THAT's LIFE...

[Joel]

[Sirocco]

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/15/abor ... ic-church/

"Abortion Activists Kill Baby Jesus in Graphic Abortion on Virgin Mary Outside Catholic Church.

Pro-abortion activists staged a gross and disgusting publicity stunt outside a local Catholic Church. The protest was meant to draw attention to the nation’s pro-life laws on International Women’s Day — as if killing baby girls in abortions somehow advances the cause of women. As part of International Women’s Day (March 8), feminist protestors simulated a bloody abortion on a woman dressed as the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, outside the cathedral in Tucuman, Argentina.
In the mock abortion in front of the cathedral, a young woman is wearing a white dress, a blue veil, and a crown of flowers. She is also wearing what appears to be a rosary around her neck.
She is sitting on a chair with her legs spread and several “abortionists” wearing pink “pussy” hats are removing and dismembering a bloody fake baby from her vagina. Fake blood and body parts cover the street."

I am so glad these degenerates are losing the culture war

https://www.infowars.com/conservatives- ... lture-war/
And politics are downstream from culture.
I knew this would happen, and I am glad it has.

[Elizabeth]

http://www.naturalhealth365.com/hpv-vac ... -2198.html

"Mia Blesky received the Gardasil shot at her school in September. The next day she experienced a burning sensation in her spine and a heaviness in her legs. These symptoms quickly progressed to a full loss of feeling in all of her arms and legs.

Mia’s family believes she experienced a reaction to the HPV vaccine, which has been linked with vaccine injury."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.selfreliancecentral.com/2017 ... SDB2EZBAT3
"Asbestos exposure has been linked to the development of serious respiratory diseases and cancers, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and other conditions. Asbestos exposure is most commonly related to occupational, environmental and secondhand factors."

[Elizabeth]

JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT:

http://www.originofnations.org/books,%2 ... Allen).pdf

[Elizabeth]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

"United Airlines has released four official statements in response to the backlash against the company since a customer was dragged from an oversold flight Sunday evening at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The first three were from the parent company's CEO, Oscar Munoz. The fourth was posted on the company's website Thursday after a news conference by the passenger's attorneys.

Here is the text of those statements:

First statement, released by the airline midday Monday:This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.

Oscar Munoz, CEO, United Airlines

Second statement, sent to employees Monday evening:

Dear Team,

Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I've included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.
As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.

Oscar

Summary of Flight 3411

• On Sunday, April 9, after United Express Flight 3411 was fully boarded, United's gate agents were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.

• We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.

• He was approached a few more times after that in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft, and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent. • Our agents were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight. He repeatedly declined to leave.

• Chicago Aviation Security Officers were unable to gain his cooperation and physically removed him from the flight as he continued to resist - running back onto the aircraft in defiance of both our crew and security officials.

Third statement, sent to employees Tuesday afternoon:

Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It's never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what's broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We'll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar

Fourth statement, posted on the company's website Thursday:

We continue to express our sincerest apology to Dr. Dao. We cannot stress enough that we remain steadfast in our commitment to make this right.

This horrible situation has provided a harsh learning experience from which we will take immediate, concrete action. We have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what's broken so this never happens again.

First, we are committing that United will not ask law enforcement officers to remove passengers from our flights unless it is a matter of safety and security. Second, we've started a thorough review of policies that govern crew movement, incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. Third, we will fully review and improve our training programs to ensure our employees are prepared and empowered to put our customers first. Our values — not just systems — will guide everything we do. We'll communicate the results of our review and the actions we will take by April 30.

United CEO Oscar Munoz and the company called Dr. Dao on numerous occasions to express our heartfelt and deepest apologies."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.news.com.au/national/us-troo ... 90d8f92969

"THE first of 1250 US Marines have begun to touch down in Darwin as they “stand ready to fight” against North Korea should the situation escalate."

[Elizabeth]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... rally.aspx

"You can reduce your chemical exposure by eliminating chemicals in your home, and using only natural cleaning products that are plant based. There are many safe cleaning products like Ecover, Mrs. Meyers, Seventh Generation, Sun & Earth, and Orange Plus. Even though they are more expensive, they are more concentrated, and worth it because they are safe.
Another alternative is to make your own natural cleaning products. Using homemade natural cleaning products makes “cents,” because it is cheaper, healthier and non-toxic, and it is fun.
To clean with natural products all you need is:


• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Borax
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Liquid castile soap
• Organic essential oils (optional)
• Mixing bowls
• Spray bottles
• Micro fiber cloths
• Vodka (optional)
Baking soda is great to scrub your bath and kitchen. Put it in a glass grated cheese container with a stainless steel top that has holes in it, and just sprinkle the baking soda on the surfaces and scrub. You may add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to this. Lavender and tea tree oil have anti-bacterial qualities.
Baking soda mixed with apple cider vinegar is a bubbly combination that has many uses. As a drain cleaner, sprinkle baking soda down the drain then add apple cider vinegar and let it bubble for 15 minutes, then rinse with hot water. This is a safer alternative to dangerous drain cleaners. Baking soda and apple cider make a wonderful spa-like bath for soaking away aches and pains and detoxifying. It also cleans the tub and the drain.
Baking soda can also be used as a fabric softener in your laundry.
To polish silver, instead of using toxic silver polish, fill your kitchen sink with hot water, add a sheet of aluminum foil and baking soda, and let the silver pieces soak until clean. It is an easy and fun way to clean silver.
Vinegar can clean almost anything in your house; you can add liquid castile soap, essential oil (optional), and filtered water, then clean floors, windows, bath, kitchen, etc. Vinegar can also be used as a fabric softener. Never use dryer sheets -- they are toxic too. In the laundry, use vinegar in the wash cycle to prevent fabrics from fading.
Commercial window cleaners contain butyl cellosolve -- a toxic ingredient that is not listed on the labels, so vinegar and water is much safer. Use a micro fabric cloth, not newspaper, which contains toxic dyes.
Borax is a good laundry booster and cleaner (it can even remove mold) -- and is safe and non-toxic.
Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant, and is safer to use than chlorine bleach for disinfecting and whitening. Lemon juice is also a natural whitener.
Liquid Castile Soaps can be found in health food stores and are safer than commercial liquid cleaning products.
Organic essential oils may be used in homemade cleaning products depending on your personal preference and tolerance to these scents. Never use synthetic fragrances or air cleaners.
Commercial fabric refreshers also contain dangerous chemicals, therefore, use vodka in a spray bottle to freshen up chairs and upholstery. The vodka is cheaper, non-toxic and the alcohol evaporates, and is not harmful. The alcohol in hand sanitizers is harmful, however, and should not be used on children since the alcohol absorbs into your body via your skin. Therefore, use only hand sanitizers that are plant based from the health food store, or just good old soap and water.
Making your own natural cleaning products is rewarding and fun, and you can use the natural scents that you prefer while ensuring that your home is safe from dangerous chemicals that are harmful to your, and your family’s, health."

[Elizabeth]

"NORTH KOREAN VIDEO SHOWS US WIPED OUT
Meanwhile, video footage played during a military celebration in Pyongyang over the weekend emerged on Wednesday and shows North Korean missiles destroying an American city.
The video was shown during the birthday celebration for the country’s founder Kim Il Sung and depicts rockets streaming across the ocean before exploding when reach land. It also shows a US flag in flames and rows of white crosses in a cemetery, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
“When the performance was over, all the performers and participants in the military parade broke into enthusiastic cheers of ‘hurrah!’,” the state-run news agency reported. “The Dear Supreme Leader waved back to them and congratulated the artistes on their successful performance.”
http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/china ... 81af8251f4

[Elizabeth]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/la ... fddbbd42ff

"North Korea says it is ready to sink a US aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, as two Japanese navy ships joined a U.S. carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific.
US President Donald Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to waters off the Korean peninsula in response to rising tension over the North's nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the United States and its Asian allies, including Australia.
The United States has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches the area.
US Vice President Mike Pence said in Sydney on Saturday it would arrive "within days" but gave no other details.
North Korea remained defiant.
"Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a US nuclear powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said.
The paper likened the aircraft carrier to a "gross animal" and said a strike on it would be "an actual example to show our military's force".
The commentary was carried on page three of the newspaper, after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a pig farm.
North Korea will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People's Army on Tuesday.
It has in the past marked important anniversaries with tests of its weapons.
North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.
North Korea says its nuclear program is for self-defence and has warned the United States of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression.
It has threatened to lay waste to South Korea and Japan, and also warned Australia about a nuclear attack if it continues to "blindly" follow the US.
The two Japanese warships, the Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join the Carl Vinson and will "practice a variety of tactics" with the US strike group, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said.
The Japanese force did not specify where the exercises were taking place but by Sunday the destroyers could have reached an area 2,500 km south of Japan, which would be waters east of the Philippines.
From there, it could take three days to reach waters off the Korean peninsula."

[Elizabeth]

"North Korea has declared it is ready to sink a US aircraft-carrier on its way to the Korean Peninsula. US President Donald Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail toward North Korea in response to rising tension over nuclear and missile tests.
'Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,' the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary.
Pyongyang turned its sights on Australia on Saturday for 'blindly and zealously toeing the US line' and accused Foreign Minister Julie Bishop of 'spouting a string of rubbish against the DPRK over its entirely just steps for self-defence’ ."
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stor ... IgJLq.dpuf

[Elizabeth]

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-n ... 27e605adb3
"The US military has begun moving parts of the controversial THAAD anti-missile defence system to a deployment site in South Korea amid high tensions over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.
Washington and Pyongyang have been ratcheting up pressure on each other in recent weeks, with the United States sending a aircraft carrier group and nuclear submarine to the region and North Korea attempting more missile launches in defiance of layers of UN sanctions.
North Korea said on Wednesday leader Kim Jong Un had supervised the country's "largest-ever" live-fire drill to mark the 85th founding anniversary of its military, with more than 300 large-calibre, self-propelled artillery guns demonstrating their fire power at an event on its east coast.
The firing drill came instead of a nuclear test or the launch of a long-range missile as feared amid pressure from the United States and China, its sole major ally, which has been irritated by Pyongyang's weapons development.
The United States and South Korea agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in response to the threat of missile launches by North Korea, however the move has angered China, which says the advanced system will do little to deter the North while destabilising the regional security balance.
South Korea's defence ministry said some elements of THAAD were moved to the site on what had been a golf course in the county of Seongju in the country's southern region.
"South Korea and the United States have been working to secure an early operational capability of the THAAD system in response to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threat," the ministry said in a statement.
A US submarine designed to carry 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles entered a South Korean port on Tuesday as the USS Carl Vinson carrier group steamed towards the Korean waters in an effort to deter the North from a sixth nuclear test and more missile launches."

[Elizabeth]

http://conservativetribune.com/putin-pr ... tyalliance


"Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed plans to expand Russia’s military, and the additions could have serious implications for the rest of the world.
A translation of the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that Moscow had revealed plans for Project 09852, or Belgorod, which is intended to be the biggest nuclear-powered submarine on earth.
The vessel would be over 600 feet long and approximately 45 feet longer than the USS Pennsylvania, the biggest submarine in the U.S. Navy. The sub will reportedly carry out deep-sea exploration in the Arctic. It will also carry scientific equipment and smaller unmanned submarines into the Arctic.
“It will transport and install autonomous nuclear submarine modules designed to charge uninhabited submarines on the seabed,” professor Vadim Kozyulin of the Academy of Military Sciences told Izvestia. “The submarine will ensure the deployment of a global underwater monitoring system, which the military is building on the bottom of the Arctic waters.”
The vessel will reportedly be equipped with 20 ballistic missile launchers and 10 nuclear warheads. The bow of the sub will contain six torpedo tubes, which can fire torpedoes and underwater high-speed missiles, Izvestia reported.
The submarine plans reportedly include a swimming pool, a gym and a smoking room.
The announcement was another example of how Putin has been flexing his military muscles recently. Putin has reportedly increased the size of his naval fleet, and just last week Russian bombers were spotted on two separate occasions flying off the cost of Alaska. Russian naval vessels were also spotted off the U.S. coast in March.
Russia has also reportedly sent troops to the North Korean border."

[Elizabeth]

https://www.lds.org/manual/church-histo ... i?lang=eng

"The world was still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression when World War II broke out in Europe. Under Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, Germany was enlarging its boundaries. At the same time Japan was also expanding its empire into the Pacific in quest of political domination, raw materials, and new markets for her industries. Before long most of the world was engulfed in the war. Just as the depression significantly affected the Latter-day Saints during the 1930s, World War II and its aftermath exerted a powerful impact on the Church and its members during the succeeding decade.

The Church and the Third Reich
During the 1920–30s the German missions of the Church experienced unprecedented success, particularly in the eastern provinces. When the National Socialists, or Nazis, gained control of Germany in 1933, Church members had to become increasingly circumspect. Gestapo agents frequently observed Church meetings, and most branch and mission leaders were thoroughly interrogated by the police about Mormon doctrines, beliefs, and practices, and were warned to stay out of political matters. By the mid-1930s, Latter-day Saint meetings were often canceled during Nazi rallies, and the Church was forced to drop its Scouting program because of the Hitler Youth Movement.

Gospel teachings about Israel were out of harmony with the Nazi’s anti-Jewish policies, so copies of Elder James E. Talmage’s popular doctrinal work The Articles of Faith with its references to Israel and Zion were confiscated. In one town, police ripped all hymns referring to these topics out of the hymnbooks. Uneasy and concerned because of these conditions, some Church members ceased attending Church to avoid trouble with the police. Other German Saints felt an intensified interest in emigrating from the country.

The Church was never officially banned in Germany as some other small religious groups were. In fact, the Church received favorable publicity when the Nazi government invited Mormon elders to help coach some of the German basketball teams and to assist them at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Furthermore, because the Nazis emphasized racial purity, they promoted genealogical research. Government officials, who had earlier regarded the Mormons as an unpopular sect and thus denied them access to vital records, now respected them because of their interest in genealogy. Nevertheless, the situation for the Church and its missionaries became much more difficult during the late 1930s.

The rise of the Nazis in Germany also affected Church activity in South America where there were large colonies of German immigrants. In Brazil the government, fearing a subversive threat from Nazi sympathizers, banned the speaking of German in public meetings and the distribution of literature in that language. During their first decade in Brazil, Latter-day Saint missionaries had worked almost exclusively among the German-speaking minority, so most branch meetings were conducted in their language. Under pressure from the government, the local police in one area even forced the Saints to turn over their German scriptures, which were then burned in a public bonfire. In the face of such conditions during the late 1930s, missionaries shifted their emphasis to the Portuguese-speaking majority, thus laying the foundation for the great growth of later decades.

The Evacuation of Missionaries
As early as autumn 1937, Adolf Hitler vowed to expand his domain by annexing the German-speaking peoples in Austria and Western Czechoslovakia.

In March 1938, Germany succeeded in annexing Austria, and by September, Hitler accused the Czechs of persecuting the German minority in their country, and he insisted on his right to intervene. As troops massed on both sides of the German-Czech border, war seemed inevitable. As tensions grew in Europe, the General Authorities became increasingly concerned about the safety of the missionaries serving there. On 14 September 1938 the First Presidency ordered the evacuation of all missionaries from these two countries. At a meeting in Munich, Germany, Great Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s annexation of Western Czechoslovakia on the condition that he commit no further aggression. War was temporarily averted, and the First Presidency permitted the evacuated missionaries to return to their fields of labor.

The agreement at Munich, however, did not bring lasting peace. In 1939, Hitler turned his attention to Poland, demanding greater access through the Polish Corridor to German-populated East Prussia. Echoing the charges he had brought against Czechoslovakia a year earlier, Hitler now sought to justify military intervention by accusing Poland of mistreating its German minority. As tension increased, President J. Reuben Clark’s diplomatic background proved valuable to the Church. Through his contacts at the State Department, he kept Church leaders apprised of the developments in Europe on an almost hourly basis. Finally, on Thursday, 24 August 1939 the First Presidency, for the second time, ordered the evacuation of all missionaries from Germany and Czechoslovakia. They instructed Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, who was in Europe conducting the annual tour of missions, to take charge.

The evacuation of the missionaries, particularly from the West German Mission, posed great challenges and provided the setting for some remarkable examples of divine assistance.

The First Presidency’s telegram arrived in Germany on Friday morning, 25 August. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith and M. Douglas Wood, mission president, were conducting conferences in Hanover, but President Wood and his wife immediately returned to mission headquarters in Frankfurt. By Friday afternoon they had telegraphed all missionaries, directing them to leave for Holland at once. On Saturday morning, a missionary called from the border to tell them that the Netherlands had closed its borders to almost all foreigners fearing that the influx of thousands of refugees would seriously deplete the already short food supply. Meanwhile, bulletins on German radio warned that by Sunday night all railroads would be under military control and no further guarantees could be made for civilian travel.

When the Dutch closed their border, the resulting crisis challenged the resourcefulness of President Wood and his missionaries. Knowing that they could not take German currency out of the country, almost all of the missionaries had used their excess funds to purchase cameras or other goods that they could take with them. Therefore, they did not have enough money to buy tickets to Copenhagen, Denmark, the alternate point of evacuation, leaving several groups of missionaries stranded at the Netherlands border.

In Frankfurt, President Wood gave one of his missionaries, Elder Norman George Seibold, a former football player from Idaho, a special assignment:

“I said: ‘Elder, we have 31 missionaries lost somewhere between here and the Dutch border. It will be your mission to find them and see that they get out.’ …

“After four hours on the train he arrived at Cologne, which is about half way to the Dutch border. We had told him to follow his impressions entirely as we had no idea what towns these 31 Elders would be in. Cologne was not his destination, but he felt impressed to get off the train there. It is a very large station, and was then filled with thousands of people. … This Elder stepped into this station and whistled our missionary whistle—‘Do What is Right, Let the Consequence Follow.’” Thereby he located eight missionaries.

In some towns Elder Seibold remained on board the train, but at others he was impressed to get off. In one small community he recalled, “I had a premonition to go outside the station and out into the town. It seemed silly to me at the time. But we had a short wait and so I went. I passed a Gasthaus, a restaurant there, and I went inside and there were two missionaries there. It was fantastic, in that they both knew me and of course they were quite happy to see me. … As surely as if someone had taken me by the hand, I was guided there.” In Copenhagen on Monday, 28 August, President Wood learned that fourteen of the thirty-one missing missionaries had entered Holland safely. That afternoon he received a telegram from Elder Seibold stating that the remaining seventeen would arrive in Denmark that evening.

While the West German missionaries struggled to reach Denmark, quite a different drama unfolded in Czechoslovakia. On 11 July four missionaries were arrested by the German Gestapo and thrown in Pankrac Prison where political prisoners were held. For the next six weeks their mission president, Wallace Toronto, worked persistently for their release. He did not succeed until 23 August 1939, the day before the Czech Mission received the directive to evacuate. Most of the missionaries, as well as Sister Toronto and the Toronto children, left promptly for Denmark. But President Toronto remained behind to help the elders who had been in prison recover their passports and other possessions.

As Hitler’s armies massed for the invasion of Poland, communications with Czechoslovakia were cut off. Sister Toronto explained, “Seeing that I was very worried and getting more upset by the minute, President [Joseph Fielding] Smith came over to me, put his protecting arm around my shoulders and said, ‘Sister Toronto, this war will not start until Brother Toronto and his missionaries arrive in this land of Denmark.’”

In Czechoslovakia, President Toronto and his missionaries concluded their business by Thursday, 31 August. Just before leaving, however, one of the missionaries was rearrested and again thrown into prison. Quick and inspired action on the part of President Toronto enabled him to show the German authorities that it was a case of mistaken identity, and the elder was promptly released. That night the group boarded a special train sent to evacuate the British delegation; it was the last train to leave Czechoslovakia. They passed through Berlin early the next day and that afternoon boarded the last ferry to cross from Germany to Denmark.5Germany invaded Poland that same day, the event that is generally regarded as the beginning of World War II. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith’s prophetic promise to Sister Toronto was fulfilled precisely.

In Salt Lake City the First Presidency closely monitored the mounting crisis and soon ordered the evacuation of all missionaries from Europe. Most missionaries crossed the Atlantic Ocean on cargo ships with makeshift accommodations for several hundred passengers each. Typically, these ships’ holds were filled with bunks, with only a curtain separating the men’s and women’s areas. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., regarded the successful evacuation of missionaries as truly miraculous:

“The entire group was evacuated from Europe in three months, at a time when tens of thousands of Americans were besieging the ticket offices of the great steamship companies for passage, and the Elders had no reservations. Every time a group was ready to embark there was available the necessary space, even though efforts to reserve space a few hours before had failed. …

“Truly the blessings of the Lord attended this great enterprise.”

In 1940 more countries were drawn into the rapidly expanding war. Belgium, Holland, and France quickly fell to the Germans, and Britain prepared to fight for its life. As a result the overseas colonies of these countries were vulnerable to attack. In September 1940 Japan signed a ten-year mutual assistance treaty with Germany and Italy and began occupying French Indochina.

These developments prompted the First Presidency to withdraw all Latter-day Saint missionaries from the South Pacific and South Africa the following month. Communications between these areas and Church headquarters in America were not cut off as they had been in Europe, and mission presidents were permitted to remain in their areas. Missionaries were not evacuated from South America, but after 1941 no new missionaries were sent to that continent, and by 1943 none remained there. By that time proselyting by the regular full-time missionaries was limited to North America and Hawaii. Even in these areas the number of missionaries was drastically reduced as more and more young men were drafted into military service.

European Saints Carry On
When the missionaries and their leaders were withdrawn, the European Saints were left on their own, often in isolated circumstances. Many of them personally witnessed destruction and death. Even outside the combat zone, preoccupation with war was demoralizing and tended to diminish interest in spiritual concerns. Another problem faced the Saints in the occupied countries and in Germany. While some felt that the wisest course was to cooperate with the Nazis, others were convinced that their patriotic duty was to resist. Helmuth Hubener, a teenaged member of the Church in Hamburg, for example, dared to distribute copies of news he had picked up by shortwave radio from the British Broadcasting Corporation presenting a view contrary to Nazi propaganda. For these actions, he was eventually beheaded in a Gestapo prison.

The evacuated missionaries were encouraged to write letters of faith and hope to members where they had served, and the mission presidents were given special assignments to keep in touch through correspondence with the local leaders whom they had left in charge. Unfortunately, however, the war disrupted the mail, and even from neutral Switzerland no letters were received for two years. In these circumstances local leaders learned to depend on personal revelation for guidance.

Although there were some isolated exceptions, most European Saints’ faithful adherence to Church doctrines and procedures grew during the war. In several areas, tithes, fast offerings, and attendance at Church meetings increased. In Switzerland local member missionaries spent two evenings per week proselyting and baptized more converts than the full-time missionaries had just before the outbreak of the war. During the prewar years mission presidents had actively prepared the Saints for the isolation they were to experience. Time and again during his 1937 visit to Europe, President Heber J. Grant, with prophetic insight, urged members to assume their own responsibilities and not to lean so much on the elders from America. Max Zimmer, who headed the Swiss Mission during the war, is a good example of one of these capable leaders. He conducted effective training programs for local priesthood and auxiliary leaders and distributed Church periodicals to the Saints.

Numerous German male members, both single and married, were drafted into the armed forces of their country. This depleted the priesthood strength of the branches, which in many areas had grown quite strong during the late 1930s. Many of the brethren left wives and children behind. In the early months of the war most of the German Saints felt they were fighting a just war, but as the war lengthened and atrocities heightened, more and more members of the Church began hoping and praying for an Allied victory. On the eastern front, the suffering and killing were especially bad as the Russian army marched ruthlessly into Germany. Several Latter-day Saint soldiers returned to their families only after many years of being in the prison camps, and some never returned to their families at all.

One notable Saint who died in the war was Herbert Klopfer, who had been called as the president of the East German Mission in 1940. That same year Brother Klopfer was also called into military service and stationed in Berlin. He was thus able to conduct mission business from his military office. Three years later he was ordered to the Western front. He left the mission affairs in the hands of his two counselors, who also took care of his family. He then spent a short time in Denmark, where he visited some Danish Saints. The Danes feared him at first because of his German uniform, but they came to trust him as he bore witness to them of the truthfulness of the gospel. In July 1944, Herbert Klopfer was listed as missing in action on the Eastern front. Following the war, it was learned that he had died in March 1945 in a Russian hospital.

Another young Latter-day Saint soldier, Hermann Moessner from Stuttgart, had experiences of a different sort during the war. While fighting in Western Europe, he was taken captive by the British, transported to England, and placed in a prison camp. With little else to do, Brother Moessner began sharing the gospel with fellow prisoners. Four men accepted his message and requested baptism. Elder Moessner wrote to Church headquarters in London for advice on what to do. Soon Elder Hugh B. Brown visited young Moessner in the camp and authorized him to baptize the converts. Many years later Hermann Moessner was called to serve as the president of the Stuttgart Stake in Germany.

Even German Saints who were not in the military suffered, especially in areas being bombed. Local leaders felt they were often inspired as they carried out their responsibilities amid these trying conditions. For example, Hamburg was bombed 104 times during a ten-day period in 1943. During Church meetings it was necessary to monitor the radio for information about air raids. One Sunday the branch president had not heard anything about a raid, but he felt impressed to close the meeting abruptly and immediately send his congregation to the nearest shelter, a ten-minute walk. Branch members had just reached the shelter when bombs hit the area.

When regular meeting places were destroyed, the Saints held religious services in their homes. In one mission, however, 95 percent of the members lost their homes. Local leaders initiated a variety of self-help programs to meet this emergency. They directed their members to bring food, clothing, and household supplies to branch meeting places to be stockpiled. The Saints willingly responded, agreeing that all people should share alike in whatever was available. “Family after family brought their entire stores and shared them with their brothers and sisters who were destitute.” Everyone contributed to a fund that the Relief Society used to purchase material to patch or remake old clothing or to sew new.9Members in Hamburg also participated “in Loeffelspende (spoon contributions), which meant they were each to bring one spoonful of sugar or flour to every meeting they attended. This small amount seemed almost ridiculous to members at first, but soon ‘this one spoon multiplied by 200 was sufficient to bake a cake for a young couple for their wedding, or to give a mother who was expecting or nursing a baby."

The Church Responds to War
Japan launched an attack against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. When the United States responded the following day by declaring war on Japan and then on Germany, many Latter-day Saints became directly involved in the hostilities. Once again the Saints had to examine their feelings about war. They were guided by the Book of Mormon’s teachings which denounced offensive war but condoned fighting “even to the shedding of blood if it were necessary” in defense of home, country, freedom, or religion (Alma 48:14; see also 43:45–47). In their annual Christmas message, issued less than a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the First Presidency stated that only through living the gospel of Jesus Christ would enduring peace come to the world. Echoing the counsel given by President Joseph F. Smith at the outbreak of World War I, the Presidency exhorted members in the armed forces to keep “all cruelty, hate, and murder” out of their hearts even during battle.

These same principles were incorporated in the First Presidency’s official statement read at the April 1942 general conference. This declaration was a comprehensive and authoritative review of the Church’s attitude on war and was widely distributed in pamphlet form. The Saints were told that although “hate can have no place in the souls of the righteous,” the Saints “are part of the body politic” and must loyally obey those in authority over them. The Presidency continued, “The members of the Church have always felt under obligation to come to the defense of their country when a call to arms was made.” If in the course of combat servicemen “shall take the lives of those who fight against them, that will not make of them murderers, nor subject them to the penalty that God has prescribed for those who kill. … For it would be a cruel God that would punish His children as moral sinners for acts done by them as the innocent instrumentalities of a sovereign whom He had told them to obey and whose will they were powerless to resist. …

“… This Church is a worldwide Church. Its devoted members are in both camps,” the message affirmed. The Presidency also promised those servicemen who lived clean lives, kept the commandments, and prayed constantly that the Lord would be with them and nothing would happen to them that would not be to the honor and glory of God and to their salvation and exaltation. Heeding the counsel of their Church leaders, Latter-day Saints responded when called into military service.

The Saints in Uniform
Even though LDS servicemen’s groups had been organized during the Spanish-American War and Elder B. H. Roberts had served as a chaplain during World War I, the complete development of the Church’s programs for LDS servicemen did not come into existence until World War II.

In April 1941, just nine months before the United States officially entered World War II, the First Presidency announced the appointment of Hugh B. Brown to serve as servicemen’s coordinator. Having attained the rank of major in the Canadian army during World War I, he capitalized on this title in making contact with military authorities. Elder Brown traveled extensively during the war meeting with LDS servicemen and giving them encouragement. His warm personality and deep spirituality made him particularly well-suited for this assignment.

A Church Servicemen’s Committee was organized in October 1942, with Elder Harold B. Lee, a new member of the Twelve, as chairman. The committee worked with United States military officials to secure the appointments of Latter-day Saint chaplains. This was a formidable challenge. Army and navy officials were reluctant to appoint chaplains who did not meet the usual requirements of being professional clergymen. Nevertheless, the Army Chief of Chaplains favorably remembered how a local Mormon bishop had cared for the spiritual well-being of the servicemen in his area. As a result, military officials gradually approved the appointment of LDS chaplains, and by the end of World War II forty-six had served or were serving as such.

To supplement the work of these chaplains, the Servicemen’s Committee appointed approximately one thousand “group leaders.” Once set apart, these men officiated anywhere their services might be needed. Each received a certificate identifying him as “an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that he is as an authorized Group Leader of the Mutual Improvement Association of said Church to serve among his fellow Latter-day Saint members in the armed services. He is empowered, after first obtaining permission of the proper military officials, to conduct study classes and other worshipping assemblies.”

The Church sponsored several other measures to benefit members in the service. Homes were opened in Salt Lake City and California where servicemen could stay in a wholesome environment while traveling to and from assignments. “Budget cards” became passports to wholesome Church-sponsored social and recreational activities for servicemen away from home. Members entering military service were given pocket-sized copies of the Book of Mormon and a Church publication entitled Principles of the Gospel. They also received a miniature version of the Church News, which carried messages of inspiration, reports of servicemen’s activities, and other important announcements.

Many of the Latter-day Saint servicemen set outstanding examples of faith and devotion. Military officials were frequently astonished at the initiative and ability of the Mormon soldiers to conduct their own worship services without the need of a professional clergymen. On the island of Saipan, L. Tom Perry (later a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) and other LDS marines had no place to meet, so they set to work building a chapel. Latter-day Saint German soldiers during the occupation of Norway shared their rations with needy members in that land. Similarly, American soldiers helped their fellow Saints in Germany to rebuild as the war drew to a close. Always eager to share the gospel, Church members took advantage of opportunities even under wartime conditions. Elder Ezra Taft Benson lamented the drop in the number of full-time missionaries, but was convinced that Latter-day Saint servicemen were responsible for “more total missionary work today than we have ever done in the history of the Church. …

“… One of [the servicemen] said, ‘Brother Benson, it is just like being on another mission. Conditions are different, but we have opportunities to preach the gospel, and we are taking advantage of it.’”

Numerous servicemen were influenced by the worthy examples of their Mormon buddies. The life of nineteen-year-old Neal A. Maxwell, who served in the armed forces in Okinawa, was a sermon to his fellow servicemen. One friend in particular remembered the example Neal set in a foxhole in Okinawa. Neal A. Maxwell later became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While in a German prison camp, one Dutch member shared the gospel with fellow prisoner of war Jay Paul Jongkees. His interested friend joined the Church and later became the first stake president in their native country.

Latter-day Saint servicemen were also responsible for introducing the gospel into new areas of the world. For example, they provided the Church’s first contact with the Philippine Islands.

By the war’s end, the number of Latter-day Saints in military service approached one hundred thousand. This was about one out of every ten Church members. While some appeared to be miraculously protected, the lives of all were not spared. Elder Harold B. Lee sought to comfort those who lost a loved one in the war. He said, “It is my conviction that the present devastating scourge of war in which hundreds of thousands are being slain, many of whom are no more responsible for the causes of the war than are our own boys, is making necessary an increase of missionary activity in the spirit world and that many of our boys who bear the Holy Priesthood and are worthy to do so will be called to that missionary service after they have departed this life.”

Impact on the Church in North America
While the Saints in North America did not suffer as their European counterparts did, the war had a substantial impact on Church members and programs there also. As World War II began, shipyards, aircraft plants, and other defense industries created many new jobs on the U.S. west coast. These economic opportunities drew many families from the intermountain area to the Pacific coast. The establishment of defense industries in Utah and surrounding areas, however, later led many Saints to return.

These war-stimulated population shifts created several challenges for the Church. Single Mormon youth were among those employed in the defense industry. Hence, by the end of the war an increasing number of young people were living away from the stabilizing influence of their home and family.18The General Authorities encouraged Church leaders in the areas where these young men and women were going to take a special interest in them. The coming of new industries to predominantly Mormon areas also resulted in a sudden influx of non-LDS residents into certain Utah communities. While some of the long time residents of these communities were concerned about the introduction of such a large “outside element,” Church leaders encouraged the Saints to fellowship the newcomers and to share the gospel with them whenever possible. This created a fertile field for the stake missions that had been established in the 1930s.

Wartime conditions affected programs sponsored by the Church in still other ways. In January 1942, just a month after the United States entered World War II, the First Presidency announced that all stake leadership meetings would be suspended immediately for the duration of the war. This cutback in leadership instruction came at the very time when Church activities had to become more effective than ever before to reach the growing numbers of members cut free from the guiding and sustaining influence of the family. The First Presidency stressed, “This action places increased responsibility upon the ward and branch auxiliary organizations to see that their work not only does not suffer, but is increased in intensity, improved in quality, and in general made more effective.” Auxiliary general boards kept in touch with local workers and gave direction by mail, and the home was stressed more as the key to preserving the faith among the youth.

The First Presidency also limited attendance at general conferences to specifically invited priesthood leaders. The Tabernacle was closed to the public since the weekly Tabernacle Choir programs were broadcast without live audiences. Observances of the Relief Society’s 1942 centennial had to be postponed, and the annual Hill Cumorah pageant was canceled for the duration of the war.

On 27 April 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the need for increased taxes, wage and price controls, gasoline rationing, and rationing of other strategic materials. Latter-day Saint leaders had already taken steps to adapt Church programs.

Elder Harold B. Lee was convinced that the timing of the Church’s precautions was the result of revelation. Referring to the Church’s January 1942 restrictions on auxiliary meetings and travel, he declared: “When you remember that all this happened from eight months to nearly a year before the tire and gas rationing took place, you may well understand if you will only take thought that here again was the voice of the Lord to this people, trying to prepare them for the conservation program that within a year was forced upon them. No one at that time could surely foresee that the countries that had been producing certain essential commodities were to be overrun and we thereby be forced into a shortage.”

Furthermore, Elder Lee was convinced that Church leaders had been inspired when, beginning in 1937, they counseled the Saints to produce and store a year’s supply of food. He believed that this helped prepare Church members for rationing and scarcity and anticipated the government’s emphasis on victory gardens.

Because of the war effort “Church activities were hampered in yet other ways. As building supplies were diverted to military use, construction of meetinghouses and even of the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple came to a halt. Perhaps no Church activity felt the impact of the war more than did the missionary program. In 1942 the Church agreed not to call young men of draft age on missions. Hence the number of missionaries serving plummeted. While 1,257 new full-time missionaries had been called in 1941, only 261 were called two years later. Before the war, five-sixths of all missionaries were young men holding the offices of elder or seventy; by 1945, most new missionaries were women or high priests. Members living in mission fields again assumed more responsibilities, just as they had done when the number of missionaries dropped during the Great Depression a decade earlier. Throughout North America these Saints accepted calls as local part time missionaries and assumed greater roles in district or branch organisations.

“The Church sponsored special wartime programs and in other ways encouraged its members to patriotically support the war effort. The first Sunday in 1942 was designated as a special day of fasting and prayer. As they had done during World War I, the General Authorities again commended the Saints for their generous contributions to the Red Cross and other charitable funds. Women in the Relief Society put together first aid kits for home use and prepared bandages and other supplies for the Red Cross. During the winter of 1942–43 the Church’s twelve- and thirteen-year-old Beehive Girls donated 228,000 hours, collecting scrap metal, fats, and other needed materials, making scrapbooks or baking cookies for soldiers, and tending children for mothers working in defence industries. A special ‘Honour Bee’ award was offered for such service. Then in 1943, Mutual Improvement Association youth in the United States and Canada raised more than three million dollars to purchase fifty-five badly needed rescue boats to save the lives of downed airmen.”

While Latter-day Saints, at home and in military service and on both sides of the conflict, laboured patriotically to support the cause of their respective nations, all longed for a return to peace. Even though some activities advanced during the war, the major effort of the conflict hindered the Church’s work. Only with the longed-for cessation of hostilities in 1945 could the Church resume its progress."

[Elizabeth]

"Fox News has finalised a contract with its newest political analyst, Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic strategist who has made several appearances on the network since 2014.

“In this role, effective immediately, she will offer political analysis and insight across FNC and Fox Business Network’s daytime and prime time programming,” the network said in a statement."

[Elizabeth]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 101320524/


"A Missouri jury ordered health products giant Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman for allegedly failing to disclose the cancer risk from its baby powder and another product.
Lois Slemp, 62, prevailed in the case after suing the company when she was diagnosed in 2012 with ovarian cancer. She alleged that J&J concealed the possibility that talc in its baby powder and Shower to Shower products can cause cancer.
The case deepens J&J's legal crisis connected to talc. The company has already lost several similar cases, including verdicts of $72 million, $70 million and $55 million. And it faces multiple federal class-action suits in the matter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
After three weeks of testimony in Slemp's case, a 12-person jury deliberated for 10 hours before delivering the verdict against J&J.
“They chose to put profits over people, spending millions in efforts to manipulate scientific and regulatory scrutiny," said Ted Meadows, a Beasley Allen lawyer representing Stemp and other similar plaintiffs, in a statement. "I hope this verdict prompts J&J to acknowledge the facts and help educate the medical community and the public about the proper use of their products."
J&J, which has repeatedly denied the connection between talc and cancer and rejected the suggestion that it should have warned consumers, said in a statement that "we deeply sympathize" with anyone affected by ovarian cancer.

But the company said it would appeal the verdict, citing a separate case that it won in March and two other dismissed cases that "further highlight the lack of credible scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations."

“We are preparing for additional trials this year and we will continue to defend the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder," the company said in a statement.
J&J's stock barely budged in pre-market trading Friday, falling 0.1% to $123.87. The company sold the Shower to Shower brand several years ago,"

[Elizabeth]

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-n ... e8854cb67f

"Jakarta's outgoing Christian governor is set to learn whether he has been found guilty of blasphemy, almost five months after the controversial case began. Calls for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama - commonly referred to as Ahok - to be jailed began last year after an edited version of a speech he made in September 2016 was uploaded on the internet. Ahok was heard criticising his political detractors for using a Koranic verse - Al Maidah 51 - to "fool" people into not voting for a non-Muslim.
Since then, the 50-year-old says he has been the victim of a "campaign of lies" which he claims contributed to his election loss last month.The day after Ahok conceded electoral defeat, prosecutors asked for him to be found guilty of the lesser charge of 'expressing hatred towards or insulting' a group - in this case Muslims - as they say his actions lacked the intent of blasphemy.They have asked for him to be sentenced to two years probation with one year in jail in the event he committed another offence.This has angered Ahok's detractors who launched another protest last week - again demanding he be jailed.Security Minister Minister Wiranto has urged people to respect Tuesday's verdict.It comes after the United States called on Indonesia at the United Nations earlier this month to end all prosecutions of people for the offences that Ahok is facing."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.selfreliancecentral.com/2017 ... AMSURVIVE2


"From the U.S. First Responders Association comes this warning:

Dear Medics, Police, and Firefighters. Please share this with your colleagues. If you find drugs on a patient, be extremely careful when handling them. A “new” drug is in town called “carfentanil” which is so potent that it landed two first responders in the hospital from inhaling dust while closing a ziplock bag a patient had. Expect people who OD to take 10x more Narcan to start breathing again.

Below is DEA’s official alert from late 2016 about the lethal dangers of these synthetic opioids (carfentanil and fentanyl).

Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid that is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which itself is 50 times more potent than heroin.

According to Maryland Poison Center the lethal dose is unknown. However, it’s estimated that 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal, therefore as little as 200 micrograms of carfentanil might be lethal, a dose that is 1/100th of the amount shown next to the penny in the DEA photograph.

DEA, local law enforcement and first responders have recently seen the presence of carfentanil, which has been linked to a significant number of overdose deaths in various parts of the country. Improper handling of carfentanil, as well as fentanyl and other fentanyl-related compounds, has deadly consequences.

In any situation where any fentanyl-related substance, such as carfentanil, might be present, law enforcement (and Fire/EMS and volunteers) should carefully follow safety protocols to avoid accidental exposure.

Carfentanil is used as a tranquilizing agent for elephants and other large mammals. The lethal dose range for carfentanil in humans is unknown; however, carfentanil is approximately 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which could be lethal at the 200-microgram to 2-milligram range (see above), depending on route of administration and other factors.

“Carfentanil is surfacing in more and more communities.” said DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg. “We see it on the streets, often disguised as heroin. It is crazy dangerous. Synthetics such as fentanyl and carfentanil can kill you. I hope our first responders – and the public – will read and heed our health and safety warning. These men and women have remarkably difficult jobs and we need them to be well and healthy.”

Carfentanil and other fentanyl-related compounds are a serious danger to public safety, first responder, medical, treatment, and laboratory personnel.

These substances can come in several forms, including powder, blotter paper, tablets, and spray – they can be absorbed through the skin or accidental inhalation of airborne powder.

Safety tips
If encountered, responding personnel should do the following based on the specific situation:

• Exercise extreme caution. Only properly trained and outfitted law enforcement professionals should handle any substance suspected to contain fentanyl or a fentanyl-related compound. If encountered, contact the appropriate officials within your agency.
• Be aware of any sign of exposure. Symptoms include: respiratory depression or arrest, drowsiness, disorientation, sedation, pinpoint pupils, and clammy skin. The onset of these symptoms usually occurs within minutes of exposure.
• Seek IMMEDIATE medical attention. Carfentanil and other fentanyl-related substances can work very quickly, so in cases of suspected exposure, it is important to call EMS immediately. If inhaled, move the victim to fresh air. If ingested and the victim is conscious, wash out the victim’s eyes and mouth with cool water.
• Be ready to administer naloxone in the event of exposure. Naloxone is an antidote for opioid overdose. Immediately administering naloxone can reverse an overdose of carfentanil, fentanyl, or other opioids, although multiple doses of naloxone may be required. Continue to administer a dose of naloxone every 2-3 minutes until the individual is breathing on his/her own for at least 15 minutes or until EMS arrives.
• Remember that carfentanil can resemble powdered cocaine or heroin. If you suspect the presence of carfentanil or any synthetic opioid, do not take samples or otherwise disturb the substance, as this could lead to accidental exposure. Rather, secure the substance and follow approved transportation procedures.
Lethality
Carfentanil is a fentanyl-related substance not approved for use in humans. In June 2016, DEA released a Roll Call video to all LEOs nationwide about the dangers of improperly handling fentanyl and its deadly consequences. Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley and two local police detectives from New Jersey appear on the video to urge any law enforcement personnel who come in contact with fentanyl or fentanyl compounds to take the drugs directly to a lab.

“Fentanyl can kill you,” Riley said. “Fentanyl is being sold as heroin in virtually every corner of our country. It’s produced clandestinely in Mexico, and (also) comes directly from China. It is 40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin. A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you.”

Two Atlantic County, NJ detectives were exposed to a very small amount of fentanyl, and appeared on the video. Said one detective: “I thought that was it. I thought I was dying. It felt like my body was shutting down.”Riley also admonished police to skip testing on the scene, and encouraged them to also remember potential harm to police canines during the course of duties. “Don’t field test it in your car, or on the street, or take if back to the office. Transport it directly to a laboratory, where it can be safely handled and tested.” USFRA shared this video in 2016.

Narcan-resistant Fentanyl

YourOhioValley.com reports there is now a new form of heroin hitting the US laced with a type of fentanyl that can be resistant to the life saving drug Narcan. According to the DEA, Acryl Fentanyl is being manufactured overseas, smuggled into the US, and mainly sold on the web.

“It’s a Schedule I drug, so this one has no medical use at all. At all. So it’s here illegally,” said DEA Special Agent David Battiste. Basically it serves no legitimate purpose. Acryl Fentanyl comes in powder form and looks similar to fentanyl. Even a narcotics expert could not tell the difference with a naked eye."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.gopusa.com/?p=24213?omhide=true

"Target has recently resuscitated its LGBT pride campaign, which has prompted critics of the retailer’s policies to argue that the company has learned nothing from the nationwide backlash spurred by its aggressive promotion of LGBT activism.
T-shirts and other items with words such as love, equality and pride are nothing new at Target, but the profit-losing retailer is again pushing a #TakePride hashtag advertising campaign on social media to promote its rainbow-theme pro-LGBT merchandise.
“I would think Target would have learned their lesson about participating in aggressive LGBT activism from the backlash they received from their open bathroom policy last year, yet they seem not to have learned that lesson,” expressed Peter Sprigg, who serves as senior fellow for policy studies with Family Research Council (FRC). “They don’t understand that those people who signed up to boycott Target are not going to be any happier with the Take Pride merchandise that they’re offering.”
American Family Association (AFA) is among the organizations boycotting Target over the bathroom and changing policy. AFA maintains that it is not about transgenders, but rather perverts taking advantage and preying on women and children.
Walker Wildmon, who serves as assistant to the president at AFA, just recently announced that 1.5 million signatures have been collected for its petition against Target.
“It just shows that Target is more into social engineering than they are into selling clothes and tennis shoes – which is a travesty – and it’s honestly hurting Target’s bottom line,” stressed Wildmon about the #TakePride campaign. “Target lets you know where they stand by where they spend their money – their corporate money – and which agendas they promote.”
Robert Kuykendall of 2nd Vote has been tracking Target’s activities and promotions. His organization actually has a Target database on its website.
“Target is a corporate sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign, which has taken a liberal position on just about every issue,” Kuykendall explained. “Target also sponsors the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and is a corporate partner for GLAAD [the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation]. All these organizations that really are the advocacy arms of the liberal LGBT movement.”
Agreeing with Sprigg, Walker Wildmon and Robert Kuykendall insist that Target has not learned anything from the fallout since announcing in a blog post that transgender customers and employees can use the bathroom and changing room of the gender in which they say they identify. Sprigg insists that he is not about pushing his views on anyone.
“We’re not asking them to go out and oppose same-sex ‘marriage’ and, you know, raise money for the North Carolina bathroom bill or the Texas bill – or anything like that,” Sprigg assured. “We would be perfectly satisfied if they would just remain neutral on these culture war issues. Unfortunately, they seem determined to take the side of the two or three percent who fall into these categories.”
AFA plans to meet with Target executives later this month to deliver the latest batch of signatures on the “Boycott Target” petition. Both camps met in 2016 after AFA’s petition reached 1 million signatures.
Meanwhile, Kuydendall and 2nd Vote are still keeping tabs on Target.
“Target is one of the most liberal companies in the country, and they’ve taken liberal positions on the issues of marriage, on religious liberty and several other issues like the 2nd Amendment and the environment – based on the organizations that they support with the dollars that shoppers spend there in the first place,” Kuykendall pointed out."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/texas ... le/2622810

"In a May 10, 2017 email to students Texas A&M President Michael K. Young refused to discipline or fire professor Tommy Curry. Curry called for white genocide, saying in a 2012 podcast "in order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people may have to die."
While condemning Curry's remarks as "disturbing comments about race and violence that stand in stark contrast to Aggie core values," Young refused to say that they were disqualifying for Curry's position or worthy of discipline.Young defended the comments as protected by the First Amendment, saying, "The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of others to offer their personal views, no matter how reprehensible those views may be."
Maybe Young is unaware, but the First Amendment prohibits the government from regulating speech — but doesn't guarantee employment for those who work for government-funded institutions. Employees still represent their institution, and institutions reserve the right to fire or discipline employees if an employee embarrasses their organization or proves they cannot teach objectively.
Young continued in his email:
We stand for equality.
We stand against the advocacy of violence, hate, and killing.
We firmly commit to the success, not the destruction, of each other.
Sending out an email disagreeing with Curry isn't "standing" for anything. It's just words. If Texas A&M truly stands against Curry's comments, they should stop employing him and allowing him to spread his radical beliefs to students.
Curry said on the podcast, "When we have this conversation about violence or killing white people it has to be looked at in the kind of this historical turn. And the fact that we've had no one address, like how relevant and how solidified this kind of tradition is for black people — saying look, in order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people may have to die.”
Texas A&M's chief marketing and communications officer Amy Smith doubled-down on Young's defence, telling The Eagle, "I want to afford [Curry] the respect that was not afforded in those comments to others that was said five years ago. ... We are Aggies and we have to stand up for what we believe in. People have a right to their First Amendment right, but so do we."
Certainly, no one should be stopped for sharing and debating ideas; the country has seen too many prohibitions of speech in past years. However, paying a professor to share radical ideas on behalf of a university has nothing to do with free speech. Whether or not the university employs him, Curry will be able to speak his views. Firing him would not be prohibiting free speech; it would be not paying him to teach and speak radicalism on the university's behalf."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.selfreliancecentral.com/2017 ... B2THEPREP1

"The U.S. Geological Survey reported Monday that Alaska had experienced 45 significant earthquakes in just 24 hours. Twenty-five were of magnitude 4.0 or greater and one registered 6.2.

But it’s not just Alaska experiencing quakes. An earthquake can happen virtually anywhere in the U.S., and with no warning whatsoever.

In fact, seismologists report the U.S. is long overdue for a major quake."

[Elizabeth]

http://www.9news.com.au/World/2017/05/1 ... ic-missile

"North Korea has test-fired a ballistic missile, Seoul's military said today, in an apparent test of South Korea's new president who backs engagement with Pyongyang.

The missile was launched from a site near the north-western city of Kusong about 5.30am local time (7am AEST) and flew about 700km, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff."

[Elizabeth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXiuO5Guds4

https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-ne ... terrorists


"A new documentary by the South African civil rights group AfriForum exposes uncomfortable truths about revolutionary Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), including the fact that much of the Soviet-backed party's violence was directed at black people who refused to fall in line. The film, Tainted Heroes, also shows the unfathomable brutality employed by the ANC, its terrorist wing, and the South African Communist Party that controlled it behind the scenes in the effort to seize political and economic power over South Africa. Especially noteworthy is the ANC's brutal war against black organizations and individuals viewed as rivals.
As the United Nations-supported and Soviet-directed chaos and horror was unfolding — mass-murder of dissident blacks, savage torture of political enemies, the deliberate targeting of innocent women and children, and more — establishment media organs in the United States and across the Western world concealed the truth. And so, much of the real history of the ANC and its bloody “struggle” has remained carefully hidden from the public to this day. But now, with the new film, and the emergence of the Internet, the untold history of the ANC is finally coming out."
That myths about the ANC persist even today is obvious — many ignorant and uninformed people have little to no knowledge of the group's real history aside from bogus platitudes and mythology. For instance, the ANC and its revisionist allies around the world like to pretend that the organization was merely involved in a “freedom struggle” against the apartheid system and the former white-led government. Mandela is often inaccurately characterized as a “political prisoner” who was jailed merely for his belief in “democracy” and his peaceful opposition to apartheid, a system of government-enforced segregation that was already being dismantled even before whites voted to surrender power in 1992.
But the film shatters many of the ANC myths and lies. Some of the most shocking testimony in the film comes from black victims of the ANC, as well as from ANC operatives who participated in the atrocities against both white and black civilians. Others shown in the film describe the brutal and deliberate murder of their families — including young children — by the ANC's terrorist wing. Indeed, one former ANC operative interviewed and shown in the film describes how the ANC made a conscious decision to target even the wives and children of South African farmers for extermination.
Many scenes of the film are difficult to watch. Especially horrifying, for example, are the graphic descriptions and images of a terror tactic pioneered by the ANC for use against their black political enemies. It became known as “necklacing.” Basically, if a black person was suspected of being loyal to the government or hostile to the ANC, the ANC cadres would fill a tire with gasoline, put it around the victim's neck, and set it on fire. The death is perhaps among the most excruciatingly painful imaginable.
And yet, Mandela's wife at the time, Winnie Mandela, promoted the barbaric form of execution — no trial needed — as a means of “liberating” South Africa. “Together, hand-in-hand with our sticks of matches, with our necklaces we shall liberate this country,” she declared. Many children were murdered through “necklacing,” merely for being suspected by the ANC of sympathizing with opponents of the ANC. Others were beaten or stoned to death. The overwhelming majority of ANC victims were civilians.
So violent were the ANC and Mandela, the leader of its terrorist wing known as Umkhonto we Sizwe, that the party and Mandela himself were added to the U.S. State Department terror list, only being removed less than a decade ago. While the film does not focus too much on Mandela, perhaps to avoid controversy, both the ANC and the South African Communist Party revealed after his death that he had lied all along. Not only was Mandela a member of the Communist Party, which he always denied, he was on its decision-making Central Committee, often referred to as the Politburo. An unpublished draft of Mandela's autobiography released after his death also shows his full-blown support for violence, terrorism, and communism.
The film is just as relevant today, if not more so. It details how current South African President Jacob Zuma, who is pushing to steal land and wealth without compensation and openly sings genocidal songs advocating the slaughter of the embattled Afrikaner minority, joined the Communist Party in 1962. He then went to Moscow and was trained by the murderous Soviet KGB. Indeed, virtually every South African ANC leader since 1994 of any significance — from presidents to party bosses — has been a known member of the Communist Party with training and support from some of the world's most murderous regimes.
Of course, the significance of this should be obvious, but communist atrocities and mass-murder have also been largely swept under the rug by the establishment, its propaganda organs, its “education” establishments, and its pseudo-historians. As numerous reliable sources have documented, though, estimates suggest the communist regimes that backed the South African communists murdered more than 100 million of their own people in the last century, not including those slaughtered in wars.
The film, unfortunately, likely due to time constraints, glosses over much of that horrifying history. But is does a great service by providing factual information about South Africa that is often lost amid the propaganda version of history pushed by the ANC and its allies. While never defending the government-enforced system of segregation known as apartheid, the documentary does offer context and balance that is almost entirely absent in history books that often falsely equate it with mass murder, slavery, Nazism, and other horrors.
Part of the idea behind separate development, for example, was an effort to mimic Europe, with sovereign, independent, self-governing homelands being created for the multitude of nations and peoples that call Southern Africa home. The film also explains how the policy came about, how it came to be discredited, and how the whole issue was weaponized and exploited by blood-thirsty and murderous communist revolutionaries to seize power using terror.
And so, the documentary spends much time explaining how the mass-murdering communist regimes ruling the Soviet Union, Vietnam, China, and other nations supported and guided the ANC and its totalitarian agenda. The film features numerous experts, participants, and others describing how South African terrorists were sent all over the world — from Southern Russia and Indochina to other communist-ruled nations across Africa — to indoctrinate them with Marxist “ideology” and train them to wage a campaign of mass murder and terror.
The documentary makers do an excellent job of showing how the communists worked in South Africa. Basically, a small core of communist revolutionaries in the South African Communist Party directed a vast army of people Lenin used to refer to as “useful idiots,” in this case the ANC masses secretly led by the Communist Party who were duped into helping to forge new chains for themselves under the Soviet-inspired guise of “liberation.” Despite the ostensible collapse of the Soviet regime, such tactics continue to be used today by communist revolutionaries around the world, making the film important for people everywhere to understand, not just in South Africa.
Of course, the ANC, which is right now in the process of driving South Africa into the ground, was not amused with the explosive documentary airing its bloody laundry. But rather than address any of the facts, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa was instead quoted viciously (and falsely) demonizing the people who produced the film with the party's standard response to factual criticism. “They have failed in the past working with other sources to delegitimize the ANC. This is nothing else but propaganda,” he said. “They should be doing a film about how many of them in AfriForum have collaborated with apartheid. They are nothing else but hardcore racists.” AfriForum and its leadership have always been consistent against racism, of course.
The ANC spokesman also smeared fellow black people who appeared in the film and helped expose the ANC, its tactics, its history, and its totalitarian agenda. “Many of the voices in the film, like the IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party], were voices that collaborated,” Kodwa declared, smearing the Zulu party for collaborating with the apartheid-era authorities in a bid to defeat communist terrorism and prevent the enslavement of South Africa under a Soviet puppet regime like so many others in Africa. “The ANC remained the most prominent voice among the oppressed people. It enjoyed a lot of support.” Of course, as the film shows, the reality is not nearly so simple.
Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of AfriForum, was in the United States earlier this year showing the film across multiple cities. But rather than focusing on getting out the documentary to the masses, the organization is working on reaching opinion molders and other influencers in America and around the world with the truth about the ANC. “We decided to start in the U.S., since the U.S. is one of the major players in international politics,” Roets said. “Our approach is like that of a sniper, rather than shotgun tactics. Our goal is not necessarily to reach masses of people with the overseas viewings, but to reach those who have the greatest influence on world politics.”
Unfortunately, while the film hints at the issue, it does not spend as much time as it probably should have exposing the establishment and globalist forces in the Western world that backed the ANC even as it was massacring innocent whites and blacks in a brutal campaign of terror. As this magazine has been documenting for decades, South African communists had friends in high places, not just in Moscow, Beijing, Havana, and at UN headquarters in New York City, but in Washington, D.C., London, and beyond. Those forces proved crucial to the communist takeover of South Africa.
Especially important to helping the communist terrorist movement's meteoric rise to power was help from organizations such as the globalist Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and its sister organs in other countries. Those forces also played a key role in sidelining black leaders opposed to communism and the ANC, including black leaders who were brought to America on speaking tours by The John Birch Society, which publishes this magazine, and other conservative and anti-communist organizations. This magazine extensively documented the facts at the time. But as far as the establishment was concerned, the black opponents of communism and the ANC did not even exist, despite often having far more legitimacy and support than the ANC within South Africa.
While communists and establishment globalists may have succeeded in keeping the facts concealed for a few decades, the truth is finally coming out. The documentary will undoubtedly play a valuable role in educating Americans, young South Africans, and people around the world about what really happened to that land. Recent developments in South Africa suggest strongly that the country isnow on the verge of multifaceted catastrophe of immense proportions. The timing for this important film Tainted Heroes is fortuitous. "

[Elizabeth]

"In 2012, Kentuckian and Christian business owner Blaine Adamson of Hands On Originals found himself being bullied by homosexual activists after he declined, on religious grounds, to print T-shirts for the Lexington Pride Festival.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission had found Blaine guilty of violating a local ordinance against sexual-orientation discrimination. The commission then ordered him to print the pro-homosexual T-shirts and attend "diversity" classes designed to indoctrinate him.
Not only did he refuse to cave in to the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization that requested the shirts, he fought back. Blaine contacted Alliance Defending Freedom and took the commission to court.
According to ADF, after a lengthy five-year battle, a Kentucky appellate court recognized Blaine's constitutional rights and affirmed that Blaine is free to decide for himself the ideas and messages he wants to express.
"I want God to find joy in what we do and how we work, how we treat our employees, and the messages we print," said Blaine. "So if someone walks in and says, 'Hey, I want you to help promote something,' I can’t promote something that I know goes against what pleases Him."
The court's ruling is a huge win for freedom of conscience, and ADF will continue to defend Blaine should his case be appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

TAKE ACTION What you can do...
Although Blaine has won his court case, the battle is not over. There is a strong possibility of more courtrooms, more judges, and more litigation.
Sign the Petition to Blaine Adamson, thanking him for his stand, encouraging him to continue being strong in his faith, and letting him know you are praying for him.
I also encourage you to read Gay Effort to Reintroduce Slavery in the South Fails, an excellent blog on the issue written by AFA's Bryan Fischer."

[Joel]