Headline Potpourri #100

If in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, why can’t a congregation occasionally hold an outdoor service seated in lawn chairs? Apparently some pastors know more than Acts 7:48 conveying that the Most High does not dwell in temples made by hands.

Even if one believes it is an impropriety for there to be female preachers, that does not mean that the message they are attempting to convey should not be considered preaching without an analysis of the content.

So if it is wrong for a congregation to hold an outdoor service with lawn chairs, does that mean we should also condemn the likes of Great Awakening revivalists such as George Whitefield or John Wesley who preached outside?

Khan Noonien Singh might be featured in a Star Trek miniseries set between the time he was kicked off the Enterprise and what is considered by many the greatest of the Star Trek movies. Frankly, I think one about the rise of Khan during the Eugenics Wars would be more enlightening. However, that would probably step on too many Transhumanist and New World Order toes.

The governor of West Virginia announced at a Trump Nuremberg-style rally that he was becoming a Republican because there was nothing more he could do for the state as a Democrat. That means that, since Senator Byrd croaked, the government handouts must have really dried up.

If the Google engineer had composed a memo perceived as denigrating men rather than WOMMMMENNN, would he have still been fired?

If Airbnb can deny services to those believed to be attending a White nationalist rally, why are Christian bakers obligated to prepare cakes for gay weddings?

In a homily posted on SermonAudio, it was admonished that spiritual gifts and ecclesiastical offices are not to be sought but are instead to be bestowed by the Lord. As such, shouldn’t that pastors that believe similar hold their critical tongues if no one volunteers? After all, those not stepping forward might simply not feel so led by the Holy Spirit.

In a homily posted at SermonAudio, a pastor insisted that Christians in America have nothing to complain about in comparison to what transpires in other countries. Perhaps someone should shout that back to the pastor when he gripes about diminishing attendance numbers and offering contributions.

Technically, as wretched as many of the rampaging AltRight activists are and it is a tragic loss of life, unless the police helicopter was brought down by a rocket launcher, the White nationalist rally is not responsible for the crash. Would someone growing marijuana deep in the woods be at fault had the aircraft crashed during interdiction efforts employing an ultraviolet scanner?

In coverage of the Charlottesville disturbances, Fox News correspondent Julie Banderas, who markets herself as an objective journalist rather than one of the network’s opinion analysts, categorized David Duke a “crazy”. Does she have an official diagnosis from an actual mental health functionary? Just as important, over the course of her broadcast career, has she been as explicitly blunt in similarly labeling Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, or Louis Farrakhan? She went on to add that the perpetrators ought to be arrested and the other protesters should go home. She is quite correct. Was she as explicit in her call for the dispersal of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street upheavals?

If the upheaval in Charlottesville is actually the direct result of AltRight militants rather than instigated by counter protesters in the name of acceptance and inclusion unable to control their propensity towards violent outbursts, does Russell Moore and milksops in the Southern Baptist Convention intend to urge Americans to withhold their judgment and instead call upon us to understand the frustrations of out alienated “White brothers and sisters”? If not, why not? After all, that has often been the response of the mentioned to the property destruction of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In contemplation of the violent disturbances in Charlottesville, it is fascinating how this “hate” we are ordered to reflexively condemn is seldom defined. For in certain leftist circles, “hate” is construed to consist of little more that questioning the philosophical propriety of preferences for minorities, for insisting that there is only one valid religion that will actually deliver a soul into a beatific afterlife, and that the God of such has determined which sorts of human relationships are wholesome and which are an abomination.

If Fox News is going to insist that David Duke should be held directly responsible for the Charlottesville disturbances, couldn’t Fox News be held responsible for stirring people up?

Apparently David Duke is supposed to be discredited simply because he has “been under investigation by the FBI for decades” with those making such a claim not proceeding to go into an elaboration of exactly what. If that alone is to be enough to social anathematize an individual, wouldn’t the message of Martin Luther King also without additional reflection?

In his condemnation of the disturbances in Charlottesville, President Trump rightfully insisted that no child in American should be afraid to play outside. However, this is not the late 1800’s. Deadbeats in white robes riding horses are not the ones wreaking havoc in Black neighborhoods.

Apparently Senator Rubio wants to point out President Trump’s failure to condemn White supremacists for the disturbances in Charlottesville. As such, should as much be made about Rubio’s failure to condemn the violent Antifa there on the ground also throwing punches and probably projectiles?

In response to the Charlottesville disturbances, Governor Terry McAuliffe admonished that Americans should rally around true patriots such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. So which is it going to be? Any other times we are obligated to renounce that particular duo of Virginians because they did not embrace twenty-first century leftwing perspectives regarding race. Furthermore, the underlying political and social philosophies of Washington and Jefferson would not have been appreciably different than those of Robert E. Lee whose statue and the proposed removal of such led to these outbursts in the first place. So if McAuliffe supports the removal of Confederate memorials throughout the Charlottesville area, why doesn’t he articulate true political courage and call for the demolition of nearby Monticello as well. For graduates of the contemporary public schools, that was Jefferson’s home.

During Terry McAuliffe’s press conference regarding the Charlottesville, it was articulated that heated political rhetoric and division must come to an end. But doesn’t he owe much of his public notoriety to being a Clinton propagandist and lackey known for his aptitude to badmouth Republicans and Conservatives?

Self-professed Communist Van Jones is jacked out of shape that a number of Charlottesville marauders carried their own makeshift shields. But isn’t that implement more defensive in nature than the Molotov cocktails, fecal bombs, and outright stones preferred to be hurled by the sorts of rampagers favored by this CNN propagandist?

What likely brings together both White nationalist and Antifa scumbags that clashed in Charlottesville: probably the government handouts they receive each month.

The vehicular incident in Charlottesville was likely a deliberate attack. However, of protesters black traffic, they should not be dumbfounded if they are run over. After all, one of the first lessons you are taught as a child upon learning that there is a world beyond one’s own home is not to play in the street.

One is morally obligated to respect others in terms of leaving them be. However, contrary to the sentiment articulated by Donald Trump, you cannot be compelled to feel or demonstrate affection for others. This used to be assumed in the classic parental advice told to every child that did not have any friends or to teens rejected by the members of the opposite sex that they pined for. It is also pretty much a summation of the legal reasoning behind an assortment of laws regarding stalking. That is of course the truism you can’t make someone like you.

There were still probably fewer lives lost this past weekend in Charlottesville as a result of violence than in Chicago.

Fascinating how all these elected officials get on their high horses about how much they despise Nazism say nary a word about protesters in Seattle proudly waving Soviet flags.

So regarding the AltRight activist assaulted during a press conference. Does Ted Cruz intend to call for a Justice Department to investigate that abridgment of civil rights? For as the ACLU reminds us any other time, liberties are not dependent upon whether or not we approve of the individual invoking Constitutional protections.

Fascinating how those insisting that there is no place in America for “White nationalism” are the same ones insisting that there is room in the United States for Islamic extremism when they come out in opposition to President Trump’s proposals to curtail and scrutinize the flow of migrants from regimes where jihadist ideology is pervasive.

In a homily posted at SermonAudio, a pastor said that failure to condemn the White supremacy disturbances in Charlottesville is the moral equivalent of inciting violence. Given that the pastor did not also reference Antifa, Black Lives Matter, or the Occupy Movement in his analysis of how generalized societal unbelief leads to violence, by the standard he advocates, isn’t he suggesting that he supports destructive leftwing revolutionary protests?

It was remarked in a sermon attempting to link President Trump with the Charlottesville disturbances that the torches carried by protesters were characteristic of the proud look that God despises. So are we supposed to conclude that the Molotov cocktails and fecal bombs hurled by Occupy Movement types and offshoots were laved in a spirit of shamefacedness and reverence?

A number of CEO’s have resigned from the White House council of manufacturing because Trump wasn’t swift enough to differentiate the violence committed in the name of White nationalism (which is bad) from that which advances internationalist statism so long as it is the property of everybody else but the planetary elites being redistributed (which is good). Apparently what Trump did is so much worse than the deeds perpetrated by the Red Chinese that these tycoons seem to prefer to do business with such as organ harvesting, the persecution of religious dissidents, and compulsory child labor.

In a homily posted at SermonAudio, it was said that, because Heaven is multicultural, there should be a longing for Heaven on the part of every sincere believer for that very reason. So apparently now you are out of line if you initially primarily want to go there to evade hellfire and to see departed family members again. Heaven might indeed be multicultural in terms of those that dwell there. However, I doubt the drunks next door will be blasting mariachi music well past midnight.

By Frederick Meekins

Our World ~ Your World ~ Where has Humanity Gone?

Brought to you by the CCGPC, because we care and we hope you do too.

State Department Refuses to Call Violence Against Rohingya ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

BY: Natalie Johnson

Half a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar amid burned villages, mass executions.

October 5, 2017 4:00 pm

The U.S. State Department on Thursday refused several times to designate the systemic atrocities against the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing.”

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy steered clear of the term when pressed repeatedly by members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to corroborate the United Nations’ assessment that Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya minority represents a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

More than 500,000 people have fled to Bangladesh over the past month, with tens of thousands more trapped on the border, amid reports of the Burmese military burning entire villages and methodically killing Rohingya civilians.

Murphy said security forces bear responsibility for a “disproportionate response” to a Rohingya insurgent attack on more than two dozen security sites that killed 12 people on Aug. 25, but he hedged on whether the military reaction constituted ethnic cleansing. Murphy instead described the crisis as a “human tragedy.”

Murphy’s response drew criticism from lawmakers, including committee chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.) and ranking member Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.).

“Just for the record, myself and Mr. Engel, this committee, we identify this as full-fledged ethnic cleansing,” Royce said.

Engel said satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts show Myanmar’s military and security forces “have been carrying out an intentional, systematic policy to drive Rohingya from their homes in Burma and to burn their villages to the ground.”

He said medical professionals in the region have reported hundreds of Rohingya Muslims being treated for gunshot wounds exacted by security forces as people attempted to flee.

The strongest criticism of Murphy came from Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), who asked the State official if his refusal to characterize the situation as ethnic cleansing was in fear of offending the Burmese military.

“Mr. Murphy, I guess I don’t understand your reluctance to call this what it is: Ethnic cleansing,” Connolly said. “You’ve used code, ‘disproportionate response by the military, other sources of violence, a cauldron of complexities.’ At least Nikki Haley admitted it appears to be ethnic cleansing.”

“When 800,000 people of a particular ethnic background are living in the neighboring country because they’ve been forcibly removed from their villages, I’d call that ethnic cleansing, pretty clear and simple. What is your reluctance to call it what it is?” he continued.

Murphy rejected Connolly’s characterization of his reluctance to use the term. He said the State Department is “deeply concerned by the human tragedy” and is focused on pursuing “action and to end the violence.”

When pressed again by Connolly to explain his refusal to call it ethnic cleansing, Murphy replied the situation in part “must be focused on the UN fact-finding mission,” which is expected to be complete in September 2018.

“So we’re waiting for the UN?” Connolly asked.

“No, that is a parallel process that we are strongly supporting,” Murphy replied.

“So we don’t care whether the UN find sit ethnic cleansing or not, we’re free to call it what we think it is,” Connolly said.

“Absolutely, a human tragedy,” Murphy replied.

“Then why don’t you call it ethnic cleansing?”

“It’s a human tragedy, congressman.”

Connolly acknowledged the United States must be careful with the labels it applies to humanitarian crises but said the tragedy in Myanmar must be described in clear terms.

Though Murphy declined to label the crisis as ethnic cleansing, he cited comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who last week accused Myanmar of carrying out a “brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority.”

The UN defines ethnic cleansing as “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”

In September, the top UN human rights official said the “brutal security operation” against the Rohingya “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” and called upon the government to cease military action against the minority ethnic group.

 

State Department Refuses to Call Violence Against Rohingya ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

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And Yet According to Refugees International – Boots on the Ground Reports

October 6, 2017

Refugees International Bears Witness to Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar, Calls for Presidential Envoy and Sanctions on Myanmar’s Military

Refugees International released a new policy brief today detailing actions committed by Myanmar’s military that constitute a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people. The brief, “Bearing Witness to Crimes Against Humanity,” is based on testimony from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, detailing abuses by Myanmar’s military forces that constitute crimes against humanity.

During a fact-finding mission to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in late September, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz and Senior Advocate for Human Rights Daniel Sullivan met with Rohingya refugees who recently fled the targeted attacks in Rakhine State. Rohingya men, women, and children who recently arrived in Bangladesh shared consistent accounts of Myanmar soldiers surrounding villages, burning homes to the ground, stabbing and shooting Rohingya villagers, and committing mass rapes.

The Rohingya people have faced decades of persecution and targeted violence in Myanmar, but the recent attacks and large-scale displacement that began just over a month ago is an entirely new scale and level of inhumanity. As a result, the number of Rohingya seeking refuge in neighboring Bangladesh now tops a half million and conditions in the make-shift refugee settlements are appalling. The humanitarian crisis has overwhelmed the Bangladesh government’s existing capabilities. To its credit, Bangladesh has generally welcomed the Rohingya refugees, but much more international assistance is needed to address the still-growing humanitarian crisis.

The RI brief concludes that the root causes of the humanitarian crisis have to be addressed and that can only be done by bringing pressure on the Myanmar government to end its policies of persecution and on the Myanmar military to end its egregious human rights abuses.

Measures by the U.S. Government and the international community should include:

Targeted sanctions on Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior military officials and military-owned enterprises.

A multi-lateral arms embargo on Myanmar.

Appointment of a high-level U.S. Presidential envoy on Myanmar.

Further, Refugees International calls on the United Nations, United States, and the international community to demand a cessation of abuses against Rohingya civilians, access for a United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate human rights abuses, and unfettered access for humanitarian organizations in Rakhine State. In addition, there should be robust international support for humanitarian aid efforts in Bangladesh.

 

……….. Which the RI Report States as Follows………

BEARING WITNESS TO CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

Refugees International October 5, 2017

Following the violent expulsion of some 400,000 Rohingya in Myanmar in the course of three weeks (now more than 500,000), Refugees International (RI) President Eric Schwartz and Senior Advocate for Human Rights Daniel Sullivan traveled to Bangladesh to assess the situation and bear witness. This policy brief is based on that mission, which involved interviews with Rohingya refugees who recently arrived from Myanmar as well as with United Nations and Bangladesh government officials and international aid workers in Bangladesh. Schwartz and Sullivan visited a hospital in Cox’s Bazar which treats recently arrived Rohingya from Myanmar, four makeshift settlements for Rohingya (Kutupalong, Balukhali, Thaingkhali, and Unchiprang) as well as border crossing areas and a “no-man’s land” where many Rohingya have gathered between the borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh. This policy brief is largely adapted from testimony given by Refugees International’s Senior Advocate for Human Rights Daniel Sullivan before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on September 27, 2017.1

The Myanmar military has been executing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people of Myanmar, marked by abuses that constitute crimes against humanity.

More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in the course of a month, approaching half of the entire Rohingya population that had been living in Myanmar up to a month ago. Vast swaths of villages have been burned by the Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist mobs. Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh share consistent accounts of Myanmar soldiers surrounding villages, burning homes to the ground, stabbing, shooting, and raping the inhabitants, leaving the survivors to flee for their lives.

The current crisis that began just over a month ago is an entirely new scale and level of inhumanity.

The Rohingya have faced decades of persecution, but the violence and large-scale displacement have intensified in recent years. The current crisis that began just over a month ago is of an entirely new scale and level of inhumanity. The current campaign began after attacks on 30 security posts in Rakhine State in western Myanmar and the killing of 12 Myanmar security officials by poorly armed Rohingya insurgents, but the military’s response to those attacks has been grossly disproportionate and has broadly targeted the Rohingya civilian population. Many people from other ethnic groups, including Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have been displaced and killed as well, reportedly in attacks by Rohingya insurgents, but the attacks on other groups has been nowhere on the scale of the attacks on the Rohingya.

The outflow of half a million Rohingya has also created a humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh as existing capabilities have been overwhelmed. To its credit, the Bangladesh government has generally welcomed the Rohingya refugees, but much more international assistance is needed to address the still growing humanitarian crisis. Ultimately, the root causes of the crisis will have to be addressed by bringing pressure on the Myanmar government that has continued policies of persecution and on the Myanmar military that has carried out egregious human rights abuses.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The UN Security Council should:

• Demand a cessation of abuses against Rohingya civilians, access for a United Nations fact-finding mission that has been authorized by the UN Human Rights Council, and unfettered access for humanitarian organizations to Rakhine State.
• Impose a multi-lateral arms embargo until these requirements are met and individuals involved in planning, aiding or carrying out such abuses against the Rohingya are held accountable.
• Place targeted sanctions on Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior military officials and military-owned enterprises.
• Authorize evidence collection through the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission or another UN Security Council authorized fact-finding mission toward holding accountable those responsible for gross human rights abuses.
• Support a referral to the International Criminal Court unless the Myanmar authorities take significant measures to address the human rights concerns and to hold accountable those responsible for gross human rights abuses.
• Affirm support for the report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, which contains important recommendations relating to the Rohingya in Myanmar.

The U.S. government should:

• Strongly support UN Security Council action as described above.
• Prohibit military-to-military cooperation with Myanmar and place targeted sanctions against Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior military officials and military-owned enterprises until the Myanmar government ends abuses in Rakhine state, permits unfettered international humanitarian access, and holds accountable individuals involved in planning, aiding or carrying out the abuses against the Rohingya.
• Support robust humanitarian aid efforts in Bangladesh in the near term, focusing, particularly, on adequate shelter, food, water, sanitation and hygiene, and medical care, including clinical management of rape and psychosocial support for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).
• Work toward the eventual safe and voluntary return of Rohingya to Myanmar.
• Appoint a high-level Presidential envoy on Myanmar (who could be a “dual-hatted” official who is already serving in government), who would seek to work with like-minded governments to lead international efforts to end abuses, provide assistance to refugees and promote conditions that will permit the eventual safe and voluntary return of Rohingya to Myanmar.

Download the Policy Brief: https://www.refugeesinternational.org/s/Myanmar-Policy-Brief-October-2017-lmhg.pdf

Rohingya fleeing abuses in Myanmar seek refuge in “no-man’s land” between the borders of Myanmar and Bangladesh!