Tag Archives: United States

Risk of 8.0 Earthquake in California Rises

The U.S. Geological Survey has released a new estimate saying that the chance of an 8.0 magnitude or greater earthquake striking California is 7%, up from 4.7%.

The USGS said the increase in the percentage is due to new understanding that quakes aren’t always limited to separate faults.  A quake could start on one fault and jump to another causing a simultaneous mega-quake.

“The new likelihoods are due to the inclusion of possible multi-fault ruptures, where earthquakes are no longer confined to separate, individual faults, but can occasionally rupture multiple faults simultaneously,” USGS seismologist Ned Field, the lead author of the report, told the L.A. Times.

“This is a significant advancement in terms of representing a broader range of earthquakes throughout California’s complex fault system.”

Data for the report included the April 4, 2010 quake that triggered aftershocks in at least six different fault lines. The report also found quakes jumping over a gap in the fault of over seven miles, more than double the previously observed three miles.

“As the inventory of California faults has grown over the years, it has become increasingly apparent that we are not dealing with a few well-separate faults, but with a vast interconnected fault system,” the report said. “In fact, it has become difficult to identify where some faults end and others begin, implying many more opportunities for multifault ruptures.”

FBI Reports: ISIS Sympathizers In All 50 States

The head of the FBI is stating that ISIS has sympathizers in all 50 states.

“We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” James Comey told a recent meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). “This isn’t a New York phenomenon or a Washington phenomenon. This is all 50 states and in ways that are very hard to see…”

“[I]t’s highly unlikely that it’s going to be a federal agent to first see or hear about someone acting in strange ways on social media, or acting in a strange way in a religious institution or educational institution, or in the community. It’s going to be a deputy sheriff; it’s going to be a police officer who knows that neighborhood,” he continued. “The Joint Terrorism Task Forces that we have set up all across this country are in some ways more important today than they were at 911 because of the nature of this threat.”

Comey went on to say that ISIS has been using a sophisticated social media campaign to try and pull disenfranchised youth into their web.  He said that in their own twisted way, the terrorists are able to convince the youth there is a purpose in defending the terrorists supposed “state”.

“Those people exist in every state” the FBI director reiterated. “I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state. Until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. Alaska had none, which I couldn’t quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group, so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states.”

Franklin Graham: Persecution Is Coming

Franklin Graham is sounding the alarm to American Christians that their religious freedoms are being eroded while believers around the world are being persecuted.

“I believe we’re going to see persecution in this country,” Graham said during an interview on “Fox and Friends Weekend” on Sunday. “We’ve already seen many laws that have been passed that restrict our freedom as Christians. I believe it’s going to get worse, and we see no question gaining influence in Washington by those that represent the Islamic faith. We do have a problem in this country and we are losing our religious freedom and we’re losing it a little bit day by day.”

It’s the latest in warnings being given by Graham, who says the current government situation is the most hostile ever toward Christians.

Graham noted how the Obama administration routinely rebukes and condemns Israel while they actively defend Islamic nations who are out for the destruction of Israel.

Graham said that Christians need to stop shying away from expressing God’s view in the arena of ideas because we have the right to stand up for God’s way.

MLB Player Gives Up Hard Living For Eternal Life

He was known for being the first guy to the party and the last one to leave.  He was known as having a “me-first” view of life and used performance-enhancing drugs.

Now, Steven Souza, Jr. is a completely new man and he credits it all to God.

Souza was drafted by the Washington Nationals and given a $350,000 signing bonus.  He used the money for partying, drinking and taking home any woman he could land “without caring about baseball.”

“I was living the life you see on TV,” Souza told The Tampa Bay Times. “Everyone’s got big cars, money, alcohol, women all around them… Everyone is looking at this guy because he’s got all this and that’s what I wanted to be.”

Souza then was busted for drugs because of the ADHD drug Concerta.  Even after the 50 game suspension that came down from Major League Baseball, he still didn’t change.

“I still didn’t do the right things,” Souza said. “I was in a bad place trying to fill the void because I didn’t have baseball— a lot of going out, a lot of drinking, a lot of working out.”

After Souza discovered his girlfriend had an affair with another player, he spiraled into depression.  He considered walking away from his dream of being a major league baseball player because he just couldn’t see any point to life.

That’s when a friend at a wedding suggested he could find what he was looking for in Jesus.  He accepted an invite from a former MLB player to a church.

“It was one of those moments where you don’t know what to expect,” Souza described. “There was definitely a little anxiety. But as soon as I walked into church, it was comfort. Everyone there was welcoming me. And as soon as the message started being preached, it was just a release. I could feel the Lord moving… It was like, ‘Lord, I’m coming after you.’ And, what a blessing that it was that He answered.”

Within a month, Souza accepted Christ and was baptized.

Those who knew him saw an immediate change.  His friends and fellow players saw a change although it took time to win them over.

“The Bible says consider it a joy, brothers, when you go through suffering because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character joy,” Souza said. “These trials I have gone through, I wouldn’t be the man I am today without going through them. Obviously the damage I did to people around me and to my family, I wish I could take that back. But what I went through, I can appreciate. God took me through that and made me the man I am today.”

NC Ethics Commission: Sex Doesn’t Need Reporting

The North Carolina Ethics Commission (NCEC) has just given the green light to lobbyists to have sex with public officials and keep it quiet.

The NCEC says that because sex has no financial cost and thus is not a “thing of value”, no lobbyists or public officials have to reveal if sexual favors have been traded for influence in government actions.

“Consensual sexual relationships do not have monetary value and therefore are not ‘reportable expenditures made for lobbying’ for purposes of the lobbying law’s expenditure reporting provisions,” the commission’s advisory opinion states.

“Thus if the lobbyist does not receive payment from the lobbyist principal for engaging in the sexual relationship which you reference, which the commission presumes to be the case here, those activities would not constitute goodwill lobbying and would therefore not trigger a registration requirement,” the opinion continues.

The case was called “hypothetical” by some observers of the Commission.  It was noted that in 2012, the chief of staff for then-House Speaker Thom Tillis, now a U.S. Senator, was forced to resign when the commission investigated his intimate relationships with two registered lobbyists.

Plane Skids Off Icy LaGuardia Runway

The winter storm that shut down most of the eastern United States almost resulted in a horrific tragedy at New York’s LaGuardia airport.

A Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta slid off a runway and smashed through a fence.  The plane, with 125 passengers and five crew, slid to a stop feet from landing in the water.

Authorities reported at least 3 people were hospitalized for their injuries and many other suffered minor injuries.

The airport closed because of the “aircraft incident.”

Authorities on scene said that two planes landed just before the Delta flight without any problems.  The pilots reported “good braking action” for the flight.

The closure of the airport further hampered a day of travel crushed by winter storms.  The Dallas/Fort Worth airport, one of the busiest in America, was shot down because of ice covering the airport.

History Repeats

History goes by in cycles and repeats itself.  In school I didn’t really care so much about history, and now it has become a little obsession of mine.  I am on this path of trying to learn everything about American history I possibly can.  It is my belief that God uses all of these things and the greater amount of history I know, the better I will be able to see what is coming again.  I have never viewed myself as a prophet but I do view myself as a watchman on the wall.  By studying the times and the dates and learning about our past, how it actually was, I am gaining understanding on how it is unfolding again.  Continue reading →

Pastor’s Wife Defiant About Working At Abortion Clinic

A Baptist preacher’s wife caught working at an abortion clinic is lashing out at Christians who are condemning her for ending the lives of babies.  She says that no one has the right to condemn her because everyone sins.

“I feel that we have all sinned. None of us are perfect. No sin is greater than any sin. I don’t know why, other than that’s the only decision [abortion] that a woman could make. That’s her right to make that decision because that’s her body,” Callie Chatman, a certified medical technician who works at Reproductive Health Services told The Christian Post in an interview Sunday.

The controversy about Callie Chatman came to light last week when a Missouri Service Corps missionary with the North American Mission Board posted a video of her pastor husband dropping her off at the abortion clinic.

“Sadly, this is a Montgomery pastor dropping off his wife who works at the abortuary here in Montgomery. We have spoken to her often and the only response we get is that God forgives and we are not to judge. Her husband is the pastor of New Elam Baptist Church. Her son works here as well as the security,” wrote David Day Sr. on the video description.

Chapman responded angrily to direct comments from those who are against her assisting in the death of babies.

“You know what? The activists need to get their lives together. When they become sin free then you call me back.”

Pastors Thrown Out of Capital For “Appeal To Heaven”

A pastor’s group was thrown out of the U.S. Capital Visitor Center for their racial reconciliation event because the theme of the event included a reference to “an appeal to heaven.”

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. says the action against the High Impact Leadership Coalition is calling it a clear act of religious discrimination.

“They were aware of the original theme, but it seems as they looked into things that the question of God and heaven really caused them angst,” said Jackson.

“Unfortunately, we got pushed back and we felt it was discriminatory. And there is a tinge of religious prejudice in terms of our content, our theme, our focus. We felt that we needed to continue with the meeting anyway rather than get all tied up in a back-and-forth fight with the folks at the Capitol.”

Jackson said the representatives of the Capital told them they were being forced to leave because they were referring to God.

The Washington Hilton eagerly welcomed the group and their message.

“I think the real problem for me, personally, is that first a go ahead was given and the rules were followed as we had known them at that moment. Then questions come, content is questioned … and it seemed to me that there was some angst and concern that we were a biblically based, evangelical, black, Christian group,” Jackson told the Christian Post.

“Had we been more of another religious background or more interracial or there was a sense that there was more control over the event, it may have been different. But from where I sit, it seems like religious pushback, racial concern, about how this is going to look and what our intentions are going to be. However you envision it, it’s not the welcome we want based on using a public facility and following the rules,” he said.

The U.S. Capital Visitor Center would not answer questions from the Christian Post on the situation.

CDC Investigating Deadly Bacteria In Doctor’s Offices

The Centers for Disease Control is investigating a potentially deadly bacterium that normally is found in hospitals but is appearing in doctor’s offices and medical facilities.

A study released Wednesday shows that the bacteria, C. difficile, has been found in patients who had not visited hospitals but doctors or dentists.  The CDC study, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, said 150,000 people who had not been in the hospital came down with C. diff in 2011.

The bacteria cause a deadly diarrhea and infected nearly half a million Americans in the last year.  The bacteria were the direct cause of 15,000 deaths.

“This is really an important issue. We need to understand better how people are getting C. diff,” said Dr. Cliff McDonald, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

The CDC encourages people to wash their hands with soap and water because alcohol based antibiotic jells do not work on C. diff.