The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
The Future is Arriving Faster Than Ever
Alan Caruba
"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
~~~lll~~~
1.
Congress May Block nObama’s $3 Billion Pledge to UN Climate Fund
(By Alex Newman) - Newly empowered Republican lawmakers are threatening to protect U.S. taxpayers from being fleeced again by the nObama administration...which in late 2014 recklessly promised to send another $3 billion of American tax money to a United Nations climate fund. Under the guise of fighting global warming, the UN scheme is mostly aimed at redistributing wealth from what remains of the Western middle class to Third World dictators. However, after the GOP trounced establishment-backed climate alarmists in the mid-term election, lawmakers say Congress is almost certain to scale back funding — if not end it completely — for the increasingly extremist and discredited global warming plots pushed by the White House and the dictator-dominated UN. Especially problematic for the nObama administration and the global-warming theorists at the UN is the anticipated takeover of the Senate Environment Committee by Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a staunch climate realist who has for years resisted and ridiculed the hysteria put forward by alarmists. For months, Hollywood bigwigs, the establishment press, and pseudo-environmentalists have been frothing over Inhofe’s chairmanship and the effects it is expected to have on White House efforts to shackle Americans to more UN global-warming machinations. And already, Inhofe and others are vowing to protect the taxpayer. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/19832-congress-may-block-obama-s-3-billion-pledge-to-un-climate-fund?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=4dfd8b8104-The_Editors_Top_Picks_3_12_143_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8ca494f2d2-4dfd8b8104-289778381
2.
Muslim Kamikaze Jihad Pilots Will Murder More Innocent People
(By Ben Barrack) - If there are modern day Kamikaze pilots, they are in fact Muslims who use terror. The most notorious are the 19 hijackers of 9/11. All were Muslim and all had a similar yet different purpose than the WWII version...The Japanese brand included one dead pilot and military targets. Islamic jihadist pilots don’t just kill themselves but also their innocent passengers and sometimes civilians on the ground. As Shoebat.com reported recently the pilot of Asia Airlines Flight QZ8501 was a devout Muslim and former Air Force pilot named Captain Iriyanto, who may have murdered Christians while in the Air Force. Despite these realities being extremely relevant in light of the war that western civilization is fighting, no mainstream media outlet seems interested in mentioning it. http://shoebat.com/2015/01/01/u-s-not-start-profiling-muslim-kamikaze-jihad-pilots-will-murder-innocent-people/
3.
Man Opens Fire On Erdogan’s Office, And Throws Two Grenades
(By Ted) - A man in Turkey opened fire and threw two grenades at Erdogan’s office, but the two grenades did not go off. The man was quickly overpowered by police and is now in custody. According to one report...Police chief Selami Altinok said the attack on Thursday was carried out by a man, suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization, who had been taken into custody. Officers said they had subdued the man and destroyed two grenades that had failed to go off outside the Dolmbahce Palace in Istanbul, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has his presidential office. http://shoebat.com/2015/01/01/man-opens-fire-erdogans-office-throws-two-grenades-office/
4.
Indonesia, New Law: You Can’t Say Merry Christmas
(By Ted) - Just recently, the largest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, passed a law saying that Christians can not longer say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.” I did a whole video on this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTkoYW98D0 The controversy has been a point of conflict even among Muslims in the country. Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s foremost moderate Muslim organisation, argues that there is nothing unlawful in greeting Christians ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays.’ But Islamic hardliners in Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, beg to differ. According to AsiaNews.it, “after the province of Aceh, the only one in which Sharia law is implemented, a radical vision of faith is on the increase in other parts of Indonesia … as is the intention to introduce legislation or regulations relating to customs derived from Islamic law.” http://shoebat.com/2015/01/02/biggest-muslim-country-earth-indonesia-just-made-new-law-cant-say-merry-christmas/
5.
Media Botched Their Reporting on the Latest Benghazi Report
(By Sharyl Attkisson) - It neither “exonerates” nor “debunks.” It specifically states that it is not the final word on Benghazi. Yet national press outlets claimed all of the above about the House Intelligence Committee report on Benghazi released on Nov. 21...USA Today portrayed the report as a sweeping effort that “cleared the Obama administration of any wrongdoing” and the Associated Press claimed the report concluded “there was no wrongdoing by Obama administration officials,” though it didn’t examine most aspects of the administration’s actions regarding Benghazi. For example, the committee did not attempt to dissect White House actions or decision-making. And it did not generally “assess State Department or Defense Department activities” (page 4). What the House Intelligence Committee did do was focus on a narrow slice of Benghazi: the intelligence community. As such, the report largely defends the CIA. http://dailysignal.com/2014/12/31/26-ways-media-botched-reporting-latest-benghazi-report/
6.
Lawyers Create Big Paydays by Coaxing Attorneys General to Sue
(By ERIC LIPTON) - When they met at the J. W. Marriott Hotel two blocks from the White House, Linda Singer, a former attorney general turned plaintiffs’ lawyer, approached Attorney General Gary King of New Mexico with an unusual proposition...Ms. Singer wanted him to sue the owner of a nursing home in rural New Mexico that Mr. King had never heard of and Ms. Singer had never set foot in. She later presented him with a proposed lawsuit that did not cite any specific complaints about care. What she shared with him were numbers on staffing levels gleaned from records suggesting that residents were being mistreated there and at other facilities. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/us/politics/lawyers-create-big-paydays-by-coaxing-attorneys-general-to-sue-.html?_r=1
7.
Defund Amnesty, nObamacare & set the Energy Sector Free
(By: Suzanne Hamner) - The New Year has begun and Americans can expect a tumultuous year when it comes to the Republican-controlled Senate and House tackling issues that propelled the overturn of a Democratic Senate monopoly in last year’s midterm elections...Appearing on the FoxNews “Hannity” show, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) indicated the top three priorities for Republicans assuming the majority in the Congress will be defunding amnesty, defunding parts of the nObamacare legislation, and deregulating energy. Gohmert stated, “Defund the amnesty. Defund nObamacare, as much as we can in next year’s legislation. And, release the energy sector to provide more jobs. It’s ready. There’s ready to be an economic boom, if we will stop the overregulation.” http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/01/gohmert-new-republican-majority-defund-amnesty-defund-obamacare-set-energy-sector-free/
8.
A City Divided: Jerusalem's Most Contested Neighborhood
(therightscoop.com) - Throughout the past several months, Jerusalem has been a scene of clashes and violent attacks. Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just steps away from Jerusalem’s Old City...has been at the heart of the unrest, and is becoming one of the most contentious neighborhoods in the most contested city in the world. VICE News traveled to Silwan and met with Palestinians and Israelis living in this contested neighborhood at a time when Jerusalem is more divided than ever. Vice News reports on this farily objectively, interviewing both Israelis and Palestinians who live there. But for once, I’m not sure how one can be so objective. After all, the Israelis would be fine living in peace with their Arab neighbors if they were also peaceful, but the Palestinians want Israelis to just get out of dodge or they won’t be happy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zAQG_5DG6A
9.
Time Capsule Buried To Be Opened Jan. 6
BOSTON (CBS) — The contents of a more than 200-year-old time capsule sealed in the State House by Sam Adams and Paul Revere will be unveiled on January 6, state officials announced Tuesday...The 10-pound capsule was put under the State House cornerstone in 1795 by then-Gov. Adams, Revere and William Scollay. It was extracted earlier this month while work was being done on the State House, and X-rayed at the Museum Of Fine Arts. http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/12/23/time-capsule-buried-by-sam-adams-paul-revere-to-be-opened-jan-6/#.VKdLmYQYmnI.twitter
10.
The IRS Violated The Law And State Sovereignty
(By Grace-Marie Turner) - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on March 4, and a decision is likely by June...Citing a significant number of previous decisions, the brief argues that Congress is expected to “speak clearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of vast ‘economic and political significance.’” Instead, the IRS illegally made “major policy decisions properly made by Congress” in ruling in May of 2012 that health insurance subsidies could be available to those who enroll through federally-created exchanges. The Affordable Care Act explicitly says that subsidies are available only “through an Exchange established by the State.” Thirty-six states defaulted to the federally-created exchanges in 2014, making their residents ineligible for health insurance subsidies if the Supreme Court rules that the law means what it says. http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracemarieturner/2014/12/30/the-irs-violated-the-law-and-state-sovereignty/
The Future is Arriving Faster Than Ever
Alan Caruba
(factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com) - On the last day of 2014 I received a lapel pin from the Society of Professional Journalists in honor of my having been a member since 1979, thirty-five years ago. I confess I was a little stunned to think I had been an editor and reporter that long ago. Indeed, I had been one for several years even before I joined the Society.
I doubt that today’s generation of young journalists have ever used a manual typewriter nor know what it feels like to hold the pieces of metal that a linotype machine created to make a column of newsprint.
In theory journalism still has the same objectives; to get the facts and tell the story as objectively as possible.
Today, however, journalism has become far more subjective and the issue of bias blazes off the pages and from the television screen in terms of the selection of the events that are reported and the facts selected to be the news.
Today, however, journalism has become far more subjective and the issue of bias blazes off the pages and from the television screen in terms of the selection of the events that are reported and the facts selected to be the news.
There is an old saying in newsrooms that reporters are liberal and editors are conservative, but these days much of what appears on editorial pages and in the print and broadcast news is a blatant liberal interpretation of what is or is not news.
This old journalist cannot escape the feeling that what we are reading much of the time is little more than a government press release handout. Sadly, I think we are witnessing a significant reduction of investigative journalism in the mainstream media. Fortunately that void is filled in these days by Internet sites that focus on various elements of the news occurring in the nation and the world.
It was not, for example, a journalist who discovered the truth about Jonathan Gruber and his role in creating nObamaCare. He's now famous for calling voters "stupid."
These days, according to the Pew Research Journalism Project, “Even at a time of fragmenting media use, television remains the dominant way that Americans get news at home, according to a (2013) Pew Research Center analysis of Nielsen data. And while the largest audiences tune into local and network broadcast news, it is national cable news that commands the most attention from its viewers.”
I suspect that the many new communications technologies will be the means by which people will get their news from ipads and similar devices. I feel positively ancient when I open the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, but I wouldn’t want to read it any other way. The same applies to reading a book.
In his 1970 book, “Future Shock”, Alvin Toffler warned that by the year 2000, technological advance would come so fast that they will actually make people’s lives more complex, not less. He called it “information overload” saying “Millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future, which will lead to distorted perceptions of reality, confusion, and fatigue.”
Now ask yourself if you’ve become accustomed to people walking down the sidewalk apparently talking out loud to themselves when in fact they are on a cell phone? Indeed, I rarely get in an elevator or go anywhere without seeing people who are looking at a device in their hand with which they are checking their email or conversing with someone. They are, however, literally cut off from any inter-relation with anyone around them, often oblivious to what is occurring.
Think now of how many passwords, remote controls, onboard navigation systems, and Internet search engines with which you interact every day. These are all relatively new technology even though they may seem to have always existed to millennials and younger folk.
Another futurist, R. Buckminster Fuller, an American philosopher and architect—inventor of the geodesic dome—predicted that by the year 2000, the world would have figured out how to eliminate poverty and hunger. We have made great progress with regard to growing abundant crops, but of course those who hate and fear any new way to benefit society are presently campaigning against genetically modified crops (GMOs). They are safe but many large food providers like McDonald’s are giving into the pressure from groups who claim they pose a health threat. They do not. Demands that GMO elements be listed on product labels are part of a despicable campaign against this extraordinary agricultural technology that enhances, protects, and increases crops.
As for poverty, Fuller’s prediction did not come true. The future that has arrived since he made the prediction requires a higher level of education for most jobs and computer skills to perform them. If you’re poor, you face an immediate obstacle trying to learn how to operate and own a computer.
At the same time, robots have replaced workers such as bank tellers. When I call customer service these days, I generally end up talking to a machine. Isaac Asimov, one of the 20th century’s most highly regarded science fiction writers, predicted in 1942 that robots would be so ubiquitous that he proposed “Three Laws of Robotics.” The prime law was that a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being come to harm. We haven’t quite reached the point Asimov envisioned, but we are getting there.
In terms of how new technologies have occurred in my lifetime, it is fair to say that the future is arriving even more swiftly than it did in the past. My Mother who at age 98 had lived through virtually the entire last century recalled how amazed she was when a box with earphones was her introduction to the first radio. Born in 1903 when the first Wright Brothers plane flight occurred, she lived to see men rocket to the Moon and airplane travel largely replace trains. 1903 was also the year Henry Ford founded his company and five years later began to roll out the first Model T. Affordable automobiles transformed American society.
Since we live in an era of change we are often unaware of how greatly the newest technology will affect our lives, but we know we want to have it and use it. That is why, if I may return to my starting point, it is ever more essential that the news that journalists provide is even more important to our lives in terms of how accurately they report the changes affecting it.
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