Author Archives: Kami Klein

Evidence of Water Found on Mars Announced by NASA

The strongest evidence yet of water on mars was announced by NASA Monday afternoon.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

Although scientists are not sure where the water comes from, liquid water runs down the crater walls over the summer months and leave dark stains on the Martian terrain that have been measured hundreds of meters downhill before they dry up in the autumn when temperatures drop.  

Researchers say the discovery raises the chances of this being home to some form of life.  

Stock Market Dives Sliding 313 points

The volitive stock market took another dive as the Dow slid 313 points on Monday and plunged biotech stocks way lower.  The S& P lost 2.6%.

The Nasdaq experienced steeper losses, shedding 3%. It was the Nasdaq’s worst one-day decline since August 24, the day the Dow took an unprecedented 1,000-point nosedive.

Biotech stocks have stumbled amid concerns that political pressure will end steep drug price increases.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF plummeted 6.3% on Monday, its biggest one-day loss since 2011.

Blue chips comprising the Dow temporarily ducked below 16,000 at one point, the first time the index has fallen below that mark since Aug. 25.

“Investors are in a more conservative mood right now. The higher the valuation of a sector, the more vulnerable it is,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

Typhoon Dujuan Slams into Taiwan

With wind gusts over 150 miles per hour Typhoon Dujuan has slammed into Taiwan.  Dujuan has been categorized as a Super-typhoon and has left 24 injured as the incredible winds and massive rain battered the Island on Monday evening.

Most of the 24 people hurt suffered minor injuries, the island’s Emergency Operation Center said, many of them hit by flying debris.

More than 7,000 people have been evacuated in anticipation of the storm. About 200 people staying in emergency shelters.   

So far, more than 330,000 home are without electricity and tens of thousands of troops are on standby.  

Rainfall amounts have already reached 30 inches in some areas spawning fears of mudslides in the mountains.  

China has issued its top alert as the storm approaches the mainland.  

U.N Summit, World Leaders Meet to Discuss Global Problems

Today five of the most powerful men in the world will be speaking at this historic meeting at the U.N. United States President Obama, Russia’s President Putin, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon called for a political solution to the war in Syria that has left more than 200,000 dead and unleashed a torrent of refugees. “The global humanitarian system is not broken; it is broke,” he said. He also urged world leaders to work together in order to banish the “blatant brutality” of extremist groups, such as the Islamic State.

U.S. President Barack Obama said they would work with any country to solve the crisis and war in Syria but that we must also not allow Syrian President Bashar Assad to stay in office. When speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, he said the world cannot stand by while Russia violates Ukraine’s integrity and sovereignty.

The need to protect and nurture the environment was first thing on Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s agenda in his speech today. “We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature.” He added that China would never pursue “hegemony, expansion or sphere of influence” in the world. And he pledged $1 billion over the next decade to support U.N. efforts to further global peace and development.

Russian President Putin stressed the importance of combating the ISIS threat in Syria stating that it must be done in cooperation with the Syrian government. “We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to work with the Syrian government and its armed forces,” Putin said. “No one but the Syrian forces and Kurdish militia are seriously fighting against the Islamic state.” The alternative is to arm terrorists who threaten Europe, Russia and other countries, he said.

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the Iranian/U.S. agreement on nuclear weapons as an example of global cooperation. On the terroristic threats in the middle east, he stated firmly the terrorist “wave of destruction has gone beyond the Middle East and the Arab world and reached the shores of the United States and Europe,” he added. “Without the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. support for the Zionist regime, the terrorists would not have justification for their actions.”

President Obama and Putin are scheduled for an intense meeting this afternoon at the White House to discuss their differences on Syria and the Ukraine.

Violence at Temple Mount During Start of Jewish Holiday Sukkot

Violence once again erupted between Palestinians and Israeli riot police after young protesters barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, despite an order permitting only men over the age of 50 to enter the compound for prayers.  Women of any age are also allowed entry.  Israel has imposed the ban during times of unrest because it is for the most part, young palestinian men who throw rocks at the holy site. This comes as Jerusalem is filled with those who have come to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.  

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City has been a sore point for both Palestinians and Jews.  This ground is very much a center point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Muslims revere it as the place they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, while the Jews call it the Temple Mount, the site of the two biblical Jewish temples.  

Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other projectiles at the Al-Aqsa mosque overnight, according to police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Palestinians threw rocks, firebombs and firecrackers from within the mosque at the police, Samri also added that the fire bombs sparked a fire at the entrance to the mosque. Waqf guards did not prevent the “desecration of the sanctity of the place,” she said .

Police had tried to negotiate with the Waqf – the Islamic religious authority that oversees the compound – to call for calm, but talks failed and police entered the compound to seize the “dangerous devices intended to harm visitors to the site and police and endanger their lives,” Samri added.

Israeli Police were able to restore calm  but occasional stone throwing continued throughout the morning.  They reported that by noon the site was quiet.

Charisma Founder Steve Strang To be Guest on the Jim Bakker Show!

Morningside and The Jim Bakker Show are excited to announce that publisher and founder of Charisma magazine, Steve Strang, will be joining us on Grace Street, Thursday, October 8th, 2015 at 11:30 am CT.

Charisma, is now celebrating it’s 40th anniversary and has been a trusted source of news, teaching and inspiration to help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Steve is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, businessman and author. He is also founder and president of Charisma Media, which in addition to Charisma, publishes Ministry Today, the Spanish magazine Vida Cristiana and many other respected publications.  His many businesses and other innovative products have earned a reputation as the world’s leading charismatic publisher!

This will be an amazing visit with a truly charismatic man of God.  We hope you can join us!

Greece Must Implement Terms of EU Bailout Quickly

Newly re-elected, left wing Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece must “quickly implement” the terms of the EU bailout agreed upon in July. During  his first Cabinet meeting, Tsipras stressed that his aim is to have steered the country out of its crisis by 2019 when his four-year mandate ends.

“We are aware of the difficult points of the deal… we know how to find the right antidote where there are side effects,” Tsipras said today. “This mandate is translated into one word; work.”

A review by the lenders will be conducted in late October to determine if the reform program has been implemented.   

Tsipras highlighted another crisis for his country, saying that  the government’s task was made into an even greater challenge by Europe’s migrant flows.

Greece has become the main point of entry into Europe for those fleeing war and poverty in the Syria and war torn Africa, most of whom then head by land to richer EU countries further north.

Pope Address U.N. Encouraging Humanity over Politics

Just a day after his historic speech to the U.S. Congress, Pope Francis addressed the U.N. calling for world powers to stop putting political interests ahead of human suffering in the Middle East.  

“We cannot permit ourselves to postpone ‘certain agendas’ for the future. The future demands of us critical and global decisions in the face of worldwide conflicts which increase the number of the excluded and those in need.”

Pope Francis, the 5th Pope to address the U.N. in history, also stressed a call for peace and environmental justice, and blame the exploitation of natural resources on “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.”

The Pope addressed issues such as the environment, weapons of mass destruction, persecution of Christians and all religious groups and the importance of remembering those who are cast off and forgotten.  

“The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic.”

After concluding his speech the Pope’s next stop was an emotional visit to the 9/11 Monument. Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis addressed the crowd,

“This is a place where we shed tears” he said. “We weep out of a sense of helplessness in the face of injustice, murder, and the failure to settle conflicts through dialogue. Here we mourn the wrongful and senseless loss of innocent lives because of the inability to find solutions which respect the common good. This flowing water reminds us of yesterday’s tears, but also of all the tears still being shed today.”

First Ever Withdrawal from Svalbard Global Seed Vault Due to War

Scientists have requested the first-ever withdrawal of seeds from  the Svalbard Global Seed Vault , a Doomsday vault built in the Arctic to safeguard the world’s food supplies, officials said Friday. The International Center for Agricultural Research (ICARDA) said it has made a request to take back some of its samples due to Syria’s Civil war.

On September 21, Reuters reported that officials from the ICARDA seed bank in Aleppo — which has moved to Beirut, for now, because of the Syrian civil war — requested 116,000 samples from the Svalbard Vault. The seed samples were needed to restore a collection that had been damaged by the conflict, which has killed approximately 250,000 people and caused more than 11 million to flee their homes.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, preserves millions of seeds, representing more than 860,000 important crop varieties from around the world: a final backup to protect against natural disasters, war, and climate change. It is located 500 feet deep inside a mountain on a remote island between Norway and the North Pole.

Unusual Weather Event in the Western Atlantic

It has been 101 years since this last happened.  And it is “blowing the minds” of meteorologists. Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), commented on the lack of hurricanes west of 55 degrees longitude in the Atlantic basin so far this season. Blake said this marks the first time there have been no western Atlantic hurricanes through Sept. 22 since 1914.

At the anniversary of Hurricane Rita in 2005 the compared numbers from 10 years ago is astounding. In that year there were 31 Tropical Systems, 27 named storms and 15 hurricanes. While 2015 has had several named storms, there have been no hurricanes this year at all!  

Two factors working against hurricane development, wind shear and dry air, have been quite prevalent from the Gulf of Mexico into much of the Caribbean all summer long.

Hurricanes thrive off of rich, tropical moisture evaporating into the air from warm ocean water and cannot feed off of the dryer air.  Wind shear, or the change of wind direction and speed with height, creates a hostile environment for tropical systems, as it too disrupts the ability of clouds and thunderstorms to organize in a way that supports the formation or continuation of a hurricane.

El Niño can be partially to blame. This setup features warming of the Pacific Ocean and is generally associated with unfavorable wind patterns across the western Atlantic.

Meanwhile in the Pacific Ocean warm and active atmospheric moisture has also been well above average in that area. The result has been nine hurricanes in the eastern Pacific, but zero in the adjacent western Atlantic.

With El Niño continuing and no signs of any major changes, the western Atlantic hurricane drought may continue for a while.