Only Time Will Tell

We just finished a 12-Day War in which all sides claimed victory and a President claimed to have masterminded the most complex military strike in history which also ended the war. All three leaders of the nations involved claimed victory. Will the real truth teller(s) please stand up?

The 12-Day War was started because the Israeli Prime Minister claimed that Iran was on the verge of creating nuclear weapons that would be used to utterly destroy his own nation. BTW, he has been making that claim for decades but now he has found a willing partner in the White House to act on his claims. And now he claims that what his nation and the US did will change history in the Middle East. Besides the fact that we are talking about changing one prediction for the future, we need to ask the Rocket J. Squirrel question regarding that change: Is it friendly change?

We have heard other claims too but let's just consider the ones above. Which claims are true and which ones are false. We should note that all key national leaders have political reasons for claiming victory. While the approval ratings of the Israeli Prime Minister and President Trump have been sliding down, the Iranian leader could possibly face possible removal if the war went too far south. And so each of these leaders have reasons to interpret the war opportunistically.

As adults, we have a sound reasons for ignoring the claims made by all opportunists whether they are made by national leaders, their supporters, or their critics. Instead, we should let time determine what we should believe. And indeed, time has already spoken on some of those claims. For example, intelligence garnered and interpreted by our military says that the damage done by our 'Bunker-Busting Bombs' was not as great as the President claimed it was. This caused the President to lash out at that intelligence information and double-down on his claims. Again, who is right? Time will tell.

In the meantime, one lesson from the 12-Day War is clear: the powerful need friends, not enablers. The difference between the two is that friends tell us the truth in order to help us; enablers tell us what we want to hear for their own sake. The problem that exists here is that the powerful are often all too eager to see enablers as friends and friends as mortal enemies. What we see with each of the key leaders in the 12-Day War is that their lust for power and, for 2 of those leaders, their desire to outrun the laws of their own nation have blinded them so that they are unable to distinguish between friends and enablers. And so we should further define our terms here.

We could define an enabler as a person who contributes to another person's efforts to perform malevolent or unhealthy actions. In contrast to that, a friend will not only help make another person do what is good or healthy, a friend will speak out against those actions that are immoral or unhealthy.

Unfortunately, national and other leaders who are focussed on garnering as much power as they can tend to surround themselves with enablers. Here we could compare and contrast the current set of enablers who currently serve in Trump's Cabinet from most of those who served in his Cabinet during his first term. Many of Trump's Cabinet members who served during his first Presidential term insisted on telling Trump the truth. In so doing, they acted as his friends and faithful advisors. Most of Trump's current Cabinet advisors are acting as his enablers in order to enjoy riding in on his coattails. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's Director of National Intelligence has, regarding the effectiveness of American airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, decided to speak truth to power and report what her intelligence resources shared with her. Of course a question becomes what will her future job status be.

Both enablers and many opponents act as opportunists. While enablers are more than eager to provide either positive spins on or deny potentially damaging news and stories, opponents provide either negative spins on or deny favorable news and stories. Both are way too eager to accept the first news report or story that serves their purposes.

At this point, those of us who are Christians have choices to make. As has been made apparent by the facts, most of my fellow religiously conservative Christians voted for Trump and many of them still support his Presidency. They need to choose being a friend to the President rather than an enabler.

Those of us religiously conservative Christians who oppose some of policies or his whole Presidency have choices to make too. We must choose to be Trump's opponents who are also his friends. That means that we oppose his policies and even his Presidency while caring about him as a person. But we must also choose to resist the temptation to be the opportunists with the news like his opportunists are. 

We religiously conservative Christians need to take such an approach to President Trump for a few reasons. The first reason is that our regard for and treatment of Trump must reflect how God has treated us in Christ. If God has not treated us as our sins deserve, then how dare we not do the same for those in our lives including our public officials. Because of that, we religiously conservative Christians cannot respond to our government with the animosity and rancor that many unbelieving fellow opponents to Trump often respond with. Here, though forgiven, it is important for us Christians to remember the sins we have committed in the past so that we understand what we are capable of doing in the future. Such understanding can help us to properly respond to our leaders when they do what is wrong.

The second reason is that the Scriptures tell us to respect those in authority over us. Many times, that respect includes obedience. But when our government practices or promotes social injustices, either domestic or foreign, then we need to speak out and sometimes engage in civil disobedience.

The third reason for us religiously conservative Christians must avoid being opportunists with the news is the prohibition against bearing false witness that one of the Ten Commandments warns against. Being too quick to comment on the news can lead us to, because of carelessness and overeagerness, to bear false witness against those in power. 

Certainly, it should be clear by now that our President and the Prime Minister of Israel are pursuing pathological policies. The attacks on Iran are an example of those pathological policies. Iran posed no immediate threat to the existence of Israel. That is despite the atrocities that it enables through its proxies. We need to ask whether Israel's Occupation and treatment of the Palestinians is the driving cause for Iran's opposition to the current form of Zionism that Israel passionately embraces. After all, the Occupation serves as camouflage for Israel's often brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the land. And Trump joined in Netanyahu's pathological practices by being Israel's tag-team bombing partner in the 12-Day War along with his support for Netanyahu's unconscionable war against Gaza where civilians are daily slaughtered with no remorse. As Rita Corriel wrote in an article on Israel, and this was written a while ago, Israel is showing that they have learned more from their oppressors than from the experience of being oppressed (click here for the article). 

What about Trump? His immigration policies alone show an extreme favoritism toward those who already have more than enough as well as a cruel disposition toward many who emigrated here to escape life-threatening poverty and/or violence in their own countries that are south of the border. His immigration policies not only look to deport people, but to deport many without due process to nations that practice cruelty on its own prisoners. And Trump's deportation of immigrants has not taken sufficient care to distinguish between law-biding immigrants from those with criminal records.

His big beautiful bill shows the same kind and similar level of favoritism as he wants tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of social safety net programs that serve those in need. Trump's tariffs shows his approach to foreign policy to being that of shoot or threaten first hoping that his targets will grovel to make a deal second.

And what Netanyahu and Trump also share is their attempts to use their positions in government to outrun the law with the former having been investigated for corruption and the latter being a convicted felon. Is either one morally superior to Putin who brutally suppresses political support at home and has his military slaughtering civilians in Ukraine?

What leaders like Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu teach us is that the powerful are, on a practical level, above international law while the rest are not. That the powerful only need to make claims about threats and injustices made by the weak in order to move against them without having to rely on international due process to attack. And so here we can conclude that power hungry leaders like Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu need help, not power. But they are getting the latter thanks, in large part, to their enablers.

Thus, we need to avoid being enablers for leaders like Trump and Netanyahu. We could also include Putin and Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei, and a host of others And one way to avoid being such an enablers is to refuse to be opportunistic with the news.

And how can we avoid being opportunistic with the news? One of the first ways by which we can avoid doing so is to be patient. We need to let time tell which claims are true and which ones are false. And that means not being eager to selectively report the first tidbit of news that favors our own agendas and perceptions. The more we let time speak, the more complete will be our knowledge and understanding of the world around us.

Jon Stewart Pulls A Noam Chomsky

 My best friend, who is an unbeliever and who is not a political conservative, is partially responsible for my current political direction. I used to be a conservative Republican. As such, I went into teaching computer science at a college. There I met my best friend. We are best friends for two reasons: we experience life 80% to 90% the same way and we always help each other do what is right. One of the most prominent traits of my best friend is her compassion. Perhaps there is only one other person whom I know who has her level of compassion. 

And so a year passed since my best friend and I were working at the same campus--I live a significant distance from that campus--and then  I decided that, because of my best friend's level of compassion, I would read a couple of nonconservative writers to see what I could learn. And so I picked up a book by Martin Luther King Jr and one by Noam Chomsky to read during that summer. What impressed me most about Martin Luther King Jr was his passion for winning people over. On a side note, perhaps our political discussions with others would be more civil if we shared that passion. What impressed me most about Noam Chomsky was his passion for fairness. In particular, he stressed our nation's need to judge itself using the same standards by which it judges other nations. This is another trait that is sorely missing from our world today.

It is this judging others using the same standards that a nation is judging itself is what Stewart channelled in one of his most recent stints on The Daily Show (proceed to the 5:43 mark of the video clip below). 

In that episode, Stewart compared how our nation interpreted and spoke to Russia about its attacking Ukraine with how Israel is attacking Gaza. And what was immediately apparent was the vast disparity over how our nation is responding to the two military actions, or wars if you will. That though there were many similarities between the two conflicts, our nation's leaders spoke one way to Russia, who is an enemy,  and quite another way to Israel, who is an ally. In other words, Stewart seemed to be saying that we need to use the same standards to analyze and respond to both attackers. 

This using the same standards to judge one's ally as one uses to judge one's enemy is but a variation of Chomsky's use of the Principle of Universality (click here for the source):

Among the most elementary of moral truisms is the principle of universality: we apply to ourselves the same standards we do to others, more stringent ones if we are serious. A near-universal principle of intellectual culture is the rejection of this truism, sometimes explicitly.

Only instead of applying the same standards to ourselves, Stewart is made the point that we should apply the same standards to allies as we apply to others.

And what Stewart says later on in the video, the October 7th atrocities committed by Hamas seems not to be the determining factor in how Israel is attacking Gaza.  For in the West Bank, there is Israeli violence against Palestinians, where Hamas is absent, as well as the confiscation of land.

The current blind support that American Zionists, many of the them being my fellow religiously conservative Christians, are giving to Israel would be similar to how G.K. Chesterton used the phrase, 'my mother, drunk or sober' to describe blind patriotism.

Of course the Principle of Universality flies into the face of patriotism, nationalism, and every other kind of tribalism--including the tribalism that can occur between allies. For with tribalism, comes the Principle of Moral Relativity. That principle says that what is right and wrong depends on who is doing what to whom. In addition, we should be able to see that the Principle of Universality aligns itself with the Rule of Law while the Principle of Moral Relativity embraces the Rule of Force. 

The current form of Zionism, there are multiple forms of Zionism, is much like American Exceptionalism. It is passionately embraced by those who pride themselves on patriotism and national identity. And despite the idealistic notions that lovers of Zionism or American Exceptionalism have on their respective nations, in the end, they embrace the rule of force. In other words, those who are strong enough have earned the right to be a bully.

Though I disagree with their goal, there is a group that is challenging the rule of force that is being executed by Israel and enabled by the U.S. That group is the students who are camping out at their colleges in order to move their colleges to divest from Israel. I disagree with their goal because it is too big of a goal to achieve in such a short amount of time. But the students are protesting grave injustices that Israel is committing even though Israel's military actions are in response to the grave injustices it experienced on October 7th, 2023. And for that, the student protesters are being unjustly maligned by the liberal MSM as well as government and college officials. The anti-Semitic actions practiced by a few individuals at those encampments is inexcusable. But those actions are against, not just not a part of, what has been planned by Jews, Arabs, Muslims, and others for the encampments.  

Sometimes Wanting A Return To Normal Shows How Out Of Touch One Can Be

 Last month, Bader Mansour (I could not find a bio on him) wrote a short article that appeared in the Exchange on the Christianity Today website (click here for the article). Mansour is the Executive Director for the Association of Baptist Churches In Israel. 

Mansour's article was a humble request for prayer for six requests. Those requests were:

1. Pray for peace for all of Jerusalems residents.
2. Pray that the leaders in the region seek peace so that the Christians there can live 'quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.'
3. Pray for the relationships between Jews and Arabs in the region, especially the relationships of the young people there.
4. Pray for the churches and the communities of the church families who live there.
5. Pray that the Christians there keep their eyes on God
6. Pray for the faithfulness of the Christians there so that they can be a witness to their neighbors.

What prompted the request for prayer was another horrible outbreak in violence between Israel and the Palestinians. We should note that such outbreaks are always asymmetrical because of the disparity in strength between Israel's defense forces and the Palestinian militant groups. The difference in strength between the two sides is made obvious by the huge difference in the number of casualties suffered by each side and by the truth about who controls whom.

In essence, the prayer lists and the article expressed a desire for a return to normal where the violence practice by both sides was at more acceptable levels with more acceptable levels meaning that the violence was not easily noticeable. Because of The Occupation, there is always violence being practiced.

There are at least two distinct characteristics that are a part of the article and the prayer list besides the humility easily seen in the article. First, there is no mention of The Occupation. With the Occupation comes Israeli control and checkpoints, the continual confiscation of Palestinian land by settlers who feel entitled to it and of natural resources by Israeli forces, and the necessary violence needed to maintain the Occupation.

Basically, The Occupation against the Palestinian people exercised by Israel is at the root of most of the immoral terrorist atrocities conducted by Palestinian resistance fighters. So on one hand, we have the international, illegal Occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel vs. terrorist attacks by Palestinians which could have multiple motivations. The purpose of many of those attacks is to resist The Occupation while the purpose of other terrorist attacks is to undo Israel's Zionism. In either case, what prompts the terrorist attacks is the gross inequity forced on some groups of Arabs. 

And the problem with Mansour's article is that the return to normal that Mansour wants restored is a return to a passive response to The Occupation by the Palestinians. For if the Palestinians are passive while the Occupation continues, then the lives of those in the churches under Mansour's care are less interrupted and disturbed by the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

This troublesome call for a return to normal reminds me of how many of my fellow Americans strongly desire as quick a return as possible to normal from the pandemic. The problem here is that for the marginalized people in America, a return to normal does little to better their lot in life. That is because of the suffering they already undergo from being marginalized. To pray for peace between the Palestinians and Israel without praying for the end of The Occupation is like praying for someone to no longer experience the problems from having cancer without praying for them to be healed from cancer.

Also, when one peruses the prayer list, one notices how much the concerns expressed in the pray list revolve around what immediately benefits the Christians there. The raison d'être for prayer request #2 is for the benefit of Christians, it is not for justice. Similarly, prayer requests #4-6 are all about the welfare of the Church in the light of violent and troubled times. While prayer requests #1 and #3 are for Israelis and Arabs in general, the other prayer requests gives one a feeling that Mansour is requesting prayers for peace is more for the comfort of the churches there than for the end of both inequality there and The Occupation against the Palestinians. 

Is being righteously self-absorbed what has become of the Church?

Losing One's Faith When Sving One's Land

An important personal friend and fellow activist, Rita Corriel, wrote the best analysis of Israel which I have ever come across. In her 2003 article, she claims that in obtaining and securing the Promised Land, those in Israel who support how their government treats the Palestinians have lost their faith (click here for the article). Why is that the case? It is because in obtaining and securing the Promised Land, they made it into a physical idol and thus have had to regard and treat the Palestinians as less than human because they are see as obstacles to the worship of that idol. We should note that that phraseology of Palestinians being less than human was never quoted or cited either in her article or any article I've read which support today's Zionism. But here, actions speak louder than words.

So because the Promised Land has become an object of idol worship, that which was essential to the spirit of Judaism is being  sacrificed. And in how Israel treats the Palestinians, Corriel contends that Israel has learned more from its oppressors than from the 'experience of being oppressed.' And that is true because the way the Promised Land has been worshiped and secured indicates that 'Never Again' does not apply to everyone, especially to those who get in one's way. So she contrasts Israel's treatment of the Palestinians with how the 'Righteous Gentiles,' those Gentiles who chose to shield European Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. She contrasts the Zionist idea of being chosen with the Righteous Gentiles who put their humanity and their following of Universal Law above any other allegiance including their national identity.

One of her strongest points is that in Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, Israel has decided to turn a deaf ear to the world rather than the world turning against Israel. And thus a significant amount of the criticism that Israel receives from the world is not because Israel's Judaism, but because of its lack of Judaism as demonstrated in how it treats the Palestinians.

Now either we could focus solely on Israels' sins here, or we could look into a mirror of truth to see if we have either imitated Israel's sins or we have already set a precedent for Israel's approach to the Promised Land. For there is one thing we should note about Israel's sins against the Palestinians, and yes I know that the Palestinians are not innocent either, that is that Israel's sins are NOT sins peculiar to the Jewish people as defined either religiously or ethnically. Instead, they sins that been practiced by people of other ethnic groups and religious faiths.

To illustrate how Israel's sins against the Palestinians are sins that any group of people could commit or imitate to varying degrees, we Christian Americans can look at our history to see how we share the moral weaknesses demonstrated in how Israel approaches its Promised Land. For from our beginning, many of our national and religious forefathers viewed themselves as a then modern version of Old Testament Israel. Thus they viewed the land as the Promised Land and the indigenous people who lived here as the Canaanites. Our national and religious forefathers thus felt entitled to a land that belonged to others and they did so based on a belief in their own moral and religious superiority. And neither the Native Americans nor the Africans slaves whom they had kidnapped and shipped here were never seen as fully human, as fully equal.

Whereas escaping brutal anti-Semitism and the belief in Zionism became driving forces for some European Jews to pursue the Promised Land, escaping religious persecution caused Christians to come here and their belief in white supremacy eventually created and carried out the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. And here we should note that our fellow Americans who are Black are still trying to obtain a full equality with White Americans.

But there is another parallel here with the analysis Corriel gave of Israel. Many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians claim that America was founded as a Christian nation and are fighting what they perceive as America losing that identity. If we suppose that is true, then we have to wonder whether America has become our physical idol since history shows how we have devalued Native Americans and Blacks in building America and have devalued the LGBT community in our most recent attempt to maintain America as a Christian nation. Thus we have to wonder whether we have sacrificed our faith on the alter of our nationalism.

Certainly Corriel's view of Judaism is different from how many of us religiously conservative Christians have been taught to see Judaism. And part of  her view of spirituality goes against the grain of what we have been taught in Church. But her analysis of Israel's Zionism is the best I've seen and should be read by all. And the similarities we American Christians have in how we have treated others with how Israel has treated the Palestinians raise a host of red flags about the consistency in which we have lived out our faith here.


 

Was Ilhan Omar Being Anti-Semitic?

Debating issues on a website where there is considerable amount of group-think produces at least one inescapable observation: that many people use accusations to distract others from the issues at hand. Of course this happens in other places besides on the web.

And so we have to consider whether Ilhan Omar's tweets are anti-Semitic. After all, she made some claims about how things work in Washington and was greeted with accusations. So here, we will be examining two sets of her  tweets (click here and there). The accusation of anti-Semitism was formalized and made official in a resolution that eventually failed in Congress (click here for the resolution). In addition, the feedback that Rep. Omar is receiving is also based on a 2012 statement however I could not find that statement in time to publish this post.

Before any further examination, we must remember that just as location is to real estate so too is context to statements. In the first set of tweets linked to above, the context from which Rep. Omar seems to be speaking was her life and the people around her from both those in and out of Congress and what they have been saying to her.. The context for the second set of tweets linked to above was limited to a journalist and what she observed In Congress.

The Resolution cited above condemned her comments, without mentioning her by name, as being anti-Semitic because of the following :

• The history of anti-Semitism
• The history of America's discriminatory treatment of Japanese-American citizens during WW II and others at other times because of assumptions made about their true loyalties.
• That anti-Semitism includes hatred of the Jews and that includes the scapegoating of Jews for when things go wrong.
• That there have been false assumptions made about the loyalty of those with dual citizenships.
• State Department's working definition of anti-Semitism (click here for that definition)
• Jewish attempts to control the world

The above tells us that the historical context from which the Resolution was written justifies a certain vigilance against anti-Semitism. But that historical context does not prove the anti-Semitism allegations made against Rep. Omar.

What are we to conclude here? Considering that the first set of Omar's tweets cited above do not refer to the Jews except in a positive light,  nor does it even hint at any questioning of those with dual citizenship or even mention AIPAC and its alleged paying of elected officials, the charges of anti-Semitism seems problematic. The first set of Rep. Omar's tweets revolve around herself and the allegations she faces on a regular basis regarding her loyalty to America because of her questioning of how we should support Israel. \

She states that she should not expected to be loyal to Israel. She also says that she must question America's relationship to Israel. As a result, she faces accusations on a regular basis about her own loyalty to America. This particular set of tweets is more-less a personal defense of her political views on Israel.

What about the State Department's definition of anti-Semitism. Were her first set of tweets anti-Semitic according to its definition of anti-Semitism? Here, we must first note that there are three problems with the State Department's definition. First one sign of anti-Semitism consists of accusing Jewish individuals of being more loyal to Israel than one's own nation. Such a statement is problematic because it implies that no Jewish individuals will be more loyal to Israel than one's own nation. And not only has such an implication never been proven, it is untestable because to test the statement seems to qualify as Anti-Semitism.  Thus, one must accept that criteria without questioning it. Here, we should want to distinguish between questioning an Jewish individual's loyalty based on past and present behavior. But with this part of the State Department's definition of anti-Semitism, we are forbidden to even examine if any Jew's behavior to see if their loyalty to Israel is greater than that person's loyalty to their own country. Certainly, we should never examine without cause. But if there is sufficient evidence to indicate whether an individual is more loyal to Israel than to one's own nation, it should be considered to be anti-Semitic to question one's loyalty.

Now the question becomes this: Did Rep. Omar accuse any Jewish member of Congress of being more or equally loyal to Israel than to the U.S.? Considering that her first set of tweets revolved around her own struggles, the answer has to be no. If when talking about herself, people perceived her as suggesting something about others, there is not much to be done about that. Her tweets regarding others should be regarded as ambiguous at worst rather than clearly anti-Semitic.

The second problem with the State Department's definition of Israel is that it automatically counts any questioning of Israel's right to exist, assuming that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, as anti-Semitic. It should be very problematic for Americans to accept that part of the definition. Why? It is because then Israel would not resemble an American kind of Democracy . For most Americans do not picture the U.S. as being a white, conservative Protestant democracy that is suppose to revolve around a specific ethnic group. But that is how Israel pictures itself. Israel portrays itself as a Democracy but it is one that revolves around the Jewish people and thus it belongs to its Jewish citizens more than it belongs to non-Jewish citizens. Israeli activist whose organization tries to help Palestinians who are being dispossessed from the land, Jeff Halper, calls such a Democracy and ethnocracy. And regardless of what one wants to call it, it certainly doesn't follow Jefferson's spoken prescription for a Democracy--though neither did the Democracy he oversaw when he was the President.
What about the second set of tweets cited above? Again, Rep. Omar makes no reference to the Jewish people. The tweet that might incur the most wrath is the one regarding AIPAC. But that tweet does not even reference the Jewish people in general let alone scapegoat them. However, there is a group of people whom Rep. Omar accuses of wrong doing in the second set of tweets cited from above. That group of people consists of Senators and Congresspeople who have received financial aid/rewards from AIPAC, a lobbying organization. Is accusing elected officials of taking money from AIPAC for voting favors anti-Semitic in and of itself? Shouldn't the answer to that question depend on the accuracy of the accusations? After all, does the mere accusing of an American company like Boeing which employs lobbyists  imply that one anti-Boeing? Again, only the reasonableness of the accusations can answer that question.

A third problem with the State Department's definition of anti-Semitism is not applicable regarding Rep. Omar's tweets and the reaction to those tweets from many of her colleagues.

That Rep. Omar has good reason to tweet what she did in the first set of tweets. Whether her comments about the influence of AIPAC were anti-Semitic depends on the reasonableness, not necessarily the veracity, of her accusations. And instead of addressing her concerns bout AIPAC's influence, the accusation of anti-Semitism was employed to distract people from examining her concerns. Thus, Rep. Omar is not facing reactions that are significantly different from those who express dissenting views on websites where there are high degrees of group think. Rep. Omar is basically facing defensiveness from those who accept money and/or favors from AIPAC and tribalism from those whose loyalty to Israel surpasses their loyalty to their own nation regardless of the citizenships they possess or to absolute morals and principles. And such loyalty is not unique to those who place that loyalty with Israel. Rather, such loyalty is a product of tribalism regardless of the object of one's loyalty.



 





References

1. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/omar-israel-house-democrats-1201881?fbclid=IwAR3FRYGBFf4cijoyyMaCmr5lPUbtFxaxqptgDpsErXI9Xl-uPVYY7iWAlL8
2. https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1102317234125529088
3. https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/nothing-semitic-calling/?fbclid=IwAR3WCFoUwZgWdj99x7-AuxhE80AExSLyT3zIeYdoij9OpZrgGdM47qQtYdQ
4. https://www.politifact.com/facebook-fact-checks/statements/2019/feb/25/blog-posting/no-members-congress-dont-have-dual-citizenship-isr/
5. 
   

ONIM For March 11, 2019

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.

Christian News

• Humpty Dumpty Revisited -- Mortification of Spin
• Biblically-Legimized Imperialism -- Counterpunch
• Why Evangelical Christians Are Obsessed With Israel -- Medium
• How Shame Can Prevent People From Repenting -- Jackson Wu
• Is It God's Will To Heal Everyone? -- Chorus In The Chaos
• Atheism Is An Age Old Problem -- Jesus Creed
• The Medieval Sin Of "Scandal" -- Cranach
• Why Evangelicals Need To Stop Saying 'It's A Relationship, Not A Religion -- Chorus In The Chaos
• Did Trump And Kim's Summit Help North Korean Christians? -- Christianity Today
• Southern Baptists Torn Between Bold Abuse Reforms And Caution -- Christianity Today

World News

• Publisher Embroiled In Legal Battle With Arkansas Over Law Banning Israel Boycotts -- NBC News
• Exposing The True Costs Of War And Militarism Since 1985 -- Veterans For Peace
• The Evolving Role Of The Public Library -- ICMA
• Military Spending: 20 Companies Profiting The Most From War -- USA Today
• Dollars On The Margins -- New York Times
• Germany To Close All 84 Of Its Coal-Fired Plants, Will Rely Primarily On Renewable Energy -- Los Angeles Times
• Julian Assange: ISIS And Clinton Foundation Are Both Funded By Saudi Arabia And Qatar -- Independent
• A Clinton-Era Centrist Democrat Explains Why It's Time To Give Democratic Socialists A Chance -- Vox
• Judges Plead Guilty In Scheme To Jail Youths For Profit -- New York Times
• Disputed N.S.A. Phone Program Is Shut Down, Aide Says -- New York Times
• Detroit Man Sues Three White Women Who Called Police On Him For 'Gardening While Black' -- Detroit Metro Times
• What Charlottesville Change -- Politico
• 11 Million Taxpayers Losing $323 Billion In Deductions In Trump Tax Hit -- Huffington Post
• Pentagon Awards Lockheed Martin Nearly $1 Billion For Saudi Missile Defense Deal -- CNBC
• The Case Against Bernie Sanders -- Chicago Tribune
• The Neo-Nazi Plot Against America Is Much Bigger Than We Realize -- Guardian
• After Winning A $15 Minimum Wage, Fast Food Workers Now Battle Unfair Firings -- New York Times
• Islamophobia Is On The Rise. This Is How We Can Tackle It -- World Economic Forum
• U.S. Senators Say Saudi Crown Prince Has Gone 'Full Gangster' -- Reuters
• House Democrats Take A Big Step Toward Passing $15 Per Hour US Minimum Wage -- CNBC News
• Post-Hurricane Harvey, NASA Tried To Fly A Pollution-Spotting Plane Over Houston. The EPA Said No -- Los Angeles Times
• McConnell Won't Allow Vote On Election Reform Bill -- Politico
• State By State, More Gun Ownership Equals More Mass Shootings, Study Shows -- Yahoo News
• Capitalism And The Reactionary Power Of White Identity Politics -- Counterpunch

Israel-Palestine News

• UN Council: Israel Intentionally Shot Children And Journalists In Gaza -- Haaretz
• Israeli Extremists Are Making A Comeback--With The Help Of US Tax Dollars -- Nation
• U.S. Conculate In Jerusalem Merges With Embassy -- Haaretz
• Kushner's New Ideas For Palestine Are Israeli PM Netanyahu's Old Ones -- Informed Comment
• Palestinian Peace Activists Denied Entry To U.S. For Speaking Tour -- 972 Magazine
• Canary Mission Blacklists Students, Faculty For Pro-Palestinian Views -- ZNet
• Israel Is Playing A Big Role In India's Escalating Conflict With Pakistan -- ZNet
• Kahne In, Arabs Out: Israeli Election Panel Disqualifies Palestinian Party Calling For Equality, Approves Racist Jewish Power Leader -- Mondoweiss
• Gideon Levy // Without Saying A Word, Israeli Troops Beat Up A Blind Man In His Bed -- Haaretz
• U.N. Rights Boss Regrets Israel Dismissal Of Gaza Killings Report -- Reuters
• First Ever: 40+ Jewish Groups Worldwide Oppose Equating Anti-Semitism With Criticism Of Israel -- Jewish Voice For Peace
• American Support For Israel In Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Falls To 10-Year Low, Gallup Finds -- Haaretz

Ilhan Omar News

• House Dems Will Take Floor Action To Confront Omar's Latest Israel Comments -- Politico
• Omar The Flashpoint As Democrats Confront Divide Over Israel -- AP News
• Rep. Ilhan Omar Responds To House Committee Chair's Charge Of 'Vile, Anti-Semitic Slur' -- USA Today
• Ilhan Omar's Criticism Raises The Question: Is AIPAC Too Powerful? -- New York Times
• Ilhan Omar Says Her Refusal To 'Pledge Allegiance' To Israel Does Not Make Her Anti-Semitic -- Independent
• Republicans And Democrats Say Their Criticism Of Ilhan Omar Is About Anti-Semitism. They're Gaslighting You -- Intercept
• Jews Stand With Ilhan: There's Nothing Anti-Semitic About Calling Out AIPAC's Noxious Role -- Mondoweiss
• Democrats Put Off Anti-Semitism Resolution After Fierce Backlash -- New York Times
• The House Democrats' "Rebuke" Of Rep. Ilhan Omar Is A Fraud For Many Reasons, Including Its Wild Distortion Of Her Comments -- Intercept
• The Ilhan Omar Controversy Shows How Little We Care About Palestinian Lives -- Vox

Donald Trump News

• Trump's Nomination For The Nobel Peace Prize Was Apparently Forged. Twice -- New York Times
• Trump Is Now Averaging Nearly 22 False Or Misleading Claims A Day: Report -- Huffington Post
• Trump Revokes Obama Order On Reporting Civilian Deaths In Drone Strikes -- Yahoo News
• North Korea Rebuilds Missile Launch Site Within 48 Hours Of Trump Broken Promise -- CCN News
• Ex-Trump Attorney Cohen Hands Over New Documents To Congress -- Reuters
• Donald Trump Nominates Man Whose Firm Tripled Price Of Insulin To Regulate Drug Companies -- Independent

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• The Climate Change Lawsuit That Could Stop The U.S. Government From Supporting Fossil Fuels -- CBS News
• Iranians Are Paying For US Sanctions With Their Health -- CNN
• Coal Ash Contaminates Ground Water At 91% Of U.S. Coal Plants, Tests Show -- Inside Climate News
• HIV Reported Cure In A Second Patient, A Milestone In The Global AIDS Epidemic -- Seattle Times
• Stephon Clark: Pastors, Bee Reporter Among Those Arrested In East Sacromento Protest -- Sacromento Bee
• To Reduce Inequality, Let's Downsize The Financial Sector -- ZNet
• Stephon Clark Case Ends With No Charges And A Disgraceful Lack Of Justice--Yet Again -- USA Today
• Cops Fatally Shoot Pregnant Native American Woman During 'Wellness Check' -- Huffington Post
• Being Excluded Can Be Just As Painful In Adulthood -- Huffington Post
• FPL Wins Battle To Store Radioactive Waste Under Miami's Drinking Water -- Miami New Times
• Torturing Kids To Confess: Daily Brief -- Human Rights Watch
• Whole Foods Cuts Workers Hours After Amazon Introduce Minimum Wage -- Guardian
• White People Assume Niceness Is The Answer To Racial Inequality. It's Not -- Guardian
• Source: Leaked Documents Show The U.S. Government Tracking Journalists And Immigration Advocates Through A Secret Database -- NBC News
• UK And US Bombs Caused Nearly 1,000 Civilian Casualties In Yemen, Damning Report Finds -- Independent
• Last Year Was The Fourth Hotest On Record, According To The UN -- World Economic Forum
• A Sociologist Examines The "White Fragility" That Prevents White Americans From Confronting Racism -- New Yorker Magazine

Just For Fun

• Obama Demands To See Trump's Elementary-School Diploma -- Borowitz Report
• Trump Storms Out Of McDonald's After Failing To Close Six-Dollar Meal Deal -- Borowitz Report
• Limited Edition Russet Potato Comes With Certificate Of Authenticity -- Onion
• Libertarian Worried That Newly Proposed Gun Laws Would Infringe Upon His Constitutional Right To Fly Around In An A-10 Warthog -- Babylon Bee
• NASA Scientists Patiently Explain To Trump That The World Does Not Revolve Around Him -- Babylon Bee

ONIM For February 18, 2019

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.

 

Christian News

• Integrating Justice Into Our Spiritual Disciplines -- Witness: A Black Christian Collective
• Watch It Now: America's Civil Rights Movement -- Witness: A Black Christian Collective
• A Most Mischievous And Ill-Informed Half Truth -- Mortification Of Spin
• Reaching Out To The Digital Generation For Jesus Christ -- Jim Erwin
• Martyrs And The Book Of Revelation -- Bible & Culture
• A Tiny Chapel--And A Law Beloved By Evangelicals-- Might Stand In The Way Of Trump's Wall -- Yahoo News
• A Vicious And Cruel Injustice -- Fuller

World News

• Sandusky, Ohio, Swaps Columbus Day Holiday For Election Day -- New York Times
• Here's (Almost) Everything Wall Street Expects In 2019 -- Bloomberg
• Negotiators Reach Deal 'In Principle' To Avert Shutdown -- Politico
• College Student Shot Dead By Alleged Abductor -- ABC7 News
• U.S. Pledges To Fight Russia, China For Influence In NATO's East -- Bloomberg
• Revisiting The Catonville Nine's Greatest Day -- Waging Nonviolence
• Hedge Fund Manager: Stock Buybacks Should Be 'Illegal' -- CNN 
• Breaking News On Torture In Egypt And Syria -- Human Rights Watch
• At U.S.-Mexico Border, A Tribal Nation Fights Wall That Would Divide Them -- PBS
• 30 Years On, Russia Views Afghan War With Pride -- AP News
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says 'Shock Doesn't Begin To Cover' This Lobbying Tactic -- Huffington Post
• The Denver Teachers Strike Is Over. They Won -- Vox
• Billionaire Richard Branson: Taxing The Extremely Wealthy Like Me 'Makes Sense' -- CNBC News
• GOP Leader Apologizes For Tweeting: 'Time For Another Kent State -- USA Today
• Democrats Want A 'Smart Wall.' That's Trump's Wall By Another Name -- Guardian
• Students Skip School Across Europe To Demand Climate Action -- New York Times
• Thousands Of UK Students Skip Class To Protest Climate Change -- Vice
• Venezuela Is Unraveling--So Is Its Science -- Scientific American
• Dismissed Employee Kills Five Coworkers In Illinois Factor Shooting -- Reuters
• Millennial Life: How Young Adulthood Today Compares With Prior Generations -- Pew Research Center
• Climate Change Still Seen As Top Global Threat, But Cyberattacks A Rising Concern -- Pew Research Center
• The Changing Face Of Congress In 6 Charts -- Pew Research Center

Israel-Palestine News

• Democratic Party Leadership, In Bed With AIPAC, Condemns Ilhan Omar for Anti-Semitic...Accusations -- Mondoweiss
• Ilhan Omar Was Dead Right About Lobbyists For Israel -- Truthdig
• Ilhan Omar Is Not Anti-Semitic. She's An Anti-Imperialist -- Forward
• Israel's Mueller Holds Key To Netanyahu's Fate -- Bloomberg
• There is A Taboo Against Criticizing Israel's AIPAC--And Ilhan Omar Just Destroyed It -- Intercept
• Noam Chomsky Slams Israeli Interference In U.S. Politics As Far Greater Than Russian -- Haaretz
• Israeli Leader Hopes Summit Brings Arab Ties Out In The Open -- Reuters
• In Hebron Israel Removes The Last Restraint On Its Settlers' Reign Of Terror -- Mondoweiss
• 'There Are No Foreigners Left': Israeli Settlers Rampage In Hebron Following Expulsion Of Human Rights Observers -- Mondoweiss

Donald Trump News

• BBC Cameraman Shoved And Abused At Trump Rally In El Paso -- Guardian
• Trump Lied About Getting Special Permission From El Paso Fire Dept, Says Fire Dept -- Huffington Post
• Trump Vows Emergency Declaration Over Wall, Agrees To Shutdown-Averting Bill -- Reuters
• Trump Intervenes In Support Of Coal Plant Owned By Major Donor -- MSNBC
• McCabe Says Justice Dept. Officials Had Discussions About Pushing Trump Out -- New York Times
• Rep. Omar Fires Back After Trump Calls For Her Resignation: 'You Have Trafficked In Hate Your Whole Life' -- CNN

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• National Debt Tops $22 Trillion For The First Time As Experts Warn Of Ripple Effects -- USA Today
• Why Does The Democratic Party Refuuse To Address Poverty? -- Nation
• In Landmark Move, L.A. County Will Replace Men's Central Jail With Mental Health Hospital For Inmates -- Los Angeles Times
• How The Iroquois Great Law Of Peace Shaped U.S. Democracy -- PBS
• Parkland Shooting Victims Are Remembered In Silence -- AP News
• Nearly 1,000 Madagascar Children Dead Of Measles Since October: WHO -- Reuters
• The War In Afghanistan Isn't A 'Stalemate.'  The U.S. Has Lost -- Los Angeles Times
• What It Really Takes To Secure Peace In Afghanistan -- ZNet
• Russian-Style Kleptocracy Is Infiltrating America -- Atlantic
• Opinion: Kareem Hunt Signing Shows Hitting Women Is Forgivable In NFL, But Kneeling Is Not -- USA Today

Just For Fun

• El Chapo Claims He Is Victim Of Phony Witch Hunt -- Borowitz Report
• Jeff Bezos Chooses Soon-To-Be Bankrupt Mar-A-Lago As New Amazon Headquarters -- Borowitz Report
• Trump Base Celebrates President For Standing Up To Constitution -- Onion
• Mass Invasion Of Polar Bears Force Russian Islands To Declare Emergency -- Onion
• Man Robbing Chick-Fil-A Impressed By Level Of Customer Service -- Babylon Bee

ONIM For February 11, 2019

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.

 

Christian News

• Watch It Now: America's Civil Rights Movement -- Witness: A Black Christian Collective
• Why We Are Getting Dumber -- Unsettled Christianity
• What Has Happened To The Evangelical Christianity Of Not Long Ago? -- Roger Olson
• Pope Acknowledges Nuns Were Sexually Abused By Priests And Bishops -- New York Times
• The Biblical Values Of Ocasio-Cortez's Democratic Socialism -- Sojourners

World News

• The "Country Marriage" As A Form Of Economic And Sexual Exploitation Of Indigenous Women -- Dibaajimowin
• Bill Gates Says Poverty Is Decreasing. He Couldn't Be More Wrong -- Guardian
• Overweight And Underwater: Obesity And Climate Change -- Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists
• A Third Of Himalayan Ice Cap Doomed, Finds Report -- Guardian
• Never Forget: In 1985 Police Dropped A Bomb On A West Philly Neighborhood; Killing 11 And Destroying 61 Homes -- Black Main Street
• Colin Kaepernick Brings People's History To Youth -- Zinn Education Project
• SPFD Confiscated Tents Hours Before Major Weekend Storm -- SF Weekly
• U.S. Says Foreign Meddling Didn't Affect 2018 Election Systems -- Reuters
• General Motors To Begin First Round Of Layoffs On Monday, Axing 4,000 Workers -- NBC News
• Our Global System Has Spun Out Of Control. Here's How To Rebalance It -- World Economic Forum
• Unemployment Is Low Only Because 'Involuntary' Part-Time Work Is High -- Business Insider
• State Of The Union 2019: How Americans See Major National Issues -- Pew Research Center
• Repression Strengthens Nation's Mass Movement Aiming To Topple Sudan's Dictator -- Waging Nonviolence
• New Mexico Governor Pulls National Guard Troops From Border -- ABC News
• Men Are Likely To Be Healthier In Countries With High Gender Equality -- World Economic Forum
• The Rise And Decline Of The Clinch River Breeder Reactor -- Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists
• In Utah And Idaho, G.O.P. Looks To Curb Medicare Expansions That Voters Approved -- New York Times
• House Intelligence Committee Votes To Send Russian Probe Transcripts To Mueller -- ABC News
• California Pollution: Latinos, Blacks Breath 40 Percent More Pollution Than Whites In California, Study Says -- KABC News
• Second Virginia Democrat Says He Wore Blackface, Throwing Party Into Turmoil -- New York Times
• Consumer Protection Bureau Aims To Roll Back Rule For Payday Lending -- NPR
• We In The Standsted 15 Have Been Treated Like Terrorists -- Guardian
• From Glass Ceiling To Glass Cliff: Women Are Not A Leadership Quick-Fix -- World Economic Forum
• Family Alleges Race-Based Attack By Off-Duty LAPD Officer Left Father Of Two In Coma -- KTLA News
• How The CIA Overthrew Iran's Democracy In 4 Days -- NPR
• Jim Crow Jumps Into The Game -- ZNet
• Plutocratic Policy, Not Truth, Comes With A Bodyguard Of Lies -- ZNet
• L.A. City Attorney Agrees To Drop Charges Against Black Lives Matter Leader Amid Public Outcry -- Los Angeles Times

Israel-Palestine News

• Palestine And The Climate Crisis -- Mondoweiss
• As West Bank Violence Surges, Israel Is Silent On Attacks By Jews -- New York Times
• 'NY Times' Report On Jewish 'Settler' Violence In Occupied Palestines Is An Improvement, But Still Flawed -- Mondoweiss
• The Future Of Statehood: Israel & Palestine -- ZNet
• Settlers To Palestinian Workers: 'Work With Human Rights Groups And Loser Your Job' -- +972 Mag
• US Court Throws Out Lawsuit Against Academic Boycott Of Israel -- Electronic Intifada
• IDF, Court, Liable For 'War Crimes' In Palestinian Home Razing--B'tselem -- Jerusalem Post
• 'Combating BDS Act' Passes Senate 77-23, As Dem Presidential Hopefuls Vote No -- Mondoweiss
• A Prisoner Named Shorouk Duyat -- Mondoweiss
• US To Buy Israeli Iron Dome Missile Defence System -- BBC
• Intersectionality And Israel's Transnational Violence -- Mondoweiss

Donald Trump News

• Trump Campaign Takes Steps To Prevent A Challenge Within GOP -- AP News
• Trump Inaugural Committee Ordered To Hand Over Documents To Federal Investigators -- New York Times
• Trump Threatens To Bust Border Deal As Shutdown Deadline Nears -- Bloomberg
• Senator Warns Of War Among Republicans Over Trump Border Wall -- Reuters
• Trump Justice Dept. Reversing Obama-Era Positions On Discrimination Policies -- CNN
• Two Top Trump Officials Are Ex-Lobbyists For A Billionaire With Deep Ties To Russian Oligarchs -- Vice News
• Read The Full Text Of Trump's State Of The Union Address -- CBS News
• Factchecking The State Of The Union -- FactCheck.org
• State Of The Union: Facts Show Trump Wrong To Say El Paso Dangerous City Until Fence -- El Paso Times
• Republicans Ask Democrats To Please Leave Trump's Tax Returns Alone -- Huffington Post

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• The Super Bowl Is A Showdown Of America's Dueling Values: Commerce And Conscience -- Guardian
• ICE Let Sexual Assault Reports Slide At Migrant Detention Centers Run By Contractors: Inspector General -- Huffington Report
• The U.S. And Russia Are Stocking Up On Missiles And Nukes For A Different Kind Of War -- NPR
• Giving Housing To The Homeless Is Three-Times Cheaper Than Leaving Them On The Streets -- Vox
• The Decline Of Empathy And The Appeal Of Right-Wing Politics -- Psychology Today
• Activists And Indigenous Tribe Stand Against Border Wall Construction -- KVEO News
• His Side Of The Story: Nathan Phillips Wants To Talks About Covington -- Guardian
• Warning Signs Unveiled For Dangerous Rivers In Sky -- Scientific American
• How Allies Can Protect Communities Threatened With Violence -- Waging Nonviolence
• Deaths Of Journalists Brushed Aside In Middle East -- ZNet
• Tasmania Is Burning. The Climate Disaster Future Has Arrived While Those In Power Laugh At Us -- Guardian
• US Nuclear Weapons: First Low-Yield Warheads Roll Off The Production Line -- Guardian
• 1.4 Puerto Ricans Face Deep Cuts In Food Aid Without Federal Action -- NBC News
• Police Wipe Out Homeless Camps In Detroit, Seize Belongings -- Detroit Metro Times
• South Carolina Lawmakers Propose Criminalizing Abortion -- CBS News

Just For Fun

• Pence Begs Trump Not To Make Him Sit Next To Woman At State Of The Union -- Borowitz Report
• Americans Relieved To Learn That Trump Spends 60 Percent Of Time Not Using Powers Of President -- Borowitz Report
• Brian Harper Asks If Phillies Willing To Move To Another City -- Onion
• 'Fly My Pretties,' Says Jeff Bezos Releasing Swarm Of Amazon Drones To Hunt Down Nude Photos -- Onion
  
• GCU Disinvites Jesus From Campus For Causing Division -- Babylon Bee