THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched an invasion of northeast Syria last week in order to bring to heel the Syrian Kurdish population there. While claiming that the purpose of Turkey’s operation was to root out Kurdish “terrorists,” Erdogan has unleashed his own brand of terror upon residents of a neighboring sovereign state. At the same time, the operation has brought about the escape of reportedly hundreds of ISIS terrorists held by the Syrian Kurds in prisons and camps, which the Kurds were no longer able to adequately guard.
Erdogan's military operation has reportedly displaced at least 160,000 people so far and put many more civilians in harm’s way. At least 38 civilians in Syria have been killed to date since the latest wave of Turkish aggression began. Turkish forces bombarded towns on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey and, with their Syrian allies, have seized large portions of a northern Syrian town six miles from the border. Erdogan has threatened that his military operation will extend at least as deep as 18 to 21 miles into Syrian territory.
“We are now fighting on two fronts — one front against the Turkish invasion and a front against” the Islamic State, a Kurdish military official, Redur Xelil, told reporters on Saturday, as quoted by the New York Times. To fill the void left by the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the area, the Kurds have turned to the Syrian government for help. "In order to prevent and confront this aggression, an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government... so that the Syrian army can deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border to assist the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," the Kurdish administration said in a statement. The agreement reportedly includes the Kurds’ commitment to turn over territory they still currently control to the Assad regime in return for the Syrian government’s military assistance, possibly with Russian support. Syrian troops are said to have arrived at Kurdish-held towns that are presently under threat of a Turkish assault.
Erdogan has strongly rejected criticisms of his aggressive actions, which have come not only from Europe, the United States and the Arab League, but also even from Russia and Iran. The Trump administration is moving towards imposing sanctions on Turkey, while France and Germany have announced a halt of arms sales to Turkey. Erdogan remains unbowed.
"After we launched our operation, we have faced threats like economic sanctions and embargoes on weapons sales,” Erdogan declared. “Those who think they can make Turkey turn back with these threats are gravely mistaken." He added, “We will absolutely finish the job we started. Our battle will continue until ultimate victory is achieved."
Aside from his reliance on Turkey’s military forces and bombardments, including the bombing of a convoy of foreign journalists and aid workers that led to several civilian deaths, Erdogan has used Syrian Arab fighters to do some of his dirty work. Turkish-allied militia executed nine civilians, including a female politician. “The nine civilians were executed at different moments south of the town of Tel Abyad,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. One Kurdish prisoner in civilian clothes was lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back when he was shot several times at close range by two assailants on Saturday, while their comrades shouted “Allahu Akbar.” This slaughter itself is a war crime.
When Israel defends itself against real and persistent terrorist attacks, including the launching of thousands of rockets from Hamas-controlled Gaza aimed directly at Israeli civilian population centers, the United Nations singles out Israel for harsh condemnation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has shown no reluctance in the past to criticize Israel and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for supposedly violating “international law” by building settlements in the contested West Bank. But Turkey’s assault on Kurds living in Syria, causing mass displacements of Kurds from their homes and resulting in the Turkish occupation of several villages on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey, has not led so far to any comparable UN condemnation of the Erdogan regime for its atrocities.
According to Secretary-General Guterres’ chief spokesman, the secretary-general has not yet picked up the phone to talk with Erdogan personally to convey the UN’s concerns over the humanitarian crisis caused by the Turkish invasion. Instead, the spokesman for the secretary-general issued a bland statement on Monday, which read in part: “The Secretary-General is gravely concerned over the military developments in northeast Syria, which have already reportedly resulted in many civilian casualties and the displacement of at least 160,000 civilians. He continues to urge for maximum restraint and stresses that any military operation must fully respect international law, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law. The Secretary-General calls for immediate de-escalation and urges all parties to resolve their concerns through peaceful means.”
The statement fails to attribute fault to the one-party that launched an unprovoked cross-border attack against Kurdish residents living in Syria, including the Kurds who helped defeat ISIS. Only one party failed to respect the UN Charter by invading northeast Syria. That would be the Erdogan regime. Only one party has violated international humanitarian law by bombarding a convoy carrying journalists as well as aid workers, resulting in civilian deaths. That would be the Erdogan regime. Only one party has refused to de-escalate its aggressive attacks and enter into negotiations. That too would be the Erdogan regime. Only one party has committed a war crime. Again, that would be the Erdogan regime through its militant proxies. Yet all that the UN at its highest levels has done so far is to call for restraint from both sides, as if the aggressor and the victims were equally responsible for the violence racking northeast Syria. Such moral equivalence is par for the course at the UN, except when the UN turns morality on its head and attacks Israel for defending its citizens against Palestinian terrorists.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
ABC was caught lying to its viewers over the weekend by airing footage claiming to show the “Turkish military bombing Kurd civilians,” when it was actually a clip of the 2017 Knob Creek machine gun night shoot held in West Point, Kentucky.
In a perfect example of why millions of Americans refer to mainstream media as fake news, “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” broadcast two-year-old footage and told viewers it was a recent video of “atrocities committed by Turkish-backed fighters.”
This is more proof establishment media is working with the Military-Industrial Complex to push a false narrative about President Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria.
Watch the ABC segment below:
Now, see the original footage taken at the 2017 Knob Creek machine gun night shoot:
A side-by-side comparison of the two videos was posted to Twitter:
Wow! ABC News is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria pic.twitter.com/zfTWtwwSfZ
“Good Morning America” also aired the footage, saying, “The situation in Syria is rapidly deteriorating.”
Monday morning, ABC was forced to apologize for the lack of basic research in their reporting, writing, “ABC News regrets the error.”
CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight" Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.
Meanwhile, President Trump sent out a tweet Monday morning asking, “Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey?”
“Never ending wars will end!” POTUS declared.
….Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly. Big sanctions on Turkey coming! Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey? Never ending wars will end!
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
The question no one is addressing in the ongoing controversy over Trump and Syria is whether having American troops on the ground is really the best way to deal with the multiple problems the situation presents. Or if the US commits to going to war against every despot in the world, the wars will by no means end with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Let them have their borders, but I don’t think our soldiers should be there for the next 15 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can’t guard our own borders.”
Good point.
“President Trump announces $50 million in emergency aid to support human right groups in Syria,” by Ann Wilson, The BL, October 13, 2019:
President Trump addressed the Values Voter Summit on Saturday, Oct. 12, in Washington, and announced that he had directed $50 million in emergency aid for Syria to support Christians and other religious minorities in the country.
“This funding will provide emergency financial assistance to Syrian human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and reconciliation efforts directly supporting ethnic and religious minority victims of the conflict,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
“It will also go toward increased accountability, removal of explosive remnants of war, community security for stabilization assistance, documenting human rights abuses and international humanitarian law violations, and support for survivors of gender-based violence and torture,” the statement reads.
President Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. forces from northeastern Syria—the move drew widespread bipartisan criticism.
“These wars, they never end. And we have to bring our great heroes, our great soldiers back from the never-ending wars,” the president told the crowd. “We defeated ISIS, we did our job, now we have to go home.”
“Don’t forget they are fighting for their land. They haven’t helped us fight for our land,” he continued. “Let them have their borders, but I don’t think our soldiers should be there for the next 15 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can’t guard our own borders.”…
“Jeff Zucker, basically the president of CNN, has a personal vendetta against Trump,” proclaimed CNN media coordinator Nick Neville on a James O’Keefe video released on Monday. So CNN’s coverage of Trump “is going to be negative.” According to another CNN staffer caught unawares, Trump is a “monster” and as CNN floor director Hiram Gonzalez says, “we created this monster and now we’re eating a full plate of him every day.” The Project Veritas video also captured a few lines from CNN boss Jeff Zucker his own self.
“Let’s just stay very focused on impeachment,” Zucker says. “We shouldn’t just pretend, oh, this is going one way. And so all of these moves are toward impeachment.” The CNN boss also takes aim at a competitor.
“The fake conspiracy nonsense that Fox has spread for years is now deeply embedded in American society,” Zucker explains. “Frankly, that is beyond destruction for America and I do not think we should be scared to say so.” But it’s not just about Fox and Trump.
“I know that there’s a lot of people at CNN that are friendly with Lindsey Graham,” Zucker tells underlings. “Time to knock that off and it’s time to call him out.”
The revelations would not be surprising to CNN viewers and they failed to draw significant media attention. On the other hand, the recordings validated James O’Keefe, who has been predicting a CNN windfall for some time.
As the Hollywood Reporter noted in February of 2017, O’Keefe teased the release of recordings exposing CNN. “We think our media needs to be held to account,” O’Keefe said, “and CNN is kind of the leader of that.” For his part, Jeff Zucker has been in the news on other fronts.
As Brian Flood noted at Fox News, NBC bosses were struggling with new sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Lauer “but one puzzling question is how Jeff Zucker, Lauer’s boss for many years and the current CNN president, has avoided similar criticisms.” And “Zucker’s network gave his old pal a pass on prime-time coverage of the disgraced anchor’s latest scandal,” the revelations in Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill. NBC covered a claim that Lauer raped an NBC colleague during the 2014 Olympics, but “Zucker’s CNN completely ignored the story during prime time.”
In April, Page Six reported, “Matt Lauer came out of seclusion to celebrate Jeff Zucker’s 54th birthday bash.” Two years earlier, Zucker drew attention from Drew Magary of GQ, in an April 5, 2017 piece headlined, “CNN’s Jeff Zucker Thinks This Is All Just a Game.” Zucker is a big sports fan, and wanted to incorporate elements of ESPN’s programming into CNN’s election coverage. And Zucker sees pro-Trump figures on his panels as “characters in a drama,” and “members of CNN’s extended ensemble cast.”
The New York Times Magazine sent Jonathan Mahler to profile Zucker, explains Magary, and “Mahler deftly allowed this human potato to expose himself as the cynical, chummy, utterly vacant ratings merchant that you always knew he was.” Further, “the brazen vacuity with which Zucker operates CNN makes Rene Russo’s character in Nightcrawler look like a fucking amateur.”
CNN has been plunging in the ratings but as Dylan Byers of NBC News reported on September 24, “Zucker is the leading candidate to become chief executive of WarnerMedia “the new conglomeration owned by AT&T that includes Warner Bros., HBO and Turner Broadcasting.” That choice might be considered strange because “under Zucker’s leadership, NBC went from a leader in TV ratings to last place among its network competitors.”
In 2012, CNN named Zucker president and “While CNN remains behind cable news rivals Fox News and MSNBC in its TV ratings,” Zucker has cemented CNN as a brand and helped “double its profits.” And Zucker is “considered a fearless, hard-charging programmer who works around the clock, makes decisions quickly and almost never second-guesses himself.”
According to Monday’s Project Veritas video, Zucker wants all impeachment all the time. So Lindsey Graham and those dramatic pro-Trump panelists are likely to be scarce on CNN. Still, on Monday came a Fox story from Nick Givas headlined, “Pro-Trump CNN contributor says network's LGBTQ forum revealed Democrats 'radicalism.’”
The CNN contributor is Steve Cortes, and in an op-ed for Real Clear Politics he wrote, “Last week the Equality Town Hall held by my network, CNN, plainly revealed the radicalism that drives the Democratic Party today.” The candidates and audience members, “advocated for wholesale government-compelled social engineering to comport with their liberal secular-humanist agenda. Such proposals contravene foundational protections of our Constitution and also imperil Democrats’ electoral prospects for 2020.”
Democrats won’t hear that on CNN, and as President Trump says, we’ll see what happens in 2020. Meanwhile, CNN is not the only impeachment channel, and hardly the only source of fake news. As it also emerged on Monday, ABC News aired a video claiming to show a battle between Kurds and Turkish forces, billed as "CRISIS IN SYRIA. ISIS prisoners escape as death toll rises in attack.”
As it turned out, the video was from a night gun demonstration at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky. The story of the fakery came from Fox News, which CNN boss and Matt Lauer pal Jeff Zucker sees as a peddler of “fake conspiracy nonsense” that is “beyond destruction for America.” _________________________________________________________________
CNN IS FINALLY FINISHED!
REPORT BY DR. STEVE TURLEY
UNDERCOVER VIDEO: CNN EMPLOYEE ADMITS NETWORK HAS ANTI-CONSERVATIVE BIAS
Undercover video by CNN whistleblower Cary Poarch shows a fellow employee confessing to rampant bias against President Trump and Republicans within the network.
The video, released by Project Veritas on Monday, shows a litany of employees, and even CEO Jeff Zucker himself, admitting to a concerted vendetta against Trump and a pattern of anti-conservative bias for ratings and revenge for the 2016 election.
CNN Media Coordinator Christian Sierra explained how the bias is implemented at the Fake News Network.
“…MSNBC is tougher on Republicans, and we’re tough on the Republicans too. More than so than the Democrats,” he said. “Our Democratic interviews are like softballs, compared to the Republicans… if you notice like every time, we ask questions to Republicans, like it’s always a little tougher than when we do get the Democrats.”
Sierra also revealed the “sourpuss” mood among CNN employees the day after Trump won the 2016 election.
“That day, man, when I came in, everyone was silent. Nobody wanted to talk,” he said. “I’m like, like the mood was just so sour the whole day…It was a f**king dreary day. I bet at Fox it was like euphoria.”
When asked by Poarch which employees hate Trump, Sierra admitted that most of the primetime anchors loathe him.
“Cooper hates him. Don Lemon hates him. Tapper, yeah Tapper doesn’t like him either. Cuomo doesn’t like him,” Sierra said.
A brave CNN insider came to Project Veritas to expose anti-Trump bias at the cable giant. Cary Poarch, who works at CNN’s Washington D.C. Bureau, tells Project Veritas “I decided to wear a hidden camera…to expose the bias running rampant” at the network. Poarch documented CNN’s bias for months; recording undercover footage of numerous long-term employees, some of which talk about Jeff Zucker’s anti-Trump agenda.
A CNN employee was caught in undercover video by Project Veritas admitting that the network doesn’t cover shootings in “minority communities” the way they would in a white area because it doesn’t get good ratings.
“I think that shootings in poorer areas or, um, minority communities don’t get as much coverage as if they were to happen in a white area,” Christian Sierra told insider Cary Poarch on hidden camera.
This is the clip Carpe was banned for posting… I’ll send it around to others. pic.twitter.com/hOM5hTDuGz
“Let’s say in Princeton, a white kid gets shot at Princeton University,” Sierra said. “He gets killed. We’re going to get coverage on that because ‘Oh my God, we have to put the little precious white boy.'”
But if minorities are shot in Newark, New Jersey, “nobody cares. Maybe unless, unless it happens in Cory Booker’s neighborhood,” he added.
The video clip, which hasn’t yet been publicly released, was shared with meme maker Carpe Donktum AKA Logan Cook by Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe on Monday.
Donktum was suspended by Twitter just minutes after posting the exclusive clip.
“@CarpeDonktum’s account has been SUSPENDED,” O’Keefe tweeted. “I spoke with Logan Cook, who I shared an exclusive CNN clip with — and his account was suspended immediately upon posting one of the clips where Christian Sierra of CNN DISCUSSING COVERAGE OF SHOOTINGS…”
BREAKING: @CarpeDonktum ‘s account has been SUSPENDED. I spoke with Logan Cook, who I shared an exclusive CNN clip with — and his account was suspended immediately upon posting one of the clips where Christian Sierra of CNN DISCUSSING COVERAGE OF SHOOTINGS… pic.twitter.com/KSdgdqYAcv
CNN media coordinator says nobody cares about gang violence that disproportionately affects minorities in Chicago… “Unless it happens on Cory Booker’s block.”
As we’ve reported, mainstream media – including CNN – provide very little coverage of violence in urban centers like Chicago or Baltimore, which are plagued with record shootings, but they’re quick to push fake hate crimes stories nationwide before confirming basic facts for ratings.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Veteran fake newser Sam Donaldson emerged from obscurity Sunday to preach about how Trump supporters are racist.
During an appearance on CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter, Donaldson imparted he believed Trump supporters “don’t want diversity.”
Trump supporters “want to return this country to the white Christian country that they believe it should be again. They don’t want the diversity, and they follow him for this, but they’re not the country. We are a diverse people” – Sam Donaldson on CNN’s @ReliableSourcespic.twitter.com/5kH5B6szZA
All the things he says, all the vicious, mean things he says, they love it,” Donaldson told Stelter, adding “There are these people in this country, they’re good Americans otherwise.”
“They’ll probably give you the shirt off their back, they’ll help you if you need, but they have this fixation. They want to return this country to the white Christian country that they believe it should be again.”
“They don’t want the diversity, and they follow him for this, but they’re not the country. We are a diverse people,” Donaldson continued.
The former ABC News White House correspondent also predicted Trump could be impeached by the Republican-led Senate if they are pressured by the American people.
“I’m telling you something, if public opinion is strongly for the impeachment and the conviction of President Trump, he will be convicted in the Senate with the Republican help,” Donaldson speculated.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
A group of 2,000 migrants bound for the U.S. border was blocked and apprehended by Mexican authorities in the latest move indicating Mexico is delivering on promises to help defend North America from mass migration.
A large group of migrants from Africa, the Caribbean and Central America had begun a journey from Tapachula, which lies on the border of Mexico and Guatemala.
However, after only about 24 miles, they were prevented from continuing north.
“Around 500 members of Mexico’s National Guard military police in helmets and tactical vests blocked the highway on both sides, according to a Reuters witness, and some pursued migrants who fled into neighboring fields,” Reutersreports.
“Officials from Mexico’s national immigration institute detained most of the group, putting them on buses back to Tapachula. About 150 migrants decided to return on foot.”
Activists called the operation a “human hunt” and claimed it was an “exercise in cruelty” to wait until the migrants had become too tired to resist being loaded into transports and returned to their starting point.
In June, Mexico deployed thousands of troops to crack down on the flow of migrants in response to major economic penalties threatened by the Trump administration.
Morgan explained Mexico had created a “new national guard within their country,” deploying 10,000 troops to their southern border with Guatemala and 15,000 troops to their northern border with the U.S.
“Even though Mexico has… joined the United States, as well as our Northern Triangle partners, and really stepped up as true partners and really are really seeing this as a regional crisis, and they have stepped up in unprecedented ways — we need them to do more. We need Mexico to do more,” Morgan stressed.
“Mexico needs to continue to work with our intelligence folks to use information, share intelligence, and develop target enforcement actions at strategic locations in their country,” he continued. “So they are stepping up in unprecedented ways, but we need them to continue to sustain that, and we need them continue to do more.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
(CBS News) – California just became the first state in the U.S. to require public colleges to provide abortion medication to students on campus. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 24 — known as the “College student Right to Access Act” — into law Friday.
Under the new law, all 34 University of California and California State University systems will need to provide the medication, which is not currently offered on campuses, at no cost to students. They have until January 2023 to comply.
A medical abortion is nonsurgical and noninvasive — it involves taking two prescription pills during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy to induce a miscarriage. It is not the same, however, as the morning-after pill, which delays or stops the release of an egg altogether.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently expanded anti-2nd Amendment legislation despite the fact that America’s gun homicide rate is down over the last 25 years, even with the high-profile mass shootings plaguing America.
Newsom gave teeth to a “red flag” law that now allows co-workers, employers and educators to file for gun violence restraining orders that last up to five years against gun owners they deem a danger to themselves and others.
The same legislation was vetoed twice by former ultra-progressive governor Jerry Brown.
Newsom’s legislation also gives judges the ability to issue search warrants as they grant the orders, meaning if a gun owner is served with the relinquishment orders but fails to turn over the firearms or ammunition the warrant can be activated immediately.
The ACLU said the bill “poses a significant threat to civil liberties” because a restraining order can be sought before a gun owner has an opportunity to dispute the request.
Additionally, those making a request under the new law may “lack the relationship or skills required to make an appropriate assessment,” the ACLU said.
Newsom went on to boast that “California has outperformed the rest of the nation, because of our gun safety laws, in reducing the gun murder rate substantially compared to the national reduction.”
“Between 1993 and 2017, the latest available, there was a 62 percent decline in the gun murder rate in California, nearly double the 34 percent nationally,” Newsom said.
But is it due to Newsom’s unconstitutional tyranny?
In Texas, where you can take a handgun to your college class, gun regulations have been rolled back, yet its gun-homicide rate has plummeted 61 percent in the last quarter-century.
Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco, who authored the bill, claimed a study found gun restraining order laws may have helped prevent 21 mass shootings, yet University of California Davis researchers warned that “it is impossible to know whether violence would have occurred.”
Ting also authored a companion bill that would allow gun-owners who are the subjects of restraining order requests to file a form with the court declaring they won’t contest the requests and are surrendering their firearms, even though they have a right to do so.
Currently, even those who agree to give up their guns must go through a court hearing.
Apparently the Second Amendment no longer exists in Commiefornia, making it a prime destination for home invasions, carjackings and full-blown chaos.
(@PolishPatriotTM) October 14, 2019
“Good Morning America” also aired the footage, saying, “The situation in Syria is rapidly deteriorating.”Monday morning, ABC was forced to apologize for the lack of basic research in their reporting, writing, “ABC News regrets the error.”CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight" Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 14, 2019Meanwhile, President Trump sent out a tweet Monday morning asking, “Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey?”“Never ending wars will end!” POTUS declared.….Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly. Big sanctions on Turkey coming! Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey? Never ending wars will end!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2019
(@CarpeDonktum) October 14, 2019
