10,000 LEFT In isis

A recent United Nations Security Council report concluded that ISIS currently controls more than 10,000 fighters, organized in small cells in Syria and Iraq.

To date most of the Biden administration’s policy announcements have been aimed at reducing tensions with Iran, such as freezing arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and easing restrictions on the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

By concentrating the new administration’s foreign policy resources on reviving the Iran deal and restoring relations with the Palestinian leadership, however, President Biden risks overlooking the extremely significant threat posed by the fanatical supporters of ISIS which, if left unchecked, could once again wreak havoc across the Middle East.

As the Biden administration prepares to implement its new policy on the Middle East, it is vital that its preoccupation with reviving the Iran deal does not result in the White House overlooking the considerable threat the Islamist fanatics of ISIS continue to pose to global security. (Con Coughlin, Gatestone, 2/14/2021)

HOUTHIS UP TERROR ATTACKS FOLLOWING BIDEN DECISION

On February 5, the Houthi leadership in the mountains of Yemen read welcome news from Washington that they would soon be removed from a list of foreign terrorist organizations.  They had just been put on the list by the Trump administration.

Because of their designation as “terrorists,” it made it difficult to deliver humanitarian aid through areas they control, so the US wanted to make them not terrorists. For the Houthi leadership and their Iranian backers, this meant a new round of attacks and that a military offensive would be planned.   (Seth Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, 2/15/2021)

Headline in Jihadi Watch — Calculated insult:   Biden first president in 40 years not to contact Israel’s leaders upon taking office.  (2/16/2021)

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NEWSMAX PROMOTES “BAD DECISIONS”

As a six-term senator from Delaware and two-term vice president under Barack Obama, Biden has consistently portrayed himself as a solid policymaker, a centrist and an honest, middle-class American.

But “Bad Decisions” provides startling evidence — based on Biden’s own words, deeds and the people who knew him the best – that his policies have often been disastrous with damaging consequences for the millions they impacted.

In “BAD DECISIONS,” a one-hour special event will reveal how Biden:

• Flip-flopped on the plan for a U.S. surge in Iraq that saved thousands of American lives.
• Openly opposed the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, considered the hallmark achievement of the Obama presidency.
• Approved a border wall long before President Trump ever advocated for it.
• Opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, then supported it.
• Was derided by Obama’s own Defense Secretary Robert Gates as “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
• Touted himself as “middle-class Joe,” while raking in more than $15 million in the first two years after leaving the White House.
• Flew multiple times to China and Ukraine to help his son Hunter secure multi-million-dollar business deals.
• The truly shocking story of how Biden used U.S. aid to have the Ukrainian government fire the very prosecutor investigating him and his son.
• How the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania was secretly bankrolled by the Chinese.
• Seesawed on taxes — approving of a payroll tax cut during the Obama years, then slamming President Trump’s tax cuts.
• Supported mass incarceration for minor drug offenders that almost destroyed the African American community.
• Lauded Sen. Robert Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan member who opposed federally mandated desegregation and civil rights, as someone who “elevated the Senate.”
• Supports defunding the police by “redirecting” money from the enforcement on streets to education.

In the heated 2020 campaign for President, the public is missing the real Joe Biden story – one that shows decades of policy decisions and secret efforts to benefit him and his family . . . all at the expense of the American people.

As “Bad Decisions” points out, even the Washington Post has reported that Biden has made a “significant move to the left” on “everything from climate and guns to healthcare and policing.”  (Newsmax, 2/16/2021)

AMAZON BANS CHRISTIAN BOOK

Freedom of speech is on the ropes, and it just received another body blow.  Over at Amazon, you can still get Friedrich Nietzsche’s God Is Dead, God Remains Dead, and We Have Killed Him.  You can still get Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.  You can get Christianity Disproved:  The Conclusive Proof That Christianity Is False.  You can get God Needs To Go:  Why Christian Beliefs Fail.  You can get All That’s Wrong With The Bible:  Contradictions, Absurdities, and More.  You can get Four Disturbing Questions with One Simple Answer:  Breaking the Spell of Christian Belief.  And on and on and on.  But you can’t get Allah is Dead:  Why Islam is Not a Religion by the New English Review’s Rebecca Bynum.   (JW, 2/16/2021)

An Epoch Times survey of more than 28,000 readers has found that 96% disagree with putting a stop to construction on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

“President Joe Biden halted the project via executive order on Jan. 21.”  (Epoch Times, 2/10/2021)

Segregation ended in US military on July 26, 1948, under the Truman Administration.  So why then do we find WWII movies made showing “diversity” amongst the troops?  It just didn’t happen.

AUSTRALIA  

PRAY FOR VICTORIA

A law before the Victorian parliament seeking to outlaw parental, therapeutic or religious discussions on issues of sexuality and gender is the biggest threat to our democratic freedoms in Australia’s entire legislative history.

In response, the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, Rev. Dr. Peter Barnes, has requested that all Presbyterian ministers to “preach the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27) and preach that not only all sex outside of marriage—between a man and a woman—is sinful, but that all Christians should actively seek to pray for LGBTIQ people to turn away from both their behavior and desires. As Dr Barnes argues:

The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill has now passed through both houses of the Victorian parliament.  It forbids any attempt to change or suppress, or induce any person to change or suppress, his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.  Prayer or counseling designed to change a person, even at that person’s request, is prohibited. In short, this means that sexual preference is protected by law, as is any person’s gender preference.  Homosexual sex is not permitted to be called ‘sin,’ and a male today can claim to be a female tomorrow.

Significantly, the Victorian legislation makes it illegal for a parent to pray for their own child, even if they had requested them to do so.  As such, Dr. Barnes believes that it is right for Christians to defy the governing authority such as, “When King Darius exceeded his God-given authority, Daniel did ‘as he had done previously’ (Dan.6:10).” (Mark Powell, Caldron Pool, 2/16/2021)

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SOUTH AFRICAN PAPERS THREATENED

Audit Bureau of Circulations data for the fourth quarter of 2020 is harrowing:  there will be no rebound for print, and newspapers in particular.

The long, slow structural decline of the sector in South Africa has reached the point of no return.   Circulations for daily newspapers are down by 40%, on average, over one year.

Not included in this drop are the two titles that ceased publication as dailies during 2020:  Die Volksblad (Bloemfontein) is now “digital only” while the DFA (Kimberley) now only publishes on Fridays.

Some titles are being propped up by free circulation, where thousands of free copies are given away daily to help the papers justify their advertising rates. 

Overall, circulation for the 17 daily papers in the country is 60% lower. 

Eight papers have seen declines of more than 60%, with Pretoria News down 87%, The Star down 75% and Cape Argus and Cape Times each down around 70%.  The best performing title since 2016 is The Citizen, with a circulation decline of 32%. Circulation of the Sunday Times is down 44% over one year.   (Money Web, 2/15/2021)

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REPLACING CASH

If your local pub ever reopens, don’t be surprised if one thing is missing: the till.  The anti-cash lobby is seeking to take advantage of the pandemic to rid us of our banknotes once and for all. When UK Finance – the trade body for the banking and payments industry – pushed the government two weeks ago to increase the limit on contactless card payments to £100 (it was raised from £30 to £45 at the beginning of the pandemic), it was a new offensive in a campaign for a cashless society which has been going on for years.

Small shops might fight back – the British Retail Consortium warns of high fees charged by card issuers and that some of its members are losing thousands from incomplete contactless payments – but there are far bigger forces at play. The ‘fintech’ (financial technology) industry has sniffed its big chance, and it is going to play dirty.   (Ross Clark, The Spectator, 2/13/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• Amsterdam overtakes London on trade – Amsterdam leapfrogged London as Europe’s largest share trading center last month as the UK’s departure from the EU led to a shift in dealing of stocks and derivatives. An average €9.2b (£8bn) shares were traded a day on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, more than a fourfold increase on December. Anish Puaar, a market construction analyst at Rosenblatt Securities in London, said that the development is “symbolic”, adding that London “has a chance to carve out its own niche on trading.”  (The Week, 2/11/2021)

• Economy ‘a coiled spring’ – The UK’s economy is like a “coiled spring” ready to release large amounts of “pent-up financial energy,” says the Bank of England’s chief economist.  Andy Haldane said that, thanks to the vaccine programme, the economy will fire “on all cylinders” by spring.  However, General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has warned that the present “economic crisis” will undermine the “stability and security” of the UK.   (The Week, 2/12/2021)

• LGBT troops can reclaim medals – Former military personnel dismissed from the armed forces because of their sexuality can now reclaim lost medals. After the Falklands veteran Joe Ousalice’s successful bid to return awards he lost after being forced out of the Royal Navy, a new scheme has been launched under which former service personnel can apply to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to restore their honours.  The MoD admitted that its past actions were “deeply regrettable,” while Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, the veterans minister, said the announcement “addresses a historic injustice.” The Week, UK, 2/16/2021)

• Oprah bags Harry and Meghan – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to give their first in-depth television interview since stepping back from Royal duties to Oprah Winfrey.  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to tell the chat show host why they walked away from the monarchy in a 90-minute special to be shown on the US network CBS in March.  Palace officials were given no warning of the interview and The Times says Buckingham Palace is “bracing itself” for further revelations.  (The Week, UK, 2/16/2021)

• “The succession struggle in the GOP is now underway. But as for now, Donald Trump is The Man, and he is not going anywhere . . .  Still, even if Trump cannot unite the Republican Party, he brings, far and away, the largest pile of chips to the table.”  (Pat Buchanan, 2/16/2021)

• At the time of writing (Tuesday morning) CBS news reported that it is warmer in Moscow than it is in Dallas.