Sunday morning news with Ray – September 6, 2015

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Sunday morning news with Ray – September 6, 2015


From the headquarters of Reach More Now in Fort Worth, Texas, and this is the morning news for Sunday, August 6, 2015……

A Russian intelligence ship, capable of cutting undersea communications cables and other sensors, has been spotted by the U.S. military off the coast of Kings Bay, Ga., home to the U.S. Navy’s East Coast ballistic missile submarine fleet.

U.S. military satellites have been tracking the Russian spy ship since it was spotted in the north Atlantic last month and slowly began transiting toward its next destination — Cuba.  A senior military official said the ship is now about 300 miles off the coast of the U.S., as it heads toward the island.

Another senior defense official told Fox News that while the Pentagon is tracking the Russian intel ship, the Russian ship “remains in international waters.”

When asked if the U.S. had similar spy ships off the coast of Russia, he answered, “Of course we do, what do you think all those ‘oceanographic ships’ are doing, studying whales?”

At the U.S. sub base in Georgia, there are six Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, known as “boomers,” each capable of firing 24 Trident intercontinental ballistic missiles. Each missile holds up to 10 independent nuclear warheads. In addition to the ballistic missile subs, there are two other guided-missile subs capable of firing hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

In January, another Russian spy ship was spotted moored in Havana harbor in Cuba.  Russian intel ships have been spotted in Cuba on a number of occasions in the past year.

The Washington Free Beacon was first to report the most recent sighting of the Russian spy ship.

In April, the head of the U.S. military’s Northern Command, Adm. Bill Gortney, confirmed the presence of two other Russian military ships operating near the United States at the time.

Separately, five Chinese warships were spotted in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska during President Obama’s visit to the state – but they have turned around and are heading back in the direction of China, according to a defense official briefed on the latest intelligence Thursday morning.

“They were the same ships that took part in the Russian-Chinese naval exercises which recently concluded in the Sea of Japan,” the official said.

In a possibly unrelated story, unconfirmed reports about Russia possibly planning to expand its military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad has prompted a warning from the U.S. that such actions could lead to a clash with coalition forces.

The State Department issued a statement after Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to express concern over the rumors “suggesting an imminent enhanced Russian military build-up” in Syria.

The State Department said Kerry made it clear to Lavrov in their conversation that such actions “could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation” with the anti-Islamic State coalition led by the U.S. that is carrying out airstrikes in Syria. However, the State Department didn’t elaborate or confirm the accuracy of those reports.

Russia has been an ally of Assad throughout Syria’s civil war and has provided diplomatic support and weaponry to help the Syrian leader maintain his grip on power. Moscow also maintains a small naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartous on the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, anti-government violence erupted on Saturday in the southern Syrian province of Sweida. The violence followed the killing of prominent cleric Sheik Wahid Balous in an explosion, which also claimed the lives of at least 25 others. Rioters holding the government responsible for the cleric’s death destroyed the statue of late Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and besieged security offices, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups said.

Balous died in one of two consecutive car bomb explosions, including one near the National Hospital in Sweida. He was strong supporter of the rebels trying to topple Asasd.

The Observatory said the death toll rose Saturday to 37, including six security personnel killed in clashes with rioters. The city had witnessed large rallies in the days before the explosions against the failure of the government to provide basic services. Activists reported that there was no Internet service for the past few days.

Syria’s official news agency and other activist groups put the death toll from the blasts at 26. There was no immediate claim of responsibly for the bombings.

The Syrian government called the blasts “cowardly terrorist acts.” A police commander in the city, Mohammed Samra, said Sweida was “calm and stable” and denied any unrest, saying reports of violence were aimed at undermining security in the area.

Some of Balous’ supporters said in a statement they will expel security forces from Sweida province, which until now has largely stayed out of the fighting in Syria’s civil war.

City elders appealed for calm, warning against attempts to drag the province toward violence. Another statement from the city’s Druze leaders urged supporters to be patient as the cleric’s brother, who was seriously wounded in the attack, recovers.

A 10th century offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Druze made up about 5 percent of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million people, and is split between supporters and opponents of Assad.

In neighboring Lebanon, which also has a sizeable Druze population, the sect’s political leader Walid Jumblatt said Balous’s death was a “painful strike” to the community.

“It is time for the honorable citizens (of Sweida) to rise up in the face of the Syrian regime that wants repression and to spread sedition,” he told the anti-government Syrian Orient TV.

The National Syrian Coalition opposition group in exile also blamed the Syrian government for the killing of the cleric, known as “the Dignity Sheikh,” saying it was part of an attempt to stop the anti-government protests in recent days. In a statement, coalition member Suheir Attasi said killing Balous only “increased the popular anger in the province.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

An Arizona judge upheld the state’s landmark immigration law on Friday after challengers failed to show that police would enforce the statute differently for Latinos than it would for people of other ethnicities.

The ruling could signal the end of the case and give a victory to backers of the 2010 law.  U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the challenge and upheld provisions previously ruled on by appeals courts.

Bolton upheld the law’s controversial requirement that police, while enforcing other laws, can question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. The Supreme Court also upheld the requirement, but the law’s challengers continued to try to get it overturned at a lower-level court.

Opponents have “not produced any evidence that state law enforcement officials will enforce SB1070 differently for Latinos than a similarly situated person of another race or ethnicity,” Bolton wrote.

It’s unclear whether challengers will appeal Bolton’s ruling. Karen Tumlin, an attorney representing a coalition of civil rights groups, said in a statement they would “evaluate all legal options moving forward.”

Former state Sen. Russell Pearce, who sponsored the initial legislation, applauded Bolton’s judgment.

“She made it very clear the law was written very carefully not to be a race issue. It’s not a racial law,” Pearce said.

The judge did make one change to the law. She permanently barred a section of the law that prohibited people from blocking traffic when seeking or offering day labor services on the streets. An appeals court previously also held Arizona couldn’t force such provisions. Opponents argued that day labor rules unconstitutionally restrict the free speech rights of people who want to express their need for work.

Arizona’s frustrations over federal enforcement of the state’s border with Mexico spawned a movement nearly a decade ago to have local police confront illegal immigration. Several such laws — including the state’s ban on immigrant smuggling and automatic denial of bail to people in the country illegally who are charged with certain crimes — have since been thrown out by the courts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

(CNN)West Point thrives on tradition, including a mass pillow fight held on campus to give first-year students a chance to blow off steam after a “tough first summer” of basic training, academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. said in a statement.

But the pillow fight held August 20 got rough, with 30 members of the class of 2019 requiring medical attention and 24 suffering concussions, Caslen said in a statement.

Other injuries included a broken nose, a dislocated shoulder, and a hairline fracture of a cheekbone, he said. All the students have returned to duty.

Caslen didn’t say how the injuries occurred but that an investigation has been started.

The New York Times, which broke the story, reported some plebes swung pillow cases containing hard objects.

A video posted on YouTube showed several hundred students pouring into a courtyard and swinging pillowcases in a disorganized manner.

“While these spirit events do occur, we never condone any activity that results in intentional harm to a teammate,” he said. ” Although the vast majority of the class appears to have maintained the spirit of the event; it is apparent that a few did not.”

Medical personnel will follow up with the injured students, he said.

Caslen also said he takes full responsibility for the pillow fight. “We remain committed to the development of leaders of character. We will continue our investigation, ensure accountability, and reinforce with the Corps that we must all take care of our teammates.”

 

US President Barack Obama celebrates his 54th birthday on August 4. Traditionally, Obama goes to Hawaii for his birthday, where he plays golf with his friends. Sometimes, Obama’s golf trips to Hawaii raise scandals in the United States as Obama goes to relax at the time when he should deal with many more important things in the White House. The US elite has chosen the president who is inexperienced in everything: in business, politics, administration, diplomacy, and so on and so forth. This leads to strategic errors in domestic and foreign policy. There is even a prophecy that the 44th President of the US will be the last.

1. A Harvard graduate, Barack Obama is weak in history, geography and English. “We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, the Interstate Highway System,” Obama once said. To do that, the US would have to build a railroad to Paris. Praising an interpreter of Haitian descent, Barack Obama called him “Navy Corpse-man Christian Brossard” making a mistake in pronunciation. Interestingly, Obama believes that residents of Austria speak the “Austrian language.” Obama believes that there are 57 states in the USA, although there are 50 of them, plus the District of Columbia. Such slips of the tongue may cause international scandal. The United States had to apologize to Poland for Obama’s remarks about WWII.  Talking about the Holocaust, the US president referred to “a Polish death camp” while posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski.

2. Barack Obama does not know the rules of diplomatic etiquette. He may have bad advisors too. British newspapers had written a lot about the exchange of gifts between Obama and then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during the visit of the latter to Washington in March 2009. Barack Obama reportedly gave Brown 25 classic American DVDs, while Brown presented Obama with an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet and the first edition of seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

3. Barack Obama ignores his allies. Millions of people, including more than 50 world leaders, marched in an anti-terrorist “Je suis Charlie” action in Paris. Barack Obama did not come to France – it was US ambassador to France Jane Hartley that was in Paris instead. It took White House officials a long time to explain to allies that Barack Obama misspoke when he said in an interview with Vox that the attack on a kosher store in Paris was “accidental”, while Paris was trumpeting that the terrorist act had been prepared in advance. In fact, the attack was not a terrorist act – it was an operation of special services, quite possibly, American ones. Barack Obama was aware of that. The day after the crash of the Malaysian Boeingin the sky over the Donbass, when Western leaders and celebrities were donating money to help the victims of the terrible tragedy, the US president attended an event to raise funds for the Democratic National Committee in New York City.

4. Let the world go to hell, but I will play golf. Sounds like an allusion to the film “I Am Legend.” In America, many still can not forgive Obama for the game of golf that he played after the execution of the first hostage of the Islamic State, American photojournalist James Foley. Barack Obama does not know what to do to counter the threat of the Islamic State. The President played his 200th game of golf in October, and the same day, a second American was diagnosed with Ebola virus, many US publications wrote. One shall assume that Americans think of Obama as a golf player, rather than a politician.

5. Barack Obama has a sense of superiority to his fellow citizens. Speaking at The Tonight Show, he made an awkward joke when he said that his bowling was “like Special Olympics or something” (a competition for mentally handicapped people). In the US, this type of humor is unacceptable for all, even for presidents. On January 8, 2015, Barack Obama’s motorcade drove past the Phoenix hospital for veterans who had requested assistance from the US administration in the provision of housing and medical treatment. There was a big scandal. The Americans were very upset, when Barack Obama did not  allow journalists to attend the ceremony commemorating the 45th anniversary of the first American mission to the moon.

6. Barack Obama is indecisive when it comes to red lines. He drew a red line for Bashar al-Assad and threatened to invade Syria, but when it was time to act, Obama refused to fight without the permission from the Congress, which, incidentally, he never received. Obama drew a red line for Russia as well. He said that Russia would have to pay a very high price for its actions in Ukraine. Obama said that Russia would be isolated from the world, but it never happened. According to IMF, Western sanctions cost Russia nine percent of GDP. Russia is building a new world order in cooperation with China, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Does Obama still believe in Russia’s isolation?

7. The Americans are very concerned about the current state of affairs in the nation’s economy. Obama has bad history when it comes to jobs, the unemployment rate, social and business projects. Barack Obama is finishing his second term with a civil war between the blacks and the whites, the goal of which is to win the votes of the blacks.

8. The President of the United States does not learn lessons of the past. He pulled US troops out from Iraq promising to end the unjust war in the country. Islamic State fighters filled the vacuum instantly. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was referred to as a peacemaker after the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler in 1938, but Chamberlain was ridiculed when fascism conquered Europe. The agreement with Iran will be ridiculed too: if Barack Obama has ensured peace, it will last only till the end of his term in the office.

9. Barack Obama does not have the free spirit of an American entrepreneur either. Of course, Obama is not pleased with Russia’s support for Iran, Syria and the Russian world in Ukraine. Many observers believe the White House imposed sanctions against Russia because of Putin’s decision not to deliver Edward Snowden to the USA. Crimea’s reunion was used as a distraction. In American gangster films, there is a tradition to say “nothing personal, just business” when killing someone. The slogan reflects the common American belief that it is business that sets rules of conduct. Obama takes revenge on Putin personally – this is bad for business, bad for his country, bad for the West.

Lyuba Lulko
Pravda.Ru – See more at: http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/04-08-2015/131574-barack_obama_birthday-0/#sthash.XOwNY0OV.dpuf

Sunday morning news with Ray – September 6, 2015

Sunday morning news with Ray – September 6, 2015

Ray"s Today in History – July 22, 2015

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Ray’s Today in History – July 22, 2015

July 22, 2015 – This is Ray Mossholder with today in history.

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln informs his chief advisors and cabinet that he will issue a proclamation to free slaves, but adds that he will wait until the Union Army has achieved a substantial military victory to make the announcement.

The issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation had less to do with ending slavery than saving the crumbling union. In an August 1862 letter to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, Lincoln confessed “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” He hoped a strong statement declaring a national policy of emancipation would stimulate a rush of the South’s slaves into the ranks of the Union Army, thus depleting the Confederacy’s labor force, on which it depended to wage war against the North.

As promised, Lincoln waited to unveil the proclamation until he could do so on the heels of a successful Union military advance. On September 22, 1862, after a victory at Antietam, he publicly announced a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863. Lincoln and his advisors limited the proclamation’s language to slavery in states outside of federal control as of 1862. The proclamation did not, however, address the contentious issue of slavery within the nation’s border states. In his attempt to appease all parties, Lincoln left many loopholes open that civil rights advocates began working on in the 1960s. They are still working on them today.

On this day in 1793, Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean across from what is today called Vancouver Island. Using a paint he concocted from grease and vermilion, he wrote on a rock: “Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.” With this inscription, Great Britain staked its first tenuous claim on the northwest.

Aside from the Spanish explorers who had previously crossed the comparatively narrow Mexican land mass, Mackenzie was the first Euro-American to cross the North American continent to reach the Pacific Ocean. Yet, he considered his achievement to be “at least in part a failure” because he had failed to find a passable commercial route. Mackenzie later returned to Scotland and never returned to Canada. Twelve years later, the discoveries he made on what he had called his “failed” voyage played a key role in President Thomas Jefferson’s decision to send Lewis and Clark on their two-year journey to the Pacific.

On July 22, 1923, John Herbert Dillinger joins the Navy in order to avoid charges of auto theft in Indiana, marking the beginning of America’s most notorious criminal’s downfall. Years later, Dillinger’s reputation was forged in a single 12-month period, during which he robbed more banks than Jesse James did in 15 years and became the most wanted fugitive in the nation.

J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, reportedly put out an order that agents should shoot Dillinger on sight. An immigrant named Anna Sage offered to set the outlaw up if deportation proceedings against her for operating a brothel were dropped.

On July 22, 1934, detective Martin Zarkovich shot a man identified by the FBI as Dillinger as he was leaving the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Some historians believe that the man killed that day was not Dillinger, and that Dillinger may have engineered the setup to drop out of sight. If so, he was successful–no further record of Dillinger exists.

In August 1935, he was attempting to fly across the North Pole to the USSR with American humorist Will Rogers when both men were killed in a crash near Point Barrow, Alaska.

July 22, 1940 – Jeopardy’s TV game host Alex Trebek was born in Sudbury Ontario, Canada

On this day in 1942, the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto begins, as thousands are rounded up daily and transported to a newly constructed concentration/extermination camp at Treblinka, in Poland.

On July 17, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi SS, arrived at Auschwitz, the concentration camp in eastern Poland, in time to watch the arrival of more than 2,000 Dutch Jews and the gassing of almost 500 of them, mostly the elderly, sick and very young. The next day, Himmler promoted the camp commandant, Rudolph Hoess, to SS major and ordered that the Warsaw ghetto (the Jewish quarter constructed by the Nazis upon the occupation of Poland, enclosed first by barbed wire and then by brick walls), be depopulated–a “total cleansing,” as he described it–and the inhabitants transported to what was to become a second extermination camp constructed at the railway village of Treblinka, 62 miles northeast of Warsaw.

Within the first seven weeks of Himmler’s order, more than 250,000 Jews were taken to Treblinka by rail and gassed to death, marking the largest single act of destruction of any population group, Jewish or non-Jewish, civilian or military, in the war. Upon arrival at “T. II,” as this second camp at Treblinka was called, prisoners were separated by sex, stripped, and marched into what were described as “bathhouses,” but were in fact gas chambers.

T. II’s first commandant was Dr. Irmfried Eberl, age 32, the man who had headed up the euthanasia program of 1940 and had much experience with the gassing of victims, especially children. He compelled several hundred Ukrainian and about 1,500 Jewish prisoners to assist him. They removed gold teeth from victims before hauling the bodies to mass graves. Eberl was relieved of his duties for “inefficiency.” It seems that he and his workers could not remove the corpses quickly enough, and panic was occurring within the railway cars of newly arrived prisoners.

By the end of the war, between 700,000 and 900,000 would die at either Treblinka I or II. Hoess was tried and sentenced to death by the Nuremberg Tribunal. He was hanged in 1947.

July 22, 1979 – Rock ‘n roll legend Little Richard, known as Reverend Richard Penniman, spoke at a revival meeting in North Richmond, CA. He warned the congregation about the evils of rock & roll music.

July 22, 1987 – In a dramatic turnaround, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that he is willing to negotiate a ban on intermediate-range nuclear missiles without conditions. Gorbachev’s decision paved the way for the groundbreaking Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States.

Since coming to power in 1985, Gorbachev had made it clear that he sought a less contentious relationship with the United States. His American counterpart, President Ronald Reagan, was a staunch anticommunist and initially harbored deep suspicions about Gorbachev’s sincerity.

But after several times of meeting together, Gorbachev seemed to have a sincere personal trust in and friendship with Ronald Reagan, and this feeling was apparently reciprocal. In December 1987, during a summit in Washington, the two men signed off on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.

Finally, Gorbachev seemed to have a sincere personal trust in and friendship with Ronald Reagan, and this feeling was apparently reciprocal. In December 1987, during a summit in Washington, the two men signed off on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.

July 22, 1991, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police officers spot Tracy Edwards running down the street in handcuffs, and upon investigation, they find one of the grisliest scenes in modern history-Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment.

Edwards told the police that Dahmer had held him at his apartment and threatened to kill him. Although they initially thought the story was dubious, the officers took Edwards back to Dahmer’s apartment. Dahmer calmly explained that the whole matter was simply a misunderstanding and the officers almost believed him. However, they spotted a few Polaroid photos of dismembered bodies, and Dahmer was arrested.

When Dahmer’s apartment was fully searched, a house of horrors was revealed. In addition to photo albums full of pictures of body parts, the apartment was littered with human remains: Several heads were in the refrigerator and freezer; two skulls were on top of the computer; and a 57-gallon drum containing several bodies decomposing in chemicals was found in a corner of the bedroom. Dahmer later confessed to 17 murders in all, dating back to his first victim in 1978.There was also evidence to suggest that Dahmer had been eating some of his victims.

The jury rejected Dahmer’s insanity defense, and he was sentenced to 15 life terms. He survived one attempt on his life in July 1994, but was killed by another inmate on November 28, 1994.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s sons, Qusay and Uday Hussein, are killed after a three-hour firefight with U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. It is widely believed that the two men were even more barbaric and evil than their notorious father. Both were rapists of girls as young as 12, grossly sadistic torturers and murderers and their death was celebrated among many Iraqis. Uday and Qusay were 39 and 37 years old, respectively, when they died. Both are said to have amassed considerable fortunes through their participation in illegal oil smuggling.

Though it was widely speculated that they would not be found together because of their mutual hate for each other, an informant’s tip led U.S. Special Forces to a house in which they were both staying on July 22, 2003. After drawing fire, the soldiers withdrew, until receiving backup in the form of 100 troops from the 101st Airborne division, Apache helicopters, and an A-10 gunship. A battle ensued, after which Americans entered the house and found the bodies of the two brothers, as well as that of Qusay’s 14-year-old son. They were buried in a cemetery near the city of Tikrit, their father’s birthplace.

On July 22, 2003, U.S. Army Private Jessica Lynch, a prisoner-of-war who was rescued from an Iraqi hospital, receives a hero’s welcome when she returns to her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia. The story of the 19-year-old supply clerk, who was captured by Iraqi forces in March 2003, gripped America; however, it was later revealed that some details of Lynch’s dramatic capture and rescue might have been exaggerated.

In April 2007, Lynch testified before Congress that she had falsely been portrayed as a “little girl Rambo” and the U.S. military had hyped her story for propaganda reasons. According to Lynch: “I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary.” She added: “The truth of war is not always easy to hear but is always more heroic than the hype.”

Finally today, July 22, 2015

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Demonstrators gathered in New York City’s Times Square this evening evening in protest over the recent landmark nuclear deal with Iran.

As CBS2’s Jessica Schneider reported, thousands are rallying in solidarity with signs and voices raised against the nuclear deal struck by Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama.

Protest organizers proclaim: “Washington is prepared to give Iran virtually all that it needs to get to the bomb. To release $150 billion to Iran will result in the expansion of worldwide terror.”

The Stop Iran Rally Coalition — which claims to be a bi-partisan group — is also calling out Sen. Charles Schumer, saying he “has the votes as presumptive leader to override this deal….If this deal is not stopped, New York voters will know whom to blame.”

Sen. Schumer said in a statement Wednesday that he wasn’t ready to make a decision on the deal yet.

“I’ve read the agreement and I’m seeking answers to the many questions I have. Before I make a decision, I’m going to speak at length with experts on both sides,” the lawmaker said.

In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry led back-to-back, closed-door briefings, trying to sway lawmakers to approve the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“We are convinced that the agreement that we have arrived at with world powers is an agreement that will prevent Iran from the potential of securing a nuclear weapon. It will make the region, our friends and allies safer, it will make the world safer,” Kerry said. “And we are convinced that the absence of any viable alternative absolutely underscores that fact.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. is fiercely lobbying lawmakers to reject the deal. And Republicans are pledging to do just that.

“Because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, and we’re going to do everything possible to stop it,” said Speaker of the House Representative John Boehner.

And many at the rally said more people in the country need to start listening and speaking out as well.

“I’m very concerned about what our situation is here. Nobody wants this deal to go through and we’re hoping that Obama will hear the voice of the American people and we’re hoping thatCongress will listen to what we have say. And hopefully we can do something about that,” said one protester.

“I feel people really don’t understand the main issue. To me the main issue is not what happens 10 years from now, but what happens as soon as the sanctions are removed from Iran,” another protester told Schneider. “Which is the main terrorist regime in the world, which spreads terrorism all around the world, which is responsible for the deaths of Americans as well as Israelis.”

Several academic, military, and political leaders spoke to the crowd tonight. All of them urge that this is an issue that transcends politics and they’re urging Congress to keep sanctions against Iran, even if it means overRay’s Today in History – July 22, 2015riding President Barack Obama’s likely veto on any legislation against the deal, Schneider reported.

Ray’s Today in History – July 22, 2015

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So until the next newscast this is Ray Mossholder, praying for you my friend. Have a miraculous day!

Ray"s Today in History – July 22, 2015

Mid-afternoon News with Ray – Monday July 20, 2015

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Mid-afternoon News with Ray – Monday July 20, 2015

Cuban officials formally opened their embassy in Washington, D.C., fully restoring diplomatic relations between the nations after five decades of hostility.

At midnight Monday, Cuba’s flag was hung in the lobby of the U.S. State Department.

“A new stage will begin, long and complex, on the road toward normalization which will require the will to find solutions to the problems that have accumulated over more than five decades and hurt ties between our nations and peoples,” Cuban President Raul Castro said in a televised address.

Likewise, the United States reopened its six-story embassy in Cuba’s captial city of Havana.

“It’s a historic moment,” Cuban diplomat and analyst Carlos Alzugaray said. “The significance of opening the embassies is that trust and respect that you can see, both sides treating the other with trust and respect.”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be conflicts — there are bound to be conflicts,” he acknowledged. “But the way that you treat the conflict has completely changed.”

 

 Greek banks finally reopened Monday after being closed for three weeks.

Long lines formed outside banks in Athens as strict limits on cash withdrawals remain in place — 60 euros ($65) a day or a maximum 420 euro ($455) withdrawal weekly.

“I had 20 euros in my pocket when this happened. They said that today we would be able to withdraw 400 euros, but I could only withdraw 60,” pensioner Andreas Chrisavas said.

Greek banks closed their doors on June 29 to prevent a run on the banks after the country flirted with bankruptcy, defaulting on debts to the International Monetary Fund as its second bailout deal expired.

Now average Greek citizens will have to pay for austerity at the cash register in the form of a 23 percent sales tax, up from 13 percent, on many basic goods, making almost everything more expensive in this poor nation. Pensions have also been cut.

Bank customers will still not be able to cash checks, only deposit them into their accounts. Neither will they be able to use their credit or debit cards to withdraw cash abroad, only make purchases.

For Greeks, this is not a solution. And far left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is struggling to contain a growing revolt within his own party over the deal.

 

 JERUSALEM, Israel — The Obama administration and the Netanyahu government continued their campaigns to either endorse or criticize the nuclear deal with Iran. The debate took place as Congress begins its 60-day period to review the agreement.

Both Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took turns on the Sunday talk shows defending their positions.

“Ronald Reagan negotiated with the former Soviet Union. Richard Nixon negotiated with what was then known as Red China. You have to negotiate sometimes with people to make the world and your country safer,” Kerry told told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“And we negotiated because President Obama thought the primary challenge here was getting a nuclear weapon away from Iran and we believe that this deal does that,” he added.

But Netanyahu suggested Iran had just received its “dream deal,” warning the agreement was destined for the same end as the 1994 accord with North Korea.

“There was a celebrated deal just a few years ago, a nuclear deal everybody — the international community, the scientific community — everybody applauded it,” Netanyahu said on “Face the Nation.”

“It was a deal with North Korea,” he continued. “That proved to be a historic deal as well. And North Korea today has a dozen nuclear bombs and is on track to get a hundred nuclear bombs. So I think that this is a repeat of the mistake of North Korea.”

Meanwhile, the clock began ticking on the 60-day period for Congress to review the agreement. The Obama administration, however, plans to take the accord to the U.N. Security Council before Congress can vote.

While Kerry and Netanyahu staked out their positions and Congress began its review of the accord, crowds in Tehran shouted “Death to America.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed Iran’s policy toward what he called the “arrogant” United States would not change and pledged to support its allies in the region.

“America’s regional policies run counter to the Islamic Republic’s policies,” Khamenei said. “We will not stop supporting our friends in the region: the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Yemen, the people and government of Syria, the people and government of Iraq, the oppressed people of Bahrain, and the true jihadists in Lebanon and Palestine.”

With billions of dollars in sanctions relief, many Middle East observers fear Iran will soon be able to resupply the terror groups: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

In the meantime, as one more sign of the growing tensions in the region, 47 percent of Israelis would support a unilateral strike against Iran’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council gave the Iran nuclear deal a nod of approval on Monday. While the council unanimously endorsed the accord limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting sanctions, it also voted in favor of a measure that would re-impose U.N. penalties should the country breach the agreement. 

 

Several states that have ordered the National Guard to arm military personnel at facilities and recruiting offices in the wake of last week’s shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Those states include Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida.

“I will not permit our citizen-soldiers to remain unable to defend themselves and our facilities around the state,” Indiana Gov.  Mike Pence told reporters.

The Pentagon also ordered recruiters into civilian clothes at the office.

Skip Wells was one of the four Marines killed in the shootings in Chattanooga last week.

“We send our service people into harm’s way overseas and that tends to be when we worry about them the most,” his father, Kip Wells, told reporters. “We don’t tend to worry so much when they’re here at home.”

Nancy Proxmire, the mother of the fifth victim, Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith, made a trip to the memorial outside the military recruiting office in Chattanooga on Sunday. Smith died of his wounds in the hospital Saturday.

In tears, Proxmire told reporters, “My son is a hero! He died doing what he loved. He’d have it no other way.”

Meanwhile, the family of the alleged gunman, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, broke their silence this weekend. They expressed sympathy to the victims’ families and noted that the 24-year-old suffered serious mental illness and depression.

“There are no words to describe our shock, horror, and grief,” the family said in a statement.

“We understand there are many legitimate questions that need to be answered,” the family said. “Having said this, now is the time to reflect on the victims and their families, and we feel it would be inappropriate to say anything more other than that we are truly sorry for their loss.”

Abdulazeez was a devout Muslim. So far, the FBI has no evidence he talked with terrorists.

 

While the biggest weather story of the week is undoubtedly the blockbuster snow affecting western New York, there’s an equally rare phenomenon occurring on the other side of the country: it’s raining in California, and more could come as we head into the winter.

After a winter and early spring yielding record low Sierra snowpack compounding a crippling multi-year drought, parts of California saw a strangely out-of-season soaking late this past week.

Record rainfall fell in southern California. On Thursday, showers and thunderstorms brought locally heavy rainfall to the San Diego area. San Diego International Airport measured 1.51 inches of rain in just about 90 minutes. A total of 1.63 inches fell on Thursday at Lindbergh Field, making it the wettest day in May on record.

This heavy rain brought flash flooding to the area with multiple water rescues reported. There was also a rain delay for the baseball game between the Washington Nationals at San Diego Padres on Thursday night. This is only the fifth rain delay at San Diego’s Petco Park since opening in 2004.

San Diego is also experiencing its second wettest May as of Friday evening, with a monthly total of 2.35 inches. The current record for wettest May is 2.54 inches set in 1921.

Record rainfall also occurred in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday where a daily rainfall record of 0.69 inches of rain was set. LA broke the daily record rainfall again on Friday with an additional 0.16 inches. The previous record was only 0.03 inches set in 1902.

Satellite image and jet stream midday Thursday along the West Coast. Teal-shaded streamlines depict the strongest jet-stream level winds, illustrating the sharp southward plunge of the jet stream off the West Coast. 

For much of this past winter and early spring, the polar jet stream had taken a large northward migration into Canada, keeping Pacific storms away from the West Coast. 

Instead, late this past week, the jet took a sharp southward plunge over the eastern Pacific Ocean, steering vigorous upper-level disturbances into the West Coast. 

While this precipitation may be considered “manna from heaven” in this sun-worshipping state, it is only a tiny drop in a massive bucket that is this multi-year drought. 

Let’s stick to the positive news, here. How unusual is this May rain?

How Rare is a May California Soaking?

January-April was the third driest such period on record in California, exceeded only by 2013 — the state’s record driest year — and 1977.

From May through October, only 9 percent of the year’s average rain fell in Los Angeles. 

In May, that monthly average was a mere 0.26 inches of rain as the dry season started to set in.

However, L.A. picked up almost four times their average May rainfall in just a two-day time span this week (Thursday and Friday). 

In fact, L.A. has only recorded 13 Mays since 1878 with at least an inch of rain, for an average return interval of once every 10-11 years. This last occurred in 2003. 

In San Diego, this is even more unusual.

Only once since 1930 has this city synonymous with picture-perfect weather seen a one-inch rainfall in May — May 8, 1977 — when 1.49 inches was measured at Lindbergh Field. 

Sierra snow isn’t all that typical in May, either.

Tahoe City, California, only averages 2.3 inches of May snow. By this time of year, spring snowmelt of the heavy Sierra snowpack is well underway, replenishing the state’s reservoirs, a prime source of drinking water.

Senior weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen noted the winter storm warning issued for the Sierra earlier this week was the latest-in-season such warning by the National Weather Service in Sacramento since 2011. 

To reiterate, this welcome May event is a tiny drop of drought relief.

While often overstated and oversimplified to imply relief is certain, the developing El Nino may offer hope since the Pacific storm track may not be blocked from California as often next fall and winter, when the real wet season returns to a thirsty state. 

 

Tornadoes ripped through western Illinois Thursday, with the town of Cameron, population 600, taking a direct hit.

Video captured several funnels forming as a multi-vortex storm ripped through Warren County, located southwest of Chicago.

The twisters caused significant damage and left many residents without power. Illinois State Police officials say there no major injuries.

“I lived in this town in 1989 when the last tornado touched down,” Cameron resident Mike Trout, told the Galesburg Register-Mail. “The damage this time is far, far worse; 1989 doesn’t even compare to this.”

 

Honeybee ‘Crisis’ Now Seen as False Alarm

In 2006 commercial beekeepers began reporting unusually high rates of honeybee die-offs over the winter, blaming a variety of factors for the decline.

Since then the media have warned of a “beepocalypse” threatening America’s food supply. In 2013, NPR said bee declines could bring “a crisis point for crops,” and a Time magazine cover looked ahead at a “world without bees” that are responsible for pollinating one-third of the crops Americans eat.

But here’s the buzz now: There are more honeybee colonies in the U.S. today than in 2006. Data released in March by the Department of Agriculture showed that the number of honeybee colonies is at a 20-year high, and U.S. honey production is at a 10-year high.

“Since colony collapse disorder began in 2006, there has been virtually no detectable effect on the total number of honeybee colonies in the United States, nor has there been any significant impact on food prices or production,” according to the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), a Montana-based non-profit environmental think tank, which attributes the industry’s health to the “savvy” of commercial beekeepers.

The beekeepers have been actively rebuilding their colonies, often by splitting healthy colonies into multiple hives and buying new queen bees from commercial breeders.

The fees beekeepers charge farmers to provide pollination services have risen for a few crops, but the higher fees have helped beekeepers offset the cost of rebuilding their hives.

According to the USDA, the honeybee industry thrived last year, with the number of colonies rising to 2.74 million from 2.64 million in 2013. The honey yield per colony also rose, from 56.6 pounds to 65.1 pounds, and production increased from 149 million pounds to 178 million.

Yet the Obama administration last year announced the formation of a task force to develop a “federal strategy” to promote honeybees and other pollinators. Last month the task force disclosed a plan aimed at reducing honeybee-colony losses to “sustainable” levels. It calls for more than $82 million in federal funding to promote pollinator health.

PERC observed: “Somehow, without a national strategy to help them, beekeepers have maintained their colonies and continued to provide the pollination services our modern agricultural system demands.

“With U.S. honeybee colonies now at a 20-year high, you have to wonder: Is our national pollination strategy a solution in search of a crisis?”

 

 Last week, pro-life activists published a three-hour video of Planned Parenthood’s top doctor talking about the exchange of fetal organs that are extracted from women during abortion. “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part,” Dr. Deborah Nucatola tells her lunch guests, undercover activists who posed as members of a biologics startup. “I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”

Ever since the video’s release, the apologists for legal abortion at Planned Parenthood and in the media have been trying to crush this story with euphemisms. The mainstream media dutifully repeated and expanded on Planned Parenthood’s talking points. The story went like this: A group of fanatics, one of whom is known to pray (ew!), perpetrated a hoax. They falsely portrayed Planned Parenthood’s program of life-saving tissue donations as a sale (which would be illegal).

What has gone largely unmentioned is that the activists also released a complete unedited video. The media went to extreme lengths to avoid quoting this doctor on which parts of an unborn child she “crushes” to preserve valuable organs. The media also failed to mention that she discussed Planned Parenthood affiliates that want to “do a little better than break even” on these transactions. And the reports don’t mention that a firm associated with the sale of these fetal livers, hearts, and headsadvertised the fiscal benefits of preserving them, and had that very daytaken its website offline.

Planned Parenthood’s top talking point was that the video was “dishonestly edited.” The truth is more the opposite. The video revealed the reality that Planned Parenthood and its defenders are working hard to spin. When Planned Parenthood gives one of its patients this consent formfor organ donation, the language is dishonestly edited, referring to hearts and livers as “blood and/or tissue.” When speaking candidly to presumed professionals in the biz, however, PP’s top doctor is far more precise. After all, how do you think Planned Parenthood would react to legislation requiring it to explicitly ask patients if they want to donate the “heart, liver, or brain” of their aborted child to research?

I doubt addressing the conscience of most hard-core abortion supporters is likely to effect change. A moment’s reflection on biology tells you that at the time of conception (not implantation), a unique human DNA code comes into being, bearing a likeness to its mother and father. A moment’s reflection on evolution tells you that from that same moment, the mother’s own body goes through physiological changes designed specifically to protect a healthy unborn child from harm. A glancing familiarity with human reproduction tells you that elective abortions are performed on unborn children with recognizably human features. Arms that can flail, fingers that can grasp, brains that can perceive pain. There is no one part of abortion that is more horrifying than abortion itself.

Someone who knowingly accepts the “crushing” and “snipping” of developing children as part of life in enlightened times, who resolves themselves to this practice as society’s comprehensive and just response to a pregnant woman in crisis, is a person whose conscience is at the ready to accept or wave away any enormity around the practice. If you forced yourself to contemplate them at length, you might question the moral character of the whole enterprise. So you dismiss as local crime Kermit Gosnell’s horror-clinic, where plunging the sink revealed a baby’s arm, and you turn away from stories about hospitals that burn the remains of unborn children as part of a renewable heating energy source. Planned Parenthood’s financial transactions in recently severed baby heads is just the humanitarianadvance of “Science! FTW!” Could you object if they labeled a bag of heads with a meme of Neil deGrasse Tyson? What, are you such a troglodyte that you are “grossed out by science?” We’re just plunging science deep into some necks — I mean “tissue” — here.

Some argue that the pro-life activists are just taking advantage of a natural squeamishness to medical procedures, that they “zero in on those gross medical details for maximum impact.” As if the phrase “I’m gonna crush this” is something only a properly desensitized medical professional can understand. I don’t believe the reaction of disgust here is purely physical.

Just this week I’ve watched television shows that included innocent people being shot in the head, with their blood spilling out in a little gusher. There was once a popular show on SpikeTV called 1,000 Ways to Die, in which extremely gruesome deaths were re-enacted for a thrill. Medical dramas and documentaries show people going into active and traumatic surgery.

We can see bloody cop dramas because we are allowed to deplore the actions depicted, and console ourselves that they are extraordinary and unlawful. The gore of 1,000 Ways to Die we can live with because the events are so abnormal, so unchosen. And the details of medical dramas on television (and in our own lives) are bearable because we know that doctors are trying to save a human life.

The reason the pro-life activist video has to be dismissed as a “hoax” is the same reason the hailed pro-choice activist kept the film of her own abortion framed from the neck up. And it’s the same reason Planned Parenthood wants media outlets to use their bloodless language about “tissues.” Because the clinic, the media, and the culture want your approval of abortion as ordinary, lawful, and competently chosen. They can’t let you see what it actually is: the violent destruction of a human life.

 

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So until the next newscast this is Ray Mossholder, praying for you my friend. Hav

 

Mid-afternoon News with Ray – Monday July 20, 2015

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Mid-afternoon News with Ray – Monday July 20, 2015

Friday evening news - July 10, 2015

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Friday evening news – July 10, 2015

Ray will bring you up to the minute with news you should be aware of tonight. He has chosen the five major news stories from today right up to this hour.

This is Ray Mossholder with the five major news headlines from around the world on Friday evening, July 7, 2015….. 

1. From the New York Times….. The Supreme Court, Hobby Lobby, and President Obama……

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration issued new rules today that allow closely held for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby to opt out of providing women with insurance coverage for contraceptives if the companies have religious objections.

But women enrolled in such health plans would still be able to get birth control at no cost through other channels, the administration said.

The rules were in response to a decision by the Supreme Court in June 2014. In that case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the court said that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage of contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom.

The administration had argued against that conclusion, saying there was no precedent for granting “a religious exemption” to commercial enterprises like the Hobby Lobby craft stores.

But under the rules issued by the administration today said certain for-profit businesses will be able to obtain an accommodation like the one already available to nonprofit religious groups, including Roman Catholic universities, hospitals and charities that object to covering contraceptives.

Contraceptive coverage has been the focus of fierce political debate for five years, as the administration struggled to meet the health needs of women while recognizing the concerns of people who have deep religious convictions against some or all forms of contraception.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said today that the new rules would “secure women’s access to contraceptive services while respecting religious beliefs.”

Family planning advocates, usually supportive of the administration, criticized the final rules.

“While the accommodation is given on the grounds of protecting religious freedom, what it really does is allow some employers to restrict their employees’ access to basic health care,” said Clare Coleman, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, whose members provide services to low-income people and the uninsured.

Under the health care law, employers with 50 or more full-time employees are generally required to offer health coverage or pay substantial penalties. Under a sheaf of rules issued in the last few years, the employer-sponsored insurance must cover preventive services, including all forms of contraception approved for women by the Food and Drug Administration.

The new rules offer a dispensation to certain for-profit companies that have a religious objection to covering contraceptive services. If they report their objections, adhering to procedures described by the government, they can be excused from having to provide or pay for contraceptive coverage.

Relying on a definition used in federal tax law, the rules define a “closely held for-profit entity” as a company that is not publicly traded and that has a structure under which more than 50 percent of the ownership interest is held by five or fewer individuals.

All interests held by members of a family are treated as being owned by a single individual.

Based on available data, the administration said it believed that this definition would encompass all the for-profit companies that have challenged the contraceptive coverage requirement on religious grounds.

To qualify under the new rules, the “highest governing body” of a for-profit entity, such as the board of directors or trustees, must adopt a resolution certifying that “it objects to covering some or all of the contraceptive services on account of the owners’ sincerely held religious beliefs.”

 

In a related story from CBN News……

A U.S. federal court of appeals has denied Wheaton College a preliminary injunction in their religious objection to Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

The college will have to notify the government of its refusal to provide contraception, outsourcing that task to the government.

That means the government will find a birth control provider, but still at Wheaton’s expense.

Some of the types of contraception include methods that could abort a fertilized egg.

Wheaton is known as an explicitly Christian college, stating its mission is to “serve Jesus Christ and advance His Kingdom.”

In June 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Wheaton a reprieve from being forced to pay for the contraceptive coverage that violates its beliefs.

But the ruling this week by a federal appeals court says providing the coverage through the government doesn’t force the college to violate its beliefs.

Meanwhile, Houston Baptist University, East Texas Baptist University, and Westminster Theological Seminary are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect them from millions of dollars in fines if they don’t comply with the mandate.

The court is likely to consider all the petitions in late September or early October.

 

2. From LifeSiteNews….. The United Nations pushes Obama aside and blesses families worldwide…..

“Only a small number of countries backed the LGBT agenda… the United States [for example] lobbied with great energy against this resolution. Supporting the LGBT agenda is a primary objective of U.S. foreign policy. [But] the globe was with us on this resolution. This is unprecedented—a tremendous victory for the family.” -Austin Ruse, Center for Family and Human Rights

(Geneva, Switzerland)—A pro-family resolution has been passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva of “unprecedented” force and reach, thanks to a coalition of African and other developing countries, China and Russia and a support group of socially conservative NGOs. (Photo via business-humanrights.org)

“This is unprecedented, a tremendous victory for the family,” Sharon Slater, the head of Family Watch International, told LifeSiteNews. “It is the first time ever in the history of the United Nations that a comprehensive resolution has been passed calling for the protection of the family as a fundamental unit of society, recognizing the prior right of parents to educate their children, and calling on all nations to create family-sensitive policies and recognize their binding obligations under treaty to protect the family.”

The voting on the “Protection of the Family” resolution was 27 for and 14 against, Slater noted. Those opposing the motion included the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and other Western European countries, while its sponsors included Russia, China, Belarus, and more than a dozen Muslim and African countries. The four abstaining members of the council—Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Macedonia—probably were forced to do so by the rich countries opposing the bill.

“The developed countries probably put huge pressure on the others to stop the bill or insert amendments undermining its intent by threatening to withhold foreign aid,” said Slater. “We applaud those who were able to stand up for the family, and we ask people to write to them to thank them.” (FWI provides a webpage to help people send these supportive letters.)

Austin Ruse of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), also termed the resolution “a tremendous victory for the pro-family world” and a defeat for the small but powerful group of anti-family groups supported by developed countries and the United States.

Several attempts were made by feminist and pro-LGBT groups to first defeat and then amend the resolution by inserting “reproductive rights”—a euphemism for abortion, and by replacing “the family” with “families” and by inserting inclusive language to apply the resolution to sexual minorities.

The passage of the resolution was predictably condemned by feminist and sexual advocacy groups… Nonetheless, said Ruse, “The globe was with us on this resolution. Only a small number of countries backed the LGBT agenda. You can be certain the United States lobbied with great energy against this resolution. Supporting the LGBT agenda is a primary objective of U.S. foreign policy.”

The victory marks the growing impact of the UN Family Rights Caucus, a coalition of pro-family NGOs that supported the national delegations in Geneva.

 

3. From WND…… In the “What’s new about that?” category – Terrorists vow terror to America

The newest chief of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has put America on its hit list, saying there is no other target that takes precedence.

In his first speech since taking over the command post, Qassim al-Raymi – who succeeded Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the military commander of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed last month by U.S. drone strike – called for immediate attacks on the United States. The U.S.-based SITE watchdog was able to capture his comments on an audio tape, Reuters reported.

In his speech today, Raymi vowed allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the commander of al-Qaida, and said America must be hit.

 “All of you must direct and gather your arrows and swords [against] it,” he said, SITE reported. “God has helped you against this enemy, for not only did you reach its home, but with praise to God and His grace, you have reached the depths of its heart.”

And to Zawahiri, he said, Reuters reported: “”I pledge allegiance to you, to listen and obey, in times of difficulty.”

 

4. From The New York Times…… Cyber attacks cause too many attacks on Katherine Archuleta who, resigns under the pressure…..

WASHINGTON — Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned today under pressure, one day after the government revealed that two sweeping cyberintrusions at the agency had resulted in the theft of the personal information of more than 22 million people, including those who had applied for sensitive security clearances.

Ms. Archuleta went to the White House on this morning to inform President Obama that she was stepping down immediately. She said later in a statement that she felt new leadership was needed at the federal personnel agency to enable it to “move beyond the current challenges.”

Her resignation marked a swift reversal. Yesterday, Ms. Archuleta insisted in a conference call with reporters that she would stay on to address the vulnerabilities that led to the devastating cybertheft. But it did little to calm the aftershocks of the disclosure this week of what appears to be the largest such incident affecting the federal government.

Both attacks are believed to have originated in China, but administration officials have declined to name a culprit, other than to say that they believe the same actor carried out the two intrusions.

Mr. Obama and his administration struggled today to cope with the fallout from a breach that compromised the Social Security numbers, addresses, financial and health histories and other private details of millions of people, and to come to terms with the longer-term implications of a computer security lapse that has underscored severe weaknesses across the federal government.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he welcomed the news of Ms. Archuleta’s resignation that “I don’t think we can expect that a change of a single person can be a satisfactory answer to the problems at O.P.M.”

“Every other agency should have its head examined if it’s not taking steps to protect its data,” Mr. Schiff said. “Because if there’s a problem at one agency, there’s likely a problem at other agencies.”

Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said that Ms. Archuleta had resigned “of her own volition,” but he that Mr. Obama believed that new leadership at the agency was “badly needed,” and noted that she is not an expert in cybersecurity.

“She recognizes, as the White House does, that the urgent challenges currently facing the Office of Personnel Management require a manager with a specialized set of skills and experiences,” Mr. Earnest told reporters at a news briefing.

A White House official said Beth Cobert, the deputy director of management at the Office of Management and Budget and a former longtime management consultant at McKinsey & Company, would step in temporarily to replace Ms. Archuleta while a permanent successor is found.

“That’s something we’ll start working on today,” Mr. Earnest said.

Ms. Archuleta, who assumed her post in November 2013, had been under pressure from lawmakers in both parties to resign since last month, when she announced the first of two separate but related computer intrusions that compromised the personnel files of 4.2 million current and former federal workers.

On Thursday, she divulged the breach also had led to the theft of the personal data of 21.5 million people who had applied for government background checks, likely affecting anyone subjected to such an investigation since 2000.

On a conference call detailing the scope of the intrusion late Thursday afternoon, Ms. Archuleta, the first Latina director of the agency, insisted she would not step down despite calls from members of Congress that she do so.

“We have a very aggressive push to enhance our cybersecurity and modernize our systems, and we will continue to do so,” she said Thursday. “I am committed to the work that I am doing at O.P.M.”

But just hours later, she was at the White House to inform Mr. Obama she would depart. In her statement on Today, Ms. Archuleta said working at the agency, where she prioritized diversity and planning for a technology upgrades, had been “the highlight of my career.”

Ms. Archuleta served in the Clinton administration, and later under Mr. Obama as the chief of staff of the Labor Department. When she started at the personnel agency in 2013, she unveiled a plan of action that included improvements to its antiquated computer systems and bolstering protections against cyberintrusions.

Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Ms. Archuleta’s decision was “the absolute right call.”

“O.P.M. needs a competent, technically savvy leader to manage the biggest cybersecurity crisis in this nation’s history,” Mr. Chaffetz said in a written statement. “This should have been addressed much, much sooner, but I appreciate the president doing what’s best now.”

Still, Ms. Archuleta’s departure was only the beginning of a crisis response by the administration to technology weaknesses that plague the entire federal bureaucracy.

Mr. Earnest said the administration was rushing to conduct a “rapid reassessment of the state of cybersecurity measures, and accelerate the implementation of reforms that need to be adopted.”

Those include the wider adoption of two-factor authentication, which requires anyone with the password to a system to use a second, one-time password to log in from an unrecognized computer, he said. The administration is also working to impose stricter curbs on “privileged users,” who have enhanced access to a computer system, limiting the number of such users and the capabilities they have, and better monitoring their conduct on government networks.

He said the government had not yet arrived at an estimate of the cost of the data theft, which has prompted O.P.M. to offer free credit reporting, monitoring and protection to the millions affected, something they said they wouldn’t do yesterday.

 

From Voice of Victory…… Blah Blah Blah to continue while Iran keeps working on its bomb.

5. Iran Nuclear Talks Extended to July 13

An interim nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers will be extended through Monday, to provide negotiators in Vienna more time for talks on a comprehensive deal, a senior U.S. State Department official said Friday.

“To allow for the additional time to negotiate, we are taking the necessary technical steps for the measures of the Joint Plan of Action to remain in place through July 13,” the official said.

Later Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said progress had been made in negotiations.

“We still have a couple of very difficult issues, and we’ll be sitting down to discuss those in the very near term,” Kerry said to reporters as he met with his team in Vienna. “But I think we have resolved some of the things that were outstanding and we’ve made some progress.”

Kerry met earlier Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign-policy officials.

An interim nuclear agreement was reached in April and an original June 30th deadline for a final deal has already passed.

Negotiators missed a U.S. congressional deadline Friday morning, meaning the Republican-led U.S. Congress will now have 60 days, rather than 30, to review a deal, extra time U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration worries could derail it.

But talks have been continuing and the foreign ministers involved agreed to reconvene in Vienna Saturday.

“We are making progress, it’s painfully slow,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said before leaving Vienna Friday.

Echoing Kerry’s assessment of the talks, Hammond added, “There are still some issues that have to be resolved.”

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond talks to reporters in Vienna, Austria, July 10, 2015.

​Lower-level officials from the U.S., Britain and other participants in the talks are still meeting with Iran’s team, Hammond indicated, and said he is confident they will “clear some more of the text.”

Hammond said he and other foreign ministers would “regroup” in Vienna Saturday “to see whether we can get over the remaining hurdles.”

The sides remain divided over issues that include a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, which Western powers want to keep in place; access for inspectors to military sites in Iran, and access to Iran’s nuclear scientists to determine whether Tehran conducted research in the past on how to potentially weaponize its nuclear stockpiles.

As a 14th consecutive day of talks began in Vienna, even jokes meant to dispel tensions reflected the diplomats’ weariness, which has mostly been relieved only by brief rest breaks spent on the balcony of the ornate Palais Coburg hotel.

“We’re pushing,” said Kerry when asked if there would be a deal this weekend. “Off the balcony,” chimed in Federica Mogherini, European Union foreign policy chief.

Kerry smiled and jokingly reprimanded her with a wave of his finger.

“That’s a joke,” Mogherini said, giving a small laugh.

However, as the round of talks entered its second week, there were increasing signs of exasperation.

Late Thursday, Zarif late lashed out at “several countries” he said were shifting their positions and making “excessive demands.”

“Such issues have made the negotiations difficult. We want a dignified agreement and negotiations, and we will continue to negotiate. The deal would be within reach should the other side seek an honorable and balanced accord,” Zarif said, according to Iranian state media.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini takes a break on a balcony at the Palais Coburg hotel in Vienna, Austria, July 10, 2015.

Earlier Thursday, Kerry warned if difficult decisions are not made soon, his negotiators are ready to “end this process.”

“We will not rush and we will not be rushed” into reaching an agreement, Kerry told reporters in Vienna. He indicated that “real progress” is being made toward a comprehensive deal, and that the quality of any deal is the main concern.

The White House echoed Kerry’s comments, saying President Barack Obama would bring back from Vienna the U.S. negotiating team if talks do not appear to be constructive.

“The fact that we’ve been very clear about our expectations for a final agreement makes it unlikely that the talks will drag on for many more weeks.  But, again, I wouldn’t speculate on the outcome,” spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday.

On Friday, Congressman Edward Royce, a prominent Republican in the House of Representatives who heads the influential Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized what he has seen from the negotiations to this point.

Although Royce noted there is no agreement yet, he said indications are that Iran will prevail on many of its major demands.

“How is that a deal?” the California congressman asked rhetorically in a television interview.

Western countries accuse Iran of seeking the capability to build nuclear weapons, while Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes, such as medical research and generating power.

 

And from CNN, this look at something happening next week……

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama next week will become the first sitting President to visit a federal prison, the White House announced Friday.

Obama will visit El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, next Thursday, where he will meet with inmates and law enforcement officials, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

At the prison, Obama will also conduct an interview with VICE that will be a part of a documentary airing this fall on HBO focusing on America’s “broken criminal justice system,” according to a press release from VICE. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, El Reno is a medium security federal correctional institution.

At a news conference last week, Obama said reforming the criminal justice system was a top priority for his remaining time in office.

On Tuesday, Obama will speak at the 106th Annual NAACP Convention in Philadelphia, where Josh Earnest said the President will outline “injustice” in the system and highlight ideas for reform.

The visit to El Reno will be a part of a two-day trip to Oklahoma. On Wednesday, the President will start his visit in Durant, where he will speak to the Choctaw Nation and make remarks on expanding economic opportunity.

 

 

In other of today’s headlines……

 

Detroit cancer doctor Dr. Farid Fatah was sentenced to 45 years in prison for collecting millions of dollars from insurance companies while poisoning more than 500 patients through needless treatments that wrecked their health.

 

The Confederate flag is gone from the state capital building in South Carolina. Meanwhile, Walmart is melting down all class rings that bear a symbol of the Confederate flag and will not complete any orders for them.

 

Defense in the Colorado theater shooting trial rests its case.

 

The romantic star of Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia star, Omar Sharif, dies at 83.

 

The CEO of Reddit, one of the most highly trafficked websites in the world, has resigned in a torrent from readers unhappy with her.

 

And finally…… Hair today, gone tomorrow…..

An Italian artist had to finish an artwork within two hours in order to have it displayed at an important art gallery. The artist from Milano was horrified to find that he had run out of paintbrushes. He was in too much of a hurry to go to a store, but he came up with a workable solution. He cut off his hair and with it made a workable paintbrush. The art gallery director immediately sold the painting for $20,000.…… That’s ingenuity for you!

 

Here’s the thought for the day:

A nation of people blind to what’s happening is like a fly deciding to stay put while a flyswatter is hurtling through the air to smash it.

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So until the next newscast this is Ray Mossholder, praying for you my friend. Have a miraculous day!

 

Friday evening news – July 10, 2015

Friday evening news - July 10, 2015

HAS THE THIRD WORLD WAR JUST BEGUN? Special report from Ray

So, what have you been doing the past few days? I imagine sleep was some part of it. But it’s doubtful you would have been able to sleep at all in if you had been many parts of Syria. Here’s why: Click Here For The Video

 

SPECIAL REPORT FROM RAY

A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries

News written and delivered by Ray Mossholder

Friday, September 26, 2014

 

Hello America. Hello world.

From the headquarters of reachmorenow.com in Fort Worth, Texas, this is Ray Mossholder and this is the news: a special report: Has The Third World War Just Begun?

 

So, what have you been doing the past few days? I imagine sleep was some part of it. But it’s doubtful you would have been able to sleep at all in if you had been many parts of Syria. Here’s why: Click Here For The Video

Could you sleep through that? I’m praying that neither of us will ever have to find out. Those were the sounds of bombs coming from the United States military that was bringing death to many members of ISIL and its clones. Bombs that have been falling nonstop in airstrikes against ISIL all over Syria just as they are occurring in Iraq.

As if to squelch any possibilities of Saturday’s New York Times article being plausible, or my last news report being of any importance at all except to conspiracy theorists, on Tuesday, President Obama appears to of taken off his gloves to fight a war against terrorists worldwide and to stamp them out once and for all. But I want you to watch this usually passionate orator make the announcement, and I ask you the question whether President Obama’s heart was in his announcement. I’ll say no more than that and let you judge his enthusiasm for what he was announcing: Click Here For The Video

Tell me, did that sound to you like the beginning of World War III? It very well may have been. Russia, who recently strongly reminded America that it has nuclear bombs and doesn’t mind using them even in America, is totally opposed to what President Obama is doing now. Russia is Assad’s big brother and no longer a kissing cousin to our president. To say that Putin and Obama are antagonists is to understate their relationship. Here’s the situation in Syria today:

 

News Talk about airstrikes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVN3rlw6umYClick here to hear President Obama’s announcement

Yesterday President Obama spoke to a general assembly of the United Nations and in a little more than thirty minutes speech, tried his best to get international support. Obviously, this video shows that he was not entirely successful in convincing every leader:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxHcwt3qBCk

 

It took Mister Obama nearly 18 minutes into his UN address before he began talking about ISIL. Let’s take a look and then get an analysis from our news correspondents:

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“It is fatal to begin a war without the will to win it.”

General Douglas MacArthur

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Please feel free to leave a comment in the comment box at the end of this newscast.

 

If you liked this report click the “LIKE” button.

 

If you want to be notified when the next newscast is published click the “SUBSCRIBE” button on the video.

 

So until the next newscast this is Ray Mossholder, praying for you my friend. Have a miraculous day!

HAS THE THIRD WORLD WAR JUST BEGUN? Special report from Ray