“Wherefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of their countenance has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and made it manifest. Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying against themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is burdensome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works. Woe to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to the works of his hands.”
(Isaiah 3:9-11)
Proclaimed Their Sin

***

WND

Franklin Graham to Catholics: Excommunicate Cuomo

January 29, 2019

<

p>Evangelist Franklin Graham is urging Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York to take a stand against abortion by excommunicating Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Others already have called on Dolan, the archbishop of New York, to excommunicate Cuomo, a Catholic, because of his signature on an abortion law that allows the killing of unborn infants until the moment they are born.

On Facebook, Graham noted Dolan told Fox News on Monday that Cuomo is “not going to be moved by this, so what’s the use?”

“I call on my friend Cardinal Dolan to take a moral stand. Whether it moves the governor’s calloused heart or not, it will have a great impact on not only the church in New York, but on the church worldwide,” wrote Graham, the CEO of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Samaritan’s Purse relief and development organization.

“My question would be – if the church loses their moral voice, then what’s the use? It’s about standing for right over wrong, good over evil.”

CBS New York reported Dolan has criticized Cuomo for his actions but said he doesn’t want the conflict to continue.

The governor has shrugged off the criticism from Dolan and calls from other Catholic leaders for his excommunication.

WCBS reported Cuomo contends he’s required to separate his religious views from his work as governor.

“I don’t govern as a Catholic,” he said.

Among those calling for church action against Cuomo was Knoxville Bishop Rick Stika.

“Excommunication is to be not a punishment but to bring the person back into the church,” he said. “It’s like medicine for them. But this vote is so hideous and vile that it warrants the act.”

Dolan declined to discuss whether he would withhold communion from Cuomo.

WND reported when Catholic lay leaders demanded punishment for Cuomo.

The leaders condemned Cuomo’s support of the Reproductive Health Act, which was described as “barbarism” by Dr. James Dobson, founder of Family Talk and the James Dobson Family Institute.

The church leaders rejected Cuomo’s idea that the law is in any way “progress.”

“This is not progress. Progress will be achieved when our laws and our culture once again value and respect each unrepeatable gift of human life, from the first moment of creation to natural death,” the bishops said, according to Life Site News

“If we Catholics really believe what we say when we talk about heaven, hell, and the dignity of the unborn, @CardinalDolan should, after exhausting all other means of correction, excommunicate @andrewcuomo,” wrote Matthew Schmitz.

The bishops wrote, “We mourn the unborn infants who will lose their lives, and the many mothers and fathers who will suffer remorse and heartbreak.”

WND reported Dobson, a conservative Christian author, radio broadcaster and family counselor, called the law “pure barbarism on a scale rarely seen since the Middle Ages.”

The law allows abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, up to the very moment of birth, for almost any reason.

Dobson, who has written dozens of books, counseled multiple presidents and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2008, said: “It is not overstating the matter to say I am horrified by the New York State Senate’s vote to pass the euphemistic Reproductive Health Act (RHA). This bill is not about reproductive health at all. It is pure barbarism on a scale rarely seen since the Middle Ages.

“This legislation expands upon New York’s already liberal abortion laws, which allow for on demand abortion up until 24 weeks. The RHA’s main aim is to justify abortions throughout a pregnancy’s entire term based on the overly broad exceptions defined in Roe’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton, including such subjective measures as a woman’s emotional and psychological wellbeing. Late term abortions had only previously been authorized in New York if done to save the life of the mother.”

He said New York already was considered the abortion capital of the nation, but this bill “also allows non-physicians to commit abortions, and decriminalizes abortion by moving it from the criminal code to the public-health code.”

“New York is symbolically doubling-down on the killing of the unborn on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, casting an even darker shadow on a date already shrouded in tragedy and the loss of innocent life,” he said.

***

WND

Virginia governor defends letting babies die AFTER birth

Posted By Joe Kovacs

January 30, 2019

Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., appearing on WTOP Radio on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019 (Video screenshot)

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is raising eyebrows with his comments in support of letting infants die after they have been born alive.

Northam, a Democrat, appeared Wednesday on WTOP Radio to discuss House Bill 2491, also known as the Repeal Act, which would remove all restrictions on abortion in Virginia, even allowing a woman to abort her child while she’s in labor.

When asked if he supported the measure promoted by fellow Democrat Kathy Tran, the governor said doctors could make decisions to allow a baby to die even after it’s born alive.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam explained.

“The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

The governor noted earlier in the interview that such cases develop concerning children having “severe deformities.”

“When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician – more than one physician, by the way – and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities,” he said. “There may be a fetus that’s non-viable.”

The debate in Virginia comes on the heels of a massive expansion of abortion rights in New York, where the members of the State Senate gave a standing ovation upon its passage and Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo had buildings illuminated in pink lighting to celebrate the measure.

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh commented on the trend Wednesday.

“I don’t know what’s happening to the left, the Democrats,” he wondered aloud. “I can’t even relate to this, this competition they have to outperform each other on such inhumane, barbaric, murderous behavior toward infants.”

“It’s just inexplicable,” he added. “They all pile on and they want to be in the contest to see who can be the most outrageous, the meanest, the vilest.”

Limbaugh speculated the political left’s hatred for President Donald Trump has emboldened them, and they feel they “no longer have to trick people,” but can be up front in who they are.

“This is about killing children, and they are delivering standing ovations after passing laws permitting it, or they’re talking about it in the same way they would talk about turning a faucet on and off as did the governor of Virginia.”

Limbaugh suggested that Trump mention the new “infanticide laws” in his State of the Union address next week:

I think he ought to call the Democrats out. I think he ought to talk about the infanticide laws that just passed in New York, and make Democrats applaud this stuff in open and in public! He ought to go down the list of everything the Democrats are doing, are proposing. Not saying he agrees with it. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the State of the Union. Your Democrat Party just legalized the killing of babies if they survive an abortion,” and make the New York delegation stand up and applaud that.

Make them applaud what they do, ’cause that’s what they do! They applaud things they like – or make them boo Trump when he says it, or make them get up and walk out. Whatever. The fact is, call the left out on what they’re doing. You got a national TV audience here watching a very controversial, contested State of the Union after the government shutdown. The media’s gonna be driving up audience participation here. They’re gonna be promoting this like crazy.

The president ought to call these people out on all these wacko ideas – on immigration, open borders, sanctuary cities – and make these Democrats applaud it, ’cause that’s what happens. They either sit on their hands or applaud. Call ’em out! The Drive-By Media’s not telling anybody what’s going on here! The Drive-By Media’s not telling people that infanticide has just gotten a standing ovation in the New York State Senate. People who live in New York got up one night and they saw the tops of the beings lit up in pink and said, “I wonder what that is?” Well, the New York State Senate just legalized infanticide is what that means.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said Northam’s support of post-birth abortions was a “defining moment.”

“It is so thoughtful of Gov. Northam to assure us that the baby would be ‘kept comfortable’ before they put him down or let him die,” Donohue said.

“Here’s an early 19th century analogy,” he continued. “The slave would be resuscitated if that’s what the master and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between lawmakers and the owner.”

“The Democratic Party is fast becoming the party of death. Every Democrat running for president, including those who may run, should be asked whether they agree with Northam. This is a defining moment. They should also be asked who else they think does not merit the most basic of human rights.”

(They may just as well call it what it is, the worship of Baal and Moloch, and we know the fate of those who worship Moloch. Surely if their cup of iniquity was not already filled long ago, this would cause it to overflow. Ed)

***

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CHRISMANEWS

Toddler Survives in the Woods in Freezing Temps for 2 Days After Befriending a Bear

JESSILYN LANCASTER

January 28, 2019

Casey Hathaway says he befriended a bear in the woods. (Photo by Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash)

A toddler says he survived two days in the woods after befriending a bear.

Yes, you read that right.

Three-year-old Casey Hathaway disappeared into the North Carolina woods last week by himself and survived because, he says, a bear watched over him.

His family calls it a miracle.

"He said he hung out with a bear for two days," his aunt posted to Facebook. "God sent him a friend to keep him safe. God is a good God. Miracles do happen."

His grandmother said, "This little one was lost in the woods for days in the freezing temperatures, rain, dark nights and wind. He told us that his best friend the bear was with him to help keep him safe. Thanks to God's mercy, he came home to us alive and well. His parents searched diligently minute after minute of every hour/day without stopping."

Here's how it all began.

Last Tuesday, Casey was playing at his grandmother's house when he disappeared. The family reported the disappearance within the hour. By 8 p.m. that evening, the temperatures dropped below freezing. In the days that followed, professionals and volunteers combed the area around the house. By Thursday, inclement weather forced the FBI to halt volunteer operations, and only professionals could continue the search.

NPR reports the terrain was "treacherous," with some areas flooded and filled by sinkholes, the Craven County Sheriff's Office said in an update online. Even trained searchers were experiencing difficulties.

Thanks to prayers and police, Casey was found Thursday night about 40 to 50 yards deep into the woods.

Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said rescuers waded through nearly waist-deep water to get to the toddler.

"We just want to tell everybody that we're very thankful that you took the time out to come search for Casey and prayed for him." Casey's mom, Brittany Hathaway, says. "He is good. He's up and talking. He's already asked to watch Netflix."

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WND

Renewed blasphemy petition against Christian rejected

January 29, 2019

Asia Bibi

The Pakistan Supreme court affirmed the acquittal of Christian mother Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges Tuesday, with one judge concluding her accusers were guilty of perjury.

The London Daily Mail reported Pakistan Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa led the panel of judges that dismissed a petition filed by radical Islamic leaders in the Muslim-majority nation.

The Muslim leaders were demanding that Bibi be executed, regardless of the evidence.

The judge said Bibi’s accusers were guilty of perjury, and if the case had not been so sensitive, they should have been jailed for life.

“The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow,” the judge said.

WND reported just days ago the review was part of a deal the government struck with Muslim extremists who threatened to kill her.

The mobs also threatened the kill the judges who acquitted her and her supporters.

Pakistan agreed to keep her in the country until the high court reviewed the petition against her Oct. 31 acquittal.

The acquittal sparked three days of mass protests and riots calling for her death, led by the radical Muslim party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan. The protests stopped only after the government agreed to keep her in the country and not oppose the filing of any review petitions against the Supreme Court judgment.

Bibi was on death row for eight years after her conviction in 2010 under section 295-C of Pakistan’s penal code, which punishes blasphemy against Islam’s prophet. She was sentenced to execution by hanging.

The Daily Mail reported Bibi now will be reunited with her three daughters, who fled to Canada, where they were given asylum.

Her enemies have stated that there are “Muslims everywhere who want to kill her.”

Hafix Ehtisham Amhed, who is linked to the extremist Red Mosque group, claimed, “She deserves to be murdered according to Shariah.”

Bibi, a Catholic, was convicted of defiling the name of Muhammad when she declined instructions from her Muslim women coworkers to convert to Islam.

While no one has been executed for blasphemy in Pakistan in decades, many of the accused have been murdered by mobs while their cases were pending.

Her problems began when Muslim co-workers refused to drink water from a cup from which she had taken a sip and demanded she convert to Islam. Her refusal prompted a mob to later allege she had insulted Muhammad.

The Supreme Court ruled that the basis of the blasphemy charge was a “concocted” story and overturned the guilty verdict.

After her release Nov. 7 from Multan, Pakistan’s women prison, Bibi was flown to Islamabad and taken to an undisclosed place amid tight security, the news agency Dawn reported.

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Chuck Baldwin Live

Now It’s William Barr: When Will Christians And Conservatives Stop Making Excuses For Donald Trump?

January 24, 2019

Okay, we all know how awful Hillary Clinton is. We all know that Donald Trump said all the right things (well, many of the right things) on the campaign trail. We all know—at least believed—that Trump was not an establishment insider. We all know that Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” dramatically reduce America’s out-of-control deficit spending, protect the Second Amendment, get America out of its endless foreign wars, terminate taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, overturn Roe v Wade and build a wall on our southern border—that Mexico would pay for—in order to stop the flow of illegal immigration into America.

Now, after two full years of a Donald Trump administration in which he enjoyed both houses of Congress being held by fellow Republicans, we all know (and if we don’t, it’s because we don’t WANT to know) that none of the above has happened. Yet, Christians and conservatives by the millions continue to make excuses for this faker.

First, a brief comment about the border wall: All of the drama regarding a partial government shutdown and incessant public theater by actors from both political parties is quite nauseating. Republicans had control of both houses of Congress and the White House for two years. Why wasn’t money appropriated for the wall then? Why was there no government shutdown over the lack of funding for the border wall then? Why wait until Democrats take over the House to shut down (partially) the federal government and threaten to declare a State of National Emergency?

Forgive me, but this stinks to high heaven. This is nothing but smoke and mirrors. All of the high profile theatrics over the border wall is the biggest distraction to envelop our country in quite a spell. While everyone is fighting over the wall, some very serious attacks against our liberties are being waged almost without notice. And all of the hullabaloo over the wall is completely covering up Trump’s failure to carry out the rest of his campaign promises—and the fact that Trump himself has often worked in direct opposition to many of his campaign promises.

Secondly, his rhetoric notwithstanding, President Trump has NOT drawn down America’s involvement in endless foreign wars. Trump’s promise to bring U.S. forces home from Syria is so much hot air. Trump’s “immediate” withdrawal order is now mired in an indefinite time schedule. In other words, there is no time schedule. Our troops that are still fighting in Syria are not only still based in Syria, but they are also still using bases in Iraq as launching pads for military excursions into Syria. Of course, Trump promised that the U.S. bases in Iraq were not going anywhere—and that’s one promise he will keep.

Our troops are still fighting endless wars in Afghanistan and Somalia. In fact, Trump has shoved record military spending through Congress and has done nothing to reduce America’s global military presence (U.S. troops are stationed in over 160 countries, which equates to 95% of the world’s foreign military bases). America is as much the global cop as it was when Trump was elected. No, that’s not quite true: We are MUCH MORE the global cop than when Trump was elected, as Trump has expanded our military presence in Eastern Europe to unprecedented levels—levels not even seen during the Cold War.

Thirdly, as we have just passed the 46th anniversary of the ignoble Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion-on-demand nationwide, unborn children continue to be legally murdered—in spite of the fact that Donald Trump was President and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress during the past two years. All of Trump’s “pro-life” rhetoric hasn’t saved the life of a single unborn baby. Since Trump was elected, over 2 million unborn children have been mercilessly murdered in the wombs of their mothers—with the complete approbation of a Republican-led federal government.

The GOP controlled the entire federal government for 4.6 years of G.W. Bush's eight years in office—and they controlled the entire federal government for the past two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. They did NOTHING about Roe v Wade under Bush, and they have done NOTHING about Roe v Wade under Trump. These phony pro-life GOP congressmen and senators haven't even defunded America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

Fourthly, as to ending the federal government’s extravagant spending habits, what a crock! During 8 years of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the federal debt INCREASED $7.9 trillion. And a Trump presidency did nothing to reduce Washington’s out-of-control spending—even with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress.

Fifthly, what about Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp”? This is one of Trump’s biggest lies of all. Trump never intended to drain the swamp. From the outset of his presidency, he began appointing mostly CFR globalists, neocons, warmongers, Zionists, corporate elitists and corrupt government insiders to his administration. And he hasn’t stopped.

I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing my conservative Christian brethren say things like, “Trump is trying his best, but he’s getting no help from his cabinet and staff.” Well, DUH! Who picked his cabinet and staff? Trump did.

Then they say things like, “Trump doesn’t really understand these issues; he really wants to do right, but he’s getting bad advice.” BARF! If he didn’t understand the issues, he’s had two full years as President of the United States to get caught up. But he continues to make the same unconstitutional, big-government, warmongering decisions over and over again. The excuse that “he wants to do right, but is getting bad advice” just doesn’t wash anymore. It’s time for Trump’s supporters to wake up and realize that Donald Trump is a great big boy, not a little kid, and is fully capable of thinking for himself.

Donald Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s known exactly what he’s been doing from day number one. He is the consummate con man. He is a charlatan. He is a double-tongued pretender. He has filled the executive branch of the federal government with the same crooks as presidents before him.

And now Trump’s selection of William Barr as America’s next attorney general is the final straw. There can be NO MORE DOUBT.

William Barr is the swamp creature’s Swamp Creature. He is the personification of all of the evil and wickedness that has gone on in Washington, D.C., during the past 30 years. Name the act of criminality, cover-up or act of chicanery that has taken place in Washington D.C., over the last 30 years, and William Barr is probably neck deep in it.

Here is a summary of Barr’s career:

*Barr was a full-time CIA operative, recruited by Langley out of high school, starting in 1971. Barr’s youth career goal was to head the CIA.

*CIA operative assigned to the China directorate, where he became close to powerful CIA operative George H.W. Bush, whose accomplishments already included the CIA/Cuba Bay of Pigs, Asia CIA operations (Vietnam War, Golden Triangle narcotics), Nixon foreign policy (Henry Kissinger), and the Watergate operation.

*When George H.W. Bush became CIA Director in 1976, Barr joined the CIA’s “legal office” and Bush’s inner circle, and worked alongside Bush’s longtime CIA enforcers Theodore “Ted” Shackley, Felix Rodriguez, Thomas Clines, and others, several of whom were likely involved with the Bay of Pigs/John F. Kennedy assassination, and numerous southeast Asian operations, from the Phoenix Program to Golden Triangle narco-trafficking.

*Barr stonewalled and destroyed the Church Committee investigations into CIA abuses.

*Barr stonewalled and stopped inquiries in the CIA bombing assassination of Chilean opposition leader Orlando Letelier.

*Barr joined George H.W. Bush’s legal/intelligence team during Bush’s vice presidency (under President Ronald Reagan). Rose from assistant attorney general to Chief Legal Counsel to attorney general (1991) during the Bush 41 presidency.

*Barr was a key player in the Iran-Contra operation, if not the most important member of the apparatus, simultaneously managing the operation while also “fixing” the legal end, ensuring that all of the operatives could do their jobs without fear of exposure or arrest.

*In his attorney general confirmation, Barr vowed to “attack criminal organizations,” drug smugglers and money launderers. It was all hot air: as AG, Barr would preserve, protect, cover up, and nurture the apparatus that he helped create, and use Justice Department power to escape punishment.

*Barr stonewalled and stopped investigations into all Bush/Clinton and CIA crimes, including BCCI and BNL CIA drug banking, the theft of Inslaw/PROMIS software, and all crimes of state committed by Bush.

*Barr provided legal cover for Bush’s illegal foreign policy and war crimes.

*Barr left Washington, and went through the “rotating door” to the corporate world, where he took on numerous directorships and counsel positions for major companies. In 2007 and again from 2017, Barr was counsel for politically connected international law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Among its other notable attorneys and alumni are Kenneth Starr, John Bolton, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and numerous Trump administration attorneys. K&E’s clients include sex trafficker/pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital.

If all of this isn’t bad enough, William Bar is a co-conspirator in the murders of Vicki and Sammy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. James Bovard tells the story:

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Attorney General nominee William Barr have focused heavily on Barr’s views on Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But nobody is asking about Barr’s legal crusade for blanket immunity for federal agents who killed American citizens.

Barr received a routine questionnaire from the Judiciary Committee asking him to disclose his past work including pro bono activities “serving the disadvantaged.” The “disadvantaged” that Barr spent the most time helping was an FBI agent who slayed an Idaho mother holding her baby in 1992. Barr spent two weeks organizing former Attorneys General and others to support “an FBI sniper in defending against criminal charges in connection with the Ruby Ridge incident.” Barr also “assisted in framing legal arguments advanced… in the district court and the subsequent appeal to the Ninth Circuit,” he told the committee.

That charitable work (for an FBI agent who already had a federally paid law firm defending him) helped tamp down one of the biggest scandals during Barr’s time as Attorney General from 1991 to early 1993. Barr was responsible for both the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, two federal agencies whose misconduct at Ruby Ridge “helped to weaken the bond of trust that must exist between ordinary Americans and our law enforcement agencies,” according to a 1995 Senate Judiciary Committee report.

After Randy Weaver, an outspoken white separatist living on a mountaintop in northern Idaho, was entrapped by an undercover federal agent, U.S. marshals trespassed on Weaver’s land and killed his 14-year-old son, Sammy [by shooting him in the back]. The following day, FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi killed his wife, Vicki, as she was standing in the cabin doorway [holding her baby in her arms]. Horiuchi had previously shot Randy Weaver in the back after he stepped out of the cabin. The suspects were never given a warning or a chance to surrender and had taken no action against FBI agents. Weaver survived.

After an Idaho jury found Weaver not guilty on almost all charges, federal judge Edward Lodge slammed the Justice Department and FBI for concealing evidence and showing “a callous disregard for the rights of the defendants and the interests of justice.” A Justice Department internal investigation compiled a 542-page report detailing federal misconduct and coverups in the case and suggested criminal charges against FBI officials involved in Ruby Ridge.

Barr told the New York Times in 1993 that he was not directly involved in the Ruby Ridge operation. Two years later, the Washington Post revealed that “top officials of the Bush Justice Department had at least 20 [phone] contacts concerning Ruby Ridge in the 24 hours before Vicki Weaver was shot,” including two calls involving Barr.

In January 1995, FBI director Louis Freeh announced wrist slaps for the FBI officials involved, including his friend Larry Potts, who supervised the operation from headquarters and who approved the shoot-without-provocation orders that “contravened the constitution of the United States,” according to the Justice Department internal report.

When Attorney General Janet Reno later nominated Potts for deputy director of the FBI, top newspapers and members of Congress protested, but Barr told the New York Times that his friend Potts “was deliberate and careful, and I developed a great deal of confidence in his judgment… I can’t think of enough good things to say about him.” A few months later, the FBI suspended Pottsafter suspected perjury regarding Ruby Ridge. (Potts was not charged and retired two years later.)

The Justice Department paid $3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit from the Weaver family. But when Boundary County, Idaho filed criminal charges against Horiuchi, Barr sprang to action seeking immunity for FBI snipers. He spearheaded efforts to sway the court to dismiss all charges because holding a sniper liable would “severely undermine, if not cripple, the ability of future attorneys general to rely on such specialized units in moments of crisis such as hostage taking and terrorist acts.”

When the Justice Department won an initial appeals court victory in the case in 2000, federal judge Alex Kozinski warned in a dissent of a new James Bond “007 standard for the use of deadly force”against American citizens. The same court reversed that decision the following year. Kozinski, writing for the majority, declared: “A group of FBI agents formulated rules of engagement that permitted their colleagues to hide in the bushes and gun down men who posed no immediate threat. Such wartime rules are patently unconstitutional for a police action.”

Does William Barr still endorse “wartime rules” and a “007 standard” that absolve federal agents for questionable shootings of Americans? Does Barr consider “illegal government killings” to be an oxymoron? Best of all, can Barr explain to us his understanding of the phrase “government under the law”?

See also this report in The American Conservative.

In addition, as far as William Barr is concerned, the Fourth Amendment does not even exist. Senator Rand Paul notes that Barr "has been a big supporter of the PATRIOT Act, which lowered the standard for spying on Americans, and he even went so far as to say the PATRIOT Act was pretty good — we should go much further."

Rand also said that Barr is a “big fan” of seizing people’s property through civil asset forfeiture. Rand continued by saying that “the first things I’ve learned about him [Barr] being for more surveillance of Americans is very, very troubling.”

Furthermore (yes, there is more), William Barr told liberal gun grabber Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in his senate confirmation hearing for becoming America’s next attorney general that he fully intends to push forward with Donald Trump’s Hitlerian “take the guns first, go through due process second” gun confiscation laws, also known as “red flag” laws. And remember: It was Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, who gave us more gun control by outlawing “bump stocks.”

Yep! The promise to protect the Second Amendment is another promise Trump has broken (that’s Number Six).

I have written previously about these Stalinesque “red flag” gun confiscation laws. And I will continue to warn people about these unconstitutional, draconian “red flag” laws as long as they continue to pose a threat to our liberties.

Of course, not only are most of the individual states currently in the process of considering “red flag” gun confiscation laws (13 states have already passed them), Republican Senator Marco Rubio (FL) has also introduced a national “red flag” law.

“Red flag” gun confiscation laws are the same kind of laws that were used to confiscate the weapons of undesirables (meaning anyone the state doesn’t like) in Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China—and in every despotic nation of the world.

Here is a warning about “red flag” laws (and the NRA) from TheFireArmGuy.

And here is William Barr’s statement that “red flag” gun confiscation laws are the “single most important thing” government can do regarding gun control.

Internet blogger and longtime supporter of Donald Trump, Carl F. Worden, recently wrote this:

Now I can understand how Trump fell for the wrongful nominations of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray. That was early-on in Trump's presidency and Trump had no way of knowing those he trusted for advice were in fact Deep State maggots intent on destroying his presidency. But this is a solid two years into Trump's first term, and it is more than obvious that Barr will not be a team player for Trump -- or us! In fact, Barr has a very troubling record on Second Amendment issues.

At this time, I have no confidence left in Donald J. Trump. He is either a complete fool, or he knows exactly what he's doing, and either way he's not fit to represent me anymore.

No more excuses, Mr. Trump!

Bravo, Carl!

Sadly, a host of Trump’s supporters continue to be bamboozled by the elaborate psyops misinformation (translated: propaganda) entity known as QAnon, which keeps reassuring the Trump faithful that he is covertly waging war against the globalist insiders and that any day now the curtain is going to collapse on the swamp creatures. It’s all a hoax to give Trump cover—and more time.

If the nomination of William Barr as America’s next “Top Cop” doesn’t awaken the “Always Trumpers,” there is absolutely no hope for them. Even worse is the fact that the longer Christians and conservatives continue to make excuses for Trump’s lies and deceptions, there is less and less hope for America.

© Chuck Baldwin

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BREAKINGISRAELNEWS

Messianic Process Began with IAF Airstrike in Syria, Will End With Israeli Elections

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

January 22, 2019

“Indeed, my God does nothing Without having revealed His purpose To His servants the Neviim.” Amos 3:7 (The Israel Bible™)

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most prominent rabbis of this generation, made a shocking statement, claiming that the Messiah will precede the upcoming Israeli elections. Several rabbis noted that the writing is on the wall and the signs that the process leading up to the Messiah has already begun…for those who have the eyes to see it.

Rabbi Yekutiel Fish, an expert in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) gave a lesson this week in which he discussed how the Messiah was imminent. Rabbi Fish cited Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most prominent Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis of this generation, who began foretelling the arrival of the Messiah just a few years ago.

“It is written that in the days leading up to the Messiah, tzaddikim (righteous men) will begin to announce his arrival but some people, those who have not prepared for His arrival, will laugh at the righteous and the learned,” Rabbi Fish said, warning that it is forbidden to mock the righteous.

Fish emphasized that Kanievsky was especially suited for presaging the arrival of the Messiah. Not only is Rabbi Kanievsky one of the most learned and righteous Jews alive today, there is another indication of his connection to the Moshiach (Messiah). Rabbi Kanievsky’s full given-name is Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben (the son of) Miriam. Rabbi Fish noted that first letters of each of Rabbi Kanievsky’s Hebrew names can be rearranged to spell “Moshiach.”

Rabbi Fish related a story that is just now being told within Haredi circles in Israel. A young Torah scholar from outside of Israel was hosted for the Sabbath a few weeks ago at the house of a follower of Rabbi Kanievsky. The young man visited Kanievsky during the Sabbath. He asked the rabbi if he should apply for Israeli citizenship in order to vote for the Haredi party in the Israeli elections being held on April 9.

“There is no need,” Rabbi Kanievsky answered. “The Messiah will already be here before the elections.”

The young man was unsure that he had heard the rabbi correctly so after he departed from the house, he asked Kanievsky’s grandson, a venerated rabbi in his own right, to confirm the answer. The grandson entered the rabbi’s chamber and asked again: ‘Should the young man apply for citizenship before the elections?’

Rabbi Kanievsky responded, “I already told him that there is no need. The Messiah will be here before the elections.”

Rabbi Fish emphasized the need for Rabbi Kanievsky to make such statements.

“People need to act in practical manners to prepare for the Messiah, not just speak about it,” Rabbi Fish told Breaking Israel News. “Rabbi Kanievsky is calling for all religious Jews and all Jews in general, to come together, to show unity, not just for the Israeli elections or national interests. Our ultimate goal as a nation is to bring the Messiah and we need to be united, to actually love one another to do this.”

Rabbi Pinchas Winston, an expert on Jewish sources concerning the Messiah, normally eschews predictions of the Messiah’s arrival based on a precise date but notes that such a statement made by a scholar and righteous Jew of Rabbi Kanievsky’s stature needed to be related to in a different manner.

“You should know that Jews who live in a Messiah awareness take these predictions seriously,” Rabbi Winston told Breaking Israel News. “People who haven’t been trained properly to see this, can’t see it. They won’t see it even when it is happening in front of our eyes.”

Winston noted that the paradigm for this ability to see the Redemption was implicit in the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

“Moses was walking around for 79 years and when he revealed himself, so many people, Jews and Egyptians, were surprised.”

Winston noted that many people cannot see the beginnings of the Messiah as they are actually appearing because they have been taught that redemption has never happened.

“The modern state of Israel is the second time the Jews have come back to Israel,” Rabbi Winston noted. “There have already been two Jewish Temples in Jerusalem. People who are not educated or living in a Messiah context don’t relate to this so they can’t see it as a possibility even while it is happening.”

Rabbi Winston applied this concept to modern history.

“The Holocaust never happened until it did,” Rabbi Winston said. “So the Jews were surprised by it even though it was building up for years. Today, people learn about the Holocaust as if it could never happen again so even after the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the election of openly antisemitic politicians, they insist it cannot happen again.”

“God can be speaking right at you, saying the Messiah is right in front of you, but if you refuse to hear, you won’t,” Winston explained.

Rabbi Fish agreed, emphasizing that prophetic predictions could materialize while going unnoticed. Eight days ago, Rabbi Fish predicted that the blood moon lunar eclipse that passed over the continental U.S. on Sunday would be a significant omen, even more so because it coincided with the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat.

In fact, an unprecedented daylight airstrike by the Israeli Air Force against Iranian military targets in southern Syria on Sunday led to an intensification of the conflict. An Iranian General declared that his forces were prepared to “destroy Israel” and the Israeli Intelligence Minister referred to the situation as an “open confrontation” with Iran.

“It is true that Rabbi Kanievsky has been saying the Moshiach is imminent for a few years, but that is not really very long when we are speaking about the Messiah,” Rabbi Fish said. “And every time, Rabbi Kanievsky speaks in different terms, describing a different aspect of the process,” he added.

“The Messiah is already active in the world but not everyone is willing to see this,” Fish said. “Some people are unwilling to see this no matter what proof is presented. If the conflict with Syria develops, it will become clear that the process of the Messiah began on Tu B’Shevat.”

Rabbi Fish emphasized that the upcoming Israeli elections are the result of a political divide that may prove to be irreconcilable.

“This could be the end of the Israeli government as we know it,” Fish said. “The conflict is over the law concerning the draft. The Supreme Court gave them three months to solve this. After that, no one knows what will happen.”

“The only solution is unity,” he maintained. “Not the appearance of unity for political purposes but a sincere and deep unity of the Jewish people. The last time we stood together as a nation was in the days of the Temple. If this [political] crisis, or the military crisis, brings us together, the result could be the Messiah.”

Rabbi Kanievsky’s statement was also discussed by Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, an expert in Torah codes, in a recent video. Using a Torah program that searches for equidistant letter sequences in the Bible, Rabbi Glazerson did a search for relevant expressions concerning Kanievsky’s announcement. He noted that the term “יבוא משיח” (the Messiah will come) appears once in Leviticus 23 adjacent to the letters “תשעט” signifying the current Hebrew year, 5779.

The rabbi also noted that included in the table was the word “מפורים” (from Purim). The holiday of Purim will fall on March 21 this year, three and a half weeks before the Israeli elections.

Also included in the table is the word “תשובה” (repentance) and אמונה (belief).

“Tshuva and belief are what bring the Messiah,” Rabbi Glazerson said. “Even in the times that are suited for the Messiah to come, without tshuva, there can be no Messiah. And faith is what leads to Israel being redeemed.”

(We'll see. It could happen. Of course it wouldn't be the “Messiah” we are expecting, but the anti-christ of course. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come,] except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; {2:4} Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2-4)

RT

Israel warns Ireland over bill boycotting settlement goods, summons ambassador

January 25, 2019

Israel has warned Ireland over passing a bill to ban imports of West Bank settlement products, saying the legislation, if adopted, would have “severe ramifications” on mutual relations, AP reported. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it summoned Irish Ambassador Alison Kelly to the headquarters in Jerusalem and made Israel’s stance on the matter clear to her. The ministry says the bill, which was advanced in Ireland’s lower house of parliament on Thursday, is “hypocritical and anti-Semitic.” The law envisions prison terms and high fines for Irish businesses trading with goods originating from illegal settlements on occupied land. If the bill becomes law, Ireland would become the first European country to ban settlement goods and would apply to illegal occupations anywhere in the world, not just Palestine and Israel. The EU in 2015 issued guidelines on labeling settlement products. Palestinians see the West Bank as part of their future state.

RT

Israeli expulsion of observers from Hebron a ‘wicked’ decision – former UN rapporteur

January 30, 2019

Sign of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) is seen on its office in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 29, 2019 © Reuters / Mussa Qawasma

A former UN envoy on Palestinian affairs has condemned a decision by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to expel international observers from the West Bank city of Hebron, a hotspot of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

John Dugard, an international law professor who previously served as special rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council concerning Palestinian affairs, described the decision to expel the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) as “wicked.”

“The situation in Hebron is very volatile,” he told RT, adding that TIPH “have kept the peace there quite successfully” even as tensions continued to rise between Palestinians and Jewish Israeli settlers.

The observers have “always played an important role in keeping the peace in Hebron and one cannot imagine Hebron without the presence of TIPH. This will be seen as a green light to the settlers to undermine and to violate the rights of the Palestinian people in Hebron,” he said.

The-64-member mission has been present in Hebron since 1994. While Palestinians make up the majority of the city’s population, the Israeli military have been controlling parts of the city since 1997 in a bid to protect settlers.

On Monday, Netanyahu announced that he would refuse the observers from continuing their mission, accusing them of acting against Israel’s interests. It follows calls from right-wing politicians in Israel’s Parliament to expel TIPH “from the city of our forefathers.”

Dugard was one of several voices to condemn Tel Aviv’s decision, with Palestinian official Saeb Erekat calling on the UN to “guarantee the safety and protection” of Palestinians until an end is brought to Israel’s “belligerent occupation.”

While criticizing TIPH for being a “toothless” organization, Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada tweeted it did “document occupier crimes” in the city.

Last month, a highly critical internal report from the body was leaked to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It cited a “severe and regular breach” of Palestinian human rights in the city and slammed Israeli settlements there as a violation of international law.

“One cannot imagine what will happen," after the mission leaves Hebron, Dugard warned, "as the settlers are very violent and determined to make the lives of Palestinians hell."

***

***

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE

John Whitehead's Commentary

Jackboots in the Morning: No One Is Spared From This American Nightmare

By John W. Whitehead

January 29, 2019

“This is jackboots in the morning. This is an American nightmare that they would arrest somebody like this.”—Judge Andrew Napolitano

The American Police State does not discriminate.

Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America great again—rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you.

We’ve been having this same debate about the perils of government overreach for the past 50-plus years, and still we don’t seem to learn, or if we learn, we learn too late.

For too long now, the American people have allowed their personal prejudices and politics to cloud their judgment and render them incapable of seeing that the treatment being doled out by the government’s lethal enforcers has remained consistent, no matter the threat.

All of the excessive, abusive tactics employed by the government today—warrantless surveillance, stop and frisk searches, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, asset forfeiture schemes, private prisons, indefinite detention, militarized police, etc.—will eventually be meted out on the general populace.

At that point, when you find yourself in the government’s crosshairs, it will not matter whether your skin is black or yellow or brown or white; it will not matter whether you’re an immigrant or a citizen; it will not matter whether you’re rich or poor; it will not matter whether you’re Republican or Democrat; and it certainly won’t matter who you voted for in the last presidential election.

At that point—at the point you find yourself subjected to dehumanizing, demoralizing, thuggish behavior by government bureaucrats who are hyped up on the power of their badges and empowered to detain, search, interrogate, threaten and generally harass anyone they see fit—remember you were warned.

Take Roger Stone, one of President Trump’s longtime supporters, for example.

This is a guy accused of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress.

As far as we know, this guy is not the kingpin of a violent mob or drug-laundering scheme. He’s been charged with a political crime. So what does the FBI do? They send 29 heavily armed agents in 17 vehicles to carry out a SWAT-style raid on Stone’s Florida home just before dawn on Jan. 25, 2019.

As the Boston Herald reports:

“After his arraignment on witness tampering, obstruction and lying to Congress, a rattled Stone was quoted as saying 29 agents ‘pounded on the door,’ pointed automatic weapons at him and ‘terrorized’ his wife and dogs. Stone was taken away in handcuffs, the sixth associate of President Trump to be indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. All the charges have been related to either lying or tax evasion, with no evidence of so-called ‘collusion’ with Russia emerging to date.”

Overkill? Sure.

Yet another example of government overreach and brutality? Definitely.

But here’s the thing: while Tucker Carlson and Chris Christie and other Trump apologists appear shocked that law enforcement personnel would stage a military assault against “an unarmed 66-year-old man who has been charged with a nonviolent crime,” this is nothing new.

Indeed, this is blowback, one more vivid example of how the government’s short-sighted use of immoral, illegal and unconstitutional tactics become dangerous weapons turned against the American people.

To be clear, this Stone raid is far from the first time a SWAT team has been employed in non-violent scenarios.

Nationwide, SWAT teams routinely invade homes, break down doors, kill family pets (they always shoot the dogs first), damage furnishings, terrorize families, and wound or kill those unlucky enough to be present during a raid.

Payton, a 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, and 4-year-old Chase, also a black Lab, were shot and killed after a SWAT team mistakenly raided the mayor’s home while searching for drugs. Police shot Payton four times. Chase was shot twice, once from behind as he ran away. “My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs. They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don't think they really ever considered that we weren’t,” recalls Mayor Cheye Calvo, who described being handcuffed and interrogated for hours—wearing only underwear and socks—surrounded by the dogs’ carcasses and pools of the dogs’ blood.

SWAT teams have been employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of so-called criminal activity or mere community nuisances: angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession, to give a brief sampling. In some instances, SWAT teams are even employed, in full armament, to perform routine patrols.

If these raids are becoming increasingly common and widespread, you can chalk it up to the “make-work” philosophy, in which you assign at-times unnecessary jobs to individuals to keep them busy or employed. In this case, however, the make-work principle is being used to justify the use of sophisticated military equipment and, in the process, qualify for federal funding.

SWAT teams originated as specialized units dedicated to defusing extremely sensitive, dangerous situations. They were never meant to be used for routine police work such as serving a warrant.

Frequently justified as vital tools necessary to combat terrorism and deal with rare but extremely dangerous criminal situations, such as those involving hostages, SWAT teams—which first appeared on the scene in California in the 1960s—have now become intrinsic parts of federal and local law enforcement operations, thanks in large part to substantial federal assistance and the Pentagon’s 1033 military surplus recycling program, which allows the transfer of military equipment, weapons and training to local police for free or at sharp discounts.

Mind you, this is the same program that President Trump breathed new life into back in 2017.

As the role of paramilitary forces has expanded to include involvement in nondescript police work targeting nonviolent suspects, the mere presence of SWAT units has actually injected a level of danger and violence into police-citizen interactions that was not present as long as these interactions were handled by traditional civilian officers.

There are few communities without a SWAT team today.

In 1980, there were roughly 3,000 SWAT team-style raids in the US.

Incredibly, that number has since grown to more than 80,000 SWAT team raids per year.

Where this becomes a problem of life and death for Americans is when these militarized SWAT teams are assigned to carry out routine law enforcement tasks.

No longer reserved exclusively for deadly situations, SWAT teams are now increasingly being deployed for relatively routine police matters such as serving a search warrant, with some SWAT teams being sent out as much as five times a day.

In the state of Maryland alone, 92 percent of 8200 SWAT missions were used to execute search or arrest warrants.

Police in both Baltimore and Dallas have used SWAT teams to bust up poker games.

A Connecticut SWAT team swarmed a bar suspected of serving alcohol to underage individuals.

In Arizona, a SWAT team was used to break up an alleged cockfighting ring.

An Atlanta SWAT team raided a music studio, allegedly out of a concern that it might have been involved in illegal music piracy.

A Minnesota SWAT team raided the wrong house in the middle of the night, handcuffed the three young children, held the mother on the floor at gunpoint, shot the family dog, and then “forced the handcuffed children to sit next to the carcass of their dead pet and bloody pet for more than an hour” while they searched the home.

A California SWAT team drove an armored Lenco Bearcat into Roger Serrato’s yard, surrounded his home with paramilitary troops wearing face masks, threw a fire-starting flashbang grenade into the house in order, then when Serrato appeared at a window, unarmed and wearing only his shorts, held him at bay with rifles. Serrato died of asphyxiation from being trapped in the flame-filled house. Incredibly, the father of four had done nothing wrong. The SWAT team had misidentified him as someone involved in a shooting.

And then there was the police officer who tripped and “accidentally” shot and killed Eurie Stamps, an unarmed grandfather of 12, who had been forced to lie facedown on the floor of his home at gunpoint while a SWAT team attempted to execute a search warrant against his stepson.

Equally outrageous was the four-hour SWAT team raid on a California high school, where students were locked down in classrooms, forced to urinate in overturned desks and generally terrorized by heavily armed, masked gunmen searching for possible weapons that were never found.

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.

What we are witnessing is an inversion of the police-civilian relationship.

Rather than compelling police officers to remain within constitutional bounds as servants of the people, ordinary Americans are being placed at the mercy of militarized police units.

This is what happens when paramilitary forces are used to conduct ordinary policing operations, such as executing warrants on nonviolent defendants.

Unfortunately, general incompetence, collateral damage (fatalities, property damage, etc.) and botched raids tend to go hand in hand with an overuse of paramilitary forces.

In some cases, officers misread the address on the warrant.

In others, they simply barge into the wrong house or even the wrong building.

In another subset of cases (such as the Department of Education raid on Anthony Wright’s home), police conduct a search of a building where the suspect no longer resides.

If you’re wondering why the Education Department needs a SWAT team, you’re not alone.

Among those federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions are the State Department, Department of Education, Department of Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service, to name just a few. In fact, it says something about our reliance on the military that federal agencies having nothing whatsoever to do with national defense now see the need for their own paramilitary units.

SWAT teams have even on occasion conducted multiple, sequential raids on wrong addresses or executed search warrants despite the fact that the suspect is already in police custody. Police have also raided homes on the basis of mistaking the presence or scent of legal substances for drugs. Incredibly, these substances have included tomatoes, sunflowers, fish, elderberry bushes, kenaf plants, hibiscus, and ragweed.

As you can see, all too often, botched SWAT team raids have resulted in one tragedy after another for the residents with little consequences for law enforcement.

Unfortunately, judges tend to afford extreme levels of deference to police officers who have mistakenly killed innocent civilians but do not afford similar leniency to civilians who have injured police officers in acts of self-defense.

Even homeowners who mistake officers for robbers can be sentenced for assault or murder if they take defensive actions resulting in harm to police.

And as journalist Radley Balko shows in his in-depth study of police militarization, the shock-and-awe tactics utilized by many SWAT teams only increases the likelihood that someone will get hurt.

Drug warrants, for instance, are typically served by paramilitary units late at night or shortly before dawn. Unfortunately, to the unsuspecting homeowner—especially in cases involving mistaken identities or wrong addresses—a raid can appear to be nothing less than a violent home invasion, with armed intruders crashing through their door. The natural reaction would be to engage in self-defense. Yet such a defensive reaction on the part of a homeowner, particularly a gun owner, will spur officers to employ lethal force.

That’s exactly what happened to Jose Guerena, the young ex-Marine who was killed after a SWAT team kicked open the door of his Arizona home during a drug raid and opened fire. According to news reports, Guerena, 26 years old and the father of two young children, grabbed a gun in response to the forced invasion but never fired. In fact, the safety was still on his gun when he was killed. Police officers were not as restrained. The young Iraqi war veteran was allegedly fired upon 71 times. Guerena had no prior criminal record, and the police found nothing illegal in his home.

Aiyana Jones is dead because of a SWAT raid gone awry. The 7-year-old was killed after a Detroit SWAT team—searching for a suspect—launched a flash-bang grenade into her family’s apartment, broke through the door and opened fire, hitting the little girl who was asleep on the living room couch. The cops weren’t even in the right apartment.

Exhibiting a similar lack of basic concern for public safety, a Georgia SWAT team launched a flash-bang grenade into the house in which Baby Bou Bou, his three sisters and his parents were staying. The grenade landed in the 2-year-old’s crib, burning a hole in his chest and leaving him with scarring that a lifetime of surgeries will not be able to easily undo.

Alberto Sepulveda, 11, died from one “accidental” shotgun round to the back after a SWAT team raided his parents’ home.

The problems inherent in these situations are further compounded by the fact that SWAT teams are granted “no-knock” warrants at high rates such that the warrants themselves are rendered practically meaningless.

This sorry state of affairs is made even worse by U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have essentially done away with the need for a “no-knock” warrant altogether, giving the police authority to disregard the protections afforded American citizens by the Fourth Amendment.

In the process, Americans are rendered altogether helpless and terror-stricken as a result of these confrontations with the police.

Indeed, “terrorizing” is a mild term to describe the effect on those who survive such vigilante tactics. “It was terrible. It was the most frightening experience of my life. I thought it was a terrorist attack,” said 84-year-old Leona Goldberg, a victim of such a raid.

Yet this type of “terrorizing” activity is characteristic of the culture that we have created.

If ever there were a time to de-militarize and de-weaponize local police forces, it’s now.

While we are now grappling with a power-hungry police state at the federal level, the militarization of domestic American law enforcement is largely the result of the militarization of local police forces, which are increasingly militaristic in their uniforms, weaponry, language, training, and tactics and have come to rely on SWAT teams in matters that once could have been satisfactorily performed by traditional civilian officers.

Yet American police forces were never supposed to be a branch of the military, nor were they meant to be private security forces for the reigning political faction.

Instead, they were intended to be an aggregation of countless local police units, composed of citizens like you and me that exist for a sole purpose: to serve and protect the citizens of each and every American community.

As a result of the increasing militarization of the police in recent years, however, the police now not only look like the military—with their foreboding uniforms and phalanx of lethal weapons—but they function like them, as well.

Thus, no more do we have a civilian force of peace officers entrusted with serving and protecting the American people. Instead, today’s militarized law enforcement officials have shifted their allegiance from the citizenry to the state, acting preemptively to ward off any possible challenges to the government’s power, unrestrained by the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment.

As journalist Herman Schwartz observed, “The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official.”

Heavily armed police officers, the end product of the government—federal, local and state—and law enforcement agencies having merged, have become a “standing” or permanent army, composed of full-time professional soldiers who do not disband.

Yet these permanent armies are exactly what those who drafted the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights feared as tools used by despotic governments to wage war against its citizens.

This phenomenon we are experiencing with the police is what philosopher Abraham Kaplan referred to as the law of the instrument, which essentially says that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

In the scenario that has been playing out in recent years, we the citizenry have become the nails to be hammered by the government’s henchmen, a.k.a. its guns for hire, a.k.a. its standing army, a.k.a. the nation’s law enforcement agencies.

The problem, as one reporter rightly concluded, is “not that life has gotten that much more dangerous, it’s that authorities have chosen to respond to even innocent situations as if they were in a warzone.”

A study by a political scientist at Princeton University concludes that militarizing police and SWAT teams “provide no detectable benefits in terms of officer safety or violent crime reduction.”

The study, the first systematic analysis on the use and consequences of militarized force, reveals that “police militarization neither reduces rates of violent crime nor changes the number of officers assaulted or killed.”

In other words, warrior cops aren’t making us or themselves any safer.

Indeed, as I document in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, it is increasingly evident that militarized police armed with weapons of war who are empowered to carry out pre-dawn raids on our homes, shoot our pets, and terrorize our families have not made America any safer or freer.

The sticking point is not whether Americans must see eye-to-eye on the pressing issues of the day, but whether we can agree that no one should be treated in such a fashion by their own government.

***

RT
‘Good for business’: Trump adviser Bolton admits US interest in Venezuela’s ‘oil capabilities’

January 28, 2019

© Reuters / Mike Segar

With the Venezuela crisis escalating after the US’ provocative intervention against elected leader Nicolas Maduro last week, an honest admission by National Security Advisor John Bolton was overlooked by the media: It’s about oil.

Trump’s top adviser, who has been branded the most fervent hawk in the administration, has admitted that Washington is heavily invested in political outcomes in Caracas particularly because of Venezuela’s vast untapped oil reserves.

Indeed, it just so happens that Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Speaking to Fox Business host Trish Regan, Bolton said that the US had “a lot at stake” in Venezuela’s political crisis, specifically citing the country’s oil and the economic benefit it could bring to the US.

It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.

During a separate appearance on Fox Business, Bolton was less explicit, telling host Stuart Varney that getting rid of Maduro was paramount since he was bringing “countries with interests hostile to ours” into the country and ousting him would be a “potential major step forward” for “business” opportunities in the region.

Of course, Bolton also repeated the usual lines, claiming the US intervention in Venezuela’s domestic politics was about ousting an “authoritarian” leader and protecting democracy and human rights — but the comments about oil betrayed what many have suggested is the underlying reason and driving force behind the White House’s interference.

Bolton’s interest in seeing the US economy profit off Venezuela’s plentiful natural resources shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Trump himself has a history of arguing for regime changes in oil-rich countries around the world… but only if US companies benefit.

“I’m interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don’t take the oil, no interest,”he told Fox in 2012 a month after the disastrous US-led NATO intervention which left Libya a failed state. “We’ll help you, but we want 50 percent of your oil,” he said of Libya in another interview. Trump has also advocated a “take the oil” policy for Iraq in the past.

Bolton isn’t the only one to admit oil is a primary factor in US actions in Venezuela. Florida’s Republican senator Marco Rubio tweeted last week that refining the much-sought after heavy crude from Venezuela already “supports great jobs” for Americans in the Gulf Coast.

Despite clear admissions that oil is a primary interest for Trump and Bolton, that aspect of Venezuela’s crisis has been mostly overlooked by mainstream media in the US and Europe, with journalists, who are usually more hostile to Trump, unquestioningly adopting the narrative that the intervention is about “democracy”instead.

Last week, Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, declared Maduro’s presidency “illegitimate” and called for regime change. The European Union, along with US allies in the Western Hemisphere quickly lined up to back Trump’s position, while Russia, China, Turkey and Venezuela’s allies in Latin America spoke out against the move.

Maduro’s government has accused the US of trying to engineer a “coup” and waging an “economic war”against it.

***

RT

US threatens ‘serious consequences’ if Venezuela arrests ‘president’ Guaido

January 29, 2019

Self-proclaimed president of Venezuela Juan Guaido departs a rally in Caracas © Reuters/Carlos Barria

National Security Advisor John Bolton has threatened the government in Caracas that he denounced as “illegitimate” not to lay a finger on Juan Guaido, the opposition figure Washington considers to be Venezuela’s president.

“Let me reiterate – there will be serious consequences for those who attempt to subvert democracy and harm Guaido,” Bolton tweeted on Tuesday, addressing the “illegitimate former” attorney general of Venezuela who he said threatened the self-proclaimed president.

Bolton’s threats came after Venezuelan AG Tarek Saab announced that Guaido would be investigated for “serious crimes that threaten the constitutional order.” The authorities may freeze Guaido’s bank accounts and seek to prevent him from leaving the country, local media reported.

On Monday, Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the US would seize all assets of Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA, and channel them into accounts that would be accessible only by Guaido or a new elected government the US would approve of.

Guaido declared himself president earlier this month, with the backing of Venezuela’s National Assembly – the legislature last elected in 2015, which the government in Caracas considers lapsed with the 2017 election of the Constitutional Assembly. President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in May 2018, but the US-backed opposition has denounced him as a “usurper.”

The US, Canada, Australia and most of the OAS members have recognized Guaido as president, while Russia, China, Cuba and Bolivia have gone on the record in support of Maduro.

Maduro has denounced US meddling as an attempted coup and told the Trump administration on Monday to keep its “hands off” Venezuela.

Bolton’s threats come on the heels of his comments at the White House on Monday that many Venezuelan officers are considering defecting to Guaido’s side, and the excitement about a strategically visible scribble in his notepad about “5,000 troops to Colombia.” The government in Bogota, however, says it has no knowledge of any US troops arriving.

The US appears very serious about regime change in Caracas. Last week, the State Department appointed Elliott Abrams, a convicted Iran-Contra participant with a long sordid history in Latin America, as its point man on “bringing democracy” to Venezuela.

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RONPAULINSTITUTE.org

RON PAUL: TRUMP’S VENEZUELA FIASCO

What has long been a dream of the neocons may well turn out to be a nightmare for President Trump

January 28, 2019

Last week President Trump announced that the United States would no longer recognize Nicholas Maduro as president of Venezuela and would recognize the head of its national assembly, Jose Guaido, as president instead. US thus openly backs regime change. But what has long been a dream of the neocons may well turn out to be a nightmare for President Trump.

Why did Trump declare that the Venezuelan president was no longer the president? According to the State Department, the Administration was acting to help enforce the Venezuelan constitution. If only they were so eager to enforce our own Constitution!

It’s ironic that a president who has spent the first two years in office fighting charges that a foreign country meddled in the US elections would turn around and not only meddle in foreign elections but actually demand the right to name a foreign country’s president! How would we react if the Chinese and Russians decided that President Trump was not upholding the US Constitution and recognized Speaker Nancy Pelosi as US president instead?

Even those who would like to see a change of government in Venezuela should reject any notion that the change must be “helped” by the United States. According to press reports, Vice President Mike Pence was so involved in internal Venezuelan affairs that he actually urged Guaido to name himself president and promised US support. This is not only foolish, it is very dangerous. A Venezuelan civil war would result in mass death and even more economic misery!

Regime change has long been US policy for Venezuela. The US has been conducting economic warfare practically since Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, was first elected in 1998. The goal of US sanctions and other economic measures against Venezuela (and other countries in Washington’s crosshairs) is to make life so miserable for average citizens that they rise up and overthrow their leaders. But of course once they do so they must replace those leaders with someone approved by Washington. Remember after the “Arab Spring” in Egypt when the people did rise up and overthrow their leader, but they then elected the “wrong” candidate. The army moved in and deposed the elected president and replaced him with a Washington-approved politician. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry called it “restoring democracy.”

It is tragically comical that President Trump has named convicted criminal Elliot Abrams as his point person to “restore democracy” in Venezuela. Abrams played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair and went on to be one of the chief architects of the disastrous US invasion of Iraq in 2003. His role in helping promote the horrible violence in Latin America in the 1980s should disqualify him from ever holding public office again.

Instead of this ham-fisted coup d’etat, a better policy for Venezuela these past 20 years would have been engagement and trade. If we truly believe in the superiority of a free market system we must also believe that we can only lead by example, not by forcing our system on others.

Just four months ago President Trump said at the UN: “I honor the right of every nation in this room to pursue its own customs, beliefs, and traditions. The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.” Sadly it seems that these were merely empty words. We know from Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. that this will not end well for President Trump. Or for the United States. We must leave Venezuela alone!

***

RT

‘US pawn that can be discarded any time’– Max Blumenthal on ‘president’ Guaido

January 30, 2019

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido © REUTERS/Carlos Garcia

Self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ of Venezuela Juan Guaido is a “product of US-backed regime change factory” installed to do Washington’s bidding, journalist Max Blumenthal told RT, arguing the only US interest there is oil.

The 35-year-old opposition leader, now recognized by the US and several other Western nations as the legitimate representative of Venezuela, was a relatively obscure figure on the country’s political scene until he was hand-picked by the US to “sell the coup,” Blumenthal told RT in an interview. He earlier co-authoredan expose on the person at the tip of US operation to topple the government in Caracas published by the Grayzone Project.

Guaido’s meteoric rise from “a low-level legislator in one of the least populous states” to the self-proclaimed “Wikipedia-proofed” leader of the country is artificially constructed by the US, he stressed.

“And that is because he is the perfect pawn, he is the product of US regime change factories, specifically the group Otpor, which is being backed by the National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, and – according to many reports, the CIA – to topple Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia.”

The US-backed group “trained” Guaido and a group of selected Venezuelan students between 2005 and 2007, Blumenthal said, arguing that it paved way for his future political career.

The journalist described the Popular Will party, which Guaido helped his mentor and former Caracas mayor Leopoldo Lopez to establish, as “the most violent, radical right-wing party in Venezuela functioning as shock troops of oligarchy” and as “an asset of Washington” that has been “largely discredited in Venezuela.”

“They’re seen as undemocratic, they are hated by the parts of the opposition that would like a resolution here and that would not like war,” Blumenthal said, adding that party’s approach does not strike a chord with the majority of Venezuelans. However, the low popularity did not prevent Guaido from trying to seize the power, as he and his team “are very popular in Washington, and have a constituent base in halls of power here.”

Guaido does not have a base in Venezuela on which he can rely, Blumenthal said, arguing that the engineer-turned-politician’s popularity “is much lower than [Venezuelan President] Nicholas Maduro’s” who himself cannot boast high approval numbers, as his popularity is “on par with [French President] Emmanuel Macron.”

After completing his engineering education at Andres Bello Catholic University in Venezuela, Guaido took up politics and eventually studied at the George Washington University in the United States.

“For average Venezuelans, who at the rate of over 80 percent oppose sanctions and oppose military intervention, this crew around Guaido, and most of them actually exist outside Venezuela, are anathema, because they have been responsible for so much violence and so much destabilization.”

Stirring up violence in Venezuela even further is what Washington aiming for by backing Guaido and his entourage, Blumenthal argued, as for the US administration “it’s not about democracy, it’s not about human rights, it’s about oil.”

Blumenthal believes the US considers Guaido to be expandable, an asset that can be easily shelved away if it no longer needed.

“Guaido can be discarded any moment, he is Washington’s pawn.”

On Tuesday, Guaido was barred from leaving the country and had his assets and accounts frozen until an investigation into “serious crimes” he is accused of is finished by Venezuela’s attorney general. Guaido is accused of undermining constitutional order by inciting protests that led to violence. Washington has already warned that Caracas would face “serious” repercussions if it harms Guaido.

***

RT

Refusal to hand over Venezuelan gold means end of Britain as a financial center – Prof. Wolff

January 30, 2019

The Bank of England is seen in the financial district during rainy weather in London © Reuters / Henry Nicholls

The freezing of Venezuelan gold by the Bank of England is a signal to all countries out of step with US interests to withdraw their money, according to economist and co-founder of Democracy at Work, Professor Richard Wolff.

He told RT America that Britain and its central bank have shown themselves to be “under the thumb of the United States.”

“That is a signal to every country that has or may have difficulties with the US, [that they had] better get their money out of England and out of London because it’s not the safe place as it once was,” he said.

The Bank of England is currently withholding $1.2 billion in gold from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, but is being urged by Washington to release it to the chairman of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido. Last week, the US backed Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, after he declared himself interim president.

According to Professor Wolff, control of Venezuela’s oil has always been an urgent issue for Washington.
He also said that the collapse of Britain as a global power, which was accelerated by Brexit, is now about to take another step.

“One of the few things left for Britain is to be the financial center that London has been for so long. And one of the ways you stay a financial center is if you don’t play games with other people’s money,” he said.

The economist added that it is for the Venezuelans who put the money into the care of the British bank to determine what is done with it, and not for the Bank of England.

“You can be sure that every government in the world is going to rethink putting any money in London, as they used to do, when they are watching this political manipulation with the money that they entrusted to the British. It is very dangerous for the world but for Britain particularly,” said Wolff.

He explained: “What the British are showing is that they can’t continue apparently to be the neutral place where you can safely put your money.”

FOX NEWS

$840M in gold bars prepared for loading onto Russian jet at Venezuelan airport: report

By Edmund DeMarche

January 30, 2019

About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter.

The destination of the $840 million in gold bars was unknown, but a source told Bloomberg News that it represented about 20 percent of the country's holding of the metal. The gold was set aside for loading, the report said.

The news outlet, which first reported on the tweet, identified the lawmaker as Jose Guerra. The lawmaker did not provide evidence for his claim but is identified in the report as a former economist at the country's central bank with close ties to workers still there.

Noticias Venezuela, a news outlet in the country, posted a photo of what it identified as a Nordwind Airlines plane from Moscow that made the trip with only a crew aboard.

Simon Zerpa, Venezuela's finance minister, did not comment about the gold when reached by Bloomberg and denied there was a Russian plane at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas.

"I'm going to start bringing Russian and Turkish airplanes every week so everybody gets scared," he joked.

Bloomberg reached out to Nordwind, which did not comment on the purpose of the flight. The airline did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.

A plane belonging to a Moscow-based company was reportedly seen Monday heading to an international airport near Caracas, according to flight tracking records.

Reuters reported that there had been speculation about the jet that was “parked by a private corner of the airport.” And Reuters reported that it was the first time the plane made the trip.

Some conspiracy theories have circulated, including that the plane carried mercenaries, but there was no solid evidence, Reuters reported.

Russia, one of President Nicolas Maduro's staunchest supporters, is reportedly owed billions by the Latin American nation. Russia has said it expects Venezuela to have problems repaying debt ahead of an upcoming payment on a Russian loan.

Russia also has extensive commercial interests in Venezuela, including state oil company Rosneft’s partnership with Petroleos de Venezuela SA, a state company placed under sanctions Monday by the United States.

Venezuela is treading in the uncharted political waters after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim head of state last week in a direct challenge to Maduro’s reign. The 35-year-old head of the opposition-led national assembly has the backing of more than a dozen mostly western nations including the United States, Canada and several members of the European Union.

Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to a prosecutor's request to prevent Guaido from leaving the country while the Socialist government conducts a criminal probe into his activities.

Guaido said outside the National Assembly building that he was aware of personal risks, but added, "Venezuela is set on change, and the world is clearly conscious of what's happening."

(It's about one thing, oil. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. Larger than Saudi Arabia. “Go to now, [ye] rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon [you. ] Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned [and] killed the just; [and] he doth not resist you.” James 5:1-6 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 1 Timothy 6:10-11)

BREITBART

Merkel: We Must ‘Stand up’ to ‘Excessive Populism and Nationalism’

By Victoria Friedman

January 29, 2019

Globalist chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel has used an award acceptance speech to call on the international community to “stand up” to “excessive populism and nationalism.”

Dr Merkel said that as those who lived through World War II are dwindling in numbers, the lessons learnt from the conflict are being lost, resulting in a rise of “populism and nationalism,” affirming that “we have to resolutely stand up against this type of thinking.”

The Chancellor made the comments after being awarded the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding in Berlin on Monday, the first time the American award was presented outside of the United States. While Dr Merkel made her thinly-veiled criticism of President Trump, his hand-picked ambassador to Germany Rick Grenell looked on.

Merkel, the longest-serving leader in the European Union, was selected for the award for her “remarkable, compassionate leadership and her strong commitment to mutual understanding, international cooperation, and peace.”

Previous recipients include former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, and the organisation Doctors Without Borders, which had been active recently in the Mediterranean transporting boat migrants from North Africa to Europe.

Praising supranational bodies as the arbiters of order and peace in a post-WWII world, Dr Merkel continued, “We need to remind ourselves why the United Nations was established in the first place, why NATO, why the World Trade Organization and other international institutions… It was because of the lessons that were drawn out of the horrors of the Second World War and excessive nationalism,” according to the Associated Press.

While expressing gratitude to Germany’s “American friends” who helped rebuild the country, and war-torn Europe, post-1945, her comments veiled a criticism of President Donald Trump’s patriotic-nationalist domestic policies, saying that with “all the differences that one has,” nations “need to talk with one another, we need meetings, encounters, lines of communications” to solve global problems.

Attempting to redefine patriotism as a means of working for “the vested interests of others,” Merkel added, “And this is why I will never tire of making a case for the strength of a multilateral, rules-based and values-based global order.”

This is just Merkel’s latest attack on nationalism and patriotism, when in November she stated that objection to the global-wide United Nations regulation on mass migration was “nationalism” — in the pejorative — “in its purest form” and declared that European countries should be ready to surrender their sovereignty to the EU.

Merkel’s comments echoed those of her partner in Brussels expansionism, French President Emmanuel Macron who condemned nationalism as “treason” and the “exact opposite” of patriotism.

Late last year, Mr Macron positioned himself and Dr Merkel — heralded by the establishment media as the “leader of the free world,” an honorary title usually reserved for the United States — as the saviours of liberal values, telling the German parliament during a speech to commemorate the end of World War One that the “Franco-German couple” will stop the world “descending into chaos.”

“The Franco-German partnership has an obligation not to let the world fall into chaos and to lead Europe to peace.”

“It’s for this reason that Europe must be stronger,” Mr Macron said as he outlined a “more sovereign” European superstate with one army, one immigration law, and one budgetary policy.

***

MDCREEKMORE.com

What Foods Have the Longest Shelf Life? [My Top 20 Checklist]

by Amanda Hermes

There is a surprising variety of foods that can last for years, or ever forever, at room temperature when stored correctly. For all of these foods, the storage method is paramount. To protect your food supplies, store them in airtight containers in cool, dry locations away from light.

Containers might be bins, jars or cans with lids or even plastic bags that close securely. Buying in bulk is a great strategy, but most foods last much longer unopened, so obtaining many smaller containers might be more beneficial, depending on the food.

Moisture is the number one cause of food spoilage because microbes, such as bacteria, molds, and yeasts, flourish in moist locations. These microorganisms feed on food matter and decompose it. Like humans, microorganisms require water to survive, so if you remove moisture from food, it will not decompose, or spoil.

Naturally occurring enzymes in food can react with oxygen to cause spoiling and ripening that destroys food, but these enzymes also need water, so without moisture, this reaction can’t take place.

Make sure to keep long-term foods in cool areas, since heat can cause sweating, which can produce enough moisture for mold to grow. Darker places are also better for storage since sunlight can increase temperature.

While the foods below can last for relatively long periods, always discard foods that have a bad odor, flavor, or appearance. If mold or insects ever appear in your food, discard it immediately,
as these can present serious health hazards if eaten.

Below are twenty foods with remarkably long shelf lives to stock your survival pantry.

1. Dried Beans and Legumes

Legume is a generic term for beans, peas, and lentils. All of these are low-fat, cholesterol-free sources of high-quality protein and fiber, which means they are good for satisfying hunger. All varieties of dried beans and legumes will last indefinitely if stored correctly, that is, in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, according to chef and food scientist Mark Bittman.

Although there are hundreds of varieties of dried legumes, almost all can be prepared in the same way.

To make dried legumes edible, simply place them in a large pot and cover with water. Heat to a boil, and then turn the heat down and cover loosely. Cook, stirring occasionally until the beans are tender. How long this takes depends on the size of the legume you are cooking.

Peas might only take 30 minutes, while kidney beans take about an hour to soften. Legumes that are older than one year might take longer to soften.

2. White, Long-Grain Rice

Basic white, long-grain rice is another food staple that will last indefinitely if stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Brown rice will last approximately one year, but its bran contains oils that can go rancid, whereas the bran has been removed from white rice, allowing it to last pretty much forever.

Rice is basically 100 percent carbohydrates, which provide energy, but not a lot of nutrition. However, it does contain magnesium, vitamin B6, as well as a little protein and fiber. According to Jill Waldbieser at “Cooking Light,” very old rice is actually revered in some Asian communities.

Rice that is over twenty years old commands a higher price and is eaten by royalty because eating it is equated with longevity. To prepare rice, combine with water in a two-to-one ratio (2 cups water, 1 cup rice) in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

3. Dried Pasta

All types of dried pasta will last at least 30 years when stored correctly, which is the same as the foods above. Pasta contains carbohydrates for energy and fiber, as well as iron and magnesium and a small amount of protein. To prepare dried pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Bittman suggests using five quarts of water per pound of pasta. Add your pasta, and continue to boil for 8-10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Drain water, and add seasonings or sauce if you have it.

4. Jerky

Raw meat can easily be contaminated with microorganisms that cause disease, but treating it with heat destroys foodborne microorganisms, and drying it out removes the moisture that
allows them to grow. Jerky can be made from any game meat, beef or pork, but it’s best not to try with poultry.

To make jerky, slice raw meat into strips no more than 1/4-inch thick, and arrange strips on trays or baking sheets so they do not touch or overlap. Bake in a 140-degree oven for 10-24 hours. You can also use a food dehydrator to make jerky at home.

Vacuum-sealed jerky can last up to two years. Jerky is a good source of protein, iron, potassium, and zinc.

5. Dried Vegetables and Fruits

According to How Stuff Works, dehydration is one of the oldest food preservation methods, dating back to 12,000 BC. Dehydrated vegetables, like kale chips and dried green beans, can last up to eight years in an airtight container, according to Food & Wine. Dehydrated carrots can last up to 25 years, and dried corn has a ten-year shelf life.

Dried fruit, on the other hand, lasts about a year. Store dried vegetables and fruits in small airtight containers, such as plastic bags, because every time you open the container, the food is exposed to air and moisture, which lowers its quality.

As stated above, moisture promotes decay, but drying vegetables and fruits removes all the water, thereby preventing the decomposition process.

Unfortunately, it also zaps most nutrients out of fruits and vegetables as well, but vitamin A, iron, and fiber are retained. Use the same drying process as jerky, but check every two hours until food is completely dry and brittle.

6. Powdered Milk

Powdered milk has been around since the 1830s. It is a great way to get calcium, protein, minerals, and amino acids. In the original airtight container, powdered milk lasts up to two years, or ten years unopened.

To reconstitute, add one cup water to 1/3-cup powdered milk. Besides drinking it, you can use powdered milk to flavor other foods, make desserts such as rice pudding, or add nutrients to other dishes.

7. Powdered Eggs

Since the early 1900s, people have been using powdered eggs instead of the original when camping. They are simply dehydrated eggs in powder form and last five to ten years in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Just like regular eggs, powdered eggs are a good source of protein, potassium, calcium, and essential vitamins. Simply mix with water and cook to create scrambled eggs.

8. Rolled Oats

Oats are another great source of fiber, potassium, iron, zinc, and several other key nutrients. They last about two years in an airtight container.

To prepare, combine two cups water with one cup oats in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cook, stirring often for five minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for five more minutes before eating.

9. Canned Fish

Canned fish, such as tuna, salmon, and sardines are a great source of protein and Omega-3 fatty acids that can last up to three years unopened in a cool, dry place.

The canning process removes air and places food in vacuum sealed containers that are heat processed, thereby destroying microorganisms and preventing bacteria from getting in, according to “Food & Wine” magazine. Canned fish can be eaten right out of the can or heated.

10. Nut Butters

According to “Readers Digest” magazine, nut butters, such as peanut, almond, and cashew, can last up to two years unopened, and six months once they’ve been opened.

Nut butters are a great source of protein and healthy fats.

11. Pickled Vegetables

Pickled vegetables are packed in a solution of water, vinegar, and salt. The acid from the vinegar combines with naturally forming acids in the vegetables, thereby slowing down the decaying process that causes fresh produce to go bad.

Therefore, pickled vegetables can last up to two years unopened. By the same token, vinegar itself never goes bad because it is basically self-preserving.

Pickling recipes vary by vegetable, so it’s best to consult a cookbook or other resource.

12. Canned Goods

Canned goods are a great way to bring variety to your extended shelf life pantry. Despite expiration dates printed on store-bought items, canned goods that are stored in a cool, dark place and remain undented and in good condition are safe for up to six years, according to Fox News.

Canned vegetables and fruits can provide a plethora of vitamins and nutrients, depending on the variety. While it’s safe to eat canned foods at room temperature, most are better heated, with the exception of canned fruit.

13. Honey

Honey’s low moisture content and acidity make it inhabitable for bacteria, so it will last indefinitely at room temperature. After some time, honey may become crystallized, but simply heat a glass jar of honey over low heat in simmering water until it becomes liquid again.

Honey contains virtually no nutrients, but it does contain antioxidants, which protect your body’s cells from damage. It can also be used to treat burns and wounds, due to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

A spoonful of honey is a great remedy for a cough or cold, as it is a natural expectorant.

14 and 15. Sugar and Salt

Both sugar and salt are pure chemicals, which mean they are pretty much indestructible and will never spoil as long as they are kept free from moisture. Like children, microbes love to eat sugar, but they can only do so if it’s somewhat moist.

Whether brown or white, sugar is still safe to eat even if it becomes hardened over time. Salt is great to have on hand to season the foods listed above.

16. Soy Sauce

Fermentation is another method of preserving foods, which makes soy sauce one of the longest lasting flavorings out there. Soy sauce also contains a high level of sodium, thereby preventing bacteria growth.

According to Food & Wine magazine, unopened soy sauce can last indefinitely, and an opened bottle remains good for three years at room temperature.

17. Worcestershire Sauce

Similar to soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce contains high levels of acid and sodium, giving it a shelf life of up to five years unopened. It tastes great added to meat or fish or even beans.

18. Vanilla Extract

Pure vanilla extract can last indefinitely at room temperature in an airtight container because it contains alcohol, which prevents bacteria growth.

For the same reason, many varieties of distilled liquor, such as vodka, rum, whiskey, gin, and tequila, also last indefinitely. This shelf life only applies to pure vanilla extract; imitation vanilla extract generally lasts about four years.

19. Cocoa Powder

Properly stored, an opened package of unsweetened cocoa powder will generally last for about three years at room temperature. Just mix with hot water and add sugar for a comforting beverage.

Pre-mixed hot chocolate powder, however, does not last nearly as long, since it contains dairy.

20. Bouillon Cubes

Properly stored in an airtight container, a package of bouillon cubes or granules, whether beef, chicken, vegetable, turkey or fish, have a shelf life of about two years. These can be used to flavor rice, pasta, beans, or any other dish you are making.

MD Creekmore adds: Some foods like powdered milk, butter powder, cheese powder, shortening powder, and powdered eggs are difficult to package for long-term storage at home so I buy these prepackaged for long-term storage in #10 cans.

Resources:

https://www.rd.com/food/fun/foods-that-never-expire/7/
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/packages/cooking-from-the-pantry/the-top-10-longestlasting-foods
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/9-foods-almost-never-go-bad#canned-fish
https://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/foods-with-longest-expiration-dates
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/dehydrated-food.htm
Bittman, Mark. How to Cook Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2008.

***

Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“And Eliu (Elijah) did according to the word of the Lord, and he sat by the brook of Chorrath before Jordan. And the ravens brought him loaves in the morning, and flesh in the evening and he drank water of the brook.”
(III Kings 17:5-6)