U.S. Kills Top Iranian Military Leader in Airstrike; Iran Vows ‘Harsh Retaliation’

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By Vox. On Thursday night, the Pentagon announced that the United States killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s paramilitary forces, in an airstrike in Iraq “at the direction of the President.”

The strike that took out Suleimani also reportedly killed the leader of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy militia in Iraq that has repeatedly attacked US and allied forces and recently launched rockets at a US military base. Those attacks killed an American contractor, which led the United States to respond and kill 25 operatives in attacks in Iraq and Syria. In separate operations, US forces have also captured and arrested leaders of other important Iraqi militias with close ties to Iran.

The killing of Suleimani, the long-time head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) is likely to prove a watershed in Washington’s relations with Iraq and Iran and will substantially affect the overall US position in the Middle East. The blowback may be huge, and much depends on how well prepared the United States is for Iran’s response and that of its many proxies in the Middle East. (Read more from “U.S. Kills Top Iranian Military Leader in Airstrike” HERE)

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Oil Prices Jump After Iran Military Leader Killed in U.S. Strike

By CNN. Oil prices pulled higher Friday morning after a top Iranian general was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s airport ordered by President Donald Trump.

Futures for Brent crude, a global benchmark, jumped 2.9% to $68.16 per barrel during Asian trading hours on Friday. US oil futures gained 2.8%, reaching $62.86 per barrel. That puts both on pace right now for their biggest daily gains in about a month, according to Refinitiv data.

The Pentagon confirmed in a statement that the US military killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force unit, in the attack at Baghdad International Airport. It said the strike was aimed at “deterring future Iranian attack plans.” (Read more from “Oil Prices Jump After Iran Military Leader Killed in U.S. Strike” HERE)

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Iran Vows ‘Harsh Retaliation’ After U.S. Airstrike Kills Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani

By Fox News. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday warned that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S. after an airstrike on an airport in Baghdad killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

The Iranian state TV carried a statement by Khamenei who also called Soleimani “the international face of resistance.” Khamenei declared three days of public mourning for the general’s death.

The Iranian foreign minister warned that the U.S. would bear all the consequences of the “foolish” military attack, claiming Soleimani’s assassination would only escalate tensions in the region given that he was “THE most effective force” fighting terrorism carried out by the Islamic State.

Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Islamic Republic of Iran, said on Twitter that “The US’ act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.”

“The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” he said.

(Read more from “Iran Vows ‘Harsh Retaliation’ After U.S. Airstrike Kills Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani” HERE)

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Three Mountain Lions Euthanized After Being Found Feeding on a Human Body in Arizona

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Wildlife officials in Arizona euthanized three mountain lions this week, after the animals were discovered feeding on the body of a human near a hiking trail north of Tucson.

While authorities do not believe the big cats killed the individual whose remains they were found eating, the Arizona Game and Fish Department killed the mountain lions due to the animals’ “abnormal behavior” toward officers. . .

“Mountain lions are not routinely scavengers. A mountain lion eating human remains is abnormal behavior. Those that do are more likely to attack a human being in the future,” AGBFD Regional Supervisor Raul Vega explained to KVOA-TV. “In addition, they did so 50 yards from a popular hiking trail and within sight of homes, and repeatedly showed no fear of responding officers.” . . .

NBC News reported that deputies from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department found the human remains at the Pima Canyon Trail on Monday “while investigating an incident,” and that authorities believe the individual was already dead before the mountain lions found their body. (Read more from “Three Mountain Lions Euthanized After Being Found Feeding on a Human Body in Arizona” HERE)

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Newly-Elected Democrats Let Their Masks Slip, Revealing the Fascists Beneath

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By Townhall. Since the 2018 elections, we have seen a lot of stupid people electing Democrats in state and local elections, and since the garbage Democrats have the garbage Midas touch – everything they come in contact with turns to a Scat Francisco sidewalk – these dumb voters are now suffering the consequences of their misguided trust in these aspiring authoritarians. Democrats win when rich donors pump money into races behind candidates who pretend not to be the gimps of the hard-left cabal that actually runs the party. And the radicals who got elected pretending to be not-insane are getting into office and doing all the insane stuff we warned the voters they would do.

There are no “moderate” Democrats. All Democrats are dangerous to your life, prosperity and freedom. They prefer churchgoers die rather than be able to defend themselves. They want newly-prosperous frackers to learn to code. They want you jailed for denying the climate cult or the fact that there are men and there are women and there is nothing else. . .

OK, then ask a Democrat candidate who is more important, Americans or foreigners who sneak in here. Go ahead. Once again, not a single significant Democrat will unequivocally say, “American citizens are more important than foreigners, especially criminals who break our laws to sneak in here.” Democrats (and sappy Ahoy-crew Fredocons like Jeb!, the “Act of Love” guy) support the foreigners, whose health care they want us to subsidize. . .

Let’s talk criminals. Democrats prefer them to you. Crazy? Are the Democrats always talking about how mean we are to crooks, or about the effect of crooks on your life? In California, idiot voters essentially decriminalized crime. Steal under $950 a day and you’re fine – they would even bother to file charges. Oh, and feel free to shoot up on the sidewalk and leave the needles around – remember, it’s the junkies who are the real victims. You, the normal people, have no recourse and no one has your back. You get to deal with bums, hobos and derelicts on your streets – just make sure that when you step around them you don’t topple over into a pile of human dung. (Read more from “Newly-Elected Democrats Let Their Masks Slip, Revealing the Fascists Beneath” HERE)

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Ranking the Democrats: Who Has Best Chance of Winning Nomination?

By The Hill. The battle for the Democratic nomination is nearing crunch time with roughly one month left before the Iowa caucuses. . .

1. Former Vice President Joe Biden (July ranking: 2)

2. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (July ranking: 4)

3. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) (July ranking: 1)

4. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (July ranking: 5)

(Read more from “Ranking the Democrats: Who Has Best Chance of Winning Nomination?” HERE)

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Here’s Why Rudy Giuliani Says He Would Testify in Trump’s Impeachment Trial

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By Townhall. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told reporters on Tuesday night he would be more than willing to testify in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump.

“I would testify. I would do demonstrations, give lectures. I’d give summations,” Giuliani told a group of reporters covering Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Mar-A-Lago. “Or, I do what I do best, I try the case. I’d love to try the case.”

A few of the reporters instantly assumed Giuliani meant he sided with Democrats who believe President Trump committed quid pro quo – also known as bribery – when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, for corruption. While the veep was handling international relations with Ukraine on behalf of the Obama administration, Hunter was being paid anywhere between $50,000 and $83,000 a month to sit on the board of Burisma, a corrupt oil company, despite having no natural energy experience.

Democrats have said Trump threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless the investigation into Biden – the so-called Democratic frontrunner – took place. . .

“I don’t know if anyone would have the courage to give me the case. If you give me the case I will prosecute it as a racketeering case, which I kind of invented anyways,” Giuliani said, referencing his use of racketeering laws to take down mobsters in the 1980s. “So, it’s been 30 years ago, but let’s see if I can still do it.” (Read more from “Here’s Why Rudy Giuliani Says He Would Testify in Trump’s Impeachment Trial” HERE)

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Republican Senator: No Rules, Many Options for Trump Impeachment Trial

By Reuters. Republican Senator John Kennedy, a frequent defender of President Donald Trump, said on Sunday there were no real rules for how the U.S. Senate should run its impeachment trial and that the chamber could choose to hear witnesses and evidence.

“When it comes to impeachment, the rule is that there are virtually no substantive rules,” Kennedy told CNN’s “State of the Union.” As a result, he said, there were plenty of steps the Senate could take, including forming a committee to hear evidence in the case.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Republican Trump this month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges stemming from his effort to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden, a leading contender in the 2020 Democratic presidential race.

The majority-Republican Senate is expected to hold its impeachment trial early next year, once House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivers the articles of impeachment to the chamber. (Read more from “Republican Senator: No Rules, Many Options for Trump Impeachment Trial” HERE)

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Anti-Gun Priest Suggests He’d Rather Let His Parishioners Die Than Allow Guns in Church

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By Pluralist. Following a Texas church shooting on Sunday, which was stopped when an armed parishioner shot and killed the gunman, some Christians spoke out against the arming of congregations.

Fr. Jeremy Zipple, associate pastor of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Belize City and former executive editor of America Magazine, reacted on Twitter to the deadly shooting Sunday at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.

Zipple dismissed those who claimed the incident showed why parishioners should be permitted to carry guns at church. . .

(Read more from “Anti-Gun Priest Suggests He’d Rather Let His Parishioners Die Than Allow Guns in Church” HERE)

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Journalist ‘Smears’ Six Texas Churchgoers Who Pulled Their Guns on White Settlement Shooter

By Pluralist.Gun rights advocates accused an Arizona journalist of “smearing” armed parishioners who drew their firearms on the perpetrator of a shooting at a Texas church over the weekend.

Elvia Diaz, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, had nothing but praise for Jack Wilson, the armed parishioner who on Sunday shot and killed a gunman at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.

Wilson, a firearms instructor and member of the church’s volunteer security team, “was exactly the kind of man you want around with a firearm,” Diaz wrote in an opinion piece published by USA Today on Wednesday.

However, Diaz didn’t extend such sentiments to the six other churchgoers who drew their guns on Keith Thomas Kinnunen, the man seen in livestream video footage shooting and killing two victims, before being fatally wounded by Wilson.

According to Diaz, “we know nothing about the at least six other parishioners who also appeared to draw their handguns at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas.” (Read more from “Journalist ‘Smears’ Six Texas Churchgoers Who Pulled Their Guns on White Settlement Shooter” HERE)

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Chief Justice John Roberts Whines About Political Fake News, Ignores That MSM Is Main Offender

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By Newsweek. [Chief Justice Roberts whined about fake news, yesterday, stating] “In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital.” . . .

A study on fake news published in a 2018 edition of the journal Science found that it “took the truth about six times as long as falsehood to reach 1,500 people.”

“False political news traveled deeper and more broadly, reached more people, and was more viral than any other category of false information,” the study said.

“False political news also diffused deeper more quickly and reached more than 20,000 people nearly three times faster than all other types of false news reached 10,000 people.” (Read more from “Chief Justice John Roberts Whines About Political Fake News, Ignores That MSM Is Main Offender” HERE)

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Chief Justice: The Judiciary Will Protect Us From Fake News and Other Threats to Democracy

By AP. “In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital,” Roberts wrote.

Judges must continue promoting public confidence in the judiciary, through their rulings and civic outreach, he said.

“We should celebrate our strong and independent judiciary, a key source of national unity and stability.” (Read more about Roberts comments on political fake news HERE)

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Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi Join Effort to Take President Trump Down in 2020

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By Washington Examiner. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama have joined a 2020 “unity” movement. And it’s deeply dividing.

The goal: “Defeat Donald Trump and his Republican enablers.”

Fresh off the House’s impeachment vote of the president, Pelosi has penned a fundraising letter for the Democratic Unity Fund that aims to raise millions to defeat Trump, maintain Democratic control of the House, and turn the Republican Senate blue.

“We all know what’s at stake in this election. Right now, we have a president who clearly has no respect for our Constitution, our democracy, or the rule of law. Every day he makes more false promises while his policies continue to hurt hardworking Americans in every corner of our country. We simply cannot afford four more years of a Donald Trump presidency,” she penned.

“That’s why President Obama and I are proud to work with the DNC to ensure that our future nominee and Democratic candidates running for every level of office have the resources they will need to win back the White House, flip the Senate, and hold our valuable House majority,” she added. (Read more from “Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi Join Effort to Take President Trump Down in 2020” HERE)

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Trump 2020 Campaign Raised $46 Million in Final Quarter of 2019

By Newsweek. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. on New Year’s Day announced that the president’s re-election campaign had raised $46 million in the last quarter of 2019—making the 4th quarter the campaign’s best since the beginning of the 2020 election cycle.

Despite being impeached by the Democrat-led House in mid-December, Trump’s campaign ended the year with $102.7 million cash on hand. The amount only represents fundraising for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and does not include finances raised by the Republican National Committee (RNC) or any other joint fundraising committees. The fourth quarter ran between October 1 and December 31.

“President Trump’s unprecedented fundraising is testament to his wide grassroots support and his stellar record of achievement on behalf of the American people,” Brad Parscale, the manager for Trump 2020 campaign, said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

“Democrats and the media have been in a sham impeachment frenzy and the President’s campaign only got bigger and stronger with our best fundraising quarter this cycle,” he added. “The President’s war chest and grassroots army make his re-election campaign an unstoppable juggernaut.” (Read more from “Trump 2020 Campaign Raised $46 Million in Final Quarter of 2019” HERE)

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Congressman: Sheriffs May Go to Jail to Protect ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries’

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By Washington Examiner. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie thinks some local law enforcement leaders will be willing to go to jail rather than comply with state gun control laws they deem unconstitutional.

“Attended my first 2A sanctuary meeting today in Lewis County (where I live). Standing room only. Friends and neighbors spoke passionately and articulately. County officials unanimously passed a resolution,” Massie tweeted on Dec. 30. “This grassroots movement feels even stronger than the Tea Party in 2010.”

“Second Amendment sanctuary” municipalities last year sprouted up in Illinois, a state with some of the strictest gun control laws. They then spread to Colorado, Kentucky, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Washington state, and other states.

Massie cited Weld County, Colorado Sheriff Steve Reams, a critic of the state’s “red flag” law, who has offered to put himself in his own jail rather than enforce the state law.

“His county government has already voted to fund his legal fees should he end up in a protracted legal battle that might go all the way” to the Supreme Court, Massie told the Washington Examiner. (Read more from “Congressman: Sheriffs May Go to Jail to Protect ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries’” HERE)

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Nye County Board Declares ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary’ to New Gun Laws

By 8 News Now. Nye County is officially declining to enforce new regulations on background checks on most private gun sales.

The Nye County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved Resolution 2019-39, declaring a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.” Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed legislation early this year requiring background checks on most private party gun sales.

While a resolution does not have the force of law, it signals that Nye — and likely several other rural Nevada counties — will hold to their opposition of the new law. (Read more from “Nye County Board Declares ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary’ to New Gun Laws” HERE)

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China Passes Tighter Restrictions on Religious Practice

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By Breitbart. The Chinese Communist Party has passed a series of draconian administrative measures for religious groups, which will go into effect on February 1, 2020, bringing them completely under government control.

Religious organizations must henceforth “spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party” by educating “religious staff and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” reported AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

All religious activities or rallies and even programs of religious communities must have the approval of the Religious Affairs Office, according to a communication published this week by Xinhua news agency, as the new measures seek to complete the “Regulations on religious affairs” that went into effect on February 1, 2018.

The government’s religious affairs department will assume absolute control over religious groups and “should perform their functions such as guiding and supervising the groups’ operation,” Xinhua revealed Monday.

More broadly, the new regulations “stipulate how the groups should designate their officials, carry out their work and manage their own affairs,” the report stated. (Read more from “China Passes Tighter Restrictions on Religious Practice” HERE)

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Religion in China in 2020: from bad to worse

By Mercatornet. On February 1, 2018 the New Regulation on Regulation Affairs, enacted in 2017, came into force. It was the legal embodiment of President Xi Jinping’s new policy on religion, the most restrictive since the Cultural Revolution.

A new law was not needed to crack down on the Black Market of groups banned and persecuted as xie jiao, such as The Church of Almighty God (the single most persecuted movement in China) or Falun Gong. Draconian measures organizing their suppression were already in place.

Most scholars agreed that the aim of the 2017 Regulation was to gradually eliminate the Gray Market of the religious organizations not explicitly banned as xie jiao but resisting incorporation into the Red Market of the authorized and government-controlled Five Authorized Religions.

The largest segment of the Gray Market consists of Protestant House Churches. The regulation that came into force in 2018 aimed at compelling them to join the pro-government Three-Self Church, thus entering the Red Market, threatening, if they refused, to destroy their places of worship and arrest their pastors.

On December 30, 2019, the decision sentencing Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church, one of the best-known figures in the House Church movements, to nine years in jail was announced. Perhaps not coincidentally, on the same day, the CCP announced that new “Administrative Measures for Religious Groups” have been approved and will come into force on February 1, 2020. Two years after the 2017 Regulation on Religious Affairs, the religious policy of Xi Jinping will have a new legal tool at its disposal. (Read more from “Religion in China in 2020: from bad to worse” HERE)

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Nudist Resort Burns Down in Major Fire During ‘Nude Year’s Eve’ Party

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Firefighters from three states responded to a nudist resort as a major blaze broke out during its “Nude Year’s Eve” party.

Avalon Resort’s lodge, located on 140 acres of woods in Paw Paw, West Virginia, was a total loss, but the pool and bar were spared, firefighters told the Cumberland Times-News. . .

“On New Years Eve we had a fire in the lodge. Thankfully no one (including pets) was injured. The aquatic center was not affected at all. The Nudsino needs some work and clean-up, but can be back up and running. The Bare Barn was untouched,” according to the resort’s Facebook page. “We are temporarily closed but are already working on plans to reopen.” (Read more from “Nudist Resort Burns Down in Major Fire During ‘Nude Year’s Eve’ Party” HERE)

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