Bosco. Belgian authorities are currently investigating the latest allegations of Delft’s homosexual abuse of minors as Caritas director in CAR.
Caritas, a confederation of 165 Catholic relief and social service organizations operating in 200 countries, learned of accusations of sexual abuse against Delft in 2017 but referred the allegations to his superiors in the Salesians to investigate. They kept the allegations silent, and Delft remained in ministry, allowing him to target at least two more confirmed victims.
A 17-year-old boy named Alban Alain told CNN on camera that Delft had abused him.
“It’s a horrible thing that he did to me,” recalled Alban, who was 13 at the time the alleged abuse occurred.
Alban’s father, Onono Alain, revealed that his son had been raped.
“He was brought here as Director of Caritas and he was entrusted with distributing aid,” said Onono. “But instead he took advantage of his position to sodomize my son.”
“There are plenty of women he could have sex with,” added Onono. “He preferred to sodomize my son.”
The former two-term president of Caritas, Honduran Cdl. Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, was replaced in 2015 by Cdl. Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines. Caritas is passing the buck to the Salesians, claiming they didn’t inform Caritas of Delft’s 2012 conviction on sex charges or investigate the 2017 accusations against Delft when informed by Caritas.
Andrew Azzopardi, Caritas’ new head in charge of safeguarding against sex abuse, says he only learned of the allegations against Delft when contacted by CNN.
“From what information you shared with us there are new allegations there to be investigated, hopefully by police or at least internally by the Church to take action against Fr. Luk and any other person who is responsible for Fr. Luk’s behavior,” Azzopardi told CNN.
The president of the Centre for Child Protection and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Fr. Hans Zollner, admitted that religious orders like the Salesians have been left by the Vatican to investigate their own members. Such communities are not bound by current papal guidelines for investigating sex abuse, Zollner remarked.
“The congregations and religious orders are under a different type of structure and legal procedures,” he said. “In way too many cases the religious superiors did not follow through on canon law.”
He admitted that orders like the Salesians are left to police themselves.
“If there are no sanctions within the community,” added Zollner, “then the community, which in that case is an order or a congregation, then there is almost no possibility to do that.”
Raised in the great outdoors of Montana, Brad’s at home with horses, camping and farm life.
While putting a Petroleum Engineering degree to work in Alaska’s oil field, he studied Engineering Management and enjoyed Alaska’s rugged outdoors. Catholic from birth, Brad began devoting more time to reading the Bible, prayer and volunteering at Covenant House Alaska, an organization that cares for runaway kids.
At 26, Brad left his occupation to follow a religious vocation with a start-up Franciscan third order community in Connecticut. After completing his seminary studies, Brad taught high school math, science and religion in addition to helping run Catholic summer camps.
After 22 years the religious community ended, so Brad began working as a writer and associate producer for ChurchMilitant.com. Three years later he married a devout Catholic, and God has blessed the couple with a son.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2019-11-27 03:52:062019-11-28 09:37:10VIDEO: Vatican Under Fire for Employing Convicted Pedophile
Oh, the Islamophobia! See what the poor lamb was driven to by the racism and bigotry he encountered?
Yes, I’m being sarcastic. Yes, there are many people who actually believe that sort of nonsense.
Note also Rashid’s support for the “Palestinian” jihad, as seen in the photo. That must have made him a popular man among Leftists on campus.
“‘We need to take our revenge now.’ South Florida man wanted ISIS to bomb colleges, feds say,” by David Ovalle, Miami Herald, November 25, 2019:
A North Miami Beach man who wanted the “establishment of Islamic law” plotted to bomb deans at two of his former colleges, federal authorities said Monday.
Salman Rashid, 23, appeared in Miami federal court on Monday charged with soliciting another person to commit a violent crime.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Rashid targeted unnamed deans at Miami Dade College and Broward College, schools from which he had been expelled. Rashid told a confidential source working with the FBI that he wanted the explosives to be “as big as possible,” according to a press release….
According to the FBI, agents began investigating Rashid in approximately April 2018 after he made a slew of public Facebook posts about overthrowing democracy and establishing Islamic law.
He exhibited a “growing hatred of America, democracy, non-Muslims and secular Muslims,” according to a criminal complaint by FBI Agent Kim McGreevy….
By the fall, Rashid also ran afoul of Miami Dade College administrators after a fellow student reported to campus authorities that he was sending her “threatening text messages,” according to the criminal complaint.
In one series of messages, Rashid detailed his growing obsession with the woman and threatened, “you will not have excuses, will not be given a choice and will have to come close to me.”…
In May 2019, that woman contacted the FBI because Rashid had posted a video that showed a man “grieving over his murdered girlfriend” — and Rashid posted he would soon “leave his world.” The woman feared Rashid might kill himself and her too, agents said.
The complaint said Rashid’s Facebook account was awash with grievances against feminists, Jews and people who mistreated Muslims. He also declared himself “the next rightful Caliph” — the leader of the Muslim world, according to the FBI.
That month, Rashid “solicited” one of the confidential sources to get in touch with members of the Middle Eastern terrorist group known as ISIS, or the Islamic State.
He complained that Muslims in Miami had been attacked and he wanted revenge. He wanted ISIS to conduct a “terrorist attack” on his behalf, preferably on a religious building or a nightclub, according to the press release….
Rashid urged the supposed ISIS member to target “arrogant men and woman who refuse to recognize our authority and hate Islam,” according to the FBI…
“Rashid indicated the Miami dean and the Broward dean were not just Rashid’s enemies but also ‘enemies of Islam, enemies of Allah,’ ” the complaint said.
He also “provided information about the locations to place the devices and his assessment of security that might be present at the colleges,” according to the press release.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2019-11-27 03:33:362019-11-27 03:37:42Florida: Muslim who wanted “establishment of Islamic law” plotted jihad massacres of “enemies of Islam”
It’s amazing when you look at how so many U.S. Catholic bishops are simply outshined by Protestant ministers when it comes to announcing truth.
For the most part, the U.S. bishops have been essentially AWOL when it comes the abortion battles. A handful, maybe, show up at the annual March for Life in D.C. Rarely does the bishops’ useless conference issue any kind of statement on the ongoing slaughter.
In 40 years they’ve never even taken up a single, solitary national collection for the pro-life cause, but they spin their wheels every year grabbing millions for the social-justice warrior pet causes, as we detailed in Friday’s Vortex last week — as if abortion isn’t the pre-eminent social-justice issue of our day.
But heck, 69 bishops at their semi-annual meeting a couple weeks ago voted it in fact wasn’t the pre-eminent issue. Climate Change is, or immigration, or whatever — because those issues might one day perhaps result in actual deaths, unlike abortion, which does.
The bishops remain silent also on abortion, even when President Trump flexes his pro-life muscle. For all his personal foibles that the Left likes to go on and on about (as if OBummer was the perfect man and had no foibles), Trump has proven himself to be the most pro-life president the nation has ever seen.
In fact, when it’s all distilled down, the impeachment idiocy, Russia, Trump Tower Meetings, the Mueller Report, Comey, all of it — when it’s all stripped down to essential bare-knuckles reality, it’s all about this [U.S. Supreme Court]. This is what has the Left insane with rage: the threat to abortion so-called rights.
For the first time since Roe v. Wade came into existence, its very existence is now in serious jeopardy. While there is a so-called conservative majority on the Court for the first time in decades, it is a shaky conservative bloc at best. It needs one more conservative jurist.
That’s why all the press coverage over the weekend when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted — again — to the hospital; when she’s gone, all hell will break loose on Capitol Hill. And Adam Schiff (and his weirdo eyes) won’t have any role to play in it.
All the attacks on Trump, the completely over-the-top, raging assaults, all have to do with this one, single issue: Trump may be ultimately responsible for ending legalized abortion in America.
And because the very existence of legalized abortion — the sacrament of the Left — is at stake, the powers and the fury of Hell have aligned against him, and the Party of Death is Satan’s conduit to try and defeat him.
Consider why Satan, who is enraged at this prospect, so desires abortion. True, a child is killed, yes. But even more so, a mother is made into a murderer. A doctor becomes a killer. An entire industry, involving hundreds of thousand of souls, commits itself to the destruction of life. Politicians forsake their sacred obligation taken under oath to God.
And an entire culture is poisoned to accept the demonic notion that whatever consequences occur because of sex can be “taken care of.” Life becomes trivialized — actually, discardable.
Last week, Franklin Graham, son of the late Protestant preacher Billy Graham, gave an interview where he said, “Well, I believe it’s almost a demonic power that is trying [to attack Trump].”
Of course it is, yet you’d be hard-pressed to hear any bishop in the United States make that comment publicly.
The war is abortion, for all the above reasons, and the two sides fighting are Trump and Satan. And Catholic, Inc. is nowhere to be found. A bunch of gay bishops, and others who are just weak men, stay on the sidelines not wanting to break a nail or get their dresses dirtied.
Yet the son of a Protestant preacher and a former playboy billionaire president are the ones taking up the charge against Satan. How much more upside down can this get?
It’s probably not even on Trump’s mind or radar that he is the one leading the charge against the gates of Hell at this very moment in world history. But it’s certainly on Satan’s radar.
Trump has to be removed in the calculus of Hell. One more conservative appointment and the Court would be a solid 6–3 majority, practically ensuring the nail in the coffin for Roe.
As it stands right now, Supreme Court prognosticators say that the current make-up of the court — four socialists, including Ginsburg — would vote to uphold Roe. Four of the five conservatives would vote to overturn, and it would come down to Chief Justice John Roberts to cast the deciding vote to overturn Roe.
That would make the vote 5–4. Roe was originally ruled 7–2 in favor in 1973, and Supreme Court watchers think Roberts would be very fretful of overturning the Roe precedent by such a slim margin.
Insiders say he doesn’t want to be the guy who would do it. A kind of strange argument, considering Justice Kennedy seemed to relish being the guy who not only kept abortion safe and sound by a 5–4 vote, but also gave the nation homosexual marriage by a 5–4 vote.
Roberts has indicated that he’s very concerned about the Court appearing to be political and losing its perception of being neutral and objective. However, if one more conservative anti-Roe, pro-life justice was also on the Court, tipping the final tally to 6–3 to overturn, then Supreme Court watchers say Roberts would be much more inclined to overturn, for two reasons.
(1) He himself is pro-life, and (2) he would want a solid majority decision from the Court when scrapping Roe — and 6–3 is much better than 5–4. Plus, at that point, he might as well go along with what would be a 5–4 majority anyway and add his own weight behind the ruling.
Roe is this close to being killed — and it all is riding on Trump.
If Ginsburg does die and Trump gets to replace her seat, the Hill will go nuclear. If he wins re-election, it is very likely he will replace even another liberal, Stephen Breyer, who will turn 82 during next year’s 2020 campaign.
That would make the court a 7–2 conservative majority and lock it in place for decades to come, given the relative youth of the conservative jurists.
And even if the oldest conservative, Clarence Thomas, were to step down, as there were rumblings last year, it’s a certainty that Trump would just replace him with a much younger conservative as well.
As long as Trump is in the White House, the Left and their “master” are terror-struck, and rage is the only emotion. Rage is the only emotion because abortion is the only issue.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2019-11-26 09:43:142019-11-27 04:35:45VIDEO: The Vortex — Trump & Satan. A very large spiritual war.
