End Times News and Gospel Message 6 March 2014 WR 14-72

Below is a video trailer about Pastor Biltz's DVD concerning Blood Moons and his interview on Prophecy in the News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQLeEYDp19U#t=59

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSMhcRq3d0U



Although the videos below are almost one year old they are fascinating and well done. They are called "We Will Kill The Dollar".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F7bM63ZfWQ#t=44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILKolTI1s50

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the crisis in Ukraine on 5 March 2014, a day after the U.S. escalated a war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea.

Now listen to Kerry's ill-advised remarks, showing the world the kind of hypocrites who run our Government!

" 'It is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further……….It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve," said Kerry.

How can an American leader stand up before the world and hypocritically criticize Russia for invading a country on the exact basis that Republican George Bush invaded Iraq?

Does anyone remember the lies tumbling from the mouth of Secretary of State Colin Powell as he boldly fabricated the foundation of the American-led invasion of Iraq?

We all know that John Kerry is a Democrat and George Bush is a Republican, but lest you forget, Senator Kerry voted for Bush's invasion of Iraq!

Official Washington is in deep umbrage over Russia’s intervention in Ukraine after a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the democratically elected president. How would Americans feel if the Russians meddled in Canada or Mexico. Kerry decried the Russian intervention as a Nineteenth Century act in the Twenty-first Century. However, if memory serves, Sen. Kerry in 2002 voted along with most other members of the U.S. Congress to authorize President George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was also part of the Twenty-first Century.

Furthermore, Kerry is Secretary of State in the Obama Administration which has ratcheted upward America's drone strike disaster, which has killed more civilians than terrorists and created more enemies for the U.S.

Since World War II and extending well into the Twenty-first Century the United States has invaded or otherwise intervened in so many countries that it would be challenging to compile a complete list. Just last decade, there were full-scale U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, plus American bombing operations from Pakistan to Yemen to Libya.

Our Founding Fathers envisioned that America would be the nation in modern history to gradually lead the world into the New World Order?

Of course, America has invaded or attacked many nations in the 20th and 21st Centuries based on lies, extortions, and bold fabrications of evidence. I love America greatly and I honorably served in US Army Intelligence and retired from the u.S. Army, but I can look at the truth without flinching and realize that America is not the innocent nation our leaders like to paint.

America's use of Depleted Uranium munitions is going to kill many Muslims and U.S. veterans.

Because God sees America's national sins for what they truly are, He will judge this nation precisely as He foretold He would in Revelation 18. You will be shocked to learn how God intends to destroy America.

Skull and Bones Bush kick started a war in Afghanistan and Iraq based on massive lies so the New World Order can be forcibly established, and Skull and Bones Kerry knows the truth also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uacMkz5eotQ

SUNBURY, PA — On the eve of Miranda Barbour’s formal homicide arraignment, a former roommate said that during one of three police searches of her home, a Satanic Bible was removed from under the 19-year-old’s bed. Authorities also collected two large knives and clothes worn the night of the slaying.

The man, who asked not to be identified, said police also found drug paraphernalia when they conducted the searches after the slaying of Troy LaFerrara.

LaFerrara, 42, of Port Trevorton, was found dead on Nov. 12 in an alley behind Catawissa Avenue in Sunbury.

Police charged Miranda Barbour, 19, and her husband, Elytte Barbour, 22, both of Selinsgrove, with the murder, saying LaFerrara was choked and stabbed to death.

“They (police) came three different times,” the former roommate said Monday. “One of the things they found was a Satanic Bible, although Elytte (Barbour) was not a Satan worshiper.”

Police would not discuss what was found inside the Barbour residence and the search warrant has been sealed by a Snyder County judge.

Police believe the Barbours plotted to kill “someone, anyone” in what has been described as a thrill killing.

Elytte Barbour told police the newlyweds had planned to kill before but didn’t get the opportunity. They found LaFerrara through a Craigslist ad placed by Miranda Barbour, authorities have said.

Police contend LaFerrara got into a red Honda CRV that Miranda Barbour was driving, and after a signal was given, Elytte Barbour jumped out from under a blanket and wrapped a cord around LaFerrara’s neck while Miranda Barbour stabbed him repeatedly.

Miranda Barbour told police LaFerrara tried to grope her and that she blacked out and began to stab LaFerrara and then drove around Sunbury until she found an alley where she could leave his body.

Several weeks ago, The Daily Item spoke with the mother of Elytte Barbour’s child in North Carolina, a woman who said Barbour was infatuated with satanism.

Aimee Vaneyll, of Coats, N.C., said: “People will say he was a devil worshipper. That isn’t true. What he believed in was satanism.”

“Satanism isn’t about being scary,” Vaneyll said. “It’s about believing in yourself, and not oppress the instincts you were born with.”

Vaneyll said Elytte Barbour just loved to hang out with his friends and play video games. Some of those games included “Triforce Zelda,” “Silent Hill,” a horror survivalist video game based on a person attempting to defeat the evil forces in the fictional town of Silent Hill, based on the town of Centralia in Columbia County. Another game Elytte Barbour liked was “Skyrim,” a game based on a fictional world, where characters work to defeat evil forces, Vaneyll said.

The former roommate agreed with Vaneyll about the Barbours’ fascination with the occult.

“She had told him they needed to perform rituals to become closer to each other,” he said.

He also said that when police arrived a second time and entered the room where the Barbours were living, they removed two knives, one of which was a hunting knife with jagged edges. They also took a black dress and other articles of clothing.

The man said police came back a third time and went through the entire house and took other pieces of evidence.

The man said the Barbours came to Pennsylvania because Elytte Barbour may have gotten into using hard drugs.

“He told me he smoked crack,” the man said.

When his former girlfriend, Vaneyll, learned Elytte married Miranda, Vaneyll said she was shocked.

“They came back from getting married and never told anyone,” she said. “Miranda still lived with her aunt and uncle, and Elytte was still with his parents.”

Vaneyll said she is still in shock over the allegations against the Barbours, but she is certain of one thing.

“Elytte is a bad liar,” she said. “He doesn’t know how to lie.”

According to the stock markets, the U.K and U.S economies are in historic booms.  In the U.K, on 21 February 2014 the FTSE 100 climbed to a new height of 6,838. At this rate, it may soon surpass the highest ever level reached since the index began in 1984 – that was 6,930.
This is according to a recent report from theguardian.com titled ‘This is no recovery, this is a bubble – and it will burst’, writes Ha-Joon Chang. “…the current levels of share prices are extraordinary considering the UK economy has not yet recovered the ground lost since the 2008 crash; per capita income in the UK today is still lower than it was in 2007. And let us not forget that share prices back in 2007 were themselves definitely in bubble territory of the first order…
The situation is even more worrying in the US. In March 2013, the Standard & Poor 500 stock market index reached the highest ever level, surpassing the 2007 peak (which was higher than the peak during the dotcom boom), despite the fact that the country's per capita income had not yet recovered to its 2007 level. Since then, the index has risen about 20%, although the US per capita income has not increased even by 2% during the same period. 
This is definitely the biggest stock market bubble in modern history…Even more extraordinary than the inflated prices is that, unlike in the two previous share price booms, no one is offering a plausible narrative explaining why the evidently unsustainable levels of share prices are actually justified.”
Analysts typically explain stock market rises based on such factors as prevailing market trends, economic factors and new technologies. Ha-Joon explains that during the dotcom bubble in 1999, the predominant view was that the new information technology was about to completely revolutionize our economies for good. Similarly, in the run-up to the 2008 crisis, inflated asset prices were justified in terms of the supposed progresses in financial innovation in derivatives and structured financial assets, and in the techniques of economic and monetary policy.
This time around, no one is offering a new narrative justifying the new bubbles because, says Ha-Joon, there simply isn't any plausible story: “…Those stories that are generated to encourage the share price to climb to the next level have been decidedly unambitious in scale and ephemeral in nature: higher-than-expected growth rates or number of new jobs created; brighter-than-expected outlook in Japan, China, or wherever; the arrival of the "super-dove" Janet Yellen as the new chair of the Fed; or, indeed, anything else that may suggest the world is not going to end tomorrow… 
Most investors know that current levels of share prices are unsustainable…they are aware that share prices are high mainly because of the huge amount of money sloshing around thanks to quantitative easing (QE), not because of the strength of the underlying real economy. This is why they react so nervously to any slight sign that QE may be wound down on a significant scale… investors pretend to believe – or even have to pretend to believe – in those feeble and ephemeral stories because they need those stories to justify (to themselves and their clients) staying in the stock market, given the low returns everywhere else.”
Ha-Joon’s ominous conclusion is that: “…. stock market bubbles of historic proportion are developing in the US and the UK, the two most important stock markets in the world, threatening to create yet another financial crash. One obvious way of dealing with these bubbles is to take the excessive liquidity that is inflating them out of the system through a combination of tighter monetary policy and better financial regulation against stock market speculation…the danger here is that these policies may prick the bubble and create a mess…the best way to deal with these bubbles is to revive the real economy…
This will require a more sustainable increase in consumption based on rising wages rather than debts, greater productive investments that will expand the economy's ability to produce, and the introduction of financial regulation that will make banks lend more to productive enterprises than to consumers. Unfortunately, these are exactly the things that the current policymakers in the US and the UK don't want to do…We are heading for trouble.”
Reports of an imminent stock market crash are gaining widespread acceptance (see a recent PNW article here), however there are those who deny the existence of a stock market bubble. In a recent article titled ‘Here's Why The Stock Market Bubble Deniers Are Completely Wrong’, Jesse Colombo explains  several myths that are being peddled by the naysayers regarding the state of the stock market, of which 2 of the key ones are covered below:
1. Argument/Myth #1: Stocks are the cheapest they have been in decades:  According to Jesse, this most common argument is technically accurate but misleading: based a longer view, stock are actually overvalued and expensive as supported by the graphs reflecting the Shiller P/E ratio, total stock market capitalization to GDP ratio, Tobin’s Q Ratio (the ratio of the market’s price to replacement costs). Jesse sees the past two decades of stock market overvaluation to be part of a longer-term “Bubble Era” that still has yet to end, and believes it will eventually end when interest rates rise, which will result in a severe global economic crisis.
 2.  Argument/Myth #2: The Bull Market Is Justified By Earnings Growth:  Jesse asserts that U.S. corporate earnings are instead experiencing a bubble in their own right, based on low interest rates. This is exemplified in the 2003 -2007 “bubble cycle” that fueled a bubble in housing and credit growth, which in turn spurred a temporary U.S. corporate earnings boom in various bubble-related sectors, helping to boost the overall economy until the bubble popped. U.S. and global interest rates are even lower during this current cycle, and bubbles are inflating across the entire world.
But who is better placed to verify claims of a stock market crash, than powerful top billionaires who can influence much of what happens in the markets, and are far much more “in the know” than your average investor?
The 2nd March, 2014 article from moneyweek.com titled ‘Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why’, reports:
“A handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.
Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods… With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome. Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone…
Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee.
Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.
So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of U.S. companies? After all, the stock market is still in the midst of its historic rally. Real estate prices have finally leveled off, and for the first time in five years are actually rising in many locations. And the unemployment rate seems to have stabilized. It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.”
So says Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock: “Companies will be spending more money on borrowing costs than business expansion costs. That means lower profit margins, lower dividends, and less hiring. Plus,  more layoffs. No investors, let alone billionaires, will want to own stocks with falling profit margins and shrinking dividends. So if that’s why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros are dumping stocks, they have decided to cash out early and leave Main Street investors holding the bag.

The writing is clearly on the wall or the needle is pricking the balloon.

The list of the world’s billionaires has risen to new heights, with many more women joining the ranks of the ultrawealthy, according to Forbes’ annual ranking, released Monday.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates returned to the pinnacle of prosperity, beating out Mexican media mogul Carlos Slim Helu. Gates, who had slipped from the top spot for the past four years, was catapulted past Slim thanks to a $9 billion rise in his fortune aided by a boost to Microsoft shares. Gates is worth about $76 billion as of March, according to Forbes. Slim’s fortune is valued at $72 billion.

Spain’s retailing mogul Amancio Ortega ($64 billion) kept his place at No. 3, with Warren Buffett ($58.2 billion) at No. 4.

In total, Forbes found that there were 1,645 billionaires around the world, with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion (yes, that’s trillion, with a T), up from $5.4 trillion last year. A record 268 people joined the list, which includes 172 women, the most ever, an increase of 42 women billionaires.

Among the women on the list: Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Oprah Winfrey, Spanx’s Sara Blakely and fashion designed Tory Burch.

Putin is nobody’s fool, so he knows that he’s being maneuvered. He knows who the players are and what pieces are being played. Putin knows that his opponent is also nobody’s fool and is expecting him to play his pieces very carefully – just the way that he is playing them right now.

Did you notice that no one has fired a shot?

And, if the Elites had wanted a ‘hot war’ in Ukraine, they would have made sure that there were gun battles in the Crimea, but there haven’t been any – at least that we know of.

Did you notice how disciplined the Russian troops are?

Those guys are Spetsnaz – highly dependable and extremely capable. They follow orders, and it should be clear to everyone that the orders are: no gun battles.

And, having committed just 6,000 special forces troops, Putin is tip-toeing into this conflict.

So, what’s his next move?

Turning Off Ukraine's Natural Gas

Putin has the luxury of ‘tip-toeing into this conflict’ because he has a trump card that will win this game before it even gets started: natural gas.

Thirty percent of Europe’s natural gas is supplied by Russia, and half of that gas goes through Ukraine. When Russia turns off the natural gas supply that runs through Ukraine, the Ukrainian revolution falls apart, and we go back to where we were a few months ago… or, do we?

That’s what it looks like on the surface, and that’s how the US and Europe want to see this played – which means that……this was the intention of the Elites, all along.

Now, that is a very, very interesting thought.

Could it be that everything that we’ve seen happen in Ukraine has been for the purpose of convincing Russia to turn off the natural gas running through Ukraine?

Let’s take a look at what would happen if the Ukrainian pipeline was shut off.

Consequences

Turning off 15% of Europe’s natural gas supplies would not be as devastating as when Russia did this in January of 2009. In 2009, 45% of Europe’s natural gas came from Russia, and all of it went through Ukraine. Now, we’re down to less than 30% of Europe’s natural gas coming from Russia, and only half of it traveling through Ukraine. And, right now, it’s March and not January – meaning that demand for natural gas is going to be less.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is that a reduction in the supply of natural gas will cause the price of natural gas to go up. But, something else will go up too:

OIL

When the price of oil goes up, economies decline. In fact, sub prime mortgages started to fail in ’05 and ’06 because the price of gasoline went up – forcing people to choose between filling their gas tank and paying their mortgage.

Well, we have another housing bubble with more subprime mortgages, so guess what is going to happen?

More mortgage failures, more foreclosures, and more bank failures – unless there’s something else that will step in to ‘save the day’.

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about certainties. However, what comes next is less certain.

Deutsche Bank

Let’s talk about Deutsche Bank. It has been teetering on the brink of failure for years, and I’m wondering if this isn’t a setup to bring down that bank in a way that allows the mainstream media to blame the Russians.

Please know that the banking system is going to fail. There is no way that the banks can avoid this. And, the weakest link in that system is currently Deutsche Bank, and when it goes… the rest of the Too-Big-Too-Fail banks go with it. The big question is whether THIS is the big moment.

The Petrodollar

Pushing up the price of oil also increases support for the US dollar. An increased oil price sucks up extra dollars floating around the world because everyone will need to use the dollars that they have to buy the oil that they need. And, if they run out of dollars, they have to sell stuff to Americans to get more. And, Americans like to buy their ‘stuff’ as cheaply as possible. But, if this happens, it doesn’t mean that the Elites haven’t changed their plan.

The Elites are still going to kill the dollar, but they might want to keep it strong for a while longer so they can capture as much of the world’s wealth as they can.

Blunting the NatGas Co-op

Jim Willie talks about Gazprom and the natural gas cooperative that Russia has been building over the past few years. And the Elites may be trying to put a dent in it. The thing is that Saudi Arabia doesn’t like this Russian-controlled natural gas distribution network. They want it stopped, which is why they’ve been funding the civil war in Syria – because of that Russian natural gas pipeline that is supposed to go through Syria.

Killing the Dollar

When I heard both Kyle Bass and Doug Hagmann talk about the plan to kill the dollar, it set off alarm bells. I’d known that this was a possibility, but I hadn’t been certain that the banksters and their puppet government in Washington would choose this way out. And, that is still the only plan that they are going to run with. Everything else that we’ve talked about here is just detail on the road to this objective.

The big question is whether this is the moment when they pull the plug.

But, let’s not forget about Vladimir Putin. Putin is going to look for a way to manage this situation for the benefit of Russia. You can bet that he’s going to look for other options.

It’s a dangerous thing to play games with someone like him, and the Elites are capable of miscalculation. And, we know that one of their miscalculations is coming.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." Romans 1

You are watching the collapse in slow motion of what used to be the greatest fighting force on the face of the earth. The damage that Obama has been able to inflict on the United States military is unimaginable. If you have ever wondered why America is not mentioned in end times bible prophecy, now you know. We collapsed as a nation.

Since the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, U.S. military bases have hosted a gay marriage ceremonies and a potluck gatherings. But on Saturday, servicemembers at Kadena Air base in Japan may have been the first to take to the stage and perform as drag queens on a military installation in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.

Drag queens and drag kings, to be precise.

Six service members, gay, lesbian and straight, donned heavy makeup to dance and lip sync songs such as “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” for a raucous capacity crowd at the Rocker NCO Club at Kadena Air Base. The event was a fundraiser for the recently formed Okinawa chapter of OutServe-SLDN, which is the largest nonprofit advocate for the military’s LGBT community.

“We didn’t think there was much of a desire for an event like this on the island but it has actually blown up,” said Navy Lt. Marissa Greene, co-chapter leader of OutServe Okinawa.

Greene said she had hoped to sell about 75 tickets to fund some future support activities for the group, which was formed last summer and still “starting from scratch.” The event was approved as a “variety show” by Kadena’s 18th Wing through the same process as other on-base fundraisers.

But an initial 200 tickets were plucked up almost immediately, so they issued another 200. “We ended up selling 400 tickets in 10 days,” she said.

Amid the unexpected success, OutServe carefully avoided any mention of politics, but its variety show comes at a pivotal time for gay civil rights in the United States, with many states passing laws dealing with marriage or debating individual liberties.

It is also a sign of the times within the military; just a few years ago, gay and lesbian drag performances on a military base would have been unthinkable and potentially a cause for dismissal from the service.

The repeals of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, as well as the Defense of Marriage Act — the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — have allowed gays and lesbians in the military to be open with their sexuality for the first time.

The historic shift appears to be mostly accepted and embraced throughout the ranks despite warnings the DADT repeal could harm order and good discipline.

On Saturday night, the Rocker club was packed for performances by servicemembers using stage names such as Chocolate Sunrise – a crowd favorite — and Artemis Faux. The event’s sole lesbian performer took the drag king name Manny Nuff.

The advocacy group agreed to avoid using the term “drag show” as part of its on-base fundraiser effort. Tech. Sgt. Kristen Baker, who was among the crowd, said the show got a warm reception and would leave a mark for civil rights.

“Everything is just accepted. It makes me really proud to watch it,” Baker said. In the military, “we are all brothers and sisters no matter what.”

 

Boy, you talk about a false preacher and teacher Njohi is it. Are we approaching the End Times or what!

Nairobi pastor Reverend Njohi has introduced a form of worship at his Lord’s Propeller Redemption Church in which female members of the congregation are banned from wearing underwear so God can enter their bodies easily.

After a recent meeting of the church’s elders, to debate the matter Reverend Njohi passed an edict banning the wearing bras and panties when attending service.

Defending the edict, Reverend Njohi claims that when going to church, people need to be free in body and spirit to receive Christ.

Describing the wearing of underwear to church by women as ungodly, Reverend Njohi warned his members of dire consequences if they secretly did so.

According to one of the church’s members, last Sunday, all the female members of the congregation came to the service without any panties or bra as the pastor ordered. Mothers were advised to check their daughters when coming to church on Sundays to ensure they obey the edict and can receive Christ too.Reverend Njohi’s church is located in Dandora Phase Two, an eastern suburb of Nairobi. 

Ukrainian Special Forces

The email below is from a former American Special Forces operator. It is redacted of sender and receiver because the editor of the website prefers not to take chances with another person’s livelihood on the line.

The following is not an objective, fact-based piece due simply to the nature of the letter, but it is written with a definitive authority that I do not question, particularly based on the background of the author that was provided. You’ll have to trust SOFREP on this one. Expect a more objective cultural assessment on Ukraine and Russia to be popping up here on SOFREP in the not too distant future, but for now, just let this hardcore reality check soak in, and feel free to share.

—————————————————
[SENDER REDACTED]
[RECIPIENT REDACTED]
DATE: March 2014
—————————————————

One of my Ukrainian colleagues asked me if I was informing my friends back home about the situation here. I admitted that I’ve only talked to my wife much about it and he accepted that. I got to thinking and decided that I’ve been delinquent.

Read more: http://sofrep.com/33637/ukraine-american-spec-ops-veteran-on-the-ground-speaks/#ixzz2vC3SnBYd

During my last [TIMELINE REDACTED] here now, I’ve met and worked with several Ukrainian mid-grade (major through colonel) and junior grade (lieutenant and captain) officers. Plus a few hundred cadets. I’ve made friends, a couple enemies, and a lot of good colleagues. I’ve met local civilians and have eaten in some fantastic cafes. I enjoy living in [CITY REDACTED]. It has a history that goes back a couple thousand years and is rich in a culture that even Soviet occupation for 50 years could not destroy.

Ukrainians are almost as much of a mixed culture as is the USA. There are leftists, rightists, centerists, and a few idiots. There is a small but vocal group that bears resemblance to the Nazi Party in Germany in 1939. There are human rights activists, well educated professionals, business entrepreneurs, and criminals. Just like home. What amazed me, however, was the level of corruption. I expected it, after having worked in former socialist countries before, and have seen what happens when you toss out the communists.

The only groups ready to replace the communists… the only groups with any formal/semi-formal hierarchy, organization, chains of command, resource procurement procedures, etc… the only groups immediately available… are the crooks and criminal organizations. What usually happens is the crooks make their way into government positions, both elected and appointed, and just raise the level of their operations to a national level. The people usually get tired of it, and either vote them out or kick their asses out. Once they do, the only groups ready to move back in and take charge are…. the old communists! They’ll have a new name, but old styles. So the folks kick them out and the damned crooks come back in… usually with less power.

Ukraine has gone through these cycles. There is no civil service system here. When a new political party takes charge, everyone who works for the government expects to lose their job. Teachers, civil works technicians, cops, secretaries, postal workers, etc. If they don’t offer a bribe to their new politically appointed boss, they will lose their paycheck.

Cops are a special thing. No city cops, no state cops, just the national police. and they get paid MUCH less than minimum wage. A cop does not chase criminals, he chases his boss’ political opponents. A traffic cop does not enforce traffic laws, he fights to get assigned to a check point on a good street so he can stop new cars and extort money from the driver (obviously well off… he’s driving a new car) using some trumped up charge. I’ve been stopped many times. They want me to blow into a fake breathalyzer so they can charge me with DUI. I was stopped once and they asked for my ID and drivers license. I unbuckled my seat belt to get to my wallet. The cop looked at my license and then wanted to charge me with not wearing my seatbelt. Normal Ukrainians normally pay the cop somewhere between $12 to $20 to get on their way. I show my US passport and start dialing the embassy on my cell phone. They usually let me go.

Businesses are extorted by officers attempting to enforce unwritten city codes. Driving schools don’t teach kids to drive, the kids can buy a license for $50 and walk out the same day they enrolled in the course. Everything is like that.

When I got here I was just flat amazed how deep the corruption was. My translator asked me how I would handle such a situation back in [HOME STATE REDACTED]. I told him we had enforceable laws, much more accountability of officials… and as a last resort, the.45 on my hip and the AR-15 in my bedroom gun cabinet. He sighed…. said we have none of that. We can’t make changes.

Well folks. Ukrainians stood up on their hind legs these last few months, and they fought back against the crooks… and they won! More than one hundred of them died doing it. It’ll take the new folks in government to change what they had. It’s hard changing a nation, a culture of corruption, a business environment that doesn’t know how to enforce contract law. But they want to give it a chance.

And now, Vladimir Putin has decided that he can’t allow the new Ukraines to succeed. Because if they do, Russians might decide to get rid of the criminals who are the Russian Mafia, and the people like Putin who are trying to rebuild… not the Soviet Union… but the old Russian Empire. There are good geo-political reasons for him to desire that., but it comes at the cost of Ukrainian freedoms to chose.

The US will not, maybe cannot, jump in here and oppose the Russians militarily (the US has zero tanks left in Germany, folks). The Germans, Brits, French, etc., don’t have the forces to do it, either. Nor the political will. So a NATO military option is out of the question. The Ukrainian military is too small, too under-resourced, and too tied to old Soviet style doctrine to go it alone.

So, what is left?

That will be up to President Obama, the British Prime Minister, Ban-Ki-Moon at the UN, and, believe it or not, the people and prime minister of Turkey. The Poles might go up against the Russians. They’ve done it before. Polish military history is pretty brave. They’ve been outclassed and outmatched, but no one can ever accuse them of cowardice. If the Russians try to take western Ukraine, the Poles might surprise everyone.

I support what the Ukrainians are trying to do. I can’t do much about it, except teach… Because of the semi-official position I work in, I can’t do much more. If it gets too dangerous out here in western Ukraine, I have to go home. If it gets too politically strenuous for the US, the State Department might order us to go home. I’m not impressed with John Kerry whining that Putin doesn’t respond to our super-civilized new world society. He is “stunned” that Mr Putin acted in the same old way that Russians have always reacted. By force. By making your enemies fear you. By taking action, not talking. I’m amazed that anyone with a clue really thinks that this 21st century is going to be much different than the 19th century. History shows us otherwise. Every Damned Time.

So, I’ve made my conscience easier by writing this. The old Ukrainian colleague who asked if I had written my friends is a retired [RANK AND PROFESSION REDACTED]. And he is itching to put his uniform back on and go defend Ukraine. Against the Russians. Against a force a hundred times bigger. He has a beautiful, [AGE REDACTED] year-old daughter, who wants to be a ballerina. And he wants her to have the opportunity to do it in a free, law-abiding, free-enterprise nation. And he’s willing to go up against the Russian Bear to do it. I just wanted you to know. 

Watch the month of March come in like a lion in the video below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnTI_maJgCc

A new, deadly H5N8 strain of avian influenza penetrated the biosecurity defenses of the South Korean National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) campus, prompting authorities to cull all of the facility’s 11,000 hens and 5000 ducks.

The devastating loss could set back poultry experiments at the NIAS lab for 2 years. “It will likely to take up to 95 weeks to fully rebuild [the flocks] and resume normal research,” says Kim Sung-Il, head of the contingency team at the Rural Development Administration, which oversees NIAS. Kim adds that the institute, which studies breed improvement and animal husbandry techniques, will reconstitute its flocks from birds kept at other facilities.

A wild goose that died of the virus was found 10 kilometers from NIAS’s Suwon campus, near Seoul, on 1 February. The entire NIAS staff went to work disinfecting and shooing away wild birds at the three centers that keep poultry. Despite those efforts, 30 ducks were found dead on 2 March at the Cheonan campus, 85 kilometers south of Seoul. The next day, authorities confirmed the cause of death as H5N8 avian influenza. NIAS immediately initiated culling, which was completed on 4 March.

The incident highlights the difficulty of protecting poultry farms from circulating avian influenza viruses. “We are taking this situation very seriously,” said Lee Jun-Won, deputy agriculture minister, at a press conference yesterday in Seoul. He noted that NIAS has the country’s most secure facilities and most vigilant staff. Lee said they were looking at three possible routes the virus could have taken onto campus: wild birds, NIAS vehicles, and supply deliveries. “We will determine the reason for the infection, and we are going to hold those responsible accountable,” he said.

The culprit H5N8 strain had never before been seen in such a deadly form when it surfaced on farms in central South Korea on 17 January. Despite control efforts that have included culling millions of chickens and ducks, the virus has spread virtually nationwide and outbreaks are still being reported. It has also killed hundreds of Baikal teal and other migratory birds. There have been no reports of human infections.

It seems to me that the false prophet in the Vatican is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. In an interview published 5 Mar 14, Pope Francis appeared to support governments that recognize civil unions to provide non-traditional couples with access to benefits.

Over the last year, Francis has nudged the church in a more welcoming direction on issues like contraception, divorce, and marriage equality. Pope Benedict XVI sermonized that same-sex marriage is a “serious harm to justice and peace,” and a “manipulation of nature”. Francis has directed the church to become more inclusive. He has also instructed American Bishops to poll how everyday Catholics view same-sex marriage, divorce, and contraception. Last year, Francis himself welcomed gays priests, arguing, “who am I to judge?” Before becoming the Pope, Francis may have supported civil unions as an Argentina archbishop, though he was simultaneously condemning marriage equality as a product of the “father of lies” that was “destructive to the plan of God” and that would “gravely harm the family.” The Vatican continues to oppose same-sex unions and has had to deny past reports of Francis’ support as “paradoxical” and a “manipulation” of his words.

Francis also discussed plans to revisit the church’s position on birth control, saying “it is a matter of going into the issue in depth and bringing it about that the pastoral practice takes account of situations and of what is possible for persons.”

On the question of marriage and civil unions, the Pope reaffirmed that “marriage is between a man and a woman”. States seek to justify civil unions “to regularize different situations of living together,” pushed by the need to regularize the economic aspects between people, such as, for example, to ensure health care, he said. “We have to look at the different cases and evaluate them in their variety”.