The Daily Brief:
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Under President Trump's administration, the State Department announced today plans to expand the Mexico City policy that bans U.S. funding for abortions overseas. The expanded policy, known as "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance," prohibits U.S. taxpayer money from funding foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.
The pro-life policy will apply global health assistance funding for international health programs, such as those for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, global health security, and family planning and reproductive health, rather than abortion. (Read more)
- Lord, we rejoice at this news and pray that You will protect this action by the Blood of Jesus and the Power of His Name!
- "Oh send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me." (Psalm 43:1)
2. Filthy mattresses, toddlers' shoes and dog collars: Inside the squalid Philippines home of 'sweating US predator who filmed the sexual abuse of children for international online pedophile ring' - Daily Mail
Vile images have emerged from inside the home of an American man suspected of exploiting Filipino children and using webcams to sell videos, images and livestreams.
David Timothy Deakin, 53, was arrested at his Philippines home last month in what was potentially the largest ever seizure of illicit digital content in the country. Children's underwear, toddler shoes, cameras, bondage cuffs, fetish ropes and stacks of hard drives can be seen scattered throughout the two-bedroom townhouse.
[Editor's comment: we are intentionally NOT showing this link, as these photos are truly disgusting. Let's adhere to the dictates of Philippians 4:8 in all we say and do. Thank you.]
- Lord, we are sickened by the sexual perversion that is rampant through the world at this time. WE pray for these victims, that You will redeem their lives from the pit, and rid this mand form the demons that have ensnared his thoughts and heart.
- "For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord." (Proverbs 3:32a)
3. Bathroom Policy Back in Court - Liberty Counsel
Today, Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a Virginia school board on the so-called bathroom transgender decision in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board. The brief was filed on behalf of Dr. Judith Reisman and the Center for Child Protection Institute.
The Supreme Court previously blocked the decision by the appeals court which ruled that the federal law known as Title IX should be interpreted to include "gender identity" and that a girl who "identifies" as a boy can use the boy's restroom. The case was sent back to the court of appeals after President Trump rescinded Obama's transgender guidance that schools had to adopt a policy allowing students to use the restroom of their "self-identity." (Read more)
- Father, we ask that You save the children of our nation from all of these perversions that confuse them. We pray for this team of lawyers, that You will grant them anointing and wisdom.
- "He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints." (Proverbs2:8)
4. Experts try to figure out who's behind global cyberattack - SRN News
Experts are trying to figure out who's behind a global "ransomware" software cyberattack that shut down hundreds of thousands of computers around the world by exploiting a software vulnerability. Some details about the "WannaCry" attack, which emerged late Friday, and what you can do to stay safe:
HOW THE VIRUS WORKS
Cybersecurity experts say the worm affects computers using Microsoft operating systems and takes advantage of a vulnerability in the software to spread the infection. "WannaCry" is particularly malicious because it takes just one person to click on an infected link or email attachment to cause the virus to spread to other machines on the same network.
Infected computers are frozen and display a big message in red informing users, "Oops, your files have been encrypted!" and demanding about $300 in online bitcoin payment. Victims have only hours to pay the ransom, which rises to $600 before the files are destroyed.
Money has been trickling in, according to a Twitter account monitoring bitcoin wallets linked to the attacks, with victims paying nearly $39,000 by Monday afternoon in Asia. (Read more)
- Lord, we ask that You grant Your wisdom to those whose computers have been affected by this attack, so that all can be recovered. We pray that You will execute justice quickly and find whoever is responsible so that they may be held accountable.
- "I will praise You forever, because You have done it." (Psalm 52: 9a)
5. UN agency helps North Korea with patent application for banned nerve gas chemical - Fox News
For more than a year, a United Nations agency in Geneva has been helping North Korea prepare an international patent application for production of sodium cyanide -- a chemical used to make the nerve gas Tabun -- which has been on a list of materials banned from shipment to that country by the U.N. Security Council since 2006.
The World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, has made no mention of the application to the Security Council committee monitoring North Korea sanctions, nor to the U.N. Panel of Experts that reports sanctions violations to the committee, even while concerns about North Korean weapons of mass destruction, and the willingness to use them, have been on a steep upward spiral.
Fox News told both U.N. bodies of the patent application for the first time late last week, after examining the application file on a publicly available WIPO internal website. (Read more)
- Father, we ask that the UN be held accountable for their failures, and agencies that lie or hide their actions and vote against Your people. We pray that you move across the entire organization and bring them to their knees in repentance, or remove them from our soil.
- "When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly." (Psalm 75:2)
6. Germany Confiscating Homes to Use for Migrants - Gatestone Institute
In an unprecedented move, Hamburg authorities confiscated six residential units in the Hamm district near the city center. A trustee appointed by the city is now renovating the properties and will rent them - against the will of the owner - to tenants chosen by the city. District spokeswoman Sorina Weiland said that all renovation costs will be billed to the owner of the properties.
Similar expropriation measures have been proposed in Berlin, the German capital, but abandoned because they were deemed unconstitutional.
Some Germans are asking what is next: Will authorities now limit the maximum amount of living space per person, and force those with large apartments to share them with strangers? (Read more)
- Father, we ask that You stop this action, but that You will move across Germany to touch their hearts and minds, changing their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.
- "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)
7. White House denies report Trump revealed classified info about ISIS to Russians - Fox News
White House officials Monday denounced a Washington Post report that President Trump revealed classified information about ISIS to Russia's foreign minister and Moscow's ambassador to the United States during a White House meeting last week. In a brief statement in front of the White House, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster described the Post's story as "false."
The newspaper cited current and former U.S. officials who said Trump jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on ISIS in his conversations with the Russian officials, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. "The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation," McMaster said. "At no time, at no time, were intelligence sources or methods discussed, and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known."
McMaster's statement echoed earlier denials issued by two other administration officials who attended the meeting. (Read more)
- Lord, these continual attacks against our President threaten to derail his momentum. We pray for President Trump and cover him with the Blood of Jesus, asking You to protect and defend him against the lies of the media.
- "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks likes shall perish." (Proverbs 19:9)
8. Trump travel ban faces skeptical panel in 9th Circuit hearing - Fox News
The legal hold on President Trump's so-called travel ban seems unlikely to be lifted anytime soon, based on the tenor of oral arguments before a federal appellate court in Seattle on Monday.
The Trump administration's top courtroom lawyer faced a trio of judges who expressed varying degrees of skepticism about the presidential decree that critics argue violates the Constitution's religious protections. Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall was repeatedly asked to explain how controversial statements made by Trump and administration officials can allow a reasonable observer to conclude the purpose of the executive order was something other than prejudice against Muslims.
"How is a court to know if [the executive order] is a Muslim ban in the guise of national security justification?" Judge Ronald Gould asked. (Read more)
- Father, we pray that somehow You will preserve the integrity of elections in North Carolina. We ask for the Supreme Court to see truth and judge righteously. "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul." Psalm 121:7
9. U.S. top court lets North Carolina voter law die, pleasing rights groups - Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a Republican bid to revive a strict North Carolina voter-identification law that a lower court found deliberately discriminated against black voters, handing a victory to Democrats and civil rights groups.
The justices' decision not to take up a Republican appeal in the important voting rights dispute set no legal precedent and did not rule out the possibility that the court, with a 5-4 conservative majority, would endorse such laws in future. North Carolina's law was one of a number of similar statutes passed by Republican-controlled states.
"Today's announcement is good news for North Carolina voters. We need to be making it easier to vote, not harder," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat who took office in January and asked the court not to take up the case.
The justices left in place a July 2016 ruling by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that voided the law passed by a Republican-controlled legislature and signed by a Republican governor. (Read more)
- Father, we pray that somehow You will preserve the integrity of elections in North Carolina. We ask for the Supreme Court to see truth and judge righteously.
- "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul." Psalm 121:7
10. Miss USA 2017 Criticized For Conservative Politics- Daily Caller
The second black woman in a row just won the Miss USA 2017 pageant, but liberals who claim to love diversity are livid that she denounced feminism and said that health care is a "privilege" rather than a "right." Black Lives Matter leader DeRay McKesson warned his followers not to take their political advice from Kara McCullough, the newly crowned Miss USA.
A number of Twitter users accused McCullough of being uneducated because of her remarks. However, she is a nuclear scientist at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (Read more)
- Lord, we pray that Ms. McCullough would be strong and full of truth. We pray that she will have answers straight from Your Holy Spirit against all of the criticism.
- "But after that they dared not question Him anymore." Luke 20:40
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