Daily Brief: Thursday, Sept. 14 (Short Form)
1. Trump supports $75m. additional aid to Israel beyond Obama-era MOU - Jerusalem Post
The Trump administration will support Congress's effort to provide Israel with more aid than was guaranteed in a formal defense package negotiated by former US president Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The original agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Netanyahu and former US president Barack Obama provides Israel with $38 billion through 2028. That agreement - a memorandum of understanding meant to govern US defense assistance to Israel through the coming decade - provides Israel with $38 billion through 2028. During the 2016 negotiations, Israel's leadership signed a side letter promising to return any aid appropriated by Congress exceeding the $3.1 billion set aside for this fiscal year. But Congress ignored that provision, cutting Israel an additional $75 million in aid in its latest appropriations bill.
A report in the right-leaning Washington Free Beacon published over the weekend claimed that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wanted Israel to return the check, as promised in its letter to the Obama team. But a senior State Department official said that report was incorrect. (Read more)
- Father, we ask You to help our State Department and Congressional leaders come into agreement about this appropriation and provide clarity so that Israel will not be legally required to return these funds.
- A person who promises a gift but doesn't give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain. (Proverbs 25:14)
2. 20 state Attorneys General tell Supreme Court to release videos exposing Planned Parenthood - LifeSiteNews
Attorneys General in 20 states asked the U.S. Supreme Court release undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood's criminal activity. The top law enforcement officers in those states filed a "friend of the court" brief with the nation's highest court arguing that they should be privy to violations of law within their jurisdictions. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich authored the amicus brief, which argues for lifting an injunction by Judge William Orrick and upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stopping the release of the undercover videos made by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).
Banning the videos "hampers law enforcement's ability to effectively receive information and investigate possible civil or criminal wrongdoing," Brnovich reasoned. Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are all part of the amicus brief. (Read more)
- Father, we pray the Supreme Court will take up this case, if for nothing else, affirming the First Amendment's freedom of the press. We pray these videos will be distributed and the practices of Planned Parenthood exposed.
- Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
3. Betsy DeVos Stands Up for Due Process Rights in Campus Sexual Assault Cases - The Daily Signal
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced in a speech Thursday that she will roll back an Obama-era "guidance" document that drove colleges to implement Star Chamber-like tribunals to mishandle sexual assault cases. The guidance forced colleges to weaken already minimal due process protections for those accused of rape and sexual assault, and threatened schools that refused to do so with losing federal funding.
The Education Department will seek "public feedback and combine institutional knowledge, professional expertise, and the experiences of students to replace the current approach with a workable, effective, and fair system." DeVos highlighted a proposal by two former prosecutors for states to set up specialized centers with trained professionals for investigation and adjudication of sexual assaults. (Read more)
- Father, we pray for the young men and women on our college campuses. We pray they would fall in love with Jesus and avoid falling prey to the enemy's plan to destroy their lives through promiscuity.
- But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (1 Corinthians 7:9)
4. White House: DOJ 'should certainly look at' prosecuting James Comey - Fox News
The Department of Justice should consider prosecuting James Comey for his "improper" actions while serving as FBI director, the White House said Tuesday. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, argued during the daily press briefing that Comey's actions as FBI director "were improper and likely could have been illegal." Asked if President Trump wants the Department of Justice to prosecute Comey, Sanders said that's "something they should certainly look at."
Sanders said the former FBI director "politicized an investigation by signaling he would exonerate Hillary Clinton before he ever interviewed her or other key witnesses." That's in reference to new allegations Comey drafted an "exoneration statement" for Clinton weeks before interviewing her during the investigation into her email server. (Read more)
- Father, we pray our "public servants" will be held accountable for breaking the law and using their positions for selfish political ends. We pray no one will be above the law, including former FBI Directors.
- It is time for the Lord to act, for they have broken Your law. (Psalm 119:126)
5. Budget Director Mulvaney: Tax Reform . . .That's What's Going to Save the Country' - CNS News
President Trump is launching an all-out effort to move tax reform through Congress, quickly. In two tweets on Wednesday morning, President Trump urged Congress to get going: "The approval process for the biggest Tax Cut & Tax Reform package in the history of our country will soon begin. Move fast Congress!" the president wrote. And then: "With Irma and Harvey devastation, Tax Cuts and Tax Reform is needed more than ever before. Go Congress, go!"
The president wants the biggest corporate tax cut he can get, and it doesn't have to be revenue-neutral, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Tuesday evening. Mulvaney said the goal of tax reform is to "unleash the American economy," getting it back to sustained 3 percent annual growth. "And we think that a revenue neutral, sort of a fiddling along the edges, on the margins of the tax bill is not the way to do that." (Read more)
- Father, we pray for the big, bold tax reform our nation needs. Help Congress draft a bill to unleash our economy while simplifying our tax code.
- This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Kings 3:18a)
6. Dems Make 11th Hour Pitch to Kill Franchising - Washington Free Beacon
A secret memo circulating among Democrats on Capitol Hill attempts to portray legislation that would reverse an Obama-era regulation that threatened the franchise business model as bad for small business owners. Democratic staffers issued a memo on Monday intended to rally members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce against the Save Local Business Act, which would protect contractors and franchisors from being held liable for labor violations committed by subcontractors or franchisees that oversee labor practices.
The bill would overrule a 2015 decision by President Obama's National Labor Relations Board, which expanded the liability of parent companies in a decision critics said heavily favored labor unions. The bill has attracted bipartisan support since it was introduced in July. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) announced his support after consulting with franchisees who said the new standard would limit opportunities for small businesses, as parent companies seek to shield themselves from liability.
The insider said Democratic staffers do not understand the nature of subcontracting or franchising. He said Democrats could end up handing a victory to big businesses and large franchisees and subcontractors who can afford expensive regulatory attorneys at the expense of entrepreneurial franchisees, subcontractors, and other small business owners. "The memo only proves how naïve they are about how these businesses actually work," the insider said. (Read more)
- Father, we pray Congress will pass the Save Local Business Act and help business owners continue to invest and prosper.
- "Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." (Ecclesiastes 11:6)
7. Trashing Trump: Broadcast coverage of the president now 91% negative, say analysts - Washington Times
Much of the news media continues to offer coverage which is both hostile and biased against President Trump and his administration. Case in point: a wide-reaching new study from the Media Research Center finds that 91 percent of the recent coverage which aired on ABC, CBS and NBC has been negative. "Analyzing the networks' spin makes it clear that the goal of all of this heavy coverage is not to promote the President, but to punish him," the analysts said. "In June, July and August, broadcast evening news coverage of Trump was 91 percent negative - worse than the astounding 89 percent negative spin we calculated during the first three months of the administration, usually a traditional honeymoon period for new presidents." They based their judgment on the actual tone and content of evaluative statements from those who appeared on camera, including "experts" billed by the three networks as nonpartisan, along with voters, reporters and other correspondents.
"The networks' aggressive anti-Trump spin has been constant throughout 2017, as it was during the presidential campaign last year. The closest the evening newscasts came to achieving balanced coverage was in April, when a few reporters and analysts praised the President's use of cruise missiles to punish the Syrian regime for a chemical weapons attack. Yet network coverage that month was still skewed against Trump by a greater than four-to-one ratio," the two analysts said, noting that all three of the networks treated Mr. Trump's election as if it was a "national crisis." (Read more)
- Father, we pray the American people will become more skeptical as they clearly see the media bias and find more accurate sources of information.
- God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me.
(Psalm 59:10b)
8. Smuggling operations at sea targeted in latest UN sanctions against North Korea - South China Morning Post
The UN has called on member states to use "new tools" to clamp down on smuggling activities at sea under the latest sanctions against North Korea following its nuclear test last week.
Traders along the border between China and North Korea said Chinese authorities had already cracked down on smuggling of products including seafood and coal after previous rounds of sanctions and now they expect the screws to be tightened further.
The United Nations Security Council resolution passed on Monday said North Korea had been smuggling coal and iron ore to other countries by sea using sophisticated evasion techniques.
"The resolution provides member states new tools to stop high seas smuggling of prohibited products," it said. Suspicious vessels would be stopped for inspection at sea or in a port and they could have their assets frozen, be denied port access, deregistered or hit with other penalties if they failed to cooperate. (Read more)
- Father, we pray for the necessary cooperation to isolate North Korea and remove the threat of their nuclear program.
- The godly will never be disturbed, but the wicked will be removed from the land. (Proverbs 10:30)
9. Top Russian Diplomat Urges US to Stop Destroying Russia-US Relations - VOA
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has urged the United States to start finding a way to resolve the problems between the two countries. "We called for a stop to the destruction of Russia-U.S. relations and to start finding solutions to resolve problems that are mounting through no fault of ours," said a Russian Foreign Ministry statement after Ryabkov met with U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon in Helsinki, Finland. Shannon arrived in Finland earlier Monday for the talks aimed at calming tensions, between Washington and Moscow, which have been mounting for months.
Shannon is the State Department's third-ranking official and met earlier this year with Ryabkov to discuss numerous obstacles in the bilateral relationship.
Tensions between the United States and Russia have been especially high since allegations emerged that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. Congress passed sanctions against Moscow in July for its alleged meddling and U.S. President Donald Trump, unwilling to risk having lawmakers override a veto, signed the legislation, but blamed Congress for creating new tensions with Moscow. (Read more)
- Father, I pray You would give President Trump and our State Department wisdom as they try to develop areas of agreement and cooperation with Russia.
- Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (Proverbs 13:10)
10. Hundreds of thousands could be evacuated as 'giant' typhoon set to hit southeastern China this week - South China Morning Post
Typhoon Talim could be as powerful as Hurricane Irma that struck Florida last week, expert says. Authorities in southeastern China will begin evacuating up to half a million people from their homes on Tuesday as the region braces for a "giant" typhoon that is expected to make landfall later in the week. Typhoon Talim was forecast to strike several cities along central and northern sections of the Fujian coastline, including Fuzhou and Ningde, Liu Aiming, chief engineer at the province's meteorological bureau, said.
Evacuation notices could be issued to as many as 400,000 or 500,000 people, though the exact figure was subject to change as the situation was still evolving, Liu said. Talim formed east of the Philippines on Saturday and was on course to hit both Fujian and Taiwan, Liu said. It had been steadily gathering strength and by the time it made landfall would most likely have grown into a super typhoon, the highest level in China's rating system and comparable to a category 4 or 5 hurricane in the United States, she said.
"Talim is a giant. It will dwarf any of the others [typhoons] we've seen this year," she said. (Read more)
- Father, we pray this sudden movement of people will allow the hope of Your Gospel to be shared with many thousands of people. We pray for minimal damage and loss of life.
- Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. (Luke 9:6)
11. Bombshell Report Catches Pentagon Falsifying Paperwork For Weapons Transfers To Syrian Rebels - ZeroHedge
A new bombshell joint report issued by two international weapons monitoring groups Tuesday confirms that the Pentagon continues to ship record breaking amounts of weaponry into Syria and that the Department of Defense is scrubbing its own paper trail. On Tuesday the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) produced conclusive evidence that not only is the Pentagon currently involved in shipping up to $2.2 billion worth of weapons from a shady network of private dealers to allied partners in Syria - mostly old Soviet weaponry - but is actually manipulating paperwork such as end-user certificates, presumably in order to hide US involvement.
The OCCRP and BIRN published internal US defense procurement files after an extensive investigation which found that the Pentagon is running a massive weapons trafficking pipeline which originates in the Balkans and Caucuses, and ends in Syria and Iraq. But perhaps more shocking is the following admission that Pentagon suppliers have links with known criminal networks, also from FP: According to the report, many of the weapons suppliers - primarily in Eastern Europe but also in the former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Ukraine - have both links to organized crime throughout Eastern Europe and spotty business records. (Read more)
- Father, we repent for giving and selling arms to wicked men. Help us bring an end to such practices and remove people who have made these decisions.
- Your roads are deserted; no one travels them anymore. The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses. They have no respect for anyone. (Isaiah 33:8)
12. Over 250 Protestant Leaders Sign 'Reforming Catholic Confession' on Essentials of Christian Faith - Christian Post
Over 250 prominent scholars, pastors, and church leaders from around the world released on Tuesday a theological statement affirming the essentials of the Reformation. And its Protestant authors contend that in this 500th anniversary year, the document is a "catholic" statement in its best sense.
The Reforming Catholic Confession is a document which outlines the main theological commitments held by a wide breadth of Protestant Christians, including evangelicals, since the Reformation. The purpose of such a statement is to demonstrate the remarkable togetherness that exists throughout the world among Protestants on the core elements of Christianity, said Jerry Walls, an author and professor of philosophy at Houston Baptist University. (Read more)
- Lord God, help us to remember that the only covenant we honor as Your Bride is the Covenant that was given to us on the Cross. Thank You, Father, for Your glorious gift of salvation, in Your name, amen.
- "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
No comments:
Post a Comment