JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
GENESIS 6:11-13 (EARTH DESTROYED BECAUSE OF TERRORISM,MURDERS)
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
JOHN 8:44
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
EXODUS 20:13
13 Thou shalt not kill.(Murder)(THAT INCLUDES ABORTION)
MATTHEW 18:6
6 But whoso shall offend (HURT) one of these little ones (CHILDREN) which believe in me,(JESUS) it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY FOLKS)
EXODUS 21:12
12 He that smiteth (MURDER)a man,(OR BABY) so that he die, shall be surely put to death.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY PEOPLE)
REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
GOP House panel: Halt federal money for Planned Parenthood-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
WASHINGTON — A Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and the world of fetal tissue research urged Congress on Wednesday to halt federal payments to the women's health organization. Democrats said the GOP probe had unearthed no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers' money in an abusive investigation reminiscent of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.The Republican recommendation was included in the special committee's final report and was no surprise. The GOP released the 471-page document just 16 days before Donald Trump becomes president, at the start of a year in which many Republicans hope Congress will finally cut off federal funds for the group.Most GOP lawmakers have long opposed the organization because many of its clinics provide abortions. Their antagonism intensified after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made."Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics have repeatedly neglected their fiduciary duty requiring good stewardship of federal taxpayer dollars," wrote the panel, which was chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Republicans created the special committee in reaction to the videos.The report accused the group of violating federal laws by altering abortion procedures to obtain fetal tissue, disclosing patients' private information to firms that procure the tissue and "a general disinterest in clinical integrity."Planned Parenthood has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and did so again Wednesday."Today's Republican staff report once again demonstrates that this exercise was nothing more than a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood and women's access to safe and legal abortion," Dana Singiser, Planned Parenthood's vice-president for Public Policy, said in a written statement.The group has long said that the videos were doctored.Democrats accused the panel of squandering $1.5 million in taxpayer funds with a probe that endangered the safety of people involved in abortions and fetal tissue work by providing information about them. They said it was evocative of baseless allegations about communist subversives lodged six decades ago by McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican."The select panel found no evidence of wrongdoing by health care providers, researchers or tissue procurement companies," wrote the Democrats, who were led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, R-Ill.The panel also examined tissue procurement firms including StemExpress and research entities like the University of New Mexico. The report cited 15 instances in which the committee has provided information to U.S. and state authorities for possibly violating federal and state laws.Planned Parenthood's latest annual report shows that of more than $1.1 billion in yearly revenue, around half — $554 million — comes from government grants and reimbursements. It provides no breakdown.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Planned Parenthood receives about $450 million annually in federal funds, mostly $390 million in reimbursements from the Medicaid program for low-income people.By law, federal funds cannot be used for abortions except for a handful of rare exceptions.The report recommended legislation letting states deny Medicaid and family planning payments to groups that provide abortions. Last month, the Obama administration issued a rule preventing states from blocking family planning funds to such clinics.Alan Fram, The Associated Press.
LGBT activists view Obama as staunch champion of their cause-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
It was a new look for the White House: illuminated in rainbow colours to celebrate the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage nationwide.President Barack Obama, who was inside, felt the glow on that June night in 2015."To see people gathered in the evening outside on a beautiful summer night, and to feel whole and to feel accepted, and to feel that they had a right to love — that was pretty cool," he said a few days later."Pretty cool." That might be a fair description of how Obama himself is viewed by legions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans who consider him — among all of the nation's presidents — the greatest champion of their rights and well-being.The relationship was slow in developing.Obama took office in 2009 as a self-described "fierce advocate" for gay rights, yet for much of his first term drew flak from impatient, skeptical activists who viewed him as too cautious, too politically expedient. They were frustrated he wouldn't endorse same-sex marriage — Obama cagily said he was "evolving" — and wanted him to move faster on several other issues. But the pace of Obama's actions steadily accelerated.In December 2010, he signed legislation enabling gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. In 2011, he directed government agencies to combat LGBT rights abuses internationally. By May 2012 — soon after Vice-President Joe Biden set the example — Obama endorsed gay marriage.His administration also stopped defending the Defence of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition to same-sex couples. That move helped clear the way for the Supreme Court's historic same-sex marriage ruling in 2015.In the nationwide marriage debate, Obama was not a pace-setter — a Gallup poll showed a majority of Americans supporting same-sex marriage a year before he did. But the president didn't pause at the stage; he continued throughout his two terms to find ways to support the LGBT community even when Congress was in partisan deadlock.According to a tally by the Human Rights Campaign, Obama's administration has made more than 125 changes to regulations and policies to expand LGBT rights, and Obama appointed more than 250 openly LGBT people to federal positions, including 15 judicial appointments and nine high-level diplomatic posts.Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the policy achievements tell only part of the story."More than all of this, he honestly and without reservation embraced and celebrated our community as part of the human family," she said. "He was not perfect, but he leaves a legacy that will be hard to beat."In the past year alone, there were several telling moments.On June 16, Obama travelled to Orlando, Florida, to meet with the families of the 49 people killed four days earlier by a rampaging gunman at an LGBT nightclub."This was an attack on the LGBT community," Obama said. "Americans were targeted because we're a country that has learned to welcome everyone, no matter who you are or who you love."Eight days later, Obama designated the first national monument honouring LGBT rights — the site of the Stonewall Inn in New York City where a 1969 community uprising in response to a police raid helped energize LGBT activism nationwide.And in November, Obama gave a warm embrace to Ellen DeGeneres — who boldly came out as a lesbian in 1997 — while awarding her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "Her courage and candour helped change the hearts and minds of millions of Americans," said the White House citation.While supporters of LGBT-rights are extolling Obama's record, some religious conservatives say the president went too far in some cases, infringing on the religious liberties of Americans whose faiths disapprove of same-sex marriage."The Obama administration has waged an aggressive and unnecessary culture war," wrote Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, in a recent column.He urged President-elect Donald Trump to make clear that his incoming administration "will never penalize any individual or institution because they believe and act on the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife."Professor and author Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College, recalled how Obama had reached out to evangelicals during his first presidential campaign in 2008 — an outreach that troubled LGBT activists. But Stetzer said many evangelicals became disenchanted by Obama's later advocacy of same-sex marriage."He has tried to wade through some of the issues, but many evangelicals feel he didn't strike the right balance," Stetzer said. "They genuinely feel that their religious liberty is in jeopardy because of a shift on LGBT rights."Since Trump's election victory, LGBT-rights activists have expressed fears that the new Republican administration will reverse some of Obama's supportive executive orders and back legislation allowing some forms of discrimination against LGBT people if it's based on religious beliefs.Among those unsettled by the presidential transition is Cari Searcy of Mobile, Alabama, who along with her wife waged years of litigation seeking joint parental rights to their son. Their lawsuit overturned Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage."After fighting such a long, hard battle for equal protections for our family, it is a very real concern that those rights could now be taken away," said Searcy.As for Obama, Searcy said he "revolutionized the way America sees us.""The policies and protections that our community gained under his administration changed our daily lives and included us in the national conversation," she said. "We have come so far under his leadership, and for that, I will forever be grateful."___Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP-David Crary, The Associated Press.
Big questions about what carbon pricing means for the Canadian food sector-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The federal government plan for all provinces to adopt carbon pricing schemes by 2018 could have a substantial impact on commercial food production, says a Halifax-based expert in food distribution and policy.Sylvain Charlebois is dean of Dalhousie University's faculty of management. He spoke with CBC Nova Scotia's Information Morning host Don Connolly.Here is part of that interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.Connolly: Explain the connection between a national price on carbon and the price of food at the store? Chalebois: Since Jan. 1, both Alberta and Ontario have seen the effects of a carbon tax. Putting a tax on carbon is, frankly, a good idea, it's a must. However, when you look at our food systems in Canada, we are highly vulnerable to currency fluctuations.We're trying to ramp up our food production domestically. But with Canada moving ahead with putting a price on carbon — and in the U.S. things will remain idle on the climate front for a while with a Trump-Pence administration — many in the Canadian agri-food industry are fearful that Canada may lose its competitiveness in agriculture.Connolly: Two streams in this discussion. One, the cost for consumers of a price on carbon. And, two, the effect on food producers and farmers.Chalebois: As you look at the entire food system, from farm to fork, everyone will be affected by a national price on carbon. It will discriminate against energy-intensive sectors such as livestock, for example. When I think of agriculture in Nova Scotia I think of the wine industry, blueberries, fisheries, lobster ... these sectors may be less effected, compared to cattle.When you look at the price of carbon and how it would impact competitiveness at the farm, it will be difficult from a price point for them to argue to grocers — who are really feeding us — to buy Canadian when down in the U.S. or even Mexico or somewhere else around the world those products aren't necessarily subject to a carbon tax, and the price point for those goods will be much better than a Canadian product.That's why food security may not be an issue, because Canadians will always have access to affordable food. But Canadians may end up with actually less access to Canadian-grown foods.Connolly: Let's try to get a concrete example. Here's a red pepper, grown in a greenhouse in Canada. The price on carbon will basically be a function of how much energy that greenhouse operator uses, right? Chalebois: That is right. Over the last few years, because we've been talking so much about produce prices, there's been an influx of greenhouses in southern Ontario and many places in Canada to ramp up our productivity. Now, this carbon pricing actually puts the Canadian greenhouse sector in a weak position. Again, I think it's good to put a price on carbon, but we need to be mindful with how it will affect our food system here, compared to other food systems around the world.Connolly: Wouldn't there be a possibility the federal government would say, 'Look, we need to balance things out to protect our producers, so we'll have to put up a tariff to penalize products from outside of Canada that aren't subject to a price on carbon'? Chalebois: That's why clarity and transparency is key, which is why I think the B.C. carbon tax model is a good one for the whole country.It's a revenue-neutral model of putting a price on carbon, so that whatever money the province gets back from the carbon tax, it gives back to its citizens and its economy by reducing other taxes.Whereas in Ontario, it's adopting a cap-and-trade model, which is highly-complicated and it's not very transparent. So nobody really knows where the revenue and investments from that taxation are going.Whatever policy you're trying to implement to encourage Canadians to eat Canadian, things get fuzzy under the Ontario model. Whereas B.C., since 2008, things are moving along quite nicely. And on top of that, emissions there are starting to drop.
Homeowners see jump in heating prices from last winter-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Except for those cutting fuelwood from their own backyard stand of hardwood virtually all New Brunswick homeowners are facing higher winter heating prices this January over last winter figures show – some by a significant amount. From propane to electricity and natural gas to oil most major heating sources in the province have climbed in price to some extent.And where prices themselves didn't move a lot, like with wood pellets, New Brunswick's mid year boost in the HST made sure bills would be higher anyway.The typical New Brunswick residence consumes about 13 gigajoules of heat energy each January. So of the six major winter heat sources used by homeowners in New Brunswick what is the best value? Starting with the cheapest fuel source, the following are current residential prices for 1 gigajoule of heat this month (including HST), with a comparison to last January. 1. Firewood: $13.50 per gigajoule Change from 2016 N/A-The cheapest option for winter heat in New Brunswick by far remains firewood. Even at a price of $300 per cord - which is well beyond what most New Brunswick residents pay – hardwood puts out more heat per dollar than any other widely used option.Prices vary a lot from vendor to vendor, are often not subject to HST and are difficult track year to year. Nevertheless, there is no disputing it is the least expensive fuel available in the province. 2. Wood pellets: $20.67 per gigajoule +1.8% since January 2016-Pellets are sold in 40 pound bags and roughly three bags (depending on quality) contain 1 gigajoule of heat energy. Home Depot in New Brunswick has been charging the same price this January as it did last January at $5.99 per bag although the HST increase in July has added to the cost. Prices at other retailers vary but Mike O'Donnell with Marwood, a New Brunswick pellet manufacturer, says supplies are plentiful this year with no overall upward pressure on price at all."If anything the market has been a little soft. We would have more inventory at this time of year than we normally have," O'Donnell told CBC News. 3. Natural Gas: $23.65 per gigajoule +11.6% since January 2016-Enbridge Gas NB increased its residential distribution rate on Jan. 1. That raised the price of heating with gas in New Brunswick over where it was this time last year, even though the price of the gas itself has been coming down. Despite that, natural gas remains one of the cheapest heating options available to residential customers in New Brunswick for those with access to it.That's not widely understood in New Brunswick even by many natural gas customers. 4. Furnace Oil $27.29 per gigajoule* +21.2% since January 2016-There are 26 litres of furnace oil in 1 gigajoule. Last winter prices for oil were so low it often compared favourably to the price of natural gas.That hasn't been the case this winter. A series of price increases in November and December has suddenly made the fuel a lot more expensive than it was last January. 5. Electricity (baseboard) $33.83 per gigajoule +3.4% since January 2016-Electricity (heat pump) $17.80 per gigajoule +3.4% since January 2016-Electricity can be one of the highest – or lowest – cost heat sources in New Brunswick depending on whether it is delivered by baseboard/space heaters or by a high efficiency heat pump. Heat pumps can lose some of their efficiency on very cold days so the savings they generate can be exaggerated somewhat – still as a supplementary heat source they are among the least cost options in New Brunswick.It is the exact opposite for electric baseboard and space heating. They require 278 kilowatt hours of power to put out 1 gigjoule of heat which can get expensive quickly.NB Power was limited to a 1.7 per cent rate increase this year by the Energy and Utilties Board but the jump came into effect on July 1 – the same day the province raised the HST.The combination of the two assured electric heating costs of all types would be higher this winter than last winter. 6. Propane: $39.78 per gigajoule* +15.8% since January 2016-Due to its relatively low energy content, there are 39 liters of propane in one gigajoule. Propane prices were remarkably low in 2015 and early 2016 across North America but the tide has been turning on that for several weeks.Since September prices have been climbing steadily in New Brunswick and making it a less attractive option for heating.It is certainly possible to buy propane for less than New Brunswick's maximum price, but the discount will have to be extreme at this point to match some of its competitors.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Snowclearing cuts pose 'serious risk' to drivers, after years of neglect: NAPE-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Cutbacks to snowclearing services are putting Newfoundland and Labrador drivers at risk, according to the union that represents highway maintenance workers.Jerry Earle, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Asssociation of Public and Private Employees, says it takes too long to call in extra crews after a storm."Snow plow operators need to be reached at home, they need to head into the depots on unsafe roads to get to work, and then they need to get the plow ready and out on the road. This not only poses health and safety concerns, but it creates a lag in response time," said Earle in a news release Wednesday."We also have concerns for the snow plow operators that are being kept on from the day shift as they are on the road for extended periods of time. We are hearing that some operators are already starting to get burnt out."-Broken machinery, years of neglect-Earle said 24-hour snowclearing has been reduced to an on-call service on 13 routes, including major arteries such as Pitts Memorial Drive, the Outer Ring Road, and sections of the Trans-Canada near Clarenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook and Stephenville.Acting Transportation Minister Eddie Joyce told CBC News Tuesday that extra crews can be on the job within 30 minutes, claiming "the roads are being cleared as they were prior to the budget. There has been no change."On Wednesday he added that if a significant storm was forecast, crews would be called into the depot ahead of time."From my understanding, the same level of machinery is in place," he said.However, Earle disputed Joyce's claims, saying "people of the province have seen through this falsehood." He wants 24-hour service reinstated.He said the most recent cuts are compounded by a lack of staff in some areas, and the number of plows and machinery that have been out of commission "ìn some cases for several months."According to Earle, there have been years of delayed maintenance and neglect, which he said have led to issues such as the recent sinkhole on the Trans-Canada near Holyrood."Our members simply have not been given the resources to provide the repair and maintenance work necessary to do the upkeep required — like clearing blocked culverts to allow proper drainage, for example."Joyce said Wednesday that the damaged culvert in Holyrood had been inspected sometime between eight to 10 years ago, but was still inside its normal life expectancy."There are times that circumstances arise that we can't control," he said. "And that's just one of the circumstances that we couldn't control. It just failed."
Ottawa opens 'warming centres' as more than 4,000 still without power-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The City of Ottawa has opened warming centres as Hydro Ottawa crews prepare to work overnight to restore power following Tuesday's freezing rain and today's high winds.Two warming centres are at the Heron Road Community Centre at 1480 Heron Rd. and the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre at 102 Greenview Ave., according to a statement issued Wednesday afternoon by the city.On Wednesday evening, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry tweeted about a third centre open in his ward.The centres have been opened "as a precautionary measure" in case Hydro Ottawa is unable to get the lights and heat back on tonight, said Pierre Poirier, the city's chief of security and emergency management."Both of them, we picked them based partially on their location relative to the outages that have occurred across the city," Poirer told CBC Ottawa's All In A Day.-More than 4,000 without power-As of 4 p.m., there were approximately 96 remaining power outages in the city, affecting roughly 4,380 Hydro Ottawa customers, according to the power utility.The inclement weather has "damaged electrical equipment in more than 100 locations," Hydro Ottawa said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.Poirier said the centres were simply "a warm place for people who may be without power," without additional services at the moment, although that could change after further discussions with Hydro Ottawa.The centres will likely stay open overnight if the power outages do last that long, Poirier said.Thousands of people in Hydro One's jurisdiction also faced power outages Wednesday, mainly in rural Ottawa and eastern Ontario.As of early Wednesday afternoon, the major outages were in:- Arnprior, with 7,500 customers affected.- Bancroft, with 5,000 customers affected.- Cobden, with 4,839 customers affected.Hydro Quebec, meanwhile, reported at around 1 p.m. that there were about 15,300 affected customers in the Outaouais.
Rats find new homes after Sydney flood — but they sure aren't welcome-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Four-legged critters are finding new homes since the Thanksgiving Day flood in Sydney, but the welcome mats are definitely not out for them.Rodent expert Richard MacDonald said while rats and mice will seek out warm places during colder months, many homeowners are now seeing them for the first time."Probably what happened it that a lot of the critters got displaced from their homes and they need somewhere to go," he said."That's kind of what happens and unfortunately they get into the cracks and crevices around your foundations and into your home.-"'Head for higher ground'-MacDonald, who owns MacDonald Pest Control, said the force of the water that washed through Sydney during torrential rain on Thanksgiving Day would have meant any shelters built by rodents were instantly evacuated."They would have their burrows along the streams along the different areas of the city," said MacDonald. "And as the water comes in and the rodents they got to get out of town, so to speak."They head for higher ground just like anybody else. All they need is shelter, a little warmth this time of year, and just move, unfortunately, into people's homes."-Green bin contents delicious-MacDonald said rats are becoming more of a problem in recent years in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and are now on par with mice in terms of the number of calls.He urged people to check the air vents on their green bins, as homeowners often unknowingly serve a regular feast for rats and mice."And if it goes unnoticed and you're constantly putting table scraps or whatever in your green bin, you're providing an excellent food source for the rodents and they're able to multiply very quickly with a food source like that."Bird feeders are also guilty culprits, he said, providing food for unwanted guests.
Uncommonly cold winter has Vancouver fire halls offering residents free salt-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Vancouver is giving away bucket loads of free road salt to residents as an unusually cold and snowy winter torments the traditionally temperate West Coast, turning some streets and sidewalks into impromptu skating rinks.Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver's general manager for engineering services, says 10 fire halls will have de-icing salt available starting Wednesday for locals who can't find any at local stores.So far this winter, the city has gone through about 7,000 tonnes of salt, which is seven times the average amount used in each of the previous two winters."I'm confident right now that we'll have enough salt," Dobrovolny told reporters outside city hall on Tuesday. "But we're using an awful lot of it, and we're using all of our resources to get more."Last month, Vancouver was hit with its first significant snowfall in more than two years. It was followed by several more rounds of snow and a plunge in temperatures that Environment Canada forecasted would not lift until mid-January.To deal with what Dobrovolny described as the "unusual, sustained, cold weather pattern," Vancouver has halted all non-emergency construction and reassigned more than 300 city workers to various weather-related jobs.About 150 additional staff are helping salt, sand and plow residential streets. Around 115 people have been deployed to help sanitation crews collect refuse and about 50 more will help enforce a bylaw that requires businesses and residents to clear walkways by 10 a.m. the day after a snowstorm.Dobrovolny could not say how many tickets had been issued, but said the city had launched 36 court actions so far, mostly against strata councils and businesses. Residents and businesses are typically given written warnings before being ticketed or taken to court, he added.A flurry of photos and videos posted to social media appear to show ice-ridden roads and walkways across Vancouver, as well as some residents lacing up their skates for a game of hockey or a zip around rink-like roadways.Anna Marie D'Angelo, a spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health authority, said the number of emergency department visits at Vancouver General Hospital are not out of the ordinary for this time of year."In Vancouver, unless you have a long cold snap, you don't start to see the people who are kind of frail and unsteady on their feet ... go out in this kind of weather," D'Angelo said. "They stay home."For people with mobility restrictions, including residents who are older or who have a physical disability, precarious sidewalks pose a serious hazard, said disability advocate Jane Dyson.Dyson said she can't remember such challenging winter conditions in the eight years since she became executive director of Disability Alliance B.C."We all know that Vancouver and the Lower Mainland is not used to snow, but we've had this snow now for three or four weeks and the sidewalks continue to be treacherous," Dyson said."I'm not a person with a physical disability but I'm actually nervous to walk on some of the sidewalks around where I live. It's just so icy."— Follow @gwomand on Twitter-Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Iceland may hold EU accession referendum-By EUOBSERVER-3. Jan, 09:05
Ottarr Proppe, the leader of the Bright Future party in Iceland, has said a new coalition government could call a referendum on restarting Iceland's EU accession bid. "We have reached a certain settlement on ideas, including this one," he told the RUV broadcaster on Monday. The liberal Bright Future party is in talks with the centre-right and eurosceptic Independence Party and with the liberal Reform Party to rule the island.
UK's EU envoy quits over 'muddled thinking' on Brexit By Eszter Zalan-JAN 4,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-British diplomats must challenge "muddled thinking" and "ill-founded arguments" on Brexit, the UK's ambassador to the EU has said in his resignation letter.Sir Ivan Rogers delivered his thinly veiled criticism of the British government on Tuesday (3 January), quitting his post 10 months before the scheduled end of his mission in Brussels.He was criticised by Brexit supporters last month for warning that a new deal with the EU could take up to 10 years.Sir Ivan, whose deputy resigned late last year, argues in his letter that it makes sense to hand over the baton to a new team before exit talks officially begin.His departure is seen as a blow to prime minister Theresa May's government.In his resignation letter , Rogers warns that the government lacks the necessary knowledge and technical expertise to conduct the negotiations, and the involvement of the UK permanent representation in the talks is essential."Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the Commission or in the Council," he wrote."The government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have - a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP [the UK EU representation] - and negotiates resolutely."Rogers also made it clear that the UK has no negotiating position six months after the UK's vote to leave the union, and only three months before prime minister Theresa May intends to officially launch exit talks."We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit," Sir Ivan writes.He encourages his staff to support each other and deliver bad and uncomfortable news to decision-makers."Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27," he says."I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power."His letter sheds uneasy light on how ill-prepared the British government is, just a few months before negotiations are due to begin on the UK's withdrawal from the EU.-Praise-Brexiteers such as Nigel Farage welcomed his resignation, saying that the Foreign Office needed a "complete clear-out".Richard Tice, a leader of the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave pressure group, labelled Sir Ivan a "remainer" who "consistently failed to acknowledge the benefits Brexit will bring to Britain".But others see the senior diplomat's exit as a blow for the forthcoming negotiations.Former EU trade commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson described Sir Ivan's resignation as “a serious loss”, adding in a statement that "everyone knows that civil servants are being increasingly inhibited in offering objective opinion and advice to ministers"."Our negotiation as a whole will go nowhere if ministers are going to delude themselves about the immense difficulty and challenges Britain faces in implementing the referendum decision," Mandelson said.Claude Moraes, a Labour member of the European Parliament tweeted that the resignation "confirms what the 27 feared and the result will be a bad negotiation for the British people".Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, called Sir Ivan one of the very few top British civil servants who understood the EU and said his resignation "makes a good deal on Brexit less likely".The UK government is expected to appoint a new ambassador and deputy ambassador shortly.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Edmonton man killed while fighting ISIS in Syria-CBC-January 3, 2017-YAHOONEWS
An Edmonton man has been killed in an ISIS attack while fighting for the YPG Kurdish forces in Syria, according to YPG officials.Nazzareno Tassone, 24, was killed Dec. 21 near Raqqa, Syria, his family and YPG officials say.Nazzareno Tassone's younger sister, Giustina Tassone, said leaders from the Kurdish community in Toronto, accompanied by police, delivered the news in person to their Niagara home Tuesday afternoon."We were hoping that everything would be OK," Tassone told CBC News. "We were optimistic. But with everything that's going on over there, we kind of hoped, but we were all very scared, especially my mom."Nazzareno Tassone left Edmonton for Turkey last June. He told his family he planned to teach English, but soon he joined the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) in the battle against ISIS. To his family it came as no surprise."As a kid he was kind of my hero," said Tassone of her brother, who helped raise her, along with their father. "We spent a lot of time playing together and a lot of times it had to do with the army and stuff like that."My brother loved the army and all things about the war."-ISIS still has body-The family has been told that ISIS still has his body, Tassone said. The family is now lobbying Canadian officials to make a deal to bring him home "so we can lay him to rest," and has launched a Facebook page called Bring Nazzareno Tassone Home.Photos on Facebook show a smiling Nazzareno after he arrived in Turkey in June. But he offered few details updating his time in the Middle East."I am alive," he wrote on July 2. "Update when I can."And then a second post: "Internet will cut out soon, so if I disappear again, don't worry .... just the Middle East."A week later a post said that he was "Still alive."On Tuesday, YPG officials issued a media release confirming Nazzareno's death.Nazzareno's uncle, Frank Tassone, based in Keswick, Ont., expressed shock and grief. He last saw Nazzareno in a video, after he joined the YPG."He just had a big smile on his face," Frank Tassone said. "It just made me feel real proud. It made me feel proud that he was in the army … protecting people."Frank Tassone recalled seeing his nephew in the video kneeling down with his rifle and giving a peace sign. "So that's the last memory I'm going to have of my nephew. A big smile on his face."-'Sad day for Canadians'-Family, friends, colleagues and strangers turned to social media to express grief, condolences and pay their respects."It's a sad day for Canadians," wrote Hanna Bohman, a Canadian currently in Vancouver who served with the all-female Kurdish faction known as the YPJ for 15 months.She referred to Nazzareno by his Kurdish name, Heval Agir.Bohman said Nazzareno was killed along with British volunteer Ryan Lock and several Kurdish YPG fighters when their camp was attacked by ISIS fighters."Agir is the second Canadian to be killed while aiding the Kurds in the fight for humanity, for all of us," she said, referring to John Gallagher, 32, killed in Syria just over a year ago.Nazzareno and Gallagher are two of several Canadians who have gone overseas to join the battle against ISIS.Prior to that, Nazzareno had worked as a parking patrol officer in Edmonton. His sister said he "loved guns and fighting for what was right" and taught English while fighting."He had a big heart and loved his friends and family dearly," Giustina Tassone added.In her Facebook post Tassone wrote: "Make sure the world knows we loved him and want him home. We won't have a funeral without him."In October, the YPG joined an Iraq-led offensive, 5,000 soldiers strong, to retake Mosul from ISIS. At the end of December, backed by the U.S-led coalition's airstrikes, they advanced into eastern Mosul in a multi-pronged attack."The Canadian people can feel huge pride that one of their own would travel so far and give so much for those in the most need," Macer Gifford, chief executive of Friends of Rojava Foundation, which helps fund hospitals in Rojava, wrote in a Facebook post."While the world watched; in Sinjar, Kobane and Aleppo these men decided to act," Gifford added. "Rest in peace Nazzareno. You'll be in our hearts forever."The YPG media release calls Tassone a hero and expresses condolences to his family.
Residents returning to east Aleppo find destruction 'beyond imagination'-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The cleanup has begun in eastern Aleppo as thousands of residents of the formerly rebel-held city return to figure out how to "rebuild their lives and livelihoods,'' a United Nations official says.The Syrian government only recently retook full control of the divided city, which was under siege for more than four years while forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad battled a collection of rebel groups.As government forces closed in last month under heavy airstrikes, tens of thousands of residents fled of their own accord, followed by around 35,000 civilians and opposition fighters who were bused out of the eastern districts amid a sputtering ceasefire in the final weeks of 2016."The destruction is enormous," says Sajjad Malik, representative in Syria for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and acting humanitarian co-ordinator in Aleppo. "The reconstruction will take a very long time."While UN agencies don't have exact numbers, Malik estimates that some 1.5 million people are in Aleppo now, including 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).In the past couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano neighbourhood, as the UN works with the local municipality to clear rubble and debris from the main roads.-'Bitterly cold' -People returning face appalling conditions."It is extremely, bitterly cold here," said Malik. "The houses people are going back to have no windows or doors, no cooking facilities."The immediate priority is to keep people warm and fed. The UN is giving people mats, sleeping bags and plastic sheets to cover blown-out windows.The UN and its partners are also providing some 20,000 people with twice-daily hot meals and 40,000 with fresh-baked bread, according to Malik, who spoke via phone from Aleppo.Malik said seven mobile medical clinics now travel in and out of eastern Aleppo on a daily basis, while 1,381 people considered critical have been transported to western Aleppo for treatment.More than 10,000 children have been vaccinated against polio, and more than 1.1 million people have access to safe drinking water again, Malik said.Meanwhile in the capital, Damascus, residents are scrambling for clean water in a shortage that has stretched nearly two weeks amid fighting in that city between government and rebel forces.-Destruction 'beyond imagination'-Bombing has destroyed hospitals, schools, roads and houses, and damaged the two main water pumping stations. The UN official said the level of destruction surpassed anything he had seen in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Somalia.Once the economic hub of Syria, there are hardly any shops left. Businesses are destroyed, and the jobs gone with them, Malik said."Nothing would have prepared us to see the scale of destruction there, it's beyond imagination," he said.He said officials have also begun tackling the huge backlog of registrations births, deaths and marriages which were not officially recorded while the fighting was ongoing in the rebel-held sector.''This will reduce the risk of statelessness that otherwise we would have in eastern Aleppo,'' he said.Malik has spoken with relatives still ''looking for their male family members'' who were either detained or arrested as they fled the besieged eastern part of the city. And he says years of conflict have also ''resulted in huge psychological problems for the population there.''Still, in recent days, Malik says, he and his staff of 106 men and women have noticed a difference in the population. ''I saw many children playing out on the street — happy — but there's a lot more that we still need to do," he said.''So many hopes of the Syrians have been dashed before,'' Malik said. ''But this time, somehow, they feel that maybe the international community will stick around.''
Church gunman insists to jury that he is not mentally ill-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Dylann Roof spoke Wednesday for the first time to the jurors who will decide whether he should be executed for fatally shooting nine black parishioners during a Bible study, insisting that he is not mentally ill and forgoing a chance to plead for his life.The soft-spoken 22-year-old white man told the jury that he was not trying to keep any secrets from them. He did not offer remorse or seek forgiveness or ask them to spare him from a lethal injection."My opening statement is going to seem a little bit out of place," Roof said calmly as he delivered the brief remarks at a podium, occasionally glancing at notes. "I am not going to lie to you. ... Other than the fact that I trust people that I shouldn't and the fact that I'm probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone who's ever existed, there's nothing wrong with me psychologically."Shortly before Roof's statement, prosecutors presented a jailhouse journal in which he wrote that he did not regret the massacre or "shed a tear" for the dead.Roof's attorneys have indicated that he chose to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial because he was worried his legal team might present embarrassing evidence about himself or his family. As early as last summer, they said they planned to introduce evidence that Roof suffers from mental illness, and they hinted at that idea again during closing arguments of the trial's guilt-or-innocence stage."I would ask you to forget it," Roof told jurors, referring to what his lawyers said then.Prosecutors said Roof deserves the death penalty because he painstakingly chose to target vulnerable people at Emanuel AME Church in the June 2015 attack. He sat with church members for about 45 minutes and waited until their eyes were closed in prayer before opening fire. He told Polly Sheppard that he wanted to leave her alive to tell the world that he attacked a historic black church because blacks were "raping our women and taking over the nation."Two other people also survived.Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said the "horrific acts justify the death penalty.""He killed nine people. ... He killed them because of the colour of their skin. He killed them because they were less than people," Williams said.The panel has heard from Roof before in the form of his confession to the FBI and his racist manifesto. And on Wednesday, prosecutors read from the journal found in Roof's jail cell six weeks after his arrest. His handwritten words were projected on screens in the courtroom."I remember how I felt when I did these things and how I knew I had to do something and then I realize it was worth it," he wrote. "I would like to make it crystal clear. I do not regret what I did. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed."From his writings, it's clear that Roof does not believe in psychology. In one of his journals, he called the field "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't."Prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the slain and the survivors. The first witness to testify was Jennifer Pinckney, the widow of Clementa Pinckney, a state senator and pastor at Emanuel AME.During more than two hours on the stand, Pinckney described her husband as an affable figure who was widely respected as a state legislator and preacher and who was a goofy family man in private with his two young daughters."He always made time for the family, and he always made time for the girls," said Pinckney, describing her husband's affinity for cartoonish neckties and socks. "He was the person I think that every mom would be happy that their daughter met and married. ... I know that he loved me. And he knew how much that I loved him."She talked about the night of the shootings, saying she and her then-6-year-old daughter, Malana, were in her husband's office when gunfire erupted. She locked the doors, shoved her daughter under a desk and put her hand over her daughter's mouth."She was like, 'Mama, is Daddy going to die?' And I told her, 'Malana, be quiet.'"She said she believed she survived the shootings because she was meant to continue her husband's legacy, part of which involved fighting to get the Confederate flag removed entirely from the South Carolina Statehouse, which happened about a month after the attack."Yes the flag came down and so forth, but he just did so much," she said. "You can't please everyone. He tried to please as many people as he could."Pinckney was not asked whether she thought Roof deserved the death penalty. Some family members of victims have offered forgiveness. Others have said they are undecided.When it was Roof's turn to cross-examine Pinckney, he said, "No questions."Roof has said he does not plan on calling any witnesses or introducing any evidence.___Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP . Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/ .Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
JOHN 8:44
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
EXODUS 20:13
13 Thou shalt not kill.(Murder)(THAT INCLUDES ABORTION)
MATTHEW 18:6
6 But whoso shall offend (HURT) one of these little ones (CHILDREN) which believe in me,(JESUS) it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY FOLKS)
EXODUS 21:12
12 He that smiteth (MURDER)a man,(OR BABY) so that he die, shall be surely put to death.(THATS THE DEATH PENALTY PEOPLE)
REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
GOP House panel: Halt federal money for Planned Parenthood-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
WASHINGTON — A Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and the world of fetal tissue research urged Congress on Wednesday to halt federal payments to the women's health organization. Democrats said the GOP probe had unearthed no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers' money in an abusive investigation reminiscent of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.The Republican recommendation was included in the special committee's final report and was no surprise. The GOP released the 471-page document just 16 days before Donald Trump becomes president, at the start of a year in which many Republicans hope Congress will finally cut off federal funds for the group.Most GOP lawmakers have long opposed the organization because many of its clinics provide abortions. Their antagonism intensified after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made."Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics have repeatedly neglected their fiduciary duty requiring good stewardship of federal taxpayer dollars," wrote the panel, which was chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Republicans created the special committee in reaction to the videos.The report accused the group of violating federal laws by altering abortion procedures to obtain fetal tissue, disclosing patients' private information to firms that procure the tissue and "a general disinterest in clinical integrity."Planned Parenthood has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and did so again Wednesday."Today's Republican staff report once again demonstrates that this exercise was nothing more than a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood and women's access to safe and legal abortion," Dana Singiser, Planned Parenthood's vice-president for Public Policy, said in a written statement.The group has long said that the videos were doctored.Democrats accused the panel of squandering $1.5 million in taxpayer funds with a probe that endangered the safety of people involved in abortions and fetal tissue work by providing information about them. They said it was evocative of baseless allegations about communist subversives lodged six decades ago by McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican."The select panel found no evidence of wrongdoing by health care providers, researchers or tissue procurement companies," wrote the Democrats, who were led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, R-Ill.The panel also examined tissue procurement firms including StemExpress and research entities like the University of New Mexico. The report cited 15 instances in which the committee has provided information to U.S. and state authorities for possibly violating federal and state laws.Planned Parenthood's latest annual report shows that of more than $1.1 billion in yearly revenue, around half — $554 million — comes from government grants and reimbursements. It provides no breakdown.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Planned Parenthood receives about $450 million annually in federal funds, mostly $390 million in reimbursements from the Medicaid program for low-income people.By law, federal funds cannot be used for abortions except for a handful of rare exceptions.The report recommended legislation letting states deny Medicaid and family planning payments to groups that provide abortions. Last month, the Obama administration issued a rule preventing states from blocking family planning funds to such clinics.Alan Fram, The Associated Press.
LGBT activists view Obama as staunch champion of their cause-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
It was a new look for the White House: illuminated in rainbow colours to celebrate the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage nationwide.President Barack Obama, who was inside, felt the glow on that June night in 2015."To see people gathered in the evening outside on a beautiful summer night, and to feel whole and to feel accepted, and to feel that they had a right to love — that was pretty cool," he said a few days later."Pretty cool." That might be a fair description of how Obama himself is viewed by legions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans who consider him — among all of the nation's presidents — the greatest champion of their rights and well-being.The relationship was slow in developing.Obama took office in 2009 as a self-described "fierce advocate" for gay rights, yet for much of his first term drew flak from impatient, skeptical activists who viewed him as too cautious, too politically expedient. They were frustrated he wouldn't endorse same-sex marriage — Obama cagily said he was "evolving" — and wanted him to move faster on several other issues. But the pace of Obama's actions steadily accelerated.In December 2010, he signed legislation enabling gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. In 2011, he directed government agencies to combat LGBT rights abuses internationally. By May 2012 — soon after Vice-President Joe Biden set the example — Obama endorsed gay marriage.His administration also stopped defending the Defence of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition to same-sex couples. That move helped clear the way for the Supreme Court's historic same-sex marriage ruling in 2015.In the nationwide marriage debate, Obama was not a pace-setter — a Gallup poll showed a majority of Americans supporting same-sex marriage a year before he did. But the president didn't pause at the stage; he continued throughout his two terms to find ways to support the LGBT community even when Congress was in partisan deadlock.According to a tally by the Human Rights Campaign, Obama's administration has made more than 125 changes to regulations and policies to expand LGBT rights, and Obama appointed more than 250 openly LGBT people to federal positions, including 15 judicial appointments and nine high-level diplomatic posts.Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the policy achievements tell only part of the story."More than all of this, he honestly and without reservation embraced and celebrated our community as part of the human family," she said. "He was not perfect, but he leaves a legacy that will be hard to beat."In the past year alone, there were several telling moments.On June 16, Obama travelled to Orlando, Florida, to meet with the families of the 49 people killed four days earlier by a rampaging gunman at an LGBT nightclub."This was an attack on the LGBT community," Obama said. "Americans were targeted because we're a country that has learned to welcome everyone, no matter who you are or who you love."Eight days later, Obama designated the first national monument honouring LGBT rights — the site of the Stonewall Inn in New York City where a 1969 community uprising in response to a police raid helped energize LGBT activism nationwide.And in November, Obama gave a warm embrace to Ellen DeGeneres — who boldly came out as a lesbian in 1997 — while awarding her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "Her courage and candour helped change the hearts and minds of millions of Americans," said the White House citation.While supporters of LGBT-rights are extolling Obama's record, some religious conservatives say the president went too far in some cases, infringing on the religious liberties of Americans whose faiths disapprove of same-sex marriage."The Obama administration has waged an aggressive and unnecessary culture war," wrote Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, in a recent column.He urged President-elect Donald Trump to make clear that his incoming administration "will never penalize any individual or institution because they believe and act on the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife."Professor and author Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College, recalled how Obama had reached out to evangelicals during his first presidential campaign in 2008 — an outreach that troubled LGBT activists. But Stetzer said many evangelicals became disenchanted by Obama's later advocacy of same-sex marriage."He has tried to wade through some of the issues, but many evangelicals feel he didn't strike the right balance," Stetzer said. "They genuinely feel that their religious liberty is in jeopardy because of a shift on LGBT rights."Since Trump's election victory, LGBT-rights activists have expressed fears that the new Republican administration will reverse some of Obama's supportive executive orders and back legislation allowing some forms of discrimination against LGBT people if it's based on religious beliefs.Among those unsettled by the presidential transition is Cari Searcy of Mobile, Alabama, who along with her wife waged years of litigation seeking joint parental rights to their son. Their lawsuit overturned Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage."After fighting such a long, hard battle for equal protections for our family, it is a very real concern that those rights could now be taken away," said Searcy.As for Obama, Searcy said he "revolutionized the way America sees us.""The policies and protections that our community gained under his administration changed our daily lives and included us in the national conversation," she said. "We have come so far under his leadership, and for that, I will forever be grateful."___Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP-David Crary, The Associated Press.
Big questions about what carbon pricing means for the Canadian food sector-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The federal government plan for all provinces to adopt carbon pricing schemes by 2018 could have a substantial impact on commercial food production, says a Halifax-based expert in food distribution and policy.Sylvain Charlebois is dean of Dalhousie University's faculty of management. He spoke with CBC Nova Scotia's Information Morning host Don Connolly.Here is part of that interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.Connolly: Explain the connection between a national price on carbon and the price of food at the store? Chalebois: Since Jan. 1, both Alberta and Ontario have seen the effects of a carbon tax. Putting a tax on carbon is, frankly, a good idea, it's a must. However, when you look at our food systems in Canada, we are highly vulnerable to currency fluctuations.We're trying to ramp up our food production domestically. But with Canada moving ahead with putting a price on carbon — and in the U.S. things will remain idle on the climate front for a while with a Trump-Pence administration — many in the Canadian agri-food industry are fearful that Canada may lose its competitiveness in agriculture.Connolly: Two streams in this discussion. One, the cost for consumers of a price on carbon. And, two, the effect on food producers and farmers.Chalebois: As you look at the entire food system, from farm to fork, everyone will be affected by a national price on carbon. It will discriminate against energy-intensive sectors such as livestock, for example. When I think of agriculture in Nova Scotia I think of the wine industry, blueberries, fisheries, lobster ... these sectors may be less effected, compared to cattle.When you look at the price of carbon and how it would impact competitiveness at the farm, it will be difficult from a price point for them to argue to grocers — who are really feeding us — to buy Canadian when down in the U.S. or even Mexico or somewhere else around the world those products aren't necessarily subject to a carbon tax, and the price point for those goods will be much better than a Canadian product.That's why food security may not be an issue, because Canadians will always have access to affordable food. But Canadians may end up with actually less access to Canadian-grown foods.Connolly: Let's try to get a concrete example. Here's a red pepper, grown in a greenhouse in Canada. The price on carbon will basically be a function of how much energy that greenhouse operator uses, right? Chalebois: That is right. Over the last few years, because we've been talking so much about produce prices, there's been an influx of greenhouses in southern Ontario and many places in Canada to ramp up our productivity. Now, this carbon pricing actually puts the Canadian greenhouse sector in a weak position. Again, I think it's good to put a price on carbon, but we need to be mindful with how it will affect our food system here, compared to other food systems around the world.Connolly: Wouldn't there be a possibility the federal government would say, 'Look, we need to balance things out to protect our producers, so we'll have to put up a tariff to penalize products from outside of Canada that aren't subject to a price on carbon'? Chalebois: That's why clarity and transparency is key, which is why I think the B.C. carbon tax model is a good one for the whole country.It's a revenue-neutral model of putting a price on carbon, so that whatever money the province gets back from the carbon tax, it gives back to its citizens and its economy by reducing other taxes.Whereas in Ontario, it's adopting a cap-and-trade model, which is highly-complicated and it's not very transparent. So nobody really knows where the revenue and investments from that taxation are going.Whatever policy you're trying to implement to encourage Canadians to eat Canadian, things get fuzzy under the Ontario model. Whereas B.C., since 2008, things are moving along quite nicely. And on top of that, emissions there are starting to drop.
Homeowners see jump in heating prices from last winter-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Except for those cutting fuelwood from their own backyard stand of hardwood virtually all New Brunswick homeowners are facing higher winter heating prices this January over last winter figures show – some by a significant amount. From propane to electricity and natural gas to oil most major heating sources in the province have climbed in price to some extent.And where prices themselves didn't move a lot, like with wood pellets, New Brunswick's mid year boost in the HST made sure bills would be higher anyway.The typical New Brunswick residence consumes about 13 gigajoules of heat energy each January. So of the six major winter heat sources used by homeowners in New Brunswick what is the best value? Starting with the cheapest fuel source, the following are current residential prices for 1 gigajoule of heat this month (including HST), with a comparison to last January. 1. Firewood: $13.50 per gigajoule Change from 2016 N/A-The cheapest option for winter heat in New Brunswick by far remains firewood. Even at a price of $300 per cord - which is well beyond what most New Brunswick residents pay – hardwood puts out more heat per dollar than any other widely used option.Prices vary a lot from vendor to vendor, are often not subject to HST and are difficult track year to year. Nevertheless, there is no disputing it is the least expensive fuel available in the province. 2. Wood pellets: $20.67 per gigajoule +1.8% since January 2016-Pellets are sold in 40 pound bags and roughly three bags (depending on quality) contain 1 gigajoule of heat energy. Home Depot in New Brunswick has been charging the same price this January as it did last January at $5.99 per bag although the HST increase in July has added to the cost. Prices at other retailers vary but Mike O'Donnell with Marwood, a New Brunswick pellet manufacturer, says supplies are plentiful this year with no overall upward pressure on price at all."If anything the market has been a little soft. We would have more inventory at this time of year than we normally have," O'Donnell told CBC News. 3. Natural Gas: $23.65 per gigajoule +11.6% since January 2016-Enbridge Gas NB increased its residential distribution rate on Jan. 1. That raised the price of heating with gas in New Brunswick over where it was this time last year, even though the price of the gas itself has been coming down. Despite that, natural gas remains one of the cheapest heating options available to residential customers in New Brunswick for those with access to it.That's not widely understood in New Brunswick even by many natural gas customers. 4. Furnace Oil $27.29 per gigajoule* +21.2% since January 2016-There are 26 litres of furnace oil in 1 gigajoule. Last winter prices for oil were so low it often compared favourably to the price of natural gas.That hasn't been the case this winter. A series of price increases in November and December has suddenly made the fuel a lot more expensive than it was last January. 5. Electricity (baseboard) $33.83 per gigajoule +3.4% since January 2016-Electricity (heat pump) $17.80 per gigajoule +3.4% since January 2016-Electricity can be one of the highest – or lowest – cost heat sources in New Brunswick depending on whether it is delivered by baseboard/space heaters or by a high efficiency heat pump. Heat pumps can lose some of their efficiency on very cold days so the savings they generate can be exaggerated somewhat – still as a supplementary heat source they are among the least cost options in New Brunswick.It is the exact opposite for electric baseboard and space heating. They require 278 kilowatt hours of power to put out 1 gigjoule of heat which can get expensive quickly.NB Power was limited to a 1.7 per cent rate increase this year by the Energy and Utilties Board but the jump came into effect on July 1 – the same day the province raised the HST.The combination of the two assured electric heating costs of all types would be higher this winter than last winter. 6. Propane: $39.78 per gigajoule* +15.8% since January 2016-Due to its relatively low energy content, there are 39 liters of propane in one gigajoule. Propane prices were remarkably low in 2015 and early 2016 across North America but the tide has been turning on that for several weeks.Since September prices have been climbing steadily in New Brunswick and making it a less attractive option for heating.It is certainly possible to buy propane for less than New Brunswick's maximum price, but the discount will have to be extreme at this point to match some of its competitors.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Snowclearing cuts pose 'serious risk' to drivers, after years of neglect: NAPE-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Cutbacks to snowclearing services are putting Newfoundland and Labrador drivers at risk, according to the union that represents highway maintenance workers.Jerry Earle, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Asssociation of Public and Private Employees, says it takes too long to call in extra crews after a storm."Snow plow operators need to be reached at home, they need to head into the depots on unsafe roads to get to work, and then they need to get the plow ready and out on the road. This not only poses health and safety concerns, but it creates a lag in response time," said Earle in a news release Wednesday."We also have concerns for the snow plow operators that are being kept on from the day shift as they are on the road for extended periods of time. We are hearing that some operators are already starting to get burnt out."-Broken machinery, years of neglect-Earle said 24-hour snowclearing has been reduced to an on-call service on 13 routes, including major arteries such as Pitts Memorial Drive, the Outer Ring Road, and sections of the Trans-Canada near Clarenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook and Stephenville.Acting Transportation Minister Eddie Joyce told CBC News Tuesday that extra crews can be on the job within 30 minutes, claiming "the roads are being cleared as they were prior to the budget. There has been no change."On Wednesday he added that if a significant storm was forecast, crews would be called into the depot ahead of time."From my understanding, the same level of machinery is in place," he said.However, Earle disputed Joyce's claims, saying "people of the province have seen through this falsehood." He wants 24-hour service reinstated.He said the most recent cuts are compounded by a lack of staff in some areas, and the number of plows and machinery that have been out of commission "ìn some cases for several months."According to Earle, there have been years of delayed maintenance and neglect, which he said have led to issues such as the recent sinkhole on the Trans-Canada near Holyrood."Our members simply have not been given the resources to provide the repair and maintenance work necessary to do the upkeep required — like clearing blocked culverts to allow proper drainage, for example."Joyce said Wednesday that the damaged culvert in Holyrood had been inspected sometime between eight to 10 years ago, but was still inside its normal life expectancy."There are times that circumstances arise that we can't control," he said. "And that's just one of the circumstances that we couldn't control. It just failed."
Ottawa opens 'warming centres' as more than 4,000 still without power-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The City of Ottawa has opened warming centres as Hydro Ottawa crews prepare to work overnight to restore power following Tuesday's freezing rain and today's high winds.Two warming centres are at the Heron Road Community Centre at 1480 Heron Rd. and the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre at 102 Greenview Ave., according to a statement issued Wednesday afternoon by the city.On Wednesday evening, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry tweeted about a third centre open in his ward.The centres have been opened "as a precautionary measure" in case Hydro Ottawa is unable to get the lights and heat back on tonight, said Pierre Poirier, the city's chief of security and emergency management."Both of them, we picked them based partially on their location relative to the outages that have occurred across the city," Poirer told CBC Ottawa's All In A Day.-More than 4,000 without power-As of 4 p.m., there were approximately 96 remaining power outages in the city, affecting roughly 4,380 Hydro Ottawa customers, according to the power utility.The inclement weather has "damaged electrical equipment in more than 100 locations," Hydro Ottawa said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.Poirier said the centres were simply "a warm place for people who may be without power," without additional services at the moment, although that could change after further discussions with Hydro Ottawa.The centres will likely stay open overnight if the power outages do last that long, Poirier said.Thousands of people in Hydro One's jurisdiction also faced power outages Wednesday, mainly in rural Ottawa and eastern Ontario.As of early Wednesday afternoon, the major outages were in:- Arnprior, with 7,500 customers affected.- Bancroft, with 5,000 customers affected.- Cobden, with 4,839 customers affected.Hydro Quebec, meanwhile, reported at around 1 p.m. that there were about 15,300 affected customers in the Outaouais.
Rats find new homes after Sydney flood — but they sure aren't welcome-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Four-legged critters are finding new homes since the Thanksgiving Day flood in Sydney, but the welcome mats are definitely not out for them.Rodent expert Richard MacDonald said while rats and mice will seek out warm places during colder months, many homeowners are now seeing them for the first time."Probably what happened it that a lot of the critters got displaced from their homes and they need somewhere to go," he said."That's kind of what happens and unfortunately they get into the cracks and crevices around your foundations and into your home.-"'Head for higher ground'-MacDonald, who owns MacDonald Pest Control, said the force of the water that washed through Sydney during torrential rain on Thanksgiving Day would have meant any shelters built by rodents were instantly evacuated."They would have their burrows along the streams along the different areas of the city," said MacDonald. "And as the water comes in and the rodents they got to get out of town, so to speak."They head for higher ground just like anybody else. All they need is shelter, a little warmth this time of year, and just move, unfortunately, into people's homes."-Green bin contents delicious-MacDonald said rats are becoming more of a problem in recent years in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and are now on par with mice in terms of the number of calls.He urged people to check the air vents on their green bins, as homeowners often unknowingly serve a regular feast for rats and mice."And if it goes unnoticed and you're constantly putting table scraps or whatever in your green bin, you're providing an excellent food source for the rodents and they're able to multiply very quickly with a food source like that."Bird feeders are also guilty culprits, he said, providing food for unwanted guests.
Uncommonly cold winter has Vancouver fire halls offering residents free salt-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
Vancouver is giving away bucket loads of free road salt to residents as an unusually cold and snowy winter torments the traditionally temperate West Coast, turning some streets and sidewalks into impromptu skating rinks.Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver's general manager for engineering services, says 10 fire halls will have de-icing salt available starting Wednesday for locals who can't find any at local stores.So far this winter, the city has gone through about 7,000 tonnes of salt, which is seven times the average amount used in each of the previous two winters."I'm confident right now that we'll have enough salt," Dobrovolny told reporters outside city hall on Tuesday. "But we're using an awful lot of it, and we're using all of our resources to get more."Last month, Vancouver was hit with its first significant snowfall in more than two years. It was followed by several more rounds of snow and a plunge in temperatures that Environment Canada forecasted would not lift until mid-January.To deal with what Dobrovolny described as the "unusual, sustained, cold weather pattern," Vancouver has halted all non-emergency construction and reassigned more than 300 city workers to various weather-related jobs.About 150 additional staff are helping salt, sand and plow residential streets. Around 115 people have been deployed to help sanitation crews collect refuse and about 50 more will help enforce a bylaw that requires businesses and residents to clear walkways by 10 a.m. the day after a snowstorm.Dobrovolny could not say how many tickets had been issued, but said the city had launched 36 court actions so far, mostly against strata councils and businesses. Residents and businesses are typically given written warnings before being ticketed or taken to court, he added.A flurry of photos and videos posted to social media appear to show ice-ridden roads and walkways across Vancouver, as well as some residents lacing up their skates for a game of hockey or a zip around rink-like roadways.Anna Marie D'Angelo, a spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health authority, said the number of emergency department visits at Vancouver General Hospital are not out of the ordinary for this time of year."In Vancouver, unless you have a long cold snap, you don't start to see the people who are kind of frail and unsteady on their feet ... go out in this kind of weather," D'Angelo said. "They stay home."For people with mobility restrictions, including residents who are older or who have a physical disability, precarious sidewalks pose a serious hazard, said disability advocate Jane Dyson.Dyson said she can't remember such challenging winter conditions in the eight years since she became executive director of Disability Alliance B.C."We all know that Vancouver and the Lower Mainland is not used to snow, but we've had this snow now for three or four weeks and the sidewalks continue to be treacherous," Dyson said."I'm not a person with a physical disability but I'm actually nervous to walk on some of the sidewalks around where I live. It's just so icy."— Follow @gwomand on Twitter-Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Iceland may hold EU accession referendum-By EUOBSERVER-3. Jan, 09:05
Ottarr Proppe, the leader of the Bright Future party in Iceland, has said a new coalition government could call a referendum on restarting Iceland's EU accession bid. "We have reached a certain settlement on ideas, including this one," he told the RUV broadcaster on Monday. The liberal Bright Future party is in talks with the centre-right and eurosceptic Independence Party and with the liberal Reform Party to rule the island.
UK's EU envoy quits over 'muddled thinking' on Brexit By Eszter Zalan-JAN 4,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-British diplomats must challenge "muddled thinking" and "ill-founded arguments" on Brexit, the UK's ambassador to the EU has said in his resignation letter.Sir Ivan Rogers delivered his thinly veiled criticism of the British government on Tuesday (3 January), quitting his post 10 months before the scheduled end of his mission in Brussels.He was criticised by Brexit supporters last month for warning that a new deal with the EU could take up to 10 years.Sir Ivan, whose deputy resigned late last year, argues in his letter that it makes sense to hand over the baton to a new team before exit talks officially begin.His departure is seen as a blow to prime minister Theresa May's government.In his resignation letter , Rogers warns that the government lacks the necessary knowledge and technical expertise to conduct the negotiations, and the involvement of the UK permanent representation in the talks is essential."Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the Commission or in the Council," he wrote."The government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have - a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP [the UK EU representation] - and negotiates resolutely."Rogers also made it clear that the UK has no negotiating position six months after the UK's vote to leave the union, and only three months before prime minister Theresa May intends to officially launch exit talks."We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit," Sir Ivan writes.He encourages his staff to support each other and deliver bad and uncomfortable news to decision-makers."Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27," he says."I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power."His letter sheds uneasy light on how ill-prepared the British government is, just a few months before negotiations are due to begin on the UK's withdrawal from the EU.-Praise-Brexiteers such as Nigel Farage welcomed his resignation, saying that the Foreign Office needed a "complete clear-out".Richard Tice, a leader of the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave pressure group, labelled Sir Ivan a "remainer" who "consistently failed to acknowledge the benefits Brexit will bring to Britain".But others see the senior diplomat's exit as a blow for the forthcoming negotiations.Former EU trade commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson described Sir Ivan's resignation as “a serious loss”, adding in a statement that "everyone knows that civil servants are being increasingly inhibited in offering objective opinion and advice to ministers"."Our negotiation as a whole will go nowhere if ministers are going to delude themselves about the immense difficulty and challenges Britain faces in implementing the referendum decision," Mandelson said.Claude Moraes, a Labour member of the European Parliament tweeted that the resignation "confirms what the 27 feared and the result will be a bad negotiation for the British people".Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, called Sir Ivan one of the very few top British civil servants who understood the EU and said his resignation "makes a good deal on Brexit less likely".The UK government is expected to appoint a new ambassador and deputy ambassador shortly.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Edmonton man killed while fighting ISIS in Syria-CBC-January 3, 2017-YAHOONEWS
An Edmonton man has been killed in an ISIS attack while fighting for the YPG Kurdish forces in Syria, according to YPG officials.Nazzareno Tassone, 24, was killed Dec. 21 near Raqqa, Syria, his family and YPG officials say.Nazzareno Tassone's younger sister, Giustina Tassone, said leaders from the Kurdish community in Toronto, accompanied by police, delivered the news in person to their Niagara home Tuesday afternoon."We were hoping that everything would be OK," Tassone told CBC News. "We were optimistic. But with everything that's going on over there, we kind of hoped, but we were all very scared, especially my mom."Nazzareno Tassone left Edmonton for Turkey last June. He told his family he planned to teach English, but soon he joined the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) in the battle against ISIS. To his family it came as no surprise."As a kid he was kind of my hero," said Tassone of her brother, who helped raise her, along with their father. "We spent a lot of time playing together and a lot of times it had to do with the army and stuff like that."My brother loved the army and all things about the war."-ISIS still has body-The family has been told that ISIS still has his body, Tassone said. The family is now lobbying Canadian officials to make a deal to bring him home "so we can lay him to rest," and has launched a Facebook page called Bring Nazzareno Tassone Home.Photos on Facebook show a smiling Nazzareno after he arrived in Turkey in June. But he offered few details updating his time in the Middle East."I am alive," he wrote on July 2. "Update when I can."And then a second post: "Internet will cut out soon, so if I disappear again, don't worry .... just the Middle East."A week later a post said that he was "Still alive."On Tuesday, YPG officials issued a media release confirming Nazzareno's death.Nazzareno's uncle, Frank Tassone, based in Keswick, Ont., expressed shock and grief. He last saw Nazzareno in a video, after he joined the YPG."He just had a big smile on his face," Frank Tassone said. "It just made me feel real proud. It made me feel proud that he was in the army … protecting people."Frank Tassone recalled seeing his nephew in the video kneeling down with his rifle and giving a peace sign. "So that's the last memory I'm going to have of my nephew. A big smile on his face."-'Sad day for Canadians'-Family, friends, colleagues and strangers turned to social media to express grief, condolences and pay their respects."It's a sad day for Canadians," wrote Hanna Bohman, a Canadian currently in Vancouver who served with the all-female Kurdish faction known as the YPJ for 15 months.She referred to Nazzareno by his Kurdish name, Heval Agir.Bohman said Nazzareno was killed along with British volunteer Ryan Lock and several Kurdish YPG fighters when their camp was attacked by ISIS fighters."Agir is the second Canadian to be killed while aiding the Kurds in the fight for humanity, for all of us," she said, referring to John Gallagher, 32, killed in Syria just over a year ago.Nazzareno and Gallagher are two of several Canadians who have gone overseas to join the battle against ISIS.Prior to that, Nazzareno had worked as a parking patrol officer in Edmonton. His sister said he "loved guns and fighting for what was right" and taught English while fighting."He had a big heart and loved his friends and family dearly," Giustina Tassone added.In her Facebook post Tassone wrote: "Make sure the world knows we loved him and want him home. We won't have a funeral without him."In October, the YPG joined an Iraq-led offensive, 5,000 soldiers strong, to retake Mosul from ISIS. At the end of December, backed by the U.S-led coalition's airstrikes, they advanced into eastern Mosul in a multi-pronged attack."The Canadian people can feel huge pride that one of their own would travel so far and give so much for those in the most need," Macer Gifford, chief executive of Friends of Rojava Foundation, which helps fund hospitals in Rojava, wrote in a Facebook post."While the world watched; in Sinjar, Kobane and Aleppo these men decided to act," Gifford added. "Rest in peace Nazzareno. You'll be in our hearts forever."The YPG media release calls Tassone a hero and expresses condolences to his family.
Residents returning to east Aleppo find destruction 'beyond imagination'-CBC-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
The cleanup has begun in eastern Aleppo as thousands of residents of the formerly rebel-held city return to figure out how to "rebuild their lives and livelihoods,'' a United Nations official says.The Syrian government only recently retook full control of the divided city, which was under siege for more than four years while forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad battled a collection of rebel groups.As government forces closed in last month under heavy airstrikes, tens of thousands of residents fled of their own accord, followed by around 35,000 civilians and opposition fighters who were bused out of the eastern districts amid a sputtering ceasefire in the final weeks of 2016."The destruction is enormous," says Sajjad Malik, representative in Syria for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and acting humanitarian co-ordinator in Aleppo. "The reconstruction will take a very long time."While UN agencies don't have exact numbers, Malik estimates that some 1.5 million people are in Aleppo now, including 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).In the past couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano neighbourhood, as the UN works with the local municipality to clear rubble and debris from the main roads.-'Bitterly cold' -People returning face appalling conditions."It is extremely, bitterly cold here," said Malik. "The houses people are going back to have no windows or doors, no cooking facilities."The immediate priority is to keep people warm and fed. The UN is giving people mats, sleeping bags and plastic sheets to cover blown-out windows.The UN and its partners are also providing some 20,000 people with twice-daily hot meals and 40,000 with fresh-baked bread, according to Malik, who spoke via phone from Aleppo.Malik said seven mobile medical clinics now travel in and out of eastern Aleppo on a daily basis, while 1,381 people considered critical have been transported to western Aleppo for treatment.More than 10,000 children have been vaccinated against polio, and more than 1.1 million people have access to safe drinking water again, Malik said.Meanwhile in the capital, Damascus, residents are scrambling for clean water in a shortage that has stretched nearly two weeks amid fighting in that city between government and rebel forces.-Destruction 'beyond imagination'-Bombing has destroyed hospitals, schools, roads and houses, and damaged the two main water pumping stations. The UN official said the level of destruction surpassed anything he had seen in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Somalia.Once the economic hub of Syria, there are hardly any shops left. Businesses are destroyed, and the jobs gone with them, Malik said."Nothing would have prepared us to see the scale of destruction there, it's beyond imagination," he said.He said officials have also begun tackling the huge backlog of registrations births, deaths and marriages which were not officially recorded while the fighting was ongoing in the rebel-held sector.''This will reduce the risk of statelessness that otherwise we would have in eastern Aleppo,'' he said.Malik has spoken with relatives still ''looking for their male family members'' who were either detained or arrested as they fled the besieged eastern part of the city. And he says years of conflict have also ''resulted in huge psychological problems for the population there.''Still, in recent days, Malik says, he and his staff of 106 men and women have noticed a difference in the population. ''I saw many children playing out on the street — happy — but there's a lot more that we still need to do," he said.''So many hopes of the Syrians have been dashed before,'' Malik said. ''But this time, somehow, they feel that maybe the international community will stick around.''
Church gunman insists to jury that he is not mentally ill-The Canadian Press-YAHOONEWS-January 4, 2017
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Dylann Roof spoke Wednesday for the first time to the jurors who will decide whether he should be executed for fatally shooting nine black parishioners during a Bible study, insisting that he is not mentally ill and forgoing a chance to plead for his life.The soft-spoken 22-year-old white man told the jury that he was not trying to keep any secrets from them. He did not offer remorse or seek forgiveness or ask them to spare him from a lethal injection."My opening statement is going to seem a little bit out of place," Roof said calmly as he delivered the brief remarks at a podium, occasionally glancing at notes. "I am not going to lie to you. ... Other than the fact that I trust people that I shouldn't and the fact that I'm probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone who's ever existed, there's nothing wrong with me psychologically."Shortly before Roof's statement, prosecutors presented a jailhouse journal in which he wrote that he did not regret the massacre or "shed a tear" for the dead.Roof's attorneys have indicated that he chose to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial because he was worried his legal team might present embarrassing evidence about himself or his family. As early as last summer, they said they planned to introduce evidence that Roof suffers from mental illness, and they hinted at that idea again during closing arguments of the trial's guilt-or-innocence stage."I would ask you to forget it," Roof told jurors, referring to what his lawyers said then.Prosecutors said Roof deserves the death penalty because he painstakingly chose to target vulnerable people at Emanuel AME Church in the June 2015 attack. He sat with church members for about 45 minutes and waited until their eyes were closed in prayer before opening fire. He told Polly Sheppard that he wanted to leave her alive to tell the world that he attacked a historic black church because blacks were "raping our women and taking over the nation."Two other people also survived.Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said the "horrific acts justify the death penalty.""He killed nine people. ... He killed them because of the colour of their skin. He killed them because they were less than people," Williams said.The panel has heard from Roof before in the form of his confession to the FBI and his racist manifesto. And on Wednesday, prosecutors read from the journal found in Roof's jail cell six weeks after his arrest. His handwritten words were projected on screens in the courtroom."I remember how I felt when I did these things and how I knew I had to do something and then I realize it was worth it," he wrote. "I would like to make it crystal clear. I do not regret what I did. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed."From his writings, it's clear that Roof does not believe in psychology. In one of his journals, he called the field "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't."Prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the slain and the survivors. The first witness to testify was Jennifer Pinckney, the widow of Clementa Pinckney, a state senator and pastor at Emanuel AME.During more than two hours on the stand, Pinckney described her husband as an affable figure who was widely respected as a state legislator and preacher and who was a goofy family man in private with his two young daughters."He always made time for the family, and he always made time for the girls," said Pinckney, describing her husband's affinity for cartoonish neckties and socks. "He was the person I think that every mom would be happy that their daughter met and married. ... I know that he loved me. And he knew how much that I loved him."She talked about the night of the shootings, saying she and her then-6-year-old daughter, Malana, were in her husband's office when gunfire erupted. She locked the doors, shoved her daughter under a desk and put her hand over her daughter's mouth."She was like, 'Mama, is Daddy going to die?' And I told her, 'Malana, be quiet.'"She said she believed she survived the shootings because she was meant to continue her husband's legacy, part of which involved fighting to get the Confederate flag removed entirely from the South Carolina Statehouse, which happened about a month after the attack."Yes the flag came down and so forth, but he just did so much," she said. "You can't please everyone. He tried to please as many people as he could."Pinckney was not asked whether she thought Roof deserved the death penalty. Some family members of victims have offered forgiveness. Others have said they are undecided.When it was Roof's turn to cross-examine Pinckney, he said, "No questions."Roof has said he does not plan on calling any witnesses or introducing any evidence.___Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP . Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/ .Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press.
