THE BILL KEITH REPORT August 22, 2014

The Bill Keith Report

News And Commentary

August 22, 2014

Greetings to Bill Keith’s readers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 61 foreign countries.

Something very new is beginning with this news report and commentary written by my great friend and journalist, Bill Keith. Bill has asked me to read his commentary to you and I am so honored to do it. Bill is the author of many books and I’ll be telling you about each of them in future Bill Keith reports.

Bill calls me his mentor and I call Bill my mentor; we are mutual admiration society. I want to thank Dorothy Baker who first introduced me to Bill’s writings. Thanks Dorothy for bringing the three of us together.

Bill Keith is a keen observer of what is happening to our nation and like my newscasts, tells it like it is. We have no ax to grind with Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Or Independents, including our President. But we are both totally in love with this nation of ours, and when anyone tramples on it, you are going to hear from us.

It’s an extreme honor to begin reading to you these reports. In fact, I will be going back to our archives to retrieve all of Bill’s reports and put everything relevant to today together, in case you missed any of them, and bring them to you again so that I share with you Bill’s powerful newscasts.

So, from the headquarters of reachmorenow.com in Fort Worth Texas, this is Ray Mossholder, at this is the bill Keith Report And Commentary:

If you believe the information in this edition of The Report is worthwhile, please pass it on to your friends and contact your congressional representatives about the issues.

     Question for Report readers: If an ISIS/Al Qaeda/Taliban terrorist crosses the Rio Grande into our land carrying a nuclear device the size of a grapefruit and takes out one of our cities, will President Obama blame President George W. Bush?

The Killing in Ferguson, Missouri: Rush to Judgment

When a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, it was a shot that reverberated all across the land. Whenever a young black man is killed or when dozens of blacks are killed by other blacks in Southside Chicago, New York City and most of the larger cities in this land –  it is unfortunate.

When a white police officer shoots a black, the reaction by politicians and race hustlers is as sure as sin following temptation. They arrive on the scene, make fiery speeches, fire up the crowd and at least inadvertently encourage them to riot, knock out the windows of department stores, burn buildings, and throw Molotov cocktails — incendiary gasoline bombs — at police.

All of this is a rush to judgment before they know the details of exactly what happened. Before the investigation is complete. Before the coroner’s report.

Race hustlers like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson were some of the first ones on the scene. They went to Ferguson to wage a war on the police and did their best to rev up the crowd. They convicted the police officer before they ever heard his side of the story. Jackson even tried to take up an offering. The people booed his effort. No one knows what he was going to do with the money.

Enter Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, another who couldn’t resist a rush to judgment before all the facts were in. He said the police officer should be prosecuted. Later he tried to retract his statement.

So you have the governor, Jackson, Sharpton and hundreds of rioters taking the law into their own hands, condemning the police officer before he was given due process. The case now has gone to a grand jury.

The hustlers and the crowd also called for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch to step down. The reason is that his father was a policeman killed by a black man.

Comment: On August 11, a black police officer shot and killed a 20-year-old white man in Salt Lake City, Utah. However, the news media did not think it was a story so most didn’t even cover the incident. Compare that to the news frenzy in Ferguson where a white officer shot and killed an unarmed black man.

Is this just a coincidence or is the mainstream news media guilty of race-baiting to further their own agenda that continues to hold on to the worn-thin concept that most police officers  have racial animosity toward blacks and are bad and the black man must be a victim. That is pure nonsense.

Now we must let the rule of law prevail and the governor, Sharpton and Jackson should shut up and let the proper authorities carry out a thorough investigation and determine if there is culpability.

Immigration: Bad News for President Obama

A survey of 1,001 likely voters found that 65 percent of the American people believe the illegal immigrant children should be sent home. They say that would be a signal to tens of thousands of others who plan to come to the U.S. Only 22 percent said they should be kept here away from danger in their home countries, the Washington Times reported.

By next year, a total of  250,000  illegal immigrant children are expected flood into this land.

According to Polling Company, Inc., voters also take a dim view of President Obama’s plan to grant amnesty to millions of illegals already in this land. Some 74 percent believe he should work with Congress to solve the immigration problem. Only 21 percent said he should deal with the issue through executive order.  

Comment: Everyone recognizes that the President is a brilliant man. But we question his judgment and common sense. For instance, if he  grants amnesty to five million illegals — against the will of the American people — which he is threatening to do, the people will be so incensed they will turn on the democrats and hence the republicans will hold on to a majority of the House of Representatives and take over the Senate. Certainly unintended consequences.

The Emperors of Washington

The Report has documented case after case of how the Ruling Elite, i.e., Emperors of Washington, levy exorbitant taxation on the common folks yet pay little attention to them or how their money is spent. They say to the taxpayers, “Let the cash register ring, ka-ching, ka-ching, keep that money coming.” But then care little what we think.”

Case in point — U. S. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia lives only 60 miles from Washington, D.C. Yet he travels home almost exclusively via charter planes that cost $4,400 per round trip. And guess what? He sends the bill to the taxpayers. Why? Because he considers himself one of the elected elite.

“There are as many as six commercial flights a day between D.C. and Charleston, West Virginia, the city Rockefeller flies to and from,” The Washington Times reports. “A round-trip ticket for the one-hour flight costs as little as $206.”

According to the Times, Rockefeller’s 32 trips in the past three years cost the taxpayers $141,408 for the chartered planes. For one trip from February 28 to March 1 of this year, airfare for the senator from Washington DC to Charleston and return cost $9,657. Again, paid for by taxpayers.

Comment: Elected officials in Washington have no shame. They act like they are anointed rather than appointed. And Senator Rockefeller is not alone in the abuse of taxpayers’ dollars. Both democrats and republicans are guilty and have been guilty in the past.

When, under heaven, will there be a taxpayer revolt where the people will say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?”

The Emperors of Washington vs. WE THE PEOPLE

 In recent years the federal government has moved closer and closer to a dictatorship and total control of the lives of the American people.

The emperors in Washington are not at all concerned how the people of this land feel about national issues.

If they were concerned, we would never have had the Affordable Care Act forced upon us to the detriment of the best healthcare system in the world.

If they were concerned, they would stop the hordes of illegal aliens coming across our southern border with Mexico. Some estimate we already have 20 million here and millions more on the way.

If they were concerned, they would stop the reckless spending — that could bankrupt this nation — and balance our budget. President Clinton did it back in the ’80s.

If they were concerned, they would stop downsizing our military and keep our nation strong.

If they were concerned, they would stop criticizing Israel — our only friend in the Middle East — and calling the relationship with the Palestinians “apartheid” as John Kerry said. President Obama would quit yelling at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has never yelled at the Palestinian/Hamas leaders.

And on and on it goes, and where it stops nobody knows.

Welfare and the Vanishing American Dream

Earlier this week, the U. S. Census Bureau announced there were  109,631,000 Americans on federally funded welfare as of the fourth quarter of 2012, CNS reported.

The American Dream has virtually disappeared for these people.

That number represents 35.4 percent of all the 309,467,000 people living in the United States.

During the past five years, the feds have spent $3.7 trillion on 80 different welfare programs.

However, this does not include the cost of Social Security and Medicare, unemployment and veterans benefits. When these are added to those receiving welfare benefits, there were153,323,000 — almost half of the American people — receiving some type of federal benefits at the end of 2012.

Food Stamp Fraud: Will It Never End?

Food stamp recipients are selling their benefits on the Internet in exchange for money, rent and even for art, according to a federal investigators’ report.

So says the Washington Times that reports various states that oversee the program manage to catch just a fraction of the fraud in the sprawling program.

  “In one (Internet) online posting from Jacksonville, Florida, someone was asking for $100 cash in exchange for $228 in food stamps,” The Times reported. “One ad from Raleigh, North Carolina, offered 10 days of cooking and cleaning services in exchange for food stamps. A Charlotte, North Carolina poster said he would trade food stamps for beer, and a Houston ad proposed exchanging food stamps for a catalytic converter.”

Also, a Worcester, Massachusetts, ad proposed up to $3,000 in electronic benefit food stamps transfers in exchange for works of art.

Comment: Add these fraudulent uses of food stamps to a long list of previous and egregious ways people use their government stamps that are intended to keep people from going hungry. In times past we have reported the EBT (food stamp) cards have been used in casinos, strip joints, bars and for cigarettes and booze.

But no one in Washington does anything about it! Our leaders act like they don’t even care.

And I wonder where is the outrage among WE THE PEOPLE who have become silent on the government’s cavalier waste of our hard-earned tax money.

Houston’s Transgender Ordinance Goes to Court

A cultural scenario of major proportions is being played out in Houston, Texas.

Back in 2010, Annise Parker, a practicing lesbian, was elected mayor of Houston. She certainly had the right to run for the office and the people had the right to elect her.

Although she could have been an outstanding mayor and represented all the people, little by little she began to impose a homosexual agenda on the people of Houston.

She urged the City Council to pass a pro homosexual/lesbian/

transgender ordinance which Christians in the city believed to be a violation of their rights and religious convictions.

The ordinance permitted transgenders to enter the public bathrooms of their choice. For instance, a man dressed as a woman could enter the women’s restroom.

Also, the ordinance exacts a penalty for any so-called act of discrimination. For instance, if a Christian photographer would be asked to take pictures at a same-sex wedding and refused as an act of conscience, he could be prosecuted and fined. Or, if a hotel owner on moral grounds refused to rent the ballroom for a same-sex wedding, he could be prosecuted and fined.

After the ordinance passed, the people of Houston — primarily led by a courageous group of black pastors — began a petition drive to get the necessary signatures for the city to put the ordinance to a vote of the people.

However, Houston’s City Attorney, appointed by the mayor, pulled a cheap trick. He threw out most of the signatures even though the people had three times the number of signatures necessary to allow the people to vote on the ordinance.

A judge — who apparently saw what was going on — gave the people an injunction against the radical ordinance and the mayor agreed not to enforce the ordinance until it can be determined in court.

Meanwhile, the New York Division of Human Rights has fined Cynthia and Robert Gifford $13,000 for standing by their conviction that marriage is between one man and one woman. Hence, they declined to rent out their family farm for a gay wedding, according to Texas Values. The NY Division told them that special rights for homosexuals trump religious liberty and private property rights.

Comment: The Houston transgender ordinance has ramifications for cities all across the land. If the strong, well-funded homosexual/lesbian lobby prevails, they will be encouraged to present ordinances to cities across Texas and other states.

Commentary

The VA Dilemma — How Bad Was It?

     Some 47,786 veterans died waiting to see doctors for treatment in the VA Hospitals, according to the VA’s own records of deceased servicemen and women released this week.

Now that the initial crisis is past, consider the magnitude of the problems and the duration.

     “By July 2012, the backlog of veterans whose applications were in so-called pending status had grown to 848,699, according to an internal VA analysis. VA’s backlog of pending health care applications had festered for more than a decade…” wrote Brad Schrade of The Atlanta Constitution.

Congress has passed new legislation and it has been signed into law to fix the problem and the fix involves a generous appropriation of new money, according to The Weekly Standard.

     Comment: It seems unfathomable to me that the VA problem existed for a decade — as thousands of veterans died waiting to see a VA doctor and get treatment — and no one, democrat or republican, President Obama or President Bush, no one did anything to solve the problem. No senator, no congressmen, no one. This is a shameful black mark on the history of this erstwhile great land. Our heroic veterans deserved better.

The Report has asked this question from time to time: Can the federal government effectively run anything? There’s the VA fiasco. The Post Office is broke. AMTRAK operates at a deficit. There’s $50 billion annual fraud in Medicare. Billions lost to food stamp fraud.

     I ask the question again: Is the federal bureaucracy so large that it has become unmanageable — by either democrats or republicans?

 

THE BILL KEITH REPORT August 22, 2014

WORLDWIDE EVENING NEWS FROM RAY August 18, 2014

WORLDWIDE EVENING NEWS FROM RAY

A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries

News written and delivered by Ray Mossholder

Monday evening, August 18, 2014

 

Hello America. Hello world.

From the headquarters of reachmorenow.com in Fort Worth, Texas, this is Ray Mossholder, and this is the news……

 

 

Something new is beginning with this newscast. One of my two great concerns has been that the newscasts I’ve been doing may be too long for many of my listeners to stay through the entire broadcast. The other concern has been the long delay between newscasts. So beginning right now I am going to keep the newscasts shorter and at the same time do more of them. I will still keep you receiving the most important news of the day and of the night with vital information with each story. And I will keep the Thought for the Day at the end of each newscast, which so many have commented that they deeply enjoy.

 

I fully admit what I’m doing right now is experimental, and I very much want your input on what you think of this idea. If I can produce a really important morning edition and evening edition for you whenever possible, I’ll be with you more than I ever have, and you will know what’s happening in America and the world.

On my most recent newscast, I promised to take you overseas on this newscast, and I will. But something has happened here in the United States that demands all of our attention before we swim the oceans together. Unless cooler heads prevail there is a war starting here that could easily spark America’s second Civil War.

It has to do with developing events in Ferguson, Missouri, where in spite of the governor’s imposed nighttime curfew, everything from heavy looting, destruction of property, and even the possible death of another black person, has come to United States Attorney General Eric Holder’s attention. He has ordered a second autopsy on Michael Brown, the African-American unarmed teenager who was shot to death by a policeman in that town 8 afternoons ago. Michael’s parents requested the second autopsy. The story has continued to spread that the boy wasn’t shot three times but six. The purpose of the autopsy will be to be absolutely sure how many bullets were used to kill Michael. The Attorney General insists that the first autopsy will also be included in any further examination of Michael’s body.

Last night was another hideous night in Ferguson. Racial hatred raged to the boiling point and overflowed, ended only by tear gas and seven arrests from police dressed in riot gear and using armored vehicles to chase away the growing, angry, crowd.

Eliot Engel

Protesters and their supporters gathered together this afternoon at Greater Grace Church in Ferguson for a rally to remember Michael Brown. Speakers at the rally included Michael Brown’s parents, Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, Al Sharpton, and Missouri Democrat House Representative Lacy Clay.

Captain Johnson began by promising the protesters that their right to free speech would be protected. He said the protesters were not the cause for the escalated police reaction early this morning. Rather, it was a report after the midnight curfew that a group of vandals had broken into a barbecue restaurant and went up on their roof. The police said also received the report that a man flashing a handgun was in the street.

Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson

Overnight two men were shot. One of them was critically wounded and is reportedly near death. This time it was not a policeman who shot this man, but someone in the crowd. Authorities are searching for the shooter. Someone in the crowd also shot at a police car.

After a Sunday night of violence that topped Saturday night, Missouri Governor Nixon has called in the National Guard. At the same time, the Governor issued this statement: “Tonight, a day of hope, prayers, and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk. I am directing the highly capable men and women of the Missouri National Guard to assist…in restoring peace and order to this community.”

Officials said that on Friday forty FBI agents began going door-to-door in Ferguson to get everyone’s perspective on the shooting of Michael Brown and the riots that followed his killing.

The police waited six days to release the name of the policeman who shot the fatal bullets. His name is Darren Wilson. He has been on the police force for six years. He and his family remain in hiding.

MSNBC’s Reverend Al Sharpton said yesterday at the church gathering that the United States is at “a defining moment.” He further said “America as a nation, Missouri as a state, Ferguson is a city, is it a defining moment on whether or not we know and are mature enough to handle policing – whether it goes over the line or not. We cannot lecture nations around the world about how they handle policing we have an inability of handling it in our own nation. All policeman are not bad; most policeman or not bad. But all of them are not right all of the time. And when they’re wrong, they must pay for being wrong just like citizens pay when they are wrong.

Looting is wrong. We condemn the looters. But when will law enforcement condemn police who shoot and kill our young people? We gotta be honest on both sides of this discussion.”

Reverend Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton may have been prophetic when he told the church crowd, “Michael Brown is going to change this town.” It is obvious that he already has.

The question is whether the violence occurring in Ferguson this week can somehow be contained there and not spread. Parts of America are still going through growing pains from what happened in the 60s with civil rights. And black, brown or white, they have not struck an honest balance of acceptance. As long as unacceptance remains an oozing sore that will not heal, a second Civil War threatens to divide our country once again.

**********

Now, let’s do go overseas…….

Two weeks ago, Isis captured the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River that controls most of the electricity and the water supply that irrigates a large part of Iraq. Today Kurdish fighters have retaken most of that dam, though pockets of resistance remain. The Kurdish had control of the eastern part of the dam yesterday but have now have much more control of a larger part of the entire dam. There is much more at stake than even the dam, as important as that dam is. If the Kurdish gain back the entire dam, it will mean a major victory over Isis and prove once and for all that Isis is not invincible.

Mosul Dam

The Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, are the best Iraqi troops in that country and that includes women soldiers on the front line.

Both U.S. and Iraqi planes are doing a tremendous work, by bombing militant hotspots near the dam 23 times this weekend. The fighting and airstrikes continued Monday.

U.S. bombing Isis

It was a week ago when American planes began bombing Isis and our planes have barely stopped. That gave the Peshmerga the freedom to send Isis into retreat, away from their regional capital of Irbil, which until then Isis was about to capture.

Isis, or Isil, or Is, or the Islamic state of Syria and Libya, which is all the same terror organization, has a habit of planting roadside bombs that Kurdish General Tawik Desty calls “obstacles” his troops are having to surmount in order to keep moving forward. He said “Roadside bombs are a Daash tactic” – (“Daash” is an Arabic acronym for Isis.)

The battle is now concentrated on Isis last stronghold – the southern side of the dam.

Another Kurdish commander spoke on the condition of anonymity and said, “We have reached the inside of the dam. There is no fighting here, but the abandoned buildings are all rigged with explosives. We will continue to advance until we are given further instruction.”

One of the big question marks around all this action is why President Obama has still not sent the kinds of state-of-the-art U.S. artillery to the Kurdish that Isis has stolen from towns and military bases they conquered earlier. The Peshmerga are still forced to use what they have, outdated weaponry that allows them to accomplish far less than what America could supply them with. There is no easy answer to that question. But perhaps the today break-in vacation that President Obama has taken today to come back to Washington DC will change that.

Obama is meeting with his top advisers over these two days. Everything from Iraq Ferguson, Missouri, will undoubtedly be on his agenda. This past week there have been numerous photos of our President playing golf and riding a bicycle while the death toll continues to mount in Ukraine, Syria, and all points East and West. The photos have gained great disfavor nationally. As one critic put it, “Obama is known as the playing president and sure not the praying president.” The seriousness of Isis and the other terror groups leave little room for vacations, but all Congress remains away from their duties too. For any of them who complain about the president playing golf at Martha’s Vineyard, it’s simply a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

The White House sent a letter to Congress Sunday saying that it’s air campaign in Iraq “is consistent with the president’s directive that the U.S. Military protect U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, since the failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians and threaten U.S. Personnel and facilities – including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad,” confirming once again that our whole reasons in America’s limited return to Iraq is immediate self-interest and has nothing at all to do with helping to defeat Isis, the militant Sunnis, or any other terrorists.

In spite of this partial victory, Isis is in control of a huge part of northeastern Syria and Northern and Western Iraq. The gigantic scale of the humanitarian crisis in these areas now has the United Nations at its highest emergency level. Some 1.5 million people have been totally displaced by fighting since Isis began its June massacres.

As soon as Isis captured the village of Kocho at the bottom of Mount Sinjar, they went to the homes of every Yazidi living in that village and brought them outside. 480 men and teenagers, thirteen and up, were taken by automobile to the edge of the village, lined up and shot to death with assault rifles. Then the Isis extremists abducted their wives and children ages 12 and under – a thousand women and children.

Just to be sure, Isis military walked among the corpses and shot and killed any man or boy who appeared to yet be alive. A 42-year-old man told the Associated Press by phone from a hiding place, that he had been wounded but got away. He said, “They thought we were dead, and when they went away we ran away. We hid in the valley until sundown, and then we fled to the mountains.” This report was verified by many witnesses.

The Yazidi flee Isis

CBN includes the tragic story of Nayef Jassem’s cousin who called Nayef Saturday morning. His cousins voice was weak and breaking as he pleaded for help. His cousin said, “I can’t walk, and we will die.” Jassem quickly called Yazidi rebels in the mountains, pleading with them to rescue his cousin and the others with him. He told them, “They need first aid. Send them a donkey they can sit on, something to carry them on.” Jassam knew that it was a six hour journey between where the Yazidis were and his cousin was. Mournfully, he knew that his cousin would be dead before they got to him.

There is a Yazidi lawmaker, Mahama Kalil who told a reporter, “We have been calling on the United States administration and Iraqi government to intervene and help the innocent people. But it seems like no one is listening.”

 

This brings up the question “Who are the Yazidi’s?” And at this moment, I apologize to you. I have thought all along that the Yazidi were an extension of the first century Essenes. But tonight I can tell you who they really are.

 

According to Wikipedia, The Yazidi are mainly Kurdish speaking people and have a Kurdish culture. The Yazidi believe in God as the creator of the world and that He has placed seven angels in charge of it. Each angel is holy and the “chief” angel is Melek Taus, which means in English “Peacock Angel.” The Peacock Angel as the world’s ruler causes both good and evil to every human. They say the Peacock Angel once in a temporary falling away from God’s favor, but that his repentant tears extinguished the fires of hell and he was reconciled with God.

 

The Peacock Angel

 

Yazidi’s further believe there is an angel called Ibis who proudly refused anything but one man/one woman marriage. Their religion then gets tied up with mysticism on steroids. They believe the Peacock Angel is Satan and this has led to the rest of Islam calling the Yazidis’ “devil worshipers” and apostate.

 

One of the reasons that the Yazidi have a hard time getting other Iraqis to rescue them is because of their non-Islamic beliefs. In the mind of an Islamist, that would be equal to Christians reaching out to rescue a large group of Satanic worshipers.

More and more Democrats are becoming critical of decisions being made by President Obama. In fact, doves are flying out of the trees as hawks, no longer wanting to allow Isis to grow, but strongly stating we need to stop them in Iraq or the will soon be stopping us at home.

Representative Eliot Engel a Democrat from New York said on “Fox News Sunday” that the United States may soon need boots on the ground to stop Isis in both Iraq and Syria. He added “That’s not something I want, but we cannot put our heads in the sand.” Engel is the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said “The United States should have armed The Free Syrian Army in the early stages of Syria’s Civil War.

Fellow congressional Democrat Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii agreed with Engel that the Obama administration’s objective mission to stop the all terrorists including the Islamic State “has been lost.”

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Gabbard, also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said “We’re missing a critical question here. I joined the Army National Guard after 9/11 because U.S. leaders vowed to “take out Islamic extremists wherever they are. That mission has been lost. The administration said this week that our airstrikes are not a campaign against Isis. If our mission is not about taking out extremists, then we’ve got a real problem here.”

With Congress vacationing for three more weeks and the midterm elections just seven weeks from now, chances are slim, as they pay attention to polls, that Congress would say either yes or no to reauthorizing the use of force in Iraq. Either way they vote, a congressperson risks losing votes.

Republican Ron Johnson from Wisconsin told FOX News that he had already met with eight or nine members of the Armed Services And Foreign Relations committees to talk about a new authorization. He said the response was positive and that Congress is “really tired of presidents just going in by themselves.”

Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee and he told The Hill last week that Congress should have a full debate on whether to continue only having limited military action in Iraq.

Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers, who is Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee said about President Obama, “He does not play well with others. And I don’t think he legally needs a vote for reauthorization. But I think he should work with Congress, and he should step up that part of the game right now, given the world threats that we face today.”

Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers

**********

 

It seems obvious to most people in Ukraine that at last Ukraine has gained the upper hand over the Russian rebels. But it has not come without a great loss in lives. In the war between sides is still costing lives every day. Although Ukrainian military have raised Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag over a police station in the center of the city of Luhansk, that has been like a rebel hotel for several months. The bad news for Ukraine is that rebels still control other parts of the city.

Luhansk is the smaller of the two cities rebels have had complete control of until now. But in spite of their victories in the past, unless Russia intervenes, the rebels days do aren’t seem numbered. Not only has the ragtag military of Ukraine been outfighting the Russian-speaking army in the past month, but the rebels seem to be falling apart. In Luhansk, three of their key battlefield commanders have quit and left the others. Also squabbles among the red military and a breakdown of the discipline they have had until now is helping them to defeat themselves.

Nothing I’m saying means the rebels aren’t fighting furiously to survive. These separatists shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane yesterday after it launched an attack on them. Ukrainians report that the pilot was rescued and taken to a safe place.

All of this was happening while the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were meeting in Berlin discussing a possible humanitarian cease-fire, and aid to be given to the injured on both sides.

A 200 ton convoy of 16 white trucks, a gift of humanitarian relief from Russia, are ready and have been waiting for the Ukrainians to allow them to enter their border. A mystery surrounds the convoy that a few nights ago was supposedly destroyed by Ukraine when it entered without welcome. But Russia claimed all of their convoy was still waiting to enter by permission.

Rebels in Luhansk

 

If any trucks were destroyed by Ukraine, no one knows who was driving them or what they carried. Yet reporters examining the scene where the destruction was supposed to occur could find no sign of such action having happened.

There is great humanitarian need in Luhansk. Ukrainian forces have stopped all ground delivery of basic provisions for the people of Luhansk and cut off both electricity and running water.

Vladimir Putin has said after annexing Crimea he was not going to invade Ukraine any further. However it is obvious by the best of military equipment and weaponry the rebels are using, that they were heavily stocked by Russia. Ukraine doesn’t trust anything Putin says or does.

 

Because of the great need, Ukraine brought a huge x-ray machine to the border. Paul Picard, who is the head of the Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe, a neutral organization that monitors all things that happen at the Russian/Ukrainian borders, said the machine would be used to x-ray the cargo in the trucks.

Frequent shelling and fighting continues in Donetsk, Ukraine’s largest city which is still being held by the rebels. The rebel leader in that city, Alexander ZACH – ARCHENKO, proudly announced Friday that 1200 fighters who were trained in Russia have joined the rebel cause.

In a video of his speech that was posted online over the weekend, Zacharchenko said that the new troops have arrived at a “crucial moment.” He also said his military now as 150 armored vehicles that includes 30 tanks, and have gathered near a “corridor” along the Russian border. He did not say whether the armored vehicles had come from Russia. But the answer appears obvious.

Vladimir Putin’s military spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, yesterday however continues to deny that Russia supplied any armored vehicles to the separatists.

Vladimir Putin’s military spokesman, Dmitry Peskov

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For those who might be complaining about the money President Obama is spending at Martha’s Vineyard, he is not the only one with exorbitant tastes. In fact, he is totally outclassed by Hillary Clinton.

 

And if Hillary Clinton isn’t sure she is running for president, why does she demand from any group she speaks for The Presidential Suite in the top five-star hotel in any city, along with up to three adjoining rooms for her travel aides, and up to two additional single rooms for the advance staff?

Bellagio Presidential Suite, Las Vegas

 

 

And not just a private jet, but it has to meet her specifications – a thirty-nine million dollar, sixteen passenger Gulfstream G450 or larger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Clinton – that’s her husband – only gets two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for a single speech. But Hillary gets three hundred thousand dollars for a single speech. And the two remain single most of the time.

 

In her standard contract as a speaker, she insists that she will be the only one on stage during her remarks. Her speech will last no longer than ninety minutes. She will pose for no more than fifty pictures with no more than one hundred people. And she will allow no press conferences or either audio or video taping of her speech.

 

The only recording of Hillary’s speech will be done by her stenographer and the only copy of the speech will be given to Hillary. The stenographer will be given one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars – the money to go to the Clinton Foundation.

 

Her lead travel aide is to be given five hundred dollars for Hillary’s out-of-pocket expenses.

 

All meals and incidentals are also to be five-star for herself, her travel aides and advance staff. All phone charges for any of them will be paid for by hosts.

 

Hillary must also have final approval of all moderators or introducers.

 

Not bad for a woman who left the White House broke and may return there richer than a queen! I wonder where she’d go on her vacations?

 

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The real measure of a person’s value is how much they’d be worth it they lost all of their money.

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So until tomorrow morning, this is Ray Mossholder praying for you my friend. May you have a miraculous night!

 

WORLDWIDE EVENING NEWS FROM RAY August 18, 2014