Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Hmm.
How democracy died in media darkness.
A smug and arrogant conference on disinformation got more than it bargained for
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As I observed here and here, it was staggering to watch how the American media first promoted the unfounded smear that President Donald Trump was in hock to the Russians; then ignored the mounting evidence that this was instead an unprecedented conspiracy, involving elements of law enforcement in cahoots with the Democratic party, to lever Trump out of office; and then proceeded to bury incriminating evidence linking Hunter Biden and his father Joe to corruption in Ukraine.
The New York Post reported in 2020 that Hunter Biden had introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company.
Incriminating emails detailing this scandal were said to have been contained in a massive trove of data recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop computer. Both the computer and hard drive were seized by the FBI after the shop’s owner said he alerted agents to their existence.
An explosive story in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election in which Biden Senior was the Democratic candidate? Of course not. With the exception of the Wall Street Journal, the US media yawned and constructed elaborate reasons why this was just fake news.
Nothing to see here, move along there. As the WSJ’s James Freeman reported:
“We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions,” NPR Managing Editor for News Terence Samuel told me. “And quite frankly, that’s where we ended up, this was … a politically driven event and we decided to treat it that way.”
Well guess what — this was not a story that wasn’t really a story. It was true. And a few weeks ago, no less than the two principal horsepeople of the anti-Trump apocalypse, the New York Times and Washington Post, admitted this. As Gerard Baker wrote in the WSJ:
It took its time, but last week the New York Times slipped the acknowledgment of the story’s accuracy deep in a report about Hunter Biden’s mounting legal problems. The Times, along with most other mass-circulation news organisations, had essentially ignored the story in the days when it might have made a difference, but it now says it has “authenticated” the laptop’s contents.The concession from the paper, which serves as a sort of unofficial licensing authority for reporting by most of the rest of the media, prompted a predictable rush to self-vindication by those who had also trashed the story at the time. The Washington Post insisted its original decision not to touch it was justified because of uncertainty about its provenance.Normally, when there is doubt about the provenance of an explosive story, news organisations consider it their job to ascertain the truth. Normally, it takes them less than 17 months to do so. But normally they don’t have the cover provided by technology companies that prevented people from reading the original story.
Last week, The Atlantic magazine held a conference at the University of Chicago on “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy”. Whenever the liberal media tackles this topic, the disinformation they complain about is never their own corrupt practices (perish the thought) but the “fake news” put out by those of whom they disapprove — aka conservatives.
This time, though, the right-on Atlantic hosts got more than they bargained for. This was because a University of Chicago student actually asked… journalistic questions about the media’s behaviour.
Daniel Schmidt, of the student newspaper Chicago Thinker, asked The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum why she had written in 2020, on the subject of the New York Post’s scoop about Hunter Biden’s laptop:
Those who live outside the Fox News bubble do not of course need to learn any of the stuff about Hunter Biden.
As the Chicago Thinker itself reports:
Schmidt continued, “Now, of course, we know a few weeks ago The New York Times confirmed that the [laptop] content is real. Do you think the media acted inappropriately when they instantly dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation? And what can we learn from that in ensuring that what we label as disinformation is truly disinformation and not reality?”Applebaum dismissed Schmidt’s concerns, explaining, “My problem with Hunter Biden’s laptop is, I think, [it’s] totally irrelevant. I mean it’s not whether it’s disinformation — I don’t think Hunter Biden’s business relationships have anything to do with who should be president of the United States. So, I don’t find it to be interesting.”
This high-handed contempt for objectivity, and the arrogant refusal to acknowledge let alone express regret for the betrayal of journalism involved in the suppression of the Hunter Biden story in the run-up to the 2020 election, justifiably went viral on social media.
To cap it all, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg even declared that this criticism of the attitude on display at the conference was itself the result of… disinformation. He said:
I think one darkly humorous, but inevitable measurement of our success is that our disinformation conference has been the subject of disinformation campaigns on social media already.
You really couldn’t make this up, could you?
For his part, Schmidt told the Thinker:
Applebaum’s response is yet another testament to our ruling class’ contempt for what the average American cares about. People like her do not actually care about fighting “disinformation”— they merely throw the term around when it satisfies their political goals. Her refusal to answer my question demonstrates that.
With this attitude, Schmidt deserves to go far in quality journalism. Unfortunately, there’s no longer much of that left.
When Donald Trump became president, the Washington Post infamously added to its masthead the rubric
Democracy dies in darkness.
As the Post and other mainstream media have shown, it has indeed — but the darkness in which it has died is their own.
Amos & Ezekiel.
(Photo: Unsplash/Tim Wildsmith)
Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster on what lessons her community are learning from the Scripture readings that come straight after Pesach (Passover).
In the last three weeks we have celebrated the freedom festival of Pesach. We have also commemorated two more contemporary dates in the Jewish calendar: Holocaust Memorial Day and Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. The latest such event took place on the third contemporary Jewish festival, Yom Atzmaut – Israel Independence Day.
As the Jewish State enters her 75th year of existence, we continue to count the Omer on a daily basis.
Correctly So.
Passion Translation removed from Bible Gateway.
The Passion Translation(Photo: BroadStreet Publishing Group)The Passion Translation (TPT) has been removed from Bible Gateway after coming under criticism.
The translation is the work of Brian Simmons, leader of Passion and Fire Ministries, and is published by BroadStreet Publishing Group.
They told US magazine Christianity Today that Bible Gateway had "made the disappointing decision to discontinue their license for The Passion Translation". CT.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Great News on Fish Protection - Impossible Pre-Brexit.
DOGGER BANK PROTECTED IN BAN ON DESTRUCTIVE FISHING.
February 01, 2021 by Blue Marine Foundation
Trawling and dredging will be banned from 14,030 sq. kilometres of UK waters, an area equivalent to the size of Northern Ireland, the Government has announced.
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) announced a consultation on byelaws prohibiting destructive fishing in four offshore marine protected areas (MPAs), the largest by far being the 12, 331 sq. kilometres of the Dogger Bank in the heart of the North Sea.
Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) has been campaigning for the closure of the Dogger Bank to bottom-trawling since the release of a landmark report in September 2020, carried out with Client Earth, MCS and WWF. Another recent report by MCS found that bottom-trawling, a method of fishing which destroys the seabed, was happening in 98 per cent of the UK’s offshore MPAs.
George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, said: “Now that we have left the Common Fisheries Policy, we are able to deliver on our commitment to achieve a healthy, thriving and sustainable marine environment.
“The UK has already established an impressive ‘Blue Belt’ covering 38 per cent of our waters and our Fisheries Act has provided us with additional powers to go further to protect our seas around England. This proposal to introduce byelaws to safeguard four of our precious offshore Marine Protected Areas shows how we are putting these powers into action.”
Tom McCormack, Chief Executive Officer of MMO, said: “This consultation is a big step forward in agreeing measures that will help protect and revive important marine habitats, vital to the unique and vibrant marine life that live within them.
“We are ambitious for England’s seas and want to hear as many views as possible in order to create benefits for people and the economy, while protecting our precious marine environment for future generations.”
Atlantic cod on the Dogger Bank. Credit: Stichting NatuurbeeldenCharles Clover, Executive Director of BLUE, which argued that trawling and dredging on the Dogger Bank were incompatible with the Habitats Regulations, said: “We applaud this bold first step towards protecting our offshore marine protected areas, starting with the Dogger Bank, a huge and ecologically important area which has been hammered by trawls and dredges for too long.
“The government in England has conceded that damaging fishing has been going on unlawfully in so-called protected areas and that sets a precedent for all 73 offshore MPAs, for the devolved administrations and for the EU, which have the same law. I am sure the EU and member states will be watching events here closely.
“East Coast fishermen have been calling for the protection of the offshore MPAs and now they will want MPAs off Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent protected in the same way so they can begin bringing benefits for fisheries.”
Professor Callum Roberts of Exeter University and BLUE Trustee said: “What is left on the Dogger Bank today is a ghost of what was once there. New protection could lead to the beginnings of a recovery of a megafauna that used to thrive on the bank in astonishing densities: halibut, flapper skate, blue skate, longnose skate, angel sharks, turbot, brill, wolffish, conger eels, cod. Many of these species have declined so far that they are on the endangered species list but so far marine conservation efforts in the UK have completely neglected doing anything to bring about their recovery. Meaningful protection of the Dogger Bank would be a significant step to restoring our once bountiful seas.
A starfish on the Dogger Bank. Credit Stichting Natuurbeelden“Just to give an idea of what proper protection could bring back: in the 1830s small sailing vessels con the Dogger could catch a ton of halibut per day. Today, the entire fishing fleet catches less than two tonnes a year, signalling the near complete loss of a huge species (they grew to two metres long and a hundred plus kilos) that were crucial to the ecosystems of the past. The fact that a few are still caught shows that protection could kick start their recovery.”
Reaction from the fishing industry was mixed. The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations – a body in which UK and Dutch industrial fishing interests are heavily represented – said the bans were “a shocking development” and “a brutal approach” which would displace fishing activity from its customary areas.
Paul Lines, chairman of the Lowestoft Fish Market Alliance which represents inshore fishermen in East Anglia, said: “Now we’ll start to see sustainability start to happen in British waters. If nothing is given a chance, there will be nothing.”
The MMO is seeking views on proposed byelaws for all four of the following four offshore marine protected areas:
- Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation (East of England)
- Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge Special Area of Conservation (The Wash approaches, off the Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coasts)
- South Dorset Marine Conservation Zone (South West – Dorset)
- The Canyons Marine Conservation Zone (South West – Offshore)
The MMO says it will announce its plan for the management of non-licensable activities, including anchoring for recreational vessels, for the Studland Bay Marine Conservation Zone on the Dorset coast later this month.
Dead mans fingers cover a wreck on the Dogger Bank. Credit: Stichting Natuurbeelden
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Monday, July 25, 2022
Christian man killed by Islamic extremists in ambush attack after 8 Muslims put their faith in Christ.
A church building was demolished in Rwomuriro, Kiboga District, Uganda, on June 26, 2022. | Morning Star NewsNAIROBI, Kenya — A Christian in eastern Uganda died on July 10 from head injuries sustained in an attack by Muslim extremists the previous week, sources said.
Robert Bwenje had accompanied Assistant Pastor Ambrose Mugisha of Elim Pentecostal Church in Nyamiringa village, Kapeke Sub-County, Kiboga District, to an open-air debate about Christianity and Islam in Sirimula village, Kyankwanzi District, on July 6.
Following the debate, eight Muslims, including two women, put their faith in Christ, said Pastor Mugisha, 25.
“This angered the Muslims, but they could not attack us because we had tight security from the police,” he said.
As the assistant pastor and Bwenje returned, Muslims from Sirimula village ambushed them while they were crossing a swamp, he said.
“We saw men dressed in Islamic attire coming from the bush in different directions and shouting ‘Allah akbar, Allah akbar [Allah is greater],’” Pastor Mugisha told Morning Star News.
He identified two of the assailants as Ashirafu Kasamba and Kabagambe Kadiri, who forced them to hand over Bibles and other books they were carrying, he said.
“They removed the Quran and then burned the rest of the books, including the Bibles, and then beat us with sticks,” Pastor Mugisha said. “I was able to identify Ashirafu Kasamba who cut me on the head. I then jumped into the water and managed to swim and cross to the other side.”
Passersby found him bleeding and rescued him, he said. The assailants continued assaulting Bwenje and then fled, and the passersby took both wounded Christians to a nearby clinic for first aid and then later to a hospital in Kiboga, Pastor Mugisha said.
Pastor Godfrey Ssemujju of Elim Pentecostal Church said he visited Pastor Mugisha and Bwenje in the hospital on July 10, and Bwenje died later that night at about 11 p.m. Bwenje was 28.
“Bwenje succumbed to deep head injuries, and we buried him on July 12,” Pastor Ssemujju told Morning Star News. “We reported the incident at Kiboga Central police station.”
Police arrested Kasamba and charged him with attempted murder, he said.
“The police are mounting serious searches for the other attackers,” Pastor Ssemujju said. “We need prayers for the safety of our church members and our church building, as well as quick healing of our pastor, support for the widow of the Robert Bwenje and medical bill support for Pastor Mugisha.”
The church had sent the assistant pastor to establish a church in Sirimula village, and in the course of his outreach, debates and open-air campaigns, he began to receive challenges and threats from Muslims, especially from Kasamba, Pastor Mugisha said. In April Pastor Mugisha and five Muslims who converted to Christianity had fled the area.
Muslims continued sending threatening messages to his phone, including one from Kasamba that read, “We are giving days to bring back the Muslims that you converted to Christianity. We know you are hiding them,” according to Pastor Mugisha.
Church building demolished
In Kiboga District on June 26, Muslim extremists from Kindeke village attacked Pastor Baingana James, demolished his church building in Rwomuriro village and threatened to kill him if he continued leading Muslims to Christ, the 48-year-old pastor said.
Pastor James said he received a phone call the morning of June 23 from a Muslim who identified himself as Sheikh Mwesigye Ja’afari of Kindeke telling him to leave and to return to Islam seven Muslims who had converted to Christianity after they received healing prayer.
“We, therefore, want to warn you to leave the place within two days. If not, we are coming to destroy your home and church,” Ja’afari told him, the pastor said.
He did not take the threat seriously, but on the morning of June 26 he found a letter on his door ordering him to stop Sunday services and close the church, he said.
“I refused, because preaching Jesus Christ is my calling, and planting churches is my vision in this area,” Pastor James said.
While he and his congregation were still in their Sunday service on that day, they saw a group of Muslim youths led by Ja’afari ambushing them from different directions with clubs and sticks.
“They started beating us, including mothers who were breastfeeding and youths, while shouting in four languages — English, Luganda, Swahili and Arabic — and ordering us to stop the service and leave immediately,” Pastor James told Morning Star News. “As we were struggling to go out in serious panic and tension while others were with serious injuries, they started breaking and pulling down the building.”
In March, a group of Muslims from Rwentuha village demolished the same church’s building under construction, and complaints to local leaders fell on deaf ears, he said.
“My prayer is that God helps us and makes a way to convert these people to Christ, and we need serious help for the victims who were cut during the attack,” Pastor James said.
The attacks were the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
Originally published at Morning Star News
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Butchery in Nigeria - Again!
Nigeria: kidnapped Catholic priest slain.
The body of one of two Catholic priests kidnapped on 15 July in Kaduna state, Nigeria, was recovered Tuesday morning, sources said.
The Rev. John Mark Cheitnum was director of communications of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan. Kidnapped at gunpoint from the parish rectory of Christ the King Catholic Church in Yalding Garu, Lere County along with the Rev. Donatus Cleopas Sulaiman, Cheitnum was killed while Sulaiman was able to escape, according to the Kafanchan diocese.
"The Rev. Fr. Donatus Cleophas escaped from his abductors and has reunited with us," said the Rev. Emmanuel Uchechukwu Okolo, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, in a press statement. "However, it is with a deep sense of sorrow and pain that the bishop, clergy and laity of the Diocese of Kafanchan announce the gruesome murder of Very Rev. Fr. John Mark Cheitnum."
Cheitnum served as priest at St. James Parish in Fori, Jema'a Local Government Area, according to the diocese.
The Kaduna state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Rev. John Joseph Hayab, said Cheitnum had served as the CAN chairman of the Jema'a Local Government Area as well Southern Kaduna CAN coordinator.
Cheitnum's body was found in the wilderness on Tuesday morning, four area residents told Morning Star News by text message. One resident, Bitrus Defend, asked why terrorists target church leaders.
"It is hard, but we pray that may the ever loving and merciful God rest your soul in the peace of Heaven, till we meet at Jesus' feet, padre," Defend said, while area resident Comfort Bwans said, "Oh, Rev. John Mark, your killers will not know peace. They shall suffer for the rest of their lives. May God accept your soul."
In Kujama, Kaduna state, another Catholic priest was killed on June 25, according to the Rev. Moses Bonugada, a Catholic priest in Chikun County. He said the Rev. Vitus Bogoro was killed by "armed bandits" as he worked on his farm.
Bogoro's brother, Cyril Borogo, was kidnapped in the assault, Bonugada said.
On July 4, such "bandits" abducted the Rev. Emmanuel Silas of St. Charles Catholic Church, Zambina, Kauru County, Kaduna state, Bonugada said. He said 18 Catholic priests have been kidnapped thus far in 2022.
Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year (Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors' 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.
Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.
In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.
© 2022 Morning Star News.
A False Prophet?
Is Prince Harry a prophet?
When King Saul prophesied at Naioth at Ramah, the people were so surprised that it became a proverbial saying: "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
I thought of this when listening to Prince Harry's speech to the UN last week. He spoke movingly in his sermon - for sermon it was - of his mother and of Nelson Mandela. But then he moved into specific political and moral issues where he delivered the 'gospel' according to progressive doctrine. His three points were climate change, disinformation and abortion.
A prophet declares the word of the Lord, so let's see how prophetic Harry was.
On climate change, as with the other list of disasters he mentioned, he spoke of how he understood and knew people's pain. He was certainly right to point out that it is the poor who bear the brunt, not only of climate change, but also the measures taken by the wealthy to combat it.
Think for example of the people of Sri Lanka, whose super wealthy president decided to enamour himself to his WEF admirers by banning fertilisers. As a result, crops failed, people went hungry, riots ensued, and he was forced to flee the country.
Prince Harry never has to worry about heating or cooling his Californian mansion, or how much trips home to the the UK to see his family will cost. Or indeed, how many holidays he and Meghan can have. His ability to empathise with those who cannot afford heating bills or expensive food is somewhat limited.
Given he was standing on the same 'green' ground as his father, Harry obviously felt safe to weigh in with his considered opinion and calculated empathy. But it was when he turned to the politics of his new home country that he displayed a lack of political awareness and of moral probity.
Comparing the war in Ukraine with the ruling of the US Supreme Court on abortion, he pronounced that this was "a global assault on democracy and freedom", and an erosion of constitutional rights.
This is the same Prince Harry who pronounced that the constitutional right to freedom of speech was "bonkers". Perhaps he has discovered a newfound respect for the US constitution? If so, he should read it before making pronouncements on the world stage.
The US constitution does not mention abortion and there is no constitutional right within it. It does however mention a right to 'privacy' and on that somewhat nebulous basis, this was used as an excuse to declare a constitutional right to abortion.
No serious constitutional lawyer, whatever their view on abortion, would take that as a plain reading of the text. All the Supreme Court did was right this wrong and send the right to decide on abortion back to the State legislatures – the people who are elected to make laws. That is what democracy is.
The irony is that Prince Harry was not speaking to the UN as someone who was elected by the people, nor as someone who had made his own way in life. Rather he was there because of the greatest white privilege of all – being brought up in the Royal Family! He can hardly speak as the democratic representative of the people.
On the question of abortion, Harry again seems not to have thought the issue through. His wife had a "guttural" reaction to it – one which Harry as a self-proclaimed 'feminist' shared. But the argument about abortion cannot be reduced to the 'guttural' reactions of the rich and powerful. Especially when they tell us that letting democratic representatives determine local policy is somehow on a par with the war in Ukraine!
He then spoke about "the few, weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many". Clearly, he was putting himself on the side of the many – the poor, oppressed, voiceless classes with whom he shared such empathy. He too feels battered. He understands.
I doubt it. This is a man who gets invited to speak at the UN on the basis of his parentage, who has a new book coming out (for which he will have been paid a substantial advance), a Netflix deal worth a reported $100m, and a Spotify deal worth $75 million.
He and his wife are being paid for this not because of their talents, philosophies or communication skills. It is entirely because of their celebrity caused by the privilege of their inherited or wed into position. In other words, Harry is one of the 'few' he is complaining about. And on the topic of 'disinformation', his critics might have something to say about that.
No, Prince Harry is not among the prophets. I would say he is a lost soul in search of a purpose. He reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Wish you were Here", the words of which go, "We're just two lost souls, swimming in a fishbowl, year after year. Running over the same old ground, what have we found? The same old fears."
Kings such as David, Solomon and Hezekiah were also prophets, and political leaders from Constantine to Scott Morrison have professed their faith in Christ and sought to live according to his word. There have also been poorer prophets who have spoken truth to power without themselves being the powerful.
Watching Harry's speech reminded me of how much we need the truly prophetic - not clich̩s, memes or fantasy. We need the reality of what the Lord says Рbacked up by what we do.
I have just been going through the book of Revelation and it is amazing how apposite it is. In chapter 6, we are told of the four horsemen of the apocalypse – war, violence and civil strife; famine and inflation; and finally, disease and death.
But there is only one who can defeat them (and the kings of this earth and the merchants who serve Babylon). That is the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19. He is the Word of God and He is the One the true prophets proclaim. May all the kings and princes of this earth "kiss him" or "your way will lead to your destruction" (Psalm 2).
David Robertson runs The ASK Project in Sydney, Australia. He blogs at the Wee Flea.
Yes Nick, Yes. Why Was This Not Done Several Years Ago?
And so the Conservative leadership election has turned to immigration. Supporting the plan to send migrants who come here illegally to Rwanda, Rishi Sunak says: “I will do whatever it takes to implement it.” Liz Truss agrees: “I am determined to see our Rwanda policy through.”... DT.
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Calls for investigation after monk killed at Ukrainian monastery A law firm representing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has said the ...
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£650,000 appeal launched to save two crumbling churches. St Tyfi’s Church, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire (Photo: Friends of Friendless Churches...
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The next PM must be ready to pull Britain out of the ECHR.
Both leadership candidates promise to be tough on immigration, but have they got what it takes?