Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of famous evangelist Billy Graham, says she is ready to vote for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump at the November elections, expressing hope that he can change and become a man of God like King Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible.
Never-ending ‘gun show’: US gov’t sent $2bn in military gear to cops since ’06
Thousands of military weapons and trucks, as well as hundreds of aircraft, worth roughly $2.2 billion have been sent by the Pentagon to police departments around the United States over the last 10 years, a new report has found.Even small police departments are being armed with surplus military gear from the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, shows the report, compiled by the transparency advocacy group Open the Books. Since 2006, more than 83,000 M16 and M14 rifles worth $31 million have been transferred into the hands of local police. Law enforcement officers received another 8,198 pistols and nearly 1,400 shotguns as well.
Meanwhile, more than 7,000 military trucks and hundreds of mine-resistant armored vehicles (MRAP) have been given to police, along with over 400 helicopters and 56 airplanes. Source
Great Barrier Reef: devastating images tell story of coral colonies’ destruction
Devastating images showing the complete destruction of coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef have been obtained by Guardian Australia and illustrate what is happening to coral there that would fill an area the size of Scotland.
They reveal the rapid death of coral impacting much of the Great Barrier Reef, with estimates that as much as half of the coral in the northern third of the 2000km reef had this fate. Source
Burgers sold at fast-food chains and grocery stores across the US might not be what you think they are
Some burgers that you’ve eaten might not be what you think they are.
A new report reveals that more than one in ten burger brands across the US contains pathogens, unexpected ingredients, and other contaminants — including rat DNA. Source
Climate pendulum is swinging rapidly from El Niño to La Niña
Say goodbye to El Niño, and hello to its less popular sibling, La Niña.
Tropical Pacific Ocean waters are cooling rapidly after record warmth during much of 2015 and 2016 so far, signaling an impending shift.
A new climate outlook released on Thursday puts the odds of a La Niña event developing in the tropical Pacific Ocean at 75 percent by the September through November period of this year. Forecasters’ confidence in a developing La Niña event is high enough that the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued a “La Niña watch.” Source
Child sex abuse victim in 20s euthanised after suffering irreparable PTSD
A victim of childhood sex abuse was allowed to end her life under Dutch euthanasia laws after doctors and psychiatrists concluded that the woman’s post-traumatic stress disorder and physical health were incurable. The death of the Dutch woman in her 20s has fuelled the ongoing debate on the ethics of euthanasia in Britain, with some MPs arguing that allowing a victim of sex abuse to die is equivalent to punishing the victim.
The details of the case were documented by the Dutch Euthanasia Commission, which revealed that the woman began to suffer from mental disorders about 15 years ago. She was suffering from severe anorexia, chronic depression, suicidal mood swings, tendencies to self-harm, hallucinations, obsessions and compulsions. She was also almost entirely bedridden, according to a report. Source
Italy approves civil unions for homosexuals
“Gay” activists won a huge concession in Italy as parliamentary leaders, following a fiercely contested legislative fight that lasted years, gave their thumbs-up to a measure allowing civil unions for homosexuals.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called a conference to press the final bill into law, bringing an end to Italy’s status as the last major country in the West to refuse to legally recognize “gay” unions, Reuters reported. Source
Claims against cops who stuffed man in mental hospital advance
A federal appeals court has reinstated a constitutional violations damage lawsuit against several police officers who handcuffed a Waynesboro, Virginia, man and locked him up in a mental health facility for nearly week for having a chronic disease similar to multiple sclerosis.
They believed he was hallucinating, and, according to the newest ruling in the case, from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, didn’t bother with the facts.
“The facts as alleged in the complaint … provided no reasonable basis for the officers to have concluded that [Gordon] Goines was a danger to himself or others. Goines alleged that he went to the police ‘because he did not know how the neighbor would react’ to a confrontation with Goines and ‘he did not want to ‘get in a fight’ with the neighbor,” the 4th Circuit panel’s opinion said Tuesday. Source
Target snub sparks brand-new boycott alarms
The American Family Association’s leadership hand-delivered a petition with more than one million names to Target executives, demanding it overturn its “unsafe bathroom policy” and make transgenders use the restroom facilities that correspond to their birth sex.
The AFA also said in a release its leadership was also able to meet briefly with Target’s management and express concerns about the retailer’s new bathroom policy that lets store staffers and customers use whatever bathroom they choose, based on whichever gender they feel they identify with best, at the time. Source
Obama ‘holding North Carolina children hostage’
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest is firing back at the Obama administration for what he says is the federal government trying to make states conform to its cultural agenda, threatening “extortion” to compel his state to abandon its new public accommodation law and comparing the debate over transgender access to the civil rights movement.
The debate expanded in two major ways this week after Gov. Pat McCrory rejected the Obama administration’s assertion that North Carolina was in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. McCrory also announced he was asking the federal courts to define what is meant by the discrimination based on sex in the law. The same day, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the Justice Department was bringing action against the state for denying civil rights to transgenders by requiring them to use facilities based on their sex at birth. Source