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Israel has apparently decided to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country on Friday after fierce debates on the contentious matter involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and various ministers, according to a report Thursday. The reason cited for their ban is reportedly “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS,” a reference to the anti-Israel boycott movement, according to the Times of Israel, which cited a report by local Channel 12. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri made the decision to bar the US lawmakers from entering the country on Friday, according to the report. The freshman lawmakers — the...

In the hours before American equity markets open for trading, China sent a huge sell signal to the traders on Wall Street. Bloomberg reports: China called planned U.S. tariffs on an additional $300 billion in Chinese goods a violation of accords reached by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, signaling an American move earlier this week to delay some of those levies was not enough to stave off retaliation. The effects already are manifest: European stocks declined and U.S. equity futures fell. The Stoxx Europe 600 index moved lower while the three main American equity contracts dropped. President Trump...

Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy determined the convicted pedophile suffered multiple broken neck bones, according to a report. One of the breaks was to Epstein’s hyoid bone, an injury that experts told the Washington Post is more common in homicide victims. The discoveries were disclosed to the paper by two people familiar with the findings of the autopsy, which was completed on Sunday, but warranted more information by the Medical Examiner’s Office before it makes a final cause-of-death ruling. “Today, a medical examiner performed the autopsy of Jeffrey Epstein,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson in a statement Sunday night. “The...

When my airplane dipped beneath the clouds, I could finally see the earth: interminable horizon, crisscrossing bands of interstate, the cities of the plains, home to more than 7 million souls. Landing in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex feels like drifting down to reality; if everything is bigger in Texas, it’s also more intense — the light brighter, the shadows deeper. I was particularly grateful for all that harsh relief in April, because I had come to take stock of a spiritual situation tailor-made to emphasize every challenge in the contest of conscience between heaven and earth. How are evangelical Christians...

When it was first reported that pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein had died in a maximum-security prison, supposedly by suicide, the Internet was immediately ablaze with conspiracy theories. That's not so strange considering that several people had warned beforehand that Epstein had dirt on many important people; people who would be well served by his untimely death. An autopsy has now found, the Washington Post reports, that Epstein "sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones, according to two people familiar with the findings." And that's rather... interesting: Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men...

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest producer of pork products, has set its sights on the plant-based market. The company, which is a subsidiary of China’s WH Group, announced the launch of its first meat-free range today. The Smithfield-owned Pure Farmland brand mimics Beyond Meat’s and Impossible Foods’ “bleeding” plant meat products that have sparked a food revolution in recent months. Pure Farmland will launch with eight initial products including plant-based burgers, meatballs, breakfast patties, and ground beef style “protein starters”. Some of the items will also feature vegan cheese; a burger with dairy-free cheddar, and meatballs with dairy-free parmesan. It’s...

Ural Airlines A321 plane was taking off from Moscow's Zhukovsky airport Thursday when it hit a flock of birds One of the engines caught fire while the other one spluttered and then stopped working, Russian media says Hero pilot Damir Yusupov brought the plane down in a cornfield, leaving 23 people with just minor wounds In total, 23 of the 226 passengers and seven crew on board were sent to hospital for minor injuries, though only one - a 69-year-old woman - required further treatment.

Republican John Lee defeated Democrat Loraine Lundquist on Tuesday in a special election for a vacant northwest San Fernando Valley seat on the Los Angeles City Council in which the Democrat backed L.A.’s version of the “Green New Deal.” Lundquist, an academic, supported L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan to shutter three natural gas power plants and replace them with wind and solar power, though officials said that would be insufficient for the city’s needs. Lee, a former City Hall staffer, attacked the Green New Deal and received support from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 18. The IBEW,...

As a draft of the California’s first high school ethnic studies curriculum enters revision, state schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond is asking the commission writing it to include experiences of Jewish Americans and other communities that legislators and civic groups say are missing or skewed in the current draft.

A praying mantis ensured there were no flies on commuters as it hopped aboard a New York Subway train Tuesday and caused quite a stir. City Councilman Keith Powers was traveling Uptown on the 6 train, when another rider told him that his head was dangerously close to the long-legged insect. He snapped a picture of the mantis as it clung onto the metal inner frame of the subway cart and stared at passengers. Captured in its synonymous 'praying pose,' the bug seemed unfazed by worried people around it all eyeing up its sizable green and brown torso and black...

An epidemic of African Swine Fever is sweeping through China's hog farms, and the effects are rippling across the globe, because China is a superpower of pork. Half of the world's pigs live in China — or at least they did before the epidemic began a year ago. "Every day, we hear of more outbreaks," says Christine McCracken, a senior analyst at RaboResearch, which is affiliated with the global financial firm Rabobank. McCracken and her colleagues now estimate that by the end of 2019, China's production of pork could be cut in half. "That's roughly 300 million to 350 million...

Here's a tune written and performed by Gene Autry: Way Out West In Texas (1933). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Former Vice President Joe Biden, in December 2018, said, "I am a gaffe machine." File that under the category of truer words have seldom been spoken. President Donald Trump benefited in the 2016 presidential contest because the unfavorable numbers of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, matched or exceeded Trump's own unfavorable numbers. This time, in his bid for reelection, Trump's opponent could be Biden -- at this early date, still the front-runner for his party's nomination. Trump, of course, has been harshly attacked by Democrats, the media and even some Republicans for misstatements, exaggerations and, according to The Washington Post, uttering...

While the CRS stalwarts of Cygnus and Dragon are regular visitors to the ISS, Program Manager Kirk Shireman cited the need for “dissimilar redundancy” in adding Dream Chaser to the mix – a key selling point previously used by SNC during Dream Chaser’s crew transportation aspirations. The only blot on her report card was a landing gear failure during a 2013 landing test at the Dryden Flight Research Facility in California. The test was designed to verify and validate Dream Chaser’s low-atmosphere aerodynamics, flight control surfaces, flight characteristics for approach, flare and landing, and landing systems. However, as it approached...

The US Department of Justice has made a last-minute application to block the release of the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1, which was seized by authorities in Gibraltar last month, a spokesman for the Gibraltar attorney general told CNN. Gibraltar attorney general Joseph Triay revealed the application had been made at a short hearing at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning. A decision by the court on whether the tanker could be released was expected on Thursday morning, but has now been delayed until later in the day because of the US request, the spokesman added. The Gibraltar Chronicle reported...

Morning "Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide." Genesis 24:63 Very admirable was his occupation. If those who spend so many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes, could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities which now have such charms for them. We should all know more, live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone. Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme, meditation is...

A new report from ABC News has revealed that, in at least 36 criminal cases, Trump's name was invoked in connection with violence, assault, or the threat of violence. "In nine cases, perpetrators hailed Trump in the midst or immediate aftermath of physically attacking innocent victims," the outlet reported on Tuesday. In 10 cases, perpetrators of violence "cheered or defended Trump," while in another 10 cases "Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant's violent or threatening behavior." .....

Sen. Kamala Harris faced criticism for promoting her campaign's gun control plan during an appearance on CNN that coincided with breaking news about the police standoff in Philadelphia in which six officers were shot. “When will it stop?” the Democratic presidential candidate asked CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when he asked for her reaction to the initial reports of the shooting. As Harris related details of her plan, information about the ongoing standoff was still sketchy. Ryan Saavedra Democrat Kamala Harris rushes to politicize the police shooting in Philadelphia before any facts have come out Social media was quick to deride the...

Keeping its focus on what really matters, the Trump White House is currently circulating drafts of an executive order that would address "anti-conservative bias" in social media. The exact contents of the executive order are unclear, but it is definitely not going to be good. One unnamed official who Politico spoke to offered the conservative rationale for the move: "If the internet is going to be presented as this egalitarian platform and most of Twitter is liberal cesspools of venom, then at least the president wants some fairness in the system." Of course, there is no anti-conservative bias in social...

Miniature horses are among the service animals approved to take on flights, according to new guidelines provided Thursday by the federal government. Service animals on planes has been the subject of much debate over the past several years, especially when the animal is a little exotic. To curb some of the debate, the U.S. Department of Transportation clarified which common service animals should almost always be allowed. “With respect to animal species, we indicated that we would focus our enforcement efforts on ensuring that the most commonly used service animals (dogs, cats, and miniature horses) are accepted for transport as...